Transforming Your Property Investing Game

What we're going to cover today could really really help a lot of you get started or restarted if you've already started your property journey , your property investing . At the end of the day , we want to be looking at getting into property and being a property professional , but equally , that can stop us from getting started as well .

So what I'm going to do in this session is I'm going to talk about some of the most common blockers that people have when looking to start a property investing business or just get started in anything realistically .

So you can take a lot of what we're going to talk about today and you can actually incorporate it into your life in general , because what we will find is sometimes we're our own worst enemies , sometimes we hold ourselves back beyond what we should do , and it really just boils down to this , to the old noggin , to the mindset we have to get out of our own

way . We have to push ourselves so a lot of the time actually out of our own comfort zones . Nothing good will ever happen to you in your life if you stay comfortable . So when you feel stretched , when you think to yourself , oh , I don't like this , I'm nervous , I'm uncomfortable , I'm worried , I'm scared , you are alive and you should embrace that .

Embrace the fact that you are alive . You need to almost have a mini obsession about what you're doing . Why ? Because when it's difficult or when you feel like this , you can push yourself out of your own way , out of your own comfort zones to get started .

But we all have a little voice inside our head at times that is always chatting away like this and telling us we're not good enough , we haven't got the self worth , we can't do this . Who are we to start a property business ?

I was no different , and people in and around this great community were absolutely no different as well and we can even get a few deals over the line , do a few deals , move ourselves forward , but then find that we still are holding ourselves back from our true potential .

I always like to think now , what would the me , in 12 months time , say to myself , if I wanted to do something that I'm uncomfortable about and I know now that the me in 12 months in the future would say get out of your own way and get on with it . Why ?

Because I say this now to so many people when they're starting out Obviously you want to be doing the right things . By being a member here , by being a part of this community and here with us now you are putting yourself in the right place .

You know , whether you listen to this , watching this , got it on in the background , you are putting yourself in the right place to be able to move yourself forward in a lot better manner than a lot of people out there .

So what are some of the negative blockers that we come up with in our own minds or that we think about when we're going to go and start doing a property related project , starting a business or getting out there ? Well , first and foremost , some of these are quite easy to answer and some of these I'll elaborate on a little bit , but near enough .

All of these I had when I started out and I see and I speak to so many people that have it themselves , so I bet you know we're going to run for our good handful here , but it is about really being able to answer these for yourself , and what I would suggest you do is you get a piece of paper Okay .

Now you all know what a piece of paper looks like , but I'm going to grab a piece of paper anyway . I haven't got a piece of paper with nothing on , but you grab yourself an A4 piece of paper , put a line down that piece of paper okay , and then put what is stopping you okay , on the left hand side of the line , what is stopping you ?

And then just write three things out , three answers , if you like , of how you can overcome that blocker okay , and you can write more . If you can fill the other page up with why you should be doing this , you'll start to see why you're holding yourself back for no real reason , but sometimes this can be so powerful . So , for me , I'm going to do a deal .

I'm getting out there , I'm looking at a deal . Maybe I'm taking on an HMO or something like that . There's always going to be a bit of doubt Is it a number stack ? Have I checked everything ? Are my ducks aligned ? Are the stars aligned ? Sometimes , though , we just have to say , yes , they are and do it okay .

So I could say to myself well , I'm worried about if I take this property on , I'll lose money , okay . On the other side is can I afford to lose money ? Hey , listen , we're all property investors here . We're all here to make money . None of us want to lose money . But at the end of the day , I do weigh it up .

If I lose this bit of money that I'm putting into this project , will I be homeless ? Will I be penniless ? Would this put me out on the street ? And the answer to that , realistically , should be no . You shouldn't really be doing anything that jeopardizes where you live or your family or anything like that .

So if it doesn't do that and it just means that I would lose maybe some money that I've saved and maybe some investments , I can live with that , as long as the reward is there as well . But equally to that , ask yourself if this goes right , what can I gain then ? Will it be great cash flow , capital growth over time , financial freedom ?

Am I moving myself towards my goals ? And that is a very , very powerful thing to do . We all forget this and we let our voice in our head go around in circles telling us that we shouldn't do it , that we're not good enough , that we have no track record , we have no credibility , and who the hell are we to start doing ? Property investing ?

And it really , really annoys me because it is so easy to get into that trap , and I know because I was in it . I was in it for five years , which is why I'm so passionate about this , because I just wanna see people getting out of their own way and taking action .

Now you need to know what you're doing , which , if you remember here again , you should know what you're doing .

Or you can go out there and you can certainly find out what it is you should be doing and basically follow the steps of other people , follow a roadmap , follow a proven methodology that will get you where you wanna get to , and all you have to do is follow in the footsteps of others to be able to

get there . But we have to get rid of these common blockers . So the first one that some people do come up with is I don't know where to invest . Now . I'm based up north .

I speak to a lot of people in and around and across the country , talking at different networking events and just getting out there and shaking hands with people , because , as I always say , the more hands you shake , the more money you will make .

You need to get out there , you need to be building up relationships and you need to be finding people that potentially , you can work within the future or that you can help . Okay , because if you can help more people , you can earn more money . That's the name of the game at the end of it all .

But people say to me where to invest , so they say , well , I might invest up north , even though they're based down south . Why is that then ? Because you seem to be crushing it . Mark where you are and I don't think there's any good deals where I am .

Listen , look around you , make sure you get yourself out to your local networking event , your pin meetings for arguments , say , go out and talk to investors in your area , and I tell you for a fact here and now there will be people doing deals , the deals that you wanna do in that area . Okay , you should be investing , potentially , where you live Now .

If you live in the middle of a field hundreds of miles away from everybody else which I very much doubt then maybe you may need to put that area a little bit wider than potentially you would do if you live in a highly populated area . But let's be realistic here I'm having a bit of fun with you .

It's all about making sure that you are looking about in the area that you are Now . Maybe , if you're in London , house prices ooh , house prices are massive . But you can get creative with the strategies that you're using purchase lease options . You know you can do rent to rent deals . You can use vendor finance . You can do title splitting .

You can do all sorts of different creative ways of doing things . You could work with joint ventures , okay . So don't ever think you can't do anything , because anything that you want to do pretty much in properties are probably already been done already been done very successfully . You just need to find out the ways to do it .

So I always say look in your areas first . Go out and speak to people . Don't just think you don't just think yourself that is no deals there . Okay , go out there and actually find out if there are deals or not . If it is working , what's working , what strategy works ? Ah , hang on a minute . Hmos seem to work here .

Service accommodation maybe not so much , or vice versa . Now I'm into HMOs . I want to do high-end co-living . Maybe it's not the right area for it , fair enough . Then just start to broaden your horizons by pushing out your criteria , your area search . Just start moving it outwards , steadily and slowly .

Now , if you come from a different area now I don't come from the north , okay , from South Yorkshire . I live in South Yorkshire at the moment . I was born in Croydon , I moved to Bath , which is why I sound like a do , and now I live up north , so my accent's not actually as strong as it used to be , but that's another conversation .

So for me I had to go and walk the streets . Okay , I don't know the areas , all the good areas , the bad areas so boots on the ground , go and walk around and know that .

But I tell you what I know the good areas in Bath , where I lived for a long , long time and grew up , I know the good areas and other bad areas and other good streets , bad streets where you want to invest in things like that .

I was so sure a Croydon because I was too young , but I know people that live there and could help me if I need to , and , of course , you can always go in networkers again .

So what I'm saying to you is , let's say , for arguments sake , right here , right now , let's keep it simple you live in London , but you're from Birmingham and you know Birmingham like the back of your hand . Though Maybe it's worth having a look there . Maybe the house prices are a little bit serious a series of an ago at me .

Maybe the house prices are a little bit more reasonable , okay , and maybe you have people and friends that you know there that maybe , if you wanted to invest remotely , you could do . But just have a look around you and don't let it stop you or hold you back . Don't be trying to do it everywhere .

Just pick some areas where you think the strategy that you want to do will work . And , of course , when we start all of this , we should have a vision . Go back to the very beginning , before you get any blockers where it's all exciting and you haven't taken any action .

It's about having a vision , and that vision should really be what is it I want to achieve ? Do I want to have HMOs ? Do I want to have service accommodation units ? Do I want to be buying properties ? Do I want to be finding joint ventures ? Do I want to be flipping ? Do I want to do commercial ? Do I want to do this , dude ?

You've got to have a vision before you even start looking to invest . And if you have started investing and it's not feeling Right for you , then you can start to look to pivot on things . You know , I know , people with portfolios of buy-to-lets that are now looking to convert those into different , more well , better , cash flowing strategies .

And , of course , you can do , you can always pivot , but you need to have that vision first . When I started , I wanted 10 HMOs in my portfolio . I was using the rent-to-rent strategy Okay , I did a purchase lease option on that as well , but it was all about making sure that I got those 10 properties . Now I didn't get 10 properties , only got nine .

So a lot of people could say , well , ask rubbish , mark , it's not actually because I trebled my wage . Okay , I not only had a very comfortable lifestyle , I started to build systems in place and I'd actually started to make good money as well , which now I have repurposed and started to build my own portfolio . So , mission accomplished .

But yeah , I was a little bit , not that I didn't hit 10 . But then COVID hit and I was actually looking at another six properties at the time , which would have took us up to you know a lot of properties , because not all of those may have gone through , but that's what we were looking at . Anyway , back on track .

Look at your area and Start to have a look and see whatever strategy and vision you have will suit that area and if it won't , there will be an area Not too far away from you . When I look to invest , I didn't try and look to invest anywhere that was about 40 minutes away from where I was .

Now , if you know area as well , like I say , and you've got good agents or good , good Resources in the area , then of course you can look further a field . But I see a lot of people getting stuck on this . They're running around trying to look at different areas .

You need to nail an area that you like , make sure that your strategy will work there and then just go for it Consistently and persistently , and that core course comes back to the beginning again . A lot of people say well , what strategies should I do ? And there's one question . Just write this one down .

The first question you should ask yourself is what is my vision ? What do I want to achieve ? What's the lifestyle that I want to live . The next question is what do I need Right now ? Not maybe , what do I need in 10 years time you will get to that , but what do I need right now ? Now some people enjoy their job .

There's some crazy people out there and they enjoy working for other people , which is great . I got to the point where I didn't . I needed cash flow . I didn't have loads of money , so I needed cash for I needed a cash flow and strategy . So purchase these options were great . Rent to rents were great .

Anything that I could basically work with a landlord or work with an investor . I could put money Sorry , they could put money , if need be into the projects and the ideas , but I could do a great job making sure that everybody got something out of it . Investors got paid back , if need be .

Or landlords I could go and help landlords to look after their properties , to make sure that their properties were managed and kept In the right manner . Okay , so that was what I needed . So that was a strategy that I wanted . I didn't particularly want to do rent to rent when I first thought of rent to rent .

It's only going out and speaking to people and seeing people doing this successfully that made me think I can do that and I can systemize it . I can make a business out of it , and that's what I did . So ask yourself right here , right now , what do you need ?

If you've got a pot of money and you're quite happy in your job at the moment and you just want to start to build up a bit of residual income Absolutely brilliant . There is no right or wrong answer to this . But some people hate their jobs . They want more time , freedom , but they haven't got any money .

So you need to look at potentially deal sourcing , purchase , lease options , rent to rent all of those sort of creative strategies .

But those strategies are noisy , they are busy , you will have to put a lot of work into those , whereas if you're going to buy a property , potentially refurb it yes , there's a lot of work in that , but once it's done , you could give it to a management agent and you can carry on about your business with that money coming in that can buy your houses , buy

your properties , take you on holiday , look after you . So ask yourself what you need right here and now and get clear on that and don't be afraid for that to change . Okay things , the way we look at things . The goals that we set can change over time , and there's nothing wrong with that whatsoever .

But make sure , if nothing else and I'm going to grab this book here Only because A lot of people don't know write it on a piece of paper , stick it in a drawer and never see it again . Put it in a journal . Have a journal . Have something for you to plan your goals . Yeah , I love these journals . These are from Doe H Smiths , no plug .

You can get them from Typo or anywhere else like that . But I have a lot of these . I have one for every year . All my goals go in there , all of what I want to achieve goes in . All my ideas go in there , all my problems and how I've resolved my problems going here . And it is my manual to be able to go back over and look over .

So just start writing things down and put it in one place that you can refer back to time and time again . What are your goals right now ? I want to build up cash flow . I want more time freedom to spend with my friends , with my families , to look after loved ones .

I want more money to be able to share and help people help my family members , help my friends , help charities , whatever it is , Whatever's right for you . Just go back to that . So what strategy should you do ? Whichever strategy suits where you are right here right now , because you can always pivot later on . So I've done the HMOs rent-to-rent HMOs .

I've done rent-to-rent service accommodation . I own service accommodation units now as well . I partner up with people on SA units and HMOs and , of course , I'm also working with developers . I'm working with people that are doing refurbishments . I'm working with investors , but all of that is now . That wasn't all at the beginning .

In the beginning , it was rent-to-rent . I needed cash flow , or you could say deal sourcing , because I need the cash flow or whatever . That's the question you want to be asking yourself . So the next common blocker that we have is I don't know where to start . I don't know what to do . I've read a book , I've listened to some podcast episodes .

I've heard Mark talking about it here at the PIN community . I've also seen different people Simon and Andy and all of those great guys talking about all of these different strategies and I want to do this one strategy . Well then , all I say is nail that strategy . Okay , really , dig into that strategy .

Read all the books that you can read on that strategy , listen to all the podcast , watch all the YouTube videos and then invest in yourself . Okay , get the complete roadmap and support to get you the results you want . Cheapest isn't always best , and I found that , particularly when it comes to training , when it comes to education . You get what you pay for .

If you pay cheap , you get cheap . Okay , try not to ever learn any strategy by somebody who's only got a handful of the properties , because , hey , at the end of the day , what's that all about ? They've got a few properties and now they're going to show me how to be a professional in it . Yeah , behave .

You want people who have done this , have lived it , who have breathed it , and you want to take action on those . You know you can check out pinfurtherlearningcouk for all the different strategies and roadmaps and things like that , but do invest . Okay . If you don't , you're going to invest one way or the other .

Let me just tell you this Okay , you're going to either invest money making mistakes , which could be really , really costly , or you're going to invest in your own education to save yourself making the more expensive mistakes . But mark my words with anything that you start and you do in this life . You are going to pay one way or another .

Just make sure it's the right way . Okay , I've made mistakes myself , and then I went and got invested in myself Best investments I've ever made . Do I still make mistakes ? Yeah , but only small ones , and I'm normally around people who have been there and done it and just say whoa , whoa , whoa , don't do that , do this instead . Why ?

Because we always put communities together as well . I've like-minded people , but if you've got the stepping stones there , as the old saying goes , you don't know what you don't know , and that can cost you dearly .

So make sure that you know where to start and initially , before you spend any money or any invest anything in yourself , make sure it's the right strategy for you by reading the books , by listening to the podcast , doing the YouTube .

But certainly when you're going to go out there and you're going to start doing it properly , make sure that you really , really know what you're doing , because the books are only so good , the podcast and all the other stuff is only so good . It will not give you that . Step by step , there will be things missing .

You can try and piece it all together , but mark my words you'll probably miss something . Now , if I want to do something , I think to myself who's doing it ? Who's nailed it , who's absolutely smashing it ? That is the person that I want to learn from Now .

If they haven't got anything , maybe I'll just talk to them , maybe I'll just follow them , but most of the cases they'll be in some sort of environment where they will have learned this somewhere themselves .

So , even if the person that you're following hasn't actually got anything , there to be able to help and support your coach or anything who showed them , find out who showed them and then they probably have , because that's how they probably learned it .

And if you need to save money , you need to stop going out and buying video games and takeaways and all of those . Then do that and build yourself up an investment , part of knowledge . I have a pot now in my businesses that money goes into each month whenever we make money and things , and that is my education .

So each year I have a pot that I can then distribute on education as soon as I wanna learn something new . Boom , that's who I'm gonna follow , that's who's doing it . I'm gonna go out there and do it . So that can help you Now when you start . Another common blocker is I don't have a track record , I've got no credibility .

Okay , now that is a good point , because I felt like that when I started Didn't have any properties any of the one that I owned and landlords and agents used to say to me , how many properties have you got ? And I was just like I was honest , I haven't got any . I'm just starting this out , but I know what I'm doing .

Okay , and I did know what I was doing . I hadn't actually physically done it , but I was very confident in what I could do because I had the right resources and the right people around me . So I was honest about that .

But I did always say as well , first , people I've ever worked with , they're always gonna have a special place in my heart and they're gonna get an extra special job , aren't they ? Why ? Because I want your testimonials .

I want you to say to everybody how good a service is that we offer , or how good a deal it is that we've done , and that's how you start to build that up . But equally and I forgot about this at the time , it was pointed out to be by one of my mentors Look at what you've achieved in life .

Everybody's probably achieved something to a degree , whether it's in their corporate job , whether it's in their family , whether it's a hobby will have achieved something , even if it's at school , college , university . So I looked back and I thought to myself I don't have any credibility or a track record .

Yet I worked my way off the shop floor for the SWIFT group up to senior management level . I used to manage teams of about 80 people , okay , production lines . I took a production line from making three vans a week motorhomes to seven a week , with three extra people , and everybody in that company said it couldn't be done .

And I did it and I thought to myself I tell you what . That's something to be proud of . Maybe I didn't . I wasn't as proud as I should have been at the time because I was in it , I was living it and it was very stressful . But I have something to be proud of . I can build teams and I can build businesses and I have a track record of doing so .

So what is it you've done in the past ? It might not be property related , but what have you done in the past that can help you take that next step ? Okay , it is now a good time to invest . It's a question I get all the time and it's one we hear all the time as well .

Listen , if the number stack depending on what you want to do with the property , but if the number stack and it can give you good cash flow each and every month positive cash flow , healthily positive , which is why we love HMOs and service accommodation it's a good deal .

Okay , you're only gonna lose money if you've got to sell the property and the market is going down . Okay , you will . You know , potentially you could lose money . You could put yourself into a jam , into a pickle . But if you do the right stuff , follow the rules . Buy where there's good demand . Okay . Also , try and get a good price if you can .

You know the asking price can be the good price . But at the moment , right here , right now , the market is stagnant . Okay , the market's not booming . The last two years it's been going up . It's been going through the roof . Yes , interest rates are higher . That's why the numbers have to stack .

But if the number stack , now is a perfect opportunity to be getting into deals and things . Okay , I'm always looking at deals . I'm always looking at getting into deals further as well . So now is a fantastic time to be getting into property . You just need to know what you're doing , and there is never a bad time to get into property .

I wish I had had a little part of savings and I had spent that on acquiring properties when we had that last recession 2007 , 2008, . Being such a different place now . But I didn't then because I didn't have the knowledge and I was scared , like everybody else , and it was very difficult . But it could have been done . That's what I'm saying .

It could have been done . Lease options was a great strategy to be using then to help people . I didn't know about it so it couldn't do it . So once you've got the education , nobody can take it away from you . But now is a great time to also be going out there looking at lease options and building a property business .

Okay , you just need to know what you're doing . What's another good one ? I don't have enough money . So if you have no money whatsoever , then you need to start saving . Okay , first and foremost , if you've got a job and you say , well , everything goes on food utilities and everything like that , wash your mobile phone , because I bet you any money .

Most people who say that I've got the latest gadget boom , got the latest gadget . Listen , just downsize A bit of short-term pain for a long-term gain is what it's all about . So just look at areas where you can maybe downsize things for a little while we're not talking forever but just to save you some money . Of course you can go and get loans .

I don't recommend anybody goes and sticks it all on a credit card or anything like that . But you could do . If you found a deal that you were gonna take on that was gonna cash flow really , really well and pay this credit card back straight away , then maybe it's a good opportunity to do it .

But try and save the money if you can , or work with people with money . There's a lot of people out there with a lot of money who will lend it to you for a good return or for any return . It doesn't have to be that good . If you're dealing with people outside of property , don't offer like 10% returns on things . Offer 5% , 6% . Why ?

Because it's more realistic . You're not gonna scare people away , okay . So just make sure that you don't go out there , because if it sounds too good to be true and you're offering 10 , 11 , 12% because you just think that's what people wanna hear , you're gonna shoot yourself in the foot .

Now a lot of property investors because they keep hearing that will always be saying that . But I always say to anybody I'm working with , what percentage would make you happy ? And let's see what they say , because sometimes they say , well , I'd be quite happy with 5% , 5% , 6% . So I say , well , I tell you what , I'll meet you halfway , let's do 5.5% .

Now maybe I could have given them 10% , but all of a sudden I've just given us a bit more wiggle room . They've got what they want and we've got potentially a bit more money to come out of the deal as well . But we've made it a win-win . Or I give them 5% , I pay them 5% , I give them that extra percentage as a bonus .

So I give them 6% and tell them I like , what's that for ? Thank you for working with us . How nice is that ? Would you work with somebody again that gave you a bit more than you'd actually agreed ? I think I would . And they do . They hand you back the money . Whoa , let's go again .

Okay , no problem , good stuff , let's get some deals going and let's have it . So there's an abundance of money out there . It's our mindset that holds us back with that . We need to speak to more people . If you don't know anybody anybody with money you're not meeting enough people . You don't know enough people .

So you need to get out there more and you need to see how you can help people , because then you will find the money . Okay , support around me is a big one . I don't have enough support around me . Well , you're in a great environment here . Go to your local networking events as well and start making friends with people and you can build up that support .

Whether you've got naysayers and friends and family and things hey , we've all got those Just get around the right people and that will help you , and try and stick around and stay around these people more than often than not . Okay , the mindset things are another one . You don't have the right mindset .

Listen , you can work on your mindset and that is good for books and good for just talking to people and building up a strong and sensible mindset . Listen , those are some of the common blockers that I hear all of the time and I've given you pretty much answers and elaborated on all of those . I had nearly all of those actually when I started .

Okay , when I started out , I was determined to make it happen . I was determined to do it and I was gonna get out there and it was gonna happen by the hook of a crook . But did I do it with no fear ? No , I had fear , I had doubts , I had worries , okay . But what I did do was I invested in myself . Why ? Because I'm worth it .

Okay , I am worth the investment . And I tell you what nobody can ever take away from you what you've learned . That is one thing . Once you've learned it and you start doing it and it's repetition after repetition after repetition you become the expert in it and nobody can remove that from you .

I can still say this now that if I lost everything all my businesses went kaput overnight I reckon within six to nine months I could be back where I am now . Why ? Because I know how to do it and I've tweaked it and I know how to do it better than I ever have done . Why ? Because I've been there and lived it .

So it can take a bit of time when you're starting out , but by Hooker , by Crook , by doing the right things consistently and persistently , you will move yourself in the right direction . So I hope you've enjoyed this episode and , if you have , then do check out thepropertyunleachedcom , where we have free tools and resources .

We have guides for rent-to-rent service accommodation HMOs . We have 10 step guides to help you with deal sourcing . We have master classes in rent-to-rent master classes in service accommodation . All of those are 100% free . We also have , obviously , further training as well . But go and grab the free tools and resources .

There's a deal analyzing spreadsheet there for you to just download and have for yourself and start practicing doing deals . You've got to get out there and you've got to start getting that repetition , as I say , in there . So go and grab the free stuff and start building up that repetition . You want to take it further ? We can help you with that .

With rent-to-rent service accommodation help , we have one-to-one coaching as well . We only have a couple of places on that . I always say that we only have a couple of places because we do . They tend to get snapped up very , very quickly because we are such a cost-effective training provider . But you make sure that you are doing the right things .

I look forward to your successes and again , if you've enjoyed this episode , please feel free to share it , reach out to us , follow us on social media Mark Fitzgerald or Mark Fitzgerald entrepreneur on Instagram and I look forward to you joining me in the next episode . Bye for now . **upbeat splashing music playing** .