18/04/2021
A memory came up today...
6 years ago...I started most exciting journey...and take a huge risk to partner up with a lawyer/developer and help him building a property investors fund.
I didn’t know what I was doing..
So not knowingly I let him take advantage of me, and worked for peanuts.🙄
I did property photography,
meetings with property agencies and property viewings,
going all over the country for property investors meetings
and represented the company pitching the idea in front of 50-150 investors in 20 sec.
my heart was pounding and hands sweating.
I also did “aquisition/sales” on property and investors shows in London.
This photo is from the the first Property Investors Show.
It was exciting but also draining.
I though I was getting paid well, 100/day ...
But working in London from 8-8 it was not such a good deal, when staying in the hotel and being forced to eat out for a week.
That partnership didn’t work.
I needed to be available whole week, and I never knew whether I will for 1 day or 5 days.
After this experience I went back to 9-5, in architectural office, as I started to have a days work without notice, and that didn’t allow me to even oay my bills.
It was hard.
I love talking to people and doing creative things and in the office I was a “Cad monkey”
Changing annotation text on the drawings and correcting lines .😕
But...do I regret it?
Hell no!
✅I learned more in 8 months of this adventure, than I learned in 4 years spending thousands in property investing trainings.
✅I learned about investing in “BTS” in other words “flips” or refurbishments for profit.
✅I learned about this business model structure, being a property investors fund.
✅About hiring and managing people.
✅About building work and partner relationships, with agents, builders and investors.
✅I learned and managed to speak in from of 150 people presenting an idea in 20 sec.
✅I learned about importance of contracts! To protect my interests!
✅I learned how to do property photography!
✅I learned as well what greed can do to people!
✅After buying properties for few months, company moved to buy too many pieces of land...and the Cashflow from properties dried up, as some didn’t sold as quickly as expected, and promised made to investors have not been met.
Squeezing builders team and telling them the lie that this is the right way as they will learn to manage better, and paying them barely for the work and materials, barely leaving then profitable, put them in difficult situation. They needed to start looking elsewhere for profit as they didn’t make much doing 5 properties a month...
When someone is not treated fair and with respect, they will feel threatened. Their safety and anyone can feel when they are being used. They start to cut corners and start to don’t give a damn...
And that’s how many businesses try to make profit, by squeezing people.
And even when starting with good team, the greed and making promises that could have never been met, doesn’t go a long way and can destroy any business.
We all want to believe that we found a chicken giving golden eggs, and don’t want to admit to ourselves that we made a mistake in the assumption as we didn’t do the right due diligence.
Business is a numbers game, but also bare facts, and agreements.
If you want to make it work,
Do your due diligence
Desk study
Make sure you have properly written agreements in place
Find a good team and respect them,
Don’t try to cut corners as that will come back and bite you in the ass when you least expect it!
Don’t be greedy and provide value!
When you don’t do any if the above, you maybe will make money, but you may face lawsuits, team turning their back on you, destroying your brand and good name, facing bigger problems that you may not like to face.
Just looking at Comoabies house, what has been happening to the company gives a good picture.
Funny that the company still operates now as “How refreshing” instead of “Howrefreshing”
Don’t be afraid to take risks, as you will gain invaluable experience, but make sure you protect yourself and the risk is calculated.
Most importantly, stick to your values!
If it doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t!
