Property Investors student ups his earnings after ditching £40K job

Property Investors student ups his earnings after ditching £40K job ..

25-year-old Josh Jenkins gave up his £40,000 a year job after joining the Property Investors Academy to learn how to make money from bricks and mortar. Since then, Josh has made thousands of pounds from sourcing and selling investment opportunities. He averages £7,000 a month in commissions, topping that in one month with earnings of £15,000. The young entrepreneur has also built up a large portfolio of rent-to-rents and is looking to move into property developing with his business partner who trained on the academy too.

‘Samuel Leeds’ video content blew my mind’

Before going into property Josh was a business development manager in the engineering industry. He travelled the country and liked his job. It was secure, paid him reasonably well and gave him perks such as a company car.

In the back of his mind, however, was the thought that he wanted to start his own business, rather than help others grow their companies. He just wasn’t sure what field it should be in.

“I knew from my job I wasn’t really going to achieve the goals I’d set out for myself to achieve, the lifestyle I wanted for myself and my family by working that nine to five job,” explains Josh.

So, he did some research online and read books to get some inspiration. Property investing came up on his radar, but he dismissed it, believing that it required capital to get started.

“I thought it was about having a buy-to-let and needing a 25 per cent deposit to put down on a property, so I always overlooked that, but then I came across one of Samuel Leeds’ videos. I remember he was sitting in his office going through all the different strategies you could do in property.”

Josh says his ‘mind was blown’ and he watched all of Samuel’s YouTube videos in a week. The ‘next minute’ he found himself on the Property Investors Crash Course in Birmingham.

“It was eye opening because Samuel was talking on stage about all these different strategies. I couldn’t take enough notes down.”

He then enrolled on the three-day Deal Finding Extravaganza, which again was an ‘eye-opener,’ teaching him how to find lucrative property deals which he could sell to investors.

And yet right from the start Josh was plagued by the ‘chimp on his shoulder’ who made him doubt whether the strategies he was learning about could really work.

Josh starts believing he can achieve

It was the American self-help author Napoleon Hill who said: “Whatever your mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.”

This description of the power of positive thinking was illustrated by Josh himself. At first, he was doubtful. Then, seeing how property could make him money, he began to believe and realise it was achievable.

“From speaking to previous students whilst on the crash course and going on the Deal Finding Extravaganza, you get engaged and realise this can happen,” he says.

Josh also studied the many case studies featured on Samuel’s popular YouTube series, Winners on a Wednesday, which helped him battle his abiding thought that ‘this can’t be right, how is this possible?’

Despite his reservations and having seen one deal fall through, Josh found the courage to leave his job in October 2020.

“I’m very much an all or nothing guy. That’s it, I’m in. Even when I put my resignation in, though, and it was the last day of work I thought I shouldn’t be doing this. This feels wrong, it’s not how it’s supposed to be.”

Two days later he attended the Deal Selling Masterclass and sold his first deal to a fellow student who was looking for an investment property. Josh just happened to have one that suited him.

“It was at that point I thought I can do something with this. This is the right business model for me. With property you can look, touch, feel it.”

Finally, he could cast off his ‘chimp.’ He picked up a £2,500 ‘finder’s fee,’ experiencing the satisfaction also of being able to provide a valuable service to a happy customer.

One of the major benefits of the Property Investors Academy, says Josh, apart from the training, has been the friendships he has formed with other successful students, including his business partner Chris Jaap.

Being based in Liverpool has enabled them to take advantage of the city’s busy property market.

“As a business, we’re filling quite a lot of the demand at the moment. It’s very good for us,” adds Josh.

He uses multiple avenues to find investors. Social media is one channel, as well as property networking events and courses where he pitches his services.

A lot of his deals are for off-market properties which he finds through building up relationships with local estate agents. Friends and family who may be selling a property but haven’t put it on the market can also provide him with leads.

“It’s about building a rapport and having confidence. If you sit down with an estate agent and ask them if they have any off-market deals, then they’re probably not going to give them to you. But if you say this is what I can bring to the table, this is what I’ve got in principle and I’ve got clients waiting – and you can back up what you say you’re going to do, that makes a massive difference for them to have confidence in you as well. It works both ways.”

The best way to build that relationship is to also be consistent with them and to become their best friend.

Branching out into rent-to-serviced accommodation

Josh’s training has been crucial in helping him to build up a successful property company. During the Deal Selling Masterclass Property Investors’ lead trainer Alasdair Cunningham sold deals from the stage and demonstrated how he sent them out to his network. He also brought Josh onto the stage to write an email to investors describing the opportunities on offer. It was that live element of seeing and doing which impressed him and reinforced his belief that he could make a career out of deal sourcing. Surrounding himself with others who were already succeeding in property added to that conviction.

Josh also completed other courses during his time on the academy, including the Rent-to-Rent Revolution, Business of Property Investing, Lease Option Bootcamp, BRR Masterclass and Tell the World. The latter gave him confidence as a speaker to the point where he felt able to address an audience on stage at one of the Property Investors’ Crash Courses.

Alongside his deal sourcing activities, Josh now has a portfolio of rent-to-serviced accommodation apartments.

“At the moment we’ve got two apartments in Birmingham, one in Bristol and jointly eight in Liverpool which are all doing really well, especially since staycations are now opening up.

“We’re also looking after a lot of project management for some of our clients who we’ve done BRRs (buy, refurbish, refinance projects) for. We’ve offered them a complete hands-off investment and we’ve done the project management from start to finish on all of them.”

Josh decided to branch out into rent-to-rents to give himself an income which was passive once the apartments had been set up with management companies and cleaners in place.

Having now achieved that aim, the former business manager turned company owner has his sights set on moving into property developing.

“We’ve got a lot of things in the pipeline. A lot of investors have come forward and said they want to work with us and get involved on joint ventures. We’ve backed up what we said we were going to do with the projects on the BRR side, so now the next stage is to go into development.

“They can see the returns we’re getting for other people. We’ve got testimonials and case studies. It’s a perfect win-win for them. We put the time in, and they can help finance [a development] and get a return as well.”

One of his main reasons for going into property was to help his father leave his job too.

“My dad has always provided for the family after being in the corporate life for over 34 years. I always wanted to try to help him get out of that and also see a different life. He also joined me on the first crash course. So that was always the mission to try to do that.

“I’m pleased to say that recently I managed to get my old man out of work, so he’s now started into the business. He’s absolutely made up and can see what we’re trying to achieve.”

Josh’s tips

One of the biggest things Samuel taught me was use these strategies as a toolbox and become a property problem solver. Always look at how you can solve people’s problems and diversify.

Network like crazy and get around good people. See what they’ve got. Use their knowledge. I’m in an accountability group with five other property entrepreneurs. Every Monday we discuss what we’ve done in the week. Just being around them spurs you on because it’s a little bit competitive.

Go out there and go for it. Say yes and worry about it later. Sometimes you can overthink things.

Think how you can make yourself different. Be creative and look at what you can do that other people may not be doing.

If you’re hesitating about going on the Property Investors Crash Course, flip the chimp off your shoulder and get down there. You’ve got nothing to lose, and the atmosphere is indescribable. Once you’re there you’ll wonder why you didn’t come sooner because it’s not all on YouTube.

Samuel Leeds’ verdict

“It’s been great seeing Josh’s growth over the last year or so. I’m really impressed with his work ethic and how he’s gone the extra mile to get the job done. In the last year and a half, he’s built up a large portfolio of rent-to-rents and he’s sourcing. Now he’s completely financially free, and he’s been able to get his dad out of work which is incredible.

“If you’ve got a list of investors and deals, you can package and sell deals, but then you can use the investors’ money and joint venture with them. That’s how Josh can start building his own pie.”

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