I THOUGHT WE'D LOST MOMENTUM

I’m calm in chaos. But when there’s no chaos, I’ve realised I need structure.

When a project throws up a problem, I’m good at getting stuck in.

Trades need organising? Fine.

Something’s gone wrong on site? We’ll sort it.

A deadline’s looking tight? I know what needs doing next.

When I can clearly see the problem in front of me, I’m at my best.

But this week, things have been a bit quieter.

Project One is on the market.
Project Two has a new team on it that I’m really happy with.
Project Three is going through conveyancing.

And instead of enjoying the breathing room, I felt a bit lost.

It made me realise how much of my working week has been driven by whatever needs fixing right now.

And I think property naturally does that to you.

There’s a lot of money involved, plenty that can go wrong and when something needs sorting, it usually needs sorting quickly.

So it’s very easy for the projects themselves to become the business.

That works when you’re trying to get projects over the line.

It doesn’t work as well when you’re trying to build a business that can scale.

As we’ve started building a team around us that we trust to deliver the projects, it’s given me the opportunity to step away from some of the day to day and think more about what Asset Collective needs as a business.

So we’ve broken the business down into different departments:

That allows us to take a more holistic view of Asset Collective - what’s going well, what needs attention and what we need to do next to keep each part of the business moving forward.

From there, we’ve created tasks for each department that need attention every week.

And suddenly, I’ve gone from feeling like I don’t know what I should be doing to having a full week ahead of me.

Networking events, investor outreach, finding new deals, marketing, accounts, admin - there is so much to be getting on with.

And that made me realise something.

The business was never quiet. I was just waiting for the work to come to me.

When you’re constantly reacting to problems, the work is obvious.

Something happens and you deal with it.

But growing the business is different.

Nobody is going to tell me to go networking.

Nobody is going to remind me to speak to investors, find the next deal or work on the systems behind the business.

That work has to be created and planned.

I actually spoke to my mentor about this during our call this week and told her I felt like I’d lost a bit of momentum.

Which is pretty mad when I think about it.

The last few newsletters have probably made the business look like complete chaos:
problems on site, deadlines, funding, trades and a million things happening at once.

You’d think those would have been the stressful weeks.

But weirdly, this week has probably been the most stressful for me personally.

Not because anything has gone wrong, but because I’ve had to stop reacting, step back and actually work out where my time is best spent.

When I can see what needs doing, I’ll get it done.

But the work that grows a business isn’t always sitting right in front of you with a deadline attached to it.

Sometimes you have to step back, work out what needs doing and create the plan yourself.

That’s definitely something I’m going to be working on over the next few weeks.

And the funny thing about telling my mentor I felt like we’d lost momentum?

When I actually look at what’s happening across the business, it tells a completely different story...

PROJECT ONE IS ON THE MARKET.

After a full back to brick renovation, Camm Street is finally up for sale.

We had a block of viewings yesterday, and we’re hoping an offer comes in next week.

After the amount of work that went into getting this one over the line, it feels good to be showing people the finished house.

Now we wait to see what the market thinks.

Industry Street is around 85% plastered.

After working with a new team, I’m really happy with how this project is coming together.

The plan for next week is to finish the plastering and tile the bathroom and ensuite.

Then we can get the kitchen, bathroom and ensuite fitted.

The following week, it’s skirting boards, architraves and doors.

Then over to the decorators.

The more projects we do, the better we get at delivering them.

But we will never compromise on the finish just to get there quicker.

Project 3 is in conveyancing.

We’re working through the purchase, but we still need to raise the funds to complete the project.

And honestly, if we can get Project Three fully funded, it’s a big step for the business.

Why?

Because the biggest thing holding us back from doing more projects has always been cash flow.

Projects One and Two are fully funded, but most of that funding has come from our own money. We can’t simply use the same pot to complete Project Three while it’s tied up in the other two.

If we raise the funds for Loxley Road, we can keep moving while we wait for the first two projects to sell.

Then, when Project One sells, we can look at putting that capital and profit towards Project Four.

When Industry Street sells, we can look at Project Five.

And so on.

That’s the model we’re trying to build.

Of course, each sale has to complete and the numbers have to work. But being able to fund the next project before the previous one sells would change the pace at which we can grow.

And honestly, I think we’re in the strongest position we’ve ever been in to raise capital.

We’re not asking people to invest based on what we think we can do anymore.

We can show them.

We can show Project One finished and on the market.

We can show Project Two going through the same process.

We can show the deals we’ve got coming through the pipeline.

We can show exactly what their investment will be used for, how we plan to add value to the property and the intended route for returning their capital and interest at the end of the project.

There’s a lot more evidence behind the story now.

Now it’s on us to get out there, tell that story and build the relationships that allow us to keep growing.

While all that’s going on, we’ve had a verbal offer accepted by the vendor on a small portfolio we’ve been negotiating for the past couple of months.

That’s potentially another three houses in the pipeline.

There’s still plenty to work through before we can call them ours.

But it does show why we need to keep finding deals and raising capital even when the current projects are busy.

The opportunities don’t stop arriving just because our money is tied up.

And that brings me back to what I learned this week.

When everything is on fire, I know exactly what to do.

Now I’m learning how to give the quieter weeks just as much purpose.

Because that’s when we build what comes next. 🤝

Till next time,