Transcription
Welcome to the Business Spotlight podcast. My name is K Kot, and I'm your host for today's episode. And today on the show, we have Greg Ford, owner and director of Epic Investments, as my guest. We're going to be learning about his business, his journey to business ownership, best practices he's learned along the way, and maybe some challenges that he's faced as well, to give you that inside look to what it's like to run and operate a business.
If this is your first time on our channel, be sure to like and subscribe to get notifications when we drop episodes like this. Welcome, Greg. It's so great to meet you.
Thank you for having me. Pleasure to be here.
Yes, well, I'd love to dive in. Uh, tell me a little bit about yourself.
A little about myself. So, I'm a, I'm a father of, of two. Um, got two children, four and seven, and, um, yeah, I guess I've built a business around, uh, making sure that I'm around for them. Um, also husband, um, and, um, yeah, business owner and entrepreneur. Um, just looking to, um, to help as many people as possible, really.
Oh, well, I'm so excited to dive into that and learn about your business. Uh, so how long have you been in business with your current business, uh, Epic Investments?
Epic Investments have been running around about 12 years now. Um, we, um, yeah, I started the business, um, with a, a kind of a goal in mind, really, um, which was financial freedom for myself, but also trying to help as many people as possible as well.
Oh, I really like that too. Um, so looking at, you've been in business for 12 years now. Tell me a little bit about Epic Investments, like what, what is your business about and kind of what's your why behind it?
Sure, sure. So, Epic Investments forms part of a group of companies. So I've got a number of companies with various different, different business partners, um, all around the world. Um, but Epic Investments is solely owned by myself, and it kind of started the, the group of companies started with Epic Investments. Um, we, uh, develop properties, mainly in the UK, for social housing, which, uh, you know, helps many, many people who don't get access to accommodation. We, we work with housing providers to ensure that, you know, we're, we're delivering high-quality accommodation in the social housing sector.
And what kind of, what inspired you to get into the, the investments, the properties like that?
Sure. Um, my, my father was in the finance industry for many years, and he helped fund numerous clients in the development and investment world. And, um, kind of got the bug listening to those guys when I joined my, my family business to, um, to kind of delve into the, the world of developments. Um, started out selling, selling properties, so as an agent, to gain some, some experience. Um, and over the course of my early career of working within the sales market, it was in the international property scene, so selling a lot in Spain, um, which is a predominant market for us. Um, I learned a lot about off-plan properties and the development, so taking things from phase one, which is planning, all the way through to development and completion.
And fast forward a few years, um, I really, really liked the idea of, um, obviously being an entrepreneur, making money, um, is obviously something that we like to do. Um, but, um, the pathway to do that can be quite rewarding if you're actually helping people along the way. Helping people can be through, through your knowledge, and helping and supporting other business owners. But for me, it was about, you know, the most vulnerable people in society, homelessness, domestic abuse victims, veterans, just helping them to get accommodation and a roof over their heads, something that, you know, I think we all kind of take for granted when we've got a roof over our head. Um, and, um, yeah, it was, it was kind of the demands and the need of trying to help others, and the byproduct of that is obviously developing wealth and, and, and obviously legacy for for me and my family.
Oh, definitely. Well, that's, that's an incredible story too, you know, 'cause you're sharing about how you're helping people, and that's a huge part of business. And I'd like to learn about your team, the team behind your business and making this all run smoothly. So tell me about your team. How many team members are you at, and are you growing?
Yeah, yeah. So, um, I mean, in our team, um, across the group of companies, there's, there's six owners of our, our business group. Um, within that, there's lots of different investors. Um, so, uh, how, how we scale our businesses through outside investment. Um, so, uh, we, we obviously, um, speak to investors, people with capital, looking to deploy it into various different sectors, property being one of them. And, um, we help and aid them to do that. They partner with us on a joint venture, securing assets. But the team, um, kind of has grown over time. It started with just myself, then my business partner, um, Parish, um, and then since then, obviously working with a number of different investors, and more business partners along the way. As I say, some, some of them are international as well.
And so it's six owners within the business. Do you have staff at all, like internal staffing or anything like that?
We, we don't tend to do that. We, we, um, we are a team of owners, and essentially the way that we, we kind of grow our business is by working with contractors. Um, so it's a property development business. A lot of what we do, we do it because we love to do it. And sometimes it's very difficult to, um, almost pass that information on to staff. Sometimes it's, you know, we do this for the love of what we're doing rather than necessarily the money. The money being the byproduct of helping and supporting the vulnerable people that we're housing.
Oh, definitely. And looking at your career, um, so far, at the 12 years, what is a big, maybe a challenge you faced along the journey? I know business owners, we face a lot, but what's something that stood out to you that you overcame?
Sure. I, I think just generally, um, being in control. So, so when, when we lack control in a certain situation, and we're not quite sure, it kind of takes us off course. And I think, um, everyday challenges is obviously working with various different people in our sector. It's with contractors, it could be, you know, something going wrong in a development. But I think really, if you plan, the projects that we do, we plan very well to kind of alleviate any issues further down the line. But that doesn't say that doesn't mean to say we don't have any issues down the line. But how you overcome them, I guess, is by talking to other people, other business owners, and just bouncing ideas off each other to find a solution. You know, I don't think there's any issue or any problem that we've ever come across that we haven't been able to sort out, really.
Oh, definitely. I always say your network is your net worth. Absolutely. That is a golden nugget. Yes, having those conversations that matter. Thank you for sharing that. And looking at your business now, let's kind of take it to the future. Where do you want to see yourself in the next three to five years?
Well, so we've set ourselves quite, quite a big target, a big goal, and that is over the next five years to deliver another 1,000 units of accommodation into the social housing sector. Bearing in mind the last 12 years, we've only delivered around about 500, you know, between 450 and 500. So, um, we just feel we're at the right phase in our lives now, and in business, that we can scale the business relatively organically with access to more capital. We've kind of got the experience over the last 12 years, but now it's access to capital, which will help propel our business to deliver more of more of the same of what we've already done. So, so that's that kind of target to hit. And working with the right people, people who we can trust, because it's very important in business to work with people who you, we use the term "know, like, and trust." So we get to know them, we get to like them, and then we obviously go into business and we get to trust each other. And you kind of act on impulse then, and good business can be done with the right people.
A hundred percent. That is definitely a golden nugget in this conversation. You know, looking at that like, no trust factor with your the people that you extend the business with. And so, looking at your marketing and how you put yourself out there in the industry, what has been some successful pursuits you've seen in your marketing to educate people on your business?
Sure. Um, this is one area that we've never really had to market the business too much. I joined a networking group called BNI, which is an international business networking group. And through that, and through word of mouth, and working with other business owners and their clients, we've never really had to market the business. Um, it's very much done on a trust basis, as I've said about. We're out there, we're doing what we're doing, we're delivering what we say we're going to deliver. And, um, yeah, the repeat business that we get through word of mouth is something that's kind of helped us along the way, really.
Oh, definitely. And looking at your business now, would you say the majority of your business comes through repeat business or new clients or new business?
No, I think very much so. New business comes as and when we want it, almost. And I don't mean to sound arrogant with that. We've got a lot of investors that have helped us along the way, and they've remained and stayed with us. So it's kind of a case of, as we want to scale our business, the flow of the scale, as it were, depends on how much access to capital that we have. And I think we're quite well-placed with the experience that we have. If we have need to pick up the phone to generate new business, that generally we're able to do that. So I would say the majority is repeat investors that come back to us and work with us long term. And then we kind of, as and when we feel we're ready to scale and move a bit further forward, we can encourage new investors to onboard with us.
Oh, definitely. And looking at your business, it sounds like you set yourself apart in the market. So what makes you special? What's that thing that really makes you stand out?
Sure. Um, I think we've, we've always built the businesses on trust. And, you know, if we say we're going to do something, we do it. And, you know, in real terms, through that delivery and through doing what we say we're going to do, it's just helped us network. It's helped us grow the business in a way and almost scale it to the level that we want to. From a unique point of view, we reverse engineer our approach. As investors ourselves, one of the key things that we do whenever we look at a deck or whatever else for a business, we're looking to see what the risks are. And within property, there's obviously risks with property investment. But what we've tried to do is de-risk most of those risks, if that makes sense. And we've done that by a reverse engineered approach. So we go to our social housing providers, and there's many of them out there. We work with a select few who we trust. And we go to them, we ask them what type of stock they want, where they want it, what locations. And we get them to commit to us in terms of how many units that they might need. At that point, we can then go out and source the relevant assets that would allow us to develop to the specification of that provider. So moving the end goal to the front, kind of then gives us that clear plan and pathway forward to ensure that things are very much very much robust, but also in a roundabout way, quite risk-free from an investor point of view. And that goes with the same with funding. So we get the funding in place for the back end. So we refinance a lot of our assets to free up the capital to be able to invest into further assets. So, so our unique approach of reverse engineering this whole process, I think sets us apart from a lot of people. You know, competitors tend to go out there, find an asset, develop an asset, and then approach a provider to see if it's an asset that they'd like to take on. So I guess that's that's kind of our approach is to to to back end it or front end it with the with the ending in mind.
Oh, I love that reverse engineering. That's huge. I think that's like such a key to success. Uh, it's been so fun learning about your business. Now I want to dive into a fun part of the Q&A where I ask you four questions and you answer top of mind. So are you ready for some rapid-fire questions?
Let's try it.
All right, question number one is, what is a key to success for you?
Just literally do what you say you're going to do, but also work with trusted people who you know, like, and trust.
A hundred percent. Uh, number two is, what is the piece of advice you have for other business owners?
Fall in love with what you're doing first. So, you know, going into business into something that you actually love. On the really difficult times and the hard days, it kind of gets you through, as opposed to doing something that you don't really like.
A hundred percent. Number three is, what is a piece of content you've taken in most recently? It could be a book, a podcast, anything that stood out.
Yeah, well, me and my business partner, we're studying a book by Alan Walters, which is, um, wealth, cred, wealth and happiness, basically. It's, it's a really good read, and it certainly realigns your, your principles, your core principles as to why you do what you do.
Definitely. Love that as well. And, uh, the last question is, if you could wave a magic wand and overnight improve one aspect of your business, what would it be?
Probably me, if I'm being honest. Um, yeah, just trying to, trying to obviously spinning lots of plates. So I'll probably suggest, yeah, spinning less plates, but but trying to keep the business on track, because we're all guilty of time management, I think sometimes.
Definitely. I'm right there with you. Uh, Greg, this has been such a great conversation. Before we wrap up for the day, how can people find your business and get connected online?
Um, I think the easiest way to connect is through LinkedIn. Um, so I'm on LinkedIn. Um, we don't really have a business website, and that sounds really bad, but because of the reasons I've mentioned before, we don't really put our services out there to market potential out there for people to approach us necessarily. And it's more of a trusted network that we work with. But if anyone wants to get in touch, LinkedIn is definitely the way to go.
Wonderful. Thank you so much for sharing that. And for our final question today, what is most inspiring to you today?
Most inspiring is, um, just again, I keep repeating myself about the trust. Working with the right people is always really important. And if I look back on my career so far, you know, you have an instinct about people when you first meet them, and sometimes that instinct is the correct way to go. So if you don't necessarily feel a warmth towards someone, I'd stay away from them.
Oh, a hundred percent. Feel the Spidey senses indeed. Oh, well, Greg, this has been such a great conversation. Thank you for sharing about yourself and your business on the show today.
Thank you, cheers, K.