In this article I share with you five of my favourite quotations that, if applied to your life and in your property business, can have a transformational impact.
The old saying goes ‘the more you learn, the more you earn’ and that has certainly been reflected in my own personal experience, along with the many hundreds of people that we have mentored over the last decade. This is true as long as you apply the learning that the quotations have to offer.
1. ‘90% of all millionaires become so through owning real estate’ Andrew Carnegie
It’s obvious to almost everyone who’s owned property and held it for the medium to long-term, that it goes up in value. The more you have, the more your equity and net worth can increase. Andrew Carnegie was a billionaire industrialist and the world’s richest man. He made this statement over 100 years ago and it had a really big impact on me when I heard it. I thought ‘why even bother looking to make money in any other industry’? So I followed this advice, along with the majority of wealthy people around the world, and jumped into the world of property investing and decided that was the best space in which to build a business.
2. ‘Turnover is vanity, profit is sanity but cash is a reality’
This is a common expression that I tweaked many years ago by adding ‘and cash is a reality’ to the end of it. Basically, cash and cash-flow is King. The difference between profit and cash, is that profit is before tax has been paid. Making money is one skill, keeping hold of it is another. Many years ago, I found out the hard way that if you don’t have cash-flow, you don’t have a business and that’s a lesson that’s since been learned the hard way by far too many people. In property, many investors tend to focus on capital appreciation. While the long-term viability and profitability in property investing is almost unquestionable, once that short-term capital gain is taken away, it can lead to dismal results.
3. ‘In the broad definition of the world, the word leverage simply means the ability to do more with less’ Robert Kiyosaki
In terms of investment, leverage is defined as ‘the degree to which an investor or business is utilising borrowed money'. This is why property is probably the world’s greatest money-making machine. To be successful in property, you have to understand the difference between good and bad debt. If, by incurring debt, you are creating an income stream, this is good debt. Even Sir Alan Sugar took some time to understand this. He once said: ‘I’ve got £300m of property – if this was leveraged properly it could be £3bn overnight’.
4. ‘If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it’ Robert Kaplan
In any business, you should have Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that you want to measure and then implement a system for doing this consistently. Despite property being a business, many landlords fail to see it that way. Our research shows that 23% of UK landlords do not measure the return on their buy-to-let investments at all, and those that do aren’t measuring their portfolio performance effectively. But it’s not just about financial KPIs. We have invested thousands of hours and hundreds of thousands of pounds over the years in developing measurement and management systems that act as “dashboards” for our Platinum Partners. Business and property is a game played by the numbers and if you don’t know where you are, you are flying blind. Similarly, we have invested greatly into personal financial planning and have support systems and people in place to help people know where they are and where they are heading.
5. ‘The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it right’ George Bernard Shaw
The Irish playwright and co-founder of the London School of Economics couldn’t have put it better. If you’re new to property investing, or are about to embark on a new strategy, my first piece of advice would be not to tell anyone beyond those that it will directly impact (I am not advocating not telling your spouse or partner if you have one BTW)! Many people you speak with when it comes to new ideas have a tendency towards pessimism and they look at the worst case scenario. Remember, that if people aren’t in the business themselves, they’re probably basing most of what they’re telling you on those good old media headlines and what they have heard along the way. Rather than making the mistake of believing what you’re told by those sources already around you, try actively seeking out success. Identify some key people with a track record, whose success, values, lifestyle and philosophy you admire.
I hope the quotes inspire you and like me, you aim to remember them and live them daily.
As always, I wish you success in your quest to Be More, Do More, Have More and Give more.
