What’s the difference between a “project” and a business model?

As someone who has tackled hundreds if not thousands of projects, I know the difference. It’s why now as a real estate investment and business coach, I preach using biz models instead of doing “projects.”

In my day, I created over 1,200 home sites in multiple subdivisions, dozens of office buildings and shopping plazas, started or managed a bazillion businesses like PETA (Presidential Executive Travel Apartments, ie, Airbnb before there was an Airbnb), Councillor Leasing and Finance, OBN (Ottawa Business News now OBJ, Ottawa Business Journal), TCCL, Terrace Corporate Centres Limited (mini-office, aka co-working space today), Blue Heron Storage (mini storage biz), Rentalex Tool & Equipment, industrial condo construction, leasing and sales, and many more not to mention building the Palladium (now called the Canadian Tire Centre where the NHL’s Ottawa senators play).

This random walk through a career made for interesting experiences, but it is not how to build a successful organization. It’s simply a reflection of an over-active imagination.

When you decide to start a new business, it’s a scary (but exciting) time. All organizations (even real estate startups!) need a business model so your success is not tied to a single project; instead, it’s more a part of a scalable, repeatable process. At least, that’s my view.

The difference between a “project” and a business model is that the former is more of a one-off while the latter is a focused and repeatable development or investment. The people who are most successful in real estate (not to mention tech and, indeed, all other sectors) are those who focus on one type of development or investment, getting better and better at it with each iteration. Owning a number of multi-residential buildings is as different from owning a series of small plazas as running a shoe store is from managing Facebook 😊 Business models also have within them a vector for fast growth…

The reason you need a sound business model is because I don’t want you to spend 3 or 4 and certainly not 10 or 20 years of your life pursuing things that simply aren’t going to work. So, one thing I can help you with is finding your true-life purpose (your why) and then making sure you surround it with a workable business model so the harder you work, the more money you’ll make.

You’d be surprised at how many folks have businesses that don’t really work, they do…

Anyway, after you have a high-functioning business model, you’ll need to FOCUS on it for a very long time and treat everything else that comes along as a hobby or, better yet, I give you permission to use a magic little word. And that word is:

NO

FOR REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT AND BUSINESS COACHING THAT’LL HELP YOU PROVIDE FOR YOURSELF AND YOUR FAMILY FOR 3-GENERATIONS, PLEASE CONTACT:

Bruce M Firestone, B Eng (civil), M Eng-Sci, PhD
Real Estate Investment and Business coach
ROYAL LePAGE Performance Realty broker
Ottawa Senators founder
1-613-762-8884
bruce.firestone@century21.ca
twitter.com/ProfBruce
profbruce.tumblr.com/archive
brucemfirestone.com

• MAKING IMPOSSIBLE POSSIBLE
• FREEDOM VIA REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT AND PB4L, PERSONAL BUSINESS FOR LIFE
• FEHAJ, FOR EVERY HOME A JOB
• MAKE YOUR HOME WORK FOR YOU, INSTEAD OF YOU WORKING FOR IT
• HIGHER ROI NOT JUST FOR OWNERS AND INVESTORS, BUT FOR TENANTS, GUESTS, VISITORS, NEIGHBORHOODS, COMMUNITIES, TOWNS, VILLAGES, CITIES AND THE ENVIRONMENT TOO

Image source: By Toni Lozano – https://www.flickr.com/photos/quiero-un-pantano/269058476/ (Frame removed by uploader), CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1276245