Raising Finance Talks
Helping property developers raise finance from private investors so they can grow and scale their property business!
Raising Finance Talks
How you can raise finance without years of property experience
This episode is about something we hear all the time: "I need loads of experience in property before I can raise finance from investors."
We’re going to show you why that isn't true and what you can do to change that thought.
Many people feel they need lots of experience before they can approach investors.
Those people pin their hopes of confidence on some point in the future. Only then will they feel like they’ll have “enough” experience to attract investors.
You can get confident by looking into your past and exploring what transferable skills you can bring to property and how that might be of value to you, your project and to an investor.
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Welcome to Episode One, guys. If you've ever been held back from raising money due to a lack of property experience, then this episode is definitely going to be for you. Because today's episode is all about something we hear all of the time. And it isn't true, which is that you need loads of property experience to raise money. We're going to show you why it's not true, and what you can do to change this belief. So let's get stuck in. Hey, guys, you're listening to raising finance talks with Sam UNAL. We're on an absolute mission to help developers raise their first millions of investors. So they can go on and do deals with six figure profits.
Sam:So if you're not moving forward with your property business, for a lack of cash, then this podcast is for you. We're going to deep dive into all aspects of raising private finance. So thanks for listening. And let's dive in.
Al:I made we made it episode one. This is exciting. And let's hope we don't explode the internet. But I'm sure we'll be fine. But yeah, mate, I mean, let's just get stuck into this and go straight into, you know, what is the actual problem here, when it comes to people needing experience to or feeling like they need experience to raise money?
Sam:Yeah, so most people who are new to property believe they need lots of experience in property to gain credibility with potential investors, which means that they, quite often they don't get started because they lack the confidence to move forward and approach investors. And it also means their confidence is reliant on something in the future that hasn't happened yet. As opposed to something in the past.
Al:Yeah, man, I think that's really, it's really valuable, really key point, especially what at the end that you mentioned there about people, like pinning their confidence hopes as such on something that hasn't developed or hasn't been created yet. Through, you know, this thought pattern or belief that they need that thing, to then become confident to then go out and raise money for, you know, for their business. And I think, I think that's a really valuable point, something that we're definitely going to delve into more. Because, you know, the past is where the money's at. And I think that's really, really, really vital for us to, to point out. So let's go into this again. So we've got a problem, we understand that this confidence issue, things that are going on with with people about having to pin their hopes on the future, not trying to think about what they've already done, and how they can use that to their advantage. But if someone's wondering, like what that actually looks like for them, you know, how do we how do we help them with that? What does that look like for someone in their day to day life?
Sam:So in day to day life, that would show up generally, the kind of actions we're talking about would be general inactivity, spinning thoughts in your head that aren't serving you, like, I need more experience for someone to invest? Or why would someone invest in me, that can quite often lead to further things like procrastination, or, you know, busying yourself with other other less important tasks than raising finance, for example, and this might be you spending another three or four hours on Rightmove rather than working on raising money.
Al:So basically, what you're saying is, by having this thought pattern or thought process that you have to have done loads of developments, or you have to have had sort of at least some more experience in property to be able to get out there and raise money. You're sort of saying that the knock on of that is effectively all the other things that happen instead of the thing that needs to happen. So you know, people will will just start to you know, go off on one on Rightmove, you know, they'll start procrastinating, they'll start looking at Facebook while they're on the toilet, things like that. Don't laugh, guys, we've actually had that one of our clients told us that.
Sam:So yeah, and quite often, you know, that if you're taking those kind of actions in your business, and you're not moving forwards, then the results that you're creating when you take them is you're not moving forward in your business and therefore you don't become more experienced in property. So that result directly leads from thinking I need more experience for someone to invest in me. Your result is you don't become more experienced in property.
Al:Absolute so you're just standing still and and again, yeah, this is this is so important. It is most confidence comes from doing right, from actually getting stuck in from being involved in whatever it is you need to do that that confidence comes from there. And if you're not doing the stuff you need to do, it's very, very difficult to sort of manufacture any kind of confidence out of that. So, yeah, I totally get that it makes complete sense. So, right, we've got a problem. We kind of know now what that looks like for people in a day to day life. So we need to start, you know, thinking, how do we how do we solve this problem? You know, how would someone get over this issue of, you know, feeling like they need more experience in property hanging on to the future self, the future, sort of, I must do this to become confident. And then that burying themselves into all of those other things that they would do instead of tackling the raising finance issue. So how do we help someone solve this issue? What would we delve into here?
Sam:Yeah, I think there's a few different things we can do, really, there's certain things we can do in the here and now which can give you clarity on who you are as a person and what you bring to the table. You can work on that now and take that into the future. And also, I think, looking at your past, really, and what you've done, what strengths, weaknesses, or any kind of knowledge or expertise that may be relevant to property. A lot of people will think that whatever they've done in their past has no relevance to property. That was, that's been my experience with some of the things that we've worked on together. When I started raising finance, I just, you know, I didn't have I didn't have confidence, or Yeah, kind of clarity, really on what I brought to the table for an investor. Yeah, yeah. And I know, we've had some similar things with your clients we've worked with as well. It's not until you really ask a lot of questions and start to explore your past and what kind of relevance that might have on on the deals you're doing. And then the value that brings to the project and an investor. You started to see how powerful that can be when you look to the past.
Al:Yeah, I mean, yeah, anything that we've done together? And also, you know, the the things that we've been working on with people at the moment, it's amazing to think, you know, we spend, I don't know, I'm 38, you're 40 Next year, you know, you spent so much time doing stuff like our life is rich, right? We've We've been through a lot of stuff in that time. And you go through challenges, you go through good times, you go through different industries, you go through different jobs, you go through different education, skill acquisition, the amount of things that you do in that period of time is endless. Absolutely, yeah. People don't even look at that like that. They would not look at the past and say, why is that relevant to now. And I do think if people just take the time to sort of almost just do a brain dump of the things that you've achieved, the things that you've the challenges you've got over the education you have behind you the job experience you have in terms of, you know, the different careers you might have delved into, and then start to look at you as a person I agree like strengths, your weaknesses, your knowledge, your expertise, experience, all these things, when you start building them up from the foundations, they become really powerful, as as a whole. But also, then when you start nitpicking the things out, which is what we did with you, right? Where, you know, you see this big wall of information on a whiteboard, where we've drawn out all of your experience, but actually, you know, when you start nitpicking these specific things that might be relevant to why an investor would invest in you. And, and what that means to them. You know, you really start to get this powerful sense that okay, I have a lot to offer. You know, I know it might not be, you know, I've built a skyscraper or I've done 20 developments or, you know, I have, you know, masses of experience in specifically in property, but I do carry a bag full of shit that's relevant to you getting a result that you want as an investor. So, you know, let's just have like Delve into your stuff, Sam, I think it's really valuable for people to hear it. It's really valuable. for them to sort of, sort of see the journey, or at least what you worked on, because let's not forget, you know, you've raised, you know, just under 10 million quid. That's a lot of cash to raise for someone at the beginning, who really didn't feel the value of all of this stuff, right? If we're being honest. Yeah, totally. So yeah, let's, you know, let's, let's get stuck into that.
Sam:So, when we started working together, and we looked at what I brought to the table, if you like, or what I thought about myself, I thought, well, you know, I worked on the toes as a builder doing kind of internal refurbs and general small building work. And I thought that would be of some benefit when I was doing developments. That's really all I thought
Al:about. The ironic thing about that, though, May is that when we first had the conversation about it, I remember you drawing it out. And obviously, we had all these different things that you've done in the past, and we really looked at it. But it did take you a while to like pinpoint that as something of value. Like you kind of okay, I've been on the tools I, you know, when we started questioning you about Okay, so tell me about being on the tools, you're like, Well, I've pretty much done every trade, you can possibly do
Sam:plumbing, and plumbing.
Al:But it's like, that's the thing, it's really putting a microscope on those things, isn't it? And feeling? Okay, what is the value there.
Sam:So when we sat down and looked at what I really brought to the table, you know, I experienced a massive shift in how I view myself and the value I have to other people and, and my projects. So this An example could be like build costs, for example. You know, I knew, in the early stages of a projects, even doing sort of project analysis, before I made an offer, I'd be able to accurately price builds before offering on a property. So a lot of people wouldn't be able to do that. And when it came to, you know, post completion, and they're getting quotes in from builders, then, you know, quite often there might be an extra 10 or 20%, on a build already, before you even started, which is obviously going to have a big impact on your numbers. So
Al:and also sorry to jump in. But another thing is with that is, you know, one of an investor's biggest pains might be and I'm not saying it is for all investors, but might be for a portion of investors out there, that they don't know how to do all that stuff. Like they don't know how to do all that. That's one of their biggest pains, is they're going out there looking for deals, they go into letterbox everyone. Yes, we're in the home studio. But they're going out and they're looking for deals, and they can't pinpoint all of those things, which stopped them from moving forward, just like the same example of having experience in property will move me forward. For them, it might be having, you know, someone there that can accurately do all this for me. So I don't have to worry, and it D risks it for me. There, they're going to move forward. Now, because they're comfortable. They're a bit more confident in, in that transaction. So I think I didn't want to jump in. But I think that's really key to pull
Sam:out. Well, just what you said on risk as well there. Yeah, if you've if you can work with someone who can de risk a project. That's big for an investor, you know, ultimately, the question that every investor is going to have in their mind is, is my money safe with this person? You know, that's what it's all about. So, what does it mean to an investor that I can accurately price build costs? Well, it's unlikely that build costs are going to spiral out of control, because I've got a good cost control experience, I can price accurately from the start. And if there's any issues on site, when it comes to, you know, builders, you know, a lot of people experience builders walking off site, or maybe they go bust, then I could call on my network of subbies and friends I've worked with over the years that I can bring to site. So that would mean that the build wouldn't ever have any significant delays as well. So again, keeping keeping everything on time on budget is a huge thing for for any project. So it means a lot to an investor.
Al:Yeah. And I think you know, when you really you when you build that out, and you're almost stacking that up, right, you're almost stacking that up to, it's like your offer is like as a developer or someone in property, it's your offer to someone right and you're stacking up that experience in a way that you know, really It makes sense to someone why they should invest in you. And I think that's really, really key here. And that's what it's done for Sam. And there were so many nuances there that within what you said, that just are really, really valuable, you know, the, the running of a project, the timing of a project, the costs of a project, than the understanding and the knowledge and knowing what goes wrong, you know, being composed, when things go wrong, you know, even that, in itself, you know, is a huge asset to an investor
Sam:isn't gonna interrupt you there? Well, one of the funny things that came out of a project I finished about a year and a half ago now, it was the first development I'd done with an investor. And yeah, it was tricky. We had we had issues with party all we had issues with the builds. And then COVID came along. So we had, you know, it's tough to buy materials and get everything finished on time. It was a hard project, I would say in terms of what I've done so far, for probably the hardest one I've done at a meeting with the with my investor. After the project had finished. He said, You know, we're chatting about how it went and for all the various issues we had throughout. And I said, What do you think it was like working with me throughout? And he said, Well, Sammy said, one of the great things was, I always felt like you were part of the solution and never part of the problem. So it's quite a funny sort of backhanded comment I quite appreciate. So I'll never forget that one. So thanks for that.
Al:Yeah, no, it's massive that and I think that's the kind of feedback, you know, obviously, you love getting and, but it's really key. Like, that's the whole point, this is what we're trying to create, here, we're trying to be the solution, we're trying to help you become the solution to all the problems, because, you know, we all know that there are just shitloads of problems that come up. You can't avoid it, you can't, you know, you can't deny it, it just happens. And you know, having that sort of composure, I guess through your your previous experience and stuff like that is, is really vital. And I can imagine that it'd be something that would have stuck with your investor for ages. But I do know that everyone's probably thinking Hang on a moment, you said this episode was all about having a lack of property experience and giving your example it might sound like you had loads of experience. Now I know that that's kind of true and not true at the same time. You know, you obviously, were on the tools, you worked on building sites, stuff like that. But you hadn't got loads of developments under under the hood at that point. So I just wanted to kind of clear that up. And also wanted to say that, you know, let's give another example of maybe someone who, who didn't have that much experience or probably any at all experience in terms of property, and how they've had sort of breakthroughs when when we've had conversations. So let's talk about one of our clients at the moment. We were on our sort of one to one session with him. And we're at the stage with him, where, you know, we're trying to look back into his past, figure out what it is that that is a value that he's done. And we're doing an exercise we do with all our clients, which is we spend time whiteboarding out like you know, the whole of whole of their life almost and and really get a good bird's eye view on on everything they've done so that we can then start pulling things out that might be a value. And one of the things he said in a blase kind of way, just off like, just water off a duck's back kind of comment was, yeah, you know, and I had a degree, and that's all he said, you know, and why don't you just tell him like, what happened after that, because it's quite funny, you know, in terms of, you know, this is a prime example of something someone's done that could have huge impact or value to somebody else in terms of credibility, but they don't see it.
Sam:And just to set the scene on this, our clients came to us and we, you know, we asked about the different things they want to work on or things they think they lack in property that they want help with or might need assistance on. And one of the things was finance Yeah, that's what he said and numbers as well as numbers.
Al:Numbers. Yeah. He wanted just details on numbers, right. So anyway, we delve into this conversation with him around, okay, we start nitpicking on things. Things You know what? Tell us tell us a bit more about this degree you did? Oh, yeah. You know, just a bachelor's in? I think he's originally said, finance, I think. And then we're like, Well, what do you mean about finance? What What was the exact degree you did? And he said, all this science of investing? And you're like, wow, what, what does that mean, then? And we sort of had this long conversation. And basically, it just turns out that he just has a deep understanding of finance, economics, investing numbers. And he just created this story in his head that he wasn't good at that stuff. Because it wasn't like specifically in property.
Sam:Yeah. You know, yeah, he's also, as well as getting the masters. He'd also set up and run a class to teach 1819 year old students on the same kind of thing. And that was once he got his master's. So, you know, actually, you've been teaching people the same thing that he'd been learning as well,
Al:I think the word he actually use is I am a lecturer. So I want to point this out. And now I'm not I know, we are joking about this, we are laughing. And I know, you know, it's, it's easy to just pull things out and say, well, that's valuable. And that's valuable. But think about it from the eyes of an investor. And, you know, the credibility that you're searching for, to create that confidence within yourself and within the investor, that that type of thing, when really, I don't want to use a word too much, but packaged up in the right way or communicated in the right way to an investor, it will build that credibility. And it will build that confidence inside you, if you if you can look at it through the lens of the investor. So I think that's really, really, really key. We want to give another example, because we want to give a well rounded view of this. So what was the let's give the other example I think you know what I'm talking about. So,
Sam:so this client feels like he hasn't got any credibility in property, because he hasn't done any large developments before. But he actually has a huge, huge network of people, because he works with 1000s of different people each year in his industry, and has worked in the industry for 30 plus years. So he already has credibility built up with those people that are in his current network. And those people who know like and trust you, you know, you've already got the credibility there. So it makes makes it a lot easier to open up conversations with them.
Al:Yeah, this is, again, this is just another like avenue for this whole credibility thing that we're sort of, we're kind of searching for. And, you know, he, he genuinely, genuinely did believe he didn't have that in the bank in terms of, I haven't done a development. So therefore, he literally said the words, why would someone invest in me, because I haven't done a development before. But the thing is, you're looking at it from the wrong angle, right. So if you look at it from a totally different angle, you know, you already have that credibility in the bank, because you've been working with that network of people for decade after decade after decade. So if they know you well enough, they trust you enough, then you know, you're presenting an opportunity to them, which is another story for another episode of how to build, you know, a great opportunity for an investor. But if you're, if you're going to them with an opportunity to you're excited about these are people that know like and trust you. So therefore, you're not in that position with having no credibility. It's already built. Okay. And I think that's really, really key aspect of it as well.
Sam:So there's three different examples there of how people can look into their past to get confidence for today. What else can people be doing now?
Al:Yeah, great question. May. I love it just getting stuck in now. So I think one of the biggest aspects to start with is we call it creating a story stack. So you know, you, you've got a look at the past and draw out of that past, you know, the relevant things. So you're looking at your knowledge, your expertise, your experience, your strengths, your weaknesses, really looking into sort of what they are. And then you're delving into, you know, where are you going, what was what's the vision all about? What what is this thing that you're you're doing and why you're doing it? getting deeper on that. And then getting more intentional is is really helpful. So starting to look about, you know, around your goals, what you're trying to achieve. Once you have a bit of clarity on those things, you can start to look at your property strategy, like what is the vehicle that you're going to ride? I mean, you just got to think around those things first, before you then start going out, I think one of the biggest problems people have is they're going for the deal first. And they're not thinking about any of these things, they don't see the relevance in this until they get into these conversations, or they just can't pull the trigger on on going out there and raising finance because they haven't got that conviction that they need. So that's what I would say. And once you have, you know, a bit of a clarity on vision, a bit of a clarity on what you stand for, you know, what you believe in, you know, what your goals are, what kind of property strategy you're going to create to get there, then you're just looking at what does that mean to investor? You know, what does that all mean to an investor, because investors are people to, you know, we forget that sometimes, they, yes, they have the money. I understand that. But, but they're people and people do business with people. So having that clarity in all of those areas is really, really vital.
Sam:So when you have clarity on what you bring to the table, you'll be able to speak with conviction and confidence to investors about your strengths. You'll also be able to communicate, how you cover off your weaknesses through your team or partnerships you have with other people. And ultimately, this will build your credibility and instil confidence in the investor that you can actually deliver this project.
Al:Yeah, may I? I just think that's it, isn't it? You've just nailed it there in terms of all of the things that, you know, it brings once once you can round that, that round that stuff together. So yeah. In terms of, you know, why did we choose this episode, I think one of the biggest reasons that we decided to cover this topic in one of our first episodes is because when you take this barrier of entry away, it really does free people up, it's, it's a bit of a eureka moment, light bulb moment, whatever you want to call it, when someone actually does look at the whiteboard, or wherever you manage to get this information, this brain dump out, when they look at their past and they go, Wow, I do have value to offer to an investor, I can bring value, that that really creates a bit more certainty in someone that develops into confidence, because it's based on factual information. It's not based on some sort of feeling from the future, that you have to be some sort of property guru to raise money. So I really think that that is massive, and really, really important. So if we can free a few people up today, just by listening to this, I think that we've done our job. That's all we're really trying to achieve here.
Sam:That's a I'd agree with you totally there are because when we went through this exercise, I left the room a different person, you know, completely different understanding of who I was my value in what I brought to the table. And we've had the same with a client recently, who text us two or three hours after, after leaving the leaving the office. And their day we spent together and they were so thankful of the work we've done and how it's transformed them as a person and just one day and they had a complete mind shift about how they viewed themselves.
Al:Yeah, no, definitely. Yeah, I remember that. And he, it was just that, I think just seeing it. I think that's the thing like you don't people don't get the chance to see that today. They don't, they don't get the chance to look at it sounds a bit abstract, but look at their life on a on a whiteboard and have the opportunity to pick out the valuable bits. So I agree it's really it is life changing. And that that's sort of why we're trying to share this message, I guess. So that we know that there's just loads of information to cover in all of these topics. And we do plan to dive deeper and deeper into as much of this stuff as we can throughout all of our episodes. But in the meantime, you know if you do have any questions, or if there's anything from this episode in particular that jumped out at you and you want to have a further conversation about it, just DM us on Instagram we're at raising finance Club was we'll put the link in the show notes And you know, just just feel free to get in touch because we you know, we're here to help no matter what it doesn't have to stop here on the podcast.
Sam:So thanks for listening and don't forget to subscribe and watch out for the next episode very soon.
Al:Thanks, guys. Take care. Thank you