Transcription
Stay tuned to get my independent and unbiased view on the Samuel Leeds Property Training Academy based on my own experience and not of social media.
After many years in property and many years of experience with different property training businesses, I decided to join the Samuel Leads Academy on a one-month trial. This trial was offered to anybody who'd carried out a Touchstone Education Mastermind, and I did this in 2021. So, I decided it'd be a good opportunity to pitch one against the other and to see how they compared.
This is the video where Samuel made the offer to everybody publicly. This isn't a personal offer. This is something that was offered to many people on the public video, which you can still see today. In the video, I'm going to expose all the ins and outs from deep inside the academy. So, make sure you watch it to the end.
I urge you to watch it with an open mind. Take my real experience as opposed to what you may have heard or what you may have seen on social media and make your own mind up.
My first experience of the Samuel Leeds Academy was an inner circle event. These events are held all over the country on a monthly basis and are only open to academy members and specially invited guests. I went to the leads event and had a really good time if I'm honest. Everybody at the event was positive, all willing to help and talk about the academy. They all knew I was just literally there as a guest and were very open in their experiences of of what benefits they've had of of joining the academy.
Now, one lady actually showed me the academy app. So, this is an app available on your phone or on PC, etc., which gives you access to all of the academy services, uh, benefits, facilities. Um, and that looked really, really good from my brief experience of of her showing me before the meeting.
So the inner circle networking events are organized monthly across the country by different people from within the academy. The format is basically a sitdown. You introduce yourself and you then get an opportunity to have three 10-minute one-to-ons with somebody of your choice. And after that, it's open networking and a guest speaker. And the guest speakers are generally uh academy members who have uh achieved different things within the academy and often from other areas of the country. Everybody at the inner circle event was very friendly, very positive and it was a very well-organized event.
The speaker at this leads in a circle event was a chap called Billy Kuna. And Billy uh is pretty well established in the academy. he's achieved he's achieved some good things. Um but also the interesting point for me was that he's just signed up for his fourth year within the academy. Now we said this is because of the uh amazing benefit and value he gets from the network in the academy. So that was really interesting to see.
Now you may know I did a review on Samuel's one pound crash course in January this year. That review was based on again my experience of attending the event and my expectations of the event as well. Now I also did another event uh which was a Steven Green property training event and I have to say the difference in response I got from Samuel Leeds and Steven Green was night and day. Steven Green decided to slate me on social media on Facebook. He posted my first year company accounts of one of my businesses and said I was making no money. He said I was a blogger and a fake. And he even sat on his sofa with his phone one night and recorded a video taunting me, which was just ridiculous. Um, he was keen to remind me on numerous occasions that he was in the army, his mates are in the SAS, and he was hard and all this stuff. Basically just trying to bully me and ridicule me in front of other people on social media. Apparently, I've since been told by somebody in his network that his social media accounts have been deleted by Facebook and Instagram uh because of the hatred uh and bullying tactics uh presumably of myself and other people. Who knows? Uh I blocked him. Um so I'm not really sure.
In contrast, the response I got from Samuel Leeds was drastically different. So, I actually tagged him in the little Facebook video and he thanked me, commented for um my my review and you know that was really really good to get. But then a week or so later, one Sunday afternoon, I was sat in the house and my mobile went didn't recognize the number, which usually results in me not accepting the call if I'm honest. But for some reason, I took the call. They said, "Hi Jason, it's Samuel. just wanted to give you a call and thank you for your honest video, good and bad, and have a chat, see if there's anything I can do to help you." And we literally had a I'm guessing a 15 minute, 20 minute chat that Sunday afternoon, completely off the cuff. I had not approached Samuel at all, but he' taken the time out to reach out to me for whatever reason and offer offer that help and and his thanks. So, that actually went a long way. um went a long way with me because we all have preconceived ideas of people and we're all our views are tainted by social media and and the media by mainstream media. So that was a bit of a surprise for me but a pleasant one.
So I signed up for the one month trial so I can get a comparison as many others Touchstone uh mastermind members have. We've paid £1,000 for the trial and within that trial, we get a 4-day in-person training event and we get full access to all of the benefits of academy members. There is a full refund of the £1,000 available to everybody who signed up for this trial. We get access to the academy app, which I'll show you some screenshots of.
Now, as you can see, there's multiple features within that app. I'm not going to show you any of the detailed information in there, but there is a lot of information behind each of these tiles you can see here. We get access to five live webinars every week. These are either with different mentors or with Samuel himself and are a great way to keep in touch and keep motivated while you're not at inerson events. We get deal analysis and checkins. We can send deals in. We can record calls with agents and they can they'll be reviewed and give us advice on how to to deal with agents differently. We get access to all of the mentors. We can book multiple unlimited amount of calls with different mentors and the mentors range from general property mentors to solicitors and accountants. We have a deal selling app where we can sell deals onto other investors. We have a mediation scheme. We have bridging finance which is directly from Samuel Leeds and full access to all the documents and contracts you'd ever need.
So I signed up for the 4-day HMO and SA training. Now those of you that know me and know my background might be wondering why I signed up for HMO training. Well, I signed up for HMO training because what better subject for me to be able to evaluate and give an honest and educated uh analysis of or viewpoint of somebody carrying out that training. So, I didn't go with the goal of learning about HMOs. I went with the goal of getting a proper view of the level of training and the quality of training that Samuel gives in the in-person training events. I sat there and pregued what Samuel would be saying next based on what I would be saying next. And I was pleasantly surprised that he covered almost all subjects, all points, all aspects of HMOs that I would have expected him to cover. Could he have gone into more detail? Absolutely. But I'm saying that from the point of being a specialist HMO management agent and developer. So I wouldn't expect him to go into that much detail for those looking to start getting involved in HMOs or service accommodation. There were things like HHSRS which wasn't mentioned but again a lot of agents don't even know about HHSRS. So I can hardly really hold that as a as a negative on the training because you know it is something which is quite specialist.
The four days were absolutely jam-packed with value. So we registered in the morning about 8:30 and we went on until 9:00 at night. We had a couple of breaks. We broke for food but generally the days were absolutely non-stop. Whether that be sat listening to one of the speakers, whether that Samuel or one of the others, or carrying out tasks, going away, making calls, ringing up agents, booking viewings, doing deals. So, it was very much a a number of sessions where you were hands-on, you were involved, you were carrying out uh activities, and Samuel did that himself on stage as well. So at one point we were looking for HMO opportunities on Right Move. He found an opportunity. He called the agent. He booked a viewing for the next day. Even though he wasn't available because he was training people in the academy. He used Vuber to do the viewing. He got a video report back the following day. He made an offer live on stage. Element was really really good.
On the third day, the evening of the Thursday, we had an inner circle dinner. And this is the same on every 4-day course that he does where all academy members are able to travel and come to the event and have a free meal, drinks, and a networking session with a guest speaker. And this was really well attended because there were literally I'm guessing between 350 and 500 people which were all fed, watered and entertained for the evening and it was a fantastic evening as well. Lots of networking, lots of interesting people. So it was really really good. So back to the event. Yeah, really really good event on the Thursday evening and lots of people attended who were on the training course which again showed me a lot about the people in the academy being committed and dedicated and putting the putting the time and effort in to drive the businesses forward.
So, it's clear that there's been a lot of money invested into the academy, both in the app I mentioned, but also in the event itself in terms of the amount of time and effort that's put into it, the number of staff that are there, the mentors as well. So that with within the conference center where the event's held, there's a specific area for mentors, and there's probably eight or 10 mentors, I'm guessing, where anybody can book using a QR code a session with one of the mentors. And obviously, they've all got their own specialtities, whether that be Tatiana, the solicitor, or one of the others. So, you can book uh as many mentor sessions as you want during that four days. And that was a massive massive resource for people and there were people queuing up to book those sessions. So that was really really good and just another example of the amount of time and effort that goes into the academy as a whole but also into these 4-day events.
As I said there was a lot of live action going on. So there was um Samuel doing things on stage live to to show examples. So at one point he did an analysis uh of a HMO area and he picked Hull knowing I was from Hull and analyzed some of our spare room ads but also uh ads from other agents and then he gave his view on the market within Hull based on what he could see online and then asked me to give my viewpoint as an agent especially the HMO agent in Hull on his review and it was pretty good. But it was pretty spot-on. Obviously, I was able to give a lot more indepth knowledge in terms of the whole HMO market, but it was a really good session and gave me quite a bit of exposure uh to the rest of the of the room of, you know, 300 people or so. So, yeah, a a really a really big and worthwhile event.
Last week, I went back to the leads in a cycle for a second time. So sneaked a little second um second time in there and I also took a guest with me. Uh so a friend of mine who's based in Bradford uh Tim I took him to the event and I was keen to understand. It's really easy sometimes to get sucked into these things or feel you getting sucked in and you know not have a a realistic viewpoint of something. So, I wanted a grounded viewpoint from somebody who's not been exposed to the rest of the academy and just seen this one in a circle event. And Tim was really surprised, I think, by by what he saw by, you know, it was a it's from the start. They're a great networking event. You know, techie put put that event anywhere on its own. It's a great networking event, but I think Tim was more surprised by them in the room, the positivity, the amount of people because everybody introduces themselves and explains what they're what they're doing, what they're currently up to in property. He was surprised by the amount of people in the room who are actively doing property stuff. So, these people are are living the academy. They've paid their money and they're are driving the businesses forward. And Tim actually say it's a bit like a cult. And I think what he meant by that was it's a bit like a cult because you don't normally get groups of people so likeminded and enthusiastic about the same subject in one place other than somewhere where it's a cult. And I don't think he was being derogatory by that. It was just the only thing that came to his mind to explain the bizarre behavior of those at the event. So yeah, that was a a real positive and another great another great networking event in Leeds.
How does it compare to Touchstone? Well, I think it's fair to say that Touchstone and the Samuel Leads Academy couldn't be further apart. There is absolutely no comparison in terms of the cost for one, the value for money. So, just nipping back to cost. Cost cost 12 grand for the Samuel Leeds Academy. The Touchdown Academy is advertised, I think, at 22 plus VAT. £22,000 plus VAT. Um, but I do understand that they still sell it for 15,000 as a special deal. Um, but it's not worth 15 grand. Literally is not worth 15 grand. You get a bit of online training. Um, you get a 20 minute or something call with a mentor or one call per month with a mentor. We touched on it's shite. I've got to I've got to be honest. I did I signed up in 2021 and I did nine months of the 12 and I just didn't bother going back. I actually contacted them three times in the last month to see if because I'd not finished my 12 months and I'm apparently a lifetime mel uh lifetime member to their academy could I could I go back could you know is there any events I could go to and I had some replies but no answers uh including Abby Hookwe messaged her a couple of times on Messenger and Instagram and she said she didn't know which was quite surprising as she's the base of Touchstone nowadays. But yeah, going back to the comparison, there literally is no comparison. The resources and access to people, the network, everything on the Samuel Leaves Academy, I'm almost embarrassed to say it. Let me let me just say this. I'm almost embarrassed because within my certainly my circle of property people, Samuel Leeds has got one of the worst reputations. I think I think that's fair to say. Is it is it a fair reputation? In my experience now, having been within the training the the academy, I would have to say no. It's not because I've seen some genuine glimpses. Glimpses is probably not the right term, but I've seen instances is probably the right term. I've seen some genuine instances of Samuel really caring about people within his academy. I'm not going to go into details, but I was on one of the five live webinars, the Monday night webinar, and that's a closed webinar session with academy members only. So, there's no outsiders in there. There's no press, no publicity, there's nothing. It's very laidback. It's very onetoone and Samuel will just call out people on the Zoom session and ask him how it's going and just talk about stuff and he and he's got a very good memory for what people are up to. So if you say you're doing this next week or a few weeks after he'll ask you how it's gone. So he did that to somebody in the in the session and they'd had a bad experience in an with an essay unit and it had been trashed. I'm not going to go into details, but he offered a solution I would never have dreamt in a million years he would have offered and it showed me he genuinely cared. Now, I saw instances of that, similar instances throughout the month of being an academy member, and I've seen a different side to the one we see chainsawing down front doors and, you know, doing other other crazy stuff because that's social media, you know, that's marketing. That's not what you get as part of the academy.
Would I recommend the academy? Absolutely. Yes. I would recommend it for you if you are just looking to get into property, need the training and need the support and the accountability or whether you're a seasoned professional within the property industry who's looking to get into other aspects or like me, I would benefit from the network and the accountability and the support that that network is absolutely priceless. and put aside any negativity you've heard because there has been quite a lot of it which I would say is unfounded and I'm going to talk about right now something which is quite a sensitive subject there was a chap called Danny Butcher you may well have heard of him and a few years ago he took his own life he was from Doncaster and he'd got himself into a load of debt and as I say took his own The press and other people blamed Samuel Leeds for that death. But what they didn't report was that he was in debt before that before he joined the academy. He took a loan out to get married after joining the academy and took out more debt and he also had a history of mental health issues. So to put that at somebody's personal responsibility that you know the fact that he took his own life is really really And I don't know all the ins and outs of it. I don't know him or his family but I do know that you know the press jumped on that and people jumped on that like they do you know kick somebody while while they think they're down. I don't believe he was responsible for that whatsoever. And the inquest, as far as I'm aware, also agreed that he wasn't responsible in any way for Danny taking his own life. You know, it's a touchy subject and a sensitive subject, but it shows what extent the media will portray somebody just to get views. And you mustn't believe everything you hear on social media, whether that's in the media or on Facebook or anywhere else. Make your own mind up.
Now, I'm going to get probably get a lot of flack, and I've already got some flak for this. So, you'll see Kevin's comments here when I posted at the event, at the 4-day event. Uh, he clearly was surprised I was at the event and and he wasn't best impressed um to say the least. But, do you know what? I decided to do this trial and to go to the events and so on to to make my own mind up. Why am I qualified to do that? Well, I'm qualified to do that because I've been in property for quite a long time. I've done some big projects and I've experience of lots of other property trainers. So, I thought going to this I can make my own mind up and get an untainted view of what it's really like within the academy.
Who shouldn't join the academy? Well, if you're somebody who's always looking for a reason for it not happening, is always going to blame somebody else, always unwilling to get off your chair and take action to do things and make things happen, then don't bother. Save your money because this and any other training opportunity, mentorship, whatever you want to call it, are only ever going to be as good as you are. You're going to make it happen. Nobody else is going to make it happen. They're just going to give you all the tools. This is a toolbox to enable you to do whatever you want within property. If you're thinking about something like this, I urge you to make your own mind up. Go to the one pound crash course. There's a link below.
Who shouldn't join the academy? Well, if you're the sort of person who's always got an excuse for not doing something, I wouldn't bother. Save your money. If you're not open to getting out your comfort zone and pushing yourself, don't bother. Save your money. If you wouldn't benefit from having a bigger and better network of like-minded people, don't bother. If you're happy to be a loser, don't bother. There's a link below. Register for the one pound crash course and you'll get an insight into what's possible. Don't be fooled when you go to the crash course thinking it's going to teach you how to do all of this stuff within property. It's not. It's a sales funnel. It's designed to show you the wow, not the how. The full academy, the 4day in-person training events are the way you learn how. Go to the one pound crash course and then make the informed decision on whether you're going to take this any further or whether you've just had a good