The One Page Guide To Total Real Estate Domination
By Paul Esajian on May 8, 2015
Flipping a house or two, and managing a handful of rentals can seem like a lot to the untrained investor. At the very least, investor business plans can take up volumes of space on a bookshelf. Yet, the founder behind Airbnb, which is arguably one of the most successful start-ups in the hospitality industry, recently told Fast Company that their entire annual plan is on just one sheet of paper. In fact, their entire plan for taking over the world of travel, hotels, and online bookings is on this one sheet!
So how is that possible? How big can you possibly go with one piece of paper? And why should you try it?
The Infamous One Sheet
For those not up to date on their tech news and Tweets; Airbnb plans to go from simple room bookings to getting into everything – from travel to car services. That may upset quite a few of the communities that have finally given users a break, and pulled back fines. After they were convinced that Airbnb wasn’t really a threat to existing businesses. The takeaways for real estate investors here, include:
- Keep thinking really big
- Decide what you are really building early
- Know where you are going
- Keep it simple
- Stay flexible
- A few words can change the world
Going Global
Why not? If you are going to do it, do it big! You can even take your current niche global. If you are focusing on high end condos in major cities, why stick with one city? Affordable housing? A lot of other countries need affordable housing more than the United States. Vacation rentals? The world is your oyster. Want to stay local? That’s okay; but what about marketing globally to bring buyers and investors to your area?
Deciding What You Are Really Building
Airbnb has unveiled that it doesn’t really think of itself just as a booking portal for private apartments and rooms, or even just as an application. It wants to be a community, and a global hospitality brand. Everything else is an extension of that, or a way to serve that vision. What are you really building? What business are you really in? How can that be improved upon? The earlier you decide, the better.
What To Add
There are almost endless add on businesses for real estate investors and real estate firms. They can bring diversification, extra revenue, consistency, and higher profit margins when bundled together. A few of these ideas might include:
- Property preservation services
- Contracting and rehabbing services
- Landscaping
- Internet advertising
- Info-products
- Title
- Insurance
- Credit repair
- Loans
- Investment opportunities
- Energy efficient improvements
- Home staging
- Interior design
- Concierge services
The options are almost infinite.
Focus
Having your master plan on one sheet makes it easy to share and get everyone on board with. It means simplicity and greater focus. Greater focus for you, and for everyone in your organization. Vendors too. It can incorporate key areas of growth, big goals, new business channels, and values.
The No Plan, Plan
Having no plan in the beginning is not the best strategy, but all CEOs and real estate investors should be willing to fail. Test and try things out. Besides; you can only see so far ahead. Things change by the hour.
Conclusion
Manuals, systems, checklists, books, in-depth market research, and business plans will all be a part of a successful real estate venture. But you can easily get lost, dig yourself into a hole, and limit your potential; unless you thing big and stay laser focused.
Can you roll with a one pager? How about one diagram?