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Are you looking for ways to help speed up the process of building your HMO business in an efficient and cost-effective way? This could mean utilising property education…

While you can always learn on your own, you’ll be able to achieve your goals much more quickly if you find the right platforms, services, or products to help you along the way. I started my property investment journey on my own, but I could have achieved SO much more if I found the right person, program, or support network sooner!

Read below or listen to the full episode on The HMO Podcast to learn about the different types of products and services available in the property education space and the good, the bad, and the ugly. I’ll also give you advice based on my own personal experience to help you make the right decisions on what to utilise and when!

When Is The Right Time To Use Property Education?

For starters, you need to think about whether now is the right time for you to embark on any sort of property education. While the cost for some of these products should be a factor, the time you’ll need to invest into it is also a key consideration, even when it comes to free resources.

It’s important that no matter what you’re doing, you’re investing your time in the right way. You might have other things going on personally and professionally, so right now may not be the right time for you.

Don’t rush into buying and using property education products, services, or resources. Really mull over it, and make sure you’re serious about what you’re considering embarking on in the first place.

What Should You Be Aware Of?

Property education is a big part of the property economy, and it’s important that you understand that people are developing products and platforms to make money (and there’s nothing wrong with that…).

But because property education can be quite a profitable business, some people take advantage of this. I’ve seen this so many times and it’s really concerning. So, you need to do the right research, homework, and due diligence on the people, programs, and businesses you’re interested in working with within the property education space!

Start by looking at whether the person and business are the right fit for you and check that they’re legit. Ask them questions and request evidence. Take your time making a decision about whoever you work with or buy from. To thoroughly do your research, check the following:

• Do they have the right experience and a good reputation?
• Can you see their credibility and authority across multiple channels?
• Do they have real reviews and testimonials?
• Are they buying properties and getting on-site?
• Do they have case studies of what they’re doing and talking about?
• Can you see them working with other people?
• Are they being successful and getting results?
• Have they built and scaled a business?

What Kind of Offerings Are Out There?

Free Resources

I’m a huge fan of free resources like e-books, podcasts, and online groups. Early on I didn’t feel like I was ready to invest in any property education financially, but these kinds of free resources really helped me. I’ve been a part of online groups over the years and connected with experienced investors, and this was always really motivating and encouraging!

But it’s important to understand that most free resources are part of a sales funnel to a paid product or service. That’s absolutely fine of course, but it means there’s usually a cap on how valuable the information will be.

You’ll learn something from good free resources, but a lot of time and money won’t have been invested into the product. So, they’ll only get you so far. And as there are a lot of free resources out there, some can be contradictory. Unless you have a really solid plan and understand exactly what you’re doing and why, you can find conflicting ideas.

E-Learning Platforms

When it comes to e-learning, the level of value steps up significantly from free resources. This type of property education can present hands-on examples, allow you to look at things in detail, and provide interactive learning experiences.

E-learning products have become a really important part of building my business and improving my personal and professional development. These sorts of products can provide an expansive vault of information with a good structure to the learning process, so you can go through step by step and add layers of knowledge to your repertoire.

For almost anyone, this can be a great tool. If you can find a program or product out there that has information, lessons, courses, and resources about what you want to develop and learn more about, then go for it!

E-learning platforms are a relatively low-cost, low-risk, and low-commitment way to step up your activity and involvement in property education. You can do it from the comfort of your own home as and when you have the time.

Events

I’ve been to some great events and learned a huge amount, but I’m not the greatest fan of them sometimes. There’s a much bigger commitment. Usually, you’ll have to book out time in your diary, and you may need to factor in travel costs and hotel accommodation.

Events can be great if there is a lot of information packed in that you can take away. It can also be beneficial for networking and meeting people in person, which is a really important part of building a HMO business. But some events can be really expensive, and you shouldn’t need to spend huge amounts on this. When certain events cost thousands of pounds, be really careful.

On the other hand, if it’s a free or low-cost event or discovery day, these are very much akin to free resources as they’re built as part of a sales funnel to paid programs. And this means they’ll only give you limited information.

Mentorship

Mentorship is a big part of the property education world, and I believe it’s the single most valuable resource! But it really depends on what stage you’re at financially. If you want to work with someone with a lot of experience on a one-to-one level, you’ll have to be prepared to pay for that as they’re giving up their time.

But if you find the right person, it’ll save you a huge amount of money on mistakes that you might otherwise make and on other things that you might go and purchase. If they provide this level of support, you’ll find that it can really expedite the process of building your HMO business!

You can learn about where you should invest, what types of properties you should invest in, how to find tenants quickly, and what processes and systems you should put in place so you can automate, delegate, and systemise your business. And all of this can have a huge impact!

Make sure that on an individual level, you click and work well together. Everyone has a different background and experience and operates and behaves in a slightly different ways. And of course, every mentorship program is likely to be quite different as well, so find out how the program is structured and figure out what you need from a mentor.

Do you need more regular accountability? Or are you quite good at working autonomously so you don’t need to check in as frequently? Or will you struggle with actually catching up with a mentor every single week or two weeks as your diary and current commitments would make that quite challenging?

These are some of the things that you need to think about. But if you’re serious about building your property business and really want to level things up, mentorships may be exactly what you need! It will really help keep you consistent and on track.

Masterminds

Masterminds are another really powerful resource that you can tap into from a property education point of view. With a mastermind, there should be a lot of people with similar levels of experience who can share ideas and solutions. This can help broaden your mind, knowledge, and experience.

Masterminds are best when you’re established and are very much beyond business fundamentals. You’ll get the most out of a mastermind when you’re pursuing growth, want to raise larger sums of money, already have multiple deals and transactions going on, and have an operational business with lots of moving parts.

If you’re at the right level for masterminds, it’s exciting, inspiring, and innovative, and it could help double your business in only 12 months simply by feeding off the other members, being inspired to increase your efforts, and learning to think quite differently about your business!

But if a mastermind has more than 10 to 12 members, the value can drop quickly. If you’re in a big group, how could they possibly know what’s going on with you and your business and be able to advise you effectively? So, small, intimate mastermind environments with people at similar levels who can offer their value and experience is key!

You should be prepared to pay quite a bit for this as you’re working with people who are busy, profitable, and have quite successful businesses, and it’s being facilitated by people who also have a lot of knowledge and experience. It won’t necessarily cost as much as mentorship, but it depends on the program and what’s included.

It doesn’t matter what stage you’re at, whether you’re a beginner investor, have a couple of properties, or already have an established portfolio, there is something out there for you. If you approach property education in the right way and pick the right products and people to work with, it can really help you get to an all-new level!

If you visit TheHMORoadmap.co.uk, you’ll find a range of property education resources, services, and mentorship that we offer! For free resources, check out The HMO Podcast, sign up for The HMO Blog, and join our free Facebook Group The HMO Community.

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 and Smart Property, a specialist HMO property investment and management company. 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!