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Overcoming Hurdles to Build a Property Business with Tom Smith · The Property Unleashed Podcast

• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to the Property Unleashed podcast with me your host, Mark Fitzgerald, and today I am joined by another special guest.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: I've got Tom Smith from Abbey Living Properties joining me.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: How are you, Tom?
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: Hello, I'm doing very well, thank you.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: Pleasure to be here.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: Good stuff, good stuff.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: This has been a long time coming.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: I'm smiling because I've been looking forward to this interview with Tom, because when Tom started out on his property investing journey, he wanted to build himself a rent-to-rent business and he has stayed the course.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: He has struggled at times, but he has also pushed through those struggles, so it's really enlightening to have him here, and the first thing he pretty much ever said to me was Mark, when I get involved in property, when I build my rent-to-rent business, I want to be on your podcast.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: So it's absolutely amazing to have you on, my friend.
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: Thank you, you, yeah, so it was always kind of my initial goal to to push me through and it's it's good to finally be here, mark.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: That's great.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: It's great.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: So for people that don't know anything about you, my good friend, tell us a bit about you.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: So yeah, I'm Tom, I'm from Northamptonshire, married to an amazing wife, got two young boys and I suppose I've never really known what I wanted to do.
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: So I went to university.
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: I did a degree in law, just because I mildly enjoyed it at A-level.
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: So I managed to get through university, even though not really enjoying the course, made some really good kind of friends for life at uni.
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: That was probably the main positive out of out of university.
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: Um, and then I've had a variety of jobs.
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: So I started as a conveyancer uh, solicitors, so obviously property related there.
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: And then I joined the local college where as part of a project team because they basically knocked down the college and rebuilt it so again property related without me kind of knowing about it.
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: So I've learned a lot from that experience.
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: And then I went to join the local council and I ended up being project manager for a county wide broadband project delivering broadband to rural areas, and now I'm currently a crime analyst in emergency services.
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: So yeah, I've had a whole kind of peripheral of jobs over the years really, because I never really know what I wanted to do.
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: So and here I am today.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: That's great, that's great.
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: And you already have a bite to let, or two as well, don't you?
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: I do, yeah, you already have a bite to let, or two as well, don't you?
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: I do, yeah, so, um, I guess, how I kind of got into property is I, um, I had kind of a tragic event happened in my life, um, so my best mate, he sadly took his own life and that, um kind of out of that you kind of kind of reflect on, on where you are with your life.
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: So for many aspects I was, I was very happy with, with my family and my friends, but I just felt, um, I lacked a sense of kind of direction and and and purpose and obviously I wanted to leave a legacy for my, for my, for my boys and spend more time with them.
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: Stuff's ready.
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: So, um, I was got speaking to my brother-in-law one day, um, and um, he he said, have you read rich dad, poor dad, because talking to him about I might get into some stocks and shares?
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: Never, I suppose, like many people, I'd never, never read it, never heard of it.
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: I read it and it it blew my mind.
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: To be honest, I was like it was completely alien world as I.
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: You know, why has no one told me about this before?
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: Why don't they teach this at schools and so that kind of got me on my my journey into property.
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: I started reading some books, um, and I like the the brr strategy I always struggle to to say that um and I I ended up buying a buy to let up north kind of below market value it's up in Lancashire and within a year I refinanced it and pulled all my money out.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: So I was like, well, there's something about this property thing.
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: And then, as most people get on their algorithms, I started getting a lot of adverts and, you know, comments about property.
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: So I joined a three-day course.
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: I think it was like £99.
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: Quite a big kind of property company.
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: I won't mention them.
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: I joined them and they kind of sold the earth to me and I had this 12-month mentorship with coaching and all the courses and et cetera.
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: And after about two or three months it certainly didn't live up to what I was told it was going to be Quite disappointed.
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: The mentorship was you had a different mentor every month and it was only for like 15 minutes.
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: So for most of it you were kind of explaining who you were and where you were.
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: The courses were quite high level and didn't kind of go into a step-by-step process and you were kind of they talked about community.
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: They kind of chucked you in a WhatsApp group with about it might have been about a thousand people, I don't know.
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: It wasn't really serving much purpose.
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: So then I was quite, yeah, I spent.
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: You know that was a good amount of money, a big investment for me at the time.
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: So I was feeling quite downbeat about that.
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: I was still plding on learning property and and and kind of being actionable.
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: But then, um, a few months later I saw an advert from from simon zucci, offering like a six-week course on high-end hmos.
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: I knew simon was um, quite you know a really good um reputation in the property world, so I thought I'd kind of one what kind of roll of the dice.
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: And um, and joined up.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: This is a six-week course and I absolutely loved it.
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: It's on kajabi so I could do it whenever I wanted.
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: Uh, they had group calls and then one one week was um about rent to rent, and there was a certain special guest that turned out called called mark fitzgerald and uh, I really, really, really enjoyed what you had to say and your methods and how you came across and yeah, that's where you sparked my interest.
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: I suppose a long way around it, but yeah, I have got a bit of it.
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: It's good I didn't know that for that.
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: So thank you for sharing it and everything.
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: And of course, it is difficult.
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: A lot of the time.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: It can feel like a bit of a leap of faith when you're wanting to learn more, when you're eager, and of course, on the face of it, a lot of companies and things out there can sell you a bit of a pipe dream, in the sense that they've just got so many people going through their trainings and stuff that they cannot give you that sort of dedicated assistance that you need, cannot give you that sort of dedicated assistance that you need.
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: And you really, if you have a coach, you need a coach.
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: You need the same coach.
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: You shouldn't be explaining who you are every time, should you?
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: Because if you only get, I mean, some of them, you only get like 20 minutes, half an hour anyway.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: So if you're doing that every time, you're not going to get the support you want.
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: So that is disappointing and unfortunately you know it's out of our hands.
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: But it's good that you didn't just quit, because some people do.
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: They have one bad experience and then of course they don't get out there and do anything else, so that sort of led you down the rent to rent route.
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: then it did.
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: I did, obviously one on the course of the 12 month mentorship, the original one I did.
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: There was a rent to rent section there and it did kind of spike my interest there.
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: And then, obviously, linking it up with the course of some of the Zushi folks on HMO, it kind of married them up together.
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: I preferred the HMO route to SA and I just liked the concept of it.
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: I thought it was a good kind of level for me to enter at.
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: Obviously I'm still in full-time employment and you don't need a great deal of money to kind of get started.
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: So it just kind of ticked the boxes for me to get going and hopefully doing it relatively quickly as well.
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah.
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: Well, that's what it's all about.
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: That's what it's all about.
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: So you started down the rent-to-rent route and everything like that.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: You obviously came and joined us on the rent to rent business builder program as well, sort of giving you the roadmap and everything.
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: So you know, how were you finding all of that?
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: it was brilliant it was.
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: It was what I was looking for initially when I signed up.
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: Um, you know the, the eight months before before I signed up with you, um, the, the, the actual course itself was literally a step-by-step process and it's like a roadmap.
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: And then, not only that you've got this amazing community in the Facebook group.
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: If you've got questions, put it on there.
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: Within an hour you've got a couple of responses.
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: I know you're very active on there as well, which is really helpful.
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: The group calls were really invaluable as well, which you do every two weeks.
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: Again, it's great to see speaking to different people and seeing where they are on their journey.
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: They might be further ahead of you.
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: So again, you can get some good pointers there.
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: Again, you're there to guide us.
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: And then, for me, the added bonus was the, the one-to-one kind of um mentorship with yourself, which again was invaluable and again what I was looking for initially.
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: So some some good quality time with a mentor who know who gets to know you and you get to know them along the process.
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: Uh, and they can obviously, you know, be on the journey with you.
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: Really, yeah, well, I do.
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: I'm just going to say that I feel like I've been on your journey with you and one of the things is, you know I don't work with loads and loads of people either.
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: I only work with.
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: You know selective fuels, that I know I can help and we can get great results together.
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: But it's like you know, we have our one to ones.
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: Obviously, you had the group coaching calls as well, but it is it's like how do we pivot?
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: How can we change things?
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: What are we looking at?
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: Obviously, there was times where you were looking at properties.
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: You were putting offers in which I say to everybody that's what you're going to be doing.
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: They were rejected.
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: You had, as you always do, you have landlords that sort of ghost you as well, don't they?
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: One minute they all seem like everything's going to happen and we're going to be doing deals, and the next minute you just cannot get a hold of people for love nor money.
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: So it can be a very, very frustrating time as well.
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: But the one thing I will say is, obviously, on the coaching calls, you're always eager, you're always like I know it's a numbers game, I know it's going to happen and that is the right mentality to have.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: You know, even if you're annoyed and you're peed off and there were times you know where you're going to have that and you'll always have that.
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: But of course it's coming in.
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: I always think it's coming into that environment every month for us to be able to.
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: Let's look at what's working, what's not working, let's pivot, let's change a few things and then let's get back out there and see if those tweaks have worked.
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: And obviously it's helped you because you've got a couple of deals now.
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: But how did you find, you know, working with me?
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's great, it is invaluable.
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: I suppose I thought of an analogy the other day of of your, not only your course, but the one-to-one um, the one-to-one mentorship, and I suppose, like the rent-to-rent um business builder, I suppose you could see that as like a.
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: For me it's like a like 110 meter hurdle race.
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: You're at the start line, you can see the finish, it's not too far away and the course helps you, step by step, going, moving along the, along the track, stage by stage.
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: But you know you are, you are going to come up against barriers and hurdles, um, obviously you've got the other group calls and stuff, and that's where you're, that's where the one-to-one mentorship and the group calls really help you kind of pivot.
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: How can you tackle this hurdle and get around that obstacle?
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: And I suppose it's like having a personal coach there with you, kind of side by side, to help you navigate through and you know, sprint finish to that finish line.
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: Really.
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: So yeah, I would never have come up with some of these.
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: You know, we, we were quite inventive of some of the letters that I sent out, different ways of engaging with landlords and getting their attention, and I'd probably never have come up with those ideas without your, your help, and guidance, really so yeah, it just gave me that, that that added kind of bonus really of getting me to where I wanted to go.
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: And yeah, I think if you're just following the course, sometimes it can be lonely and so you do have that self-doubt.
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: And again that's where the community and yourself helps, because you know if you've got a problem I can talk to you about it.
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: And you just chat it out and see the best course of of action.
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: Really, yeah, no, community is everything, and I always say that the reason I built the community and try and be as as active in there as I possibly can be to help everybody and support everybody and see everybody else helping, support each other like your good self as well is because property is lonely.
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: So I like to have a community where I can speak to people.
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: I can talk to people as well, I can help people, but again, it also is I am a people person.
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: So you know, property is great and everything, but again, I like to be helping people, supporting people, I like to be networking and all of those things.
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: So, from my perspective, it's always great to see, but it's nice to be able to give back as well and just show people that this can be achieved and it doesn't have to cost you the earth either to do so and build yourself a property business.
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: So let's talk about your deals then that you've taken on at the moment.
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: Yes, we've recently taken over it's just come into three weeks ago two HMOs.
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: We took them over on the same day.
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: They're two four bed hmos, um, and they're they're in ketrin, which is about 25 minutes away from me.
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: Uh, and we how the deal came about is again speaking to you.
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: I, in september time last year I contacted specific landlords who have got kind of student HMOs and I noticed that one of his was was was still available.
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: It was looking empty.
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: So I wrote to him specifically against from speaking to you and he reached out to me, not about that HMO, but the ones that were taken over who had the letting agents weren't doing a particularly good job.
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: They've had some bad experience with some bad tenants.
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: He's a very busy man, he's up and down the country, he doesn't want the stress or the hassle and he just kind of had enough of it really.
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: So I got in touch with him and obviously told him everything that that that we're about where you know we got to get standards high and keep him at that level and we'll look after all the the minor maintenance or the tenant management, um, and he he liked that kind of concept.
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: So I viewed the property one of the properties in is late in December last year and they got renovated in about 2021 or 2022.
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: So still reasonably fresh, just looking a little bit tired here and there, but, you know, just a bit of cleaning and kind of a lick of paint.
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: I thought, well, compared to some of the ones I've seen, this is looking quite good here.
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: So we ended negotiating two or three weeks, kind of back and forth.
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: We reached an agreement.
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: I remember it clearly, I sent the contracts out on Valentine's Day thinking, well, we're there now, I'm nearly there.
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: And then it just kind of went quiet for two or three months and I just couldn't get hold of him.
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: I thought, well, I've lost, I've lost this deal.
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: It's so close.
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: Um, but yeah, you, you feel kind of down, downbeat and, um, but again, speaking with you, um, kind of a month after I sent the contract, it just it just inspired, you inspired me to kind of carry on and persevere, look at different avenues, kind of move on, but obviously keep, keep, um, keep contacting him, keep that, that dialogue going.
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: And then he came back to me.
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: Um, in the end, I think him and his business partner were maybe altering their plans slightly, but they decided to to, to keep the hmos, which was he worked out well for us, um, and then, yeah, we then it happened quite quickly then so we, we went to do the second hmo, very done in a very similar style to the, to the first one, um, and then, yeah, we took them, took them over on the.
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: I think it's the 12th of july, nice nice, well congratulations and well done.
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: That's good.
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: It is funny because I I and I would have said this to you on a coaching it's not always a priority.
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: We always think when there's a property empty or there's a deal to be done, why are they not snapping our hand off?
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: You know, they seem so keen, yet when they're actually push comes to shove, it's like oh yeah, I'll get around to that in a bit and it's it's.
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: They're going to do it but, as I say, it's not a priority of theirs.
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: Of course it's a priority to us.
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: But it is about making sure that you have a pipeline, that you're also working on other potential deals, because otherwise we can become motivated buyers, so to speak.
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: If we've only just our heart set on that deal and that's the be all and end all, we can make silly decisions and the wrong decisions as well at times.
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: So you've got four bed properties as well.
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: Now, predominantly not always rent to rents don't always work with four beds.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: You have to sort of critique deals.
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: I would say a little bit more.
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: Five beds or up makes HMO deals a lot easier.
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: But I know a few of our other students as well.
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: I know Chris is one as well.
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: He's got four beds and has made them work.
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: So you know, did you have any challenges sort of getting the numbers to work on those?
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: I did initially.
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, because you're thinking I don't think this is going to stack Because, as you said, you know a five bed and a plus is ideally where you're making your good kind of profit to make it worth your while.
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: But again, the beauty of working with yourself you can send, you can stat the numbers, send them over to you and then you can give us your honest thoughts and opinions.
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: And you gave me the idea of, well, with a four bed, you could leave the utilities as the landlord's responsibility.
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: Everything else is the same in terms of tenant management and the minor maintenance.
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: It's just you don't take on the utility side.
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: So again, I broached the idea to the landlord and he was more than happy with that.
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: It makes the deal stack.
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: Now, if you tried to approach it in the same way as a five bed plus, it just wouldn't work, it wouldn't be worth your while.
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: It just wouldn't work.
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: It wouldn't be worth your while.
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, it gave me that confidence that you checking the numbers and say, altering the approach and the proposal to him.
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I just thought, if he accepts this, this is a good deal, it's a win-win for both parties and it's crossed my fingers and luckily it paid off.
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: Well, that's crossed my fingers and it luckily it paid off well, that's it, no good stuff.
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: I mean.
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: One of the things is you've got to look at near enough every deal potentially.
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: Potentially will work at the right price now and you might not be able to get the right price, but how does it?
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: Or what?
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: How will it work at the right price?
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: So you know, if I'm looking at deals whether they're my deals or your deals or my, you know clients deals or students deals then it's a case of looking at those and saying, well, what will work?
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: And a lot of the time particularly, um, from either my perspective or your perspective, because you're in the weeds doing the deal for me to be able to say, well, why don't you offer this?
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: A lot of think well, surely a landlord won't go for that?
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: And that's all of a sudden a belief that we've just sort of superimposed onto somebody else without even asking.
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: So fair play to you for looking at it and thinking do you know what?
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: It does work like that.
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: I'll just propose that that we'll take it on like that.
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: We'll leave the utilities there, because if a landlord gives a property to an agent, they still pay utilities and everything, so it's not a massive shock to them Like everybody thinks.
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: Well, they'll never go for it.
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: Well, just ask, just put it to them that this is how it works and it worked, which is really, really good.
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: So you've got the whole of the properties.
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: What did you have to do to them?
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: Do you have to do much to them?
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: Yes's been a kind of a busy couple of weeks, so, um.
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: So we went in on on day one, obviously, did the inspections around the house and there's a lot of kind of the, the simple, the minor maintenance issues which was again speaking to tenants which have been a problem for two, three months.
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: So, for example, the, the, the door handle to the living room that had been broken for two months.
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: There was no handle at all.
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: It's a fire door as well.
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: It's got to be kept closed.
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: So we fixed that straight away.
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: And again, just those little things which they were grateful for.
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: The toilet seat was broken, so we got a new toilet seat.
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: It's just the simple things really.
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: And the house hadn't had a deep clean.
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: So again we've done a deep clean.
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: So the oven's, you know sparkling and they really appreciated that.
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: And then in in one of the other properties as well as, obviously again a few kind of minor maintenance issues like light bulbs.
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: There was there was no light, working light bulbs in the kitchen, so the tenants were staying there.
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: They had a big lamp which I was just shining towards the kitchen and you think, why?
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: Why hasn't this been sorted?
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: So again, we just put some light bulbs in and they're half his larry, um, and then there's there was two empty rooms as well.
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: So I get the last two weeks me, me and my business partner.
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: We've been kind of doing a light refurb on that and obviously getting them out to market as well.
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: So it's been a busy couple of weeks but we're getting the properties to a to a good standard now.
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: Obviously we intend to to maintain that as well.
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: No, that's great, that's great.
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: And tenants do amaze me.
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: I mean, they actually went to the trouble of putting a lamp in there rather than getting light bulbs themselves.
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: But I know, I know, they are absolutely amazing.
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: I always remember the story.
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: I had a tenant who messaged me and said my light's not working in my room.
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: I think the electrics have gone off.
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: I said to him OK, I said what?
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: The whole house.
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: Anyway, he looked at the hallway.
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: The hallway light still went because they were on a sensor and stuff.
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: He said no, no, no, it just seems to be my room.
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: I said to him is your telly on?
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: He's like yeah, yeah, telly works.
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: I said to him just go in the en suite and try that.
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: So we went in the en suite and he tried that and he's like oh, that works.
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: I said just do me a favor, take the bulb out of there and stick it in the main light and let's just see if it's just down to the bulb.
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: Anyway, he actually texted me back.
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: He said they're unbelievable, some of these tenants, but it does make you laugh.
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: You could write a book, couldn't you, on these.
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: But no, that's good.
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: So you've taken the properties on, you've done a bit of minor work on them.
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: It's amazing to see some of the maintenance that is just overlooked, particularly when it comes to lights, when it comes to safety.
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: You know, just by going in there you can make such a massive difference on the tenants themselves.
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: And are you happy and comfortable with the current tenants that are in there?
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: Because some people don't like to take properties on.
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: They think, well, what happens if I inherit bad tenants and things like that.
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: But obviously there's ways that we can safeguard ourselves against that, isn't there?
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah, there is To be fair.
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: The tenants have been really good.
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: There was one tenant who was late with his rent, but there was a few kind of communication issues, so we've had to adapt that.
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: He's Latvian, so the messages that we sent out we've now sent one out to him in Latvian as well, just to cater for that.
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, I suppose it is a bit of a risk to take on tenants and I think, going forward, we would probably do things a bit differently in terms of maybe not kind of guaranteeing the rent for the existing tenants, because they're not our, effectively, they're not our tenants that were put in there.
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: So we went with it with the current tenants.
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: But, to be fair to them, they've been brilliant.
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: I like to think they've seen standards raised in a short while.
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: We're getting ultra-fast broadband fitted in for them on Monday as well.
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: So it's just that level of respect.
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: I think they can see that we're respecting where they live and improving standards.
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: That level of respect.
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: I think they can see that we're respecting where they live, uh, improving standards, and we, we just expect it back and um, yeah, which was, which they're, which they are, which they are really, and they've all joined our, our online system, uh, which we were on coho, so we can communicate to them via that and let them know if anything's a cropper, or and vice versa.
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: So so, yeah, it's worked out really well, but it's certainly food for thought for for deals going forward in terms of how to handle existing tenants and taking on two properties at once as well.
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: Did you have any concerns doing that?
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: Because I I also know people are like, well, I can't take on two.
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: Of course you can.
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: You just gotta have a plan and just take it step by step.
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: It's not trying to do everything at once, just work your way through the properties, isn't it?
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you say quite a lot is get comfortable being uncomfortable and I've certainly felt uncomfortable the last few weeks, again with a full-time job and you're thinking, well, we're jumping in the deep end there.
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: We're not only taking on one, we're taking on two at the same time.
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: But of course you can do it Again.
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: You've got your course, step by step Again.
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: I've referred back to that a lot over the last few weeks in terms of you know, getting the keys, what to do, onboarding tenants, and all that has been just really helpful.
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: Again, I've asked, I've asked questions in the facebook group and with some pointers about what systems they use or what to do in this situation.
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: So it is scary, but get used to it, because you, you know you've, in order to grow, you've got to push yourself out of your comfort zone.
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: Uh, and that's what we've certainly done and it does get easier and you get.
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: You just get used to start getting used to things.
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: Of course it's going to be things that come up and you think, ah, what do we do here?
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: But again, with the support network in place and certainly you know, with me, my business partner, kind of bouncing off each other, it's nice to know you're not on your own and just go with it, just go with it.
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: I mean, what's the worst that can happen?
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: At the end of the day, you will get the results, but I always say you know once, once you're involved with us, you don't, you're not leaving.
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: You know you've got lifetime access to the training.
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: If I update it, you get access to that.
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: You got access to the facebook group as well.
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: You're never, you're never out of the facebook groups.
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: If there's any major problems or anything, you just ask and somebody will help you probably me, but there's other people in there as well that will help you moving forward.
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: So obviously you've invested in yourself.
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: I like that.
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: You're always looking at growing.
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: You're always looking at bettering yourself as well.
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: What's the sort of future goals for you, then?
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: So I suppose during the process of signing this deal and then I think it was gone, disappeared, I think on my last one-to-one call with you, I was quite downtrodden on that.
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: I was so close I've lost it.
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: And then we had discussions about well, what have you learned over this last, this last year with you know all the, all the viewings of them with different landlords and putting offers in um and what is it I want to do?
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: And I was, I'm, I'm convinced that property is the answer for me and I've kind of used the experience of the last year to kind of push forward.
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: So I've kind of um created a new business with with my business partner he's one of my best friends, um and we want to help landlords who are, who have tired properties, who haven't got the time.
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: So we we offer them different, different packages really.
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: So obviously the services of, of a full management service, you know, keeping getting standards high and keeping it there and and doing the um, the minor maintenance.
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: But if we go into a property for viewing and it's a bit tired, we also offer renovation packages.
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: So whether that's like a light refurb, like a refresh of the property, or if they're looking for a bit of an overhaul new technology, thinking about the space and does it work, and adding, you know, this kind of bespoke furniture and stuff.
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: So I I just I think, from learning from some disappointments of last year, I've kind of um, used that to my advantage and and going a slightly different direction but with a business I'm really proud and excited of, really.
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: So, um, yeah, so we we've we've spent a bit of time doing the business plan, obviously, getting these two HMOs up and running, our website's due to be launched very soon in social.
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: So we're really ready to, and in a real good place to kind of kick on, get advertising to the landlords, including the ones I've already had previous discussions with.
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: We really want to, you know, get this going and try and get at least kind of 10 properties in the next 12 months.
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: Really, Nice, nice.
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: No reason why you shouldn't either, now that you're up and running and you've got your head down.
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: Of course you've also done this.
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: You're our father, you've got a lovely wife, you've got two kids, got a job as well, and you're doing the property thing.
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: So how do you fit it all in?
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: you have to make time.
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: So I suppose you peel it back a bit.
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: You've got to.
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: You've got to realize why you're doing it.
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: You know why am I?
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: I'm luckily for me I'm a morning person.
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: I like getting up at five.
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: So I get up two hours before everyone else in my household kind of gets up and ready for work and school.
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: So I know I've got two hours and at least an hour to focus on property, get my exercise in and whatever.
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: In my lunch break at work I can catch up with emails, make a few phone calls and in the evenings be prepared to work 11 o'clock at night.
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: It's not like that every day, but you've got to feel motivated.
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: Why are you doing this so I suppose it goes back again on your course is is working out what your goals and your vision is.
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: Um, for me, you know I said I want to spend more time with my family, build a legacy, and that's not going to come easy.
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: So you have to make time.
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: I think it was arnold swartz legacy says there's there's 24 hours in the day.
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: You know you're at work for seven or eight hours a day.
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: You may sleep for six hours.
• 30:29
  Speaker 2: You've still got a lot of time left to fit in.
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: Even if it's just one hour a day, you can make the time if you want it enough.
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, you've just got to be prepared to maybe not watch Netflix one night or, you know, watch the football, which has been hard for me because I'm a big football fan.
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: But you've just got to make those kind of small sacrifices, but you know it will be worth it in the long run.
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: Really, Well, that's it Short term paying for long term gain.
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: And it's not even that.
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: When I speak to people and I haven't got time, I can't fit it in.
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: You don't want it enough, then, and that's fine.
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: Don't give yourself a hard time over it.
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: It's one of those things, because if you're truly, really passionate and you want it, you'll make sure that it happens.
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: Why?
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: Because it's always at the forefront of your mind.
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: It's like you know if we're going to do something or we're going to watch something, I really want to watch that.
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: I really want to have the goals that are in line with your passion.
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: Ok, so if you're passionate about property and building a property business that you can make into a legacy piece, then you will do it.
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: And if you're not and you're just playing at it, you won't do it.
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: So don't kid yourself.
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: Give yourself a hard time.
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: Just say easy come, easy go.
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: And that's, I think, the difference between people that succeed and people that don't.
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: The people that succeed and get the deals cannot see themselves not succeeding.
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: And that was one of the things on our coaching course together that I always took away, even when you were a bit down and everything and we were pivoting and we were changing things and we were just tweaking things as well.
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: It was a case of you always were saying I know this is going to happen, it's going to happen.
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: I know it's just a matter of time, but it's just taken a bit longer than I wanted.
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: And that is the attitude Myself.
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: I always used to say this will happen, at some point I will get the deals.
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: I've just got to keep getting out there.
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: There's a ratio to all of this.
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: So I need to speak to a certain amount of people, I need to look at a certain amount of properties and I need to put a certain amount of offers in and then I will start to reap the rewards.
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: It just doesn't balance out as a ratio.
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: I speak to 100 people, I do 20 viewings, I put 10 offers in, I get a deal.
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: It's not as easy as that.
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: If it was as easy as that, we'd all be doing it.
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: But what will happen is you might put in loads of offers, not get anything.
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: You might get loads of rejections and stuff like that.
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: But then all of a sudden you have like a couple of months where all of a sudden it just seems to be easy Woof, I've got deals, I've got viewings, I'm putting offers in.
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: This is it, this is great no-transcript.
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: And that is where it can be vital to have a coach, as you say, that's been there and done it, that can say this is normal.
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: I went through exactly the same thing when I was doing it.
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: It was peaks and troughs.
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: It was four months.
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: I got like what did?
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: I get Six deals over the next couple of months.
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: Then I had a month where it just dead.
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: Everything just fell off a cliff and I was just like what's happened there?
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: I had all this momentum.
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: It was called August.
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: Actually, everybody had gone on holiday because as soon as we came into September, things started to speed up again.
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: But I didn't know that because I'd never done it before and it was just like oh my God.
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: But at the time you have the coaches, you have the people community around you, so to speak, to say just keep going, just keep going, you're all right, you're plugging away at it.
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: It's great, you've got your first deals over the line, which I'm hugely excited and chuffed about as well, because I always do say to you if you fail, I fail.
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: I don't like failing.
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: I'm very competitive, I know you are as well, and it's all about making sure that we win by hook or by crook.
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: And you have done it and I just think that's marvelous at the end of the day.
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: So you know, balancing it around with the family and things, you've got the business, you've got the vision.
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: Now you know exactly where you're going.
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: And that can take a bit of time, you know, and I'll ask for your sort of opinion on this as well.
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: But when you have a vision and you see the future and stuff like that, when you actually start doing something, it normally never actually ends up looking like it did when you first thought about it.
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: Things evolve, you pivot, you change, you find out what you enjoy more and of course, you know on this journey now that you've got a business partner now that you didn't have at the very beginning.
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: So you've got other people to bounce ideas off of and compliment you maybe good at stuff that you're not good at and things, which is always good and important.
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: But of course, when you first started this and you had that vision, you're growing through the training and things.
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: So how have you sort of, how have things sort of evolved for you over the last, so to speak, 12 months?
• 35:01
  Speaker 2: I always like to see the positives in everything.
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: So if you do get setbacks, which obviously I have had, then what is the positive out of that?
• 35:08
  Speaker 2: What?
• 35:08
  Speaker 2: What did?
• 35:09
  Speaker 2: What did I do?
• 35:09
  Speaker 2: What could I have done better?
• 35:11
  Speaker 2: Am I approaching it wrong?
• 35:12
  Speaker 2: So it's just looking at different, different approaches really.
• 35:15
  Speaker 2: So during the 12 months of you I also, you know, carried on kind of educating myself.
• 35:20
  Speaker 2: I did a course with julian marie, so I know he's been on your show and again, the first time I heard of him actually was on your podcast.
• 35:27
  Speaker 2: I was like I really like this guy and what he stands for and his values and again, looking to elevate the quality of HMOs.
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: So that was always kind of bubbling in the background to me, something I wanted to do.
• 35:40
  Speaker 2: And then again, with the large amount of HMOs I've been around this year, they could have done with packages like Julian Marie's kind of offers.
• 35:52
  Speaker 2: So you know you're kind of at my lowest point, I guess, when I felt knocked back and self-confident Again, speaking for you.
• 36:00
  Speaker 2: I've kind of looked back at my experiences and what I enjoyed about the course I went on and that's just kind of spurred on this new kind of concept and approach really.
• 36:11
  Speaker 2: So you've just got to look at the positive of everything and you've just got to keep going away and, if something didn't go wrong, kind of make notes as to what went wrong and how could you approach it differently.
• 36:24
  Speaker 2: And then you kind of collate this information over the last space of months and there's always something in there kind of which might jump out at you which you'd never thought of before.
• 36:36
  Speaker 2: And that's, I suppose, what's happened with us and the launch of the Abbey Living.
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: Really, Brilliant, brilliant, and I hope Julian sorted you out a good deal as well.
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: He did, I'll mention his name a good deal as well.
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's it, that's it.
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: That's what it's all about.
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: I look after him, look after me and everything.
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: But it's good and I know you are creative, you like, you know, you are somebody that walks into somewhere and can see the positives in it.
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: Oh, you could do this, you could do that and stuff.
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: I'm not really one of those sort of people.
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: I'll just do the talking, leave me to talk.
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: You go and get creative, so to speak, and so it's good that you know.
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: You know you're good at that, that's something that you enjoy, and that's what you're going to push further into as well, which is amazing.
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: I think it's always good and stuff like that.
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: The one thing I will just touch back on obviously, you invested a lot of money into sort of support and training that wasn't didn't really live up to expectations, let's put it that way.
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: Obviously, you then dipped your toe back in there.
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: You did the HMO, home study and things like that, and then, of course, you went all in again with my Good Self and just touching on that, you know what made you do it.
• 37:46
  Speaker 2: Because I knew from doing the buy to let, I knew property was the answer and I knew I knew good mentorship existed.
• 37:54
  Speaker 2: It just took me.
• 37:55
  Speaker 2: I wouldn't have changed.
• 37:57
  Speaker 2: Obviously, you know, financially it cost, it was an expensive route to find you, but I did and here I am today.
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: So you know what c'est la vie I.
• 38:09
  Speaker 2: It happened for a reason.
• 38:11
  Speaker 2: That's.
• 38:11
  Speaker 2: Everything happens for a reason and I think sometimes you have to, you have to kiss a a few frogs really.
• 38:16
  Speaker 2: So I um, I had that experience.
• 38:19
  Speaker 2: I knew what was what was a bad course and bad mentorship.
• 38:22
  Speaker 2: And then through simon, what I kind of saw, what the potential of you know, yeah, using that technology like Kajabi and group calls should be.
• 38:31
  Speaker 2: And then, obviously, during that I saw your good self.
• 38:34
  Speaker 2: I did some, some research on you and actually had a podcast.
• 38:37
  Speaker 2: I went on your website and again you had free material on there, so kind of a try before you buy, really enjoyed that and reached out to you to have an initial chat.
• 38:51
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, I don't regret.
• 38:53
  Speaker 2: Obviously in hindsight it would have been great if I'd have come straight to you first, but I wouldn't change it because, say, I like to look at the positives and it's obviously all happened for a reason really, so here we are, and you're still learning stuff through that as well.
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: Of course, yeah, like I say, I never put anything down, even if it's bad.
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: Even if it's bad, you've learned how not to do something, so to speak.
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: You know, in business we all make money, we lose money.
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: We try not to lose a lot of money, but if something goes wrong and I'm doing a deal, I deal, I learn, maybe it's cost me a bit of money, but I've learned not to do that again.
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: You know what I mean.
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: So I think, as long as you know what's the worst that can happen, we don't lose our shirts over those sort of things, and just our last one before we go into our quick fire round.
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: What, um, what was your sort of thoughts, of thoughts on the outcome of it all, obviously working with us going through the training and everything.
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: If anybody was sat on the fence, what would you say to them?
• 39:49
  Speaker 2: Just 100% do it and say you've got your free kind of material on your website.
• 39:55
  Speaker 2: So it's a real kind of taster as to your style of coaching and your course material.
• 40:03
  Speaker 2: So certainly try that before you see it's for you.
• 40:08
  Speaker 2: You know, obviously different people work with, with different style of mentees, but if you know rent to rent for you and I and and you again going back to finding time if you want it enough, just do it.
• 40:21
  Speaker 2: What are you waiting for?
• 40:22
  Speaker 2: So I'm, I'm, I work nine to five.
• 40:25
  Speaker 2: Um, I've got I married, I've got two young boys, so I'm doing football training in the evenings and stuff.
• 40:31
  Speaker 2: The old me would say I haven't got time to do it, but because my need to do this is so high, you will find the time to do it.
• 40:41
  Speaker 2: And with your course and your feedback on pitching deals and the Facebook group, the community, the group calls, and for me I added on the, the one-to-one it was, it was everything I was looking for.
• 40:56
  Speaker 2: So so yeah, just do it, just just be actionable, hold yourself accountable.
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: Nike in it.
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: Just do it.
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: Just do it Right.
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: I bet I reckon you've've, uh, I reckon you, you already know the answers to these questions, but I'll let you in a little quick fire around it, because you've listened to the podcast a few times before.
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: But, um, uh, so what's the best advice you've been given?
• 41:20
  Speaker 2: I do love a quote.
• 41:21
  Speaker 2: I do love a quote um a lot of stuff with me but I think the one, especially the one I've had to kind of recite to myself to it over the last two, three weeks is um, easier life now, I'm sorry, yeah, easier life now, harder life later.
• 41:35
  Speaker 2: Harder life now, easier life later.
• 41:37
  Speaker 2: And that's what I've kept telling myself when I'm spinning all these plates you've got to put in the work because it's going to be worth it in the end.
• 41:44
  Speaker 2: And so I think I heard it on a podcast I can't remember which one now, but it really kind of struck a chord with me that one.
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: No, it's a good one.
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: It is a good one that.
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: And the other thing is it's a journey and it never really stops.
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: So that's why that passion thing is because you will put the upfront effort, will go in, you know, setting things up, getting things going, and then it's just maintaining things.
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: But, like you say, it'll give you more options in the future.
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: So, a great quote Love that, love that.
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: So I'll skip the corporate job because you've already got that.
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: So we don't want to put anybody down, do we?
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: If you could sit down and have dinner with three people that are alive, who would you like to sit down and have dinner with and chat to?
• 42:28
  Speaker 2: dead or alive.
• 42:29
  Speaker 2: Who would you like to sit down and have dinner with and chat to?
• 42:30
  Speaker 2: Um, it would have to be.
• 42:31
  Speaker 2: I'd have to have arnie around the table.
• 42:33
  Speaker 2: He's he's a bit of an icon of mine.
• 42:34
  Speaker 2: I love him.
• 42:34
  Speaker 2: Um, you know, he's not perfect, like like all of us, but, um, talk about a man who has a vision and he's, he's smashed every vision he's had.
• 42:43
  Speaker 2: He's kind of accomplished everything he he's set out to do and obviously you know, let alone the films that he's in and stuff.
• 42:50
  Speaker 2: So I'd love, I'd love to sit around with him.
• 42:52
  Speaker 2: That'd be great, it'd be very inspirational.
• 42:54
  Speaker 2: Um, I love simon squibb as well.
• 42:58
  Speaker 2: He's, um, he's on a lot of yeah, he's on a lot of socials.
• 43:01
  Speaker 2: At the moment, again, he's kind of a serial entrepreneur.
• 43:05
  Speaker 2: I think he started about 20 companies.
• 43:07
  Speaker 2: A lot of it's in like kind of marketing and stuff.
• 43:09
  Speaker 2: But he has some really great free material and advice about starting businesses and I start, me and my eldest son watch him a lot.
• 43:20
  Speaker 2: So again, I'm trying to inspire him into thinking a bit differently and starting to create some ideas, jot them down, because you know, he's only 11, but he said, if he can start that young.
• 43:31
  Speaker 2: So again, it would be great listening to Simon around the table and I think, lastly, it would be my mate, who's sadly no longer here, and again, if, sitting him around the other two, I'd like to think he'd feel very motivated and uplifted, really.
• 43:46
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, I think that'd be, that'd be good, good round table.
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: That'd be really good, very good.
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: I like that, I like that.
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: But yeah, I'm a massive Arnie fan as well and I think one of the things is that he's, he's quite I don't know if humble's the right word, but he's, he has been quite honest about things.
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: And you know, did you smoke a joint?
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I did, but I didn't inhale, or I did inhale.
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: You know all of those sorts of things that just make you laugh and stuff, and I enjoyed it as well.
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: You know where people say well, I didn't do that, yeah, I did it, I enjoyed it.
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: I was young.
• 44:30
  Speaker 2: So yeah, no, brilliant, I like that, I like that.
• 44:31
  Speaker 2: So what's your top three podcasts?
• 44:32
  Speaker 2: I'll give you as an honourable mention.
• 44:36
  Speaker 2: So I do mention it, I do listen to it regularly, it's one of my favourites and again, I've used it a lot over the last couple of weeks because again searching your podcast about tenants and that kind of thing.
• 44:43
  Speaker 2: So that's been really useful.
• 44:53
  Speaker 2: But I'll mention kind of three others as well, just just just to give some some different kind of things.
• 44:55
  Speaker 2: That's been really useful.
• 44:56
  Speaker 2: But I'll mention kind of three others as well, just just just to, you know, give some some different kind of perspective.
• 44:57
  Speaker 2: So I really like um disruptors by rob moore.
• 44:57
  Speaker 2: So rob moore's progressive property.
• 44:58
  Speaker 2: He's a bit mamai, I think some people you either like him or you don't, but I like it.
• 45:01
  Speaker 2: He's a really good interviewer, he.
• 45:03
  Speaker 2: He has kind of some quite controversial guests on sometimes, you know, like andrew tate, katie hopkins, nigel farage, yeah, but he has a wide variety of guests on and again also a great advice on on investing, which I'm interested in, and and again how to, how to kind of beat the system, that kind of thing.
• 45:25
  Speaker 2: So yeah, really good interviews and insights in that one.
• 45:27
  Speaker 2: The Rich Dad Radio Show is another one.
• 45:32
  Speaker 2: So it's not a lot of people know that Robert Kiyosaki has his own podcast.
• 45:36
  Speaker 2: He's in his 80s but he's still going.
• 45:42
  Speaker 2: And again, it's not just property that I like.
• 45:44
  Speaker 2: I like just the world of investing.
• 45:45
  Speaker 2: It's quite American.
• 45:47
  Speaker 2: So there are a lot of Americanisms and some some episodes maybe aren't as relevant, but there's a, there's a.
• 45:54
  Speaker 2: It's a good kind of global perspective on the economy and again, how to beat the system, you know, buying gold, silver, bitcoin, that kind of thing.
• 46:02
  Speaker 2: There's some really good advice in there.
• 46:04
  Speaker 2: And lastly, um, I'm a big football fan and in the 90s I was kind of my my early teens, where kind of football was my, was my life.
• 46:15
  Speaker 2: So there's, um, there's a, there's a 90s football podcast.
• 46:18
  Speaker 2: It's a bit niche, called uh quickly, kevin willie school and it's it's hosted by josh widdicombe, so it's just funny and obviously full of nostalgia really.
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: Nice.
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: Well, that's what it's all about.
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: It's nice to switch off.
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: I mean podcasts and things I tend to float around depending on what I'm doing in my businesses and stuff.
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: I tend to look for sort of areas there and listen to people and just get different perspectives on things.
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: So it is good to listen to different.
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: You know, it's not just all property, it's not just all one thing, it's and it's, and sometimes it's just nice to listen to somebody having a conversation that you, you are on the same wavelength about or with, because, uh, it can just be entertaining, can it?
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: Listening to their thoughts and the way that they say things and stuff.
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: So, yeah, brilliant, absolutely brilliant.
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: So, lastly, do you have a top three books that you think people should definitely read?
• 47:07
  Speaker 2: I do.
• 47:07
  Speaker 2: I put them here because I know I'd forget the uh, the authors.
• 47:09
  Speaker 2: So, um, it's the first.
• 47:11
  Speaker 2: One's how to own the world by andrew craig.
• 47:15
  Speaker 2: So, again, I wish I'd read this book when I was in my 20s.
• 47:19
  Speaker 2: It's basically a general understanding, um, of how finance investing works, but it's's written in such a simple way that someone like me can understand.
• 47:29
  Speaker 2: And, again, it gives you that advice of how to beat the system, so not just rely on a pension, start an ISA, for example.
• 47:37
  Speaker 2: So really, really good advice in there.
• 47:41
  Speaker 2: I'm going away next week, so I'm going to read it again just to kind of read the chapter over everything.
• 47:44
  Speaker 2: It's that good, yeah, read it again, just to kind of read the chapter over everything.
• 47:46
  Speaker 2: It's that good, yeah.
• 47:47
  Speaker 2: The second one is the Almanac of Naval Ravikant Brilliant, yeah, I didn't know much about him.
• 47:56
  Speaker 2: Again, he's a serial entrepreneur and he's quite big in the tech game, isn't he?
• 48:00
  Speaker 2: But he's also the book's full of his kind of wisdom and quotes, not only on business but just on life and family.
• 48:09
  Speaker 2: So I love a quote and that's certainly full of them.
• 48:12
  Speaker 2: It's just it kind of draws all his highlights from podcasts he's been on and anything he's ever said in public, so I don't know who.
• 48:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah, eric Jorgensen was the guy who kind of wrote it.
• 48:23
  Speaker 2: He's done a great job in collating that, and so, again, that's one to just to take inspiration from.
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: Really, um where I come from quite possibly.
• 48:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I said, I love a quote.
• 48:36
  Speaker 2: I hear so many yeah, I forget where they come from, but I imagine it is probably from there.
• 48:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, um, and then the other one which I read read quite recently actually, and again dealing with landlords and tenants over the last two, three weeks.
• 48:51
  Speaker 2: It's Raving Fans by Ken Blanchard.
• 48:55
  Speaker 2: So it's written in a similar style to kind of the 5am club, where it's like a story and it's this guy who goes around different businesses and shops and he discovers, you know, the problems that they had with bad customer service or systems within their business and how they've and what they've done to better that and how customers are raving about their services.
• 49:22
  Speaker 2: Again, I mean, there's quite a lot in there.
• 49:33
  Speaker 2: You can kind of learn about your business and the service, the service you provide, your tenants and stuff.
• 49:35
  Speaker 2: Really, um, I think that was free, wasn't it?
• 49:36
  Speaker 2: I was going to mention slash as well.
• 49:36
  Speaker 2: It's not a bit unprofessional, slash.
• 49:37
  Speaker 2: The autobiography of slash is also a good read.
• 49:38
  Speaker 2: Um, how that guy's still alive, I don't know.
• 49:40
  Speaker 2: But I'm the guitarist yeah, it's um a miracle he's still here, but he's certainly had a good life, that's for sure.
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: I don't think I ever knew what he looks like.
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: I've never seen his face in it.
• 49:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, the big hair and the sunglasses and stuff.
• 49:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, there's a few pictures in there.
• 49:58
  Speaker 2: I think you do see him without his costume on, so to speak.
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: That's brilliant.
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: That's brilliant.
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: So I mean absolute gift and a pleasure to have you on, my friend.
• 50:09
  Speaker 1: I know, as I say at the very beginning, it's been a long time coming.
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: I'm super, super stoked and excited for what you're going to do in the future as well, and I also obviously want to invite you back in the future as well.
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: So let's get down there, let's get some more deals going and stuff, and I will be an absolute pleasure to have you back on as well.
• 50:26
  Speaker 2: Definitely, thank you Again.
• 50:27
  Speaker 2: An action for me to reach.
• 50:29
  Speaker 2: So yeah, thank you for having me.
• 50:32
  Speaker 1: No, that's all right, and what I'd like to just say is have you got any sort of final thoughts, advice or anything like that for people that are listening to this or watching this?
• 50:40
  Speaker 2: No, obviously.
• 50:41
  Speaker 2: Firstly, thank you to you for your support and say if you're in a similar situation to me, you think you're stuck in a job.
• 50:48
  Speaker 2: You're not.
• 50:49
  Speaker 2: There are different ways.
• 50:50
  Speaker 2: Even if it's like a side hustle from the beginning, you've got to start.
• 50:54
  Speaker 2: So you've got to want it enough and you can find the time to just go out and do it.
• 50:58
  Speaker 2: No regrets, no regrets.
• 51:02
  Speaker 1: No regrets, just get out there and take action.
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: At the end of the day.
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: It's an old saying goes when you get to the end of your life, you're not going to, you know, you're only going to have regrets for the things that you didn't do, not the things that you did do.
• 51:12
  Speaker 1: So, yeah, no regrets, we'll leave it on that one Brilliant stuff, tom.
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: Thank you very much, my friend.
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: Thank you, thanks for having me.
• 51:18
  Speaker 1: So if you are interested in any resources that Tom was speaking about, please do check out thepropertyunleashedcom.
• 51:31
  Speaker 1: We have free tools and resources on there and, of course, any training and help and support.
• 51:33
  Speaker 1: You can also check us out on Facebook with my groups and things and also like, subscribe or share this episode if you've enjoyed it, which I'm sure you have.
• 51:42
  Speaker 1: So why not come and join us in the next episode now, or I will see you next week when we upload the next Property Unleashed podcast.
• 51:52
  Speaker 1: You all take care.
• 51:52
  Speaker 1: It's been great to have you joining us here.
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: Bye for now.