This is just a quick note to touch upon my favourite analogy – life is just a game and you can play whatever game you want. If you decided that you want to make it on the business front, then get in the game, identify the rules of the game and become a grand master. Once you’re playing the game, money can be used as a means of keeping score. When you look at any billionaire out there, they didn’t do anything that you couldn’t do, they just understood the rules better and got into the game. People can take life too seriously but what’s the point? You’re going to be dead soon anyway, so you may as well live the life you want. It’s also important to note that Money is not about greed, you can give the whole lot to charity as Bill Gates and Warren Buffett have done. But by being good in your game, and making lots of money, you really can decide on social policies and ensure that money and effort are being devoted to the things that are important to you, whether it’s ending world hunger or curing aids, once you have money you’re in a much better position to do something. A successful business person has also proved that they are able to make things happen, to bring together resources and direct a group of people to achieve their end goals. That’s all business is. So what better than a businessperson to run social enterprise. That’s the reason Bill Gates decided it would be better to create a new charity which he would control rather than hnding the money over to other inefficient organisations.
I’m now well and truly in the game and enjoying it. Banking is going well and the property empire is growing. We have a great new project we are putting together for a new development in Aldgate, a regeneration area minutes from the City. For this I will need to raise almost £1m and I’m looking forward to the challenge.
Finally, part of the game is to enjoy life, and right now I am writing this from Thailand where my wife and I have spent 2 weeks on some exotic paradise islands, relaxing and enjoying each others’ company. I like to be quite intense in whatever I do, so while I am totally relaxing here, I’m looking forward to the next few months of working hard. I’m enjoying my game.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Friday, July 16, 2010
never stop educating yourself
You dont stop learning when you leave school, you are learning throughout your life from everything you do. However you also sometimes need to push yourself further, to take yourself to the next level, and this is where external education comes in. It could be professional studies, or what I call life studies – life personal development, life coaching, physical , mental, etc. We’ve done loads over the past few years and I think that’s why we have such a positive outlook on life and persevere through any failures. Art of Living was excellent for balancing the mind and energising and clearing your though process; Christopher Howard was excellent from a business perspective and once again clarifying your goals and setting a clear path to achieving your goals; I also read extensively, especially autobiographies, the business papers and magazines, etc. We also decided to pay for good personal training, yoga, accupuncture...everything that will keep you physically and mentally at the top of your game. But most importantly I have real life coaches and mentors, people I can turn to on a regular basis, and that’s the best part. They say you are the net worth of your five closest friends, well in that case you might as well hang out with people who have achieved what you want and who can be an inspiration, people who will encourage you but also point out when you’re going off track. I have a few people like this, and I plan to get more...it’s the only way to keep yourself fresh and full of ideas. Always keep expanding your mind and educating yourself.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Just keep moving forward
When you first started riding a bike, you will have fallen over loads. You always got up and tried again. That’s what it’s like in life and in business. You will fall over, there will be setbacks and at times you’ll wish you had never started. But you will eventually get through it. I don’t mean that if a business isn’t working then you should stick with it, sometimes the right decision is to walk away. I’m talking more on a personal and emotional level. Just because you fail in one business doesn’t mean you should give up business altogether. Learn from the mistakes and move on.
As I’ve mentioned previously, apart from the fortune I sunk into Tonic (which would make most people’s eyes water – I was too gung-ho...remember – better to start on a shoestring budget); I also lost money in a failed investment venture. I could have completely given up at that point, but I retrenched, took stock, and decided how to take my business forward – and moved back into property. I also decided to go back to work for the bank, partly because I missed working in that environment, but also because the cash would be very useful in my other ventures, also because after my experience in business, I knew I could do a hell of a lot more in the banking environment. I could have just gone back to work feeling like a failure, but instead I went back feeling like a hero...how many other people have put everything on the line for an entrepreneurial venture? Not many. People in banking think they’re entrepreneurial, but they’re overpaid for what they do, and they’re cushioned from any fallout from their decisions...as we saw during the credit crunch – that’s not entrepreneurialism. If things go wrong they just get a good severance package and move onto the next job. However when you’ve had the balls to put everything on the line, you realise what you’re capable of and you start to see the world differently. You have a huge advantage over everyone else who is in a cushioned environment at the bank. You realise that you’re the only one that doesn’t care if you have a job tomorrow or not, because you have an entrepreneurial mindset and will be able to find a way to sustain yourself. You also realise that you’re not obsessed about money – my lifestyle is not very extravagant, I’ve never been into extravagance. It’s like playing Monopoloy, it’s about playing a game and money is just a way of keeping score, not about being a flash, arrogant idiot (which is where a lot of people that made fast money in banking went wrong). Even Warren Buffet, the world’s richest man, has a very simple lifestyle but continues to make money and then plans to give it all to charity. That’s what I’m talking about. Too many people at the bank are hung up on money because they have an extravagent lifestyle, or even a lifestyle in which they’ve stretched themselves to be dependent on the money. However with this entrepreneurial mindset, I was able to go in and focus on making a mark in the business, improving the business, and doing what I love without being bogged down by any hangups. If I suddenly don’t like what I’m doing, or if people start pissing me off, I can just leave, and that is tremendous personal power. I wake up each morning excited about going to work and excited about all my other ventures on the side. Life is good, and all because I got up when I fell over and just got on with it.
One more thing to mention is this – when I made a mistake, as I did in the investment venture, I stood up, admitted it and took the hit. Even though there were other investors involved, I screwed up on a crucial piece of due diligence, and therefore I covered everyone’s investment losses myself. I didn’t try to wriggle out of it, even though I easily could have because everyone made the investment knowing that there could always be a risk of loss. To me, it’s important to work with people who have ethics and morals. I’m not saying I’ll always cover a loss, but in this case I felt personally responsible.
By contrast, I put down deposits on 8 flats a while ago through someone I know, who was able to secure them at a good price. However it turned out that he and his partner did not have the authority to sell those flats, and worse, they paid my deposit over to another party who themselves were not authorised to sell, and in the end the money was lost. In this case, it was absolutely the fault of the friend with whom I was dealing...he should have made sure my money was safe and that there was a clear contract to buy the flats. Instead not only did he lose the money, he refused to repay the money while he ‘pursued the other party through legal means’...that’s been going on for 18 months now. I will never do business with this person again. The amount of money isn’t a lot, and if I was him I would have put my hands up and said ‘i screwed up’ and paid out the money while pursuing the other party. Instead he leaves me hanging on with no information and no remorse. A short while later I heard he went behind my back to enter into an investment that I had introduced him to, effectively cutting me out. Oh well, that’s the end of our business relationship, I cannot stand people with no ethics. Once again though, learn from all this, and keep going.
As I’ve mentioned previously, apart from the fortune I sunk into Tonic (which would make most people’s eyes water – I was too gung-ho...remember – better to start on a shoestring budget); I also lost money in a failed investment venture. I could have completely given up at that point, but I retrenched, took stock, and decided how to take my business forward – and moved back into property. I also decided to go back to work for the bank, partly because I missed working in that environment, but also because the cash would be very useful in my other ventures, also because after my experience in business, I knew I could do a hell of a lot more in the banking environment. I could have just gone back to work feeling like a failure, but instead I went back feeling like a hero...how many other people have put everything on the line for an entrepreneurial venture? Not many. People in banking think they’re entrepreneurial, but they’re overpaid for what they do, and they’re cushioned from any fallout from their decisions...as we saw during the credit crunch – that’s not entrepreneurialism. If things go wrong they just get a good severance package and move onto the next job. However when you’ve had the balls to put everything on the line, you realise what you’re capable of and you start to see the world differently. You have a huge advantage over everyone else who is in a cushioned environment at the bank. You realise that you’re the only one that doesn’t care if you have a job tomorrow or not, because you have an entrepreneurial mindset and will be able to find a way to sustain yourself. You also realise that you’re not obsessed about money – my lifestyle is not very extravagant, I’ve never been into extravagance. It’s like playing Monopoloy, it’s about playing a game and money is just a way of keeping score, not about being a flash, arrogant idiot (which is where a lot of people that made fast money in banking went wrong). Even Warren Buffet, the world’s richest man, has a very simple lifestyle but continues to make money and then plans to give it all to charity. That’s what I’m talking about. Too many people at the bank are hung up on money because they have an extravagent lifestyle, or even a lifestyle in which they’ve stretched themselves to be dependent on the money. However with this entrepreneurial mindset, I was able to go in and focus on making a mark in the business, improving the business, and doing what I love without being bogged down by any hangups. If I suddenly don’t like what I’m doing, or if people start pissing me off, I can just leave, and that is tremendous personal power. I wake up each morning excited about going to work and excited about all my other ventures on the side. Life is good, and all because I got up when I fell over and just got on with it.
One more thing to mention is this – when I made a mistake, as I did in the investment venture, I stood up, admitted it and took the hit. Even though there were other investors involved, I screwed up on a crucial piece of due diligence, and therefore I covered everyone’s investment losses myself. I didn’t try to wriggle out of it, even though I easily could have because everyone made the investment knowing that there could always be a risk of loss. To me, it’s important to work with people who have ethics and morals. I’m not saying I’ll always cover a loss, but in this case I felt personally responsible.
By contrast, I put down deposits on 8 flats a while ago through someone I know, who was able to secure them at a good price. However it turned out that he and his partner did not have the authority to sell those flats, and worse, they paid my deposit over to another party who themselves were not authorised to sell, and in the end the money was lost. In this case, it was absolutely the fault of the friend with whom I was dealing...he should have made sure my money was safe and that there was a clear contract to buy the flats. Instead not only did he lose the money, he refused to repay the money while he ‘pursued the other party through legal means’...that’s been going on for 18 months now. I will never do business with this person again. The amount of money isn’t a lot, and if I was him I would have put my hands up and said ‘i screwed up’ and paid out the money while pursuing the other party. Instead he leaves me hanging on with no information and no remorse. A short while later I heard he went behind my back to enter into an investment that I had introduced him to, effectively cutting me out. Oh well, that’s the end of our business relationship, I cannot stand people with no ethics. Once again though, learn from all this, and keep going.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Realising your natural potential
I’ve already touched upon this several times, but it’s worth mentioning properly. Life is about realising your ‘natural’ potential - do what you enjoy, and you’ll naturally be good at it and successful. Plus you’ll be happy, work will be a hobby, how great is that!!
I realised that I was not a food and drink person, but definitely a finance person. It’s what I enjoy and what gives me a buzz. So coming back to work at the bank is one of the best moves I made, as it means that my day is filled fun and challenging work, and Iget paid well for it. It also means I get to focus on my other hobby of property investment, where again I am responsible for the bits i enjoy - sourcing, research, raising finance and structuring a deal.
With Tonic, I enjoyed the business and analysis aspect of it, but what I didn’t enjoy was the operational aspect and even though I thought I’d hired someone to fill in that gap, it was not enough. With the property business, I actually have a partner that enjoys the bits I don’t – the renovation side – planning and managing the renovation works themselves. This is good, because it means we have complimentary skills, but more importantly we’re both investors so we have a stake in the business and will have a firm commitment. In Tonic, that was another problem, there was nobody that had the skills I needed, and had the commitment to the business as well. I now know that I should not get involved in that type of business unless I am simply investing and the people running it are passionate and committed and, most importantly, have the right skills.
I realised that I was not a food and drink person, but definitely a finance person. It’s what I enjoy and what gives me a buzz. So coming back to work at the bank is one of the best moves I made, as it means that my day is filled fun and challenging work, and Iget paid well for it. It also means I get to focus on my other hobby of property investment, where again I am responsible for the bits i enjoy - sourcing, research, raising finance and structuring a deal.
With Tonic, I enjoyed the business and analysis aspect of it, but what I didn’t enjoy was the operational aspect and even though I thought I’d hired someone to fill in that gap, it was not enough. With the property business, I actually have a partner that enjoys the bits I don’t – the renovation side – planning and managing the renovation works themselves. This is good, because it means we have complimentary skills, but more importantly we’re both investors so we have a stake in the business and will have a firm commitment. In Tonic, that was another problem, there was nobody that had the skills I needed, and had the commitment to the business as well. I now know that I should not get involved in that type of business unless I am simply investing and the people running it are passionate and committed and, most importantly, have the right skills.
Friday, April 16, 2010
Raising finance
Many people often question the problems of raising financing, or the problems they face because they don’t have the money to pursue their business dreams. However it is often said that money is all around you, and if you want it all you have to do is tap into it. The one thing I have come to realise is that that is absolutely true. If you have a great business prospect, you can always find people with money and convince them to invest in your idea. If you cannot convince them, then it’s very likely that you haven’t thought the idea through properly and they are finding holes in your argument. Of course it is important to be able to present the opportunity in a proper manner, but most businesspeople will look first at general concept, and if it makes sense to them then they’ll look at the expected return, to make sure it is realistic and meets their requirement; Finally they will look at the person (you) to make sure you are trustworthy and in a position to do what you say you are going to do. They’ll look at your track record, experience, etc. So as long as you have thoroughly researched your business and can convince them that it is a sound proposal with real profit potential, and that you are the one that can coordinate it and drive the business, then you will never have any problems raising finance. There’s nothing more to it. You just need to get out there and speak to people, remember one person will introduce you to another and so on.... But you have to actually do it – that’s where most people fall over...they don’t actually try and just think it is really hard to raise finance. In all my ventures to date, I’ve never found a problem finding the money, it’s finding the good opportunities, passing due diligence and ensuring it is a sound proposal that is all the hard bit.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
what you look for is what you get
Last year we attended a Christopher Howard Breakthrough to Success (BTS) course which, if you haven’t been on it then you have to. It was a great eye-opener. I’ve always been into self improvement through reading and attending courses. Whether it’s mental or spiritual. The Art of Living was fantastic at gaining a sense of calm, balance and perspective. This BTS course however was much more focused on energising you to set clear goals and mapping out how you are going to achieve those goals.
Amongst it all was one thing which is so simple that most people don’t realise it. It life, you get what you focus on. So if you focus on something negative, that’s what will happen. Similarly if you focus on something positive, then that too will happen. And it can’t not happen because you’re focusing on it. A great example was when I was searching for good priced property in St John’s Wood, I found Abbey Road and got a great deal on it by working well with the local agents and understanding exactly what the market conditions were. Similarly I always like searching for well-priced property that can generate a good return, and in March I found a great 5-bed ex-local property in Whitechapel (I love zone 1/zone 2 regeneration areas). It was renting for 30k per year and I was able to secure it at 343k, once again by understanding the market and the vendor’s position, I was able to secure a great investment. Sandy and I immediately started the process to buy it and it was the perfect antidote to all the stress that we’d been going through. It was another sign that there are great deals out there, and that I was able to raise finance fairly quickly, both mez and bank.
As Chris says, life is like a search engine. What ever you punch into it is what you’ll get. I’ve not forgotten that and it’s probably why I work so much. I really enjoy property and when people say that I work too hard, the fact is that I enjoy working on property and in my spare time I have no qualms researching and finding potential deals. Given that’s what I’m searching for it’s innevitable that I’ll find more deals. It’s no chore, its just fun. And very lucrative!!
Amongst it all was one thing which is so simple that most people don’t realise it. It life, you get what you focus on. So if you focus on something negative, that’s what will happen. Similarly if you focus on something positive, then that too will happen. And it can’t not happen because you’re focusing on it. A great example was when I was searching for good priced property in St John’s Wood, I found Abbey Road and got a great deal on it by working well with the local agents and understanding exactly what the market conditions were. Similarly I always like searching for well-priced property that can generate a good return, and in March I found a great 5-bed ex-local property in Whitechapel (I love zone 1/zone 2 regeneration areas). It was renting for 30k per year and I was able to secure it at 343k, once again by understanding the market and the vendor’s position, I was able to secure a great investment. Sandy and I immediately started the process to buy it and it was the perfect antidote to all the stress that we’d been going through. It was another sign that there are great deals out there, and that I was able to raise finance fairly quickly, both mez and bank.
As Chris says, life is like a search engine. What ever you punch into it is what you’ll get. I’ve not forgotten that and it’s probably why I work so much. I really enjoy property and when people say that I work too hard, the fact is that I enjoy working on property and in my spare time I have no qualms researching and finding potential deals. Given that’s what I’m searching for it’s innevitable that I’ll find more deals. It’s no chore, its just fun. And very lucrative!!
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
when it rains, it pours
Following the decision to close Tonic and focus on other ventures, things got even more crazy. Closing a business is not as straight forward as it seems, and there was a lot of admnistration involved. I was also keen to make sure that no businesses that supplied us products would lose money, so I paid them out of my own pocket. I also then realised it was going to be much more difficult to end the lease finance agreements. The shop fit out and equipment cost nearly £70,000, which I had taken on multiple lease finance agreements. Prior to formally closing the shop, I tried to ask each of the lease finance companies what would be the best way to do this so as to ensure that all lease finance agreements were settled in the best possible way without them or myself losing much money. Unfortunately the standard response was that they couldn’t discuss it until I actually defaulted on payments. A bit stupid if you ask me, but in the end I had to default on the payments through Tonic, which was inevitable since the business stopped trading. At that point they all kicked in the personal guarantee that I had provided and demanded full payment, including all outstanding interest to the end of the term. There was no way I was going to accept that and to start a long and very annoying process of negotiation to bring down the total amount they would need to walk away. What was annoying was that if a lease had a 5 year term, and we were only one year into it, they still wanted interest for the remaining 4 years!! In addition they were demanding VAT, which I could no longer claim back as the business had closed. I found out from some other people that they were not actually allowed to charge me VAT in the case of a settlement, but that didn’t stop them pressing for it and threatening legal action, which would have been even more costly for me. The one piece of advice I would give to anyone starting up a business like this ideally, as stated previously, start on a shoestring. The second thing would be to avoid entering lease finance agreements, especially if it is a high-risk venture, because in the event that the business doesn’t work, you’ll end up paying out more in settlement that it would have been to buy everything outright in the first place!! And never, ever sign personal guarantees until a business is fully established (and even then you should avoid it).
While trying to deal with all this, my wife and I had some health issues we were dealing with as well which made it more tiring, and Abbey road had completed so we were starting work on that. But then, out of the blue, one of my cousins passed away completely unexpectedly. This really shook the family and we had the 13 days of mourning, so we were making daily trips back to Pinner. This was a real shock and once again made us realise the fragility of life. Like many people, he had many unfulfilled hopes and dreams that would not be realised now and served as another reminder to just set your goals and go for it because you never know when life will end. And as if that wasn’t enough, my dad went for a routine operation for kidney stones and in the process was found to have problems with the heart. So he then had to go for a heart operation. Talk about things just going wrong all at the same time.
Since he was in a hospital nearby, Meenal and I made a point of being with him whenever we could, evenings and weekends. And once he came out of hospital we moved back to Pinner for a couple of weeks to be there in the evenings in case we were needed. My aunt (his sister) also stayed there which was excellent for him to have company, especially in the daytime. However all of this started taking a strain. As it was we were emoitonally and energetically stretched due to everything that had happened and closing down Tonic, but we were also working full time jobs in the city, and then going back to Pinner each day and when we’d get back in the evenings there would often be guests coming to see dad. We just about had tome to have some dinner, maybe entertain the guests for a short while and then go to bed, wake up and start again. We had to work something out as this was just getting too much and we were exhausted.
In the end, after a couple of weeks, we had to tell dad that we needed to move back into our place in town. He was making a good recovery by then anyway. My aunt was still there and my cousin was also staying there, and all my other family is nearby so it wasn’t like he wouldn’t be looked after. I realised however that it is important to look after youself both mentally and phycially (with all this going on I hadn’t been to the gym in ages and my back was starting to go again as well!!). If you are in a relaxed and healthy state of mind and body, only then can you be of any benefit to anyone else. Otherwise you’ll be no use to anyone, will resent it when people make demands of you and have no reserve energy left for when you really need it, especially if someone needs help. We needed to get back into a routine, with proper sleep, food and exercise and, most importanly, some time out to ourselves.
While trying to deal with all this, my wife and I had some health issues we were dealing with as well which made it more tiring, and Abbey road had completed so we were starting work on that. But then, out of the blue, one of my cousins passed away completely unexpectedly. This really shook the family and we had the 13 days of mourning, so we were making daily trips back to Pinner. This was a real shock and once again made us realise the fragility of life. Like many people, he had many unfulfilled hopes and dreams that would not be realised now and served as another reminder to just set your goals and go for it because you never know when life will end. And as if that wasn’t enough, my dad went for a routine operation for kidney stones and in the process was found to have problems with the heart. So he then had to go for a heart operation. Talk about things just going wrong all at the same time.
Since he was in a hospital nearby, Meenal and I made a point of being with him whenever we could, evenings and weekends. And once he came out of hospital we moved back to Pinner for a couple of weeks to be there in the evenings in case we were needed. My aunt (his sister) also stayed there which was excellent for him to have company, especially in the daytime. However all of this started taking a strain. As it was we were emoitonally and energetically stretched due to everything that had happened and closing down Tonic, but we were also working full time jobs in the city, and then going back to Pinner each day and when we’d get back in the evenings there would often be guests coming to see dad. We just about had tome to have some dinner, maybe entertain the guests for a short while and then go to bed, wake up and start again. We had to work something out as this was just getting too much and we were exhausted.
In the end, after a couple of weeks, we had to tell dad that we needed to move back into our place in town. He was making a good recovery by then anyway. My aunt was still there and my cousin was also staying there, and all my other family is nearby so it wasn’t like he wouldn’t be looked after. I realised however that it is important to look after youself both mentally and phycially (with all this going on I hadn’t been to the gym in ages and my back was starting to go again as well!!). If you are in a relaxed and healthy state of mind and body, only then can you be of any benefit to anyone else. Otherwise you’ll be no use to anyone, will resent it when people make demands of you and have no reserve energy left for when you really need it, especially if someone needs help. We needed to get back into a routine, with proper sleep, food and exercise and, most importanly, some time out to ourselves.
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