The Property Unleashed Podcast

Doubling Your Income with Rent-to-Rent Strategies and Mastering Time Management

• Mark Fitzgerald • Episode 299

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What if you could double your corporate wage in just eight months? Discover the innovative rent-to-rent strategies and serviced accommodation techniques that enabled me, Mark Fitzgerald, to do just that. This podcast episode of Property Unleashed is a treasure trove of insights for property entrepreneurs and those on a journey of personal development. Learn from my personal experiences as I reveal how selecting the right properties and establishing strong partnerships with landlords and investors were key components of my success. I highlight how overcoming limiting beliefs paved my way to achieving not just professional accomplishments but personal freedom as well.

Tune in for powerful time management strategies that can transform how you handle the same 24 hours we all have. Uncover the secret to escaping the time scarcity trap through structured schedules and intentional planning. I share practical advice on utilizing lunch breaks and various time slots for activities that align with your life goals. Aligning actions with long-term objectives is crucial, and I discuss the significance of 90-day planning, regular reviews, and morning routines. These foundational steps can help you balance work, family, and personal aspirations, building a systemized lifestyle business that promises success and freedom.

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Property Unleashed podcast, a show about property entrepreneurship and personal development. This show is designed to give you the foundations and building blocks to move forward on your journey and live a more inspired life. Hello and welcome to the Property Unleashed with me, your host, mark Fitzgerald. It's fantastic to have you joining me here today and I hope you are killing it. I hope you are smashing it. I hope you are achieving everything that you are trying to achieve out there, because now is a great opportunity and a great time to build your property business. Now. If you are looking at getting into rent-to-rent and making sure that you build a successful rent-to-rent business, then let me help you with that. We have the rent-to-rent business builder. So if you're looking at doing HMOs, the rent-to-rent business builder can help you with that. It has a fantastic I do say so myself community of like-minded people all pushing in the right direction to achieve fantastic and superb results. I've said fantastic a lot already, haven't I? But I'm also going to tell you that if you want to do serviced accommodation, we have the Ultimate Serviced Accommodation Business Builder as well. You can check all of these out at my website, thepropertyunleashedcom, and find out more there. And if you want bespoken one-to-one help, I have a handful. Well, I have a handful. I have a couple, actually, of places available for my 12-month one-to-one mentoring, which gives you everything that you could possibly need at the end of the day, with my help and support, on a one-to-one basis, including tools and support and training, so you have everything that you need to build the businesses, the property businesses that you desire.

Speaker 1:

So what's this podcast going to be all about? Well, really, today I just wanted to talk to you about how you can maximize your property investing your rent-to-rent businesses and really just get out of your own way and make sure that you are making sure that things happen. Okay, so we're going to take a bit of time today just to work out how you can maximize your productivity and how you can maximize your time. You know, I built a rent to rent business that doubled my corporate wage in eight months, but I managed to also build a bit of a headache for myself at that time because there was nobody out there showing you what to do with the properties once you had it. So people might show me how to find deals. Well, they did, but they didn't show me how to find these good deals in the sense that I only go for properties that are in a very good condition, that you don't have to put lots of money into. Why? Because that means that you can do really good deals and you can get them cash flowing quickly.

Speaker 1:

No point in spending thousands and thousands of pounds on a property and then having to wait two years before you actually start making a profit and then having to wait two years before you actually start making a profit. Listen, people, that is not good business. You need to be making a profit now, from day one. So you need to be finding investors and landlords that want to work with you. It's their property, it's their asset. Make sure they spend their money on it, but we'll maintain it to a good standard to make sure that they don't have to keep plowing money into it like they would if a letting agent was looking after it, because most of the time, letting agents won't do a good enough job. They'll let the properties get run down, get trashed. That will, in turn, attract the wrong sort of tenants, and then it spirals out of control. We don't do that, and we need to make sure that people that we work with understand this as well, and this is one thing that I find so frustrating when I'm trying to get it across to people, because they're still looking at, you know, old, rundown properties. They're still thinking in their mind I need £10,000 to start, you don't? You don't. You can find good deals out there. And, of course, if a landlord won't invest into their own property, why should I do it? It's not my property. Now you could do a strategy like purchase lease options. So if you were going to buy it in the long run and a purchase lease option is very much like a rent to rent, but you arrange or organize or having a contract to buy the property at a specific time, then that works out really well and that makes a lot of sense. But if you don't have that, then you're just on a spiral down to realistically not making any money. So I hope I've got that one across. Now back on track. Sorry, I went a bit off topic there.

Speaker 1:

I made sure, though, over the last few years, that I've systemized my business, I put processes in there, and I've made sure that it's a lifestyle business for me. A lot of people say to me how big do you want to be, mark? I don't want to be massive. I'll be quite honest with you. I built, you know, a letting agency myself up to 131 units. I don't want to go that big. It is a business, but it is also a job when you get to that size. I would rather run a business that systemizes people in it doing the day-to-day stuff and I act as, so to speak, the director or, if you're American, the CEO of the business and have as a lifestyle business, so it still frees me up to go and do the things that I really, really enjoy.

Speaker 1:

Listen, let me hit you with a quote. If you knew what you did today could change the way you feel tomorrow, would you act differently? And this is a quote that I have up in my office, because it was me, with my limiting beliefs, holding me back, just going around, around in circles and expecting something to change. And I'll tell you what nothing will change until you get out of your own way and you change, until you take the opportunities that are in front of you. Opportunities are there, deals are right under our noses, but if we don't know how to find them, we don't know how to negotiate them, we don't know how to talk to people and we're not actively out there with a bit of confidence that, of course, you know getting in the right communities can really really help you with, then you're going to struggle with stuff like that because you don't know what you don't know, as one of the old saying goes. And of course, if you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten. So you have to change things.

Speaker 1:

You know, einstein said himself insanity is doing the same things and expecting to get different results. You know, if you're running around in circles with only part of the knowledge and you're not getting the results that you need, you need to change something, you need to stretch yourself, you need to get out there and you need to do something different or try something different at the end of the day. So what you need to do is take action. Now we've all heard the saying take massive action. Well, I don't really know what massive action is, if I'm quite honest with you, but I do believe that you should take some sort of action each and every day. Now, if you've got a full-time job and you've got a family and you've got friends and you've got a busy schedule, that's great and that's fine and well done. But we live by the choices that we make. You've built that busy life. You've built that busy schedule, and if you cannot craft out 30 minutes a day, 60 if you can, 60 is better, an hour is better, but if you cannot craft that out a day, then you need to change some of the choices that you've made in your life.

Speaker 1:

Everybody says, oh, you know, there's not enough hours in the. Well, not everybody says, but a lot of people say, let's put it that way, there's not. I used to say I used to say it when I, when I was in my corporate job, when I was very, very sort of short-sighted with things there's not enough hours in the day. Yes, there is. There's the same amount of hours for everybody. Somebody could be running 10 businesses, multimillionaire, you know, flying around the world doing deals. They've still got the same amount of hours as I've got, and so it's basically, it's how you plan your hours, it's how you plan your days, it's how you put things together. So make sure that you know what it is that you need to do Now.

Speaker 1:

If you've followed this podcast before, then thank you very much for following as well. And if you want to leave a five-star review on any platform, that you can then appreciate that. And if you want to even share it on social media, I appreciate that even more. Tag me in it, please do Tag my name, tag me in it, become a friend, follower or whatever like that, and I'll show you some love. But if you have been listening to this show before, you'll have heard me say you need to know exactly what it is you're doing with your time each and every day.

Speaker 1:

Somebody once said to me Mark, you've got a real rigid schedule. You know, I work to my calendar, I follow my calendar. My calendar tells me to do something, I go and do it. And people say, well, that's not always the greatest way of doing things, and I think it is. I think it is. I'll tell you now what I've actually found is by having more structure in my time, by having more structure in my days, I actually feel freer. I feel less tied down, if that makes sense, because I know what it is I'm going to be doing, so I can get ready, I can get mentally prepared and I can do it. I'm not just trying to piece things together, trying to do something for five minutes here, 10 minutes there.

Speaker 1:

I blocked time into my schedule and now you could say it's all right for you, mark, you haven't got a full time job. No, and you are correct, and that is why you need to take even more care with how you spend your time, because your time is precious, full stop. But your time if you're doing a full time job and you've got a family and everything, is even more precious. So those lunch breaks where you literally sit there and maybe eat a sandwich or you know, you just wander around the shops aimlessly if you are, or you just sat there chatting to your friends Nothing wrong with that. But do you have to do it every day? Can you not say I tell you what Tuesday and Thursdays I'm going to spend my whole lunch break, while I eat, doing something productive, doing something that moves me forward reading that book, listening to that podcast, watching the YouTube channels, investing in some education.

Speaker 1:

Sit down, dedicate some time, even if you're just sat in your car or weather's getting nice. Now go and sit somewhere nice in the sun, have something to eat, but do something productive with your time, but know what it is that you want to do before that time. Schedule it, plan it and set it out. I do this on a Friday. I do it on a Sunday as well, sometimes depending on how busy I am, but by Sunday I have to know what I want to achieve next week and it has to be in line with my vision and my goals. And if it is in line with my vision and my goals and I can get it done, it's moving me in the right direction. Now, is everything that I sit down and do as productive as maybe it should be? No, not always, but you need to let yourself off. Maybe it should be no, not always, but you need to let yourself off. If you can only get three things done on a list of 10, that's still three things more than you did last time. Because as little as one hour a week and everybody, everybody can find one hour a week of the right actions can still make a massive difference over the course of that week, over the course of that month, over the course of that month, over the course of those six months and, of course, over the course of a year, if you review it and you know what you're doing.

Speaker 1:

I'm a massive believer on a 90-day planning. I love setting out a 90-day plan over three months. I know exactly what I need to be doing and off I go and then at the end of those three months, reviewing what went well, what didn't go so well. In fact, I do it every week pretty much now. But I review what went well, what didn't go so well, what do I need to potentially maybe kick myself up the backside and make sure that I'd stopped doing? What am I procrastinating on? Because if you look at what you're procrastinating on, that's normally the task that needs to be done and that's normally the hard conversations, the hard things that will really supercharge you and move you forward.

Speaker 1:

So plan out your weeks and dedicate 70% of your time to the day-to-day running of your life. So your family, okay. Your work 70% is going to be all of that. Then give yourself 20% to move your business forward, your property business forward, 20% of my time. So look at your working hours, look at the hours you're spending with the family. Look at the hours you might be spending in front of TV or just scrolling your phone. Okay, those are the sort of the downtime hours and we all need a bit of downtime. I understand that. But when you're just mindlessly scrolling on a phone, tiktok or whatever, whatever floats your boat as long as you're watching me, you're okay. No, stop doing it. Stop doing it, Even if you're watching me, and you shouldn't be. You should be focused on the tasks that you need to do. So look at how you're spending your time and have 70% for your day job and for your family. Then make sure you've got 20% of that time to be able to move the business forward on probably the hard tasks that you need to do okay, and then 10% wants to be on your own education, whether that's reading books, listening to podcasts, watching YouTube videos whatever floats your boat, but it should be what is going to move you forward, what is actually really good advice that can help you learn more, so that it makes you a better person. Okay, and do that.

Speaker 1:

And that's pretty much what I do in my life. So for me, I like to get up early. I don't get up early every day, but I try and get up early as much as possible, and I don't force myself, I don't set an alarm. I basically let myself wake up, but that's normally between 5am and 6am, and I love that because I always feel like I'm getting a head start on everybody else. But maybe you're not a morning person. Maybe you're not there yet. Trust me, when you love what you do, when you wake up, you'll want to get up and start doing it. All right. It really is a weird feeling, but it's great to be. It's a great feeling to have, and it's great to be in that situation where, where I can have that, so I get up and I spend my first hour on education, on personal development. Why? Because I'm addicted to it. I want to be the best person and the best version of me I can possibly be. So that's what I tend to do there.

Speaker 1:

Then, about seven o'clock-ish, the family start to wake up, so my day starts to get noisy. But I sort out and help out with the family, help the wife, help my sons, and I really, really enjoy that. And once I've done that, I go for a walk. So by hook or by crook. If it could be raining, it could be snowing, it could be lovely and sunny. It's more of the other two than it is lovely and sunny in this country, that's for sure. But I'll go for a walk for an hour and I'll listen to potentially a podcast or an audio book or some music, depending on my frame of mind or what sort of mood I'm in, or I won't listen to anything. I'll listen to the birds I'm not sure I hear that many bees at the moment, but there's more and more coming out but I'll listen to what's happening in nature and things. I go for nice walks where it's open spaces, there's lakes, it's really, really beautiful. So tuck yourself away, do that. That's sort of great for me.

Speaker 1:

I come back, then have a bit of meditation time, a bit of breakfast, and then my day really starts. Then the messages can flow in and I'll get on with it, and then I'm into my sort of 70% of the day and then when I wrap things up, I always have a bit of a sort of a closing ceremony of the day. And then when I wrap things up, I always have a bit of a sort of a closing ceremony. I'm only joking, realistically it's just closing the laptop and that means my day is over. But I do coaching calls and things in the evening as well. So it normally gets opened up again.

Speaker 1:

But, like I say, it is a lifestyle business. So if I want to go and do something, I can go and do it. But I also know that I've got knuckle down and work as well, and that's really where I am now. Of course, if I was working a nine to five, then I would just try and get up a bit earlier, do the tasks that needed doing before the world catches up with me and get myself stuck in. Why? Because that's the only way you're actually going to get out of the rat race, the only way you're going to be able to build this property business. So let me leave you with a few sort of I don't know top tips, for want of a better word. But I always say when you start, think about the future. Okay, so make sure that you are.

Speaker 1:

Whatever you're doing now, it's working towards that vision that you have for your life in the future, of where you want to live, who you want to be around and how you want your day-to-day to look. Then work backwards. What are the actions you need to take to do that? Don't leave this down to anybody else. It has to be you that does it. I see a lot of people, particularly when they're starting out, with the herd mentality. I know because I had it when I was there as well. They team up with people. We'll do a JV. We'll do a JV Even when you don't need to do a JV. Why? Because you think to yourself I can hide behind somebody. You can't hide behind anybody. And even if you do do a JV, you still need to be the lead person. If you're both trying to act like that, you will fly. If you're both trying to hide behind each other, you'll end up resenting each other. Nothing will happen and it will soon dissolve. So don't leave this for anybody else to do. You have to do it.

Speaker 1:

Pull your socks up, pull your sleeves up, roll them up. Roll them up and get cracking on it. Plan out what you need in your business, your property business, before you need it. That was a big mistake for me. So if you are looking at building up you know, a nice rent to rent business or something you don't have to start spending money on things just yet, but have a plan of what you think you're going to need in the future. It goes all the way back to your vision of how you want your property business to be run, managed and the day to day of it. You don't. As I say, things will change. Technology changes all the time, so there's probably systems out there that by the time potentially when you get to wanting to use these types of systems. There'll be new ones anyway, but at least have an idea for that.

Speaker 1:

Bring people in. Bring family members in. Get people on board friends and family. Talk to them about these things. You don't have to bore them with them, but if you can get a bit of input from them, you'll get a bit of buy-in as well. So my wife doesn't have anything to do with my property businesses okay, and she's got no interest in them whatsoever. But I still talk to her about them in such a way that I like a bit of advice. She might tell me what I already know, or she might tell me something really, really, you know, good or interesting from a different perspective. If I incorporate that then into my business, because it does work well, she feels like she's bought into it a bit, so she's got more of a ventured interest in it. And make it fun, have fun with people. We're only here once at the end of the day.

Speaker 1:

So if you're struggling to get deals and things, make a game out of it. How many people do I need to talk to before I get a yes? Right, let's build on a ratio. How many letters? What am I doing with my marketing and things. Make a game of it. Follow people as well. Follow people that are doing what it is you want to do. Follow them, friend them, reach out to them and if they've got products or whatever, then look at those products. If they've got free products I used to look at everybody's free products then look at the free products, see what standard they're at and see if there's somebody that can really help you supercharge your results. Don't be afraid to try different systems in your business and just check things out. And, of course, it all starts and stops with you. You fail when you stop. So if you don't stop and you don't quit, then you will not fail.

Speaker 1:

Okay, this has been, probably, looking at it now and thinking about it, a bit of a mismatch of a podcast. I've been here, there and everywhere with this, but it really does. The buck stops with you. So know the vision that you want, the lifestyle, how much income, everything that you want write, write it down, write it into existence. Then break it down into tasks and goals. What goals do I need to hit on a monthly basis, potentially on a yearly basis, to get me where I want to be?

Speaker 1:

Okay, rent to rent for me has been a platform to now buy property, to start investing and building up my own portfolio, and also giving me a bit of time freedom to be able to help some other people do exactly the same. So check out thepropertyunleashedcom for free tools, training and resources that we put out there. And reach out to me on social media. I'll never message you first, because there's people that copy your accounts and then message you about cryptocurrencies and things that's not me. Message me, though, and I will reply to you or a member of my team will reply to you, but get yourself out there and when you've got your goals in place, make sure, then, that you just break it down into bite-sized chunks, tasks that need to be done week on week, day on day, and if they're repetitive tasks and no doubt in the beginning they will be repetitive tasks Don't give yourself a hard time thinking you're not doing enough. As long as you are doing enough, okay, it will be repetitive, because that is what gets you there. Being consistent and persistent and doing the right stuff will get you the results that you want.

Speaker 1:

I hope you've enjoyed this episode. I've certainly enjoyed it, and I look forward to you joining me in the next episode very soon. You take care, keep pushing yourself forward and I'll see you later. Bye for now. Thank you for listening. Guys, I hope you've enjoyed this episode. Please subscribe and share the podcast with others, and if you could take a minute to leave the show a review, that would really mean in. Guys, I hope you've enjoyed this episode. Please subscribe and share the podcast with others, and if you could take a minute to leave the show a review, that would really mean a lot to me as well. Lastly, why not head over to the Property Unleashed Facebook group, and if you do, I'll see you there. Take care and make sure you keep focusing on your vision. Bye for now.