Latest / Glovisor Podcast / Ep. 40: He Quit His Job With NO Backup Plan. Now He Owns a Real Estate Portfolio - Rahim Bah
Transcript
- Joe: If you've ever wondered how ordinary people create extraordinary results through real estate property investments, this episode is for you. Welcome to the Globevisor podcast where we explore business growth, communication and personal development through real conversations with people that make an impact. Our guest is a property investor, educator, and founder of the property investments blueprint. He has over 10 years of experience buying, refurbishing, and holding property for long-term cashflow and wealth creation. He teaches working professionals practical, no hype, investing, focus on deal analysis, risk management, and repeatable systems. Globe Eiser welcomes Rahim Ba. Hey Rahim. Rahim: Thank you so much, Joe, for welcoming me in your podcast. It's absolutely amazing to be here and pleasure to have this conversation with you. Joe: Looking forward to it. Excellent. So Raheem, let's start. Please tell us a little bit more what you do. Rahim: What I do, I buy old dilapidated ISO properties and we take those dilapidated neglected property, we convert them into multi units like apartment, houses, or properties that we call HMO house in multiple occupation. So, but I also work with professionals that are looking to build wealth through real estate to make working for someone an option. instead of an obligation. Joe: So are you having people invest in your investments? Is that how it works? Rahim: That's not how it works. I do my investment separately, but I also train, coach and mentor professionals to use real estate as a vehicle to create additional wealth or passive income that would allow them to either quit work completely or to work in for some company and option instead of an obligation. We show them the blueprints to take them from where they are making active income to generating additional passive income. without actually working or actively working to make that money. Joe: how do you deliver the training? Rahim: Fantastic. Good question. So what we do, we have webinars that we do. These are free webinars and the training is applicable to anywhere in the world and anybody can join from anywhere. We do free webinars every Saturday. If you like what I taught you in that webinar, we then invite you to spend three days with us to learn the nitty gritty, the different investment strategies that may be resonate with you. And from there, then if you want me to work with you on a one-on-one level. Then we then work in a one-on-one live on a 12 month program where I will show you how to implement what I thought you in those three days. Joe: Now Rahim, we have listeners in all of the continents. Does your training apply for real estate properties worldwide? Rahim: Absolutely. The method of securing, acquiring, negotiating. buying the investment property, but also renovating it to add value, to be able to recycle that money, go again and buy more houses. That applies to any country globally that have mortgages available for their citizens in those countries. Joe: Now, every successful entrepreneur has a defining moment. What inspired you to pursue this path? Rahim: Beautiful question, Joe. A few years ago, it was 2017. I was working as anybody else, as working as an accountant in a job that I thought becoming an accountant would make me financially free. It would loosen me. It would give me more time. It would get me to determine my own future. But when I started working a few years later, I started to do my professional qualification to become a chartered accountant. I noticed something really drastic and the thing I noticed was the more qualification you get, but also the more work, the more responsibilities you get, the less time you have for you and your family. So one day I was having a normal conversation with one of my colleague at work asking about his salary and salary is one of the things that you're not allowed to discuss at work. It's literally forbidden to discuss salary, but somehow I get to be close to that gentleman because We are the first person to be in the office and we're also the last person to leave the office as well. So I get to ask him, said, look, bro, how much are you making as a chartered accountant? Cause I was only two exams away to become a chartered accountant. And then he goes like, we're not allowed to discuss it. said, bro, I promise you he's going to be passing out and sick. I'm not going to tell this to anybody else. And then he said, look, if you've got two or three years experience, you might be on 45 to about maybe 47,000 pounds a year. And I was like, wow, is that all? Is that like everything? Like literally, is this all you get? Knowing that you're doing all these hours, you're here literally almost Monday to Saturday, 45,000 pounds. That's what you're earning right now. He said, yes. And you got to have three years or four years experience to also make that money. And I look at that guy and I said, literally I'm working in his own food path. So eventually I'm going to be in the same position where he is in about few months later, then I thought to myself, I don't envision myself doing things like that. But I was one of those people, don't take action and try to procrastinate about it. And, know, I let it on the back burner. So there was a time where... I wanted to get married at that point and I had to travel and I had to travel to Africa to get married. And in order for me to travel, I have to take leave and that leave needs to be approved by my work. So I went and asked my manager, said, look, can I have three weeks? I'm going to go get married and so I can spend a bit of time with my wife and then I can come back to work. She turned around and said, you can't have three weeks. I'm thinking what? I'm going to go and get married and I can't have three weeks? I negotiated with my manager at that point and she could only give me 10 days. Believe me or not, George, she only gave me 10 days to go and get married to the most beautiful woman in my life. and return back. I'm thinking, this is crazy. This is absolutely crazy. I'm only two exams away to become a chartered accountant. And I'm sat here, someone dictating the time I go on holiday, when I go on holiday and when I need to be back on holiday. That is absolutely insane. But then I took the 10 days when I got married and came back home. I arrived on a Tuesday, if I remember correctly. And I couldn't go to work until until the next Monday because I was ill, jet lagging, you know, and and all that sort of thing. So I turn up at work. I can hear footsteps. The closer she gets, the louder the footsteps. Joe: you Rahim: And she opens that door, She was like, Rahim, I need to talk to you now. I was like, okay. And then I walk out. It was this nice, amazing. floor, about maybe 200 people working on that floor. have this light little small office glass window. Everybody can see what's happening inside. So I I saw walking in there. was like, looking at me, walking faster than I walk. went and opened that door. sat with her. She was screaming her head out. Why were you not here? We have month end. You got to be submitting this, this, this reports and that report. Why were you not here? This is ridiculous. She was shouting and shouting and shouting. thinking, look, I wasn't here because I wasn't feeling well when I arrived. And it was difficult, you I wasn't feeling well or otherwise I would have come to work. So I'm really sorry. She goes, no, I don't believe you. I don't believe you. Can I see a proof of your flight ticket just to confirm that you arrived on a Tuesday? I stood up, opened that door. As I opened that door, I thought to myself, wow, is this what life is all about? I was told to go to school, college, university, get a degree. Life is going to be amazing. And now this. as I was driving back home, you go through this valley, through the hills, and I remember thinking... I am better than this. I am better than this. I could do better than this. I wasn't made for be, I wasn't made to be shouted at. I wasn't made to someone to tell me what to do and what not to do. When to go for lunch, when to go on holiday and how you can dictate your life. I'm thinking, no, that's not me. And then I arrived, I opened my door. I was living in a nine bedroom shared house. Each individual is from different backgrounds and cultures. We call these houses HMO houses. When I opened that door, the smell, the stinkiness, as you walk into that property, as you walk into that house, on your left hand side, you have this lounge, sitting area. dirty, murky and the sofas are there like it's not been washed for over 10 years. As you walk past that room, you go to this kitchen and the kitchen is piled with dirty plates and cutlery. So you open the fridge, you can't even breathe. I walked out of that kitchen, went to my bedroom. My bedroom is so small. It's maybe this size, very tiny. Small bed and a small TV. I remember lying on that bed thinking, wow. Have we really been sold the wrong dream? I'm an accountant, only two papers a week, I can't even afford to rent an apartment? And my life has been dictated by someone else? I feel cheated, I feel lied to, I feel scammed. And then it kept happening to me. But one Sunday, I woke up one Sunday morning. They do some market where I used to live. And with that market, the noise of the market did not wake me up, But what woke me up was a striking thought. What if I got ill? What if I got ran by a bus? What if when I got married or when I got my kids, they got ill and I had to stop work? Who's going to look after me then? I thought to myself, oh, maybe my company is going to look after me. But I realized you can only look after them for a couple of months or so. And then I'm on my own. So Joe, from that day, that hour, that minute, that second, I made it my responsibility to take my finances into my own hands instead of relying on my employers or the government. So I made the decision that day, I'm going to quit. I am not that person that someone would dictate their life. I'm not going to fall into that trap. But I had a plan. My plan was I'm going to get my wife in the country. She arrived in the country. When she arrived, I'm gonna quit. I'm going to quit. Did all that paperwork because in this country, if you're getting a foreign in the country, you got to actually earn certain amount of money to be able to bring them. So I did that, get her papers back, she arrived. And one of the mixed feelings I had was that I drove to Heathrow Airport, picked her up. driving back home. It's about four hours drive. Three hours, 30 minutes, or four hours drive from Heathrow Airport, London to Cardiff, where I live. And that is the longest journey I've ever done in my life. This poor, beautiful lady hasn't got a clue about the country, could barely speak English, and she doesn't know that. She doesn't know where she's going to be living. So I did all the pit stop in every service station you could imagine because I am so, I felt so horrible, ashamed of where that lady, that woman is going to be living with me We eventually get to the house. I opened that door. When I opened that door, she reversed like this. She's like, what is that smell? We went upstairs, showed her my bedroom. She thought I was joking. She's like, is this your, literally is this where we're gonna be living? I was like, well, this is our sitting room. This is our bedroom. This is our kitchen. Everything happens in this bedroom. She walked out, went to the kitchen, saw all this messy stuff. She traveled for eight to nine hours only to come back in that house and start washing dishes, cleaning the houses from top to bottom. It was embarrassing. It was shocking. It was crazy. And extended families are thinking I'm making lots of money because now I'm an accountant and all that sort of thing. I can't explain it, anything told them. So fast forward to that. I told her, look, I'm gonna quit. She goes like, what, what do you mean you're gonna quit? I said, I'm gonna quit my job. She goes like, what, you're gonna quit your job? said, yes, I'm gonna quit. So look, I'm here because I love you. I support you in whatever you do. I wrote that resignation letter. I went to my workplace. I handed it over. I said, look, here's my letter. My manager was shouting again. she read the letter. I had to give three months notice. So it became, you know, in work, they do secrets. You don't tell people when you're leaving and all that sort of thing. The next Monday, everybody was talking about it. Rahim is quitting, Rahim is quitting, Rahim is quitting. And then that three months was so long for me. cannot bear the three months. So I went to my manager and said, look, I've worked so many hours. Can you look if I got any banked hours? Banked hours when you overwork, so they bank the hours for you to take them on holiday, or as a holiday or as a pay. They looked at that, Joe, I've worked so many banked hours, it accumulated to nearly 60 days. That's how hard I was working for that company. So with that, then I said, could you please take that off my notice period so I can go early? They went and spoke to HR. I convinced HR about it. HR was happy about it. And they said, yes, you can leave early. What I did at that point, Angel, and again, I don't advise any of your audiences to do this. If you're listening to this podcast, what I did was basically is to burn all the flipping bridges. I caused chaos. I caused problems. I did everything I could do to make sure none of them would ever give me reference to work for anybody again. For me, I'm done working for someone. Just imagine taking a boat to an island, a jungle island, and then when you get to that island, you burn the boat. And I said to myself, I'm going to survive in that island. That's what I did there. Left, no references because I know then I'm not going to work in for someone. But here's the thing. I thought it's easy, right? I only realized how hard it is to look after a woman who doesn't work and you're not in work and with a baby because by that time the baby has arrived. It went really tough, Really tough. Month one gone, nothing. Month two gone, nothing. Month three gone and so on and so forth, nothing. My wife starts saying, you sat on this laptop every single day. I'm not seeing anything coming out of that laptop. Then I start working out in coffee shops. I get kicked out of coffee shops. I start going to supermarket. It went really tough. And then I took my laptop one day. said, look, enough, man. Let me go back and apply for jobs. And... When I was applying for the job, when I started to look for jobs and my wife saw me looking for jobs, there's a website called Total Jobs or Indeed. She's like, why are you looking for jobs? I was like, well, it's going really tough here. We're feeding ourselves on our child's benefit. It's not enough. I got to go to work. Then she said this word to me. said, would you lick what is bad? Meaning you've already said you're not going to do something. Why are you going back to it? I walked that laptop down. I said, no, I'm not going back to looking for jobs. And here's the thing, Joe, I was only one week away from securing my first deal. That was month six. For six months, nothing. Zsh, nothing. And I was about to give up. And that's when... that thing happens. It's like mining. keep mining and mining and mining. Nothing is happening. You're about to give up. That's the point I was. And here's the thing I will tell your audience. When things go stuff, it means you're learning something. You are in a territory that is unfamiliar. The only time you lose is when you give up. So I continue. I secure my first investment in property. was celebrating. I got my landlord to become my partner in the property. And the property I secured, I did not buy it. So what we did basically, we rented the property from a landlord. I secured the property to rent from a landlord and I subsequently rent that property on a room by room basis, similar to the way I'm living. So we call it in this country rent to rent. You rent the property to rent it to other people. You see the landlord as the wholesaler and then I become the retailer. So I've already told my landlord, my existing landlord I live with, I'm interested in property. What you're doing, what you said you're going to do is illegal, but if you can get a property, they allow you to do it legally. I will invest the money. I said, fine. So when I got the property, I came to him as a local, I haven't got money, but I've got a property. It's a seven bedroom house. We can rent it on a room by room basis. And it goes like, you sure? yes. He okay, I need to go and speak to the new landlord. We went and spoke to the new landlord. And I'll say, you can have the property and all that. As long as you can manage, you pay me my rent every single month guaranteed. No, no, no repair meant no repair costs, nothing like that. You can have the property as long as you want. Because what I provided the new landlord is I can guarantee them the rent every single month. Whether I rent the property or not, I pay them rent every single month. I looked after the repairs. I looked after managing the property. So for him then, that is a good news. Whatever money he makes is literally a net profit for him. Right? And then what we would then do afterwards is to rent the property higher than how much we secured it from the landlord. So we make the difference. We went then within two weeks, Joe, we painted and decorated the house, furnished it. We rented the property within three weeks. We converted it from a seven bed to nine bedroom house. All the rooms are rented. And then the tenant paid the money. We paid the landlord, we took our expenses and we were making 1,800 pounds net profit a month. I'm thinking this is amazing. Right. I love it. I get addicted to that. Then within the next six months, five months, right. I was able to secure 14 of a property. 14 of our properties that then took me to 16 properties, making me about maybe eight to 9,000 pounds a month. So from there, I use the money from those properties and I start buying my own real estate, start buying my own properties. From there, I established a brokerage company. From there, I now develop a renovation company, a development company, some people call it. And I was able to build that to a multi-million-pound property investment portfolio that makes working for someone never part of my agenda anymore. My wife don't work for people. We don't work. We're doing everything the way we want to do. We live in life in our own terms. As Tony Robbins always says. So from that then people are saying, Oh, how do you do this? I want to learn what you do. You've, you've, you've really been impressive the last 12, 13 or two years. want to learn about how you doing this. So I delayed it. was like, no, no, no, right. And I want to build my own property portfolio, but five years into it, six years, think into it, the inquiries becomes lots and lots and inquiries. said, you know what? Why not? Let's start training people to use my tried and tested method. And that's. how my training program started. So from then I've helped over 2000 professionals use property as a vehicle to make passive reoccurring income. So in a nutshell, that is how I started to where I am now. Joe: I love the story because they made it extremely uncomfortable for you at work. It was uncomfortable at home and here you are making the decision to move forward. Most people will probably just suck it up and continue living the way they were and Rahim: Yeah. Joe: not burn the boats like you did. Now, burning the boats may be somewhat not a great idea for some people, but burning the boat sometimes is the best course of action in life if you're going to move forward, right? Because if you burn the boats, you are forced to have to make a decision. You are forced to have to do something, which you did. Rahim: Mm-hmm. Joe: And that's why you got to where you are today. Now, if one of our listeners wanted to work with you today, what would that journey look like? Rahim: Beautiful, beautiful question. So it's simple and easy. So what we do first, we look at you where you are financially, physically, and then we then come up with a strategy that will be able to earn the same amount of money you're working, you're earning as an employee. That would be our first target. But before we get to that target, we look at your leaky bucket. I'm an accountant. I'm very passimonious. with money, right? We look at all this unnecessary spending that you're doing, whether you're overspending, under spending and all that, we sort that problem out because there is no point filling a bucket that has burst holes underneath it, right? So we look at your finances to see where you are expense wise, how much you're able to save. If you're not saving, we work with you to ensure you have a good financial plan to be able to save something because a good saver is a disciplined investor. So we start from there. we discontinue or kind of take out any unnecessary expenditure like your TV programs, like your Netflix, your Amazon Prime. Believe me, some people are having all these things. They don't even watch it because they're too busy working. It's pointless having them if you're not watching them. We get rid of all these noises and then we look at their finances. We say, okay, now this is how much you're earning. So in order for you to be financially free, you need to be earning the same amount you're earning at work. as investment income. That then would allow you to quit work to go into property full time, right? So we then understand that figure and then we draw the roadmap to take you to that destination, not by theory, but by practical experience, by practically doing what you're supposed to do to get you there, okay? And then we work with you then to join our three-day event, to see all the investment strategies that are out there, residential investment strategies. And then we then ask you which one resonate with you. We work with the one that that resonate with you during those three days. Also, we teach you how to raise finance, right? Because I was very passive when I didn't have money when I started, I started with zero myself. Right? So we show you how to raise funds, how to use other people's money to build your property portfolio. And then if you're happy with those three days, you say, look, Rahim, I like what you do. I like it. I like to work with you on a 12 month basis. So we work with you on this 12 month basis. The first three to six month is to get you to earn the same amount of money you are earning at work. And then we then ask you, do you want to continue at work or you want to do investment full time? Then they make the decision at that point. So once they get to that point, then we then navigate to get them to financial independence. And then once they get financial independent, by the end of the 12 months, they've got their financial independence, then working then becomes an option instead of an obligation. So this is the sort of. overview of how we work with them to take them from where they are to where they want to be. Joe: I like the way that you have your educational process that fits globally to everyone, but yet you individualize the training to the individual because Rahim: Yeah. Joe: every individual is different. They're a different place. So I really, like that. Can you share possibly a client success story? Rahim: Absolutely. So we had a client, I'm not sure I'm allowed to say the names. So this client was working a good job. You know, I think he was a doctor, if I remember correctly, one of them. Most of the people I deal with are doctors, accountants, professionals that are high paying job. He was making all this money. Don't get me wrong. He was earning enough money, but all his life is work. All his life is work. He will come back home, kids are sleeping. I want to make a change. I'm starting to become a stranger in my own home. Even on Sunday when I'm at home, the kids don't talk to me anymore. They're in their bedrooms on their tablets and laptops. I need to make that change. So what we did, I worked with that investor to find out where he is financially. draw a roadmap, how to make the same amount of money as he's earning. And then from there, then we get him his first property, second property, third property. And today he's on his 15th or 16th property, financially free. He now owns Airbnb properties in Turkey, right? He's got Airbnb properties here in the UK and he's now investing in Africa. He's financially free, making about 80 to 150,000 pounds a year. Joe: it's very interesting because sometimes people think that it's all about just the money. But reality is money buys you freedom, the freedom to do the things you want to do with the people you want to do it with. And that's what the whole strategy and investment is all about. If listeners Rahim: Absolutely. Joe: remember only one thing from today's conversation, what do you hope that message is? Rahim: Great question, Joe. You've got beautiful questions. Here's what I'm going to tell your listener. And I'd them to listen to this very closely because what I'm about to say to you is going to make a massive difference. to your audience. Here's what I'm going to tell them. Your current situation does not determine your future. The only person holding you back to get to that dream you've always dreamed of is you yourself. The day you decide to take your finances into your own hands, that's when you realize how amazing the world is because you will attract the people that will get you to that destination. So never... Say it is too late. Never say, I've got too many expenses, I can't do it. Never say, I'll wait next year or the year after, because here's the thing. Those years, those days will never die. So the only way you'll get from where you are to where you want to be is taking one step at a time. Not staying on the sideline. Not watching people doing it. Not being studying YouTube. Not being studying content is by taking action. And that action is your roadmap. And that roadmap is your destination. And that destination is your financial freedom. Joe: That's fantastic advice. Now, where can our audience connect with you? Learn more about your work and continue this conversation. Rahim: I'm, mean, all the main social media channels, all you got to do is to type my name, Instagram, Rahim Bah, R-A-H-I-M, surname, B-A-H. Or you can type Rahim Bah properties on Instagram. On YouTube, it's simply Rahim Bah, R-A-H-I-M-B-A-H. And all the other channels, exactly the same thing, TikTok, LinkedIn, Facebook is Rahim Bah. Joe: son. Rahim: And then from there, if you're interested in any of the programs we do, you can send us a DM you can also go onto our website, which is property-investments-blueprints.co.uk. There's a little box there you can complete in order to get hold of us. Or if you want to send us an email, it's info at property-investments-blueprints.co.uk. Joe: Rahim, thank you so much for joining us today. And we appreciate your time and all the value that you brought to our audience. Rahim: Thank you, Joe. I really appreciate being here. You've been absolutely amazing host. I like the questions. The questions were all amazing and I look forward to hearing the podcast soon. Joe: Likewise, thank you. Rahim: Thank you. Joe: Thanks, everyone, for listening. If this episode inspire you, share it with someone who needs it. And don't forget to follow the GlowVisor podcast for more conversations that make an impact. Till the next time.