The 1^st of September marked the 1^st anniversary of the launch of Sourced. We have celebrated in style with cake, champagne and a team day out at Chester Races for Ladies Day. This anniversary is also a time for reflection as well as celebration, and as we look back at what we have achieved as a business in the last 12 months, I wanted to take the opportunity to share with you all some of the 1^styear highlights.

Obviously, the sale of our 1^st franchise was a great start and a personal highlight for me. But in terms of our growth, a highlight for us all as a business was reaching the point of 20 franchisees within the network. This happened far more quickly than we had initially anticipated and proved that what we have created is a model that others can see value in. They want to choose to realise their own dreams and aspirations for the future.

Another stand out moment was the completion of the 1^st deal by a franchisee. It was a fantastic moment for us to see and share in this milestone, as all the hard work started to pay off for the franchisee. They realised that property really can give them what they desire – but for us, the proud moment was that we have been able to be a part of that process, and help someone in the early successes of their property journey and business.

PR stories, coverage, industry recognition and feedback have all played an important part over the last year. We have been well received by our peers and the industry in general and it’s a proud moment for us when people in the industry are talking positively about the business.

Our early growth meant that we had to expand the team at HQ and bring on board our in-house marketing team. We now have a fantastic, talented and experienced team that not only promotes our core business, but that of our franchisees, supporting them and generating leads. Emma, our Marketing Manager, had this to say about working with us:

“Starting at Sourced was such an exciting move for me, we’ve just had our first birthday and we’ve achieved so much! Since I started as Marketing Manager at the beginning of the year, we have launched 3 new websites, set up a series of networking events, created a podcast (go check it out on iTunes), increased the network to 34 offices (and counting) and so much more! Now I’m not saying this was all down to me! At Sourced, we are a close-knit team and I love coming to work. The team here are so warm and passionate, and it’s an absolute pleasure to work with everyone. I’m so excited to contribute in moving the business forward to achieve our business goals.”

The last of our stand out moments has to be the Property Investor & Homebuyer show at The Excel in London, which we exhibited at earlier this year. This was a great couple of days we had meeting lots of new people and talking to them about how Sourced can help them achieve their property goals. We were joined by lots of our franchisees and all sported our Sourced t-shirts to stand out from the crowd. We will be attending this show again in early October so come along and say hello!

You can watch a video of our experiences of the show here.

As I’m sure you will agree it’s been a fantastic 1^st year for Sourced, and we are very excited for the future and plans we have for things to come, as we continue to grow, evolve and innovate in the property sector. Watch this space, or better still, become a part of the fastest growing property investment network in the UK.