Harnick Kang

Check everything you do three times and more. You have to ensure that you make no mistakes and are 101% right on everything you do.

 

Harnek Kang was originally from India and currently resides in Sheffield, UK, where his office is based just a ten-minute walk from the city’s train station – centrally located for ease of travel.

Having studied to a level 4 in education, Harneck Kang worked in a number of jobs, starting with the first which was with a local factory on a production line as he could not get any jobs in real estate or property management at the time; Harnek’s desired vocation. The job in the factory taught him the importance of time keeping; working in a team and most importantly, the value of money.

Harnek Kang then managed to find a part time job (which was poorly paid) in Manchester with a local landlord who owned a number of properties. His role was to facilitate the property management aspect with the handy man who was hired to ensure that the houses were looked after. This job provided him with a real insight into property management; tenant issues, local compliance, pricing of jobs, contracts etc. Within three months, Harnick Kang was promoted to Property Manager and managed a team of two in dealing with all aspects of property management. He achieved all his set goals within this job role, improved significantly tenant satisfaction and the properties were improved too.

After ten years in the same role, Harnek Kang started to freelance, providing landlord solutions to a whole range of landlords in Manchester; Sheffield and Leeds. Right now, he is a freelancer; providing a holistic service to property owners as well as managing his own portfolio of properties.

Where did the idea to become a freelancer come from?

The idea to freelance and become a property consultant came from my desire to ensure that people lived in habitable accommodation and also my desire to ensure that landlords were given a support platform to help them with housing issues. Having come from India I lived in poor housing with my mother and being born in a one parent household we did not have a great deal of choice. As a youngster I remember the one bedroom terrace house that we occupied being damp ridden; smelly and cold with no inside toilet. As I grew up my instilled desire was to make sure that everyone, despite their circumstances, should have a good clean house to live in.

What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?

There is no typical structured day for me – my week commences with me providing support to my network of landlords, prioritizing issues and ensuring that tenants issues are resolved and that payments of rent are up to date. Monday to Wednesday require a great deal of travelling as I have to carry checks at properties with my assistant – report issues to Landlords and take the relevant action to remedy issues. I also have to meet with Landlords on a monthly basis to discuss housing issues etc. Wednesday afternoon is generally in the office for dealing with paperwork and adverts. Thursday and Fridays I concentrate on my own property issues and also on my web design/marketing and growth as a company.

How do you bring ideas to life?

Having been dealing with property matters for over 15 years now I am fully aware of how to deal with any aspect of property DIY. I am not scared to get my hands dirty, although I do prefer to leave it to the handyman/plumbers/ builders etc.

My network of maintenance guys across Manchester and Sheffield are key to my business. They provide me with a great service and a great cost, but most importantly they get things done quick.
My reputation in treating everyone involved in carrying out my role is second to none; and because people trust the name Harnick Kang, I am successful in my line of business.

What’s one trend that excites you?

I am excited by the fact that people’s expectations of the kind of house that they would like to live in has increased significantly. Low rents are no longer a must; prospective tenants have no issue with paying slightly higher for a much better house.

What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?

Waking up early – as they say the early bird catches the worm. I am up at 4am; I walk my dogs and then spend 1 hour in my gym at home and I am in my office by 8am every morning. Exercise helps my mindset and clears my mind for the day ensuring that I am mentally set out for the day.

What advice would you give your younger self?

You should not be a sore loser. As a child I would always get angry and upset when losing any kind of competition. In my adulthood losing any kind of thing be it a game of golf or a tender to carry out works has made me stronger and better as a person. Learn from your losses and this will better you in life.

Tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on?

I love my job – most people will say come on you can’t love your job you may like it but you have to work towards it. No I love it – providing solutions; housing and my expertise to the satisfaction of tenants and landlords is my pleasure and love.

As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?

Check everything you do three times and more. You have to ensure that you make no mistakes and are 101% right on everything you do. Check your emails for typos or grammatical mistakes; check your business proposals/reports/presentations over and over again. One mistake can make you look amateur – I am a professional. And I want a sense of professionalism attached to the name Harnick Kang.

What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business?

Taking on more business than I could manage – now this may sound crazy but this is what has made me grow, take on more get in hired help and then more staff and expand my business. Yes I struggled and yes taking on more work that I could manage did give me some sleepless nights. My solution was to take on freelancers to help with the workload in the interim – grow my business – then take on staff to accommodate the growth.

What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?

As a property developer, my one failure I had was always thinking that all properties that were being sold were over priced. How did I overcome it? Simple self realization – I thought I had to deal with this, so I made records of all the properties I was interested in buying, looked to see how much they were sold for, made an estimate of how much money they needed spending on them and monitored future sale prices and bingo there was money to be made even if you paid slightly above your expectations. This whole process took me a while but helped me overcome my overpriced thinking habit.

What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?

A restaurant that caters for foods of the world cooked by moms/dads and not chefs – authentic food cooked by the best.

What is the best £100 you recently spent? What and why?

£100 to UNICEF – great cause and helps thousands/millions. I genuinely made me feel accomplished and content when I help others.

What is one piece of software or a web service that helps you be productive? How do you use it?

Outlook – plans my day – without the need for a PA (Keeping overheads low)

What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?

“Buy Low rent High” – Samuel Leeds – absolute gem of a book.

What is your favorite quote?

I prefer an idiom – “live and let live”

Key Learnings:

Work hard and play hard
Respect everyone and I mean everyone
Do not judge a book by its cover
Failure is not an option
Keep yourself in check