Week 26: Six Months In And Stoke On Trent

I took a bit of a detour this month by practicing ‘digital minimalism’, and guess what; I didn't die nor did the business collapse! This backing off period was necessary as it gave me the opportunity to step away from the branding side of things to embark on the practical element. During lockdown, social media was a great tool to use as being  housebound there was very little one can actually do. Recently I have witnessed a shift whereby businesses are coming out of hibernation again. So during this transition period I took the focus off of social media to formulate and activate my strategy/ies. This extra time gave me the ability to concentrate on what was important and what will bring the money in. Social media is great to showcase your business, bring awareness and a platform where you seek ‘to serve’ not ‘sell’ to customers. What a lot of people do wrong is to use it as a place to advertise and engage in both hard and soft sales. This is very dangerous grounds and out right off putting. 

According to Pareto Principle? 80% of your results will come from 20% of your efforts…

Which leads me to think what an earth am I doing the rest of this time? This is where my blogging, podcasting, education & research and social media comes in. So if the profit is not derived from the above then what am I doing wrong? Simple; ‘viewings’. The more properties you see the more of a chance to turn these into deals which in turn will put money into your pockets. It really is a numbers game. I knew I had to make some changes as my business was coming to the end of its first six months of trading and let's face it, it wasn't great! I don't want to be one of those people to make excuses and put the blame on the Corona outbreak. Yes, many businesses have gone down yet others have continued with the introduction of some measures. First of July I will have hit six month with no properties to show! Hence, the digital minimalism helped me re-focus on the primary principles of looking at houses (working with agents), doing the math (deal analysis) and sourcing finance (by submitting applications to lenders). 

This week kicked off with my first viewing in the area of Stoke-on-Trent. Why Stoke on Trent? I hear you say. Remember when I mentioned that article 4, a legislation that has been passed to stop new applications for shared accommodation has been passed in Birmingham which has made new applications almost impossible. I decided to look into other (kinda local) areas to perhaps make my purchases there. Stoke-on-Trent is a cute city located in the beautiful Staffordshire. With affordable housing compared to mainland Birmingham. It has a steady economy, growing rental demand and attracting first time buyers with more and more people moving into the region, but, everything comes with a ‘but’! Previously, house prices here have not increased much in the past decade or so and seemed stagnant. However, it is showing signs of incremental increase in the years to come. Could this be the next gold mine area? Could investing outside of my neighbourhood prove more beneficial? Stay tuned in next few weeks to see how I get on as I have some viewings booked for this area.