May’s Crawley Property Meet brought together property investors, landlords, developers, business owners and property professionals for another evening of learning, networking and sharing experience.
Held at the Sandman Signature London Gatwick, the evening combined a guest presentation on business growth with updates from our Resident Experts covering property finance, planning and development, and insurance and risk management.
As always, the presentations were only part of the evening. There was plenty of time for conversations, introductions and recommendations between people from across the local property community.
Julia Scoville: Building a Business That Doesn’t Depend on You
Our featured speaker for May was Julia Scoville of Red Lion Business Coaching, who joined us to share her “Built to Exit” philosophy.
Julia is a business coach and entrepreneur with experience in both business and property. Through Red Lion Business Coaching, she works with business owners who want to systemise and scale their companies, with a particular focus on creating businesses that can operate without being entirely dependent on their owners.
It’s a subject that has plenty of relevance within property.
Whether you’re building a property portfolio, running a development company, managing a lettings or serviced accommodation business, or providing professional services to the sector, growth can easily result in the owner becoming increasingly involved in day-to-day operations.
Julia’s presentation challenged attendees to think differently about what they were building.
Have You Built a Business – or a Job?
One of the central ideas of Julia’s session was the distinction between owning a business and creating a job for yourself.
A successful business can still become heavily dependent on its owner. Decisions, relationships, processes and knowledge can gradually become concentrated around one person, making it difficult for that person to step away without things slowing down or stopping altogether.
Julia encouraged attendees to think about the business as an asset in its own right.
Her session explored themes including freedom, scalability, recurring income and long-term value, asking attendees to consider what would need to change for their business to operate effectively without them constantly being at its centre.
This ties closely to Julia’s wider work at Red Lion Business Coaching. Her 7 Steps Growth Plan starts with the end goal and works backwards, helping business owners identify the systems, capacity and processes required to build a more scalable operation.
For property business owners in the room, it prompted some useful questions.
Could the business continue without you? Are important processes documented? Is knowledge shared across the team? Does growth automatically mean more work for the owner, or are you building the systems and capacity to support it?
It was a thought-provoking session that sparked plenty of conversation amongst attendees balancing business growth with capacity and their longer-term plans.
Updates From Our Resident Experts
Our Resident Experts are an important part of Crawley Property Meet, bringing specialist knowledge from different areas of the property industry and providing practical updates for the community.
Property Finance – David Farmer
David Farmer of Lime Finance Solutions discussed some of the factors influencing property and commercial finance.
David explained how swap rates can affect mortgage pricing and also highlighted the importance of thinking ahead when it comes to company accounts and borrowing structures.
For landlords and property investors planning future purchases or refinancing, the way a business and its finances are structured today can have an impact on the finance options available later.
Planning & Development – Wayne Greenway
Wayne Greenway of Greenway Associates shared a Green Belt development case study from Reigate, demonstrating the potential that can sometimes be unlocked through a creative and informed approach to planning.
The example followed a property purchased for £480,000 which, following redevelopment, achieved a valuation of £2.3 million.
It provided a useful real-world example of why understanding planning potential can be so important when assessing property and development opportunities.
Property Insurance & Risk – David Lucas Balaguer
David Lucas Balaguer of Coversure, Molesey looked beyond simply purchasing an insurance policy and discussed the wider subject of risk management for property investors, developers and contractors.
Using real-world examples, David highlighted potential gaps involving areas such as flood risk, cyber protection and underinsurance.
He also discussed rebuild cost assessments and the importance of making sure the level of cover reflects the actual cost of rebuilding a property.
For landlords and investors with growing portfolios, it was a useful reminder that insurance requirements should be reviewed as properties, businesses and risks change.
You can also meet our Resident Experts and learn more about their areas of expertise on the Crawley Property Meet Resident Experts page.
Property Networking in Crawley
While our speakers and Resident Experts provide plenty to learn from, Crawley Property Meet has always been about more than presentations.
The networking gives attendees the opportunity to meet other property investors, landlords, developers, trades, business owners and professional advisers from Crawley, West Sussex and the surrounding areas.
That might mean finding someone who can help with a current project, asking for a recommendation, discussing an opportunity or simply meeting people facing similar challenges.
May’s event was a good example of this, with conversations continuing throughout the evening and attendees exchanging ideas, contacts and recommendations.
For people newer to property, it’s also an opportunity to build a network and learn from people already active within the industry, while more experienced investors and professionals can develop new relationships and find opportunities to collaborate.
Hosted by Property Professionals, for the Property Community
Crawley Property Meet is hosted by Simon Pither of PaTMa and Rachael Bosanquet of My Freelance Admin.
Simon brings his experience from PaTMa, which provides property and tenant management software, while Rachael and the My Freelance Admin team provide outsourced business and operational support to businesses, including those working within the property sector.
Together, they continue to develop Crawley Property Meet as a welcoming place for the local property community to connect, share knowledge and build useful professional relationships.
Join Us at Crawley Property Meet
If you’re involved in property – whether you’re an investor, landlord, developer, business owner or professional supporting the industry – we’d love to welcome you.
View our upcoming Crawley Property Meet events and come along to the next one.