Liam interviews Simba, a 25-year-old property investor with an impressive portfolio of 22 properties, including holiday lets in Zimbabwe and rent-to-rent serviced accommodations in the UK.
Simba shares his journey from being a project manager to becoming financially free through property investments. He discusses his strategies, challenges, and the impact of mentorship on his success.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Simba has a diverse property portfolio with 22 properties, including holiday lets in Zimbabwe and rent-to-rent properties in the UK.
- Simba has successfully implemented a supported living strategy, renting properties to service providers for long-term contracts, generating significant cash flow.
- Surrounding oneself with the right community and mentors is crucial for growth and success in the property investment journey.
- Through the program, Simba has grown both professionally and personally, gaining confidence and expanding his skill set.
BEST MOMENTS
“Honestly speaking, I think sometimes people, you just have to just get it done.”
“You are the average of the five people that you spend the most time with.”
FULL TRANSCRIPT
If you’re listening to the dealmaker podcast, hosted by multimillionaire property investor, entrepreneur, and Guinness World Record holder, Liam Ryan, discover how to start scale and grow your business become a better negotiator create more opportunity and make massive profit. So you can live the life of your dreams.
25 years of age 22 properties, six of those are owned in Zimbabwe 16, rent to rent, serviced accommodation deals, making anywhere between 20 and 30,000 pounds amount profit, depending on the time of year. That is what we’re going to be talking about today, because I am joined on the podcast with sin bar, who is one of my great inner circle members. Sima welcome down to the studio.
I’ll tell you what, this is going to be an incredible, incredible podcast, we’re going to share a lot of content, we’re going to give some top tips, we’re really going to take people on the journey, and really motivate and inspire people really to become professional property investors. And if you could sum up your property journey so far, in one or two words, what would those words be relentless? And whatever word can I say for this amazing as well. Wow.
So amazing, has been relentless. But it’s also been amazing at the same time. Excellent. Well, look, it’s a journey, not a destination for sure. Take us back to the start of the journey. Yeah, what made you invest into property? And come and be one of my great mentees and work with me and my team? Yeah, definitely.
So before I was doing property, I was a project manager and, you know, work was good money was okay. But at the end of the day, I always knew for me that work was always the destination for me, always wanting something bigger. And my mom basically just kept nagging me about, you know, this assets for life assets for life and I was like, Why is she going on about and then, you know, as I kind of started seeing where her mind was going to look into that property and stuff. It started really, to pique my interest. And I was like, okay, cool. This is something we can actually do here. And it’s like giving me a lot more confidence and then, you know, we started the business, we started getting into it more and more. And he started bringing me into the assets life, I started meeting Liam, the rest of the team. And from there, it’s just been nonstop progression.
Did I meet you for the first time actually on the retreat? Or did we meet slightly before then. So I think the first time we actually met was on the retreat thing because I’ve been mentoring your mum for a period of time, and she got some incredible results. And then she walks out me and said, Hey, I really want to get my son involved, Simba and obviously, your mom is one of my inner circle members. Right? So she then invested for you to come on to the retreat. Yeah, we met in Marbella for the first time last year amazing. And that was incredible, incredible what a journey, I definitely I really feel that you inspired every single person that you were the youngest graduate. But age is just a number, you know, you’re 25, you’re hungry, you’re driven, you get shit done, you know. And that’s the key thing. And you’re able to do this with your mom, which is incredible. The time that you’ve worked with me and my team, what impact have we had on you in the mentoring sessions, the coaching sessions, the one to one sessions that you get with, you know, mentors on my program, I think at the start, you know, when coming into it had a little bit of ego and pride. And when we went to the retreat, I think that was a really big moment for me of actually dismantling the ego and actually seeing that having mentorship and how far that can actually go, having people around you that you can ask for advice, people that have been through this life thing already, it really allowed me to start excelling and moving at a different kind of pace, and actually looking as a business owner rather than being in the business. Because now where I am now, a lot of my businesses automated and you guys have helped so much with that, making sure that I’m thinking of you know, being a business owner and not just being in the business. And I think having that mentorship, having the team around as well, having a constant one to one. So the academy sessions go in to see people in person seen as well, Jay’s house and all of these amazing things, it all compounds and it just creates a really good community that pushes you forward and, you know, is essential for growth and moving up to that next level. I really liked what you said there about, you know, you had to get rid of the ego. You know, because being a young lad, you want to prove to the world. Maybe you had some things that happened in the past and it’s like, you know, I just want to show the world who I am. But actually, when you work with the right team and the right people, and you just allow yourself to change and be teachable. These are the people that actually get the fastest results. Because on your own there will come a time where you will have a big loss or something will happen and things will collapse and I share that We’ve We’ve absolute experience, you know, being a lone ranger for many, many years. And actually, these last eight years have been incredible, like incredible, you know, 28 million pounds worth of property deals raised 9 million pounds of joint venture funding. Now the UK is leading property business and world training organization. And that all sounds lovely. But what’s really lovely is having relationships like this definitely more like you, yeah, and seeing you grow. And, you know, imagine what you’ve done in just a year working with your mom and your mom to be with me now for a couple of years, what you are going to do as a dynamic duo, in the next two years, where do you see yourself going in the next couple of years?
Well, this year, I’m definitely going to hit my first million, that’s for sure. And after that, I’m going to keep on progressing moving higher and higher. And I definitely want to start getting into these commercial conversions like you guys doing with the developments and all that type of stuff. And, you know, really just take over the world and you’re hungry, right? It’s all possible. If I can do it, someone else can do it. So you want to get into the bigger stuff. Let’s talk about what you’ve done so far. Yeah, because this is really going to be interesting. So you’ve got 22 deals. Yeah. Six of those are owned. They’re in Zimbabwe. Correct. And they are holiday. Let’s Is that correct? Yes, that’s correct. Excellent. You’ve then got 16 properties here in the UK. And they are split across a couple of cities. Yes. So where are those cities? And what is the strategy that you have implemented within the portfolio?
Yeah, so currently, we’re based in Birmingham, Manchester and Salford, that’s where most of our properties are, most of them are based in Birmingham, because that’s where we are. And essentially, what we’ve done is the rent to rent strategy. This is the strategy that we’ve been taught by our from assets for life. And to be quite honest, it’s, it’s such a good strategy to use when you don’t have massive amount of capital, to you know, purchase different types of properties and go through all of these things. But what we’ve seen is, you know, at the start of it, it was very hard to kind of first get that first deal. But once that first deal did come through, the rest of us continue to follow, like, in our first year, we did about 1015 deals, and we expanded a bit too quick. And you know, it was actually just amazing to see that, you know, the capability that you can do, especially, you know, leveraging, using other people’s money as well, which you guys have taught us to do. And to be quite honest with you, like the rent to rent strategy has just been amazing for us, because it’s just allowed us to get so much. It’s a good thing you said there, right? You said it was a bit difficult in the start. But once we got the first deal, everything changed. Yeah. So let’s get a bit more specific, what was difficult.
So when we first started, like, we’ve opened our business in December, I think it was like 2021. And then what happened was, when we got into 2022, in January, that’s when we like, you know, started looking out with their call in different agents. And you know, they just saying all, we would say two words service accommodation, they’ll cut the phone instantly, say rent, they’ll cut the phone instantly. And it was just constant back and forth of these agents, you know, deny after dinner, you know, going back to the mentors, asking them for questions, asking them for help. And then, you know, once we got more confident, we’ve actually talking with these agents actually building relationships with them. What we’ve seen is once we had that first agent, that first agent actually bring those eight properties, and we still have her today. And she continues to bring us more properties. And that gave us the confidence to actually start. So what we’re gonna clarify is everything we do in life, which we’re not, which we don’t normally do is always going to be difficult. Definitely, you know, you ride a bike for the first time, it’s difficult. You learn to drive a car for the first time. It’s difficult. I’m sure when you started to become an engineer, it was difficult. Everything we do, but what you got to do is persevere. It’s not that the strategy is difficult, or that’s impossible. It’s how we cope. And we react in situations. So anyone listening to this right now, if you are in a position where you’ve tried to get that deal over the line, agents don’t want to work with you, they will work with you. You’re just not making sense. You’re just not coming across in the way that you come across. And like you said they’re one word and they cut you off, you know, you say rent to rent to a letting agent, they cut you off, you say serviced accommodation, they cut you off. But if you go in as a relocation company, where you do this, this, this, this and this, all of a sudden, you are just like them and you’re part of the Ombudsman and all of this great stuff. So I always say aim for 50 knows, and you should get a deal before you’re 50 If no, so you got your first deal. Go back to that moment when you got a yes from the agent. You signed the contract. You picked up the keys. How did that make you feel? How did you celebrate if you did and what was that moment like for you?
Honestly speaking, after those four months of just getting nose no was Nose, nose nose. Then finally, again one agent that said, You know what, yeah, we can work with you. And we can do this. Like, while I was over the moon, my mom was over the moon as well, you know, everyone was like, yes. Finally, we finally got our first one. And honestly, like, how I celebrated was getting straight back into it, going to find an overdue, great Oh, no, no, the one that next week goes find another deal. Again, more in the same month. And it just kept going and going and going. And, you know, that’s how I celebrate, I celebrate by getting more success and more and more here, the belief comes before the strategy, right, you know, you believed you then implemented, you then had hurdles, you kept believing you got your breakthrough. And some people, they get a breakthrough, just three days into my mentorship program. Some people, it’s seven months into the mentorship program, I actually don’t know how long it’s gonna be for people, but I do know if they stay in the process, they will when they will get those results. So you aren’t doing rent to rent. So you’re renting the property from a landlord, you’re re renting them out. But you’ve got a slight twist on what you do as an organization. So can you tell us what it is you do? Why you do it and the benefits of doing it?
Yeah, so when we first started, actually, were doing HMOs. And what was doing was allowing people from other countries that were coming to work here to aid with the workforce, and you know, all the labor that had left, especially when we had the strain from COVID, to come in nurses, doctors, and all of these type of things, and we would house them. So what that meant was, were actually a lot better when it came to once we understood how to talk to these agents, marketing ourselves to these agents, as you know, we’re relocating professionals, there’s going to be professional people with living in your house, nurses, doctors, it made it so easy to actually get properties. And then once we had a few properties under our belt, we then use that as leverage to get serviced accommodations, because when landlords see you or they have properties, they’re a bit more, you know, the bit more susceptible to give you more properties. And then after that, we then go into the support 11. So support 11 is where you house, you know, people with learning disabilities, kids that are under the age of 18, you know, that haven’t had the best upbringing haven’t had the best family as well. And that kind of in the support in living places where you know, those same nurses are now working and helping and supporting these young people. So that’s kind of our strategy.
Okay, so we’ve supported living just so everyone’s clear, you will rent a property from a landlord, will you have to make any changes to that property to bring it up to speed for what the care provider needs? Yes, or are you just handing it straight over. So what would happen is, would rent the property, and then the certain kinds of guidelines that you will not certain guidelines, there is regulatory guidelines that you have to follow, you have to make sure that the house is secure, that you’re renting it out at a fair price as well, etc, etc. So there’s a lot of things that do come into play with this, but the rule out there is not hard to follow, you just have to make sure that you’ve got fire doors as well. So a lot of them are kind of similar to
so so it’s not like you’re doing some full massive conversion on a property, you’re gonna have to get in like disabled access or anything along these lines, just like a HMO, you just need to bring it up to regulation, which actually is very easy to do. It’s a checkpoint, it’s a checklist. So you then invest into a property. So you invest some money to bring it up to speed for supported living. And then you work with the service provider? Correct? When you then approach the service provider? How long are they taking the property off you for? And are they typically paying slightly higher rents because of the type of client that’s going to be living in the property? So for example, how long did they take it for? And how much will they pay you per month for one of these properties?
So we’ve supported living is great, because you know, these are really long, long rentals, you know, the service providers not going anywhere, they want to continuously have people coming in. So you’re looking anywhere from a minimum of five years, let’s and like, you know, our five year contracts with these service providers. And you already know, my mom already owns a care business. So the the mesh of that was just perfect. And then you could be making anywhere between 600 to 800 pound a week, per person. So is quite ridiculous. When it comes to the numbers that you can be making from supporting living.
I suppose the service providers are under extreme pressure, definitely. And there is a shortage of the right type of property for the clients that they need to house. You know, there’s a shortage in the UK anyway, this is why property does so well. You know, rents have gone up the fastest rate in decades, house prices have gone up. And of course, there’s always ups and downs and corrections in the marketplace, but we actually live in a beautiful country. And we have I would consider one of the strongest property markets in the world. And there was just opportunity. So I just love what you and your mum have done here. You know, you’re mom owns a care business, she seen an opportunity. Now understand, you understand the rent to rent model. And you basically just brought that into your business, which is incredible. And this is one of the reasons why you’re making 30,000 pounds net profit a month right now, using properties that you don’t even owner, and how does it feel not only just to make the money, but to know that you’re providing such a good service out to your local community, I think you know, when it really sits in is when we actually start talking to the people that we’re actually providing the service to seeing how much how happy they are in the places. This is why we have liked the retention rate for these properties for so long, because, again, my mom’s providing exceptional service from the care side. And then also, as the property managers will come in, when maintenance, cleaning, making sure everything is tip top, you know, even fork out some of our own money to make sure that they have the right stuff, gaming stuff, if the light gaming, do something to make them feel a bit more homely and a bit more human, because like you said, there’s a lot of pressure in the UK to actually house people like this. And there just isn’t enough houses and a lot of landlords don’t really understand the business. So when you actually come across them, like actually, your house is actually going to get taken care of and you could be having rent for the next five years, you know, guaranteed and you just coming into the middleman. Yeah, but actually gone one step higher, rather than just using these as normal HMOs, which you do, you’re actually using them, as, you know, for these providers, which I think is incredible, you know, a big, big, big, big well done, what would you say has been, say, a challenge or two that you’ve faced over the last year or so and how me or one of my team members have helped you overcome that, I think, you know, me, I’m a very one that get things done really quickly want to push, push, push. And what I’ve seen was, in our first year, we expanded a bit too quickly. And we didn’t have the correct systems in place. So once we actually went to Marbella, and actually built our vivid vision, work with the team very closely, you know, I could ask as many questions as possible, it allowed me to have a connection with the mentors. And then after leaving my bear, it was not a case of I could just pick up the phone, you know, I could call one of you guys, I could ask for advice. And what’s now happened is that we have such a beautiful system that it allows me to not even you know, it just allows the business to flow in a very good way.
So am I right in saying you know that if you have a challenge or a problem, you’ve got me or one of my senior team members on hand to basically support you through that process? Definitely. Because we’ve been there we’ve done it. And if I don’t have the answers, and someone in my team will have the answers and vice versa. So what are you most excited about in terms of your growth and continuing on with the program with me, I think what I’m excited about is actually working on these bigger deals now get into that kind of Mark, where we’re working on developments, commercial conversions, some of the highest stuff and actually buying our own properties and starting to build equity here as well.
Okay, so she owning assets, because that’s your goal is exactly, you know, imagine you own the asset, and then you still do the provider service. Yeah, imagine then getting a an office converting into 10 flats, you own the flats, you refinance out, and then they are all there for supportive living. This is how you’re going to build up to that 5 million 10 million 20 million 30 million pound net worth, by ultimately owning the asset for sure. In terms of the sessions that you’ve had with some of the mentors, what, what do you get mostly out of those sessions, I think it’s just you know, a lot of it is like, you know, reassurance steering me back onto onto the right path as well, because a lot of the times what I like doing, I like doing a lot of things at once. Sometimes my mind stares away. And you know, sometimes just having that conversation with one of you guys, and one of the mentors or the team, it just kind of puts you back on track and assures that you are going in the right places, you’re not making mistakes that they’ve made as well. And you know, just having that general oversight and wealth of knowledge all into one just really helps so much. Great.
And also, obviously you do this with your mom, how does that work out? You know, working with your mom, what impact is is had on your relationship? How do you maintain, you know, a working relationship and then also human being human?
Yeah, so I think, weirdly enough, the business has brought us a lot lot closer. That’s, you know, we spend a lot more time I think one thing you actually said out in Marbella was to make sure to actually make time just for us outside of the business. Because what we saw was, you know, a lot of the times we’re just spending time purely on in on the business and you know, actually spending time with my mom and you know, building that relationship has just been amazing and then with the rest of the family as well. You
got a strong relationship. It works well. I love my mom to be it’s I don’t know if I could work from home I’m sorry, mom, if you’re listening to this, but I love you but I don’t think we can actually work. But it’s great that you can you know and that’s how it works. How do you feel you’ve personally grown professionally, as an individual through this program with me, I think I’ve just been a lot, it’s filled me with a lot more confidence. Before I was a bit quiet, I’ll just kind of lock myself in a room and just get at it much work all the time. But you guys have actually made me come out of my shell a lot more, especially with these Academy days, the inner circle days, the networking days, like just meeting so many different people that are actually aligned and on the path that I’m trying to take. Because from where I come from, you know, not a lot of people are, you know, you can to get to that next step. So it does is a bit hard to do it alone. And like you’ve said, having that community around just does wonders.
You know, I say this a lot, you are the average of the five people that you spend the most time with. And the fact that you’ve upgraded your circle means your bank account is now being upgraded, your business is being upgraded, you’re looking amazing. Today, you’re sharp, you’re on the ball, you’re driven your focus, but you’re certainly not coming in with ego, or, Hey, I know it all. Like what I love about you is that you just want to keep learning, you want to keep staying in the process. And it’s been absolutely wonderful to see to see you through that. So if you could give some words of wisdom. So people tuning into this now that perhaps are listening, they want a better life, they’ve got some struggles right now some blocks barriers. They keep going round in the houses not getting any results. There’s negativity in their life. Or maybe they’ve got one or two deals, but they’re stagnated. What words of wisdom would you give them?
Honestly, speaking, I think sometimes people, you just have to just get it done. Make sure that you’re surrounded by the right people, make sure that you have the right community around you the right support systems around you. If people are bashing you and putting you down, get them out of your life, make sure you have a strong community because honestly, those days where you’re not, you know, you’re not getting the deals that you want, you’re not pushing the way that you want, that community is going to be there to support you. And it does immeasurable amounts of support, when especially in this kind of entrepreneur life is not easy. And it is quite hard. So having that community to support you goes a long, long way.
Yeah. Now that’s incredible, great words of wisdom. You know, the belief comes before this skill set. And you just got to get on with it. You know, people think too much. Definitely, you know, and it’s all fear based, and most of the fear they’re thinking doesn’t even exist. It’s not real, you know, 54321, let’s go 54321. Let’s go. You know, for me, it’s about taking action, massive action, and allowing yourself also to make mistakes, I make mistakes. You know, none of us are perfect, but we learn from those mistakes. And that’s how we keep growing and you’ll keep getting excellent results. Well, you know, really to summarize, Simba, what an incredible experience. I’m really looking forward to working with you this year and spending more time with your mom, we’ve got inner circle Day coming up next month. So make sure you’re out there. We’ve got Academy day this month, I think on the 25th We’ve got a mob a retreat going on for you guys, level two, which is going to be insane. So to summarize your experience working with me and being on the program? How would you summarise it?
Life changing? Quite honestly, there’s not there’s not other way to put it. Like, you know, before I came to assets for life, I was working a full time job juggling a business on the side. Now I’m financially free. I’m 25. And what I mean?
Yeah, cool. Well, I’m gonna give you some tips. Now. I’m sure you’re doing this anyway, make sure you’re profitable. It’s not about being bigger, it’s about being more profitable. Get your managed accounts done, make sure you’re doing that every month, always. You know, you’ve got good cash flow. So who could you bring in to build the team, so you can focus on the biggest stuff now? Work on the business, not in the business, and keep just adapting, you know, up your skill set, get better at sales, get a bit, get a bit of at marketing, get better at product launches, get better at speaking, you know, just now just make that decision, that commitment that you just want to be a better version of yourself, because there’s always that next level to go to but what an incredible inspirational journey for sure you’ve said some great tips, real insight into supported living. I think many of our viewers are going to be looking that one up online. And wow, absolutely incredible.
Look, 25 years of age, huge property portfolio, doing extremely well working in the business with his mum and you can see they’re just absolutely driven, focused and committed. You can have this as well. You just got to make a decision. You got to get out your own way. And really focus on that one thing that is going to enable you to live your version of your dream life. Do you want more time more money, more freedom, more happiness? Maybe you want to get out of some bad debt. Maybe you’re sick and tired of your bosses. Maybe you are procrastinating or you’re just a bloody lazy bum, you get around great people, you invest in yourself, you just don’t know where you’re going to be in one year or two years. This doesn’t have to be a 10 year timeframe. You could literally be up and running, and you could be getting your first or next deal over the line in the next 30 days. So thanks for tuning in. My name is Liam J. Ryan, the host of the dealmaker podcast. If I can do it, you can do it. And I look forward to seeing you on the next episode.
You’re listening to the dealmaker podcast, hosted by multimillionaire property investor, entrepreneur, and Guinness World Record holder Liam Ryan, discover how to start scale and grow your business become a better negotiator create more opportunity and to make massive profit so you can live the life of your dreams.
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