Transcription
So people will pay you to find a deal, and then they'll pay you again to manage the deal. That's a great business model.
What did you graduate in? Business management. Interesting. I did, uh, aerospace engineering.
We then went on to the academy, and we put all of our savings into it. Everything I've learned in our property business has not been from university. We keep a good relationship with all our clients that we work with, and we stage their property how we would stage ours.
I sense that there's probably a bit more money in the sourcing, but your heart's really in management. 100%. We, we enjoy it.
J K Alpha Property Management. We got Kush and Gavin, and you guys are really making a name for yourself doing property management, specifically in serviced accommodation in London. So, one of the big questions that people ask me a lot is, how do you get around the rules and regulations in London? Because there's the 90-day restriction for short-stay lets. Um, how are you navigating through that?
So obviously, everyone's quite worried about the 90-day rule, and that's one we get that question all the time. And the main thing that we always tell everyone is, the 90-day rule is only listed for Airbnb. It's not listed for any other travel agency sites.
Well, so if you're on Booking.com, you're saying they think that's fine? Yeah, there is no 90-day rule on it, really. Yeah, there is none.
Is it gray? Is it a bit gray? It is a bit gray, 'cause I hear different experts, different planning consultants saying different things. I know everyone says different things, but from what we've done and what we've researched, that we've only found it in Airbnb, and they're the ones that will literally regulate it and stop you doing it. And I know a lot of people try and get around it with like multiple Airbnb accounts and and things like that.
I mean, one of the things that I know you, you're doing really well is, um, pushing more towards a medium-term booking so it doesn't class as a short stay. What is the definition of a short let?
So, short let is anything that is classified, we think, from one day to one week. So anything in that classes as a day. 'Cause we've had a booking for 14 days, and it hasn't come up in the 90-day rule. So we're thinking anything over a week is classed as a mid-term, and then if you go over a month, it's classed as a long-term.
So you've got investors that are based in London that are renting out their property, maybe getting two grand a month for it, and you're going, "Hey, hey, do you realize you could get like six grand a month or seven grand a month?" Yeah, yeah. If you rent it out on short to medium stays. Absolutely.
Talk me through how that works. What that looks like for an investor. So let's say I'm an investor, I've got a London, um, apartment. I'm getting two and a half grand a month, and you look at it and you think, like, what's your proposition to me? And how would, what would that look like?
So our proposition would be, you're getting that smaller rent. Whereas if we helped you, we took over your property as management, we would take a good 15%, and we'd make sure that you're hitting those higher marks off off off your cash flow for the month. So you can be hitting anywhere from, like, six to 7,000 in Zone One areas. You can be even hitting up to £8,000 because there's a high demand. London's a very good area for serviced accommodation. So we'd ensure that your property's staged to a serviced accommodation standard and ensure that bookings come in from 80 to 100% occupancy. So, yeah, we'd offer you that stability, offer a hands-off investment for you to get that high cash flow for your property.
And then if you've got multiple properties, like if I've got six properties and I give you one, and they go, "Oh, jeez, now that one is making, is making almost as much money as all the other four or five together," then you're going to pass you multiple. So, um, that's kind of a guess how you're growing just through doing the do and word of mouth.
Because I think one of our properties in Canary Wharf, so we, we had a landlord who had an empty apartment in a block, and he owned the whole block, and he didn't know what to do with this empty apartment. He wasn't, it wasn't renting out, and it wasn't selling. So we decided, "Let's turn it into an SA." We told him how to do it, what to do. He let us manage it and everything, and now that one apartment is making more than the actual other apartments in the block on over per month. And it's crazy that he didn't even think that SA can make that much.
And it's something. Oh, no, it is. It's huge. And it's catching on. Even mortgage lenders are catching on now. Because a lot of mortgage lenders, um, back in sort of like 2016, 2017, when, which is when certainly when I started doing serviced accommodation, a lot of lenders would say, "We don't understand that," and and and and and they wouldn't, they wouldn't let you do it. Whereas now, more and more lenders are realizing that actually, this is a thing. Yeah. And they're getting with the times. And Kemp, Reliance, Precise Mortgages, there's many that are saying, "Yeah, okay, we'll give you permission to do that." And they're even tailoring products specifically for people that want to rent out their property on short stays.
One of the big problems that people face, though, is restrictions on the leasehold. So they, they'll have a, if it's a flat, it will be a leasehold, and then there'll be a, uh, restriction that will with the with the freeholder to say that they can't do it. Have you found that problematic?
We, we have found a few deals that we wanted to do ourselves, and when we went down to like the nitty-gritty, and we said, "Okay, like, does it have the SA, uh, contract for for this?" And when they had a look at the background of it, it's like you said, it's a leasehold and everything, and they actually don't have an SA clause that they could do it. They can't convert into a holiday let, and they still want to do it because they know how lucrative the money is. Of course, and they want to do it. And now they regret it, but they want to, they want to find a way where they can switch it back into a holiday let, which takes a huge process. And obviously, it's not something that we do because we don't want to get caught up into the mix. Because we wouldn't know to convert.
Let's say I'm an investor and I've got a property in London, and you say to me, because you don't know what the freeholder restrictions are. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. You know what I mean? You could see a property and you could see, see, see an apartment, and you could, "Okay, um, that that would work well for service to come to a," and then you could speak to me, and then I could say, "Oh man, I really want to do it, but I've, I've got a restriction with my freeholder." How often does that happen? What, what sort of percentages of, because I know, I know not all apartments have got restrictions on on serviced accommodation, but, but some do. So what kind of percentage from your experience would you say does that become a deal breaker?
From what we've realized, we've got, we've had, I think we viewed at least 10 to 12, and I think about five to six of them have restrictions.
Okay, so about half, half at least have restrictions. That's annoying.
It is annoying because if they didn't have the restrictions, they were all perfectly good deals as well. The landlord was interested, he was happy to go for it, but because of the restrictions. But we still keep in contact with them, and now what they do, they check their, um, they're having to look at their mortgage, they're trying to see if they can change it and switch it into a holiday. But it's just a longer process for them.
And you know, it's interesting 'cause some people say to me, they're like, "Ah, it doesn't, serviced accommodation doesn't work because there's too many restrictions on the on flats with with with the head lease." And it's like, "Well, yeah, maybe 50% of London flats do have restrictions, but 50% don't." So rather than just, "Oh, 50% don't," well, what about the ones that do? You'll throw seeds, and some will land on the rocky ground, and some will land on the fertile ground. And that's kind of part and parcel, isn't it?
So what you're doing then, is not rent-to-rent, it's just management? Yeah, man, just management. And we've realized we're making more money just in management than we are when we're like, if we take it out of Zone One and we go out of London. Let's say we got two in Reading and we got one in Windsor. The two in Reading, they were profiting about £1,000 a month, and we're doing, we're paying all the bills, the more, uh, the rent, the cleaning staff, everything. We're paying all of that. When we take on a management deal in Zone One London, we're making £800 a month just through management. And that's just doing all the.
Okay, let's break these numbers down a second then. So you've got, um, properties outside London. Reading? Yeah. Where else have you got properties? Uh, Windsor. Windsor? Well, okay. Windsor is a really good. How much, how are you making on on a Windsor property?
The last two months, we've been making about, summer's really peak season, so we've been making a good £1,600 to £1,900.
Jeez. So that's, but that's rent-to-rent. That's rent-to-rent. So that's where you, you, you're renting the the property, and then you're renting out for a higher amount. What about in the more average seasons when it's not summer? Or how much do you make?
So in the average seasons in Reading, you're looking around about £800 to £1,000.
That's still pretty good. Yeah, yeah, that's pretty good. But you're making more in the management side of things? Yeah, because, gez, even in Paddington alone, our Paddington property, we're making £800 a month just through management.
But what's, but I guess from your point of view, there's a lot of advantages to just strike management as opposed to rent-to-rent?
Yeah, so the return on investment, obviously, just 100%, because we're not putting any money down. So every month, there's just straight, straight money coming into our account. Also, we're managing the property for our landlord and promising them or guaranteeing them more rent than they would get from a single. So it's a win-win for both.
So with Reading and Windsor and those other places, you're making about a grand a month, but that's after you've paid all the bills, and that's profit, right? But you've still got the hassle of having to pay the bills. You've got the risk of if it doesn't rent out, you've still got to give the landlord they guaranteed man, and you've got to furnish it, stage it, pay upfront rent because you're effectively renting it and then renting out for a higher amount, which is a great strategy. But what you're doing is just management, just pure management. Where we have, we, it's not that we have zero responsibility, we have responsibility on the management side, but to the landlord, we don't have any ties.
It's a great way of getting more rent though, isn't it? Yeah, yeah. Why would you just, especially with, um, with with with interest rates going up as a landlord myself, right? Let's say I've got a property and I historically have been renting out for two grand a month, but the mortgage payments are a grand, then my gross profit is a grand. But if interest rates have now doubled, my gone. So I can either just accept that I'm not making any profit, or pass my property to people like you guys. Yeah. And say, "Actually, can you all figure it myself?" Yeah. And learn serviced accommodation like you did, and go through the training, and go through the. But a lot of landlords are lazy and would prefer to just pass it over.
What do you charge them percentage-wise?
So what we tend to do, obviously, we like to work with our clients. So with our clients, we normally, with London, we like to take 20%. But what we tend to do, we like to work with them. So in the winter seasons, we take 12%, and then in the summer seasons, we take 15%. Even though we take that much, because of what we're making, and we're making 90% to 100%, they're still making a grand and a half, two grand profit.
So you're going to charge between 12 and 20% depending on the location, depending on the property, depending on the landlord, depending on the season? Yeah. Absolutely. That sounds fair. And 20% sounds like a lot, but you're having to like, do an awful lot for that.
100%. It's completely effectively hands-off for the landlord. And like you're saying earlier, they can do it themselves, but we found a lot of these, they to do, there's so much to it. There's so, they don't have to do it, they don't know how to do it. Getting it on Booking.com alone, and and getting cleaners, and systemization, and getting all the check-in and checkout process. And it's a business, and you need to understand the business. Yeah. You know, and you need to learn. And if you just have a bash, "Oh, just stick it on Airbnb," well, for a start, you probably can't in London because Airbnb don't let you. Yeah.
Um, how, how does one go about putting it on LateRooms? And also, how does one stop getting double bookings and dealing with reviews? You guys have systemized it though, super well. Yeah. Um, have you got staff?
Yeah, yes. We have two staff now. So obviously, we have our power team. We've got our maintenance team, got cleaning team. Our cleaning team does the whole, all of our properties, and they're the best cleaning team. They make sure they're.
I bet they are. They have the soaps ready, they have everything, and the, the way they do the beds, they, they do the covers, everything, everything's crisp and clean, and it's perfect. And we also have two VAs now. We got a VA handling our management side because when we were doing it before, it was taking a lot of time out of what we wanted to do because we were managing quite a lot. It was effectively like a full-time job, but we want to replace a full-time job, not by doing it ourselves, by systemizing things so we can focus on obviously bigger tasks.
Do you use a channel manager, or do you? Who do you use? Uplisting?
Do you? Interesting. See, I hear a lot about there's a lot, almost seems to be a split between a Vio and Uplisting. We did start with a Vio when we first started, and it was going well and everything like that. And then someone mentioned to us, "Have a look at Uplisting." They say Uplisting is better when you have multiple, multiple properties. So we had a look at it, and I think it just resonated with us, and we thought, you know what, Uplisting does do a little bit better. Not saying a Vio is bad, a Vio is great, but I think a Vio is great when you're first starting out in property, and you're first get. A Vio is the one that we kind of recommend. Yeah. I mean, we don't get any kickback or anything like that, but a Vio is the one that we sort of show people. And the reason is, is because that's just the one that I used. Um, and there's loads though, there's loads of channel managers, there's not just Uplisting and a Vio.
So what does an average day-to-day look like then for you guys?
What start, starting off, we first of all get our staff, know what, ensure we speak to them, understand their tasks for the day. And then we focused on, we moved on to kind of commercial sourcing as well. So we F, we're speaking to landowners, finding deals on different property sites, Rightmove, Zoopla, Property Link as well. Yeah. And we're trying to kind of fully focus on that.
Right, so you're saying, and you've sold quite a lot of deals today as well, haven't you?
We, we've sold, we sold quite a few. I think we, uh, we're getting more bespoke investors now, so people are willing to pay three grand upfront. So like in the last month, we had another two or three investors that were paying three grand upfront just for an SA deal. So we're sourcing quite a bit as well.
So people will pay you to find a deal. Yeah. And then you'll find it, and then they'll pay you again to manage the deal. And then you've systemized that, you've got staff. That's, that's a great business model.
Yeah. And I think our power team is what people really want because they don't know where to get the best cleaners, they don't know how to do Uplisting, they don't know how to link it to Price Labs, how to manage Price Labs. Managing Price Labs is an algorithm on its own, and that's something that we have learned, and we took time to learn it. So it's just our knowledge is what they're paying for, in a way.
How does one choose a good property management company? Let's say that, because there's many, there's many property managers. Let's say that I was want, I was thinking, "You know what, I've got an apartment, I can't be bothered to deal with it myself, I want to find someone like you guys, hands-on." What are the things to look for and the red flags when you're looking for a management company?
I think firstly, look at reputation. Look at the properties that they've done before, see how well they've performed, and if they're getting that high occupancy. I think it's a no-brainer. See the power team, see what kind of properties they have, with the location of the properties, and how well they're doing.
And if they're doing quite well, how do you, how do you know that? Because they could just be bluffing, right?
Well, you can, you can ask them for their Airbnb link, or you can ask them for the Booking.com link. And if they say they're hitting 90% occupancies, you can then check their Airbnb, check their availability on their calendars, and see if it looks up. And if it looks really booked up, you can say, "Okay, there might be, they're telling the truth." And then you can go into further, see reviews from other clients, see testimonials from other clients, make sure they all match up with people. And you can call around, you can, 'cause property network is so, it's such a close, the property community, small. You can talk around, you can have, "Have you ever heard of these lot? Are they really good?" And if they say, "No, they're not that great," then you can say, "Okay, then you could have another conversation." If they say, "Yeah, they're amazing, they do this, this, this," then you can.
What would happen? What's the exit strategy from an investor's point of view? Because what I'd be thinking is, I'd be thinking, "I'll try it, but if I want, I want to know if it doesn't work, that there's an exit." So if you're managing my property and charging me 15%, and you're going to go and whack it on Uplisting, LateRooms, all the different sites, Booking.com, and after six months, I'm just like, "Actually, ah, this isn't really working. It's hit and miss, it's up and down." How, what's your contractual terms?
So we, we try and hold out for the first year. So our contract lasts for a year, but we have a review every three months. So every quarter, we have a review.
Well, unless if it's going terrible after three months and you've not got me any bookings. So then what we do, we have a review, and we, we try and understand why there's no bookings, 'cause we want to learn why we're not making bookings. 'Cause normally we make a load of bookings. But we have to understand the season, the location, the people, what type of events are going on. And we try and focus on it. And if the landlord says, "Look, I, I don't want to do this," then we part ways, obviously. Because we haven't got any money invested, we can part.
But I guess the interesting thing is, let's say you weren't getting any bookings, which we all know wouldn't happen. But let's say it did, you're not making any money either.
Exactly, exactly. Because you're only getting paid a percentage of the bookings. So if he's not getting any bookings, it's not working. I guess, yeah, after a few months, you, you know what, and we will, we will work hard to make these bookings, because at the end of the day, we want to make a name for ourselves. And people, 'cause I, I remember one person asked me, um, "Why should I pick you if I can pick this company that I've been working for 10 years?" But then when you say to them, "Actually, but that company has a list of people that they're working with, you're just another person in their book. They won't like prioritize you the way we will, and we will work 24/7."
So that's something that. So your, your key now is to ensure that when you go big, that you're able to still prioritize every single person?
Yeah, yeah. And we pride ourselves on that as well. We keep a good relationship with all our clients that we work with. And that's another thing. So if somebody wants to speak to, 'cause we've had, we've taken on people's properties, and they want to speak to other people's properties we've taken on, and we passed on the numbers, and they've always given us a good review because they know, they know we put in the work. We don't treat them just like a random customer who were listing their property. We treat their property with respect, and we stage their property how we would stage ours. We make sure it's on the top standard to make sure.
How does it work in terms of, um, the sourcing side of things then? So what, what, what are your investors kind of looking for? You mentioned commercial. What sort of stuff?
So in commercial, we're trying to look for landowners that have about two and a half acres to about five acres worth of land, edge of town. And we're look, trying to look for someone either with consent or without consent, who doesn't know what to do with the land. They've just got a land, and they want to sell. And we're trying to get in contact with these type of people to maybe offer, 'cause we have a lot of operators in the leisure requirements that want to build leisure requirements in those areas. And so there's a lot of places, especially in Surrey and Basingstoke, those types of areas, that they are looking for leisure requirements. And, yeah, we're just trying to find people that would land option to sell, and the people who don't know what to do with the land, they're probably getting a lot of people offering to take the land off them, but they don't know what they're doing with the land. How, how much is worth? How much it's worth? Yeah. Right.
So you're basically packaging that type of thing and then passing on to investors that are looking for land, charging a fee. Yeah. And how does that link? Is that not a distraction from your management company, or is it? Does it go? Does it coincide? Is it the same investors that are giving you their properties? They're looking for land? What's the synergy?
No, these are totally different. So when we have our investor lists, 'cause we've got over 200 investors just for SAs alone, and what we do, any person that comes in that's looking for commercials or looking for BRRs or anything like that, we always split them apart. We make sure that they're different to them, because unless they say they want to do SAs and they want to find that, then we'll have a conversation.
You have to choose to close down one business. Either you can never source anymore, the sourcing business is, you're banned from sourcing any more deals ever, or you're banned from doing property management. Which one would you keep?
You know, it's a difficult one because I imagine, sorry to interrupt, but I imagine your bread and butter is the management, but then the big chunks of money is the sourcing.
Yeah, I think, I think we're probably going to have different opinions on this. For me, I would give up the management and go straight into commercial because if I put all my effort and time into that, I can make, like, literally, if I sell 30 deals of an SA, I can make the same amount of selling one deal on a commercial. And if it's just something that I think is much better and more bigger in chunks of money, and it's something that we can, I can do better, I feel.
No, yeah, no, I agree with you. To be fair, I was going to say, obviously, we've invested a lot of time into the management, and it's amazing. Our goal is to be one of the biggest management companies in London providing our services. But with the commercial sourcing, if we were to put all our efforts into that, like Chris was saying, I sense that you're, there's probably a bit more money in the sourcing, but your heart's really in management.
100%. We, we enjoy it. And you just love taking on investor properties, helping them scale up their income. And it's so needed in today's.
100%. 'Cause people like the older generation, they, they kind of don't know too. When we speak to them about serviced accommodation, they don't know. They've heard about it, but they don't actually know how to systemize it, ensure that everything is in order, Uplisting, channel manager, cleaning. They wouldn't know how to.
How long ago did you get into property? When, how did it start? And what happened?
So we started out two years ago, coming up to two years.
And what did you have any background or knowledge in property prior?
Uh, obviously my parents, they were into property. They have seven properties of their own. And they, but when they got, it was a perfect time. They got it in 1999 to 2000 years. So they, so they try to teach you what to do. What we did, uh, they don't work anymore. Yeah, yeah. It was, it was quite cheap back then, but now it's very expensive. So when salaries were 20 grand and houses were 40. Yeah, those were the days. Those were the days. And but now it's a whole different market. Now it's a whole different market.
And we wanted to do prop, I've always wanted to do property, but just didn't know how to get into it until obviously we ran into your seminar at the time, and we booked the one-pound crash course. And yeah, we would, we were doing book clubs, NFTs, uh, we were doing crypto, we were doing all sorts beforehand, trying to see how we can make money, learn about money, where money comes from. And I think also, sorry to interrupt, that education prior to actually going to your course, like getting your mindset correct, reading that the two books, Think and Grow Rich and The 10X Rule, it set us up so well for when we came to your event. And I feel like you portrayed everything that was was in these books to us as well, so it made us believe you.
So you did a bit of personal development, tried in crypto and NFT, and how did that go? Did you make much money in crypto?
Isn't that? No, no. It was more sense. We did research. We were literally about to buy our first NFT before we went to your, to your free crash course. And then as soon as we went to your course, it was less like we just said.
So what happened at the crash course that was so like revolutionary?
I don't know. It was the energy that that we felt. Like as soon as you walked in, everyone stood up, started cheering, started clapping. And we thought, "Okay, there's a good reason." And I remember the first day, um, was it the second time? I think I stood up and I, and I spoke to you, and I was trying to sell myself. And I think you asked me a question, and I think you, he said, "Go to the back. Go to the back." And like, onto the course. And you kind of just stood there. Like I was like, "Oh, what do I do?" So then I went back. After I, "Lovely remember that." And you spoke to him after. Like, I didn't mean to kind of make, put a stick on you. The first person. So first person, 'cause I was the first person to put my hand up, and I stood up, and you, I think you were like, "Yeah, you, you were trying to pitch me or sell me on something." I can't if I remember. And I was just like, "You know what? You need, you need access to investors. You need some mentor. And you need, go to the back right now. Sit on my team. Get enrolled." And you did. Which I guess worked out. And then we joined the academy after that. And yeah, we went, we just got going, and we started networking with loads of people.
What did, what did your parents think of when you joined the academy and everything?
Do you know what? I personally, I never told my parents. I, they were quite supportive, but they were always like, "Be very hesitant. Go. They wanted me to keep looking for like a 9-to-5 job." We graduated from university and stuff like that.
But what did you graduate in? Business management. Interesting.
I did aerospace engineering. Interesting. Yeah. It's something completely different. But that's what, uh, 'cause obviously with them, they wanted us to get an education, they wanted us to get a nice job, and just to save up money, then buy a house through that. That doesn't work anymore. It doesn't work anymore.
It, what do they think when you told them, when you said, "Nah, man, I'm not getting a job. I'm not going to be saving up money and buying houses. Instead, I'm going to be a property entrepreneur."
Yeah, they, they were hesitant. They said they thought I was crazy, and they thought, "You can't, you can't do this. You're, you're 20, you're 23. People don't know, you don't know the property, you don't know how it works, you don't know how to build, you don't know how to do this and that." I know they, they were not telling me off in a way, but they were teaching me, "Look, take a stable route. Don't take a riskier route." And I think now their minds have changed 'cause they've seen us, how much money we're making, and they see how much attention we're getting, and all that, like our social media has tripled in value, and they always watch our videos, and they're always liking it. They always like seeing it.
The best way to convince your friends and family to support you is to show them the money. Yeah. Exactly. Because you can't convince them. And and most people will try and stop you, not because of any negative intention, but just because they want to protect you. And they're like, "Man, you know, be safe, be careful." But being careful and being safe, you can't be safe and secure and also have freedom.
100%. I think taking risks is a massive factor. You need to put yourself out there because you're going to regret it. Yeah.
How has your experience working with me over the last year or so then on the academy?
It's been amazing. All the mentors we spoke to, anytime we needed up, we had a problem, and we couldn't get any help, we went to the mentors, and they, they supplied us with so much. And that's why now your investors pass their properties to you because you've invested in yourself. You know what you're doing. You've walked the walk. You've learned it. You spent a year going through all the training, getting mentored, took the time out to come to the crash course, come to the training. And now you've got the knowledge, the experience. And if they can't be bothered to do that, then they'll just pass their house to you.
Yeah, absolutely. If they want to go down that same route and they want to learn from scratch, then obviously that's also great. 100%. If they, if they would like to do that, that's completely up to them. Obviously, it takes a lot of time and effort. If you've got that time and effort, I'd highly recommend doing it. I think personally, it's my opinion, if you want to be a business person, it's probably more beneficial investing in your personal development and going on my programs, going reading books like you read, like Think and Grow Rich. That's probably going to help you more than even, well, you'll probably be in a better position to say than going to university to study business.
Yeah, because I want to touch on this as well. Everything I've learned in our property business has not been from university. Like the teacher that's teaching me or the tutor, she doesn't have a business. She's not driving an amazing car that showed that she's had a successful business. She's teaching me something that she hasn't actually done herself. Yeah. So which she's messed up, man. Yeah, he messed up. It really is. I think the whole system is a bit.
But then isn't it interesting because your parents probably will be clapping you going to business university, learning from basically a fake guru?
Yeah, basically. But then you go on something like the academy or come to the crash course, it's invaluable. And pay a pound to go to crash course. People be careful. Yeah.
Isn't it mad? I know. It is mad. And it's just something that's weird because if they haven't done it and they haven't walked through it, how can you trust them? How can you say, "Teacher from textbooks that were written 60 years ago?"
Yeah, exactly. Maybe it worked 60 years ago. At the end of the day, it's just a piece of paper, isn't it? It's not much anything else. I think university will really help you if you want to get a job. I think, yeah, if you were like, it, I, I always said university is great if you're like trying to be a lawyer, a medical profession, a doctor.
Did you see the video I did when I was outside Cambridge University? Yeah, yeah. I, I was stopping people. I was stopping people outside university that were studying all kinds of subjects that were studying like, um, economics, they were studying, um, all, I can't remember, all kinds of different subjects. And I was asking them just basic questions like, "You know, what's capital gains tax?" And they'd be like, "Don't know." "What's, you know, how do you work out the return on investment?" "Don't know." "What's basic right?" "Not sure." And it's like, man, made me question when I even want my kids to go to school.
Yeah, absolutely. If you leave school and you're at university, and you're 23, and you don't know basics of economics, basics of finance, it's, it's mad. It, it is mad. And I think, why are they teaching? I think, I think the school's a system to get you into working a 9-to-5. I don't think they want, because they don't teach us anything about finances, or how to tool, how to save it, or how to spend it in a better way, how to get the discounts, how to get this, how, how to negotiate.
Did you learn at a business school when you went? Did you learn how to set up like, how to start a business?
No. Didn't. What did you learn? We learned about, it was simple things, it was like marketing, managing people.
But did you learn about CRM systems?
No. How can they teach about marketing but not about CRM systems? Do they just? I don't think these, I don't even think these teachers actually business. Nothing. Damn. How can you teach you marketing?
Yeah, they taught us the basics of social media coming up, literally see how this person sells to you. But we're not understanding it because you're not actually teaching us the ins and outs of it. That's a scam.
I know. 'Cause I'm more of a bookworm, so I like to, 'cause for me, I'm more maths-orientated, I'm more that side of orientated, so I like numbers, I like how deal stacks and all of that. But I think when I went onto your course, you actually showed us step by step, like, "Okay, you got a house for 100 grand, you got to pay a deposit, you got to refurbish this," and I was learning step by step by step. And through university, they don't teach you that. They teach you just the wide range, expecting you to know it all, and they make it complicated than it should be, than it should be.
I mean, if I was, how long did you spend at business university?
Three years. Three years. I would be expecting by the end of year one, you need to have at least made 50 grand. Day one is, "Here's how you set up a company. Here's how you choose your company." Here's, day two is, "Here's CRM systems." Like it would be, let's, let's do it. Yeah, yeah. Right. Day, um, day 35 will be, "Get your phone out. Stop. Let's cold call some businesses right now. Bang, bang, bang."
I don't know. Madness. 'Cause if, if they were doing that, everyone would be going to university and everyone will be successful in business and making it. It would revolutionize the economy. It would revolutionize the system. And also, when more people that are doing business succeed, if you're making money, you're also helping someone else make money. You're also paying taxes, they're paying taxes, you're having to buy things, you're now, um, giving cleaners work. That everybody's benefiting. Helps the economy. So mad respect to what you guys are doing.
What would you say, um, will be your biggest piece of advice to someone? 'Cause you started, I mean, how much money did you have when we first started training together? How much did you have?
So we had £15,000 saved up between us. And we then went on to the academy, and we put all of our savings into it. And we had, we had literally enough, well, we had, I think a couple thousand left or something like that, but we had nothing left. And we just knew we had to be in an environment where everyone was the same level. So we joined it, got educated.
Yeah, I think our best advice would be, get educated, take massive action, and surround yourself around like-minded people. That's good. And just, and just not to give up. 'Cause a lot of no's, we got, we got hundreds of no's before we got our first SA. And people back down after after like their 10th no, 12th no, they're like, "This doesn't work." This doesn't. But if you keep going, all you need is that one yes. And when we got that one yes, we took it. We took it with our hand straight.
That's right. If you, if one deal is making you a grand a month, and it, and it took you 100 calls, I mean, geez, calls. If you're working on this business full-time, that would take you two, three days. Yeah. So you know, you've just got to keep going. And it's, it's great what you've done. It's really inspirational. We're going to leave your, like, Instagram handle and that in the description of the video so people can check you out. Yeah, really proud of you guys and excited about the future.
Thank you. Appreciate. Thank you. Really appreciate.