8 LESSONS FROM A HUMBLE MULTI-MILLIONAIRE

How does someone go from simple middle class beginnings to owning a multi-million pound property portfolio, a plane and a boat (not a small one either)? Well, this weekend I was fortunate enough to meet someone who has done exactly that, and hear a little bit of the early journey.

It started at the tender age of six when young Jonathan, eager to earn enough pocket money to buy his first watch, was encouraged by his father to set up a car washing business. He’d learned how to wash the family car at home, for free. Now it was time to make the jump to washing neighbour’s cars and charge £1. Bear in mind this was at some point in the sixties.

At age 8 Jonathan had realized the importance of having a USP- he decided that since he knew how to operate a car he would offer to move neighbour’s cars out of the garage and onto the driveway to wash and shammy, and then move it back in. Very smart, and for that service it was £5.

By the age of 11 or 12 he was earning £250-300 per week and had a team of about 10 car washers (fellow pupils from his school). He quickly learned lessons in recruiting and managing a team too. In order to have 6-7 kids out washing he’d need  about 10 on the team to factor in no shows, availability etc.

Jonathan’s motivation to both save and buy the things he wanted was strong and as he grew older his interest transitioned from buying a watch to saving towards fast cars and boats.  LESSON #1: You need to figure out a solid reason for why you are putting in the hard work ie You need to find your hunger.

Jonathan’s father wisely directed him down the route of buying a property rather than see it ploughed into a car. So aged 15 and a half, he bought his first shop with flat above. Being only 15 and a half, finding a mortgage provided challenging to say the least.  37 banks said no before one finally agreed to a loan of £12K, so along with his £3K deposit (self earned) he could buy the property. With that many rejections he quickly learned how to frame a better argument and improve his pitch (LESSON #2).

So those were the very early years but that gives a little insight into the kind of resilient, determined and business savvy person he was becoming..

One of the key things that Jonathan alluded to along his journey was his determination to acquire both knowledge and skills that would propel him in business. Just one example of that was the importance of learning to sell, and his commitment to becoming the best person he knew at selling. LESSON #3 invest in educating yourself and learn to sell.

Buying and renting both commercial and residential property continued into adulthood, hence showing the power of taking action young and then refining through continuous action. Of course there were challenges; big downs and big ups along the way but as he shared, ‘failure is a stepping stone to success”. And with this in mind he learned the importance of having multiple exit plans vs approaching something with only one exit plan having to work out (LESSON #4).

Jonathan shared a brilliant story of one business experience that brought massive learns – it was a tea towel business of all things. I can’t recall exactly why tea towels but he tracked down and visited a low cost factory in Eastern Europe and signed a contract for 100,000 tea towels to be delivered to the UK.  Or so he thought. When the delivery came it was for 380,000 tea towels, and it was the first delivery of the total 10 million. Woops, an extra two zero’s were added without him realising. But he was committed by contract!

He now had to find a way to go out and sell vast quantities of tea towels. As he said, ‘Nothing gets you moving like necessity”. After multiple different trials and tribulations, his resourcefulness ultimately led to the creation of a business that was selling 8-10 million teas towels per year. LESSON#5: Never give up and be resourceful.

Some added bonuses that came from the after talk questions:

LESSON #6: On wealth Creation

The key to sustainable wealth creation and keeping your brain sharp is to have 1) a profitable trading business that also covers all your living expenses

2) a compounding property investing strategy at work ie to reinvest proceeds back into buying more high yielding property assets, rather than extracting and spending all the profits.

LESSON #7: On goal setting

In the spirit of Grant Cardone’s 10X Rule, Jonathan is a big believer in adding a 0 to your number based goals. The act of stretching your thinking to a 10X goal and then figuring out at several ways to make that happen, along with the time it will take, can push you to far greater clarity, alignment and success. If you fall short of that 10X goal, there’s a pretty high chance that you’ll be above your original goal.

LESSON #8: On habits

I asked Jonathan what single habit has he consciously implemented that has made the most positive impact to his results. Without hesitating he said it was to implement a morning health regime. For him it’s cycling about 20 miles a day come rain or shine.  This routine has multiple benefits -makes him feel energised, gives clarity of thought, provides a window of time to make phone calls, time to listen to podcasts, and of course the massive physical health benefits. I also learned that his favourite time to get work done in the office is between 5-8.30pm when there are no distractions.

What a pleasure to meet such a successful yet grounded and authentic person.

I know my kids will be inspired by me recounting this to them, and hopefully those reading this will be too.- to build the right foundations, acquire the right business and investing skills, to take big action and to consciously work on the mindset to turn any failures into the ‘stepping stones to success’.