Your Total Guide To business

2020 – What A Year In Business For Me & My Business!

In only my fourth year of my business, I have had some amazing highlights in a year which has presented challenges on an unprecedented scale. I’m not ashamed to say right now that during these last 12 months, life and business has been a roller coaster for me, my family and for many.

As a society we’ve been locked down, masked up, shut in, isolated in order to face a pandemic which has ravaged families up and down the UK and across the world. We’ve seen the helpers emerge with our keyworkers putting themselves in harm’s way to protect us as far as they can. Many have lost their lives in doing so.
There will be many lessons to be learned across government, society and in all of our communities when it comes to 2020. We can all learn lessons and we can all be thankful if we’ve not had the virus, or we’ve had it and survived it or if our loved ones have. As a new year dawns, we hope that the vaccination will provide a route out of this pandemic for us all. I hope you enjoy my business highlights of 2020.

My Business Highlights:

There have been several highlights for this year, yet the top of my list was having my work recognised and celebrated. As a small business, which is still young to be seen as being at the top of my sector was humbling.

PM50 awards

The Property Management 50 awards were created in 2019, to provide a platform for recognition and celebration of Property Managers, who, as the back bone of the industry often go unrecognised for the work they do in supporting their customers. The PM50 awards acknowledges those people who have through incredible dedication and, in many cases, go above and beyond to support their customers.

I’m particularly proud of winning this, because it was awarded by my own industry, and I certainly do value my clients. I take pride in what I call ‘intangible customer service’. I’m employed to do certain jobs within and around the developments that I manage.

However, I never forgot these blocks are actually ‘homes’ not just bricks and mortar. As soon as it was clear that Covid19 was going to impact us very badly, I knew it was time to step up and support those whose homes I manage. During lockdown, along with my team at Fraser Allen, I set up a group of volunteers to help those living in managed developments who were vulnerable or shielding. We helped with things like food shopping, collection of prescriptions or medicines, attending vital medical appointments, posting letters or just giving them a call to check they were ok. Each one of these things are little in itself yet they mount up to a big deal for each individual in need.

As one of 14 winners, from over 450 nominations, it was wonderful to be recognised by the judges as Property Manager of the Year, saying,

“Jodie always considers her customer’s needs and then takes it one step further. Her attention to detail, insight into future needs and commitment to her personal CPD is second to none. I’ve never met someone so focused and driven to provide the best service.”

Small Business 100

My next highlight was to be part of Small Business 100 or #smallbiz100. Running for eight years, this campaign promotes the ethos of supporting independent small businesses, from retailers to local suppliers. The campaign is built around buying local on Small Business Saturday, which is usually the first Saturday in December.

You enter and then wait to see if you are one of just a handful of businesses from across the UK that the campaign will single out for special recognition across its substantial social media platforms and as case studies for its 2020 campaign.

Each of the 100 small businesses have the opportunity to be highlighted throughout the year. I felt honoured to be chosen to take part, and Fraser Allen was highlighted on Saturday 5th September. I chose to work with an independent solicitor, offering my time to assist the general public with queries regarding leasehold property management and property law. Then Lockdown part 2 came and we were unable to hold a physical event, however I do plan in 2021 to hold such an event when it’s safe and possible to do so.

Business Expansion

Along with my team, we manage the homes of residents in apartment blocks across Bristol, Cheltenham and London. I had a goal of new clients for this year which inevitably had to change due to the pandemic. I reassessed that goal and I am so pleased to have successfully been appointed as managing agent to five new residential blocks with another beautiful development in Cheltenham, planned for January 2021. In other words, I’ve met my business goals! Yeah!

Finally this month, I was thrilled to be ‘Recognised as a Leader in Residential Block Management’ as part of the Business Elite Awards 2020, by SME News magazine. This is a perfect way to end the year for me in business and I’m very grateful on looking back for the positive things and people who have come my way.

What about the low points?

The main uncertainty to the year, as for everyone in business, was wondering how Covid-19 would affect my business and my clients.

Apart from worrying about my own friends and family, I was worried about some of our elderly or more vulnerable residents, wondering how they would manage if they felt isolated in their homes. I made sure we communicated with everyone, so all of our residents knew how they could contact us if needed.

In terms of the business, we have always been set up to work remotely, and have managed with web-based systems to meet as a team, and also where suitable, talk to clients.

Following the Government’s guidelines, we have managed the business successfully. We’ve got through this last year, with our ethos of treating residents, clients and contractors with the same care and respect as those closest to us.

My takeaways from this year are: