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Leadership Conversations
I know I know that my parents had an existing mortgage, you know, on their property. So I knew I needed, you know, x $100,000 to, to pay off that mortgage, and that was what I was gunning for. It was a it was a definitive figure. I did not want my parents to have any debt, or any of their, you know, all their property to have any encumbrances. So, you know, call it a $100,000.
Speaker 1:And so I would work towards building enough equity in my own portfolio, or earning enough income as I build my investment property portfolio to reallocate my redraw or my offset account, and transfer that into the loan of my parent's account. And, you know, it's indescribable, Juddai. You know? Just just knowing that my parents have got no, commitments on a monthly basis, every dollar that they, have saved, earned in their lifetime goes towards their retirement.
Speaker 2:Welcome to another episode of the Leadership Conversations with Jon O'Mite podcast. Today's guest is Colin Lee. Now I've known Colin for a little while, and one of the things that stands out for me about Colin firstly is when it comes to networking, which is just one part of the myriad of things that Colin does, he is a superman. But he's he's also a Superman in many other ways, including being CEO and founder of Inspire Realty. I'll let him tell you a bit more about what he does as well.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the podcast, Colin.
Speaker 1:Thank you, John. I I like it. I'm Superman. There you go.
Speaker 2:I know. I don't know if I've given anyone else that phrase, so you no pressure. As I said, you do you do a lot of things. I mentioned Inspire Realty, but just tell us a little bit a little bit about yourself before we jump in.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So I I'll talk about it from, I guess, the amount of time that I spend at the moment. I I spend the vast majority of my time as the CEO and founder of Inspire Realty. We're a property buyer's agency and a property investment advisory firm. Bottom line is my passion is to empower generation of Australians, particularly migrants, to take charge of their financial futures, by investing in good, right, profitable property opportunities and build a good profitable portfolio.
Speaker 1:It's what I do. And I probably spend about 70% of my time building that. That is my, mission. That is my marketplace that I spend the vast majority of my time doing. And I am a superman when it comes to networking.
Speaker 1:Like to be better known as that's my superpower in strategic networking. All that is about building my influence. It's about building my impact in inspiring people with my own personal journey so that they can be the best version of themselves, to live life to the fullest, to be an inspiration, quite simply. So that probably takes up anywhere between 10 to 20% of my time. Strategically, though, that is also obviously a bit of a funnel that is for me to establish relationships with key partnerships and relationships with referrals and building a, I guess, a partnership pool for my clients, you know, if they need financial planners, mortgage brokers, accountants.
Speaker 1:These are the people that I can plug into my client's property journey. So that's I mean, technically, that's part of Inspire Realty as well. But I do spend a lot of time, getting involved with my church, obviously. That's generally in the weekend. I do serve on the worship team, as well amongst many other things that I'm involved with the church.
Speaker 1:I do run a connect group. So that's my weekend, but I also spend a lot of time with my family. I've got a five year old girl. I'm, married to a wonderful wife who's also part of the business. My family is in Sydney, so I do fly back quite frequently to Sydney to visit them.
Speaker 1:But the other part of what I do is I, I've also recently founded the Kingdom Entrepreneurs Network, which is a group of Christian business owners, higher end, generally turning over between a million to $10,000,000. I have an exceptionally inspiring keynote speaker that comes to share their story of how they're able to merge and integrate their marketplace and the ministry and the mission field that they're in. So I wear a few different hats, but, Superman is definitely, not one of them yet.
Speaker 2:Well, think you are. I think you're very influential and let's jump straight into your story because I've been looking forward to asking you some of these questions and getting to know you more here on the podcast. The The first question I ask every guest, when, as you look back at your childhood growing up, are there any moments that really stand out to you that shaped Colin Lee, into the leader that you are today?
Speaker 1:Absolutely. You know, I can't probably I mean, I'm sure, you know, when I was two to to 19, there has been a lot of, you know, experiences. I do come from a very loving Christian family. So I haven't had a lot of, I guess, you know, negative experience, so to say, or traumatic experience. But a big turning point in my life was, was at the age of 19, and that really started my journey of really understanding deeper into why I am the person that I am today, which is driven.
Speaker 1:I'm very ambitious. I'm a go getter. I I put myself out there. I I don't care very much what people think of me. I'm bold.
Speaker 1:I'm courageous. I'm dominant. I am like, I'm as out there and extroverted as you can experience. And
Speaker 2:a lot
Speaker 1:of that has to do with, I think, the, I I think when I was 19 when my dad came into the dining room, and he basically says, kiddos, we've got some news for you. And I've got two younger siblings, you know, that was with me. And he basically says, we're migrating. We're we're moving countries, you know, for good. So pack your bags.
Speaker 1:We're literally moving within eight to nine months. You've got three suitcases each, and we're moving to Australia.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 1:And, and it really shook me in the sense that we were so used to living in a we live in a really nice house. We've got helpers, believe it or not. Mhmm. And so life was very, very good. And just knowing that we're gonna be completely uprooted and moving into a completely new space, new culture, new life, new country, which I've never I've never even been to Australia, you know, prior to migrating to Australia.
Speaker 1:So it's been a brand new experience. And so, and I found out obviously much later on that one of the key reasons why that happened was because that was growing very tired of his role in the bank. We do live in Malaysia and with a lot of respect to my Malaysian friends. Malaysians are predominantly Muslim country. And being Chinese and Christians, that hasn't really been you know, we weren't able to freely express, ourselves, and, and and to be really thriving in a community.
Speaker 1:So that, you know, said we're moving. And so in February, we arrived into Sydney shortly after the Olympics and a completely brand new culture. Dad, I think, had an idea and this dream that, you know, he could integrate and get a job back in the bank that I certainly didn't know as a 19 year old that dad hadn't lined up any jobs. You know, he literally gave everything up. It was like burning the bridge Wow.
Speaker 1:And then setting a new path, you know, getting on the boat and just move. But mom and dad were skilled. You know, obviously, mom mom was very educated. She's got two masters in ox from Oxford in law. So I think they had a sense of confidence that they would arrive in a brand new country and they would get into it all fairly easily.
Speaker 1:But that's not the case, Jono. It took my dad nine months to find a job.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 1:And eventually, he had to settle as as a business analyst. He couldn't get a job back in the bank. You know why? Because they would always say to him, he doesn't have local experience. You know?
Speaker 1:And how are you supposed to get a local experience if you've never worked here before? And I think that's the story of a lot of migrants. Mom, unfortunately so he ended up working as a took on a job as a business analyst. And he, you know, sometimes he comes home jokingly says, you know, Colin, I'm almost 50, but my boss is a 25 year old. You know?
Speaker 1:And mom was you gotta you know, my mom is a senior law lecturer, and the only role that she could get was a, you know, role as a paralegal. I don't know if you know this, Johnny, but that was like, you're at the peak of your career, and now you're
Speaker 2:at the
Speaker 1:bottom of your career ladder, you know, having to start again. And so at the age of 21, you know, as the eldest child, I got to witness the sacrifice and the price that both my parents paid really for us. I mean, for them, they would have been far better off living in Malaysia where all our relatives, their friends, their colleagues, the house, the helpers, the the nice car, everything. I mean, they had everything. There was no real reason for them to move, and it it really has been also for us kids.
Speaker 1:So I got to experience that, and I think that really shaped my frame, my paradigm, because that's when I had to grow up. You know? And I I started, you know, thinking to myself that my dream, if I could one day, I would retire both my parents. And pay give back what they have sacrificed for us all these years. You know?
Speaker 1:And the sad reality is they didn't have any they took all their super, and they used that as part of the deposit to purchase a property. Yeah. So Malaysian ring gets a lot less. You know? And they gave everything up.
Speaker 1:And and every dollar that they earned was there to support my education, my university, my sisters and brothers' private school fees. They didn't have much to show for it at the end of the day. So the amount of sacrifice and the price they paid as parents, I simply wanted to honor them.
Speaker 2:You know?
Speaker 1:And that's that was how I started. And so that man, that gave me a fire in my belly because I thought if it's if it's gonna be, you know, if it's gonna be, it's gonna be up to me now. I am their retirement plan. So I had a dream that one day if I could at the age of 21, I said, I'm gonna retire my parents. You know?
Speaker 1:Mhmm. I did that seven years ago, Jono. Retired my seven years.
Speaker 2:That moment. Tell me about the moment when you knew that, whether it was at that moment or maybe a couple of years before where you knew this is going to happen, you know, this is, I'm actually going to be able to achieve this dream since you were 19, 21.
Speaker 1:It's a good question. You know, I know, I know that my parents had an existing mortgage, you know, on their property. So I knew I needed, you know, X $100,000 to, to pay off that mortgage, and that was what I was gunning for. It was a it was a definitive figure. I did not want my parents to have any debt or any of their, you know, or their property to have any encumbrances.
Speaker 1:So, you know, call it a $100,000. And so I would work towards building enough equity in my own portfolio, or earning enough income here as I build my investment property portfolio to reallocate my redraw or my offset account, and transfer that into the loan of my parents' account. And, you know, it's indescribable, Juddi. You know? Just just knowing that my parents have got no, commitments on a monthly basis, every dollar that they, have saved, earned in their lifetime goes towards their retirement.
Speaker 1:And and, obviously, ever since then, it's more than that. It's, you know, funding my parents on their holidays. My parents travel about three months in a year. Certainly a lot more than what I'm traveling at the moment, but, you know, they deserve it.
Speaker 2:They do. Yeah.
Speaker 1:You know? And so that's been a rewarding moment. That's a moment where it it just comes full circle for all that my parents have done for three of us. We're able to pay it back forward for my parents. And, yeah, it's the it's the most inspiring moment one can ever go through to achieve that.
Speaker 1:And, and, obviously, you know, now that that's happened, my my inspiration now, motivation is to inspire generation of Australians to figure out what their why is. You know? You gotta know your why because that is what moved me. That gave me a fire in the belly. So that's why I had blinkers off.
Speaker 1:My wife often talks about me having blinkers off. So I'm so dead focused. Sometimes I don't care what people's because I don't care. I I'm moving towards a goal that is worthy of my efforts and and, you know, and and my and my time. So it is a weakness at the same time.
Speaker 1:I'm not trying to say that, you know, I have not ruffled some feathers along the way,
Speaker 2:but you felt kind of
Speaker 1:strong motivation and inspiration as to why. I mean, we look at BX. Right? Some people just they just look at me and go, this is too much. This is overwhelming.
Speaker 2:He's too bad.
Speaker 1:He's too bold. He's too outspoken. He's too you know, what's the word? It is too directive. I don't know.
Speaker 1:I mean and this is but but but you you keep focus. You focus. You keep you know, take no credit on the things that you've done. Take no take no blame. Just keep focused on your chief aim as one of the authors, doctor John DiMartini, talks a lot about.
Speaker 1:You know? And so that's what I've been focused on. But it's a great feeling just, you know, all these years of focusing on that one key thing, and that is to retire my parents and and being able to achieve that is yeah. It's it's it's such
Speaker 2:a That's a great story. I mean, it's not just a great story because it's it's really touching to hear the story, but I think the way it links to what you do every day in your business is really cool. I love that. I find I've had a lot of people on the podcast who have moved countries at some point or growing up. And so it's amazing how often it comes up.
Speaker 2:And I think that's because it's usually such a life defining moment to move countries that it often like for you is when you look back is a really pivotal shaping moment. So I can't help but wonder Colin Lee moves from Malaysia. You're 19, 20, 21 when you arrive in Australia, something- How old were you? 20? So you're 20.
Speaker 2:You arrive in Australia. Take me through in those- in that first year, in those first few years. Do you remember any particular moments for you? Because that's a bit different. Often- Often people are moving, say, when they're 10.
Speaker 2:You're 20. What I I'm fascinated to know what it was like as a 20 year old. Are there any moments that really stand out where you where you went, oh my goodness, you know, I've I here I am in Australia. It's so different to where I was before or anything like that because I I must imagine having never done something like that before, it's it's about as big of a change as as you can have as a 20 year old is to literally move countries with your family.
Speaker 1:It's a good question. Well, one of the things that really shocked me quite a fair bit is just the nature of Australians. The nature of Australians, I find, they they speak their mind. They, they're very bold, in the way they communicate. Outspoken, I would probably, you know, refer to that.
Speaker 1:Geroncomannasia, you know, you do as you're told. You know? You follow instructions. You honor your parents and the elders, and you seldom speak up. You know?
Speaker 1:And that's not what we we do in school. You you you pretty much just follow follow instructions. And so coming to Australia, listening to people, putting themselves out there, you know, speaking what's in their mind and speaking what's true to themselves, That was a big culture shift for me. You know? And so I've really had to learn, how to speak up because, you know, my dad always said, when you're in Rome, do as the Romans do.
Speaker 1:You know? And it's don't isolate, integrate. That was my dad's thing. Don't isolate, integrate. And, so my dad says, well, now you you can have a fresh new start.
Speaker 1:You know? The walls of your feet is an oyster and do what you need to do with it. So I think I I I really picked up a lot of the essence of how Australians would would communicate, and I kinda lived that myself. When I came, I I I I had already completed my first year in electrical engineering. And so as an intern engineer, I I ended up working as an intern engineer for about a year whilst I was completing my, electrical engineering degree.
Speaker 1:And everyone in the company was so outspoken. I felt like I was a mice. I mean, you know, I was listening, is interesting. So I think I've grown to be an extrovert just from the proximity of people that are around me, and I just kind of felt, well, you know, everyone speaks up, so I might as well. And I think that's my nature anyway.
Speaker 1:So I was able to kinda fully express the nature of of who I am as a person. And but, unfortunately, after about a year, I realized that engineering really wasn't what I wanted to do. I realized my giftedness. I realized my strength. And I you know, electrical engineering was a lot of programming, a lot of a lot of, you know, software, skills and and, you know, sitting in front of the computer.
Speaker 1:And that's not me. I am an extrovert, so I've come to realize. And and being a software engineer requires for you to be dedicated and disciplined in front of a computer, and and that's not me. So I pluck up the courage. I mean, you know, I've learned how to be outspoken.
Speaker 1:I remember saying to my mom, mom, dad, I'm gonna I'm gonna quit uni. You know? It's really not for me. And to you know, till this day, I'll never forget. You know, my mom's my mom's face literally fell, you know, and she was so disappointed because she is very educated with two masters from Oxford, you know, and a son who's a uni dropout.
Speaker 1:It's not good for her, you know. And so but I had to you know, that that was a defining moment, you know, and that's psychologically that has certainly impacted my parents. Obviously, now they're incredibly proud, but they couldn't understand for the life of themselves why I only had about a year left to complete my university degree that I would drop out from uni. You know? They could not understand that.
Speaker 1:But a lot of those, you know, skills and outspokenness was developed in my experience in the Australian culture. Yeah. But I you know, Jono, I I I feel privileged. And I think that a lot of migrants that you speak with, those that do well, what they're able to do is they get to step back, observe two cultures in front of them, pick the best of both worlds, and and live their life, as for me, a Malaysian Chinese in Australian. You know?
Speaker 1:And there are certain elements about, you know, the two cultures that I really love, and I get to I get to live in those two cultures. I genuinely feel I'm more Australian than I am Malaysian now having lived for a lot longer in Australia than I have in Malaysia. But I'm still traditionally, you know, Chinese New Years, we we do our we do our New Year dinners. We we bow before our parents. We get these red packets.
Speaker 1:And, you know, so there are some traditions that we still maintain, you know, as Chinese, Malaysian or Asians. So we get the best of both worlds, you know.
Speaker 2:That's beautiful. And I'm so glad that you've kept that and that, it continues to be part of who you are. But I'm also just so glad that you have embraced some of that Australian, like you said, outspokenness, because I do see that in you. I think a wonderful thing about Australian culture and it's maybe, yeah, I can't imagine the quiet colon and 20 watching all these outspoken others around you. So I love how outspoken you are.
Speaker 2:I can't help but go straight to questions around, you know, you have you you just have such a drive, but it's much it's much more than that. I think sometimes people have a drive to get things done, but you just you just have done amazing things in how you brought people together around VX, which is a networking, a networking group and now launching Kingdom Entrepreneurs Network. So I want to ask you to say that we have a listener who's, who knows that in whatever business they're in, whatever industry they're in, they know that there's a big gap for them when it comes to networking and connecting with others. And they go, you know what? In the next year, I really want to be successful in in this area and add this into what I'm doing.
Speaker 2:Mhmm. What would be your advice in terms of where to start and how to be successful for someone who's maybe never done that before?
Speaker 1:What a wonderful question, John. I I didn't realize you'd be asking this question at all. Believe it or not, I'm I've just started my second book, which is called Power in Proximity. Build your network, build your net worth. Well, like it.
Speaker 1:Let me just preface this by saying, for me, the other drive the thing that really gets me out of it every day is my faith. My faith has really formed me as a person. Being in business for all these five and a half years, six years in Inspire Realty, As a Christian, that has not been the smoothest journey for me because, you know, as Christian leaders, according to the Denver Institute, loneliness in leadership is a big problem. And I'm assuming that that that same challenge is across the board, whether it's spiritual or secular. And so I needed a I needed a group of people that understood, understand what I was going through.
Speaker 1:And the story is that four years ago, I was literally searching for the right proximity, the right tribe, the right group of people that I can connect with, that I can share my challenges with, my worries, my you know, what whatever I'm going through in business, particularly as a Christian. And I remember going to the Lord Mayor's Prayer Breakfast, and I'm I'm quite a strategic networker, and this is one of the keys. I don't just go and say hello to everybody. I I know who I wanna speak to, and so I'm always forthcoming. I'm always forward.
Speaker 1:And so I go through the entire guest list, and I saw there was two gentlemen's name, and they came from the Christian Business Network. And I remember they were seated on Table 18, and I was in the back table. So I made a beeline, I spoke to introduce myself to these two gentlemen who incidentally invited me to a breakfast with the Christian Business Network, which I then attended about a couple of years ago. I was tapped in the shoulder, and I was asked to become the president of the Christian Business Network. So one thing led on to another.
Speaker 1:And in within that time, I've also started in BX. So BX is a business networking, I guess, platform. It's b to b. And one of the things about what I love about BX is it's there's no expectation for you to have direct referrals. It's more about, you know, who you know in the room and who you can connect with, who have complementary clients that you're working with and supporting and servicing.
Speaker 1:And you can cross refer those clients, not necessarily, you know, me becoming your client or you becoming my client. It's cross referring referral partnerships that I've got complimentary clients. So for example, I'm a buyer's agent, and my biggest referral source at the moment, Jono, are mortgage brokers. And so I I would often be upstanding and say, name is Colin from Inspire Realty. I do what I do because I love empowering a generation of Australians to take charge of their financial futures by investing in profitable property opportunities.
Speaker 1:I'd like to be connected to a mortgage broker. So, Jono, if you know of a mortgage broker, you simply write on what we call a paid forward slip, and it gets passed on. And that's how I grew my referral network and my partnerships, you know, that I'm able to, get very consistent, referrals from. So in parallel of running the Christian business network, I was also, heading up, the BX network. And and I've grown BX from literally eight members to a 168 members.
Speaker 1:It was extraordinary. We were two years in a row back to back group of the year back in '23 and '24. Ever since. And then I've stepped down, and I'm now the ambassador for b x. But growing a group from eight to a 168 is is no mean feat.
Speaker 1:So I feel like I've got the experience. I've been there. I've been through the trenches. It's not all been windows and sunshine, and I know how to grow a network. And so there are certain elements that I've implemented in that.
Speaker 1:And here is the key. And I always open up, good morning, BX of Brisbane. There is power in proximity. And
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And there is. You are the average of the people that you spend the most amount of time with. They really form what you think about, what you talk about, what you think about, which ultimately is what you bring about. So so you need to surround yourself with the right people. And so I was simply looking for my own tribe.
Speaker 1:And so one of the things I would recommend I mean, unless you've got an exceptionally great, organic or not even organic, but a very methodical way of getting in clients or leads prospects. And you know that if you're gonna invest x amount of dollars in social media paid advertising, you're gonna get a y return. For the vast majority of businesses, that's not always gonna be the practical way way to get started. It's a very expensive thing. It's gonna be you're trying out what works for you, SEO, backlinks.
Speaker 1:All that sounds really, really good, but not everyone starts a business with having those sort of financial resources to be able to invest and try and see what works. As you mature, yes. But let's be real. In the beginning when you're starting a business, even when you're scrolling and scaling the business, even up till today, I'm still part of b x and a multiple other networks. Because it is important to keep that that channel of referrals, which are always going to be the strongest lead source because they're trusted partnerships.
Speaker 1:So, Jono, if I referred you to someone who wanted, you know, training leadership, they're gonna be a lot more likely to engage with you because of my referral, because I'm, you know, respected in my space. So there's no doubt it's a lot stronger. There's better conversions in that. It's a lot cheaper as well, by the way. I mean, it does require a bit of time.
Speaker 1:So you gotta find your tribe. And so one of the things is identify a few networking groups, which I did, by the way, you know, and I don't mind sharing it. I I went to BNI. I went to BX. I went to KBN.
Speaker 1:I went to Chamber of Commerce's. I went to different communities, you know, different ethnic communities. I mean, I've been to that many networking groups. You know, it's not it's really not funny. But I needed to find where I resonate most with.
Speaker 1:It's not so much just the leader that you need to resonate. You need to resonate with the values of the base of the network. You need to look at the tribe or the group of people that you're gonna be surrounding yourself with. And then, recently, when I started with BX, there was only eight members. But I remember I remember my dad saying, son, you're either part of the problem and you can complain whinge and white, or you can be part of the solution.
Speaker 1:Now I had respected the methodology, which is the process and the system behind BX and how does this paid forward slips and how that works. I believed in it. And so I was gonna be part of the solution, and and that's how I was like, you know what? I'm gonna drive this and and grow it. And but I did not expect it to be the largest group in the world, believe it or not.
Speaker 1:So but that's a byproduct of me just truly believing, you know, the the philosophy, the values of of what VX has given me. I mean, I've closed over $680,000 in business in closed business with BX. So, you know, it certainly works. So I think as you're starting out, find your tribe. You know, really align yourself with the community that you resonate mostly with.
Speaker 1:And and I would say just really understanding why you're getting into it. You know, really understanding what is your main purpose joining a business network. If it's simply to get leads, you're in the wrong group.
Speaker 2:You
Speaker 1:know? It it it has to be more than that. It has to be you wanna go there to make an impact. I would suggest that you're looking there to build friendships because your finance will come from the friendships you develop. You know?
Speaker 1:It's taken me seven months before I saw any return on investment in BX. And I was reminded that, you know, it does take, but you've gotta be consistent. But my why was strong. There was two whys. One is I came into a brand new state.
Speaker 1:I moved from Sydney to Brisbane about five and a half years ago, and I knew nobody. And so for me, I wanted to grow my network. I wanted to grow my influence, my inspiration, my impact. I wanna be known, and that was my main motivation. And so Yeah.
Speaker 1:Getting it right is important. But it's all about selling, selling, getting leads, getting getting clients from a network. It doesn't quite work that way. So you've got to establish first place. And then as I mature, one of the key things is building enough of my partnership referral networks that I can refer my clients to, you know, professionals that they would require as they continue to build their investment property portfolio.
Speaker 2:So let's say we've got someone who's been doing BX for two years and they they are struggling to, to close business through BX and then you've got someone else who's, who's doing 6 figures. What's what do you believe are the key differences between people who are successful or through something like BX in turning it into referral dollars versus someone who's not getting that? Because this is something you hear. I tried that. I didn't get any sales from it.
Speaker 2:What what what do you see is are some of the key differences between someone who's not getting anything and someone who is successful?
Speaker 1:It's a it's a really good question, Jono. I if I look back on, the two or three handfuls of people that I know that have, really been successful at BX or CBN or KBN or BNI or Kingdom Entrepreneurs Network. I know that the common denominator amongst all those that have done quite well is, really just and and I go back to the sense of purpose. They have a genuine, authentic, purpose why they're there. And too many people go in to get these wins.
Speaker 1:So unless you have a paradigm shift, you if you're going there to add value first before you ask, I think that's where you know, Henry I remember Henry was he became a team member, and I'll tell you his story because he knew how to network. Right? You know, his very first question he asked me was, Colin, how do I make you look good? Something to that. I'm probably not paraphrasing it word for word.
Speaker 1:And, and I said, what do you mean, Henry? He says, how can I make you be better? How can I help you to shine more? I mean, he knows that I'm a star. He knows that I'm I'm out there and and trying to get and and I simply said to Henry, I said, well, one thing you can do is to invite guests along.
Speaker 1:And and on his third meeting, Jono, this is no word of a lie, he brought 27 guests.
Speaker 2:Oh my god. Now
Speaker 1:do you think he he added massive value to me? Do do you think he's not got my attention? Big time. You know? Yeah.
Speaker 1:And I I always say, if you can, I mean, if you if you can be a client, you know, if Henry could be my client, obviously, that would be would be ideal? You know? And so if someone becomes your client, that's great. That's how you would add value. But you don't wanna become someone's client just for the sake of getting their attention.
Speaker 1:It has to be a genuine need and a genuine fit for what you need. Right? If, and if Henry doesn't wanna build an investment property portfolio, not to say that he doesn't, but if he doesn't wanna do that, there's no point in engaging and paying me for my service. Yes. He's gonna get my attention, but there's no point in not needing the product.
Speaker 1:And the second thing was, add value. Add value and connect, you know, the person that you're trying to get an attention with with your ideal client. And sure enough, he did. You know, the the most of the 27 people that he brought were people in the space that he knows that would that would formulate. And I still have good partnerships and relationships with those original, 27 people that he brought along.
Speaker 1:And third one, get personal. You know? Henry and a couple of other people are the only two people from BX or three people from BX that I've personally invited to meet my family. Mhmm. You know?
Speaker 1:And that doesn't happen very often because I do wanna keep personal and professional, you know, aside. Yeah. But he had found out that he knew that my daughter loves jigsaw puzzles, you know, she and so, he made an effort. He literally came with a beautiful box of Japanese biscuits and a box of jigsaw puzzles and, you know, it it became more personal. So, you know, Henry and I have become really good friends out of that.
Speaker 1:So I think
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Engage, whoever you're trying to connect with for their service. Utilize the service. I mean, if
Speaker 2:it's a
Speaker 1:small enough entry point, give it a go. Give them the benefit of the doubt, or connect them with an ideal paying client or connect them with an ideal referral that that would have the ideal client that's complementary and not in competition. Or thirdly, get with them. Be very people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. And Henry is someone that genuinely cares about someone, and so he knows what I like.
Speaker 1:And now Henry asked me to do anything, I I would. You know? It's easy to come very close in my circle. So I think the key here is participation. People give up too easily.
Speaker 1:Know, oh, I've gone to four b x meetings. I got all these paid for slips, and it doesn't work. Well, I mean, you know, you make it work. You know? You get what you put in it, and that's the reality.
Speaker 1:But like I said, if you resonate with the group, if there's good values, the vision is aligned, get in there, get dirty, get into the trenches, like, you know, add massive value. You've gotta do that. People think they can ask before they add value. That's the wrong way to look at it. You've gotta add value first before you ask.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And I and I think that's the the the big key.
Speaker 2:That's good. That's fantastic. Actually, advice. Thank you so much for sharing. Just as we come towards towards the end, I just want to ask you very quickly, say that there is a listener, they're a leader and they're thinking about investing in property.
Speaker 2:So they're tick tick tick, they're Collins ideal potential client, but who's at the starting point. Any any tips on how to start thinking about entering the property market, you know, for their portfolio investment portfolio?
Speaker 1:Thank you for that, Jono. I mean, this is what I live and breathe, every single day. Let me just paint a bit of a picture very quickly. We are living in a generation where we're aging. According to the World Bank now, our life expectancy is now reaching mid fifth eighties, 85, call it.
Speaker 1:Alright? It's about 83. Some studies are showing in the next twenty years, we would potentially live up to 90 years old as the average life expectancy. Did you know, Jonah, only back in the sixties and the seventies, the life expectancy was about 70. That's the average.
Speaker 1:Wow. You know? So we are living now longer than ever before. Now if you look at the official retirement age for most Australians at 65, between 65 and, say, 85, there's an extra twenty years of living to do. Right?
Speaker 1:Mhmm. The average super for the vast majority of Australians, females sitting about a 120, males are sitting at about a 180. Now let's be optimistic, and let's say $200,000 because you've earned a few extra years. 200,000 divided by twenty years living is about $10,000 a year. Now that's the reality.
Speaker 1:So what's happening is 44% of Australians at the moment are depending on the government's age pension. Nearly half of Australian retirees are developed, are depending on the on the pension. Mhmm. And so you may think, at this point in time that everything's all gonna be okay. And this is also part of, I guess, the Australian mentality, which is something that's a bit of a culture shock for me.
Speaker 1:I already be alright, mate. You just work hard and things will work itself out. You know? Yeah. But that's that's not the reality anymore.
Speaker 1:And so the the reality for most people is they're having to work longer than ever before, to sustain and to live, which is crazy. Think at 65. I mean, I wanna retire at 50, you know, and live my life and work if I wanted to work and have that freedom and flexibility. So my advice is if you've got a better plan, execute that plan. I don't know many, many, many other alternatives to be quite open with you.
Speaker 1:I mean, there's shares, stocks, business, crypto, etcetera, etcetera. I've just never made money on any of that. You know, I know some people that make some real good money from shares and stocks and crypto, or business, but I think you can do both. You can do multiple. You can have multiple investment strategies.
Speaker 1:I just simply love property because it's solid, it's stable, and it's safe for the vast majority of people. You know, it's not complex. Properties can be very forgiving. I mean, if you buy any property, I promise you twenty years ago twenty years ago, it could be the worst property, worst street, worst house. I don't care.
Speaker 1:You would make some pretty serious money if you bought any properties twenty years ago. So True. It can be very forgiving. So my encouragement, anyone who's considering this is, what plan do you have to set yourself up for retirement? Are you in a position to retire in ten years, twenty years?
Speaker 1:Do you have a plan in place? And I hate to say this, but 99% of my clients that I speak to, they don't have a plan. And it sounds so cliche, and then please pardon me. You're planning to if you if you fail to plan, you're simply planning to fail. So you must have a plan together, you know, in in building your your portfolio.
Speaker 1:And so I talk a lot about I've just, completed a book. It's called play the property game, how to master the eight key principles to build a profitable property portfolio. One of the key fundamentals I always talk about is understanding your why. Now let let me very be very candidly open about this. I've got eight investment properties.
Speaker 1:I should have 10. But you know why I sold those two? Because I made a mistake. You know? I I I forgotten my why in doing this, so I gave up.
Speaker 1:Because the reality is property building is not all rainbows and sunshine. You're gonna have really tough days. You're gonna have good days. Even for a professional like me, I have to be reminded on my purpose. What am I doing?
Speaker 1:I'm setting myself up for my family. Am I happy to go through some pain and sacrifice in in in the journey of that? Absolutely. But you gotta keep being reminded of your why. Otherwise, I promise you you're gonna give up too easily.
Speaker 1:You know, you get a difficult tenant. You get someone who, you know, forgets to pay their rent or trashes their house. That's it. You're out of it. And too many people lost, like, significant amounts of money because they simply have given up, too quickly.
Speaker 1:So I think having, established a strong purpose, is important. I talk about the eight p's. And just to summarize that, if you're thinking about getting it, just help get some professional help to help you understand why you're doing it. Now assuming you do and you're motivated and you're driven to set yourself up for the future and have some sort of financial capacity, you need to develop a winning psychology as well, Surrounding yourself with good people. I have got mentors around me that are always challenging me, but also encouraging me.
Speaker 1:I've got mentors that has got a lot bigger businesses and a lot more properties in their portfolio. You know, as a rising tide goes, all boats go up. So the right psychology is important. And then there's power and proximity. The proximity is so important with because they they really influence what you think about, what you talk about, what you think about, and what you bring about.
Speaker 1:So there's power and proximity. And then it's about having a plan. I think for the vast majority of people, buying a property is a good idea, but you've gotta begin with the end in mind. So knowing that if you wanna retire in twenty years, how much net equity position you're gonna need, how much passive income you're gonna require in order for you to sustain and pay your lifestyle is important. So having a plan is important.
Speaker 1:The other one's having the right platform. It all it's all eight p's. But the platform is knowing that there are multiple entities you can build your portfolio. So firstly, most people buy it under their personal name, but you've got trust structures, company structures, and then you've got self managed super fund, which is starting to become an emerging mark. And then there's a hybrid.
Speaker 1:But there's no one size that fits all. So there's different structures that's relevant to you. But what is the best structure for you? And it depends on your objectives, your risk profile, what you do for your career. That's important.
Speaker 1:And then, sixth is the partners. There are 15 partners you're gonna require. I call it your a team, and that's why BX and CBN, all these is great because now I have, you know, I have accountants, coaches, building and pest inspectors, property managers, sales agents. You know, it's a myriad of people. You need 15 of those as you build your portfolio.
Speaker 1:Now if you're playing doing anything professional, you wanna make sure you assemble the best team of people around you to to facilitate that portfolio. Seventh is your profit. So understanding your profit model. Is it gonna be a cash flow play, is it gonna be a capital growth play? Or is it gonna be anything in between?
Speaker 1:So understanding that profit model is exceptionally important. And last but not least, and only then do we talk about the right property. That should be the very last question you've asked. And, you know, Jono, the amount of times property investor or someone who wants to get started on the property portfolio go, Colin, what's the best property to buy? Where's the best location to buy?
Speaker 1:It's it's it's putting the horse before putting the cart before the horse.
Speaker 2:You gotta put the horse before.
Speaker 1:So you gotta begin with the fundamentals first, and then you can talk about what is the best property, to to look at.
Speaker 2:I love that because, yeah, so many people would start with the property, but, as you're explaining all those seven p's that go before property. Awesome. Okay. Well, let's finish with some Leadership Express questions. I'm just gonna ask you a couple of questions.
Speaker 2:And just off the top of your head, what comes to mind. You ready?
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:Okay. First one is what book have you gifted the most to others? Oh,
Speaker 1:gifted.
Speaker 2:What recommended? If there's a book you're always recommending, that's fun too.
Speaker 1:Wow. Wow. Wow. You stopped me there for a minute. Be the dumbest guy in the table, I think that's a big one for me.
Speaker 1:You don't have to be the smartest person in the room. Know Your Why from Ken Costa is a big one for me. Not to be confused with start with why with Simon Sinek. That's also a very, very good book. I inspired the book, The Secret to Teen Power, so I'm a little bit biased with that one there.
Speaker 1:If you've never heard of The Secret, The Secret to Teen Power is actually my inspiration to the, to the producers and the author. That was Cool. Yeah. That's that's really Yeah.
Speaker 2:Great. And I I can't remember if I've had that. What was the why book? Because I do I know the Simon Sinek one, but what was the one you mentioned that's
Speaker 1:not to be considered? No. It's the why. So Simon Sinek, he is, start with why.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:But, Ken Costa. Ken Costa is the chairman of UBS, and he's also the chairman of Alpha, but he runs UBS Europe, I think. And they've got trillions of dollars funds under management. He's an incredible, incredible guy. Yeah.
Speaker 1:So Know Your Why is the book. That's probably the one I recommend the most actually.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Okay. Great recommendations. All of them. Okay.
Speaker 2:A bit of a fun one. A movie or TV show that really impacted you. Anything that you've watched that you think it's really good. I've had Golden Girls mentioned before, so it can be kinda nostalgic, or something that for some reason is just a really influential movie or TV show.
Speaker 1:I'm not a big movie buff, I must say. Wow. I think the pursuit of happiness was was Forrest Gump is another one. A Beautiful Mind. I know I'm a little bit old school here.
Speaker 2:No. No. They're fantastic movies. I think you're listing off Oscar Oscar nominees there, aren't you? So I think you must have good taste.
Speaker 2:Yeah. They're all great movies. Yeah. Pursuit of Happiness, A Beautiful Mind, Russell Crowe. Yes.
Speaker 2:Okay. Last question. If you could only give one piece of leadership advice to a young leader, what would you say?
Speaker 1:Wow. I say don't underestimate your inspiration and your light. So that is don't ever think that you can't be an inspiration for others.
Speaker 2:And
Speaker 1:therefore, but be inspired at the same time. Keep an open mind. Be a sponge to learn to ask questions. Be daring to ask questions. So really, it's four words, inspire and be inspired.
Speaker 2:Love that. Wonderful advice. Well, thank you so much for for coming on. Where can people find you if they want to know more about, Kingdom Entrepreneurs Network or maybe they they were just thinking about which property to buy. Now they're going, oh, man.
Speaker 2:I've got seven p's I need to work out before that. Where can they where can they connect with you, Colin?
Speaker 1:Yeah. You can go to my website. So inspirerealty.com is my business website. You can book yourself in for a discovery chat. There's no obligation.
Speaker 1:You know? I hope you learned something. If you're lucky, you get me, but otherwise, it'd be one of my team members, that would have that conversation with yourself. So that's Inspire Realty. That's r e a l t y, not to be confused with reality.
Speaker 1:So inspirerealty.com. But if you're looking to be part of a network, certainly BX is something that I go quite regularly. It it's the BX South Brisbane group that I go regularly. But having founded Kingdom Entrepreneurs Network, which is very much my mission in helping the whole generation of kingdom entrepreneurs to really look at their marketplace as their ministry. You just simply visit kingdom entrepreneurs, see if you can spell entrepreneurs,org.
Speaker 1:That's o r g.
Speaker 2:Awesome. Well, I wanna thank our listeners for tuning in, and I enjoy having these conversations where we get a little bit, yes, we talk leadership, but we talk individual journey, and we were also talking a bit about property and a bit about networking, which I really enjoy. So thank you for tuning in. Most of all, want to thank you Colin for sharing your story with us and that pivotal moment '19 when your dad walked into the room. Wow, that's something I'm never going to forget hearing you share that.
Speaker 2:Really appreciate that, really encouraged and challenged me, and I'm sure it did for our listeners too. So thank you so much for coming on the podcast.
Speaker 1:My pleasure. Thank you so much, Shalay.