The end of year review
I was sat grumbling that last year didn’t quite live up to expectations when Emily (my ever-the-optimist daughter) starting listing our achievements over the last 12 months.
It was fun and I’ll save my 2 proudest accomplishments till last 🙂
First there were the 7 Sold Out Rent 2 Rent training events with 40 people at each event, where we were christened the UK’s #1 Rent 2 Rent Event by our lovely fan club.
We also ran 3 Sold Out Agents Days for 35 people each time.
Then we ran 3 Advanced E.D.G.E. training’s (that’s the Exceptionally Dynamic Group of Entrepreneurs) and met with these guys for a business lunch every month – which has really Turbo-charged their results! (see below)
We published 2 mini manuals – Endless Tenants and Employing Your Property Manager – and 2 books – Rent 2 Rent Secrets and 52 Multi-Let Tips – all which have sold extremely well both in and out of the MLCS community.
We gave our industry leading cutting edge 260 page Rent 2 Rent operations manual a complete overhaul and update.
Our support community has grown to 950 family members and is without a doubt one of the most active and supportive community on Facebook.
I was asked to speak at the prestigious Berkshire Property Meet for the third year running by my wonderful friends Juswant and Sylvia. still in awe
Next we held our second BIG Reunion in London for 120 people with the World renowned life-coach Johnnie Cass speaking he’s amazing and from there, an overseas boot-camp in Portugal for a small focused group of 35 people. Both brilliant successes and something we are doing bigger and better again next year.
We ran an event in London – HMO in a Box and made a solid connection with Mike Woods. A good day and well attended with 40 people.
Next was our first Rent 2 Rent Discovery Day which was a very popular event with 140 attendees!
We did our first two Landlord Property Investments shows – at Old Trafford, Manchester and the Olympia in London. Had a tour of the stadium boyhood dream and won a signed shirt!
Recorded multiple podcasts and webinars with others, had our books and business reviewed in many media publications and were featured in 3 books by different authors.
We held onto all our Rent 2 Rent properties and increased the profit from them substantially. We built more solid relationships with our core agents in readiness for next year.
Created a cool on/off marketing system for acquiring new properties and used it to set up four new Rent 2 Rents. It’s now ready to turn on again next year.
Made some outstanding connections including future financial, business and marketing JV partners – all very exciting and consequently have set out a great business plan for next year.
Also spoke at many events up and down the UK showcasing the virtues of Rent 2 Rent as a brilliant and now possibly an essential addition to any property business.
We had our best financial year with the Rent 2 Rent properties and paid down mortgages on our owned properties by over £100k – battening down the hatches for the coming storm?
We have resisted getting an office – we don’t feel the need to go to that expense as you can operate a Rent 2 Rent business easily enough from home. The next few years will be a testing time for most High Street agents, many of whom may well revert to home offices. We have also resisted the urge to upgrade vehicles for another year or so. This will pay off later.
Was it all great? Of course not.
We had some major frustrations, went up some blind alleys, lost some money, had to contend with unwarranted personal attacks, parted company with some virtual team members and dissolved some partnership’s that didn’t pan out after a huge amount of time and energy. Grrrr!
But Emily is the eternal optimist and we can see no point in dwelling on the past, much better to look forward at new exciting possibilities.
C’est la vie’. Onwards and upwards!
Was it all work?
No we are definitely getting better at the life work/play balance thing.
I took my good wife Jane on a romantic trip to the Witchery in Edinburgh which was an amazing experience.
In return Jane tricked me into attending a 5 day Yoga retreat in France … which was surprisingly enjoyable if I ignore the intense pain memories.
We had another trip to Portugal as a mini break for the team.
Flew off to Egypt for a week on a whim, because we can!
We went to the Hayes book festival and visited National Trust castles all over the place, did a lot more walking than last year, getting out into the lovely countryside. We also squeezed in a few weekends away at country houses with good friends and caught up at last with some old friends.
I got my 5k run time down to 28 minutes and still managed to stagger to the sofa without fainting or being sick!
BUT BY FAR THE BEST TWO ACHIEVEMENTS WERE
One.
My sweet little girl Emily got married to the man of her dreams, Xander. Emily is a smart lady, has always been focused and hard working, and is possibly one of the nicest most caring people I know. Something had been missing from her life for many years – a good man – a soul mate no less. She has now found that person and after a fairy-tale woodland themed wedding, she is more sparkling than I have ever seen her. To see her settled and happy means a million times more than everything else I have achieved this year. I even like Xander!
Two.
Building a community takes time and a consistent effort. Its four years since we started our group with just 22 delegates from the very first event. I have no idea how many hours Emily and I have spent nudging and supporting everyone who has completed the MLCS training … TBH, I don’t really want to know either!
But this year we have REALLY seen BIG results within the group coming to fruition with many people now in the £5k to £10k NET monthly profits from Rent 2 Rent, and some people going way beyond those numbers.
But for many others, just to pass the £1k to £3k NET pcm means that they can quit that dead-end job, escape the daily grind and focus full time on building their Rent 2 Rent business.
What this REALLY means is that Rent 2 Rent is changing the lives of people and the fortunes of their families forever… because once you are on the road, there is no going back … it’s impossible to un-entrepreneurialise yourself!
Isn’t this what life is all about … helping other people on their journey!
So Emily was right, it was a pretty cool year after all and we made lots of ripples in that big pond!
Now for Next Year.
We have been making plans for an explosive start to the year and what better way to start it than another Sold Out event in Bristol… yes tickets are already gone!
We also have 3 more Mini-Manuals and 2 Books in production. A bigger and better Reunion is already locked and loaded, myself and true to our CANI philosophy, (constant and never ending improvement) the team have just committed to over £12k of personal training and we have added 3 brilliant people to the team.
The immediate plan; To get some downtime as we all need to recharge those batteries, have a fancy dress knees-up on New Year’s Eve (Spanish theme) and hit the ground running on January 1st!
Wishing you a happy, healthy, peaceful, crazy-fun rippling holiday!
Thank you for being a part of my year – I am blessed …. and read you soon Love from Francis and Emily xxxx
Francis
