Sally Lawson, CEO & Founder at Agent Rainmaker, talks through how the owners of letting agencies can get back the freedom that they originally signed up for.
One of the biggest motivators behind people starting their own businesses is to be able to be their own boss. The freedom to choose when, where, and how to work has inspired and driven entrepreneurs for decades. However as a letting agent, you may have found yourself busier than ever after starting your own business.
Far from experiencing the freedom you were dreaming of when you started your letting agency, you’re most likely now chained to your offices from dawn till dusk, struggling to enjoy the evenings and weekends, let alone the holidays.
How to overcome the burden of leadership
With so much of your attention being focused on specific tasks, the opportunity to develop strategies for the future, or even to consider ways that you could generate more revenue for your business, can be hard to come by.
Here at Agent Rainmaker, we’ve been providing training for letting agents for years. We have helped so many letting agents crawl out from under the burden of leadership that often weighs down on business owners, so that they can actually discover the freedom they were hoping for when they started this whole journey.
1. Take a step back
Letting agents often wear all kinds of hats - from the head of finance to the head of marketing or compliance. You can get so bogged down in the day-to-day operations of your work that you end up never having the time you’d like to spend with friends and family. What’s worse, you don’t even have the time to change your business so that you can get more time.
It seems like an impossible situation, so what can you do? It’s all in the first step. You need to be able to step back and let go of the lower-value tasks, so that you can focus on strategic initiatives.
This will probably mean having to hire someone, which can mean an additional cost, but as Samantha Bateman - one of the letting agents who has worked with us - has found, these costs can very quickly be covered by the increased revenue that comes from following the strategies for growth that Agent Rainmaker teach.
2. Map out your objectives
One thing that could help you take the leap and make that first big hire is keeping your eye on the prize. Samantha created a massive mind-map outlining her and her team’s objectives, together with the tasks and ideas they had to execute to achieve that increased revenue.
The large number they were targeting motivated her to hire a branch manager, so that she would have the time to focus on generating greater revenue.
Since then, her business has increased its revenue by hundreds of thousands of pounds. Samantha’s story is not unique and we have heard it many times before, because the plan works.
3. Have a clear strategy
You’re never going to make a big change in life unless you know what you’re aiming for, and how to get there. Starting to pay the extra costs of outsourcing without first knowing what you’ll do with your extra time would be senseless.
Outsourcing enables you to take a breath, and then work with a coach on improving your letting agency. Once that starts happening, you’re not only going to have more profit, but you’re also going to have a business that isn’t entirely dependent on you. This is the key to gaining the freedom you’ve always wanted.
4. Automate and systemise
Your business is only as valuable as its ability to operate without you. Even if it can generate large profits, its overall value is limited if it is uniquely dependent on you. This is why systemisation is so important.
Ensuring specific processes are in place for everything will make it easier to hire and onboard new people, because they will know exactly what to do.
Automating can reduce your need to rely on new staff, whilst giving you more time to work on making your business more profitable, achieving the freedom you ultimately set out to experience.
A guest blog by Sally Lawson, CEO & Founder at Agent Rainmaker. Head to agentrainmaker.co.uk for more information.
