A short interview-style YouTube video (Mark Simpson, Aug 5, 2020) in which two speakers discuss scaling a serviced accommodation (SA) business. Speaker A grew from a background in a family computer shop to running a portfolio of about 65 units. Key themes: avoid growing too fast, systemize early, invest in structure and teams, and build strong relationships with cleaners, maintenance, agents and clients. Speaker A emphasizes that systems allow the team to run most operations, though management and motivation remain necessary.
Questions this video answers
65 units
Chapters
It was really like a big eye opener that, like, you know, if you try and grow too quick, you can. You will fall in your bums, should we call it?
You've got 65 units, which is phenomenal. What was your background before you actually got into the world of SA and property?
I was working at a family computer shop, selling, you know, fixing computers.
When was the coaching company for people started?
Well, what we've done really well was we systemized immediately as we started the business and we spent a lot of time investing in sort of like structure and so it was smoother.
What was being your biggest takeaway in these last two years from you being there with Matt, getting your first key from the estate agent to now where you've got, let's say, 65 units, which is intense.
Example number one is it's all built on relationships. I am how we are now with everybody that I meet, whether it's with our cleaning team, whether it's our maintenance team, agents, you know, whoever it might be, my clients. Like, I'm the same with every person. My goal is to reinforce our relationships and always be improving them. Right. Because business is built off the back of that.
What has been the favorite failure that you've done and how did you learn from it and what did you do to correct it to make sure that it never happened again?
I'd say my favourite failure is not related to this business. It was related to the office products business. Business. I learned the value and the importance of systems in a team. We started off getting stuck in doing a lot of the do ourselves. Then we built a team that took a lot of that pressure away from us. Then we had systems and then we built a bigger team. And now we're in a position where the team control, like, 95% of what goes on. Right. So is it passive still? No, it's not Passive team still needs to be managed. You still gotta motivate, you still gotta inspire, still got to educate, you still got to communicate.
