Property Hub - Investment Insights & Inspiration - Get Invested: Part 1 – Ashleigh Goodchild on asking your way to success

Starting point is 00:00:00 I'm a huge risk taker. I definitely am someone that doesn't procrastinate, makes quick decisions and continues to move forward because I'm always thinking of that future self. So it started with SoCo Realty, which I've had for 20 years, and then that developed into Property Profiling and PM Collective. But if I reflect on why those businesses started, they were always started not to make money, not for any other reason but just to help welcome to get invested on the property hub podcast channel a leading weekly show for australians who want to learn how to unlock their full self

Starting point is 00:00:38 health and wealth potential i'm your host bushy martin and each week i go deep with the best investors experts leaders and founders to find out what it takes to break free from the grind discover freedom and to live by design subscribe now and join me get invested in the life that you really want. Let's get started. Hi Freedom Fighters. What's holding you back from achieving your dreams? How much are you limited and restricted by your beliefs, attitudes, outlook and expectations? Do you put invisible limits on yourself and others? You know, those subconscious and subliminal handbrakes that you may not even be aware of, that invisibly restrict you and hold you back. Because you always seem to come up with a reason or reasons why now is never the right

Starting point is 00:01:27 time to do something that's really important to you or you believe that you need to be an expert before you do anything or you won't take the risk to try anything until you know that it's safe which means that you never actually get around to it and if you do it's often too late. Now you can read, listen, analyze and study all you like but nothing really happens until you actually do something and you take some action and with the rapidly accelerating speed of just about everything in our AI-enabled world, if you hesitate or procrastinate, you're lost and will be left behind. Because, as the old saying goes, time waits for no man or woman, and time is the only resource that we have less of with every passing day. So you need to back yourself, jump off the

Starting point is 00:02:13 cliff, and build your wings on the way down, as you build your confidence in knowing that you'll be able to do what it takes, or get the help that you need, to help make it happen. Because there's no greater motivator than necessity if you have to do something because you don't have a choice it's amazing what you're capable of and what you can achieve but if something is a nice to do and we don't have to do we just never seem to get around to it because it's optional and has no urgency so it's never who you are and where you're at but it's where you're heading that counts and to move ahead you need to put yourself out there because you'll never know if you don't have a go and if you don't try something you'll end up living with a lot of regret and kicking

Starting point is 00:03:00 yourself in the years that come as you constantly say if only this or if only that as you watch opportunities pass you by and you see other action takers grow and prosper because being the dumbest person in the room and that's something I'm pretty used to and surrounding yourself with positive people that currently know more than you do allows you to ask questions and keep asking questions until you don't need to ask them anymore because you've become an expert by osmosis and by association it's why your net wealth equals your network and you end up being the average of the five people you spend your most time with so get out there and choose your company wisely it's how I was able to handle the discomfort of completely changing careers 10 times today

Starting point is 00:03:49 from being an architect to government program manager to executive change manager to day trader property investor property manager finance breaker to property investment strategist and mentor to author and podcast host I just keep slashing my floaties diving in deep embracing my constant discomfort and biting off more than I can chew and then just chewing like crazy by constantly asking questions and learning anything and everything I can as quickly as I can because constant curiosity combined with continuous incremental improvement leads to exponential sustainable success. You see no gains day to day but over time your performance capitalizes and compounds. You just need to keep doing it. So you just need to ask and question

Starting point is 00:04:36 your way to success and don't ask for permission just ask for forgiveness because what's the worst thing that can happen if you try something and it doesn't work you learn something you didn't know and we'll do it differently next time as you slowly but surely get better at it because your biggest learnings come from your biggest mistakes and your growing patience and persistent muscles will get you to where you want to be just like learning to walk or ride a bike when you're a kid unrelenting determination will help you to make it happen not let it happen now a lot is said about the unique qualities and traits that separate the best from the rest but from my experience of studying the sustainably successful in every realm of endeavor for over four decades

Starting point is 00:05:19 now the standouts are always those who back themselves and have no limits as they embrace their fears and discomfort in a positive indicator of growth and they put themselves out there they take action they constantly ask questions and do it and keep doing it until they achieve their level of mastery so if you've been waiting for the right time to invest in property the right time is always now and if you've been waiting for a sign then this is it take some action now that your future self and family will thank you for and if you like take an opportunity to book in with me for a personal solution session by clicking the link in the show notes or going to knowhowproperty.com.au, where you and I will spend a full hour on war to draw on my 40 years

Starting point is 00:06:02 of property experience to help you solve your biggest property challenges and answer your questions so that you can continue to invest with clarity and confidence. And to motivate you way further, today's special guest is an inspiring example of everything I've just been talking about. As you're about to see in here, Ashley Goodchild is very comfortable in the skin and she's not afraid to put herself out there as she shares and collaborates with others in a spirit of continuous giving generosity where the synergy of the whole is far better than the individual parts as she continues to grow and prosper exponentially now if you have the pleasure to listen to episode 610 of Realty Talk back in mid-June and if you haven't I'll put a link in the show notes you'll

Starting point is 00:06:46 already know that Ashley is a long-term local WA property entrepreneur an investor advocate and property management specialist as a director of SoCo Realty, a founder of a PM collective and property profiling businesses, as well as a fellow podcast host, speaker, and frequent media personality, on top of being an avid baker, I hear, Ash, and a mum to a blended family of six kids. So I'm actually going to question you, Ashley, everywhere. Now today, Ashley's going to share her motivational, personal, professional, and passive investment journey before we dive headlong next week into the western australian opportunity and there are other investor initiatives that will help you to become a better investor so welcome and let's get invested ash amazing i loved every

Starting point is 00:07:32 single word that you just said like it was in my own mind like that was amazing awesome well i i think we're on uh the more i've google searched you the more i've realized we've got very similar our outlooks on life. So it's really good to be sharing some time with someone who embraces everyone and every opportunity. Unfortunately, the property industry, I think, is dogged with a lot of people who see everyone as competition. I don't see that at all. I see it as a collegiate opportunity to collectively do better. And I know from the work that you're doing across multiple spheres that you're doing the same. But look, Kay, I really want to get into it. So For those who've been living under a rock somewhere and haven't had a chance to hear

Starting point is 00:08:17 or see you yet, can you sort of start off by giving us a bit of an introduction and telling us what you do differently and as importantly, why you do what you do, Ash? While I'm in real estate, I've always said that I could have been in any industry when I was 23 years old. It just happened that I was in real estate and that's why I started the real estate business. but I could have been a hairdresser. I could have been a baker. I would have still started a business because that's where I have, um, that that's just my personality more of that business mindset. Um, but I've grown, I've grown to love real estate. I absolutely do love property. Um,

Starting point is 00:08:59 and I have just always done what I feel right. Uh, but also I'm a huge risk taker. Um, I definitely am someone that doesn't procrastinate, makes quick decisions and continues to move forward because I'm always thinking of that future self. So it started with SoCo Realty, which I've had for 20 years, and then that developed into Property Profiling and PM Collective. But if I reflect on why those businesses started, they were always started not to make money, not for any other reason but just to help and I've probably got that servant leadership personality and nature and that's how I practice and it's not that I put myself that category and said I want to be a servant leader and that's how I'm going to be it's something that I've only realized after 20 years

Starting point is 00:09:59 of managing a team that that's my style and that's you know what makes it unique and special And that's probably why I do really well in business because I am, while I definitely am someone who's out there in the media and the social media, but I'm also behind the scenes making my team look better. I'm also making other property managers look better with my peer and collective support. And then I'm in the background making investors make better decisions as well. So for me, it's just very much a helping role, which then leads into some philanthropic work that I do as well. So there's probably something in my growing up that has led me to that, but that's how I work.

Starting point is 00:10:46 That's how I've done business. And it's always about helping people first and then everything else will flow. Yeah, it's well said. And let's go right there because I'd love to sort of unpack what it is about your upbringing or your ancestry that it sort of led you to be so giving and sharing in your approach generally. Can you sort of take us back there? Yeah. So dad was an accountant, but also someone who was trying to start new businesses all the time. I want to say that he probably wasn't successful as a business owner in what he did, but he gave

Starting point is 00:11:27 it a go. And I give him credit for that. And then he has that background of working really, really hard and making money and providing. However, my mom was a nurse, but she actually had my two older sisters when she was 17. And then she went back and studied, did nursing. and then she later on in her later 20s had myself and my brother so I always clarify same father it's just that she had two kids when she was super young and two kids later but that has to have had some subconscious effect on us because she didn't just have two children at 17 and then said to herself that's who I'm going to be a young mother and not do anything else she went and studied and she's 72 now she is um you know a very successful very humble nurse practitioner working in an

Starting point is 00:12:25 aboriginal community so she still works really hard to get upset with it but it's it's really good to reflect on your upbringing and how that actually how that actually changes who you are But also, it's also really good if you have children to also recognise what you're doing with your own children and how you could be impacting them as well. Sorry, let me just gather my thoughts because I know that this is an audio. I love you sharing that, Ash. Here's the thing that I think you've uncovered early that most people either never get their heads around or generally late in life. And it's something that I only discovered in the last year of my dying mum who had stage four lung cancer. I came to realise that she's the most giving, selfless person I've ever met alongside my good wife, Sonia.

Starting point is 00:13:28 And I realised after spending time helping mum out during that pretty tragic year, that true fulfillment only comes from giving freely to others without ever expecting anything in return. And what I've just heard you share is that your mum and your dad are both like that. So it was inevitable, really, that your giving-sharing approach was going to come out in spades in the work that you're doing. So I really appreciate you sharing that

Starting point is 00:13:59 because it's something that most people miss in this current day and age, sadly. Any thoughts on that? Yeah. And I think something that I try to tell people all the time is that you will never become poor from giving ever. So whether, but giving also comes in lots of different ways. So giving comes in money, it comes in time, it can come in networks and who you know. And so I think that that's really important for people to also know. And I think every person as a member of the community has a responsibility to give in some way um there was a time where i didn't have

Starting point is 00:14:39 any money to give but i had time so i would always go to red cross and give blood there was a time now where i don't actually have the time so i haven't given blood for a long time for a while but i've got the money to be able to do some good and and it changes you know and and during life you go through different stages but you always are able to give and you will never become poor i'm giving well i love it it's a massive lesson for people to take away right there and i hope most people do because again time and urgency tends to get in the way of things and it's it becomes as i sort of said that outset it becomes something they would like to do but they never actually quite get around to doing uh not a reason for doing but i i know that the more you give

Starting point is 00:15:25 uh you open yourself up to receive uh and it comes in ways that you would never expect if you give yourself that opportunity and then just the the satisfaction of helping someone in need you can't put a price on it ash there's there's no question about that um tell me you've touched on on this a little bit already but i'd love for you to talk to us about now do you think back over your journey so far what's been the most challenging event in your life uh and and what are the learnings and changes that have come out of that can you reflect on that for us yeah the the when I saw when I thought about this question the biggest challenge would have been divorce and it is something that I counsel a lot of people through now uh with it I think

Starting point is 00:16:15 it is such an emotional uh emotional situation because you are you're sometimes separating property and and all of that and the it really showcased um my uh business um my what was the word my business characteristics and how I work in business and I applied that into this into a divorce and I recommend everybody because it works for me to make quick decisions and to move quickly but also don't sweat the small stuff I think people just get so bogged down with the emotion with such a big you know big part of your life and for me while it was stressful I felt like I did it very very well I handled it very well it was a big challenge but I also just knew that the minute I could get this negative energy out away and out of my life the quicker I can move forward

Starting point is 00:17:20 and start maybe regaining the money that maybe I lost or whatever it might have been but it's um it was it made a massive difference in my life by dealing with that very very smoothly quickly yes it was emotional but uh it was I was so thankful that I didn't let it go too far and I was very thankful that I've preserved my mental health with that and really um reached out to a lot of people that didn't know me um very very well personally to help me make decisions it's it's a funny thing it was probably one of the best moves that I actually made going through this situation where you know when you speak to like a friend or a family member and everyone wants to get onto a bandwagon and help you make a decision but they're not very helpful

Starting point is 00:18:12 by doing that they're just throwing so much more chaos to you and really confusing the situation and this isn't just for divorce it could be for anything it could be starting a new business or making a really big decision in your life when you have friends and family yes they want the best for you but they're not necessarily the right advisors for you so I actually had some people that were in the industry that I had seen two or three times per year I knew they were incredibly smart they were very very smart from a business aspect way smarter than I was and so they actually said Ash Friday night at my office we're going to have a few drinks we're going to put it all up on a whiteboard so they got a whiteboard they they put everything that i that i was still you know

Starting point is 00:18:59 having a dilemma over properties business uh etc and they just put it so i could see it and very very unbiasedly said this is one of your options this is your second option and to have people number one willing to help you is so fabulous um and that's part of that um you know giving and receiving, but they were also very happy to help me make a very clear decision that wasn't emotional. And that was probably one of the best things that I ever did was being confident and comfortable enough and vulnerable enough to reach out to some people to seek support when I needed it in an area that was new to me. So big challenge. I navigated it well, but I had to put myself out there um and now we um do really well at it's taken us a while to get there but we've

Starting point is 00:19:53 been doing really well from a co-parenting um point of view and um you know and working with each other so I'm happy with the way that it ended up but I definitely didn't let that situation define me and I definitely didn't victimize myself in that situation either I was always making decisions for the future and knowing that, you know what, I can move on. I'm going to be fine in whatever I do. It doesn't matter. I love it. That's a really good sharing. And I love what you did because shame gets in the way often of people being prepared to be vulnerable and share their situation with others, particularly others that you might be working with or know you pretty well and i what i love about what you said there as well is that by doing that and removing the

Starting point is 00:20:46 emotion from the equation because as you said i've been there as well sadly uh ash and it was the worst two years of my life actually but but also i greatest learnings from that because i had to reflect on me and who who was i and what did i need to change about myself to prevent ending up in the same situation again uh so uh i love that and i love the share about yes our friends and family have our best interests at heart but they are so emotionally engaged in what becomes a win lose battle uh and often sadly it's the the kids who end up as the cannon fodder in all of that exercise i i know you know i i still uh hold a lot of guilt around uh the challenges my son's had as a result of uh breaking up in my first marriage and that's something i continue to work on and

Starting point is 00:21:38 work on with him uh what about yourself i would i know you live in a blended family now with your kids so i'm guessing with that sort of a approach to try and resolve it quickly and keep the emotion out of it probably worked well for you and and your ex and the kids can you share a bit of that for us yeah we have probably a different setup and it when I vocalize it it sounds like it's a bit tough but we have six kids full-time so we have them for 12 days on two days off and my partner is you know works full-time corporate you know I you know work full-time and we the kids to give you some context uh aged 10 11 12 13 14 15 why there's three girls three boys and when i say that they've got a variety bunch that's what everyone says um and like when i say that they

Starting point is 00:22:38 have different personalities like ridiculous say that you really do it's like having you know a team at work you've got to really make sure that you're individually um and you know meeting to their demands it's hard but one of the biggest things that I had to do and this might be a little bit controversial to sort of what people think blended families should do but I work really really hard and I know my partner does as well but at the end of the day my priority is my children will always be my children and I expect his priority to beat his children always well so we have what we call family rules and household rules so household rules are what we all have to follow and then we have family rules that are different and our family rules are very different he's he's

Starting point is 00:23:27 been brought up on a farm you know very different lifestyle and i and i haven't so my when the kids might get different pocket money the kids might have different bedtimes the kids will have different expectations of chores and it is they all understand that each family has their own rules and we're two families ultimately under one roof and then we have the household rules so the household rules are eating at the dinner table um which happens 90 percent maybe 95 percent of the time that's one household rule um and then um oh it's not a formal household rule but my partner of likes the kids to make sure they thank me for dinner at the end of the night i don't sound like a silly rule but it's just that really not a thing it's important we but then everything else in

Starting point is 00:24:20 between um we take full responsibility for so to the point that school holidays i don't help him with his and he doesn't help me with mine and if i want help i will ask him can you please help me with this, which is very, very rare. If I've got a work trip to do, I will arrange my own babysitting for my kids or my mum to look after them. And that's not on him. There was one time he did ask me to look after his kids while he had a trip to London. And I looked after all of the kids for, I think it was five days. And he came home with a very expensive handbag for me. And he had flowers delivered to me every single day he was away and I and the reason why um I um I was it was very thankful he didn't have to do that but what it shows is that there is no

Starting point is 00:25:20 expectation ever and I hate having expectations I think it's a real problem in business and um in family life there's no expectations that I was expected to do that just because I am the female living in the you know in the and i should have to you know we should help each other out we're actually very separate so even to the point where i won't wash um his children's um beds and sheets but if he wants me to help him i'm happy to do it and he can just say ash would you mind just helping me out washing the kids sheets no problems at all but it's not an expectation that i'm going to do that for you every you know every fortnight and i know that that actually comes across as a little bit mean but it's the way that I preserve my mental health

Starting point is 00:26:05 it works so well in our family and um we stay in our own lanes and it's also respectful to um you know their his kids mum and also to to my ex it's very respectful to them because we're not trying to blend it and make us one family we are not one family we're two families we're living in one roof and at the end of the day we're only going to be a blended family for a very short amount of time the kids are going to be adults and grown up and then we're left with just us two and we can have that time later on but right now that's how we we work um and there is absolutely no expectations on me to um be a mother to six six children um but i am there if i need to help you but ultimately um we're each responsible for our own um so i cook dinner for everybody clearly like i'll

Starting point is 00:27:00 you know make your own dinner and i i cook dinner i do the food shop and i mush the clothes um one load every night and that's it and um everything else the kids all have to sort out themselves when it comes to breakfast and lunch and and whatever so it can start to sound a little bit but it works for us it keeps me happy and it keeps me able to be able to manage a household still while still committing to everything else and it works really really well with us I think I just think people try to blend too much and I think we can sometimes do it wrong by doing that and the other thing I'd love just to mention is that we absolutely do not discipline each other's children and um it's happened a few times both parts both ways it doesn't end well and um that's

Starting point is 00:27:56 something that's very very big and that's probably a household rule that we don't do that and if i have got a concern with one of his kids i will tell him and he will go discipline and same with me if he's one of my kids hasn't cleaned up something maybe in the shed then he tells me and i'll sort it out and that is something that i really respect in our relationship as well I love it. You mentioned a couple of times, maybe that sounds harsh. I don't think it is at all because what you've done is very clearly defined some boundaries around how it operates.

Starting point is 00:28:29 Everyone knows what they are and kids in particular need boundaries because they, and it's all right to say, we had a similar situation with my son where I used to say that we live this way, mum lives that way, neither is wrong, they're just different. So when you're with us, this is how it rolls. When you're with mum, that's how it rolls. Early on, when he would try it on, he'd say, well, mum says this. I'd say, okay, well, I'm going to get mum on the phone and we'll have a chat about that.

Starting point is 00:28:59 And that sort of got rid of that one really quick. But I love the way that you've also eliminated that sort of invisible load that's often attached to the expectation of particularly women in Australian society. I was brought up as a country boy where mum looked after the house and dad did the work and never the twain shall meet uh i think breaking it down like you've done uh and and for each party having to ask each other so that it eliminates there's no assumption or expectation there it is okay well i need your help i'm going to ask you for that help

Starting point is 00:29:32 love it absolutely love it and that works not just well in the family that works really well in business because you defined everyone's roles you know how it operates uh people know what they do and what they don't do and if they need someone else's assistance they put up their hand hand up and they ask the question so i i think there's some really good learnings i love the way you've done that because it respects all parties in in that that piece uh so uh no i absolutely love that um a question i often ask as well uh a little bit of a different tack on this one ash but uh given that you're very active in a whole whole bunch of spheres which we'll unpack in some detail in in part two of our our chat but uh what do people misunderstand

Starting point is 00:30:20 about you most do you think i think that well i don't know i hope they don't think this but sometimes i come across as well i feel that i come across as too busy and unapproachable that's one of the the um it's something that bothers me when people think that where they won't reach out to me because they think that oh she's too busy because i am everywhere on social media um it's probably but i i think if people know me they know my priorities are always putting other people first when if someone needs me so my stuff can wait till the end of the day or till that evening if someone needs me more

Starting point is 00:31:10 like i'm i think i'm very good at um i'm very good at prioritizing other people's feelings um not to the detriment of mine by anything but um but by really appreciating that sometimes things are really important to someone else even though it might not be important to me um it's really important to them to get an answer so i sometimes i sometimes i feel like i come across as a big cult um and i and in my heart like i'm not cold at all i feel like i'm chatty and i you know want to speak to everyone and i feel like the friendliest person on earth but sometimes we can just give up the visual that we don't realize that we do and i think about that quite a lot um and in my yeah my partner's actually the opposite he's like a complete introvert

Starting point is 00:32:05 and he doesn't want anyone talking to him at all but his face he's just got a friendly face and everyone talks to him and he is like why are they talking to me acting to the side going please talk to me talk to me i want to talk up so i i think that that is a a bit of a you know um you know people are a little bit you know misguided by by me by i think nothing i give up i don't know what it is but i don't want to be that person anymore um because i'm really really friendly so definitely people feeling like they can't call me or ask me for help or if they um people that don't you know pick up the phone and reach out and just you know call me and ask me anything if you need a hand with something I don't do that enough and I think that it comes back down to

Starting point is 00:32:58 you know back in the day where you would go and just knock on someone's door to see if they're at home and people don't do that enough anymore and they don't just pick up the phone and say hey you don't know me but I've got this problem and I'm just wanting to see whether you're able to help me or if you know someone that can help me and we yeah we just we've just lost that i think and um and i love yeah i just want people to be able to feel comfortable calling me and asking me for help well i i think you i think you're being a bit hard on yourself because uh i i that wouldn't have been in my thinking at all and i think there's a there's a difference between being focused when when you've got a lot that you're juggling and being unfriendly they're

Starting point is 00:33:44 they're two very different things but uh i can only talk from my own experience but uh in the the short time that um we've been spending some time you've got to be the most open warm friendly and fun person that uh someone could spend some time with so you there might be a little bit of a self-critical element in the back there background there perhaps but but busy gets in the way of that sometimes so because it's a perception not a reality i think is the reality of that but um hey um i wanted to sort of jump in to the property sphere now and and more focus on your personal journey if we can uh can i get you to sort of break that down for us and and before we do though one of the the biggest challenges that people have with property is starting the process and

Starting point is 00:34:33 I say it all the time, it's a start that stops most people. Can you tell us about why you personally decided to invest and get involved in property and what triggered your interest? Yeah, I've never rented a house before. I've never been a tenant. I just don't think that was something that was considered normal. Like my parents always owned property and had investment property as well. so it wasn't uh something that was even an option I guess it was just natural that when you move out

Starting point is 00:35:05 of home you buy your first property and off you go so that for me um was just what I considered that was my normal so I feel like property is just uh it's physical like I am comfortable with that it serves a few purposes it serves a housing purpose when you need it or if you have family that need it but it also serves um a you know a financial you know you can make money from it as well but ultimately it's something that we all need and with it we don't need it someone else we know needs it so you it's never it's never going to be underused i guess so that's why i've always invested in property and i definitely am more comfortable with that than shares or anything else i've tried a little bit in um and just dabbled a little bit in shares but i haven't done enough

Starting point is 00:35:55 to do well or um but I also don't have enough of the interest to care either so that's probably what's stopped me even looking at that anymore um but I think it's just easy yeah no that's good so can you take us on your property journey then to talk about uh you know the first property you bought what was it and and how the how your property journey has then evolved from there yeah so the first property was in a place called Koobalup which is definitely on the investors list at the moment and if you ask me do i have any regrets it's always selling property that's always the regret um so we purchased that property for 160 000 three by one uh back and on a big block on probably an 800 square meter block and that would have been about uh 21 years ago 22

Starting point is 00:36:43 years ago so i would have been sort of around 2021 um and then from that we it did actually went up really well. I think it went up probably about a hundred thousand in a number of years, which was actually really good. We upgraded to a property that was in a better location. So I think that's something that young people do wrong. They just, they never just start with something basic. Like I always knew that Koopalup home was never going to be my forever home, but it was perfectly suitable and fine for what I needed then it was all we could afford then and that was fine so when we got a little bit of money we were able to upgrade to a better area which we did had a gorgeous home in a place called Melville which is still a really great area again regretted selling that

Starting point is 00:37:33 but our house that we bought there we bought for $300,000 so we went from $160,000 to $300,000 which was nearly double so it's more a lot back then doubling your mortgage um and then we ended up selling that property i think for about 675 so we made you know a good 300 375 on it and then with that money we ended up upgrading again after maybe five years we upgraded to a gorgeous part of perth called kensington which is next to south perth um yeah i love kensington still love it and we bought a really old character home i think for 600 000 so again doubled our mortgage to get to the next step up but then we had some equity of 300 000 that we were able to do a big extension on so we did it because i've got lots of experience with contractors and maintenance and renovations

Starting point is 00:38:27 it was quite easy for us so we did a um a homeowner build and did it ourselves i can't remember the technical word for it but yeah no good enough yeah we know what you need okay yeah we did that we you know and we just did it in stages and we probably drew it out really long because like we had obviously the designs got the council approval but then because we sort of had that money in the bank we just did one step at a time because I knew what contractors I wanted to use it wasn't a matter of going in getting the best deal or the best price I only wanted to use my contractors who I know um that do a good job so we booked in the slab the slab got done or we booked in a plumbing first but then our plumbing got done and then we found a brick layer and they

Starting point is 00:39:09 did the bricks and we found the glacier and they did the windows and found a roof or they did the roof and we just sort of you know managed that and we ended up extending a beautiful character home and to end that into a three by two which was um which is gorgeous but then we had our third kid and we needed something bigger because my um my ex-husband didn't like the idea of kids sharing rooms even though the rooms were beautiful and big in a character height um that was how he was brought up that everyone has their own room so he wanted to move so then we moved to a million dollar height so again probably again another double of a mortgage so we constantly were always doubling the mortgage this time in Como which again beautiful area um massive 1012 square

Starting point is 00:39:55 meter block, Oxford primary school, character home, four bedroom, two bathroom, massive bar and alfresco, perfect for the three children. And again, you know, one of the regrets that we sold through the divorce, we did sell that property, which is the shame because I wish I had it now, but the way life goes, you make the right decision at the right time, you know, that you make the right decision for that time yeah and um and then from there we sold that one and then I actually I'm like I did rent I rented after um I after the divorce I rented a little two-bedroom home in South Perth and about 12 months and then my mom was constantly hounding me to move into her house so I did that and then um then since that process I didn't have any

Starting point is 00:40:48 property so which felt very uncomfortable not to have any property so I went and bought a little commercial um unit in Inglewood which is again beautiful spot but was um it's a perfect little commercial of um I want to say office but it's more like a workspace street front on a on you know one of the main roads which is great and um but it was going to serve a future it'll hopefully it'll serve a future purpose in the um down the track when I just need a little office to work from to consult and all of that but for the moment I've got um a brand um commercial business in there at the moment which is great and then I went on and bought two regional properties um north of Perth an hour out of Perth which provide a nice beach lifestyle and those properties

Starting point is 00:41:39 will be for the purpose of retiring. So we will retire up there. And the reason why we've got to actually was a bit of an accident. We just happened to buy a little one, which was perfect for us to go up on weekends. The neighbor, funny story, actually, the neighbor, I actually somehow knew. So we developed a good relationship and the house was much bigger than the one we had bought um and was much more suitable and he said to me ash can you do a sales appraisal for me and i hadn't got around to doing it and my partner was up there one weekend and he said oh ash has done that appraisal is she coming up this week and he goes no and then they got talking about the sale and then the um the guy go then linds goes to him how much are you wanting to sell it

Starting point is 00:42:28 for and the guy said 450 000 and Lindsay calls me up and he goes how much are you going to appraise and I went probably about 600 he goes he wants 450 I've shaken his hand still done I was like beautiful um the right place at the right time so we we purchased that one um and what our plan is um is to um sell the little one sort of hang up the mortgage of the bigger one when we're due when we plan to live up there and retire so maybe in sort of eight ten years and then we'll have uh that property mortgage free that we will live in that's only an hour out of perth and that is sort of the property journey to date so the properties that i have purchased have have been for a yes for an investment purpose but also for a future benefit

Starting point is 00:43:23 for me so therefore I haven't been as worried about capital growth or rent return or anything like that because I know naturally over time they will do their thing and I'm not in any situation where I'm going to have to you know have a certain return in three years or five years so they can be a bit of a sit and forget because of that purpose. And then I'm also going through the process now of purchasing another couple of properties, which will be in Perth, but they will be for the purpose of the kids. When I eventually move an hour out of Perth, then the kids will have a place down here and it will serve a purpose for them as well. So that's, that's how I probably invest more um not necessarily thinking of the immediate return but knowing that they if they do well

Starting point is 00:44:18 fantastic but otherwise they serve the other purpose which is to house me or my family and all my business and that is why i've got them yeah i love it just sort of drilling the dots on that ash uh you what i would classify as a a live investor so you you've lived in most of the properties, but you've used them to leapfrog and build both your equity and the opportunity as your lifestyle grows and changes. And of course, the benefit of doing that consciously as a live vester, rather than just an owner-occupier, there's a very different thinking process behind both of them. But as a live vester, you are investing in property that you know you're not going to be in forever. So it is a stepping stone. So you're looking at probably property style type

Starting point is 00:45:06 location that is going to grow in value, whether it's conscious or not. And you've been able to use that, not pay capital gains on the properties as you sell them. So you're maintaining all of that equity and allowing yourself to build your lifestyle opportunity, but also your wealth down the track to facilitate that end journey where you're living in the country in WA somewhere. So that's a strategy in itself, I think, that a lot of people ignore. Very different from those that buy a place and with no thought other than they want the best kitchen and the best bathroom and then end up cash poor at the end of the exercise when they try to stop work. But what you've talked about in knowing that this is for a season to get me to the next stage is an active investment strategy in itself. so i love that um if you reflect back so far and i'm not just talking about property but i'm talking

Starting point is 00:46:04 about where you've invested your time energy and money uh what's been both your best and your worst investment and what have you learned from each of those the best investment has every single time been personal development because and if i was to actually give you one one one specific course that was my that for me was a real game changer and this is going to sound really really random it was I was so used to doing I think well I think people in general are so used to doing personal development um well professional development in their field of whatever there is and I really encourage people to do uh professional and development outside the industry and I think you can learn so much because at the end of the day businesses businesses or small business large

Starting point is 00:46:57 businesses all have the same fundamentals so the best um one that i ever did was actually a confidence on camera course and i use it every single day not only for confidence in speaking to people whether it's clients staff you know podcasts with you um i really and also the media it's actually helped me a lot with but it's helped me uh learn about using my voice and being confident with my voice i i speak fast i speak a lot i i do overshare so it allowed me to really be conscious um but like i said it that's to the benefit of clients colleagues family everybody but then the confidence on camera i just use that on a daily basis but for business particularly But just in confidence in general in whatever you're doing and I think that we are going into a world where voice and video is so relevant.

Starting point is 00:48:02 It's in our face every single day. It's actually how people make money and it's how your children are going to make money and we need to learn to get a little bit better at that and putting our face out to the world. So that was hands down the best investment that I've done in terms of courses. And I did that as a one-on-one and yeah, I can't even stress how good that has been. And that was probably the first course that I've done that was outside my industry as well. So it just allows you to really expand your mind and also in business to do something different than what your industry is doing i mean if they say that all amazing um you know things like uber and um when also we've got um you know but all of these things were created by people

Starting point is 00:48:58 that weren't inside the industry they were out by the industry so i always have that in the back of in the back of my mind in terms of the the worst in um the worst investing well probably the worst investment decision has probably always been not pushing myself at the time and taking the easy road. And when I say that I'm talking about selling property because I didn't think I could afford it, or it was going to make me a little bit uncomfortable for six months or 12 months. And I, in hindsight, I should have pushed through that. And I didn't. I chose an easy road, which was sell a property get some money and you don't do the next one but it that's just that's what happens when you're young and you don't know any better and they will that will always be um

Starting point is 00:49:49 not a regret but definitely something I probably could have put a little bit more thought into yeah no a great share uh on that score and uh I think you know sort of coming back to your earlier point uh the standout school it's always been the standout school by the way but it's going to become even more important is the ability to communicate and be comfortable and familiar with that it underpins everything it doesn't matter how good you are if people don't know about it then you're never going to go anywhere and and if people know like and trust you and they can only do that if they're seeing and hearing you then those skills are increasingly going to be important and and even more so in the AI enabled world where a lot of the functional

Starting point is 00:50:33 stuff's going to be catered for but the relationship piece is never going to be overtaken by something artificial it's going to need authentic intelligence from real humans who are able to communicate and connect and and those skills i think are absolutely fundamental so i'd love you sharing that and and the the piece on the property side well if that's a part of a learning curve you've done something that the difference here there's a lot of people who are gonna gonna gonna and never quite get around to it you've done something and you've taken advantage of it and you and you've still done well with it but but the learnings there are yes but perhaps i can hold on to some of these assets and still leverage into others and build a portfolio that's going to make

Starting point is 00:51:12 it even easier as we go forward so i love that um yeah sort of circling back to something that's that's really uh emanates from from every point that's your selfless giving i know you're a big advocate for philanthropic investing uh for those who don't know what that even means uh talk to us about that and and why is that important to you and where do you think the opportunity is for others to to do the same i think it's that people don't know that it's an option out there and i've got some great examples that i'll share so the we're very fortunate in business that we're able to sacrifice a portfolio where it doesn't make any money and that's absolutely fine I'm very thankful to be in that position and I'm aware not all businesses can do that so I got reached out

Starting point is 00:52:03 so someone reached out to me an organization because they were trying to get survivors of DV families into some rental homes and as you can appreciate the rental market was at a point in WA way where it was just terrible you were getting 50 applications and then you know the application had to be more than perfect to be seen you know in comparison to the others and there were a lot of families that really just were struggling but not only struggling to get a look in also struggling with the fact that they were having to put over all their personal information to a stranger where, you know, they might have, you know, BROs on people.

Starting point is 00:52:47 I mean, you just don't know who knows who. Exactly. It could actually be a really dangerous situation for them and that would be really, really hard. And we forget about that with families. So they had approached a higher body to ask for a bit of help, this foundation, and didn't get a lot of help. And someone says to them, why don't you just call Ash

Starting point is 00:53:07 and see how she, you know, if she has some ideas of how to help. So it was amazing. So now what happens in WA is that we've got about six impact agents. So what we call impact agents, they are companies that pay two and a half thousand a year and that pays for a top up of rent to these families. I also run two charity events where all the proceeds go through to Arana as well for that. But what happened was with the work that we were doing in the media, every single time we put, there was a media release in the newspaper or radio, I had a philanthropic owner call me and come forward and said, can you tell me a little bit more about this? So the first one that came on board was a Nat who said, I was just about to

Starting point is 00:53:59 go buy myself a holiday house. And I read your article in the West Australian and I thought, you thought I don't actually need a holiday house right now I could actually buy a property and house one of the families right no and he was like I could have that holiday house down the track um so that was amazing so we did that and a philanthropic investor is someone who has the ability to be able to only take um to take a lower rent for the property so maybe generally 20 to 30 percent under market rate is all they need but what's interesting is that there's various reasons why people or landlords actually don't want to get market rate so an example that we've got a couple of them are where properties have been in an owner's name forever and their elderly owner

Starting point is 00:54:46 is in a nursing home and they can't or they can't or don't sell the property but they also can only receive a certain amount of rent per week so those clients are fantastic options to have a family in the property. So for those that actually can't take any more for tax reasons or whatever it might be, there's also some landlords where they just have that philanthropic nature and say, one this week actually said to me, I just don't feel comfortable taking more than I need for the property. So she's doing that because there's a lot of investors out there that are actually happy with their capital growth. And I think every investor has a different reason. Some need the cash flow some need the capital growth so if if you can do it then you think great you

Starting point is 00:55:36 should and if you can't do it not a problem at all i've got a client at the moment who said ash i'd really love to do it but this is my first property and i'm not able to but what i'm what she's working towards is that her next purchase she's able to do that so what we're doing with her first property is really trying to make sure there's some really good cash flow coming through so the next property she buys is more about capital growth and I love that because it allows people to invest with purpose and do the right thing if they can but it also allows property managers to work with purpose as well and that's been really really amazing so it's been really successful loads of different types of owners but again it's more that they just don't know

Starting point is 00:56:23 that this is an option and it may suit you and it may not and that's fine so I love doing it it's very it's very fulfilling for my teeth I have one dedicated property manager who looks after it and again like just taking it one step further the property manager who I have look after these properties again be mindful that we're in tenants homes and we want to have some consistency and safety for them. So for us having a safe, mature property manager who is going through their home that they know very well, they would trust, I mean, if their children were home, that's really important to us as well. So we really holistically thought of the whole process. But one thing I would like to just also mention is that while there is a responsibility for Arana to look after

Starting point is 00:57:15 these families and Arana is the foundation and that's their focus my focus is for the investor and so my role is to make sure that the investor is also sort of going to get something out of it if that makes sense so making sure that they if they're going to buy a property let me help you find a property in an area where I think there's going to be good capital growth for you because I also want you to win in it I know you're going to win you know your heart but I want you to also have some benefits so I'm really about looking after the investor and making sure that it can be a win-win for everybody well but I love the way you're bringing uh the the heart back to home really yeah that that that is uh still looking after the investor's needs but it is uh helping

Starting point is 00:58:05 those that are in need and have no choice and often have no voice uh so i love the work that you're doing there and and again i just want to reinforce the the fulfillment that that you get you can't put a price on uh the satisfaction that it come comes out of helping others that particularly those that that that don't have the choice uh so i love love the work that you're doing there and i'm sure there's going to be listeners that go hey i want need to know more about this so well encourage them to be reaching out to you to discuss that um but sort of sort of bringing this all to a bit of a head then ash if if you were starting out again what if anything would you invest in differently and again i'm not just talking about property i'm talking about time

Starting point is 00:58:52 energy money or or other i would have invested more time and energy into probably more self-education And it's only something where I've really only delved into later on, like, you know, after 15 years in business, I didn't do it soon enough. So I think that there's a lot of free options. I think there are so many podcasts and YouTube videos that people can watch and just constantly absorb. There's, I read somewhere the other day where it said, if you spend 18 minutes a day focused on something for a whole year you'll be in the top one percent for that um in anyone in the world

Starting point is 00:59:36 um for that you know category and I thought that was quite an interesting um thought that it only takes 18 minutes a day every single day to focus on something and by the end of 12 months you know you're going to be really well um on board and I think that I probably should have got out of my own way I think that I definitely was someone that felt like I had to do everything myself and it's only now down the track that I've seen the importance of bringing on people that me and not trying to be everything I think that when we are in you know business um that we we try to save money don't we but sometimes by trying to save money we're actually really restricting a lot of things so i feel like i i probably could have um surrounded myself with

Starting point is 01:00:35 a better um a better support network earlier on and trusted um that it's okay to pay people that don't um that i don't um you know trusting people to pay that i i need to move even quicker like so i my success looks really great but i think people have to remember it's 20 years of business and it's great now and before it was good but i'm only getting noticed after 20 years then i i sometimes feel like a bit of a fraud because if i had had the success in five years i mean that would be impressive but um it's it's a long game it's a long game and you've got to constantly be thinking of the future self and the future benefit and you can either choose to make things hard now for an easier future or you can choose the easier road now but it's only going to be

Starting point is 01:01:33 hard in the future so just get it out of the way beautifully said and there is no such thing as overnight success Ash every overnight success that gets talked about is taking 15 to 20 years if you look at every business every investment every opportunity time and time again in nature is the same it's an exponential growth that takes 15 to 20 years to make happen so you hear about these flash in the pan one hit wonder overnight successes but I'll guarantee you that they might make a splash in the press but in 15 to 20 years time unless they're doing the right things they're probably not likely to be around so word so um and i think if you can last 15 to 20 years in business that in itself is a massive uh accolade because most don't you know over 50 percent have

Starting point is 01:02:27 gone within two years get alone last 20 years so the opportunity to grow because your evolution with your business happens at the same pace and you mentioned like you're now recognizing the need to involve others and invest in others so that you can continue to grow uh that's that's part of the journey so uh love you sharing that i'm now going to switch into what i love to call the ambush bushfire lightning round uh ash where i give you a blindfold and a cigarette and i hit you with four quick questions. So the first of those is what's the worst and best piece of investment advice that you've ever received? Worst investment advice was another property manager suggesting that all owners should buy brand new properties because they're less

Starting point is 01:03:18 maintenance, which I didn't really like that advice personally. But the best bit of advice is on the back of that which is always buy property with opportunity so opportunity to upgrade it renovate and extend it to make money should the market go backwards um so for me opportunity is a great thing and that's why we don't actually have that with brand new properties um i don't feel you're trusting the the market to go but there's nothing you can do with the property so um for me buying with opportunity is always the best the best advice love it but being able to manufacture value and create equity uh it's not reliant on conditions and it's you that's within your control so i'd love that uh slightly different tack uh what superpower do

Starting point is 01:04:05 you wish you had and why i i was going to try and get me some ideas for this one actually i i do you know i wouldn't want to be invisible i'm not interested in what other people are doing or saying to me so I probably would love if this was a superpower just to have um it would be to do with not having to go to the gym and still being able to eat whatever I wanted in my life at the moment I have to go to the gym every day I am striving me up the wall so if I didn't have to worry about that and I could just continue to eat my barn me's for lunch every day i'll be a very happy lady i love it and i'll be exactly the same i i i uh go to the gym begrudgingly i love playing sport but but the gym just does my head in uh but i know i have to do it because i

Starting point is 01:05:05 love food so then i love that one a different tack if you could wave a magic wand and change anything ash what would you change about property i would 100 have the same legislation all over australia the same process the same rental legislation it drives me nuts that every single state in our little country runs a different way and if it could all be done the same and consistently i think that as an industry we would have more trust with the public um and i would love to see that happen one day yeah that's a really good suggestion actually because every state with its own legislation different ways of doing things it is it is a nightmare particularly for the the uh beginners who are trying to weave their way through that that's a great suggestion

Starting point is 01:05:56 uh different topic again if you can have copy with anyone and they can be alive or a dead historical figure who would you choose and why very selfish reasons but Matthew McConaughey um number one because he's nice to look at and number two he is I love I love his voice I love what he stands for i love his motivation um hands down coffee every day with him will be fine uh i love that what's the one big takeaway yeah that you want to share from your journey that you've talked about today i would like to remind people that you need to allow people in general and clients to trust you in their own time and understand that that everyone's very different some people can trust you within a minute of meeting you some people take seven

Starting point is 01:06:58 hours of absorbing your content and you before they trust you maybe it's more maybe it's less but allowing people to trust you in their own time is really important to me and the only way that you can do that is by making sure that you um you reach out to people you um you you know do content on social media in terms of business or whatever it is and um that will make a big difference in your life so for me that's something that i always resonate with love it uh beautifully said uh look ashley i want to really thank you for taking the time to share your very inspirational personal journey so far and before we close off if anyone would like to ask myself or other property professionals any questions about their property approach or you'd like to further discuss anything

Starting point is 01:07:46 we've chatted about with ash with other like-minded investors in a very safe relaxed and no pressure environment feel free to join us on the property hub collective facebook group by clicking the link in the show notes or going to facebook.com forward slash groups forward slash the property hub collective so we look forward to connecting with you and continuing the conversation there we now look forward to continuing our great conversation with ashley in next week's episode where we're going to unpack the ins and outs of wa's property future we're going to talk about property management and ash's property profiling australia which i know that you're going to want to hear about we're also going to touch on the empowered investor boot camp which is a great

Starting point is 01:08:24 opportunity for investors as well as the pm collective that all of them are going to help you to achieve much better property outcomes so remember to always get invested in your knowledge and your network and we look forward to getting invested with you again then ash stay tuned for part two of this interview next episode thanks for tuning in to get invested on the property hub podcast channel your home for property investment insights and inspiration make sure you subscribe to property hub for free get your weekly dose of get investing inspiration along with every episode of realty talk australia's top online property show for red hot property investing news and insights direct from industry leaders and influencers. And finally, I'll see you

Starting point is 01:09:07 next time.

Property Hub - Investment Insights & Inspiration - Get Invested: Part 1 – Ashleigh Goodchild on asking your way to success

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