Latest / The Property Unleashed Podcast / Turning Houses into Homes for Kids in Crisis Care, With Danny O' Brien

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Turning Houses into Homes for Kids in Crisis Care, With Danny O' Brien · The Property Unleashed Podcast

• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to the Property Unleashed with me Mark Fitzgerald, and today I am rejoined by Danny O'Brien.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Good to have you on, danny.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Good to see you again as well, mate.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, really good to see you too.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: It's been a little while, hasn't it?
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: well, mate?
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah, really good to see you too.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: It's been a little while, hasn't it?
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: It has it has.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: So you may or may not remember Danny.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: He was on episode 251 where he was talking about his property journey.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: You know he's done different things in the property world but he came and joined our Ultimate Service Accommodation Training Program because he was interested in getting involved in short-term rentals.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: Little did he know where it would take him, and he's got a fantastic story to tell us and also a new way of getting out there and helping people with a cause that's very, very close to his heart.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: So I'm really excited about this episode.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: I'm really looking forward to going and digging deeper into that.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: But just you know, people haven't heard about you, danny.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: Just tell us a little bit about your background and how you sort of found your way into property.
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so obviously, hi everyone, my name's Danny from BD Short Stays.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: So my kind of journey in property.
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: Originally I was a footballer not a very good one, because otherwise I wouldn't be signing on this podcast.
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: I'll still be training, but my background I was a footballer and that didn't work out as I planned to and then I kind of fell into property in a way.
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: During COVID I bought my first residential home and I really enjoyed the whole process of that.
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: And then, with what happened, joel and COVID, I suddenly had a lot of time on my hands and I said that I wanted to kind of use that time wisely to take a look at life after football, because I was still playing semi-professional and I wanted to make sure that that transition from semi-pro football into not playing anymore wasn't going to affect me financially.
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: So that got me involved in property and it piqued my interest and I went on quite a few courses and I started to purchase, buy to let properties, which did really well.
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: I also was heavily involved in sourcing with my mentor, andrew Tonks, who a lot of people will know, and in a way I gradually moved towards the idea of running serviced accommodation and at that point I joined your course with grey and linley, the ultimate sa business builder, and my whole journey was based around contractors and that's the market that I initially went for because of my corporate role as a sales manager within the construction industry, and that obviously snowballed quite dramatically over the past six months, moving into a completely different sector, but still within the SA space, which helps children in crisis in crisis care placement.
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, I've been around, probably in the property industry for probably about three and a half years now.
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: I'm also a pin speaker and a speaker up and down the country pushing our new platform, placement Finder, which we'll go into a bit more detail on today, hopefully.
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: But yeah, that's kind of me in a nutshell.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, it's brilliant, brilliant, and, of course, if anybody wants a more in-depth one, then do go back and check out episode 251.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: So, moving forward, obviously a fast forward in a bit to where we are now.
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: I remember you setting up your serviced accommodation and wanting to get into that sector rather than the buy to let sector, because you had a bit of a bad tenant, didn't you?
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: yeah, so I um it was a weird one really, because I joined the SA course in February 2023 and the reason for that was was I kind of I wanted to do it, but I always said and you know this as well is I always wanted to do service accommodation with you because of the way you was and how you conducted your kind of courses and your speeches.
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: I was like I can, I can work with that.
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: And it probably took about a year before the actual course was ready and and we kind of had a conversation about it, he said listen, I'm putting this together, um, we'd love you to be on it whenever the time's right for you.
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: And then, as soon as the time was right in February, um, I joined the course and the whole plan was to kind of build my own essay portfolio and that kind of halfway through going through the course, that all just went completely out the window because I got two properties back and one of them was just in an absolute state now.
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: That one itself was a really good buy to let.
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: It was at like 19% return on investment, a really good property and tenant always paid, never had a peep from them.
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: But but what we didn't realize was the upkeep of the property was just just non-existent and and that caused a lot of, a lot of smelly problems would probably be the answer to that.
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: And I had kind of a big decision on my hand and luckily, because I was in the course and I got that kind of backing and support from Mark and people like that it meant that I was able to kind of say, right, well, this is the perfect opportunity to put everything that I've been practicing into action.
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: So we actually converted that buy to let even though it wasn't part of the plan, into an essay and then, two days after going live, we hit a 28-night booking with a care provider providing temporary accommodation for a misplaced child, and that's very much snowballed into a huge, huge kind of platform and database to help hundreds of children across the UK using serviced accommodation.
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: So what started as a little venture turned into something a lot more bigger than me, a lot more bigger than serviced accommodation, and I'm very lucky that that I was able to do that through the, the kind of the, the support and the coaching from the ultimate essay business builder really, because none of it would have happened if it wasn't for that course well, it's great to hear, it's great to hear that's what we're here for is to help and support people in building their property businesses.
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: But, um, I believe there's opportunities everywhere.
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: Now, sometimes we see the opportunity, sometimes it goes straight past us, but we need to be switched on to them.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: And the thing is, and the thing I love about your journey and where you're going to at the moment, is this opportunity came along Because I remember you initially saying this looks like a great opportunity.
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: But I'm a bit concerned.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: Uh, because there are, you know, pitfalls and things, and when you haven't worked with those sort of operators and those service providers and things, you're not 100 sure.
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: Obviously you've come from a bad experience as well.
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: Whereas you had it what you thought was a good tenant until they left and left your house in a terrible state, which is obviously, you know it's just not good enough.
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: At the end of the day, when you put good living together, you expect people to at least look after it and you know, let you know if there's a problem so you can get in there and get things sorted.
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: So obviously you had a bad experience there.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: And then you you've gone on to this because you realized and understood that it wouldn't just be helping anybody.
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: This was actually helping vulnerable children, wasn't it?
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: yeah, no, it's.
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: This was actually helping vulnerable children, wasn't it?
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, it's it's.
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: I remember when we got the offer and we got the, we got the booking and myself and you sat there and we went through it, went through the pros and cons and what we made sure was we protected ourselves with the terms and conditions and we made sure that we said right, ok, danny, you're going to have to be very hands-on for this first period, because you need to kind of iron out the problems.
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: You need to iron out the good parts of it, the bad parts of it, but we need to protect you.
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: And we were able to do that on a coaching call and don't get me wrong, it was first night, I think.
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: We had the police around.
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: Second night, we had an escape over the back fence and broke a brick wall.
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: We had all these issues, but the fundamental side of it was this child needs somewhere to be and they need to be put in a safe, homely environment for their next stages of their recovery.
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: The particular young gentleman who, by the way, is still in Bickenshaw Lane to this day.
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: So, when you look at it from an SA point of view, it's been 100% occupancy since the 16th of August 2023 and it just extended again for another another 28 nights today and but that that property, it was vital for that young person to be able to be given that opportunity to say do you know what?
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: You're not going to get kicked out Because we found out, probably about four or five weeks ago, that this young gentleman, for six months prior to going into the SA in Wigan, he had gone in six months to four different properties, going through a process which is basically a system that doesn't work, and that's when, kind of, we had already been working on that system.
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: We'd already been working on seeing like there's hundreds of children out there in the same situation that don't get given this opportunity, and the reason why is because people aren't aware of what it entails.
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: Now, um, I remember the book.
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: I remember the book and I remember the sat there and I remember the pitch that got given to me and it all sounded so brilliant and it was kind of we would like to book your property for 28 nights.
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: It's most likely going to extend for a long period of time and ultimately, you'll be helping out a misplaced child.
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: Now, on the surface of it, that sounds brilliant.
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: It sounds wonderful and what a great cause.
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: Do you know what I mean?
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: And you get the 28 night booking.
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: The reality is it is these children come from trauma.
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: They have a lot of emotions.
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: They're happy, they're sad, they're anxious, they're angry and, and sometimes and most of the time they they express those emotions that can be damaging to properties, can be disruptive.
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: But there's a reason why they got to that stage and for us, as a property person who's heavily been involved in charitable work throughout his whole life, my view on it was well, they are expecting to be kicked out, because that's the normal.
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: What happens if we turn around and say listen, we're not giving up on you, we refuse to, not anything that you do, it's not going to be a problem, because we want you to make sure that you do the best possible opportunity to change your life.
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: And, um, if you don't have the property, they can't do that.
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: It's as simple as that.
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: And and it is a huge difference between supported living, social and kind of all these sort of things which is in the property world, because the buzzword for supported living is three to five year leases.
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: That is that.
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: That is the word.
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: You know what I mean.
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: That is that that is what everyone wants.
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: The reality of crisis care placements is they last for a minimum of 28 nights.
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: So care providers don't want to be taken out three to five year leases on properties which are for placements that may only last that initial 28 night period.
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: So what happens?
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: Do you know what I mean?
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: There's no supply of these properties within the care sector, but they still need to find these properties to house these children, and the answer is SA, because it's short term lets and that's what we figured out very early on within that booking to say there's something that we can do here because we're part of a very good organization, we're part of a very good community within the SA space and it's something completely different and people will raise their eyebrows, but a lot of people will get it and we've been very lucky to have a lot of people get it and go well for it, because this is this is something that's going to benefit children.
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: It's going to benefit local authorities, care providers.
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: It's also going to benefit SA operators.
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: Like, as I've said before, 100 occupancy since August 23rd at a decent rate as well.
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: Do you know what I mean?
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: So, like there's so many things that have snowballed us into this point and it all started with me getting that booking and, as I said, I get Graham laughs all the time because he sees the emotion on me when I speak to him because that one particular placement.
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: That wouldn't have happened if Graham didn't give me an absolute rocket about four days before.
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: He said you should have that property live.
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: I got it live.
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: The day later I said no, working all day, all night, getting it live.
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: Two days later that booking came in.
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: If he didn't do that, property wouldn't have been available and wouldn't be where we are now.
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: And it just shows you how important it is to be part of the community that I am, with the SA, a business builder.
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: None of that would have been possible.
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's accountability at the end of the day, isn't it?
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: Sometimes you just need somebody to boot you up the backside.
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: You know you need to do it, but sometimes we're too comfortable as well.
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: It's easily done.
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: So it is from our perspective to be able to look at what people are doing and say, you know, pull your socks up and get on with it, because the opportunities are there.
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: And I think it's also great that you're helping people.
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: You know, we always like to say let's make it a win-win.
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: But when you can make it a win-win in such a manner that it is so, so important and it really is a great cause.
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: And, of course, on top of that as well, you've got, you know any damages are covered and paid for by the operators, so to speak, or the charities or whoever you're working with.
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: And I like the fact that you sort of gave us a bit of a high level overview of it there.
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: But it was really you just sort of sat back and said, if I can help this one child, so to speak, and they're in my property and it's working well for me, I like that.
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: There's going to be more like that.
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: It's what you've already said there's going to be a lot more like that.
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: So is there a way?
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: Way, because obviously you're not going to have enough properties, as much as you'd like to, maybe you will have in the future, but yourself you're not going to hold or own or control enough properties to be able to really make an impact and help people.
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: Which is now what's sort of this concept that and and well, I say it's a concept it's now gone from a concept.
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: This new sort of business that you've set up is is doing just that.
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: But tell us a little bit.
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: Everybody sort of has an aha moment, didn't they?
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: Uh, or you can do, or you can miss those moments, but you've sort of embraced this, you've.
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: You was telling me, actually, before we started this, you were just reading a book and all of a sudden you just thought oh, hold on a minute, the light switch has gone on.
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: I think this might just work and we can do this.
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: Tell us a bit about that yeah, so.
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: So the original plan.
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: So, um, just to kind of set the scene, um, we decided that we were going to create a innovative application and platform specifically designed for the care sector.
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: Now, the first part of that platform was basically a new OTA specifically designed for crisis care.
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: Now we wanted to bridge the gap.
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: That is the biggest thing that we've said is we want to bridge the gap within crisis care because large proportions of these placements don't happen or fail mid-stay for three main reasons, and they all involve property it's not fit for purpose, it's not in good condition, but the main one is the relationship between the care provider and landlord breaks down mid-stay, and that's where you see the children get kicked out of the properties and that's where they end up in mid-children's wards on hospitals, they end up in state-run care homes or they just go back around that system with no property and they'll just keep going around that system.
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: So the whole idea of it was let's go take over the world.
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: And I was sat there, very, very probably anxious is the word because I understand how hard it is to run service accommodation if you're within half an hour of the property.
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: You need to have so many systems set up in place.
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: You have to have a team behind you, you have to have maintenance guys, you have to have all these different things, and I was like this is not going to work when the placements aren't in situ, and I had to come up with an idea that we could create a platform that would have multiple different children.
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: My phone just went then on my laptop.
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: The platform we wanted to have a platform that was basically how can I explain it?
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: It's its own single OTA.
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: So we can't have an OTA that just has five properties on that are based in Wigan.
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: It's just not going to work.
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: We're not going to bridge that gap.
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: So how are we going to do that?
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: And my answer was, after reading this book was well, I'm part of a really good community.
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: I'm part of Mark and Graham's course, so I need to look at tapping into that to see if I can create something which is beneficial for the platform.
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: It's beneficial for the children, it's beneficial for the SA operators.
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: So we came up with something that's called the Property Partner Scheme, and what that basically is is it's SA operators nationwide, in partnership with placement finder, which is the platform helping bridge the gap within crisis.
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: Care now what that means for the property partners is is they have access to the platform, so their property is seen by local authorities and care providers, but it's not open to the public and what they can do is when placements come in and referrals come in.
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: Each property can suit the individual needs of different types of placements, so that's a huge thing is having a diverse range of property listings, which we couldn't provide just for BD short stays With the Property Partner Scheme.
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: Now we have multiple different types of properties all over the country that suit the individual needs of each and every crisis placement.
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: But the fundamental part of it is our property partners have gone through a training and vetting process, which means that they're equipped to be able to handle placements.
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: They understand how important it is and from a business sense of view, it makes sense for them because it's going to provide them with long-term bookings.
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: All damages paid for, but ultimately, most of our property partners, they have their own story, which is which is really good.
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: Um, just to give you an example, like ellie, ellie obviously works in the police force.
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: She deals with these children when they, when they, get kicked out of placements, so she actually understands how vital it is for them to stay into a property.
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: Do you know what I mean?
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: It's all these, all these different, different people.
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: We've got up and down the country have their own reasoning as to why they're involved in placement finder, but fundamentally, the biggest reason why they're in it is because they know what a huge difference they can make to a child's life.
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: That is like, money aside, business aside, being able to do that is is one of the most rewarding things you'll ever do.
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: And and all these people have come together and I have a slide on on the presentations that I do and I do make a joke about it because, like being an ex-pro, I always say I've been part of some really good teams, but I've been part of some really bad teams as well.
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: And the team that we have within Placement Finder through our property partners, is the best team I've been part of, because, day-to-day, on the normal OTAs, every single one of our property partners are competitors.
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: Pillow partners are competitors to prim short stays, who are competitors to eco accommodation, who are competitors to peer 24, do you know what I mean?
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: These are just people that I'm naming off.
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: They're all competing for the same type of guest on the same OTA, such as Airbnb and bookingcom, but within placement finder the partners they work together, they all.
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: Workbook Finder the partners they work together, they all work together to help bridge the gap within crisis care.
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: That is huge For the market that is so volatile and so competitive for main competitors to come together to help bridge the gap.
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: It shows how powerful the message is, but it shows how powerful people within the property industry can be.
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: Um and I think sometimes we get caught into it and you say it all the time you can't do it on your own.
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: You can't do it on your own and and and that is proofs in the pudding there was I going to be able to get over 100 properties in the space of two months to put on this platform?
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: Not with a lot of heartache and headaches not one bit but was I able to do it with the help and the kind of the partnerships that we built with really good property people?
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: It became easy in the end because everyone got it.
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: Do you know what I mean?
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: Um, and that was huge.
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: Well, that's my biggest achievement.
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: Today is as much as Placement Finders now in its a shame, because it shows how powerful it can be.
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: I think the message, I think the whole thing's awesome.
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: To be quite honest with you and when you we touched on this in the last interview but you were very in the early stages.
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: You couldn't really talk about this then, which is why it's been great to get you back on, because as soon as we knew when it was going to be launched and get up and running, we wanted to get you back on Because I think it's such, I think it's amazing, I think it's such a worthy cause, I think you can make money, but, as you say, it's more than that.
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: You're actually.
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: I mean, you can imagine what a lot of these young people, these children, young adults, have been through and to have to move every so often.
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: You know, even if it's just a few weeks or every month or something like that, there's no stability there.
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: But, as you say, you know the people that are in your property at the moment.
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: Now I've been there since August last year all of a sudden, there's stability.
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: They're staying in the same area.
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: That is absolutely priceless and is so, so rewarding as well.
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: And I've seen your talk as well, because you know we meet up a lot.
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: I talk on the circuit, you talk on the circuit and it's an amazing talk, but there's always people that are like I want to get involved in this.
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: You know, people do understand it and they resonate with it.
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: Fact of the matter is the renter or the serviced accommodation, the short-term rental sector, the model fits this.
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: So so well, because, as you were touching on and you pointed out to me at the beginning of the interview, well, just before we spoke you can have a placement.
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: So maybe you've got a 60-day placement and maybe it doesn't work out or they move on, or something like that.
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: You just then rent it out as serviced accommodation, don't you?
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: You take your bookings again.
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: So if you have a lapse in the middle, it's not like I mean you can do, but it's not like you have to sit there with an empty property.
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: You can carry on doing what you were doing before, safe in the knowledge that your properties will be in the same sort of position and look the same and everything when it comes to that.
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: But again, there will be other placements as well, and I also just to reiterate what you've said there I love the property partner scheme because and you can explain a little bit more about that if you're all right to do so where you have.
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: You know, people have their own areas, don't they?
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: So it doesn't matter if I'm not in.
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: Well, we all go through the property partner scheme because you want to get the qualification, so to speak, but it's all about being able to team up with people in the area as well, and you don't have to manage them, do you?
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: So the person in the area will manage the client, so to speak.
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: So you want to tell us a bit more about that?
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so the property partner scheme is basically, as I said, I describe it as SA operators working nationwide to help reach the gap.
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: Now, all of the property partners within Placement Finder, they're all SA operators.
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: That's the first thing.
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: They're all set up to run serviced accommodation, but so is every single person on Airbnb.
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: In theory.
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: That is not the case when it comes to crisis care placements, because there will be damages, there will be disruption, there will be noise, there will be times when you're like, oh my God, what is going on?
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: And, being part of the property partner scheme, you have to be fully aware of what's going on.
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: So, for example, we have different property partners all over the country.
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: Um, what we do with them is basically say, when a placement's in situ, you need to be the main property manager on that call.
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: Okay, so you need to be the main point of contact for the care team on site for for placement finder, but they also have a support team in place through BD Short Stays, where we can help them and we can ease the pressure from them as much as possible when situations arise.
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: What it means for property partners, though, is it means that, in their area, they are the only people that have access to the platform.
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: So it can't be a case of you suddenly want to be involved in placement finder.
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: You've not gone through the training program, you've not gone through the meetings and understanding what the platform is there to achieve.
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: If, if your properties need to be on, want to be on placement finder, you have to be working with that property partner, and that isn't to try and shut people off.
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: The reason why is because the people that are working on it, they know what works, they know what doesn't work, but ultimately there's loads of damages, there's loads of issues, there's loads of things you have to mitigate.
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: And having a kind of very, very organized, well-oiled machine of an SA operator works very well with crisis care, because I joke and call it service accommodation on steroids, because that's what it feels like sometimes um, but these people are equipped to do that um, and, as I said, it's brought them different type of business.
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: It's brought them more opportunities.
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: It's it's been able to kind of open up their horizons, to kind of say, yes, we do all the same things as every other operator in the area, but we have access to placement finder.
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: And what placement finder is?
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: It can provide you with a minimum of a 28-night booking, all damages paid for.
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: But ultimately you are serving such a huge purpose with your property for one young individual who needs that property to be given the opportunity to benefit their life for the better, and and that's a huge thing to be able to have.
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: And we don't bring on property partners just like that.
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: Because the concept is great and I say this all the time is the concept is great.
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: The concept is great and I say this all the time is the concept is great.
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: The reality is of it is.
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: It is tough.
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: It is so tough and it's so.
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: There's so much emotion involved.
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: There's so much that you need to be prepared for and like we have it with, we've got it with Graham.
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: At the minute Graham took a placement, he broke every single protocol.
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: He ever told me to put this placement in.
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: Honestly, it was brilliant.
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: I said don't tell everyone on that course, but this year, that particular placement in one of Graham's properties, that young girl.
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: She has had serious trauma in her life and there's been thousands of pounds worth of damage in that property.
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: Now graham's first reaction to that was isn't it so sad that someone at such a young age can be at that point in their life, so early on.
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: What's gone on to lead her to put her in that position?
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: Okay, it's not her fault, but she's there and and that's what's happening Thousands of pounds worth of damage.
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: Has Graham at any point considered her being kicked out of the property?
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: No, because he's protected from all damages, okay.
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: But ultimately he knows how important it is for that young girl.
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: And Graham is a business person, but he's also a very good person and sometimes you have to play with both.
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: From a business sense, it makes sense.
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: He's going to have that bucket for probably over a year, no doubt because of the state of the placement.
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: But from an aspect of social and the social aspect of it, he knows that his property is serving such a bigger purpose within the SA space to what it did before placement finder.
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: So he's just like that.
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: I don't care.
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: I don't care about damages, I don't care about disruption.
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: We'll deal with it with you and help with you as long as this girl gets the property that she needs to to progress.
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: That is like you can't even comprehend saying how important it is to be a property partner, to understand what you are getting yourself in for.
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: And graham is living, breathing that straight away.
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: Like I said to him, I said she's going to be a lively one.
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: It's a sort of fun and games and literally within night one the bathroom had been completely just just turned upside down thousands of pounds.
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: He's like I didn't know she was going to be this lively.
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: I was like, yeah, I was like I did tell you.
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: He's like doesn't matter, we need to help her and that's that.
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: That's huge.
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: Do you know what I mean?
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: Like, and there's a lot of people out there that's the thing as well as there's a lot of people out there within the property industry that do want to do good.
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: Sometimes they just don't have the contacts, sometimes they just don't know the avenue to take.
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: With Placement Finder, we work with multiple different types of people in the property industry.
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: We work with deal sources because we also do C2 registered properties as well, which basically they get Ofsted registered in the residential children's homes.
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: We can provide those three to five year leases on those properties as well, which basically they get Ofsted registered in the residential children's homes.
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: We can provide those three to five year leases on those properties as well.
• 30:09
  Speaker 2: We work with landlords.
• 30:09
  Speaker 2: We work with SA operators.
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: We work with a lot of people within the placement finder network, so anyone who wants to be involved, and they're in it for the right reasons we will always have that discussion.
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: Do you know what I mean?
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: No, yeah, no, it's great, and I mean, I suppose, equally to that, if you've got boots on the ground, you've got somebody in your area that can deal with this, because this isn't for everybody.
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: Okay, you know it's, it's just great.
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: If you're thinking about or listening to this, just thinking, well, I struggled a bit with my essay, so it'd be nice just to do this and all you're thinking about is the money, then I wouldn't bother.
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: Uh, to be quite honest with you, I think you've really got to care for humans as well.
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: As you know, obviously we don't want our properties trashed, but then if it is damaged, any damage can be fixed.
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: You know, um, the precautions are taken to make sure that people are safe and things, but not everybody's going to do that either, are they.
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: But you know you are going to, you are dealing with vulnerable people who don't know really where to turn and don't know how to vent, and that's the whole thing, isn't it?
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: It's given that stability.
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: So I think the cause is massive and I think if you've got that sort of so, some people will have that in them.
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: Some people will listen to this and say do you know what I'd love to get involved in this.
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: I'd love to help these young, vulnerable people and see if we can get them back on their feet.
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: I mean, if you help one person just to get back on their feet, how rewarding is that?
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: But there's opportunities here to help potentially hundreds you know thousands and stuff on the level that you're doing it as well.
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: So it is massive.
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: The other thing is as well, so it is massive.
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: The other thing is.
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: So let's say, for argument's sake, I've got my property and I say to you I want to do this, but I don't want to be the guy that runs it all and everything.
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: So you've got somebody in the area who is your property partner scheme person.
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: How?
• 31:57
  Speaker 2: would that?
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: work then, so to speak, so I wouldn't have to really get involved in the day-to-day running.
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: Somebody else would sort of manage it for me, or would I still have to get involved?
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so for us, we always say, is, the only thing that matters to us is when a placement goes in situ.
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: Our property partner is the main property manager.
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: So, for example, if we use, for example, ellie up in, up in county durham, um, now there's two ways that you can do that.
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: Because one thing to always be aware of all of our property partners have really good at running essays.
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: They've all.
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: They're all at the top of the game, if that makes sense.
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: Ellie, like she's I call her the contractor's best mate.
• 32:39
  Speaker 2: She's just nuts.
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: She just goes on to building sites and gets a year booking and things like that.
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: But there's two ways you can work with our property partner and they can just manage your property all the time because they're really good at what they do.
• 32:52
  Speaker 2: That's the reason why we approached them to be a property partner, because we knew how well they ran normal service accommodation.
• 32:59
  Speaker 2: Now, that's one way to do it.
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: The other way to do it is if you build some sort of relationship where your property can go onto the platform but when the placement's in situ, our property partner, such as Ellie up in County Durham, is able to manage that property while the placement's in situ and you don't have to have anything to do with it.
• 33:20
  Speaker 2: That's up to you guys.
• 33:21
  Speaker 2: Now, we always say business in business, partnership is is it's the the hardest thing to do, but it's also the best thing to do.
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: Um, would you want to be going into a placement not knowing what's going to happen?
• 33:36
  Speaker 2: Probably not.
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: Would you be more comfortable?
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: A placement going into your property being managed by someone who knows exactly what they're doing and knows exactly what's going to happen and knows how to deal with every situation?
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: I know what my answer would be it's like having.
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: It's like having a really good letting agent is probably the best way to describe it.
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: But that letting agent has access to a market that no other, no other operator in that area has, and that's probably the best way to kind of describe it really.
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: But we always say is don't bank placement finder on being your sole business, because at the end of the day, it's based on children's emotions.
• 34:17
  Speaker 2: So a placement could look like it's going fantastically well and they're going to stay in there forever, and then next day child goes I don't like it.
• 34:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's it.
• 34:27
  Speaker 2: If they don't like it there, they have to find them a new property.
• 34:30
  Speaker 2: Do you know what I mean so.
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: So what you need to be doing is going okay, does my property stack as service accommodation?
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: yes yeah, do I have a management agent, like one of the property partners, who's running it full time?
• 34:43
  Speaker 2: Yes, will have access to placement finder through there.
• 34:47
  Speaker 2: Then, yes, do you know?
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: I mean, you've got two different revenue streams.
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: You've got standard service accommodation and you've got placement finder.
• 34:54
  Speaker 2: It's going to give you the best opportunity to make as much revenue as possible yeah, and that's what I love, because you can do the two things.
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: So if you haven't got somebody on placement going in, you just carry on running it as your SA unit, which you were doing before anyway, so you can still take your bookings.
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: Obviously, you're not going to take bookings in advance while somebody's in there and obviously you know if, say, you've got a 28-day or 29-day book it, they get halfway through it and they say, well, we're gonna move.
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: Um, how much notice did I have to give you?
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: Or?
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: Or you know, does the booking still count to the end of the month or does it get cut short?
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: How does that work?
• 35:30
  Speaker 2: yeah, so.
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: So each booking is 28 nights, no more, no less.
• 35:35
  Speaker 2: And what happens is, when the booking goes into play, the property goes on to reserve, to book on the rest of the OTAs for up until five days before checkout.
• 35:46
  Speaker 2: Now, before five days before checkout, we have a very high possibility of knowing whether the placement's going to continue or whether it's going to end.
• 35:56
  Speaker 2: What we do then is, if it's going to continue, it's just another 28-night booking.
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: If they get past that five-day rule, the property can then go back on instant book, because one thing that Placement Finder doesn't want to do is it doesn't want to affect your business, it wants to enhance the business.
• 36:17
  Speaker 2: So we have like a five-day rule.
• 36:20
  Speaker 2: Nine times out of ten ten.
• 36:22
  Speaker 2: We know what's happening before those five days and they've been extended.
• 36:25
  Speaker 2: If they don't get extended, we then obviously the protocols come into play where, for those, however many days, we need to make sure the property is back in working condition as much as possible.
• 36:37
  Speaker 2: So there's very little downtime on the property.
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: Now, obviously, if you've had a year year booking, you're probably going to need a new lick of paint.
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: Do you know what I mean?
• 36:46
  Speaker 2: But all the damages they get rectified very quickly.
• 36:50
  Speaker 2: So it's not a case as we leave them up until the end.
• 36:52
  Speaker 2: They get done straight away because it keeps the property in good condition.
• 36:56
  Speaker 2: I think that's we had to find a very, a very happy medium between what the care sector thought was acceptable for damages in respect to when they should be fixed, against what an SA operator thinks, and for me, the property.
• 37:13
  Speaker 2: What is it?
• 37:14
  Speaker 2: The property is a serviced accommodation.
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: As soon as that placement's checked out just the same way any other guest does, is that property going to be back on Airbnb?
• 37:21
  Speaker 2: Yes, it is.
• 37:22
  Speaker 2: So the answer is is that property needs to be kept in that condition for as much as long as possible?
• 37:28
  Speaker 2: Now, if you had a year-long booking of contractors, you'd probably give it a week's downtime so you could pay and decorate.
• 37:34
  Speaker 2: It's probably going to be the same.
• 37:36
  Speaker 2: But, as I said, the idea is that the property stays in good condition all the way up into checkout, and then we have protocols as well in place, so we also have a loss of earnings.
• 37:47
  Speaker 2: So, say, something does happen at the day of checkout and it means that the property can't be put online straight away.
• 37:52
  Speaker 2: We have a loss of earnings kind of package as well, which basically kind of rest, assures our operators and our property partners.
• 38:01
  Speaker 2: To listen, we can never guarantee anything, but one thing we can guarantee is we're not going to make sure that your business is is negatively affected by this placement.
• 38:11
  Speaker 2: It's only going to be positively affected and that's the idea of it and that's that's.
• 38:16
  Speaker 2: That's why placement finders so good is, because it's been set up by sa operators that that's myself and Beckel and our business partner with access to the care sector so we can find that happy medium that works fantastic for placements.
• 38:29
  Speaker 2: But also it protects our property partners and their properties, because if it wasn't for them, there wouldn't be a Placement Finder.
• 38:38
  Speaker 2: Do you know what I mean?
• 38:39
  Speaker 2: There wouldn't be hundreds of properties on the platform if it wasn't for them.
• 38:43
  Speaker 2: Obviously it wasn't if it wasn't for us setting up.
• 38:46
  Speaker 2: I get that, but we've got to look after both sides.
• 38:50
  Speaker 2: So we've thought about it very, very um strategically as to what's going to benefit everyone, and we have all these different policies in place that mean that everyone's protected, um, whether you're the sa operator, whether you're the care provider, whether you're the child that bangs back in the middle of everyone deciding what's happening.
• 39:10
  Speaker 2: Um, we put everyone at the forefront of making sure that everyone comes out with it in a positive way.
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: Really that's brilliant.
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: I mean, if you think it, if you have a bike to let you have somebody in for 12 months and they move out, normally you've got to give it a lick of paint, you know, just wear and tear and everything there.
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: So the fact that you've taken that all into consideration and put that into, so to speak, the structure of your business is absolutely amazing.
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: So there will be people hopefully watching or listening to this that are interested, obviously, in maybe finding out more or getting involved themselves.
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: As we say, it's not right for everybody.
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: Don't do it just for money.
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: Although you can earn a very good obviously you can earn very good money doing this Do it because you really want to help somebody go in with the right attitudes.
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: And also I do like the fact that you'll have people, so to speak, in the areas that are on hand to manage it for you, because I might not be personally the best person to sort of manage that.
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: Because when your properties are your own, you know this yourself, I know this and somebody does damage something.
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: Sometimes you get a bit emotional about it, whether you want to or not, because it's just the way we are.
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: It's like oh, we put a nice place together.
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: I can't understand why they've done this, and it really is.
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: We can't control how other people are thinking or what they do, so we shouldn't even bother trying.
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: And I think, by taking yourself out of that equation as the property owner, as the landlord, potentially, I think that's a good thing as well, because it then is looked at by somebody who understands the situation, knows it's all going to be fixed and sorted, so you can remove all of those sort of knee-jerk reactions, can't you?
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: And also the person themselves can actually get the help that they need, rather than potentially somebody having to go at them or feeling, you know, really, really feeling worse, feeling out of place.
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: So it really does give them that support.
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: I'm absolutely in awe by the thing.
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: I think it's absolutely amazing and you know've got, you know, mine and graham's already well involved.
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: It's great as well to see that, like ellie who was in the training, and other people as well that have done the service accommodation training, we've got our own sort of group as well, haven't we?
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: And so it's great to see people there that you know yourself, that have been out there, that are, as you say, serviced accommodation operators themselves crushing it, are taking this on board and are only helping it go from strength to strength.
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: So if somebody is interested, what's?
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: What's the next sort of stage for them?
• 41:34
  Speaker 2: um, for us, like we.
• 41:36
  Speaker 2: We actively want to speak to people who, who, who want to be involved.
• 41:39
  Speaker 2: Okay, whatever capacity that is, we don't mind, because at the end of the day, it's all about partnership replacement finder.
• 41:47
  Speaker 2: Now, I'm always going to be the main person in respect to speaking to people who want to be involved.
• 41:53
  Speaker 2: So obviously the reason for that is is because we're the people who kind of want to push certain people certain ways.
• 42:02
  Speaker 2: So that sounds really bad there.
• 42:04
  Speaker 2: Let me rephrase that we want to make sure that that person can fit into placement finder where it works for them.
• 42:11
  Speaker 2: So, for example, if you want to be involved, say you run your own serviced accommodations up in County.
• 42:17
  Speaker 2: I keep on using Ellie for an example.
• 42:19
  Speaker 2: I was on the phone to her this morning, so that's why she's there.
• 42:23
  Speaker 2: She's like I just need to do this.
• 42:24
  Speaker 2: I just need to do that.
• 42:25
  Speaker 2: I was like, just do it all and come back to you when you're done.
• 42:28
  Speaker 2: But say, for example, you have essays in County Durham or you want to get involved in essay in County Durham okay.
• 42:37
  Speaker 2: Or you're a deal sourcer in County Durham okay, or you're a deal sourcer in County Durham whatever way you're looking at it, the first thing you need to do is you need to come out of a conversation with myself.
• 42:45
  Speaker 2: That conversation will be how you want to help, how we can help you, and then from there we move forward.
• 42:53
  Speaker 2: So say, for example, theoretically you've got three or four service accommodations in County Durham and you want them to be on placement fire.
• 43:01
  Speaker 2: Then what we'll then do is we will put you in contact with Ellie and you can speak with Ellie, and Ellie will go through a lot of the services that she provides, and the idea is is number one you might even just pass all those properties over to Ellie and be completely hands-off, because she's really good at what she does.
• 43:18
  Speaker 2: You just have to look at her numbers do you know what I mean to see how good she is, but then your properties are going to serve that fantastic purpose with the help of ellen.
• 43:25
  Speaker 2: And obviously, if you're a deal sourcer or something like that and you have c2 registered properties, that that is that.
• 43:32
  Speaker 2: Go, please come direct to me.
• 43:34
  Speaker 2: That's something, that's a huge, huge market that we're going to be moving into as of probably I probably say end of may.
• 43:42
  Speaker 2: Um, because you have two different types of placements with children you have registered and unregistered.
• 43:48
  Speaker 2: So basically, unregistered placements are what go into short-term let long-term leases and long-term registered placements go into those c2 use properties, and that's something that the platform does facilitate as well.
• 44:04
  Speaker 2: But the idea is basically come and speak to me.
• 44:06
  Speaker 2: I'm going to be at a lot of events at the moment.
• 44:10
  Speaker 2: I think I'm speaking tonight in Morecambe as well.
• 44:12
  Speaker 2: So if anyone gets to this before Morecambe, I'm up there this week.
• 44:16
  Speaker 2: But I actively speak at events.
• 44:19
  Speaker 2: I'm on Facebook, just Danny o'brien, and just just give us a message.
• 44:24
  Speaker 2: You know I mean, um, the least we can do is have a conversation, do you know what I mean?
• 44:28
  Speaker 2: So, um, that would be kind of be.
• 44:30
  Speaker 2: Come and speak to me, um, and I'll be more than happy to have a sit down with you brilliant stuff.
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: Brilliant and, of course, just for people that are unaware what C2 is.
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: That's more of your nursing home, care homes class, isn't it Planning class?
• 44:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so basically, when you look at C2 registered properties, what we mean by registered is they're actually registered by Ofsted, because Ofsted are people that look after children.
• 44:56
  Speaker 2: Just the same way, they go into a school and do an Of register bad, and all the teachers go absolutely mental sort of thing.
• 45:02
  Speaker 2: Very similar situation.
• 45:04
  Speaker 2: Now, registered placements can only go into c2 registered properties, so that means they can be long-term placements, so that you're talking your three to five bedroom properties that we can provide three to five year leases on.
• 45:18
  Speaker 2: Now unregistered placements are not.
• 45:22
  Speaker 2: Basically they can.
• 45:24
  Speaker 2: They're short term, so they're short term.
• 45:26
  Speaker 2: The idea is is that sa markets for unregistered placements.
• 45:29
  Speaker 2: What that means is that it's a short-term placement for that young individual before they can then go into a c2 registered placement.
• 45:38
  Speaker 2: That's the idea of it.
• 45:39
  Speaker 2: So it's like a bit of a stop gap.
• 45:40
  Speaker 2: That's the way I look at it.
• 45:41
  Speaker 2: You've got two different markets.
• 45:43
  Speaker 2: You've got your short term, you've got your long term.
• 45:44
  Speaker 2: The reality is of it is there's not enough C2 registered properties for the amount of children that need it, and that's why a lot of children are spending a lot more time in unregistered placements.
• 45:56
  Speaker 2: So so we what we we're going to be able to bridge that gap with crisis care.
• 46:01
  Speaker 2: We know we are, with the amount of properties that we have and the amount of people that we're working with.
• 46:06
  Speaker 2: We know that that will be bridged.
• 46:08
  Speaker 2: But what's the next stage?
• 46:10
  Speaker 2: It's like any business, it's like any entrepreneur is what's the next stage?
• 46:15
  Speaker 2: How can you go one further to help even more people?
• 46:18
  Speaker 2: And my drive isn't to become a crazy entrepreneur with hundreds of businesses and this that my aim is to to be able to sit there and know that in 10, 15, 30 years time, all those children that we've helped, we can sit there and go look what they're doing, look how fantastic their life is.
• 46:37
  Speaker 2: We played a small part in that.
• 46:40
  Speaker 2: That is my goal, that is my aim.
• 46:42
  Speaker 2: That's my driver.
• 46:43
  Speaker 2: It never was, up until the 16th of August 2023.
• 46:48
  Speaker 2: But now it's what pushes me through.
• 46:52
  Speaker 2: It's what pushes me.
• 46:54
  Speaker 2: I'm doing three refurbs at the minute and I'll be totally honest with you.
• 46:57
  Speaker 2: I don't know what any of them are up to and my head's like, oh my God.
• 47:00
  Speaker 2: But why am I doing it?
• 47:01
  Speaker 2: Well, the reason why is because those free properties can help hundreds of children throughout, however many years.
• 47:07
  Speaker 2: That's why we do it.
• 47:08
  Speaker 2: Do you know what I mean.
• 47:08
  Speaker 2: So, as I said, the platform itself, crisis Care.
• 47:13
  Speaker 2: So, if you're an SA operator, come and have a conversation with me.
• 47:16
  Speaker 2: If you have C2 registered properties, come and speak to me.
• 47:19
  Speaker 2: If you're involved in the care sector because there's a lot of people within property that are involved in the care sector that I found out recently If you are involved in that sector, please come and have a conversation with us, because there's so much to the platform that we haven't even touched on today that can benefit a lot of people.
• 47:38
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, that would be the thing.
• 47:40
  Speaker 2: Just speak to me.
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: That's it.
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: Reach out to Danny.
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: We yeah, that would be the thing.
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: Just speak to me, that's it.
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: Reach out to Danny.
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: We'll put his links in the description.
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: You know if you're listening to this or watching this or whatever, so it'll only be a click away and you know DM him.
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: Reach out to him any which way you can.
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: Obviously, if you're an investor and you are potentially looking at a deal that is a C2 property, speak to Danny about that as well, because it could completely change your strategy of what you were thinking to do with these sorts of properties.
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: And, of course, if you already have them as well, then great.
• 48:08
  Speaker 1: I mean realistically.
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: If you've taken anything from this episode and you just want to find out more, no strings attached, danny's your man you need to speak to.
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: Once again, danny, it's always an absolute pleasure to always chat to you.
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: I've always enjoyed it.
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: I've always been a bit of a fan of yours and watched you as you grow throughout your property investing journey have you got?
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: any final thoughts that you'd like to leave us with before we go?
• 48:31
  Speaker 2: um, no, I don't have any fat.
• 48:33
  Speaker 2: Obviously, the first one is thank you to you.
• 48:35
  Speaker 2: Um, and I say this to you, a lot is is.
• 48:38
  Speaker 2: This is a huge thing, that's bigger than I could have ever imagined in respects to what it's doing.
• 48:43
  Speaker 2: None of that would have been possible without the help of you two, and I think it's very, very, very vital that I have to say that every time I speak to you because I have a lot that I'm grateful for for what you and Graham did for me.
• 48:58
  Speaker 2: I think if you're looking to get involved in property, you need mentors.
• 49:06
  Speaker 2: I think this is the proof in the pudding that without Graham and Mark's help, like none of this would have happened.
• 49:14
  Speaker 2: It's a fact.
• 49:14
  Speaker 2: None of it would have happened like at all.
• 49:17
  Speaker 2: And I look back on the timeline from then till now and go literally literally all these different stages where I got forced, not forced where I was told I need to do this, where I need to do that, where I need to kind of have a rocket, like kind of get a bit up the bum, and things like that.
• 49:34
  Speaker 2: All of those things have led me to be here.
• 49:38
  Speaker 2: So if you are thinking about working with Mark and Graham and people like that, just do it, because you'll regret it.
• 49:46
  Speaker 2: And I look back on it, I get quite.
• 49:48
  Speaker 2: I get quite anxious, thinking to myself.
• 49:50
  Speaker 2: Imagine if I wasn't on that call when Graham kind of just basically shouted at me for an hour straight in front of everyone.
• 49:58
  Speaker 2: If I wasn't on that call, hundreds of children would have been helped.
• 50:02
  Speaker 2: I would have been able to build placement finder, all these things.
• 50:05
  Speaker 2: You just go.
• 50:06
  Speaker 2: That was one call that like cost me nothing.
• 50:10
  Speaker 2: Do you know what I mean in the grand scheme of things?
• 50:12
  Speaker 2: Um, so, so that would be that.
• 50:14
  Speaker 2: And then my last one is I always leave my presentations now with saying the words be part of someone's story because it's the most incredible thing you can do in your life, whether that's in business or in life.
• 50:25
  Speaker 2: So be part of someone's story, because your property journey will be 10 times easier and 10 times more successful if you put people first.
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: So yeah, that's my two pence love it, and I always love the zig ziglar quote as well.
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: If you help enough people, get what they want, you'll get what you want.
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: So if you even put it into that that you are helping as many people as possible, you will get what you want just by helping people.
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: But you've also got that satisfaction and, as I say, it's one of those.
• 50:52
  Speaker 1: That's 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years time.
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: You may sit back there and people may come up and thank you for what you've started to build and put into place now, and you cannot put a price on that.
• 51:03
  Speaker 1: That is absolutely what a legacy piece, so to speak, to have there.
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: So you know, as I say, we're your biggest fans.
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: We've got the flags at everything.
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: If you have any trouble getting older, danny, just go through us.
• 51:14
  Speaker 1: We'll point you in the right direction as well.
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: As I say, it's been great to have you on.
• 51:18
  Speaker 1: Let's make sure maybe in six months time we'll do a follow up to this as well and see how the property partnership scheme and placement finder and everything's going as well, because I'm sure the listeners and the viewers would be really, really interested in that.
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: But as I say once again, mate, it's been great to have you on.
• 51:35
  Speaker 2: Cheers buddy.
• 51:36
  Speaker 2: Thanks for having me.
• 51:37
  Speaker 1: No worries, no, worries it, no worries, no worries.
• 51:38
  Speaker 1: So please do make sure that you subscribe, share, like and also, this episode is quite important.
• 51:47
  Speaker 1: I don't normally end talking about anything like this.
• 51:49
  Speaker 1: I normally just say, if you like it, or subscribe or share it and things like that.
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: But genuinely, if you have got value from this, if you think there are people out there that could benefit from this or you think that this could help somebody in some way, then do feel free to share it with them.
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: If we get our voice out there, if we get Danny's voice out there, we can help more and more of these young, vulnerable children, people, young adults, you name it.
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: So it is very, very important.
• 52:14
  Speaker 1: But we can't do this on our own, which is why Danny's up and down the country talking about it, which is why he's going on, whatever he can go on, really to get the message out there.
• 52:22
  Speaker 1: Now, if you can do us one little favor, or just do Danny one little favor, or potentially one of these children a little favor, and just share this episode with potentially a post saying this is very inspirational and who may be interested in this, because it really is we don't want anything for it, all we want are people to hear this message, to hear what Danny's doing with his business and his company, and to reach out to him and see whether it's something that is of interest to them, that can help them.
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: So, if you do one good deed today, just share this with a group, share this with some people that you think may benefit from this and, of course, get them to reach out to Danny, who's more than happy.
• 53:00
  Speaker 1: And, like I say, if you have any trouble reaching out to Danny, reach out to me and I'll point you in Danny's direction as well.
• 53:08
  Speaker 1: So, by hook or by crook, we will get you in front of him.
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: So once again, thank you ever so much for joining us here today.
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: I hope you've enjoyed this episode.
• 53:16
  Speaker 1: I hope it's inspired you to know that there are so many great opportunities out there, so many ways that you can get involved in property and you can help people in every different way.
• 53:25
  Speaker 1: What inspires you should help and inspire others as well, and Danny, you know, certainly been an absolute pleasure to have him on the show.
• 53:33
  Speaker 1: It's been great to have you on the training as well, and it's been great to see you working with the other you know mentees and, of course, property professionals up and down the country.
• 53:42
  Speaker 1: So well done on that, and all that leads me to say now is get out there, know what it is that you want to achieve, make sure you have a clear vision and a clear path to it, put one foot in front of the other and just get out there and take action.
• 53:55
  Speaker 1: I'll see you all in the next episode very soon, I hope.
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: Bye for now, hello and welcome to the Property Unleashed with me, mark Fitzgerald, and today I am rejoined by Danny O'Brien.
• 54:15
  Speaker 1: Good to have you on, danny.
• 54:17
  Speaker 1: Good to see you again as well, mate.
• 54:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, really good to see you too, Paul.
• 54:20
  Speaker 2: It's been a little while, hasn't it?
• 54:23
  Speaker 1: It has it has.
• 54:24
  Speaker 1: So you may or may not remember Danny.
• 54:26
  Speaker 1: He was on episode 251 where he was talking about his property journey.
• 54:33
  Speaker 1: He's done different things in the property world but he came and joined our Ultimate Service Accommodation Training Program because he was interested in getting involved in short-term rentals.
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: Little did he know where it would take him and he's got a fantastic story to tell us and also a new way of getting out there and helping people with a cause that's very, very close to his heart.
• 54:56
  Speaker 1: So I'm really excited about this episode.
• 54:58
  Speaker 1: I'm really looking forward to going and digging deeper into that.
• 55:01
  Speaker 1: But just you know, people haven't heard about you, danny.
• 55:04
  Speaker 1: Just tell us a little bit about your background and how you sort of found your way into property.
• 55:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so obviously, hi everyone, my name's Danny from BD Short Stays.
• 55:14
  Speaker 2: So my kind of journey in property.
• 55:17
  Speaker 2: Originally I was a footballer not a very good one, because otherwise I won't be signing on this podcast.
• 55:25
  Speaker 2: I'll still be training, work out as I planned to.
• 55:30
  Speaker 2: And then I kind of fell into property in a way.
• 55:34
  Speaker 2: During COVID I bought my first residential home and I really enjoyed the whole process of that.
• 55:40
  Speaker 2: And then, with what happened during COVID, I suddenly had a lot of time on my hands and I said that I wanted to kind of use that time wisely to take a look at life after football, because I was still playing semi-professional and I wanted to make sure that that transition from semi-pro football into not playing anymore wasn't going to affect me financially.
• 56:02
  Speaker 2: So that got me involved in property and it piqued my interest and I went on quite a few courses and I started to purchase, buy to let properties, which did really well.
• 56:13
  Speaker 2: I also was heavily involved in sourcing with my actor and mentor, andrew Tomps, who a lot of people will know, and in a way I gradually moved towards the idea of running serviced accommodation.
• 56:28
  Speaker 2: At that point I joined York Hawks with Graham Lindleyley, the ultimate SA business builder, and my whole journey was based around contractors and that's the market that I initially went for because of my corporate role as a sales manager within the construction industry, and that obviously snowballed quite dramatically over the past six months, moving into a completely different sector, but still within the SA space, which helps children in crisis in crisis care placement.
• 56:59
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, I've been around probably in the property industry for probably about three and a half years now.
• 57:05
  Speaker 2: I'm also a pin speaker and a speaker up and down the country pushing our new platform, placement finder, which we'll go into a bit more detail on today, hopefully.
• 57:14
  Speaker 2: But yeah, that's kind of me in a nutshell.
• 57:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, it's brilliant, brilliant.
• 57:19
  Speaker 1: And, of course, if anybody wants a more in-depth one, then do go back and check out episode 251.
• 57:24
  Speaker 1: So, moving forward, obviously, fast forward in a bit to where we are now.
• 57:29
  Speaker 1: I remember you setting up your service accommodation and wanted to get into that sector, rather than the buy to let sector, because you had a bit of a bad tenant, didn't you?
• 57:40
  Speaker 2: yeah.
• 57:40
  Speaker 2: So I um it was a weird one really, because I joined the sa uh course in february 2023 and the reason for that was was I kind of I wanted to do it, but I always said and you know this as well is I always wanted to do service accommodation with you because of the way you was and how you conducted your kind of courses and your speeches.
• 58:04
  Speaker 2: I was like I can, I can work with that.
• 58:07
  Speaker 2: And it probably took about a year before the actual course was ready and we kind of had a conversation about it and he said listen, I'm putting this together, we'd love you to be on it whenever the time's right for you.
• 58:21
  Speaker 2: And then, as soon as the time was right in February, I joined the course and the whole plan was to kind of build my own essay portfolio and that kind of halfway through going through the course, that all just went completely out the window because I got two properties back and one of them was just in an absolute state now.
• 58:43
  Speaker 2: That one itself was a really good buy to let.
• 58:46
  Speaker 2: It was at like 19% return on investment, a really good property and tenant always paid, never had a peep from them.
• 58:55
  Speaker 2: But but what we didn't realize was the upkeep of the property was just just non-existent and and that caused a lot of problems.
• 59:02
  Speaker 2: A lot of smelly problems would probably be the answer to that.
• 59:05
  Speaker 2: And I had kind of a big decision on my hand and luckily, because I was in the course and I got that kind of backing and support from Mark and people like that it meant that I was able to kind of say, right, well, this is the perfect opportunity to put everything that I've been practicing into action.
• 59:25
  Speaker 2: So we actually converted that buy to let even though it wasn't part of the plan, into an essay and then, two days after going live, we hit a 28 night booking with a care provider providing temporary accommodation for a misplaced child, and that's very much snowballed into a huge, huge kind of platform and database to help hundreds of children across the uk using service accommodation.
• 59:51
  Speaker 2: So, um, what started as a little venture turned into something a lot more bigger than me, a lot more bigger than service accommodation, and I'm very lucky that that I was able to do that through the, the kind of the, the support and the coaching from the ultimate sa business builder really, because none of it would have happened if it wasn't for that course well, it's great to hear, it's great to hear that's what we're here for is to help and support people in building their property businesses.
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 1: But, um, I believe there's opportunities everywhere now.
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 1: Sometimes we see the opportunity, sometimes it goes straight past us, but we need to be switched on to them.
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 1: And the thing is, and the thing I love about your journey and where you're going to at the moment, is this opportunity came along Because I remember you initially saying this looks like a great opportunity.
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 1: But I'm a bit concerned because there are pitfalls and things and when you haven't worked with those sort of operators and those service providers and things, you're not 100% sure.
• 1:00:51
  Speaker 1: Obviously, you've come from a bad experience as well.
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 1: Whereas you had what you thought was a good tenant, until they left and left your house in a terrible state, which is obviously, you know it's just not good enough.
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 1: At the end of the day, when you put good living together, you expect people to at least look after it and you know, let you know there's a problem, so you can get in there and get things sorted.
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 1: So obviously you had a bad experience there.
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 1: And then you you've gone on to this because you realized and understood that it wouldn't just be helping anybody.
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 1: This was actually helping vulnerable children, wasn't it?
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 2: yeah, no, it's, it's.
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 2: I remember when we we got the offer and we got the, we got the booking and myself and you sat there and we went through it, went through the pros and cons and what we made sure was we protected ourselves with the terms and conditions and we made sure that we said right, okay, danny, you're gonna have to be very hands-on for this first period because you need to kind of iron out the problems.
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 2: You need to iron out the good parts of it, the bad parts of it, but we need to protect you and we were able to do that on a coaching call and don't get me wrong, it was first night, I think we had the police around.
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 2: Second night, we had an escape over the back fence and broke a brick wall.
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 2: We had all these these issues, but the fundamental side of it was this child needs somewhere to be and they need to be put in a safe, homely environment for their next stages of their recovery.
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 2: The particular young gentleman who, by the way, is still in Bickenshaw Lane to this day.
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 2: So, when you look at it from an SA point of view, it's been 100% occupancy since the 16th of August 2023.
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 2: They just extended again from another 28 nights today and but that property.
• 1:02:37
  Speaker 2: It was vital for that young person to be able to be given that opportunity to say do you know what?
• 1:02:42
  Speaker 2: You're not going to get kicked out because we found out, probably about four or five weeks ago, that this young gentleman, for six months prior to going into the, the SA in Wigan, he had gone in six months to four different properties, going through a process which is basically a system that doesn't work.
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 2: And that's when, kind of, we had already been working on that system.
• 1:03:05
  Speaker 2: We'd already been working on seeing like there's hundreds of children out there in the same situation that don't get given this opportunity, and the reason why is because people aren't aware of what it entails.
• 1:03:17
  Speaker 2: Now, um, I remember the book, I remember the booking, I remember the sat there and I remember the pitch that got given to me and it was.
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 2: It all sounded so brilliant and it was kind of we would like to book your, your property, for 28 nights.
• 1:03:30
  Speaker 2: It's most likely going to extend for a long period of time and ultimately, you'll be helping out a misplaced child.
• 1:03:36
  Speaker 2: Now, on the surface of it, that sounds brilliant, it sounds wonderful and what a great cause.
• 1:03:43
  Speaker 2: Do you know what I mean, and you get the 28 night booking.
• 1:03:46
  Speaker 2: The reality is it is these children come from trauma.
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 2: They have a lot of emotions.
• 1:03:51
  Speaker 2: They're happy, they're sad, they're anxious, they're angry and sometimes and most of the time, they they express those emotions.
• 1:03:59
  Speaker 2: That can be damaging to properties, can be disruptive, but there's a reason why they got to that stage and for us, as a property person who's heavily been involved in charitable work throughout his whole life, my view on it was well, they are expecting to be kicked out because that's the normal.
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 2: What happens if we turn around and say listen, we're not giving up on you, we refuse to Not anything that you do, it's not going to be a problem, because we want you to make sure that you do the best possible opportunity to change your life, and if you don't have the property, they can't do that.
• 1:04:37
  Speaker 2: It's as simple as that, and there's a huge difference between supported living.
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 2: The reality of crisis care placements is they last for a minimum of 28 nights 28 nights.
• 1:04:54
  Speaker 2: So care providers don't want to be taking out three to five year leases on properties which are for placements that may only last that initial 28 night period.
• 1:04:59
  Speaker 2: So what happens?
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 2: Do you know what I mean there's no supply of these properties within the care sector, but they still need to find these properties to house these children.
• 1:05:08
  Speaker 2: And the answer is SA, because it's short term lets and that's what we figured out very early on within that booking to say there's something that we can do here because we're part of a very good organization, we're part of a very good community within the SA space and it's something completely different and people will raise their eyebrows, but a lot of people will get it and we've been very lucky to have a lot of people get it and go wear all for it, because this is something that's going to benefit children, it's going to benefit local authorities, care providers.
• 1:05:44
  Speaker 2: It's also going to benefit SA operators.
• 1:05:46
  Speaker 2: Like, as I've said before, 100% occupancy since August 23,.
• 1:05:50
  Speaker 2: At a decent rate as well.
• 1:05:51
  Speaker 2: Do you know what I mean?
• 1:05:51
  Speaker 2: 100% occupancy since August 23, at a decent rate as well.
• 1:05:52
  Speaker 2: Do you know what I mean?
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 2: So, like, there's so many things that have snowballed us into this point and it all started with me getting that booking.
• 1:06:04
  Speaker 2: And, as I said, I get Graham laughs all the time because he sees the emotion on me when I speak to him because that one particular placement.
• 1:06:13
  Speaker 2: That wouldn't have happened if Graham didn't give me an absolute rocket about four days before.
• 1:06:19
  Speaker 2: He said you should have that property live.
• 1:06:21
  Speaker 2: I got it live.
• 1:06:22
  Speaker 2: The day later I said no, working all day, all night, getting it live.
• 1:06:26
  Speaker 2: Two days later that booking came in.
• 1:06:28
  Speaker 2: If he didn't do that, that property wouldn't have been available and wouldn't be where we are now.
• 1:06:33
  Speaker 2: And it just shows you how important it is to be part of, like the community that I am with the sa business builder.
• 1:06:40
  Speaker 2: None of that would have been possible yeah, yeah.
• 1:06:44
  Speaker 1: Well, it's accountability at the end of the day, isn't it you've got?
• 1:06:46
  Speaker 1: Sometimes you just need somebody to boot you up the back side.
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 1: You know you need to do it, but sometimes we're too comfortable as well.
• 1:06:52
  Speaker 1: It's easily done, you know.
• 1:06:54
  Speaker 1: Um, so it is from our perspective to be able to look at what people are doing and say, you know, pull your socks up and get on with it, because the opportunities are there.
• 1:07:01
  Speaker 1: Uh, and I think it's also great that you're helping people.
• 1:07:05
  Speaker 1: You know, we always like to say let's make it a win-win, but when you can make it a win-win in such a manner that it is so, so important and it really is a great cause.
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 1: And, of course, on top of that as well, you've got, you know any damages are covered and paid for by the operators, so to speak, or the charities or whoever you're working with.
• 1:07:25
  Speaker 1: And I like the fact that you sort of gave us a bit of a high level overview of it there.
• 1:07:30
  Speaker 1: But it was really you just sort of sat back and said, if I can help this one child, so to speak, and they're in my property and it's working well for me, I like that.
• 1:07:43
  Speaker 1: There's going to be more like that.
• 1:07:44
  Speaker 1: You know it's what you've already said.
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 1: There's going to be a lot more like that.
• 1:07:47
  Speaker 1: So is there a way, because obviously you're not going to have enough properties as much as you'd like to?
• 1:07:52
  Speaker 1: So is there a way, because obviously you're not going to have enough properties as much as you'd like to Maybe you will have in the future, but yourself you're not going to hold or own or control enough properties to be able to really make an impact and help people.
• 1:08:01
  Speaker 1: Which is now what sort of this concept that and say it's a concept is now gone from a concept.
• 1:08:08
  Speaker 1: This new sort of business that you've set up is doing just that.
• 1:08:12
  Speaker 1: But tell us a little bit, Everybody sort of has an aha moment, don't they?
• 1:08:17
  Speaker 1: Or you can do, or you can miss those moments, but you've sort of embraced this.
• 1:08:21
  Speaker 1: You were telling me, actually, before we started this.
• 1:08:24
  Speaker 1: You were just reading a book and all of a sudden you just thought oh, hold on a minute, the light switch has gone on.
• 1:08:29
  Speaker 1: I think this might just work and we can do this.
• 1:08:40
  Speaker 2: Tell us a bit about that.
• 1:08:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so.
• 1:08:41
  Speaker 2: So the original plan.
• 1:08:41
  Speaker 2: So, um, just to kind of set the scene, um, we decided that we were going to create a innovative application and platform specifically designed for the care sector.
• 1:08:46
  Speaker 2: Now, the first part of that platform was basically a a new oTA specifically designed for crisis care.
• 1:08:54
  Speaker 2: Now we wanted to bridge the gap.
• 1:08:57
  Speaker 2: That is the biggest thing that we've said is we want to bridge the gap within crisis care because large proportions of these placements don't happen on failed mid-stay for three main reasons, and they all involve property.
• 1:09:09
  Speaker 2: It's not fit for purpose, it's not in good condition.
• 1:09:12
  Speaker 2: But the main one is the relationship between the care provider and landlord breaks down with step and that's where you see the children get kicked out of the properties and that's where they end up in the children's uh wards on hospitals, they end up in state-run care homes or they just go back around that system with no property and they'll just keep going around that system.
• 1:09:32
  Speaker 2: So the whole ideal of it was let's go take over the world, and for probably five weeks we attempted to do that and I was sat there very, very probably anxious is the word, because I understand how hard it is to run service accommodation if you're within half an hour of the property.
• 1:09:55
  Speaker 2: You need to have so many systems set up in place.
• 1:09:58
  Speaker 2: You have to have a team behind you, you have to have maintenance guys, you have to have all these different things.
• 1:10:03
  Speaker 2: And I was like this is not going to work when the placements aren't in situ.
• 1:10:11
  Speaker 2: And I had to come up with an idea that we could create a platform that would have multiple different children.
• 1:10:18
  Speaker 2: Sorry, my phone just went then on my laptop and the platform we wanted to have a platform that was, um, basically, how can I explain it?
• 1:10:30
  Speaker 2: It's its own single ota.
• 1:10:33
  Speaker 2: Okay, so we can't have an OTA that just has five properties on that are based in Wigan.
• 1:10:37
  Speaker 2: It's just not going to work.
• 1:10:38
  Speaker 2: We're not going to bridge that gap.
• 1:10:40
  Speaker 2: So how are we going to do that?
• 1:10:42
  Speaker 2: And my answer was after reading this book was well, I'm part of a really good community.
• 1:10:47
  Speaker 2: I'm part of Mark and Graham's course, so I need to look at tapping into that to see if I can create something which is beneficial for the platform.
• 1:10:57
  Speaker 2: It's beneficial for the children, it's beneficial for the SA operators.
• 1:11:03
  Speaker 2: So we came up with something that's called the Property Partner Scheme and what that basically is it's SA operators nationwide in partnership with Placement Finder, which is the platform helping bridge the gap within crisis care.
• 1:11:16
  Speaker 2: Now what that means for the property partners is they have access to the platform, so their property is seen by local authorities and care providers, but it's not open to the public and what they can do is when placements come in and referrals come in.
• 1:11:33
  Speaker 2: Each property can suit the individual needs of in different types of placements.
• 1:11:38
  Speaker 2: So that's a huge thing is having a diverse range of property listings, which we couldn't provide just for bd shorts days with the property partner scheme.
• 1:11:48
  Speaker 2: Now we have multiple different types of properties all over the country that suit the individual needs of each and every crisis placement.
• 1:11:56
  Speaker 2: But the fundamental part of it is our property partners have gone through a training and vetting process, which means that they're equipped to be able to handle placements.
• 1:12:05
  Speaker 2: They understand how important it is and from a business sense of view, it makes sense for them because it's going to provide them with long-term bookings, all damages paid for.
• 1:12:16
  Speaker 2: But ultimately, most of our property partners, they have their own story, which is which is really good.
• 1:12:22
  Speaker 2: Um, just to give you an example, like ellie, ellie obviously works in the police force.
• 1:12:27
  Speaker 2: She deals with these children when they when they get kicked out of placements so she actually understands how vital it is for them to stay into a property.
• 1:12:37
  Speaker 2: Do you know what I mean?
• 1:12:38
  Speaker 2: It's all these different people we've got up and down the country have their own reasoning as to why they're involved in Placement Finder, but fundamentally, the biggest reason why they're in it is because they know what a huge difference they can make to a child's life.
• 1:12:52
  Speaker 2: That is like like, money aside, business aside, being able to do that is is one of the most rewarding things you'll ever do.
• 1:13:03
  Speaker 2: And and all these people have come together and I have a slide on on the presentations that I do and I do make a joke about it because, like being an ex-pro, I always say I I've been part of some really good teams, say I've been part of some really good teams, but I've been part of some really bad teams as well.
• 1:13:18
  Speaker 2: And the team that we have within placement finder through our property partners is the best team I've been part of, because, day to day, on the normal otas, every single one of our property partners are competitors.
• 1:13:30
  Speaker 2: Pillow partners are competitors to prim short stays, who are competitors to eco.
• 1:13:33
  Speaker 2: Pillow partners are competitors to prim short stays, who are competitors to eco accommodation, who are competitors to peer 24?
• 1:13:38
  Speaker 2: Do you know?
• 1:13:38
  Speaker 2: I mean, these are just people that I'm naming up.
• 1:13:40
  Speaker 2: They're all competing for the same type of guest on the same ota, such as airbnb and bookingcom, but within placement finder the partners, they work together.
• 1:13:49
  Speaker 2: They all work together to help bridge the gap within crisis care.
• 1:13:53
  Speaker 2: That is huge For the market.
• 1:13:57
  Speaker 2: That is so volatile and so competitive for main competitors to come together to help bridge the gap.
• 1:14:04
  Speaker 2: It shows how powerful the message is.
• 1:14:06
  Speaker 2: It shows how powerful people within the property industry can be.
• 1:14:11
  Speaker 2: I think sometimes we get caught into it, it and you say it all the time you can't do it on your own.
• 1:14:16
  Speaker 2: You can't do it on your own.
• 1:14:17
  Speaker 2: And that is proofs in the pudding.
• 1:14:21
  Speaker 2: There was I going to be able to get over 100 properties in the space of two months to put on this platform?
• 1:14:26
  Speaker 2: Not with a lot of heartache and headaches, not one bit at all.
• 1:14:32
  Speaker 2: And I look back on the timeline of fundamental now and go literally all these different stages where I got forced, not forced.
• 1:14:41
  Speaker 2: Where I was told I need to do this, where I need to do that, where I need to kind of have a rocket, like kind of get a bit up the bum and things like that.
• 1:14:49
  Speaker 2: All of those things have led me to be here.
• 1:14:53
  Speaker 2: So if you are thinking about working with Mark and Graham and people like that, just do it, because you'll regret it.
• 1:15:01
  Speaker 2: And I look back on it.
• 1:15:02
  Speaker 2: I get quite, I get quite anxious, thinking to myself.
• 1:15:05
  Speaker 2: Imagine if I wasn't on that call when Graham kind of just basically shouted at me for an hour straight in front of everyone, if I wasn't on that call, hundreds of children would have been helped.
• 1:15:16
  Speaker 2: I would have been able to build placement finder, all these things you just go.
• 1:15:21
  Speaker 2: That was one call that like cost me nothing.
• 1:15:25
  Speaker 2: Do you know what I mean in the grand scheme of things?
• 1:15:26
  Speaker 2: Um, so, so that would be that.
• 1:15:29
  Speaker 2: And then my last one is I always leave my presentations now with saying the words be part of someone's story, because it's the most incredible thing you can do in your life, whether that's in business or in life.
• 1:15:40
  Speaker 2: So be part of someone's story, because your property journey will be 10 times easier and 10 times more successful if you put people first.
• 1:15:49
  Speaker 1: So yeah, that's my two pence love it, and I always love the zig ziglar quote as well.
• 1:15:54
  Speaker 1: If you help enough people, get what they want, you'll get what you want.
• 1:15:57
  Speaker 1: So if you even put it into that that you are helping as many people as possible, you will get what you want just by helping people.
• 1:16:03
  Speaker 1: But you've also got that satisfaction and, as I say, it's one of those that's 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years time.
• 1:16:10
  Speaker 1: You may sit back there and people may come up and thank you for what you've started to build and put into place now, and you cannot put a price on that.
• 1:16:18
  Speaker 1: That is absolute.
• 1:16:19
  Speaker 1: What a legacy piece, so to speak, to have there.
• 1:16:21
  Speaker 1: So you know, as I say, we're your biggest fans.
• 1:16:24
  Speaker 1: We've got the flags at everything.
• 1:16:26
  Speaker 1: If you have any trouble getting older, danny, just go through us.
• 1:16:37
  Speaker 1: We'll point you in the right direction as well.
• 1:16:38
  Speaker 1: As I say, mate, it's been great to have you on.
• 1:16:38
  Speaker 1: Let's make sure maybe in six months time we'll do a follow up to this as well and see how you know, see how the property partnership scheme and placement finder and everything's going as well, because I'm sure the listeners and the viewers would be really, really interested in that.
• 1:16:47
  Speaker 1: But as I say once again, mate, it's been great to have you on Cheers, buddy.
• 1:16:53
  Speaker 1: Mate, it's been great to have you on cheers, buddy, thanks for having me.
• 1:16:55
  Speaker 1: No worries, no worries.
• 1:16:56
  Speaker 1: So please do make sure that you subscribe, share, like and also, this episode is quite important.
• 1:16:59
  Speaker 1: I don't normally end talking about anything like this.
• 1:17:01
  Speaker 1: I normally just save you, like it or, you know, subscribe or share and things like that.
• 1:17:05
  Speaker 1: But genuinely, if you have got value from this, if you think there are people out there that could benefit from this or you think that this could help somebody in some way, then do feel free to share it with them.
• 1:17:17
  Speaker 1: If we get our voice out there, if we get Danny's voice out there, we can help more and more of these young, vulnerable children, people, young adults, you name it.
• 1:17:27
  Speaker 1: So it is very, very important.
• 1:17:28
  Speaker 1: But we can't do this on our own, which is why Danny's up and down the country talking about it, which is why he's going on, whatever he can go on, really to get the message out there.
• 1:17:38
  Speaker 1: Now, if you can do us one little favor, or just do Danny one little favor, or potentially one of these children a little favor, and just share this episode with potentially a post saying this is very inspirational and who may be interested in this, because it really is.
• 1:17:52
  Speaker 1: We don't want anything for it.
• 1:17:53
  Speaker 1: All we want are people to hear this message, to hear what Danny's doing with his business and his company, and to reach out to him and see whether it's something that is of interest to them, that can help them.
• 1:18:04
  Speaker 1: So, if you do one good deed today, just share this with a group, share this with some people that you think may benefit from this and, of course, get them to reach out to Danny, who's more than happy.
• 1:18:14
  Speaker 1: And, like I say, if you have any trouble reaching out to Danny, reach out to me and I'll point you in Danny's direction as well.
• 1:18:21
  Speaker 1: So, by hook or by crook, we will get you in front of him, All right.
• 1:18:26
  Speaker 1: So once again, thank you ever so much for joining us here today.
• 1:18:29
  Speaker 1: I hope you've enjoyed this episode.
• 1:18:30
  Speaker 1: I hope it's inspired you to know that there are so many great opportunities out there, so many ways that you can get involved in property and you can help people in every different way.
• 1:18:40
  Speaker 1: What inspires you should help and inspire others as well, and Danny, you know, certainly been an absolute pleasure to have him on the show.
• 1:18:48
  Speaker 1: It's been great to have you on the training as well, and it's been great to see you working with the other.
• 1:18:53
  Speaker 1: You know mentees and, of course, property professionals up and down the country.
• 1:18:57
  Speaker 1: So well done on that, and all that leaves me to say now is get out there, know what it is that you want to achieve, make sure you have a clear vision and a clear path to it.
• 1:19:06
  Speaker 1: Put one foot in front of the other and just get out there and take action.
• 1:19:10
  Speaker 1: I'll see you all in the next episode very soon, I hope.
• 1:19:12
  Speaker 1: Bye for now.