Just when I thought I'd cracked it - the rain came

67

I flew through my list of jobs yesterday. The walls and ceiling of the 2nd garage that I'm converting into an office are painted and ready to go. I've painted the fascias of the garage and checked out the roof. A few small holes in the felt lining were found, but I've now filled these and it will be watertight for the Summer at least. Other odd bits around the house have been completed and I was ready to tackle the garden today. A man with a chainsaw took down the hideously overgrown tree in the front that was blocking the light and would eventually cause issues with its roots. The first job today was (and in all likelihood still is) to remove all of it to the local tip.

And then the rain came.

It's rained quite heavily for most of the night, so jobs like mowing the lawn, weeding, edging, etc just can't be done. Other jobs today included laying more stones at the peaceful spot at the end of the garden and putting up wall planters. This probably can't be done in weather conditions like this and I'll have to see if the rain stops later on in the day.

This was going to be the two days when I got everything for the house sorted for the coming Spring and Summer. Now the garden stuff and the outside cleaning (fascia and outside upstairs windows) has fallen by the wayside. There are always things to do and with the recent collapse and rebuild of my PC, I have plenty of things I can be getting in with - but none that complete an area of concern fully and allow me to move on. The next day set aside for this will be Sunday, and this is dependent on how the recovery from Saturday's wedding goes!

I'm still moving forward with the next thing method of compartmentalising my life, but there seems so much to do and so little time to do it in, as has been said before.

I'm not 100% sure whether I have mentioned this in my blog before, but one of the ways I generate an income is to complete online surveys. I'm signed up with 5 of these survey sites and they send me surveys several times a week each. You answer some basic profiling questions at the start and these filter you in or out of the earning part of the survey. Each survey company has a different way of packaging the rewards (points, £'s, vouchers, PayPal income, prize draws) but basically they all add up to money in your pocket. I'd say I probably earn around £250 to £300 a year from this and it's great for Christmas and birthday presents. Well, I've got around 30 survey invites in my inbox, so there's a few hours if my time this afternoon.

If you're interested then give it a try.

I'm running out of ways to stall moving the business forward!

69

The house and garden will be ready this week, the website is built and live, I'll have the office basically ready in terms of walls and flooring so I'm actually running out of ways to put off opening this estate agency! I've still got a lot to do, but as Spring arrives I can finally see the wood from the trees and start to put in place finalised plans for how I will go forward. I will admit to you, and to myself, that it won't happen in the timeframe of 245 days that I initially set out. I have booked a holiday for later this year, so the day I booked that was really the day I gave up in opening before the time of the holiday. As I will set up the agency on my own, with perhaps some help from my wife, then I will need to be present all the time for probably the first year. I have no qualms with this, in fact I'm looking forward to it, but I need to be in a position to do this. I have two young children and I currently cherish the free time I have with them and holiday are always part of this. I will probably try to get three holidays in between now and when the business opens to set myself up for that year.

My photography course finished yesterday with the exhibition of our work. It was a good night and we all enjoyed having people look over our photographs but this is now finished until September with level 2.

The office itself still needs a desk, the garage door changing, a curtain and pole putting up to keep put noise and weather and then a good sort out. The doors and subsequently the curtain will have to change later but I should get everything else done this week, with the next two days off. This will give me a chance to finalise everything that I want done to home, garden and office and put me in a position to move forward.

When I've done this, the targets are background items that I hope will generate and income for me. The blogs that I write bring in a trickle of an income and this will continue and continue to rise but it will only ever reach a modest amount. The website will be both another channel for the blog and will possibly generate another small income from advertising. I will be writing some training material for the website, which will be paid-for by users. I am also most of the way through writing my second Kindle book to sell on Amazon and this will supplement the modest income I get from the first Kindle book.

All in all, I'm looking to have a small background income to support me as I start on this venture. I will need an income to support the family and I, whilst I set about the process of starting my estate agency business and the time it takes to generate an income.

Photography stalls as the light fails

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As I've mentioned before on my blog, I'm taking a course in photography at the local college. The reasons are professional and personal. Personally it's always interested me, and it's nice to have a hobby and to have like-minded people. Professionally I'm often appalled at estate agents photographs. The subject matter is often poorly chosen (bathrooms and toilets are a particular bugbear.) The photos are often poorly staged and badly composed. The images more often than not don't add to the overall appeal of the property and do nothing to sell it, which is their dole purpose.

I'm taking the course on its merits, trying to accept the whole of the teachings and to take photographs of portraits, landscapes, abstracts, etc and not just photos of interiors that will assist me in my future profession. I think that having a rounded skill set and being able to apply different skills and techniques will assist me in taking great photographs for my clients.

As the weather has turned colder and the evenings are darker earlier, the light has hugely affected my ability to, and inspiration for taking photographs. A large part of photography is understanding and playing with the light, and when the light changes so significantly so quickly it affects all the settings and I admit, has thrown me out.

I'm looking at taking my camera with me on Christmas shopping trips but I'm sure I'll be distracted by more pressing issues. I'm not overly sure about how many photos I'll get taken but any practice I can get will be beneficial to refining my art!

I need to enjoy family time without thinking of all the tasks I have to complete

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It's difficult at this time of year to find time to get everything done that you want. There are extra time pressures, such as Christmas shopping, Christmas meals and events and the weather and light closing in. This has the effect of making me think that I have little time to focus on all the business activities that I want to get done.

I have stalled a little on business grants, garage conversion and social media presence over the last fortnight and I think it's starting to take it's toll. I'm also doing fewer mystery shops and finding planning things like family days out a strain. My emails that need action are building up, as the surveys I need to conduct generally require a desktop or laptop computer rather than a smartphone screen.

I think that this is a natural thing at this time of year, but I'm finding it very frustrating. I want to be able to enjoy my time with the wife and kids without having a list as long as my arm at the back of my mind.

It's time to go back to the diary and to reassess what can be done in the time I have, and what can wait until the new year.

Is my degree a boost or a drain to my aspirations?

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Yes, I'm on the park and ride bus blogging again. Or waiting for the bus to arrive this morning. Not usually at this time of day, but when I travel a little later, I'm often surrounded by university students travelling around the city. It takes me back to my university days and gets me thinking about the relevance of my degree to the rest of my life.

Going through secondary school and sixth form college, it was always said to me that I should go and do a degree in something that interested me. What interested me then and still does now is language. So I chose a degree in linguistics. I found it fascinating and completed the 3 year course before thinking "what now?"

Teaching or researching in the field of linguistics didn't appeal to me, so I went out into the world of commerce,

Now to a lot of ends, a degree in linguistics means very little to a potential estate agent. To a lot of ends it can mean a great deal.

In my opinion, estate agency when carried out to its best, is a marketing activity. A chunk of marketing involves words and how they are put together to, in this case, sell properties. Add to this the ability to be creative and you have the right mix to be a leading and innovative estate agent, in my opinion.

As I have previously mentioned, I am currently on a photography course to increase my awareness and skills in the area of photography to enable me to be the best agent in my town at this. My experience in many industries in many roles will help me to look at the whole picture.

I would say that the moral of the story is to decide at the outset that your degree will match your career aspirations or will be flexible enough to support you in whatever you want to do.

Photographs from my time away

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I've been practicing my photography skills whilst away from "245 days" in the last week.  I am now trying to match the skills I am learning to the end product of photographing property and making it more saleable as a result.

This is my take on not following the crowd when I was in London and taking a photo of Big Ben.  I moved away from the tourist crowds and looked at the building through different eyes.  I hope to be able to use my eye for seeing something different and the framing effect when photographing houses.

This photo of the underside of a bridge in Central London is testament to my desire to overcome the fear of light and shadow in my photos.  In terms of taking photos of someone's property, the effect that light and shadows can have will add to the interest in the photo and hopefully this will translate into click-through.

The green and blues from the field and sky in this photo and setting up what I want to do when taking marketing photos of the gardens that belong to my client's property.  I see so many photos taken that do not conform to the rule of thirds, and this does the garden a disservice.  Being able to see the sky too will remind potential buyers of what they will be in the garden for.

I think that a lot of estate agents are afraid to embrace the seasons as they may date the property, and how long it has been on the market.  As an agent that believes he will sell every property quickly, I don't have this hang-up.  It's also really easy to go back to the property and re-take any photos that may be a giveaway that the property has been on the market for a little while - Autumn l;eaves, snow, Christmas decorations, paddling pools, etc.

Taking these photos has helped me to think about the photographer, estate agent and marketer that I want to be.

Options for my home office

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I've started my home garage, changing it from this-

and now, today I've got to this point-

Whilst spending my day painting the walls and floor with a weatherproof sealant, I have been thinking about what the next steps will be in converting this space into an office that will allow me to work in quiet and comfort, whatever the weather conditions outside.  First consideration has been to waterproof the walls and floor, as the UK winter (and often the other seasons) can have a big impact on the security and safety of this potential workspace.  It has flooded more than once, through the walls from the outside garden flower beds, so I have accentuated the beds and put in more plants to soak up any excess water.  Next step is to make the office a place where I can work and be inspired to market properties as well as I can.

Options-

Option	Pros	Cons
Leave it as it is	Least cost and time/effort            Has the effect of a New York loft	Will be more expensive to heat, as there is no insulation
Another coat of white paint	Low cost and effort again            A blank canvas to add pictures and effects to inspire	Doesn’t solve the heat and insulation problem
Lining the walls with an insulating material	Will help to keep long-term heating costs down            Cheapest option that involves further action	Major concerns over building regulations            Brings fire safety issues in to play            Time and money to source the right materials at the right cost
Line the walls and then plaster/board over and decorate	Will look like a conventional office            Will be more insulated and save on heating costs	Expense starts to grow            Sourcing materials is even more costly and time consuming than above
Pay a builder to convert officially	Will add value to my home            Will be official and legitimate	High cost solution to what may be a temporary problem            Will accentuate my desire to permanently work from home, rather than eventually build up the business to an office base.

I am genuinely undecided about the best way forward, as I want this to be a low-cost solution to a problem, for the time period that I am working from home, and I also want it to be weather-proof, comfortable, safe and inspiring.

Decision time will be my next full day off work, 2 weeks from now.

Social media as a platform to reach other like-minded professionals

230 I've been getting involved in discussions with other estate agents and entrepreneurs on various social media platforms. I think a debate, and the ability to have discussions, share ideas and generally talk about the industry with other people is heartening and useful. I'm mainly coming across useful content and discussions on LinkedIn social media site, under the Estate Agents UK Networking Group. Once on there, you can ask questions, start discussions, respond to other people's content, or just have a read of what other people have put there. I have found posting specific questions about marketing get a good response and generally start a lively debate, where people share their experience of that particular subject and usually have some strong views about it. I have developed in other areas on LinkedIn as well, as I have started to make connections with people I have worked alongside in estate agency over many years in the past. I think that having a network of people that you have shared experiences with and can trust their opinion will give you a testing ground for ideas and marketing projects. On other social media, I have developed another blog, based on the property market in my town - the idea is that as my knowledge of the market develops, and the content specifically related to the town builds, then I will become an authority in the property market where I will operate. This should lead to me being trusted and being sought out both by home sellers and landlords, for my experience and knowledge. This is also being serialised on the Facebook page that I have set up relating to the town I will operate in. I am using the town for my photography practice, and posting these photos on the page as well. I also add links to local events and local news to ensure that the page stays fresh and interesting. I use Twitter to publish links to my Blogger pages, so that I can reach a wider audience with my blog, and likewise with Tumblr, where I can also share a lot more of my photos and my thoughts about them. All-in-all I am finding that the links I can make via social media are becoming more and more useful to establish my presence in the local market and to add to my connections with people who have a similar outlook and will give me honest feedback. I urge anyone to give it a go!


 

Facing my fears

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Ive had a couple of nights of poor sleep and I think I know why. I'm formulating, cojitating, weighing up and thinking about setting up my own estate agency with every spare minute, and the parts I fear loss of control over are starting to get to me. I don't lie awake at night specifically thinking about these things, but I'm sure that the constant thought and planning must weigh on my mind most of the time. 

I always find looking over these issues and then talking them over quite cathartic, so I'll put them in print here, and then discuss them with my wife later today or early tomorrow, and look at how to tackle these issues. There are 2 main issues that are starting to bother me at the moment.

The Rightmove question

This one for me is the biggest question, and possibly the biggest monthly overhead. My intention at first is to either go without Rightmove from the beginning, or to offer it to customers as a pay-up-front additional extra. I do not believe that Rightmove is the be-all-and-end-all for estate agents, and I'm willing to back my judgement on that by not signing up with them.

However, I don't want to lose potential instructions by not offering it. I don't want to give the other agents in town a way to knocks service by stating that I'm missing a vital piece if the jigsaw.

Action : Speak to Rightmove and find out the cost of monthly listings. Also find out the possibility of pay-per-listing and the cost of this. From there I can see what a potential cost to my customer may be. I also need to provide a solid, reasoned argument as to why I won't be using Rightmove and have this ready to proactively address my customers concerns.

Industry resistance to online-only agents

I know that I shouldn't overly worry about what other people think of me, but it's not their thoughts, it's their potential actions. I read with interest, the following article last week-

http://www.propertyindustryeye.com/campaign-way-get-north-east-agents-quit-existing-portals-day/

And it regards estate agents in the North East of England coming together to all agree to remove themselves from Rightmove and Zoopla and all list their properties only in a new portal that specifically excludes online-only estate agents. Now this isn't my patch, but news can spread, and the ill feeling that estate agents with High Street offices have towards online-only agents is quite widespread. I don't want to end up

operating in a town with this level of animosity.

Action : To ensure that I know my own reasons and arguments for being an online-only estate agent. I will highlight my lower overheads, and explain that is why I am cheaper than the local agents with a High Street office and a team of staff they have to pay for whether bust or not. I thnk I'll push this as a selling point, rather than a weakness.

Everything I think I need to sort out before opening

228 After a whirlwind and scattergun start to my plans for opening an estate agency next year, I have decided that the next best step is to gather together all the aspects that I think I need to cover before the grand opening.

Here goes (in no particular order)-

• A new computer or laptop. My current one is fine for family use but I need a separate workstation with more memory.
• A dedicated telephone line for the business.  Either an extra landline at home or a dedicated mobile phone and number.
• Sorting out the 2nd garage at the rear of the house that I will convert into an office space.
• Furniture for this home office, including a desk, lockable filing cabinets, chairs and stationery.  I have an old dining room table, dining chairs, an office chair, a sideboard, a wardrobe, a chest of drawers and some other smaller pieces of furniture in the garage already, so some of these will be re-used or upcycled.
• A cashflow forecast and business plan for the first year of trading.
• I need a website designed and built.  The design and content are still to be decided, and will take the form of a complete blog of it's own.
• I need to source a provider of for sale boards, design what my boards will look like and have them produced.
• I need to get a grip on what advertising I will use, how it will look, where it will appear, etc.  This is a massive subject and will be it's own blog subject in the future.
• I'm looking at links to the local community to run alongside my advertising and other marketing.  I'm thinking about links to a local school, a local sports club and some other community projects.  I will provide them with support and financial help, maybe with a twist.
• I will need a solicitor for 2 reasons.  Firstly for advice for setting up my business as a legal entitiy, then a reliable referral point for any conveyancing business that I come across.
• An accountant, for the setting up of the business as well.  I will need advice regarding how to set up the business, whether a sole tradership, a partnership or a limited company will best serve my needs.
• I will need to open a business bank account, with online access, but also a local branch for paying in any rent money taken in cash or by cheque.
• A final decision on whether I open with sales and lettings.  If I have lettings as well then I will need contacts for the management of the properties, such as electricians, plumbers, glaziers and central heating engineers.
• I will be looking into the availability of business grants in my area to help with the set-up costs.  As I type this, I have now put this to the top of my mental list.
• I have an idea about becoming a "hybrid" of online and offline state agents by using the window of a High Street business to display my properties and contact details.  I'll need to look into this and start to speak to local businesses about the possibility of this.
• I will need to register with the ombudsman service for estate agency, look at membership of the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) and, if relevant, the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA)
• I will need to look at contacting, and forging a working relationship with a local mortgage adviser that will be able to assist my clients with their financial needs.
• Likewise with a local surveyor, especially for clients that are buying without arranging finance.
• I have spoken to several companies in the past that supply a software tool for managing an estate agency.  A sort of client and property database, with the ability to upload properties to portals, match clients with properties, email property details to clients and other daily functions.
• On that note, I will need to look at which property portals I am considering and from there, look at costs and fit this into my marketing plan.
• I will need to look at several levels of insurance - any changes to my car insurance, any changes to my home insurance from having a business operate from home and any business insurance I need for operating in clients homes.
• I will most probably set up a charitable foundation where any fundraising will go.  I also intend to donate a percentage of my profits to this charitable foundation.  In the early stages of my thought process, I want some of this money to go to a local charity and some to go to a charity related to housing, maybe Shelter.

I know that this won't be a comprehensive list, and other things will pop up as time goes by.  If anyone has any ideas, suggestions or can see any glaring ommissions then please let me know!

Last photos from week 2 of my photography course - slow shutter speed

These are the last 2 pictures I took tonight, using a slow shutter speed of 30 seconds to capture the movements of traffic (and traffic lights) on a busy road and a busy roundabout. The first one is from above a motorway, and I left the caged bridge crossing in the picture to give it some focus and context-


 















The second photo is of a roundabout, with the same technique, slow shutter speed and a narrow aperture (to balance out the amount of light getting in) and this is of a roundabout.  I'm not 100% happy with this - I could have done with a more elevated position and a busier time of day, but the movement of the car lights and the traffic lights is still evident-

As I said, this is all for this week, hopefully I'll learn some new techniques next week and I can move forward from there to develop my own style.

Photos from week 2 learnings on my photography course

233

As I have mentioned in previous blogs, I have enrolled and am participating in a photography course at the local college. It's a 20 week course, so the idea is that I am prepared to take brilliant photographs of people's homes when the time comes and I am marketing property. I will also extend my current website, where I have exhibited and sold my photographs- My new photos for this week are as follows- This is another experiment with depth of view, where I set the camera up to have a clear view of the first cupboard handle, with the others fading out of view. This is by setting a shallow aperture, and leaving the shutter speed at 1/60. Another experiment with depth of view was with the kids sitting on the sofa, playing on their iPods-

 


The next two photos are in the same style, working with the depth of field to get the subject at the front in focus, with a blurred background-





 Both are just attempts to play with my new camera and have an understanding of what I can do with it. The final photo for this week is using a very fast shutter speed to capture a single moment in time linked to the movement of my eldest when playing in the garden. He was throwing a conker and I managed to capture it's movement just as it was reaching the edge of the frame-




 Obviously these are basic exposures at the moment, and I'm experimenting with my Canon EOS 1200 digital SLR camera that I've only owned for 2 weeks.

The camera is a
 

The tripod I've bought and used is -

Managing my home budget to save costs when the business first opens

237

I've been looking at my finances, and how I can make them a little leaner for the first few months of the Estate Agency, when the income column will be at zero, or just above.  Family outgoings are a major concern of mine in relation to the cost of setting up an estate agency.  I currently have a full-time income that covers all of these costs with a little left over at the end of every month.  I would err on the side of caution with when the income starts to flow, and I think that probably 6 months is a good estimate for the process of-

• setting up the agency
• gaining instructions
• getting a sale agreed
• avoiding any fall-throughs
• completing the sale

On that basis, I have adapted my current spreadsheet as follows-

Date	Who	How much	First few months of estate agency
1st	Kids swimming lessons	£38.00	£38.00
2nd	Income Protection	£21.44	£0.00
2nd	TV licence	£12.18	£12.18
3rd	Car Insurance 1	£23.95	£20.00
3rd	Water	£43.28	£43.28
5th	Pension	£60.00	£0.00
8th	Car Insurance 2	£26.04	£26.04
8th	Home Insurance	£15.80	£15.80
9th	Critical Illness Insurance	£45.15	£45.15
10th	TV & Broadband Package	£96.35	£50.00
15th	Council Tax	£137.00	£137.00
15th	Gas & Electric	£120.00	£100.00
25th	Life Assurance	£15.32	£15.32
25th	Mobile Phone Bill	£23.20	£28.00
	TOTAL	£677.35	£530.41
	Plus-
	Savings Account	£100.00	£0.00
	I S A	£100.00	£0.00
	Petrol	£80.00	£80.00
	Car account	£20.00	£20.00
	Sundries	£50.00	£0.00
	Total Extras	£350.00	£100.00
	New full total	£1,027.35	£630.41

I can save on the extra savings I put aside, such as the pension, savings accounts and ISA, as these can be restarted when my income returns.

I can save on the TV by switching from the all-singing-all-dancing package I currently have to a more toned-down version or a cheaper supplier than Sky.  Anyway, I hopefully won't have enough time for TV!

My sundries is for snacks, drinks and meals when I'm out at work currently, but with the home office, these will all be taken at home from the food budget (the wife's department!)

The savings of £396.94 per month will provide a cushion in the first few months of the business while my attention is elsewhere, and I won't want the worry of having to focus on the day-to-day running of the house.

I don't know how I feel about laying this budget bare on the internet for all to see (should they want to) but in myself it aids the organisation of my life around the business and allows me to move forward in terms of control and understanding of where I want to be and need to be to make this business as successful as I possibly can.  It has also crystalised a discussion I had with my wife earlier today - I thought about opening the agency today, and then trying to piece it together as I went along.  I now know that I want it to be opened fully up-and-running and ready to trade from day 1.  So preparation is the key.

Budget Planners from Amazon

Clearing out my garage to make way for a home office

242

I have taken on the task of clearing out 20 years worth of junk from my garage top make it a cleaner, safer area to set up a home office, so I can work in peace when I need to.  It did not all get cleared away today, as there was much more rubbish in there than I first feared.  eBay has found itself with the following items for sale added to it's already bulging inventory-

• 6 used (but still working) radiators
• 2 lampshades
• a king-size bed
• a wardrobe
• a dining room table
• countless soft toys and kids clothes
• a car radio
• 40 books
• 4 louvre rails, including 1 for a bay window

If you need any of this stuff then just get in touch!

The initial idea is that I have a refuge for when the kids are at home, somewhere that I can use to send emails, make calls and be creative.  It will also be the base for any other activities that I carry out, such as the blog, any photography work I get and my other business selling books and games online via Amazon and eBay.  It won't receive clients, as my estate agency will be online, so it can be my "den" where I can surround myself with things that inspire and comfort me.

It's a single-shell brick-built garage, and I live in a wet part of the UK, so the first step is to get it empty, get the floor, walls and ceiling interior sealed and check the roof (although I think it's in a pretty good state.)  From there I will decide how much time and money I want to put towards insulating the inside and then the interior decoration will be quite minimal, based on what I already own plus anything I find at car boot sales or online.  Basic comfort, plus the ability to be able to work in peace are the important considerations.

Once all the items are sold or disposed of, then I can start on preparing the interior.

Home Office furniture options from Amazon

Field trip to practice some techniques learnt from my photography course

242

I've been into town to practice some of the techniques that I have been learning at my night school photography course.  I tries to create 2 types of photo based on adjusting the shutter speed on the camera.

The first is based on a quick shutter speed, to capture a split second in the movement of something quick.

I did struggle in a city to find something to get close enough to, to capture the essence of the technique, but I'm quite pleased with this effort from a distance.  Sunday will bring a trip to the seaside to try some more similar shots of the sea and the kids running through the sand.

The second photo is using a slow shutter speed to create an exposure that captures the essence of movement, rather than a split second in time.

I know it's quite derivative, and I haven't found my own style yet, but I like the ability to use the techniques I have learnt to gain the confidence in my skills before looking for my own style.  I have ordered a tripod from Amazon to ensure that all of the movement is in the subject, not in the camera.

Once I have the tripod, I will be able to take longer exposure photographs with more confidence.

First work using learnings from my photography course

243

This is the first of my work on depth of view/depth of field after my first two photography classes.  The idea is that the closest flower is in complete focus and the shallow depth of field leaves the other flowers out of focus/blurred in the background.

And I've gone for the same effect when photographing my eldest, here. He appears so much closer than the sofa he is sitting on, and the rest of the background.

And my final effort with roses from the garden.

I am using this course and the grasp of basic techniques to look at how I might develop my style and how I might make the most of the marketing photos I will use when I open my estate agency.  I'm off into town tomorrow, so I'll look at using some more of this week's techniques there.

Don't forget that all of these have been taken with the Canon EOS 1200D DSLR camera.

The issue of my current employment

244

This is a quick post, and more of a sounding board and open question (probably to myself.)

I am struggling to motivate myself to work for someone else at the moment. In the big picture, I work for a multinational retailer. In the small picture I work for a boss who has been parachuted in from the graduate programme and doesn't know either the business or how to manage people.

I am thinking about a reduction in hours (from full-time) or a change in location (temporary relief from my manager) to maintain sanity for the next 244 days.

A full-time salary will come in useful, but not to the point where it may detriment the amount of time I can spend on settng up the estate agency.

A change of scene would keep me fresh in the run up to retail Christmas and provide a welcome distraction from the in-depth rigours of setting up my own business in my spare time.

I think I'll go and have a chat with my line manager. I'll keep you posted.

Name Your Link

I've enrolled in a photography course to improve my marketing photos

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I have started a photography course at the local college on a Monday evening, so last night was my 2^nd lesson.  The reason I have taken the course is so I can learn some basic and then more advanced techniques for the marketing photos I will use when selling my clients property.

The first 2 lessons are of a rather basic nature, but it is about understanding the fundamentals of photography and learning all about my camera, so that I can take the photos I want.  It’s all about telling the camera what I can see and what I want it to capture.  I have the theory locked away, regarding the setting of shutter aped and aperture to get the right amount of light into the lens and to create the perfect exposure.  Next step is to put it into practice, where I need to attempt to produce the following effects-

• ·        Changing the aperture to create different depth of view shots
• ·        Trying a long shutter speed to capture movement in an exposure
• ·        Trying a very fast shutter speed to capture a split second in time of a moving object

I’ll post the results on here, so we can monitor my progress over the 20+ weeks of the course.

The camera I have bought to create all my photographs is a Canon EOS 1200D DSLR camera and I think for the level of photography I will reach and need it is more than adequate.  It came with an 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 lens, which will be sufficient for all but the wide-angle lens shots that I will create both on the course, and for the agency.

It's early days, yet but if you're looking for a reasonably-priced entry-level DSLR then I can heartily recommend it.

Reading marketing books to spark my creative brain

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I've taken on a lot of reading this weekend to get my brain going and start some ideas processes relating to my estate agency.

The main area I've looked at is marketing and how the business sits in the market.

I've read two books this weekend-

Brilliant Marketing by Richard Hall

And

The Cluetrain Manifesto by Rick Levine, Christopher Locke, Doc Searls and David Weinberger

Brilliant Marketing is a good starter book to get ideas about the process of marketing your business or products. It's probably meant more for someone who works in the marketing industry (particularly a marketing department of a large company or a large consultancy) but there are ideas there that will spark your interest and get your process in order.

I have taken ideas from the book regarding how I should look at the marketing of my business.

1- Setting out what makes us different

2- Deciding what my market is

3- Deciding where my market converse

I am different for many reasons, and I have decided to make a list of what I think sets me apart and to ask friends and family what they would want from an estate agent, from the list. I'm also going to look into the Survey Monkey site to see if I can set up a survey to assess the same, but with a wider audience. Twitter, Facebook and my blog will probably be the forums for this activity.

My market is firstly the town I'll be operating in, but I want to define it further. I will operate as a sales and lettings agent, but I think that with the marketing techniques I'll be using and the overwhelming emphasis I'll put on customer service, I want to be targeting the middle to top end if the market. I want to just concentrate on my town as well. I see many agents that sell in  satellite towns but I really want to establish myself as the expert in MY town.

Where my market converse is a slightly trickier one, as I won't have a High Street office - I'm going to operate as a local online agent. I'm looking into renting/borrowing window space from a retailer in the local High Street, but I feel that online has more mileage than offline in today's market. I have set up 2 online ventures today that I think will assist me in my quest to direct local online traffic to my website. I have set up a Facebook page for the town and a blog on the housing market in the town.  My intention is that the first is a conduit for local people to discuss local issues and the second to establish my voice as an authority on the housing market in the area.

I see modern marketing of a property as a partnership between the expertise of the agent and the reach via social media of the vendor.

First day done!

245 days to open an estate agency

In 245 days, I intend to open my own estate agency. I have developed ideas, formulated plans, blogged on estate agency matters and conversed on topics relating to estate agency matters but until today I've not taken any steps towards actually starting the business or the opening the agency, but today here goes…

I'll keep you updated on the different steps I take during the process, the ideas I have to make my agency different and any hints and tips I can share for anyone else interested in taking this journey.

For the sake of the anonymity of the others in my account and to not give a competitive advantage to the other agents in my town, I won't be naming the town I live in, which is the town I'll be opening in.