#27 - £10m Entrepreneur's Blueprint to Close Deals on Autopilot - Aston Haslam
If you are in a nine to five job and currently hate what you do and the restrictive nature of that work, then I promise you you are going to find a lot of value in today's guest. Aston Haslam started in a nine to five earning just over 20 k per year, and now fast forward a few years later as several 6 and 7 figure businesses in the space of property. In the episode today, we dive into all things sales, negotiation, authority building, and content, and some other key areas that are gonna be pivotal to you for when you start on that journey as well. I hope you enjoy. So we're building a multimillion pound business at 25 with your mates and raising 10,000,000 in private finance, which is not bad.
Dean:Mhmm. I think it would be good to start around the subject of sales and selling and negotiation. Because to do that, you know, you've gotta get a long list of people along that way to say yes to you. Mhmm. So how do you go about that?
Dean:I think
Haslam:I mean, selling is literally in absolutely every business. You need You you need to be to be good at sales. I well, myself and my two business partners, we all have separate roles within the business. They're very, like, analytical. So they are, like, tax background, accountancy background.
Haslam:I'm the complete opposite. So with sales, that's pretty much me on the front end. And I think it comes from the very start. Like, in property, for example, like, just doing a simple thing about building a personal brand allows you to sell a lot more. And I think the biggest thing for sales is just being open, transparent, take like a no bullshit approach.
Haslam:But I think the one thing, like, in a couple businesses that that that we've got, the best way to sell is basically just on other people's pain, which which might sound bad, but ultimately, you I see myself as doing somebody a favor when I'm giving them a product or when I'm raising finance off somebody, for example. Because even though I can't say it, they're getting 5% in the bank. I can give them ten ten to 12. And there's risks that come with that, obviously, but I kind of sit on other people's pain of what position are you in now. Let's say it's raising finance.
Haslam:It's like, what interest rate are you currently getting in the bank? Like, 5%. Well, that's not great. Obviously, with inflation, etcetera, like, you need to be doing more with your cash. So, yeah, I think sales is absolutely everywhere.
Haslam:And for us, it's my job to do that across all of our different companies. But I think probably one thing I've learned in the last eighteen months is the easiest way to sell is to already have that personal brand in the background because it literally just gives you that platform of proof. And people, especially my personal brand, people look at it and think, this guy's transparent. He's authentic. He's literally just who he says he is, and I think that's the best way.
Dean:Yeah. Your stuff is noticed that as well. I was like, it look. There's a lot of people in property who post online. A lot.
Dean:And it's it there's a lot of noise out there, and I think you you do come across quite no bullshit in that sense. You're saying, like, yes. Like, be an entrepreneur and chase your dreams, but it's fucking shite. Yeah. Yeah.
Dean:Literally. Yeah.
Haslam:Yeah. Like you say, it's too there's probably too many people with trying to build a personal brand.
Dean:Mhmm.
Haslam:And you have to be authentic in, like, absolutely everything in business. Like, you just have to be yourself. Like, people, especially in property, try and just fake it till they make it. And in a way, don't blame them because it might help them at the start or whatever. And I think everyone sort of naturally kind of does it at the start.
Haslam:But, yeah, there there's there's too many people just not being authentic, and that's one thing that, especially when I started, like, eighteen months ago, I caused a little bit of a shit storm when I started on Instagram. Just through not calling people out. Like, I've never done that, but it's, business models, and I've done one recently on commercial valuation HMOs and the fact that I don't like it, and, you know, I had a hundred hate comments on it. Why? I just don't like the model because you're over leveraged.
Haslam:You literally, there's let's say, their value in the house on a commercial basis at £450,000, but the actual bricks and mortar is £300,000. So when you're getting a mortgage out, and let's say you're getting a mortgage at 75% of $4.50, it might be like $3.10, 3 30, whatever the numbers are, then you are literally like a % leveraged. Just doesn't make sense. But, obviously, the people that then don't like that sort of content and the people that have got a motive behind it. And I see that and I get it because I do the same.
Haslam:I protect my business and whatever.
Dean:For sure. But yeah. Yeah. Like, I mean and just going back to what you said about personal brands, like, definitely does for you a lot of the selling for you because people will show up to a call with you and be like, alright. Well, that's on I know he knows this.
Dean:I know he does this, and I know he's got this resume and so on.
Haslam:Mhmm. Exactly.
Dean:And then I think when you get to the call as well, maybe just poking on some of those pain points that they do or don't have. And I think that that really is the key with it, is that you're not, like, you're not, like, taking something from them. You actually are solving a problem they have in an ideal world, otherwise, you are manipulating them.
Haslam:Exactly.
Dean:You know, you're giving them something. It's a fair exchange. You give me this. I give you that. Mhmm.
Haslam:A %. I think, like, a simple example is, right, someone's in a nine to five job. It's like, do you want to get out of that nine to five job? Most of the time, the answer is yes. And okay.
Haslam:Well, I can give you this. Do you think by having this, this is gonna give you a better chance of getting out of your nine to five job? Yes. Okay then. Like, what is stopping you from doing it?
Haslam:There's some form of, like, fear. And naturally, in the property space, there is fear because people are fear of getting ripped off. They're fear of somebody not you know, having not done what they say they've done, especially in, the info product space. It's just absolutely it's like the Wild what we say. And I think you have to back up from, like, somebody that runs, like, a property network rather than, like, a course, then you have to be able to back up what you say with evidence of what you've done, and that's why people that we work with, we show our accounts, we show everything.
Dean:Yeah. I think I like that as well. And to be like, you know, you've gotta be able to show that you've walked the walk that you're trying to help somebody fucking walk.
Haslam:Mhmm.
Dean:Sure. And and to be able to demonstrate that, I think, you know, is is powerful and adds to your credibility. And, you know, if I think about, like, how I I I wanna get, like, how you prepare for a sales call. Like, if I came onto your page, I've been following your content, and I booked a coaching call with you. Like, do you have some levers that you're trying to pull mid call?
Dean:How how are you preparing?
Haslam:So we have people that do a lot of sales calls now.
Dean:Book Closers and sellers and
Haslam:But the it's a whole process. So it starts from when you've booked that call in of somebody reaching out, like, saying thank you for booking the call, like, giving you an actual call, say, I've got your booking.
Dean:Sure.
Haslam:Like, we're looking forward to speaking. Like, what is it? So before the call, we already know what problem it is you're having. And then even before you've jumped on that call, we've already sent over a load of assets based on the problem that you've got. So I think people then come to the call already 75% of the way there because they understand they've given me a call and said that, you know, what am I struggling with?
Haslam:I'm struggling with raising finance. Cool. Before the call, they've already sent me, you know, testimonials, wins from other people that were in the same position as as I was. They've already sent me overloads of free help, which is better than anything that I've seen on Instagram, on YouTube already. And then just off the back of that, they will come to the call.
Haslam:In in in my head, I'm believing that they are already, you know, 75% of the way there. Mhmm. So I think it literally comes from, like, the pre call process has to be absolutely nailed on. And then on the actual sales call, it is literally just like fact finding, making sure that we can actually help somebody. Like, with the people that, like, work on our sales team, like, we are so strict with the things they can say and can't say.
Haslam:There's no, like, absolutely no way that we'd have somebody who's like a super pushy closer. It just would not work for us. Because when I used to do sales calls, I used to sit on the call and be like, listen. This is what we got. If you like it, you like it.
Haslam:You don't, you don't. At the end of the day, if you join or if you don't join, it's not gonna change my life. It's only gonna change your life one way or the other. Like, it's not it's it's not like, I do not really care. Like, this is for you, and that's the way I'd always pitch it.
Haslam:So there's, like, no friction.
Dean:And I think even holding that frame and saying, I'm good Mhmm. Either way, that's just such a position of power to come to a conversation from. And, like, you know, the strongest person in any deal is the person who's willing to walk away.
Haslam:Exactly. Exactly.
Dean:Always. Yeah. And if you can hold that frame but it's I think it's kinda hard because, know, if I think back to my history with sales. Right? But if I set aside my own businesses I have now, I was often doing it in a cold environment.
Dean:Reaching out to big businesses, trying to, like, weasel my way into that company and get in touch with this person who knows that person, knows that person, blah blah blah. So it's cold everywhere.
Haslam:Mhmm.
Dean:No one's ever heard of me. Whereas the online space where if you're selling support, mentorship, info products, whatever, like, they come to those calls a lot different, and you don't even have to almost be as clever with your questioning or how you prod to their pains. Mhmm. It's like, you already know what I've got. Mhmm.
Dean:You already know you've got the problem. Exactly. And here's the solution if you want it. If you don't, stay where you are.
Haslam:Yeah. As as literally, it's it's as simple as that. And, like, yeah, we just have pretty much just no friction across the whole the whole process.
Dean:Alright. Let's think about your conversations with investors. Mhmm. Right? So you're raising finance.
Dean:Like, is are those conversations as warm, or do you have to be a little bit more forceful?
Haslam:No. It's probably even, like, less give a shit.
Dean:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Why?
Haslam:I mean, two things. One is compliance. So when you're raising finance, most people do it in a noncompliant way. A lot of people say, we can beat the bank or we can give you a fixed return or whatever. Like, you can't say that stuff.
Haslam:It's literally against FCA regulations. It's basically in in their book, it's called active encouragement, which is like a big gray area.
Dean:Yeah.
Haslam:And so you can't actively encourage somebody to invest. So you can't say it's a really good deal. You can't say all of all of these different things that you really wanna say because you just can't do it. So for us, I'm very standoff. I'm very, I have this opportunity.
Haslam:If you'd like to get involved in whatever capacity, you just let me know. No problem if not, because I am speaking to other people at the same time. Just wanted to present you with the opportunity. Mhmm. So it's even more, like, standoff.
Haslam:But I think the one thing that benefits somebody looking to raise money is that everybody wants to get into property. A bit like property is a sexy industry. Like, everyone sat there thinking everyone's watched homes and homes under the hammer, all these different things. So for, like, actually going out and raising finance or selling deals to an investor or whatever that looks like, I I I actually think that's the easiest bit of property Without a shadow of a doubt, like, finding the deals is the hardest. Yeah.
Haslam:For sure.
Dean:I agree. Yeah. Finding deals was you call up an agent.
Haslam:Yeah. I mean, we we don't even find the deals anymore. We just let other like, we actually work with deal horses. Yeah. Really trusted ones that we know.
Haslam:There's probably like three or four in the entire country.
Dean:Bro, I would fucking hate to be a deal sourcer.
Haslam:Oh, yeah. No. I I I would absolutely just despise it.
Dean:Like, you are despised. Yeah. Like, everyone hates you.
Haslam:Yeah. There's literally genuinely three or four in the entire country that are really, really solid deal sources.
Dean:Oh, that's it's not hard to stand out.
Haslam:No. It's not. And I think if you're half good at it, then then you will stand out. But it's actually people that, like, care. Like, some of the ones that we've worked with in the Northeast, like, if they say the refurb is gonna be x amount and they go over a little bit, they'll stomach it because it's just their their values, and that's what we used to do when we started DealSourcing five years ago.
Haslam:At the first refurb, we quoted at $25, and it ended up being $35. And we we got paid, like, a 2 and a half grand source fee and 2 and a half grand project management fee. But then we stomach the $10 on the refurb because it was the first deal we'd done, we didn't wanna ruin the relationship with the first client. And it's like they're the sort of values that people in the property industry these days, well, a lot of people don't have, which is frustrating for people, especially, like, a normal investor coming in and just wanna source it to source them a deal. Like, 99% of the time, it's just a bag of shit.
Dean:It's like what we said before we were coming on, how people act when they're under pressure. You know, that scenario that you've just described there, a lot of people would have not stomached the 10 k.
Haslam:Yeah. %. Hundred %. And, like, this the we'd the Adam and Alex, my two business partners at the time. Adam had just left to go full time in the business.
Haslam:Alex was on, like, $16. I think I was on 25 k in my job, and it's like we weren't in a position to stomach 10 between us. No. We didn't have that money. Yeah.
Haslam:But we just did it because it's just what people should do. And, like, yes, you shouldn't you if there's unforeseen things, like you rip the floorboards open, the joist are rotten, for example, like, that is something that, yeah, she put back on the investor because surveyor's not picked up or whatever. But, like, if it's just mistakes that you've made, like, he's gotta own them.
Dean:Yeah. I think that's, like you know, it's not even because things go wrong in business. Right? You've got clients. I've got clients.
Dean:I've got people relying on me. I've got people looking for me. And people get, like, aggie, for lack of a better word. They get in your face. They're like, you know, they want things to happen that they want that happened yesterday, and things go wrong.
Dean:And, you know, it's what I've learned is it's not about whether things go wrong or not. It's how you respond to when things go wrong that determines your relationships, determines your brand, determines your fucking outcomes the whole time. Right? Yeah. Yeah.
Dean:So I rate that, man. I rate that. You think that having a business that makes you five to 10 k is out of reach.
Haslam:But what if
Dean:I told you it was only twelve months away? Maybe you're in a corporate job and you've mastered that game, but you just simply hate playing it for someone else. You've got the knowledge, skills, and expertise, but you're afraid to build a business by yourself. Or maybe deep down, you just don't believe that that's possible for you. This is exactly what we teach inside the Work Worth Doing Accelerator.
Dean:We teach what I call the OSA framework, offer, sales, automate. This is the exact process that I use to build my business from 0 to 6 figures in twelve months. To date, we have had a 100% success rate from people coming into the accelerator with no offer and within a matter of weeks launching that offer to real clients. If you're thinking now that you don't know what your offer is, don't worry. I'm offering free road map calls to listeners of work worth doing.
Dean:The link is in the description below. Book yours now, and I'll see you over there. Just staying on sales. Right? I'm gonna just bring us back to sales a bit because we've got Sure.
Dean:Good good little rabbit hole there. But the can you think to, like, some of the most pivotal negotiations you've had? Like, maybe one of the biggest ones that, like, really fucking mattered? And maybe what you did during it that was that was sort of clever or calculated or maybe intentional that won you the deal?
Haslam:Yeah. I think when our investor, I bought into our company so we'd I think we'd sold probably, like, 10 deals, like, new to property. And then we sold two standard buy to lets to someone who's now a shareholder in our company. And he was basically, like, just sold his company for tens of millions, wanted to get involved in property. But then we sourced him the deals, and he was like, instead of just buying deals, like, how do I get involved and, like, build a portfolio of you guys?
Haslam:And that was probably the biggest, I guess, it was like a six month process to get contracts signed. This is a big thing. This this guy got to protect his wealth. Like, if he gives us us millions of pounds, we can't just run off with it. We are tied into the company for x period of time with all these different things.
Haslam:Even though it's our own company, we at the time, you sit there and you think that you can't, like, sell in your soul because you're like Yeah. Is it the right thing to do? Because you see a lot of people sell parts of their company really early and regret it bringing on other shareholders that they don't really know. For us, it's worked out really well. So and then that was that was probably the biggest turning point in in our property journey to be fair probably in our life in terms of business.
Haslam:So it got to the point where he ended up buying shares in our company for just shy of, like, 200 k. But, like, we'd literally source, like, fucking 10 deals. Like, we we we were for nothing. He just did that. Basically, what happened was for people that wanna know, we basically just said, us three, one wages for the next two years guaranteed, and that is the figure.
Haslam:And so we basically gave ourselves a two year runway to just make it work. So he he bought in, and then, yeah, gave us £3,600,000. Wow. No no security on anything. Just pure trust.
Haslam:Wow. And then, yeah, we built a property portfolio with it.
Dean:What was that like the moment he said yes?
Haslam:I mean, it was weird because he approached us, but then there was a lot of back and forth in the negotiation of, like, who guess what? Like, what happens in the future? Yeah. And it's like, same with anyone, like, if they're selling the company or selling shares or or buying shares or whatever, like, there's so many Oh, yeah. Ifs and what if that happens and what if this happens?
Haslam:Yeah. There's so much of that. But then, yeah. I think, yeah, it was it was good because we kind of, like, prepped it before, like, a week before we knew it was happening. We already had the office.
Haslam:We're like, we already had, like I think I'd I'd quit my job. Alex Alex had quit his job. So then we was kind of in that stage of, like, shit. Fucking hope this happens. Yeah.
Haslam:Yeah. But, yeah, when it was all signed, it was good. Yeah. Money came in the bank and yeah. Fucking hell.
Haslam:It was good.
Dean:Yeah. I'd say that was a good day. I'd say that's, because I look back over my first few years in business, and I I just certain milestones, like meeting this person, this investor, this deal that I got, you know, there's there's milestones. But that fucking hell, man. That sounds like a Yeah.
Dean:We were young. Like,
Haslam:the business was worth nothing. And, like, we we we were probably what yeah. It was good too. I feel like it like, 22 at the time. But then that gave it just gave us a springboard to go and buy a lot of houses, which is yeah.
Haslam:And and one mistake I made at that time was not documenting the process and the journey.
Dean:Oh, that would be some good content.
Haslam:Yeah. We would've we did, like, over fifty fifty five HMOs in twelve months and then Purchases? Yeah. The Purchased and refurbed every single one of them and leased them, and then sold half of them in the space of a year. Wow.
Haslam:But I didn't we were like, oh, I wanna be in the shadows. I don't wanna be going on Instagram. If we had documented it, hardly had any pictures of any of the houses. Oh, man. Well, we had pictures of the houses in, like, the refurb process
Dean:Yeah.
Haslam:But none of it was of us. There was no selfies. There was no pictures of us of
Dean:our houses.
Haslam:Videos videos of us. Yes. So it starts annoying now because when I'm posting on Instagram, like, have four or five years track record that has not been documented to what I'd want to then put out into the world.
Dean:I think this is a good chance to segue into content after, you know, getting into sales there. So, like, your content, as I said earlier, like, it it it's very I mean, I I I follow you. Like, you know, I really like the message you put out because, as
Haslam:you said, there's a lot
Dean:of charlatans in property, and it's just refreshing. I think it's it's the main thing. I think when I look at you, it's like you're you're not selling any pipe dream. It's just like, you know, this is really shit, but, like, you also should fucking do it if you really want to. Like, if you actually have a craving to change your life, this can do it.
Dean:Like, what is the purpose of the content that you're creating? Like, why are you doing that outside of personal brand? Because I imagine that's not the only thing.
Haslam:Yeah. I think it's just to fuel the companies. Yeah. Adam and Alex weren't gonna do it. It's just not their bag.
Haslam:So one of us had to Had to
Dean:do it. To Mordor.
Haslam:Yeah. Yes. Well, actually yeah. %. And I think it just fuels the companies.
Haslam:I can raise money a lot better. I get access to a lot more deals. Mhmm. I can build my property network. The marketing agency that we're that we're bringing out, I'll be able to get clients a lot easier.
Haslam:Our CRM platform will be able to get people signed up a lot easier. Yeah. So it it just helps massively. Like, I wish I'd done it a lot, you know, a lot further before just because it just helps so much. And I think the biggest advice I can give people is just please just build a personal brand or build anything.
Haslam:Just document it. Like, you don't even have to really,
Dean:like like,
Haslam:with my personal brand, I've said personal brand so many times, but, like, it's just documenting the journey and the process. And people wanna always be really, like, prim and proper on there. And I don't think that's the way like, you'll see me post an Instagram story of me just drinking a pint at the pub. And, like, my YouTube videos that I've put out is, you know, the last one was just me and Adam in an Irish bar drinking beer. It's like people don't really do that because people sit there and think, well, if an investor sees that, that'll look really bad.
Haslam:Yeah. It's like, well, no. It'll actually look the complete opposite. It'll look like you. Yeah.
Haslam:You will look like a normal person. Yeah. And Yeah. Can realize
Dean:what yeah.
Haslam:People mess out on that so much. They try and post the perfect stuff at the perfect time and Yeah. Say the right things, but just literally just completely be yourself. Yeah. Because, like, you know, you do know when
Dean:you see somebody on LinkedIn and they're just posting fucking Lamborghinis? Yeah. Like, I cannot relate to you. No. You know, that's not like, to the to the average person, that is just like, it might be appealing in some way, and maybe you're pulling on some, like, unfulfilled dream of theirs, but, like, it's not relatable at all.
Dean:Whereas I look at you, and I'm like, yeah, I I go for a pint with him.
Haslam:Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. It's saying, like, we've we've kept that with absolutely everything that, like, me and my two business partners have. Adam and Alex is like, we'll never we don't have nice watches.
Haslam:I literally don't wear any watches. We don't have nice cars. We go on nice holidays. That's pretty much it. We live a nice life and just doing this very like I was saying before, like, I live a very, very simple life.
Haslam:Yeah. I was on another podcast, someone was like, you should have really you should have just spend the money and enjoy the life. I'm like, I'm enjoying my life. Like, the favorite thing I do on a Saturday morning, every single Saturday morning, is go to the same cafe and get the same things to eat every Saturday morning. And that for me is just perfect.
Haslam:And it sounds so simple, but that's the life I want. And then I spend my money on houses Well, that and businesses.
Dean:Like, you know, like, I always say to to the guys that I'm working with as well that I help to build their businesses, like, you know, why are you doing this? Like, get really, really fucking clear about what you want because you won't stay the course if you don't know that. Yeah. You know, otherwise, it's just it's it's you're just you're pissing into the wind. Yeah.
Dean:And that to me, like, I like, one of my reasons is, like, I like to travel a lot. I really like going and adventuring and exploring, and that's something that was really important to me. And I couldn't do that if I was restricted geographically Yeah. From a time perspective. I couldn't do any of that.
Dean:So that was my one, you know. But equally, like, I like just fucking sitting around, man.
Haslam:Yeah. %.
Dean:You know? And and and I don't I think a lot of people get maybe misconstrued and go at this from the wrong lens or, like, they're thinking about, like, the Lamborghinis and stuff when in reality, like, that wouldn't solve how they feel. It wouldn't give them the the peace of mind or the joy that they actually are truly looking for from this.
Haslam:Yeah. Yeah. I've like, that stuff didn't even come into my head. No. They're, like, nice cars.
Haslam:I literally just think I just literally play the game. I just think it's one big game, and I just want to win more than anything.
Dean:What does that word mean to you? Like, what do you think of when you think of winning?
Haslam:Just being able to do whatever you want. Like, being able to just have successful businesses, which doesn't necessarily then mean, like, oh, I get to pay myself x amount a month or I get to pay myself this. Mhmm. Like, it's literally just being able to just go and do what you want. But that that also doesn't mean, like, private jets.
Haslam:It doesn't mean yachts or anything like that because that was literally like, I don't want any of that stuff. Yeah. Because it actually wouldn't make my life better. For me, it's just like, can I just go and get my haircut when whatever time of the day? Do know I mean?
Haslam:Do I have to ask people to have a doctor's appointment? Like, that for me Yeah. Is just everything.
Dean:That that is it, man. Honestly, that is it. It is just the ability to just wake up and be like, nah. No. No.
Dean:No.
Haslam:Not today. Like, the other day, I thought we were just saying, like, I think we woke up at, 10AM. And, like, I see my dad in the evening. Was like, what what are your details? I woke up at ten and then just sat on a sofa on my laptop.
Haslam:He was like, what?
Dean:Yeah. I was like, well, yeah.
Haslam:That's just what my day is. Like, some some days, like, that is all I do and that's the freedom that everyone should look for and it's not like I guess money does help it, but, honestly, I could live a very, very good life just earning 4 or $5 a month. Yeah. I could live whatever life you want
Dean:to live.
Haslam:Like, you can literally just go and travel wherever you want and just live a beautiful life.
Dean:A %, man. Yeah. A %. And it's like, it is just being able to well, I think money is like, you kinda need the money to do it. Yeah.
Dean:Of If if you had money, you wouldn't work a job. Well, most people wouldn't. Yeah. You know, if for the people like you and I who didn't fucking who hated it, if money was sorted, you wouldn't do it. So you kinda do need to address that in some capacity.
Dean:Yeah. %. But, like yeah. It's just honestly, man, this it's a small decisions that I just get to make on a daily basis. The flexibility of just saying, yeah.
Dean:Actually, I'd like for example, either day, I just decided I'm going to Bali next week.
Haslam:Mhmm.
Dean:I'm just that wasn't I didn't even think about it. Yeah. And and it's not a flex. It's just more so the reality of being able to make those calls. I sometimes need to pinch myself and say it, man.
Dean:I'm like, fuck. Life is sweet when you when you can do that.
Haslam:I think as well people don't understand how actual easy it is, like, to live. Like, when people have, like, that dream life, like, it's so much easier than you think. Like, it's so much easier. Like, it's so hard getting up, driving an hour to the office, doing a nine to five, driving an hour home, and having two days at the weekend, that is fucking hard. That's shite.
Dean:Like That's really hard.
Haslam:We always say to people when we're talking about, like, let's say deal sourcing, for example. Yeah. It's like, right, you spend, what, forty hours a week, right, in in in your nine to five or in in your office job. It's like, if you just stop that job tomorrow and I I never I'm not like an advocate for, like, go and quit your job tomorrow sort of thing. I always want people to stay in the job as long as you can because that can be a cash flow business.
Haslam:But I would say, like, if you just went and printed a thousand letters a day, right, and for the forty hours that you'd be in your nine to five, you just, for forty hours in a week, go and post direct to vendor letters. Do you think you're gonna make more than 2 and a half thousand pounds that you're getting paid in your current job? The answer is always yes. So it's like, well, what the fuck are doing? Like, it's not that hard.
Haslam:Like, you are literally a postman at that point, posting letters. Yeah. A thousand letters, like, every single day. Like, we used to do it every single Sunday. You just post a thousand letters for an entire year, and off the back of it, it's made us an absolute fortune.
Haslam:So it's like, just go and do the work. Like, it's so like, to live the life you wanna live, it's so much easier than you think.
Dean:Yeah. I I keep saying that to the guys as well. I'm like, it's actually not that far away. It's like twelve months of decent work. Yeah.
Dean:And, you know, you might even do it in six. Like, don't I don't wanna I never set expectations that way, but the reality is some people just fucking smash it. Yeah. And some people don't. Like me, like, my first year was awful.
Dean:I was down loads of money. Took on two bad deals. I was, like, pulling my hair out. So my first year was really shit, but I I stayed the course, turned it around, and year two was amazing. Mhmm.
Dean:And so, like, I don't wanna, like, ever mislead people, but the reality is it isn't actually that far away.
Haslam:No. If I
Dean:had just done year two and year one, I'd be laughing instead. For sure. You know? And and one of the things I actually wrote down, it's funny you said about how the nine to five, forty hours a week is hard. A quote you had in one of your posts was being an entrepreneur is hard, so is being broke.
Haslam:Yeah. Exactly. I think, like, I'd much rather have no money but be working for myself than pretty much have no money working for somebody else because then at least you can just do whatever you wanna do. Like, I think I don't even know what I consider being broke. Like, I don't wanna turn into, like, an Andrew Tate of Yeah.
Haslam:You're broke. Yeah. Yeah. But, like, just like, if you if you're doing, what, $2 a month, like, it's quite easy to go out there and utilize a skill that you have. Like, everyone has a skill, I think.
Haslam:Like, whether that is marketing. Like, you might be working for a marketing agency and you know how to run ads. To do to literally earn your $2 a month, you need 10 people to pay you £200 a month to run their ads. Set up an Instagram account, you could get that within a month. Yeah.
Haslam:But then you're doing that fully remote in Bali. Yeah. Like, you can do it. Like, whatever skill you've got. And we teach people when they come in as property, like, you have two businesses, your investment vehicle and your cash flow business.
Haslam:Your cash flow business doesn't have to be property. It doesn't have to be rent to rent. It doesn't have to be deal sourcing. It doesn't have to be, like, auction sourcing or any these other different things. Like, it can be what you're actually good at.
Haslam:So one of the lads in in the network that we work with, he used to work for, like, a leaflet distribution company. So what's he doing for his cash flow business? Set up his own leaflet distribution company because he knows how to do it. And then he'll get people paying to go and deliver d two b letters. At the same time, he can post his own d two b letters and get leads and have property business off it.
Haslam:So I think it's so like like you say, it's so much so much easier than than people think.
Dean:Okay. So, like, let me just bring us back to because, obviously, you and I have, like, quote, unquote, done it. Right? We've we've, like, shifted out of that. But I don't know about you, man.
Dean:But, like, when I was in my job, I never actually thought I could. Mhmm. I was stuck behind a wall of belief that was, like, not there. And had I not taken the plunge, eaten so much shit, like, still I I don't think I would have ever had that belief, but I'm just trying to think of, like, if I was listening to this now and I was still at that point, like, how do you how would you tell someone like that to start reframing that lack of belief they might have?
Haslam:I think just the biggest thing is thinking, like, what's the worst that can happen? Mhmm. As long as you're, like, massively exposing yourself financially in terms of taking on loads of debt and credit cards and stuff like that, like, there's loads of low friction businesses that you can set up, whether it's in property or not in property, that requires pretty much hardly any upfront costs. Like, you can just set your business up and yeah. I think the biggest advice I'd give is just, like, what's the worst that can happen?
Haslam:Like, you can literally go straight back into that job in twelve months time, in six months time, at a different company.
Dean:Yeah.
Haslam:And chances are, let's say you're earning x amount of money, you leave that job to to set your own thing up, it doesn't go well, chances are the new job that you go into is gonna be better paying than that job that you was in anyway. So you've actually just got a pay rise for leaving your job. Yeah. Like because when you transition from job to job to job, that's why people drop off all the time because your pay pay goes up.
Dean:But, like, logically, we all know this. I think everyone knows that there is a path. They can do it. They are safe because they can get another job anyway. Mhmm.
Dean:But, like, it's still just something, like, there's just something that needs to something that needs to give.
Haslam:I just think some people aren't made out for it, which is fine. Yeah. Like, not everyone should try and have their own business because But
Dean:it's the people who want to, man. You know, it's the people who want to and are still stuck there. That's who I really want. Like, that's who I'm trying to reach with with what I'm doing here is, like, the person who is, like, very aware that they hate it and that they want to change, but just can't quite make that little last shift in their head to to to lean into action.
Haslam:Yeah. I mean, it is so hard to quit your job Yeah. And go and do your own stuff. Like, it's it's so hard. Like, it's not easy.
Dean:Yeah. I mean, I'm the same as you though, by the way, like, for just just for to be very clear, I never advocate for, like, quit your job shit. No. Like, don't. Like, don't don't at all because that's gonna put you in a shit place.
Dean:Bit of history on me, man. In my first year that I mentioned there, I was 40 k down. I got fired for my job because I was working too much in the business. Mhmm. So I was all over the place.
Dean:Like, I was all fucking over the place. And I would never wish that on anyone. Mhmm. You know? I would always just say, like, start gently.
Dean:Start gently while you're in your job. Mhmm. Do it slowly. There's no rush. Loads of time.
Dean:But just start but just do something and do it for ages.
Haslam:Yeah. You've gotta pick the right thing as well. Like, you gotta have to pick the right vehicle. Like, if you're in your nine to five job, like, you'll see a lot of people selling stuff on deal sourcing. Like, straight up, like, deal sourcing is not the right thing.
Dean:Yeah. No. As in, I got I got stung with a shit deal.
Haslam:Yeah. Exactly that. Like, deal sourcing is not the thing you wanna do if you are in a nine to five job to get out of your nine to five job because I mean, you're in a nine to five job. How many viewings are you gonna be able to do a week? Like, hardly any.
Haslam:And you're competing against people that can go and view 30 houses a week. It's just not gonna work. Yeah. So you gotta choose the right vehicle that can get you out of that job. And that's why I always say it doesn't have to be property.
Haslam:It can be whatever you're doing in your current job now that you can just monetize or just people around you that like, having business partners for me is is really good as well. Mhmm. Yes. We have to split all the money, and, yes, we have to, you know, make four times the amount as other people. It's just a one man band, but at the same time, I have four times the amount of work that I can do.
Haslam:So having somebody else by your side is good because you celebrate the ups, but also get to bang your heads together on the downs.
Dean:Yeah. Yeah. That's so true. So true. And I love what you said about, you know, it doesn't have to be this property vehicle.
Dean:And that's what I'm big on, man. You know? I could've sold Airbnb courses if I wanted to, but it was just something that didn't quite sit right with me because I know how detrimental that that that field can be for someone having been, like, you know, really, really burnt by it. Mhmm. And so I'm exactly what you said there about, hey.
Dean:Look. As your first stepping stone, of which there will probably be many, just use what you've already got. Yeah. Like, if you're being paid right now, you you are valuable to yourself. Like, you are worth money.
Dean:And so just do it for other people, and then you can be flexible.
Haslam:%. Someone joined our network the other day, and they build websites for clients. And he's not earning a lot of money at all.
Dean:Sure.
Haslam:And I was like, well, why don't you just charge people two, three k a website in the property industry? You have my property network here, just like a 50 people in. You have a 50 potential clients here to create them a really good website, really good funnels, etcetera, to charge people $2 a pop. You get 10 people over the space of a year, that's better than the salary that you're getting paid right now. So it's like, you need 10 people over the space of a year.
Haslam:And let's say you then are working two, three days a week on that business, and the biggest thing you've done is free up time for your property business Yeah. And everything else. So just open up open up your mindset of what skill have you got and how can you monetize it, and then how can you get in the correct circles or correct networks to like, who's gonna buy this product? Like, if you're selling anything, you need to sit and think, how am I gonna get this product in the hands of the people that want it? So, yeah, it can be done, it's genuinely not as hard as people think.
Dean:Yeah. Yeah. It isn't. And it really isn't. And I think the thing that you get so much of that you don't have is the time.
Dean:Mhmm. You're still doing the thing, but you just have way more time Mhmm. As a result. I mean, you do it right and you outsource and you hire well. Yeah.
Dean:I think
Haslam:that's a big caveat. For sure.
Dean:You know, another thing that I was gonna pull up was something you said on one of your Instagram posts, which is I used to be obsessed with the goals, but now it's about the journey. Can you, like, unpack that a little bit?
Haslam:Yeah. I think when we started, we because you always sat there thinking, like, I wanna buy this first house. Or, like, I I had massive, like, shiny penny syndrome. I was like, I really want to do, like, blocks of flats. I really wanna do commercial to residential conversions, all these different things.
Haslam:And when I was just chasing that stuff, like, was so I felt like there was just so much pressure to just, like, get it. And then when we got it, I was like, well, there's these bigger things are actually a pain in the ass. I don't even wanna do this. Should've just kept it very, very simple and kept buying terraced houses. This is the easiest business in the world, and it makes good money.
Haslam:So I should've just kept doing that. Whereas, like, putting all that pressure on yourself is not good from, you know, life at home and business life in general. So, like, now, like, we genuinely just focus on just and it's so cliche, just enjoy the journey, but we just love it. Like, we just get up and do what we want at whatever pace we wanna do it at. And I feel like you kind of take back control as well because you sit there instead of, like, trying to go for something that you think you want, like, we just take back control and we can sit there and think, how can we make more money in this business?
Haslam:Or how can we make more more money in this business? And you can just sit back, be more relaxed, and just, like, control your own pace of how you wanna do it.
Dean:It sounds more, like, creative then as well. You're not you're not, like, frantically chasing the big carrot that's dangling in front of you. You're like, okay. I've got these things. Let's, like, see how I can make them flourish.
Haslam:%.
Dean:And I
Haslam:think we the way we build our businesses is just we build our businesses off our other businesses. And, like, there's problems that we have. It's like in our in our you know, we have we've got loads of HMOs. We're having problems with, like, antisocial behavior, the bills, and all these different things. So then we thought, oh, like, we can do what whatever we want.
Haslam:Like, no like, I'm not working for somebody. Why don't we just set a business that controls all of that stuff? That'd be pretty cool. We can chuck it in our houses, and then we can see if we can start selling it to other people in their houses. And, like, you kind of control your own journey.
Haslam:And, like, for us, like a marketing agency, it's like, well, yeah, we we run our own ads, and 99% of people in property don't even run ads, which I think is really weird. It's like everyone's living in the dark ages. Yeah. It's like, why don't we just run ads for other people and charge them money for it? That'd be pretty fun.
Haslam:And then we just we just do that. And software is like, everyone's obsessed with automation, but no one knows what, like, automation or CRM people use. So why don't we just make one? We just have fun with it. And I think, yeah, you have the freedom.
Dean:If I like, I I'm thinking back to, like, year one and something we talked about before we got on was how it feels like for me. I'm in my my third year, and you're what? Five? Fifth or six? Six.
Dean:Yeah. Like, you know, you walk around differently. Right? But it's it can be sometimes hard to see that when you're in the throes of of, you know, your first month or first six months or first year. Like, how would you help somebody to see that light at the end of the tunnel if they were in their first shitty year?
Haslam:What would you say to them? Yeah. I mean, we've had so many bad years. Like, people will think, like, buying all them houses, like, that meant that that year was good. It's like, it's just not true.
Haslam:Like, I think we sat down last year, and we're like, I think this is the first year we've had what we can classify as a good year. Like and we were four years in. Wow. Like and people are expecting to, like, be like, I sourced 10 deals this year. Great year.
Haslam:Or I sourced a hundred deals. Great year. People just suspect that. It just doesn't happen because everyone everybody would do it. Like, genuinely, the first time we sat down and said, we're doing alright was four years in.
Haslam:Woah. Which was mad because everyone just assumes that you're doing really, really well. Yeah. Yeah. You buy a lot of houses, but when you buy a lot of houses, you then need a lot of staff, then your costs go up.
Dean:You buy a lot of headaches.
Haslam:Yeah. Yeah. Literally. So it's time in the game. Like, especially in property, like, loads of people invest with a time horizon of, one or two years and expect to just be cash flowing and capital growth is like property was never made for that.
Haslam:Property was made for people that have made money to invest in the asset. Like, property as an industry wasn't meant to be for people to start their career in property at 22. Yeah. And it's not that industry is not made for that. You can do it because we've done it, and you've done it, and all these other people have done it.
Haslam:But, like, if you're gonna do it, you have to understand that it just takes time. Yeah. Like, it just does.
Dean:Yeah, man. I agree. But that's, like, often hard at the start. You know? It's just, like, reconciling the fact that you just gotta work for ages.
Dean:Ages. And just keep going.
Haslam:And and you also won't know anything. Like, you think you know stuff, but you actually won't. I think just getting around good people, like you like, having really good friends in the industry Yeah. Like, immersing yourself in the industry. People are further ahead than you are.
Haslam:Like, just just speak to people because you genuinely just do not know anything. I look back to when we started when I thought we we knew stuff, and I was like, oh, I like now I'm thinking, like, Jesus Christ. Why did we do that? Yeah. It's like the worst thing we could have done.
Dean:Yeah, man. It's it's been really cool to, like, unpack these, like, areas. You know? I think sales is just super important. I think, like, content is super important, and and it was good to good to unpack those with you, man.
Dean:I appreciate your take on it all.
Haslam:No. All good. Appreciate it.
Dean:Yeah. Thanks for coming on, pal.
Haslam:Cheers, bro.
