In the mean time, Niyi met Elizabeth through her brother but failed to mention this dream of international travel!  When the visa was granted in 2007, luckily Elizabeth supported Niyi in his ambitions and continued her career in Banking in Nigeria while he studied MSc in International Finance at the University of Glasgow and worked part time.

Having never travelled outside of Nigeria before, the culture, food and weather change were certainly a shock to the system for Niyi and in addition, he had no support network to lean on.

The course at Glasgow Uni ended right in the middle of the 2008 financial crisis so finding work was a real challenge. With many employers looking for UK work experience, Niyi took 2 jobs on shift patterns to get by and Elizabeth joined Niyi in early 2009.  Times were tough.   

1 of the jobs was about to make Niyi redundant and he had a decision to make, either take redundancy pay which was greatly needed or apply for a role internally which would be more in line with the jobs he was qualified for……they decided he should take the chance for the internal banking role and it paid off!  He secured a role with Barclays as an analyst in investment banking.   Meanwhile Elizabeth secured a role with Parliament and not long afterwards, as a Day rate contractor with RBS. Things seemed to be looking up.

They bought their own property in Edinburgh after reading and following the Richest Man in Babylon and then another opportunity came along which required a decision to be made:   carry on in their well paid jobs or for Niyi to also start a contracting role in banking with Elizabeth, which will mean they earn more money but without the security.  They opted for the contracting and with more money coming in, they bought their first investment property in 2017.  Shortly afterwards, they stumbled on a 2 hour property seminar and decided to get educated in property investment

They both attended a 3 day property course together in January 2018 and with  Niyi’s latest contract finishing in February,  they decided that instead of securing a new contract, he would go full time into property straight away!!!   Not for the faint hearted!

This decision was made so they would not miss out on a large chunk of their children’s lives and they made whatever adjustments they needed to make the start and growth of the business work.

While Niyi is the one working in property full time, Elizabeth remains fully involved, but keeping her job for now.  Their business has a number of buy to lets, flips and conversions taking 1 bed properties and reconfiguring them into 2 beds or 2 bed to 3 beds.

Adjusting to working together in the business.  They had to get to know how each other worked and recognise each others strengths and weaknesses.  Couple that with the change in the dynamic at home with the adjustments made, this was a real challenge for them both Business and personal growth is however now working to a smoother rhythm 

Be clear on your Why and never ever give up.

First off market deal

First conversion (1 bed to 2 bed)

First flip

This deal took everything the training and mentorship taught and brought it all together

Purchase Price £65k

Refurb £16k

Sold £112,500

Second exit £700 rent

She had worked for her boss for years and he trusted her implicitly to deliver great results in her job but she had to  fight and negotiate for everything. Emma released equity from her home and bought a flat and was delighted with the results but thought “now what?” She didn’t know how to buy more.

2 years later Emma found herself on a 3 day intensive course which she attended with her boss, who had been in property for years, and her brother.

Emma was determined to go further with her property education while and her boss and brother tried to persuade her not to. There was a lot of emotions that weekend for Emma and it goes to show just how much this meant to her. Her boss even called her every day for 5 days after the course to try and change her mind that property was not for her while her brother had told her entire family what she had invested. She really had to dig deep to believe she was doing the right thing and recognises everyone has their own paths they take.

Emma threw herself into all the learnings and did everything she was told to do. She bought a property before her mentorship but when she showed that property to her mentor, he found an extra pro t centre for her which lead to her making an extra £600 per month!!! Her family was her WHY. “It had to work”

She bought 3 HMOs in her  first 12 months which gave her £3,800 cash ow every month. 12 months to the day after she attended that 3 day intensive course, she sat down with the same boss who tried to dissuade her against this investment journey, and served him 3 months notice.

Gary lived out his life long dream of being a professional footballer until the age of 32 when he moved into sales and found himself as a property valuer in an estate agency. Although they were making a decent income, they recognised their income would not grow in the way they needed it to and they felt stuck in the rat race. 

The tipping point for them both was losing Gary’s parents who worked hard all their lives and Gary and Michelle wanted to start living in the moment and appreciating everything in life.

They set out the goal to buy a couple of buy to let properties for their pension but after attending a 3 day intensive course they realised they could turn property investing into a business!

“Investing in our property education was a big decision but we looked at how much we had spent on replacing our windows and on holidays the previous year and realised that money was gone now and if we wanted holidays like that again, the money had to come from somewhere.”

Their mentor pushed them out of their comfort zones by challenging them to think bigger and to change their investment area. They loved how they could watch and learn how a professional investor carries out viewings which also helped build their confidence they were following the correct process.

They submitted 12 offers on the mentorship which helped them secure 2 deals. “we were comfortable doing 1 deal but to do 2 at once was really stretching us” says Michelle “then we found ourselves juggling 4 refurb projects at the same time!”

They bought 6 deals in 8 months and have kept the momentum but leading to Gary leaving his job and being a full time property investor. The next goal is to get Michelle out of her job which should happen in 6 months time.

His career extended 29 years working in top respected roles in the industry and he weathered 3 ups and downs in the oil and gas sector.

Alex saved up and bought a  at to bolster his pension and he chuckles about how he paid through the nose for it because he didn’t know what he was doing.

This purchase sparked his interest in property and when things at work became unpleasant, he wondered if pursuing property investing more seriously was an option. He just didn’t know how he was going to get the next deposit for his purchases.

Alex’s wife Lynne, saw an advert for a free property seminar and encouraged Alex to attend. Alex admits he was very cynical and had low expectations on what would be covered, but he was the  first person to enrol for the 3 day intensive course!

Lynne accompanied Alex on the course and while she supported him, she was not interested in property and worried far too much about the money and what could go wrong. Alex meanwhile was blown away about how leverage could speed up his investment strategy and was keen to leave his job straight away! The Tuesday after the course he ‘sacked his boss’ and embarked on his investing full time.