Photo by Resolution Property Investments
I believe there’s a distinct difference between property investors and property entrepreneurs, and personally, I align more with the latter. It took me more than a decade to recognise this distinction, but when I did, I embraced it wholeheartedly and leaned into the characteristics of the property entrepreneurial mindset!
Read below or listen to the full episode on The HMO Podcast for the 10 methods to master a property entrepreneurial mindset.
No matter whether you’re just getting started or a seasoned HMO investor who wants to scale things up, following these methods and adopting these traits will help you achieve better results much more quickly and allow you to experience greater satisfaction throughout the whole process!
Property Investor vs Property Entrepreneur
I think there’s a big difference between a property investor and a property entrepreneur. Everything from how you find deals to what you get out at the backend depends on your approach and mindset.
Property investors typically have the capital or part of the capital that they need to build their property business from other sources. Maybe they already have it in savings through a pension, job, or inheritance. But what they want to do with property isn’t necessarily their primary focus, and they aren’t necessarily trying to maximise each deal to do the next one.
They’re just focusing on deploying capital and getting a good strong, steady, long-term return. However, they aren’t trying to sniff out all of the opportunities on offer and aiming to get the absolute most out of every deal.
But for property entrepreneurs, we’re squeezing the juice out of every single deal. We’re often in a rush, wanting big results, and finding creative solutions to get the most out of each deal. So, here are the 10 methods and characteristics of a property entrepreneur!
1. Embrace risk taking.
Property entrepreneurs are prepared to take risks and even embrace this. There is of course always a certain amount of risk when it comes to any form of property investment. If you’re naturally a risk taker and you get excited about it, that probably shows you have the mindset of a property entrepreneur.
If you’re looking for more deals and buying deals to add value and recycle cash, then you’re going to have to be comfortable with taking on some risk. However, this does not mean to be cavalier towards risk. You need to always be looking for ways to reduce and mitigate this as much as possible.
But you need to be prepared to take a risk when it’s the right time and with the right deal. Don’t just embrace the risk, enjoy it and leverage it, because that is where the rewards can be. And you need to be able to step forwards and take that leap of faith when it’s time!
2. Be adaptable and remain flexible.
In property investment, things go wrong all the time in a whole range of areas, and you need to be able to adapt and be flexible to figure these problems out. Some HMO investors are less prepared to do that, but if you’re a property entrepreneur, you need to accept that things are going to come from left field.
You’ll need to be able to make changes quickly. Successful entrepreneurs don’t hesitate. They make very quick but confident and logic-based decisions. So, if you’re finding certain things feel like they’re coming at you, don’t worry – that’s normal, especially with HMO investment.
So, remain agile, adaptable, and flexible. Sometimes that’ll mean changing your plans, tearing up the rulebook, or doing things in a different way, so be prepared for this!
3. Have a vision and set goals.
As a property entrepreneur, you need a long-term vision and short, medium, and long-term goals. While I have a 10-year goal, I also break this down by setting goals I can work towards every year, quarter, month, week, and day. Everything is broken down, but that overarching vision is always there to drive you.
If you want to live your life in a particular way and you think property is the way to do it, you probably are a property entrepreneur, but you need to embrace the idea of following a vision, embracing that long-term objective, and setting goals to help you do it.
4. Approach things with a problem-solving mindset.
There are a lot of problems that come up in property, and you need to be able to figure these out. In my development business, 80% of it is figuring out problems and putting solutions in place. Sometimes you won’t be able to see the finish line, but you have to have the faith and discipline to keep putting one step in front of the other!
To do that, you need to be able to solve problems and learn to keep moving forward. Develop a good level of knowledge and build a good network of people around you who can help you solve different problems. You’ll also need the right attitude to get stuck in and deal with issues that come your way head-on.
5. Keep furthering your knowledge.
Property entrepreneurs are always trying to find ways to improve and expand their knowledge so that they can do more deals, bigger deals, and different types of deals in varying locations.
There is so much to know and learn in the HMO industry, and things can move and change so quickly! To keep on top of this and stay ahead of the curve by continuously learning, use resources and tools like The HMO Podcast and The HMO Roadmap, which can help you streamline the learning process.
6. Prioritise networking and building relationships.
Having good people around you will help you leapfrog issues and stand on their shoulders. This has probably been the single most important reason behind my successes in the property industry! The people I’ve worked with along the way have really helped catapult me forwards.
So, invest time in networking and building relationships. You don’t have to be an expert at this. I don’t like wandering into a room and talking to lots of people that I don’t know, but it’s something we all need to do and ideally get better at.
7. Embody resilience and grit.
So much is going to come your way as a property investor. You’ll likely find it incredibly difficult at times with sleepless nights and lots of stress. But you’ve got to find ways to remain resilient and show grit, and that means you’ll need very thick skin and be able to get back up when you get knocked down!
The people that struggle with this the most often struggle to get beyond a certain level in the property industry. Of course, we will all act differently to certain problems. But it’s important to at least understand that this is part of property investment, and putting up a fight will really help you.
8. Use innovation and creativity to your advantage.
This is really what sets a property entrepreneur apart from a property investor. Property entrepreneurs are really good at sniffing out deals through a range of creative and innovative solutions that allow us to get into a deal without having lots of capital or cash.
You may utilise direct-to-vendor marketing campaigns, networking, lease options, land assembly deals, rent-to-rent deals and other ways of taking control of HMOs without purchasing properties. And it’s also helpful to become an expert in raising private finance.
9. Prioritise resourcefulness and efficiency.
Don’t get sucked into trying to do too much. You should take some time out to apply your knowledge, skill, and time to building efficient solutions. Efficiency is an area many people struggle with. We’re often going at a hundred miles an hour, but finding the time to implement efficient solutions is really important.
So, what systems and processes can you put in place? What can you simplify, automate, delegate and eliminate? This is really important, because there’s a natural threshold to the amount of work we can all take on.
Draw on different skills, different people, different products, and different tools to help you be more efficient. Once you do that, you’ll then likely find it easier to apply your resourcefulness and methods of driving efficiency into other areas of your business!
10. Have a genuine understanding of what’s going on in the market.
You have to be really aware of everything happening in the market and keep on top of the current trends. If you’re really getting into the data and building a fundamental awareness of what is going on that affects your business model, you’ll have a huge advantage, and you’ll be able to keep ahead of the curve!
But I don’t mean just reading the news headlines. Market awareness and understanding trends in the industry includes keeping on top of the type of living people are after, the type of designs they want, the locations they want to live in, the types of platforms that tenants are using, and the most popular methods of communicating with tenants.
So, how can you build a better and more profitable business by taking advantage of those trends? Property entrepreneurs find ways to leverage them to their advantage.
Those are the 10 entrepreneurial methods that if you master or at least lean into them, you’ll get much better results and you’ll get them much more quickly! If this hasn’t resonated with you, you might be more of a property investor, and that is absolutely fine. There’s not a right or wrong path here.
But if you want to level things up, sign up for The HMO Roadmap, where you can gain access to more than 400 resources and tools to help you build your HMO business and start adopting a property entrepreneurial mindset.
About the Author:
Andy Graham is the founder and the lead trainer at The HMO Roadmap! He is also the co-founder of The HMO Mastermind. He writes as a regular columnist in different magazines about a variety of HMO topics and is the host of The HMO Podcast! Follow Andy on Instagram!