Transcription
Is it possible to start a business with absolutely no money and make £10,000 clean net profit per month? The answer is yes.
It's so scary when you're literally you've got no money, you're deep in your overdraft, you're having to borrow money from different places, and you think, "Oh my God, what is going on?" This week, I'm going to be interviewing Oliver Lang. You contacted 800 people, yeah, and you got two contracts, yeah? Two from that. You know, bear in mind, I've got an Airbnb that's been open a week, I've got no reviews, I've got no trading history, I've got no listings. Who's going to trust you, yeah? But somehow, these people did. Numbers game. Ole has built up a property management company where he has over 30 properties that he's controlling, making a profit of over $10,000 a month. "I set the price higher because I am the market." Was it easy? No. Was it worth it? Yes. Can you do the same thing? Yes, you can. Enjoy this interview, and I look forward to seeing you at the top as well.
Olle Lang, welcome to the show. Winners on a Wednesday. So you came to the crash course back in 2022, December. December 2022. So that's like, what, like two, and just over two years ago now? It feels like a long, long time ago, yeah. Well, you've done a lot since then. So what were you, what were you doing at the time, and what was it that led you to the crash course? What made you come down?
Yes, I was working in a, in a job. It was a good job, I did really enjoy it. It was doing new build sales, and I'd just left uni. And, and I was like, so I'd just left uni, started the new build sales job, and I was like, I don't want to live at home. So I was looking for places to, to move out. And I saw there was these, um, well, I couldn't afford like a one-bed or a two-bed apartment on my own. And I was like, where, where can I live? And there were these things called HMOs. And I was like, I've never really heard of that. So I decided to go live in an HMO. Yeah. And, uh, there were a few like business-minded people there. And we were, we were looking around and we thought, this guy is making some money out of this house. I think we were paying like £700 each, seven rooms, and you can sort of add it up. Grand a month, this guy's doing all right. And then we started looking on YouTube at property videos, like, how can we get into property and this and that, and how can we even learn what an HMO is and how to, to sort of, you know, build a business around this. Yeah, that's where I then found you. And yeah, it really sort of went from there. I then watched your things every night religiously, just like, you know, this is what I want to be doing. And you sort of mentioned loads of different strategies and and everything else, and I thought, this is cool. So then went to the 1-day crash course. And then you started talking about deal sourcing. I was like, well, this is amazing. You know, I want to find deals, I want to learn how to, you know, do this. And the best way to start would be to find them for other people. So that's how I started, yeah, just, just sourcing.
So the guys that you brought to the crash course, or the guys that came, are you working with them now, or did they disappear?
So I went on my own. Uh, yes. So I went on my own. They, um, they never really were into the property space. So one was doing locksmith, uh, he was a locksmith. And another one was doing like, he used to sell tractors and stuff. Um, but I was the only one that was really interested in the property stuff. So I just went on my own.
Cuz I had everything going. Shame they should have come. They should have. It was a good experience. They'd be making 10 grand a month each. They would have, they would have killed it. But I still speak to the locksmith guy, cuz he actually does a lot of our locks when people lock themselves out or we need keys cut for, for certain properties. So, um, yeah, yeah, still, still in contact with.
So when you came down to the crash course, then, was it like a revolutionary day? What, what kind of was going through your head?
Yeah, cuz I, I sort of went to it with an open mind. Like, I see you've spoke about a load of stuff in your channel and I was like, so what is this about? And you just went into a little bit more detail on every single point, and enough to really just spark that interest of, yeah, you know, there's tangible, there's something, there's something here. And I was like, you know, I want to get in this. And, um, then I signed up for the, the deal selling one because that's what I wanted to, to do. Um, and then it was, we went through the whole training. And then you were obviously going for the Academy thing. And I think I was the last person on the last day to sign up for it, cuz I was like, should I, you know, do this? And I think Tony was like, just do it. And I was like, all right, I'm gonna jump into it. And Tony's obviously, he's made 100 million. So you got, you got guys like that.
So how long did it take you then from coming to the crash course and going through the training to do your first, your first deal?
I think it was a long time, to be honest. So I started on trying to do HMOs, cuz I was living in one and I wanted to try do HMOs cuz that's what I was in. I really struggled to find HMOs to sell them on. Um, and I was like, okay, let me try the BRR thing, because I wanted to like development as well, like develop HMOs and do that. Tried to do development as well, like BRRs. And I'd find good deals, go on viewing, stack them, and then I'd just sort of look up and there was no one there to sell it to. I was like, oh, okay, that was a waste of a few weeks of doing that. Then I do it again and again and again. I was like, you know, this is, you know, not my path that I'm, I'm good at. And I was looking, you know, speaking through the academy and like, what are people, what's the main thing people are really after? And it was rent to rents. So then started doing rent to rents. And, um, I met my business partners on the course, Stephen, Isaac, and, um, we then sort of formed a trio called The Alliance. And we started trying to sell these rent to rent deals. And we basically realized within, so the way we sort of did it, it was we created our own marketplace. So at your courses, we either realized people were investors or they were deal sources. That was sort of the, the two main, two main parties. So every time we'd speak to someone, we'd say, are you an investor? Are you a deal sourcer? Oh, I'm a sourcer. Brilliant. Scan this QR code and you go into a WhatsApp group chat, and you know, you'll be in our sourcing team. If you're an investor, you're in, in this, um, in this WhatsApp chat. And slowly we'd be building up the, uh, investor list and the co-source list. We'd be saying, oh, to the investors, what are you looking for? Someone would say, we're looking for a two-bed in Nottingham. Cool. Who's got a two-bed in Nottingham? This person's got it. And they would just be like them, the through person, right, broker in the deals. Yeah, that's smart. And we were like, getting good traction from it. But I think our, I don't know if it was our, our strategy was slightly off, but something was off where we'd sell deals, but then they'd never actually complete. So it was a lot of busy work. It was not a lot of, you know, cash that we were getting. So I think we, we did that for months and months and months, and we never really got anywhere because we'd sell a deal for 3K, 50% would go to a sourcer, we'd then have three of us to then split that between, and then we'd need to keep money in the business as well. Yeah. So after you've sold a 3K deal, you might make 300, 400 quid each. It wasn't, wasn't worth it. Yeah. So we then stopped that. Um, but while we were doing that, we then got our own rent to rent deal, which was the Seven Suites in Liverpool. It was our first rent to rent. It was a block of seven apartments that we then kitted out. And, um, we then were running that. So that's sort of how I got into my own world of doing rent to rents as well.
I've been to the hotel, and it's, it's very, very, very nice. In fact, I think you let me in virtually when I got there. So it's interesting that you, you, I want to say failed, I mean, the deal, it's not failing, you're making a bit of money. Yeah, but you know, you had a slow start, you did lots of it, it wasn't, nothing was really massively taking off. Yeah. When was it then that you kind of started thinking, okay, when did you, when did you quit your job? When were you able to replace your income through property?
So I got fired in, um, ah, I think it would have been October 2022.
Why did you get fired?
Oh, let's not get into that.
Was it because of the property stuff on the side?
No, no, no. So I mean, my job before that, I almost got fired from that one because of property stuff. Because it was new build sales, I realized that people needed to move from one house to another house. So I set up a company, um, to do home removals. Yeah. And our cleaner at the time did home removals. So I basically brokered home removal from my company I was working at to the people that were moving. And that was, that was really bad. A bit of a conflict of interest. They said, shut that down immediately. Yeah. So I had to shut that down. Um, and then I just moved to a more local job, which was working for JLL. And that was a really good job. The people there were really nice. Um, but for one reason or another, we, we parted ways.
Okay. Hold on. Don't talk about, you know, but some people aren't meant to be necessarily employees. You're a natural entrepreneur. I think the biggest lesson so far though, is just the persistence. Because it didn't, it didn't all come out really fast. There's a reason that the academy is a 12-month program and not a 12-week program. Because it can take time. And often when people see Winners on a Wednesday, they see people making 10 grand a month, like, like, like you're doing now, and they think, oh, wow, that's really easy. It happened really fast. But actually, no. Most people that come on Winners on a Wednesday, the, the struggle is real. And it can look fast looking back. You can say, oh, it took you a year or however long it took before you started making real good money. And people think, oh, wow, a year, that's really fast. But when you're actually in it at the time, it can feel like, this isn't working, this is taking forever.
Was there any points where you wanted to quit, or you thought, what am I doing? Maybe I should just sack in this whole being a business owner, being a property entrepreneur?
I think I knew, cuz I had zero money and I was literally deep in my overdraft, I was having to borrow money. I was like, you can't quit, you have to find something that works.
You were kind of too deep in.
I was too deep. But that's the importance, I think, of being invested in yourself. If sometimes people say to me, can you mentor me for free, and I'll give you a percentage of the profits? But then there's no skin in the game. When you've got skin in the game, and you've invested in your education, you've invested in your network, you kind of just have to make it work, don't you? You do. And it's so scary when you literally, you've got no money, you're deep in your overdraft, you're having to borrow money from different places, and you think, oh my God, what is going on? Like, I am, you know, I'm up it without a paddle.
Like, it's just, how many, how many properties have you now got under control?
35. Is that including the hotel? Yeah, that's including the hotel. So 28 on my own, and then seven as part of the, the hotel business.
Fantastic. And, and you're making around about how much profit per month?
So we're doing about 2K a day in revenue for the hosts, um, and 15% of that, and then plus sign-up fees as well. So it's about 10K, 10K profit a month, about that. Yeah. Got a few, a few overheads. Yeah. Um, so knock, knock a few K off for overheads. But.
And you're doing a lot of what you're doing now is management. So it's not rent to rent, it's not deal sourcing. It's management. How did you kind of find that USP, and what made you think, yes, that's the one that I want to really focus on?
Yeah, so we learned it with the Suites, the Seven Suites. That was, you know, it's a really, you know, we had a lot of skin in the game on that one because we'd invested heavily into it. We were paying our own bills, we were paying our own overheads, and, you know, we had to make it work. And we learned so many different strategies on how to make a good Airbnb work. Yeah. And then other people were saying, you know, this seems like it's doing well, can you give me a hand? And I said, you know, I'm not doing it yet. Um, but I sort of kept them on contact. And then suddenly I was at a point where I needed to make it work. The deal sourcing wasn't working, you know, and I just needed to make some, some money. Um, so then I reached out to these people and said, hey, you know, I'm ready to manage your place if you're still open to it. A few said no, like they'd already moved on. But a few said yes. Um, and then I just, I think the hardest part was trying to find these people. But then it's always like, where, where is everyone? Who's got an Airbnb? Like, where can you find them? Well, they're on Airbnb. So I just created a list. I zoomed into an area, let's say, so I'm from Maidstone. I zoomed into Maidstone and I saw there was, say, 200 Airbnbs. I clicked each one, I'd put it on a spreadsheet, and I'd get the URL for each one. And I think I got to a time there was 800 links that I did. And then I worked through it one by one. Is it a professional host? Is it an individual host? How's the listing quality? Just trying to rank them all. And I sent a sort of template message out to everyone saying, I'm looking, I'm, I do Airbnb management. Your place looks like it could do with some help. Let me help you. From the 800 inquiries, I got two people say yes. So one of them, um, was this flat in central Maidstone. And another one was a shed in someone's garden. But that's all I needed to start.
Yeah. Can I just say though, I, I commend you for that. Because so many people say, oh, I've contacted so many people and no. And I said, how many have you contacted? 10. Yeah. It's not enough. It's not enough output. Yeah. You contacted 800 people. Yeah. And you got two. Two contracts. Yeah. Two from that. You, you know, bear in mind, I've got an Airbnb that's been open a week, I've got no reviews, I've got no trading history, I've got no listings. Yeah. Who's going to trust you? Yeah. But somehow, these people did.
Numbers game. Exactly. I think it's like what I often say is it's like rolling the dice. If you roll the dice, you got to land on a six. If you roll the dice and land on a six, that's that's a deal. If you roll the dice and land on three, you got to roll it again. You keep rolling it until you land on six. And as you get better, like when you see me at the rent training, if I'm calling up landlords, I can probably close 50% of people that I can cold call someone and close 50% because I've got my credentials. Yeah. Because of my company, because of my experience, because of how I can speak. But when you start, you might have to speak to a hundred people to get a yes. And as you then, you can use that first one as a reference and confidence to get. And it, it snowballs, doesn't it? Yeah. I mean, I definitely leveraged the Suites from that. So I've got experience here, but my own profile has has nothing. Um, but yeah, that one flat in Maidstone, that then had a load of people doing rent to rents in it. And slowly everyone, so there was a bit of a conflict of the people in the block. So every, it was a, so there's a block of 19. I've only got 10 of them. But there was, um, only 10. Yeah, that's quite a lot, mate. It's over 50% of the block. But everyone was getting like longer-term bookings, and they were all running individually, and it was a bit of a race to the bottom. So everyone would be saying, you know, your price is £90 a night, I'm going to do mine at £88. Right? And then I'd do mine at £86. And everyone was just racing to the bottom. And also, in this block, there's a lot of like month-long bookings, and people would be doing their staging or doing some touch-ups. And it would, you know, the people would ask the tenants or the guests, what are you doing here? How long are you here for? What are you paying? Oh, I'm paying £2,000 a month for this. Oh, well, I'll do it for £1,800 if you come to mine next month, right? So it was such a like a cesspit of of just like conflict there. Yeah. So then I started taking over the whole block. And now there's no price wars. I set the price higher because I am the market now. Yeah. So the price is higher. You got a monopoly on the block. Everyone makes more money. Yeah. It's just a win-win for everyone. There's no sort of racing to the bottom. And now people are making money in that block instead of losing money.
So do you now run the whole block?
I've got 10 of them, um, out of the 19. But 10, it's enough to be able to. Exactly. But then from there as well, people have got other units. Some they're managing their other units. Um, and it's also get to a point where, you know, I've got some people, um, that I'm managing for that they want more units, which can then sort of fall back to the deal sourcing thing. So that's sort of where I'm planning to.
How old are you now?
27.
Do you ever think it's crazy that like two, three years ago, you're making what you, I think your basic was like 27, 27 grand a year, and now you're running your own business on your own terms, you're your own boss, and you're making profit probably four times what you were making? Is that good? Do you, do you ever stop and think, wow, really?
But then I'm also looking at my, my outgoings as well. And my outgoings are just going super high as well.
Your personal outgoings?
No, no, no. My business outgoings. Well, you say two grand a day, you're taking. That's, that's a lot of turnover.
No, it's good though. Like, you look at your bank, you think, bloody hell, is this even real? And it is. And you think, this is, this is cool. Yeah. You know, what, what's been the, what's been the biggest lesson over the last sort of 12 months of doing property management?
You've just got to work hard and relentlessly at everything. And you might be on the wrong path, but figure out you're on the wrong path and then go to the right path.
Do you, do you have any regrets of the deal sourcing and stuff, or do you think it kind of made you a better entrepreneur?
Yeah, because, you know, we did the deal sourcing thing. I know how to package and do all that side of things. But when we were doing that, you know, there was a lot of things we didn't learn from that. And, uh, the management side, I've learned there's a lot more complexities to selling a deal than what we were potentially doing. So now I'd be sort of a better sourcer if I were to do that. It's just, it's just, I don't know what the words are, but it's like you're trying to just make better each point, sharpen, sharpen the axe on each on each point. Which is what I'm trying to do.
So with service accommodation management, then, why would someone pass you their property if they're already doing it on Airbnb? Why? And is that, do you only target people that are already doing it as service accommodation?
No, so there's, there's, there's different reasons why. Um, for example, my girlfriend's mom has her house on Airbnb with me now, just because she saw Will doing so well with other people. And she hadn't even thought of it. Um, but now she's thinking, and she, we've been doing it for a while now, and she's made some good money from it. She's like, this is, this is amazing. Um, but I mean, the main people I'd look to do it for would be if their listings, you know, aren't looking too good. That's why I did sort of, um, I ranked them on how they were looking. If it was professionally managed, looks good, the pictures are amazing, the description is good, realistically, there's not a lot more I can do for that person. Um, but if they're seem like they've just started out, the pictures are bad, the descriptions bad, their pricing is way off, then that's something you can help. Yeah. Um, but I'm also looking now to do more bespoke homes, larger homes, nicer things like, um, I'd really like to get into the cabin space like eventually, like develop your own luxury cabins and have those, to run. That's sort of like a, would be a passion. More luxury, yeah, stuff.
So with service accommodation, what's the advantages to somebody like your girlfriend's mom, who was previously renting out presumably just to a normal tenant? She was living in it?
Oh, she was living in it. Okay. It's the family home. Um, but they had their Nan's house, who's no longer living at that house. So every time, so we'd have an Airbnb and we'd get someone in there for a month at a time, say, and then they'd move to the Nan's house. And then we'd move back and clean it up and then get another month booking and just do that. I don't think people realize how much money you can make through Airbnb. There's a lot of people with properties, empty houses, or their own home, and they travel away a lot. And while they're not there, they could be renting it out, or they're renting it out to a normal tenant. Yeah. But actually, they're making a grand a month. But they could make three grand if they understood either how to do service accommodation themselves or passed it over to a management company like yourself.
No, exactly. What are some of the advantages to renting out a service accommodation versus renting out to a normal tenant?
So you've obviously got the upside. You do have the downside as well. Like, if you don't make the money, then, you know, you might as well do it on, on rents. If people want guaranteed rent, just rent it to a family. But if you want the potential upside, you want, you can do it. Because for example, she can get about £1,300 a week on her house. Yeah. She won't be able to get that. It's only a two-bed house in, sort of Rochester. Yeah. It's not, it's not going to work for any other reason. Um, but yeah, I think if you really want to invest in a property, like, don't do it cheap. That's that's one thing I say. Because your listing is the gateway to the market. MH. So if your listing looks cheap, the photos are done bad, you know, you've not really invested in the space. Yeah. It's not going to do well. Even if you got a good location, it's probably not going to do well. I think a real big thing as well is tenants. A lot of things people are worried about renting to a tenant and their tenant doesn't pay, and they've got a six-month court process, and it takes forever to get them out. Whereas if you've got somebody on Airbnb and they don't pay, they don't have any rights. Yeah. It's like staying at a hotel. It's like, if you've got someone at the Seven Suites, and they just say, don't feel like paying rent anymore, you know, you're out, mate. They're out.
Have you ever had that? Have you ever had to kick anybody out?
Um, I there was one person in a block in the block that I'm managing, not one of my units, but another one. Um, he stopped paying. And then we had to sort of arrange to have him.
What happened?
We just called the police, really. And then what happened? We just got him out. It was, um, it was quite late at night. What we just, we, so the guy who sort of managed the whole building, um, or like the landlord, or whatever, he basically said, this person's not paid. Oh, okay. Let's go have a look. We went in, and we called the police. Like, you need to get out. With police coming, called the police, and just kicked him out.
Damn. Did you see it?
Uh, I was in the hallway. I didn't want to go up. So I was in like, the main lobby there.
Did you hear it?
Uh, they weren't happy because they have stuff. But it's like, and they were like, oh, what, this is my home, I've got my stuff here. And the police like, nope, out you go. Yeah.
Wow. So it's pretty cutthroat. But did you see him as he was leaving?
Yeah, yeah. Did he look at you? Oh, he was pissed. What was he saying? I probably nothing I can say on it, really. But he was probably cursing my family and all that sort of stuff.
But you've never seen him or heard from him again?
No. No repercussions. No repercussions. Imagine if you do have tenants. Imagine you've got a tenant that doesn't pay. They're a day late on their rent. But I remember, cuz we've got smart locks on all these things now, purely for this reason. So we basically said, your lock's not going to work tomorrow, and the police are coming. So you either leave now with the police, or you just get out, and we'll just lock your stuff in, and you know, goodbye. So we just deleted his code and said, it'll never work ever again. And the thing is, you can't do that. I saw a video recently of of a landlord that hadn't been paid rent for, I think, three months. And he went around and changed the locks. Yeah. I think I saw that on your social. It was a ring doorbell footage, wasn't it? Yeah, yeah. And, and the tenant was saying, you can't do that. And he was saying, yes, I can. You've not paid rent in three months. But as a landlord, if you do that, you're, you're busted. That, that tenant is going to win because they've got rights. Whereas when you're renting properties out, not only are you getting potentially a lot more money, but you've also not got the risk of the tenant not paying. And if they do, you just call the police. Yeah.
It's also good because they pay upfront. You know, they're going to be leaving, say, on the 12th of March. Okay, they've paid upfront, and they're leaving on the 12th of March. But if they stay longer than that, then you're like, get out. You know, I also find that with service accommodation, because we've got, you know, a lot of units as well, as you know, and we've experienced that people just don't not pay because they know that they can't. Yeah. At a hotel, I bet out of 100 rooms, there's probably less than one in 100 where they just say, oh, I can't pay, but I just want to stay here. Yeah. People wouldn't think to do it in the same way that no one would say to a Sainsbury's, I'm struggling this month because my, my mom actually, she's sick, she's in the hospital, so can I just have this food for free? Yeah. You wouldn't have the audacity to say that. But for some reason, with traditional buy-to-let landlords and properties and tenants, they do say, oh, my mom's a bit sick, sorry, the rent's going to be a bit late. And they think that it's acceptable. And there's nothing really you can do as a landlord unless they're two months behind. You can't even issue court proceedings or or or or begin the process of evicting them. So I think for me, that's a massive upside. So if there's landlords watching this that are thinking, I bought a property, interest rates have gone up, not really making that much money, I'm worried about tenants not paying, think about service accommodation. It's such a good avenue to have. But you need it managed properly, of course. You know, if you're starting at the start, it might be good to learn how to do it. But, you know, is the potential loss of earnings worth not having a management company doing it yourself? So I'd always recommend have a management company.
Well, you run a management company, of course, I'd recommend it. So you, and absolutely, I run a training company. Just figure out how to do it. But the truth is, it depends on the person. Some people, if, if, if they want it to just be passive, hands-off. Some people can't, haven't got the inclination to even begin taking pictures, putting it on Airbnb, figuring out how to synchronize the calendar, because it is a big process. There's a lot to it. It's a business. And, you know, by the time you've paid for all the softwares, over the whole thing, you know, the management company probably costs about the same. Maybe depending on on the. But then another thing is that if you're going to get a management company, a lot of the clients that you, you've been working with are already doing it a little bit now, albeit they might be doing it badly. But they, they know a bit about how it works. Or if you're working with someone, for example, on the academy, like you've got your business partners on the academy, it's, in my opinion, it's, if you're going to outsource something, if you're going to pay a deal sourcer, pay a management company, it, it is good if you've got a bit of an understanding how the business works yourself. Otherwise, people can pull the wool over your eyes.
No, exactly. Plus also being, you know, if you're starting, you've got no sort of history of reviews or anything. Um, and, you know, it takes a while to become a Superhost, for example, on Airbnb. How long did it take you to hit Superhost?
Um, I can't remember how long it was, but I'm just assuming you're Superhost, of course, you will. And it's just been like, back-to-back Superhost. You've got it again. You've got it again. Yeah. Um, and then you obviously get the, the boosting in the algorithm. You got the little badge that says Superhost. They then check to see, oh, he's got X amount of reviews, his X% score or star score. He's legit, basically. And then it just gives more confidence to the person booking.
How have you systemized the business? Because it can be very hands-on. Um, yeah, you know, the income might be high, it's, as some people say, it's massive, but not passive. How, how are you systemizing it so that it's not just an absolute head-ache?
So a lot of software. That is honestly the biggest thing. So, you know, I've got cleaning software that manages the maintenance and the cleaning side of things and scheduling. There's a guest portal I use, um, which says, uh, all your check-in details. It can, um, provision lock codes for guests. It says what to do in the area. If you want to book an Uber through it, you can. Like, it's amazing, this guest portal. And everyone gets a link to that.
Which channel management company do you use?
So I use Hostaway for that. Um, but the guest portal is sort of another third-party app called Sweetly. It's just incredible. And then there's like PriceLabs, obviously. And then there's, um, just a load of different things.
What, what do you use to work out if you're taking on a property? What do you use to work out whether it's going to work for service accommodation or not? Like, is there any, do you use like property market intel? Or is there any?
I've got a bit of a, not a rule, but I know exactly what the best property is. Um, and if I can see one of those, and it's in a decent area, I know it would just be a banger.
What's the rule?
Double driveway parking.
Okay. Is that elite, or a necessity?
I'd say it's a necessity, really. Double driveway parking. I mean, you don't need to have it. Not if it's an apartment. In, I know the ones that work best for me, they've got double driveway parking. Because, um, you know, a family moving in might have two cars, they want off-street parking. Or, um, vans, like contractors, they'll have two vans, they just want somewhere off-street with parking.
Where are the majority of your properties? I know they're a bit down in the Southeast.
The Southeast. Southeast. Because I think double driveway park is obviously amazing. But if you're trying to do rent to rent or service apartments, yeah, maybe maybe haven't already it down too much there. Um, no, but if you're in a city center, you're getting Manchester, as long as you've got some sort of parking. Some sort of parking. Maybe it's on street with like, we've got places with on-street permit parking that works really well. I guess it depends on your area and the guests that you want as well. Like, if you are, if you're in Maidstone and you're wanting to attract contractors and families and long-term bookings, yeah, probably are going to need, yeah, driveway parking. You know, one, one spot at minimum. Double is just perfect. And either a two or three-bed house with zip locks in the double rooms and a small, easy-to-maintain zip locks.
Mmm. Rooms. What do you mean?
So it's basically a super king-sized bed, yeah, that can, you take a zip down the middle, and it can split into two single beds.
And why is that important?
So if it basically gives you, you know, contractors at the end of the day, don't want to kick off their boots and sleep together in the same bed. You know, they'd rather split the beds. And you can put two people in one double room instead of just having one person in one double room. Right. So it increases the amount of people that can stay there. Uh-huh. So if you got a two-bed house, you can suddenly have four people sleep in there. Yes. So you've effectively doubled how many bedrooms you've got just by putting extra. If you do have a single person that wants a double bed, he can have it. Or if you got a couple that are married and they want to have a double bed, they can have it. So you're you're making sure that you can cater to as many people as possible. Exactly. That. I mean, the usual setup is usually you got two singles in one of the rooms, and you've got the zip lock together in one of them because then it's usually the best fit. But people will unzip and they, they'll still have.
Are you still finding your clients now by going on Airbnb? It's a lot of referrals now.
I was going to say, because initially, again, you've probably heard me say a million times, your first deal is always your hardest. Initially, you had to phone 800 people to get two. Is that a lot easier now?
Yeah, because there's proof of concept now. I've got referrals, I've got, uh, reviews, I've got profile. Exactly. And I've just, so I've just hired my first team member. She's sort of head of operations, managing everything. And now my main focus is on sort of new business. I'm going through like a branding session now because I can afford to brand myself now. Like, at the minute, I've not really got a logo. Yeah. But now I'm can afford to do that. Website design, lead funnels, adverts, fantastic, that whole side of it.
And the fact that you built the business from nothing and with no money, zero, it's quite impressive. Zero. When you see companies managing, you know, dozens and dozens of all these units and properties, you might assume, okay, they got a big business loan, or or they, mom or dad gave them 100 grand to start the business. But you started from absolute scratch. Started from ringing, sorry, messaging 800 people on Airbnb to finally get those two, which then, and it just snowballs. Because that one apartment that I got first, then trickled down to the 10, the other nine in that one block.
See, here's my, my thinking as well. Because you built the business from scratch, not, I think you're not only are you a better entrepreneur, but also you don't need tens of thousands of pounds to start a business. I don't think. I mean, I could probably have, if I had a cash injection, it could probably scale faster. But I'm probably comfortable. Someone had given you 100 grand and said, here you go, boom, a rich parent put that into your property business, you'd probably have messed it up.
I probably would have. You'd have spent it on stupid stuff. It would have gone. It would have killed your drive. Yeah. And you wouldn't be making as much money today as you are right now. But because you had to build it from scratch with nothing, it's made you a tougher, better entrepreneur. And you value it more. But also, you just don't need it.
Oh, you did invest in yourself though. I did invest. Where did you get the money from to invest in your, in your education?
With, with me? I sold my Lifetime ISA. Oh, I know. My mom wasn't, my mom wasn't happy with that. Although I think they're terrible anyway. Yeah. So I was, my mom basically said, invest in this Lifetime ISA, it will help you get a house. And I was looking at the terms and conditions of what I can actually use this ISA for. And I thought, this isn't, I can't use it for what I want. It's just trapped money. And being in the South, I can't remember what the caps were, but, you know, the houses I was looking for, put £5,000 a year. And the average house is £200,000. Yeah. So how many years is it going to take before you've got enough as a deposit? And when you do buy a property, you have to live in it. Yeah. And I thought, out of the £4,000 I could put in or £5,000 I could put in, I could make more than the £1,000 they were going to be giving me in that whole year. So I was really locking up money for a grand. And I could only use on on one reason. And I thought, scrap that. Even though there was a, there was a penalty to take it out. I can't remember how much. They're real bonds. They're real. So, but in the end, it was probably the best decision I've done.
Yeah. Well, I've loved having you on the academy and seeing what all you've done with The Alliance, getting the hotel, get now doing your own thing, which is making you profit of 10 grand a month, hiring a member of staff. It's, it's absolutely remarkable. Thank you. What would you say you would, if someone's watching this that's inspired by your journey and wants to maybe follow and do something similar, whether it be property management, or whether it be rent to rent, or whatever. What, what would your words of advice, two, three years into the journey be?
Yeah, you've got to really just work hard. So I think, you know, a lot of people can think, just because they pay for a course, it's going to happen. They've almost bought a lot of tickets, they've bought success, almost. They think they've. And but you, you've not bought success. You need a toolbox. Exactly. And you then need to work out, okay, go every single day, work on it, work on it, work on it. And it's like, you might not get a little bit better, or you might not, um, see any difference. You'll be a tiny little bit better. Yeah. And then suddenly, at the end of the year, you'll be like, oh my God, I've had all this experience of doing stuff. I know this isn't the right path, I know this isn't the right path, but this one is. And you just follow the right path and make sure you're always staying on it.
It's so true. It's like, you could go to pilot school, but going to pilot school doesn't make you a pilot. Yeah. What makes you a pilot is putting the work in, studying, practicing. That's just the opportunity every day. Yeah. Um, and I think, yeah, when you literally at zero pound in the bank, and you grind and grinding, grinding with no, no financial reward happening from doing it, you think this is tough. You just go through it. It's people's mindset though, isn't it? Because most people are programmed to trade their time for money. And even if they're only on 25 grand, it's like, yeah, but I'm working for a month and I'm getting two grand. But then it's a shift of mindset. Because being an entrepreneur, you might work for six months to get nothing. Yeah. But you've got to do now what people aren't prepared to do if you want to live a life later that they wouldn't be able to live.
No, I mean, well, I started the, I did the £1 crash course in 2022. Yeah. It's 2025 now. Yeah. You know, yeah. And now it's just starting to work. Yeah. Although it was December. Yeah. December. And it's now it's now February. But still, we can call it three years if it makes you feel like more of a hustler.
It's too bro. It's, it's, it's. But but mate, it's amazing. I love the management concept as well. Because when you're doing rent to rents, and I know when you're doing management, you still need to treat it as if you've got skin in the game, because it's your reputation. But ultimately, when you do management, you're not having to sink money in. And there's real money on the line for the hosts. I know. And if I think, think if you've actually done it yourself, I don't think as a management company, you can really be a management company unless, for example, you did it for free. Let me volunteer my time, and you did it for free for somebody, you make it work, and then you use that as a testimonial. So there's ways. But, um, but I think also understanding like, it is real cash on the. It's important. It's important. But Ole, congrats on what you've done. I know you're still at the beginning. Maybe we'll have another sit down in another two, another three years. Um, but now, big respect.
How's it been on the, what's your experience been like on the academy? What's the support been like?
Amazing. So as I said, I about my two business partners there, Isaac and Steve. They're some of the smartest guys. They've both been on Winners Wednesday. They've both, I'm the last one to do it. Yeah. But no, fantastic guys. And, you know, you'll meet some amazing people on there. I think for the networking, it's absolutely incredible. Yeah. I think it's probably the best place to network with like-minded people. And, yeah, it's just an amazing experience.
That's one of the things people underestimate, isn't it? That the power of, not just the training, not just the mentoring and the support that you get, but actually the rooms that you're in, the people that you'll meet. It's, it's not what you know, it's who you know, that's super important. But Ole, real pleasure. Thank you so much.
Thank you, mate. Cheers.