Nicole Bremner: Recent Episodes
Nicole Bremner
For Nicole Bremner, property was not an obvious choice. An ex-banker with 3 kids to work around, she'd tried all the usuals - photography, cooking, even knitting. None of them allowed her to contribute to the family finances in the way she wanted. Since her first property development in 2010, Nicole's GDV has risen to over £120m. Most recently, she has embraced crowdfunding and manages over £10m in investor funds. And she's just getting started...
Martine is the driving force behind Bridging London, her charisma and professionalism have enabled her to build one of the most significant networks in the Property PR industry. Martine and her skilled team have leveraged their considerable experience to create long lasting and mutually beneficial partnerships for all in her network.
Before starting Bridging London in 2013, Martine had a varied and extensive career in property and lifestyle communications, including five years with luxury developer Candy & Candy, where she has worked on iconic developments such as One Hyde Park, Chelsea Barracks and Fitzroy Place. Martine has also worked for luxury interior design firm Lawson Robb and branding and design agency Heavenly, on prestigious projects such as The Lancaster’s and Somerset Place at the Royal Crescent, in Bath.
‘We won’t mention what the short comedy is about…!’ Marina Conway-Gordon, producer of short comedy Get Notted
Marina Conway-Gordon is a media strategist and producer. Joining East Eight in 2016, she helped develop the East Eight story which attracted over £6.4m in equity crowdfunding over 18 months. Marina is a firm advocate of storytelling over advertising; attraction versus promotion in business.
‘It’s only going to get louder out there, and what differentiates you is story.’
Marina is also a scriptwriter and at the time of this podcast was getting ready to launch her latest short comedy, Get Notted! funded entirely on Kickstarter. It’s now been made and going through festivals. But we won't mention what it's about...
In this podcast:
- The importance of story and messaging
- Being a creative in business
- Bringing a sense of humour and the ‘real’ to media strategy
Now creative producer at her own production company The Real Life of Brands - launching 1 May, the focus is on real feel storytelling in and behind brands. She works with social media teams, trainers, coaches and entrepreneurs in delivering a powerful story which builds a thriving online community.
To find out. more about Marina follow her on Instagram @marinavision
- NEW PODCAST -
“If you have a book within you, you should do it.” - Your Success Podcast
Mo and Angelos are the always fun duo behind Your Success Podcast, a podcast celebrating well, success! It’s all about actionable insight and stories behind real life success.
Each week, Mo and Angelos try and understand what contributes towards successful people and businesses.They are interviewing people from a wide range of industries and professions, including property, law, sports, acting and modelling often featuring interviews with world record holders and globally recognised personalities. _____ It is yet another time where I have the pleasure to join forces with the best Your Success Podcast team, this time to deliver a very special, two-part series focusing on Podcasting and Publishing of course. | PART 2
In this podcast:
-how to start writing? -everything you need to know about publishing; -how to guide to an unforgettable book launch;
Find out more at: www.yousuccesspodcast.com
Let me know what you think in the comments below and do reach out if you have any questions or suggestions, always happy to hear from you!
- NEW PODCAST -
“You have to have something to share, something you want to say.” - Your Success Podcast
Mo and Angelos are the always fun duo behind Your Success Podcast, a podcast celebrating well, success! It’s all about actionable insight and stories behind real life success.
Each week, Mo and Angelos try and understand what contributes towards successful people and businesses.They are interviewing people from a wide range of industries and professions, including property, law, sports, acting and modelling often featuring interviews with world record holders and globally recognised personalities. _____ It is yet another time where I have the pleasure to join forces with the best Your Success Podcast team, this time to deliver a very special, 3-part series focusing on three p’s, Podcasting, Publishing and Property of course. | PART 1
In this podcast: -how to start a podcast? -all you need to know about podcasting; -Your Success Podcast top podcasting tips;
Find out more at: www.yousuccesspodcast.com
Let me know what you think in the comments below and do reach out if you have any questions or suggestions, always happy to hear from you!
“If you’ve got it, flaunt it, but know your worth and be prepared to prove it.” - Kerry Gooden
Kerry Gooden has been in the fitness industry for seven years. She freelances at Virgin Active, Equinox and Gymbox teaching a range of group exercise classes from hardcore HIIT to booty-sculpting Barre. She is a Les Mills Tribe Coach and partner in EDER Active - a luxury fitness wear brand. She also co-runs the Ibiza Body Blitz Bootcamp in Ibiza.
In a previous career she worked in the advertising industry as one of the few female creatives in London. She refused many an interview about the difficulties of being a woman in a male dominated industry and believes it is such articles that perpetuate sexism.
‘If you’ve got it, flaunt it’ would be her mantra but know your worth and be prepared to prove it. The force is female.
In this podcast: - Hear how Kerry started in advertising after being photographed at a party by Loaded magazine wearing a bin liner bustier. Campaign magazine then started a campaign to find her. - How Kerry changed from a life of parties to being a fitness industry pro (who still parties). - Her new businesses - EDER - Eat, Drink, Exercise, Repeat and Ibiza Body Blitz. Find out more at: www.facebook.com/IbizaBodyBlitz and www.EDERactive.com Let me know what you think in the comments below and do reach out if you have any questions or suggestions, always happy to hear from you!
"This long term attitude has enabled us to do things which a shorter term trader developer company might not be able to do." Edward Benyon
Not many people can trace the start of their property portfolio to the 1600s. Yet his family initially bought a farm in the 1640s which then covered Islington, De Beauvoir and into Kings Cross.
By the 1930s the estate owned just about every freehold in the 1930s. Since then the estate has shrunk thanks to bombing, leaseholder reform, compulsory purchase, and, most significantly, death duties.
In this podcast we discuss:
- The history of the De Beauvoir and Benyon families;
- The rise and fall of Hackney's fortunes;
- Investing for the long term;
- Rental reform and so much more.
Horses were an early passion in life and Edward briefly considered a career in eventing and show jumping before quickly realising that it was a challenging way to make ends meet. Instead, he turned his mind to property.
His first job was in Connaught Square, W2, working for the Irish property investor and former Olympic equestrian, Alfred Buller – who went on to invest heavily in Clerkenwell, on the fringe of the City, not far from De Beauvoir Town. Edward then set up an offshoot of the firm that focussed on rural property from an office in Hungerford, Berkshire.
Later on, Edward ran a property department for a small finance house in St James putting together deals until the family and its trustees decided that The Benyon Estate could no longer be property managed and required asset managing. Edward was brought in to lead the team as Estate Manager in 2007.
“So, my wife and I moved from Peckham to De Beauvoir Town to oversee this change,” explains Edward. “It’s been an amazing experience – somewhat nail-biting at times as we’ve invested a lot of money into the Estate – but I am pleased with what we have started in terms of bettering the Estate with community in mind and I am determined to keep it going. Both the family and trustees have been, and continue to be, extremely supportive of what we are doing here which is about looking after our tenants and really understanding this area and its needs.”
For more information see https://thebenyonestate.com
“The real key for me in the social media marketing space is nurturing the rest of the journey, after you’ve got that touchpoint or initial bit of awareness.” - Tim Hyde
Tim is a 23-year-old award-winning marketer and CMO who specialises in Social Media Marketing, Acquisition Strategy and Brand Strategy. As a business consultant focused on growth, product and viral marketing, Tim has pioneered the top 9 most engaged live streams, by a brand, ever.
Having worked at TheLADbible and Social Chain Tim has managed some of the biggest social media communities on the planet and leveraged these channels to engage young people and influence their purchase decision.
As a CMO for TruFan Tim is part of the founding team and has helped the business privately raise $1,000,000 in funding. As a Public Speaker and Brand Consultant Tim has spoken in front of the likes of UFC, ASICS, Eurosport, Apple Music, Unicef and MyProtein as well as helping organise talks at Universities, WeWork, Glug Events and has Keynoted for Sky.
In this podcast:
-the real value of social media; -how to develop a successful social media strategy? -why is it all about engagement?
Find out more at: www.timwillhyde.com
Let me know what you think in the comments below and do reach out if you have any questions or suggestions, always happy to hear from you!
- NEW PODCAST -
“Aim for doing things really, really well and to the best, I think perfection stops you from doing things.” - Jo James
With over two decades of growing multiple 6 and 7-figure businesses, Jo James is a rather experienced business coach. Her focus is empowering people with a variety of proven networking, sales, social media and mindset strategies for success. Through her coaching work with entrepreneurs, executives and teams Jo can significantly increase sales and develop client relationships for future growth.
She also provides Executive Coaching & Corporate Training, Sales Training, Stress Busting & Time Management Workshops, ACE Customer Engagement, Email Marketing, Effective Networking & Events.
Last but not least, Jo facilitates great business networking events Contacts and Cocktails where you have an excellent opportunity to develop relationships with like-minded, ambitious business owners and executives.
In this podcast:
- how to grow your business for solopreneurs and small business owners?
- how to make social media and marketing actually work for you?
- Jo’s top networking insights;
Find out more at: www.amberlife.com
Let me know what you think in the comments below and do reach out if you have any questions or suggestions, always happy to hear from you!
“Merchandise helps fans identify each other out in the world.” - Tersha Willis
Tersha is the co-founder and Head of Creative at the innovative music merchandise and tech company Terrible Merch. She graduated from Goldsmiths College with a Fine Art and History of Art Degree. Tersha then worked in financial services, private equity and fashion before becoming an entrepreneur and co-founding cult streetwear brand Terrible Movement and later, Terrible Merch.
Now, Terrible Merch provide unparalleled design, production and merchandising services and tools for artists to help them increase profits from merchandise but also to create a unique connection between the artist and their fanbase. Tersha works only with projects that she truly believes in, carefully curating a roster of the best new artists and brands, including Marika Hackman, Girl Ray and Chastity Belt. Data aggregated across the client base creates valuable insight for both artists and the wider industry. Terrible Merch also produced merchandise for the likes of Japanese Breakfast, Illuminati Hotties, Anna Burch, Chad VanGaalen, Matt Maltese, Goat Girl and many more.
In this podcast:
-music merchandise industry -how important is good merchandise? -how to create seamless customer experience
Find out more at: https://terriblemerch.com
Let me know what you think in the comments below and do reach out If you have any questions or suggestions, always happy to hear from you!
"Life is about connections, experiences and life long memories." - Ray Youngman
From a council block to the tallest of skyscrapers, Ray Youngman have been lucky enough to experience a lot and understand that liking and wanting the nice things isn’t just reserved for the rich and privileged.
He started developing properties around London at the age of 24 and was able to forge fantastic working relationships with worldwide partners who shared his vision of creating luxurious environmental experiences that seduce all the senses.
Now, Ray is an experienced property investor, entrepreneur, visionary and social media and marketing guru with more than 50K followers on Instagram alone. Numbers do speak for themselves, right? He is the founder of Mr.Youngman Global which specialises in prime residential properties, wealth services, hyper cars and lifestyle.
He believes that everyone has to start with investing in themselves as with the right mindset, anything is possible. This is why Mr.Youngman showcases a number of sectors but all with the luxurious element at their heart.
In this podcast:
- from dancing to property
- how to start in property from scratch?
- how to build your life confidence
Find out more at: www.mryoungman.com
Let me know what you think in the comments below and do reach out If you have any questions or suggestions, I am always happy to hear from you!
"People ask me 'what is it that pushes you Carl? And it's always the next 'can I achieve that? " -Carl Hutchings
Carl Hutchings played as a professional football player for over 13 years making over 300 football league appearances including Brentford, Bristol City and Southend United. Quite early in his career however he made a decision to take full responsibility of his financial future.
After being introduced to the property market through a close friend and mentor, Carl bought his first property at the age of 19 in New Cross, Peckham for £58.000! He then followed that up with another purchase in Fulham and those two properties alone netted him over £250.000 in profit by the time he turned 22 years old. He set up his first property company which had bought and sold over £5 million worth of property by the time he retired at only 29 years of age.
Now, Carl is the CEO of Elite Investments, the number one property company helping professional football players, athletes and celebrities to build long term wealth through the property market.
In this podcast:
- overcoming challenges
- how to transform you life
- what happens after retirement and why it can be a great point in your career
Find out more at: carlhutchings.co.uk or elitepropertyinvest.co.uk/
Let me know what you think in the comments below. If you have any questions or suggestions do reach out, I am always happy to hear from you!
"I think having good, positive values is important that's what helps me sleep at night. That's what motivates me, that's what drives me. " - Richard Blanco
Richard Blanco is a London based landlord developer with properties in North, East and South East London. Areas of interest and his exceptional expertise include buying at auction, managing the development process, encouraging positive landlord tenant relations, fundraising and business strategy.
Richard is also a London Representative for the National Landlords Association, sets up and speaks at landlord meetings and works on policy, press and media campaigns. His recent television appearances include BBC, Sky & Channel 4 News. He also commented on housing issues on BBC Radio London, LBC Radio and Radio 4, plus appeared in a range of national newspapers and property websites.
Richard has featured in sixteen episodes of Househunters International which airs prime time in the USA, Canada and on Sky Living in the UK. He also presents NLA podcast and Share Radio programme, Inside Property.
In this podcast:
- how to build your property portfolio from scratch
- how to buy at auction?
- current state of the market
Find out more: www.richardblanco.com
Let me know what you think in the comments below. If you have any questions or suggestions do reach out, I am always happy to hear from you!
" It's all about mentality isn't it really? I think if you've got the mentality that you believe you can do something, that's so powerful. " - Simon Church
Simon Church (happy birthday for earlier this week) had a successful career playing professional football at both Premier and International levels. He spent ten years at Reading after signing for their academy as a teenager. In six years as a professional, he scored 22 goals in 104 league appearances before moving to Charlton Athletic, MK Dons and finally Roda JC Kerkrade.
Despite being born in Amersham, Simon represented the Wales national team at international level. He has been capped 38 times, including two appearances at Euro 2016.
Luckily for him, quite early in his career he recognised the need to invest in the future. Buying property from the age of 20 was a kick start to his property journey. Now he is a founder and director of Church Investments where in partnership with established and well respected property professionals he helps other professional athelets with long and short term strategic property investment.
In this podcast:
- ups and downs of being a professional football player
- dealing with high pressure and criticism
- career change and how to handle it
Find out more at: churchinvestments.co.uk
“Success is not just about providing finance; it is about creating opportunity for all of our stakeholders.” - Tal Orly, Co-Founder & CEO, Cogress
A veteran of the UK property market with over two decades’ experience as a developer, Tal Orly is the founder of Symbia Realty Portfolio and an experienced global investor himself. He has been involved in large, complex urban property development projects since 1992. He has vast experience in acquisition, development and resale in both the residential and commercial sectors.
As a licensed solicitor, Tal is well versed in the complexities of realty law in multiple markets, as well as the legal, financial, planning and execution stages that are vital to increasing the value of property investment projects.
He is the co-founder and CEO of disruptive property investment company Cogress. First within the UK, Cogress provides mezzanine and private equity loans to SME developers, and makes off-market property development opportunities accessible to investors who qualify. To date, Cogress has committed £170m to 52 UK projects, with a combined GDV in excess of £1bn.
In this podcast:
- what is Cogress?
- how does Cogress work?
- how to enter an unknown market?
- current state of the market
Find out more at: www.cogressltd.co.uk
"Building a brand is very much about building a community." - Rosie Coxshaw
Certainly a modern woman herself, Rosie started her first business after leaving school at just 16 years old. Since then she’s worked in finance, baking, interiors, marketing and media! In 2009 she was one of the pathfinders of the Peter Jones (Dragon’s Den) National Enterprise Academy, a business course which is now available across many schools and colleges in the UK. Also a keen runner, Rosie ran the London marathon in 2012 as well as climbing Kilimanjaro for charity.
After working in many industries Rosie felt that women weren’t being recognised in business for who they are and wanted this to change so in May 2018 she launched Modern Woman.
Modern Woman is now a multi-media brand to empower, support and influence women in the workplace. Accessible across events, podcasts, online and a via a digital and print magazine.
In this podcast:
- building a recognisable brand
- the value of print over digital
- the importance of women in business
Find out more at: modern woman.co
"There is no competition. You're competing with yourself and if people want to compete with you, fair enough but you just have to smash it, you have to be better. " - Karolina Adamczyk
I met Karolina Adamczyk three years ago for an informal chat as she was looking to switch from banking into property and I absolutely love her story. Despite travelling around the world having highly successful career in banking, she felt something was missing and decided to follow her passion for interior design.
Building upon her experience in property development, she founded Ademchic. Karolina saw the need to help homeowners and developers create properties that make a statement. She noticed, that unique homes are often created once refurbishment is completed, through bringing together furniture, accessories, soft furnishings and items of emotional value. This is how ADEMCHIC was born.
Ademchic now is an Interior Design and Styling Studio helping developers and vendors maximise perceived value of properties they wish to sell. They prepare everything from development specifications, concept boards, CGIs, technical drawings and install stunning Show Homes. Their show homes are modern and unique and sell on average 3 months faster than their empty equivalents.
In this podcast:
- how to follow your dream and switch careers
- challenges of starting your own business
- how to grow your business
- nuances and trends of the interior design world
Find out more at: www.ademchic.com
Richard has been involved with property for the last 10 years, purchasing his first buy-to-let property at the age of 21. As well as a property developer and landlord, Richard is an ex-professional rugby player, spending 14 years playing over 150 premiership rugby games with London Irish, Leicester and London Welsh. Richard has 12 international caps for Canada whom he represented at the 2015 Rugby World Cup.
He is a co-founder of RDT Invest, a property investment company, with a core focus of SME Property Development. He is also a director of SBL Capital, a family office offering principle funding solutions typically to SME Developers. Richard combines his experiences from professional rugby career and property development with his knowledge of psychology, psychotherapy, financial and wealth management and investment to produce content that adds value and is centred around mental health, performance and career transition across various corporate events.
"I found that the more prolific you are, the more likely you are just to put yourself in the state of flow where you're no longer overthinking things, you're almost working on autopilot, just getting things done. You're moving forward."
In this podcast:
- sports psychology and its transference into business
- the importance of managing your ego
- transitioning from the pro-rugby career into "the real world"
- current state of the market
"You've got to be consistent. It's about signal, not noise" - Daniel Priestley
Daniel Priestley is the closest I've had to a mentor. He knew me when I was a shy returning to work mum sitting at the back of the KPI classroom too scared to ask a question. Dan's straight talking, insightfulness has always inspired me so I was thrilled when he agreed to be on my podcast.
Daniel started out as an entrepreneur at age 21 and built a multi-million dollar event, marketing and management business before the age of 25. A successful entrepreneur, international speaker and best-selling author, Daniel has built and sold businesses in Australia, Singapore and the UK. Daniel is the founder of Dent Global, which runs a 9-month growth accelerator programme for small enterprises, working with over 500+ entrepreneurs each year to develop their businesses. Dent has offices in the UK, USA, Singapore and Australia.
Daniel uses campaigns to help raise up to $100,000 for charity each year and is connected to some of the world’s most known and celebrated entrepreneurs and leaders. With a passion for global small business, Daniel is the author of the four best-selling books Key Person of Influence, Entrepreneur Revolution, Oversubscribed and 24Assets.
In this podcast: - What is Key Person of Influence? - Why should you aim to become the key person of influence within your industry?
Atuksha’s background is in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and data analytics. Over 15+ years, she has helped businesses, across many industries build a raving fan base through her CRM consulting business.
Her focus now is crowdfunding. In 2013, Atuksha co-founded Simple Backing, a property focused Peer to Peer Lending (P2P) platform. She then launched a second platform, Simple Equity in August 2016 following feedback from the crowd. P2P (including investing using the Innovative Finance ISA) and Equity projects now sit alongside each other under her brand ‘Simple Crowdfunding’.
Being an active property investor herself, she understands the benefits that crowdfunding brings to this industry. Atuksha is also a director of the UK Crowdfunding Association and in 2017 won the National Venus Award for ‘Influential Woman of the Year’.
In this podcast:
- current state of the market
- the benefits of crowdfunding
- how to crowdfund your projects?
- how to communicate with investors and keep them happy?
Check out more of what Atuksha is working on at: simplecrowdfunding.co.uk
'I want to do ground-breaking things; things that are interesting and difficult! Because that's how you get to the next level.'
Michelle Lowe is a streetwise and spirited Quantity Surveyor with over 20 years experience in the construction industry. Leaving A-level studies at 17 to pursue a career in construction, Michelle was looking for a career path that would offer tangible fruits of her labour and provide the variety and challenges that only construction can!
Michelle has worked her way through the ranks as Trainee QS to Senior, Project Manager to Associate and is now the founding director of Redshell Consulting, an independent and agile consultancy company offering the very best of Cost, Project and Development Management and has worked on some of the largest and most prestigious developments in and around London.
In this podcast:
- doing sustainability on a high-end level
- construction costs
- importance of design
- being a woman in construction
Michelle is now working on a new, award-winning design concept - a high-end eco-driven development. To find out more visit: www.redshell.org
Lafina Diamandis is a medical doctor, educator and property investor with over 10 years of experience buying, developing and selling residential properties. She is also the co-founder of Eurekadoc, a startup providing education and training to help doctors to create careers they love.
Lafina delivered education and training to over 1000 doctors to date, is an advocate for portfolio careers in medicine and the author of two books. Her recent crowdfunding campaign known as ‘The Doctors Project’ was overfunded in just 7 minutes!
‘Healthcare real estate, that’s a new area for me, but I think it’s a really important area. Something I feel really passionate about because a lot of my patients have huge housing problems’
Currently working on a pipeline of developments between £1 and £5 million across the UK, Lafina’s focus is on leveraging her experience and contacts in both real estate and healthcare, to create innovative solutions for the housing problems faced by patients as well as healthcare staff. She is motivated by projects with a social purpose and is curious about how concept such as ‘Co-Living’ could be used within the healthcare sphere and the bio-psycho-social impact this could have on our communities.
Lafina’s book Property Investing for Doctors is published this November.
In this podcast:
– intersection between healthcare and property – healthcare real estate market: property investing for doctors – social housing issues among patients
To discuss a property projects with a social impact, contact Lafina at www.eurekadoc.com or you can follow her on Instagram @the_propertydoctor.
Mike & Victoria Stenhouse are full time property investors who, after years of flipping houses and creating HMOs, were both able to escape the rat race before they were 30.
Aside from continuing to add to their personal property portfolio the duo also run a hugely successful property media company centred around their iTunes top 10 podcast - Inside Property Investing.
In this podcast: - Leaving corporate for the property life - Starting a media company specially for property professionals - Valuing your time - Building and sharing a community
Mike and Victoria are well know on Facebook, Twitter and iTunes - see Inside Property Investing
How do you solve the problem of old-fashioned, limited 2D design briefing in building projects?
'Most people do not know how to read plans, or really visualise the project from a simple document. If we can show our clients a complete 3D look of how the space will feel and work, it solves a huge amount of problems down the line.'
Oli is an architect and co-founder of Ackroyd Lowrie. At AL the focus is on using VR to design and collaborate with their clients.
Previous to this, Oli spent 10 years working at Architype where he was responsible for developing a modular, timber-framed construction system that was used by several London Boroughs to deliver new Primary Schools and Nurseries. Most recently Oli has spent three years as Project Architect for the prestigious £24m New Junior School for Highgate School in North London.
Oli passionately believes in working closely with clients, makers and builders to deliver projects in a collaborative manner. This approach, along with the revolution in 3D printing will change the building industry fundamentally, and Oli is keen that Ackroyd Lowrie are at the forefront of this shift. He has worked on several community self-build projects using this methodology, most notably to build a Biogas plant which provides renewable energy to a remote village from farming waste.
Oli is also an artist. His work has been exhibited at the Royal Academy as part of the Urban Utopias exhibition, and has been published in Blueprint and FX Magazine.
In this podcast: - Designing the new urban - Using VR in briefing - Interior design packaging
Ackroyd Lowrie is based in Hackney, London.
What Simon can’t draw isn’t worth illustrating.
His unique ability of being able to visualise in minutes a vague thought and idea in his clients’ mind-eye; bringing concepts to life in simple yet compelling sketches, is like watching a maestro at work.
Simon has over 24 years worth of practical experience in both residential and commercial interior design, having worked for global agencies and clients in London, Milan & Sydney Australia. Clients include Harvey Nichols Knightsbridge, Moda In Pele for House of Fraser, and Dennys. And with a background education in furniture design, Simon's creative process brings a very full spectrum of detail to his work.
More recently Simon founded his own interior design practice in London where he and his talented team craft unique environments for a multitude of clients across many dynamic sectors including retail, F&B, hotel, workplace and residential.
In this podcast: - the changing design of work spaces and its effects - finding a connection with clients - working with architects - what he brings to interior design from furniture and joinery
His new role as Creative Director at Salacia Of London is focused on developing new bathroom environments and product ranges on the one hand and working direct with clients to create bespoke bathroom designs on the other.
'The funding puzzle is quite organic. What was once the way to get funded can be affected by the economy, lenders own situations, changing needs of the borrower, interest rates, geo political situations...'
After a career in Corporate Banking helping large listed companies with their funding needs, Piragash Sivanesan set up Totum Finance in order to support SME businesses and property developers improve their access to finance. He has worked at KPMG , Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland, across credit, front office, restructuring and turnaround divisions, in a career spanning over 14 years.
In this podcast: - seeing through the ups and downs of financing a project - crowdfunding and changes in the lending landscape - starting your own finance business
Piragash has worked with London Central Developments on several projects, working tirelessly to get results. I'm grateful for all the support he has given through some fairly hair-raising moments. Piragash is also a member of the Devonshire Forum for Quorum Property Club www.quorumclub.org
Bringing a bit of London to the North West...
Greg Pope is a property developer and investor located in the North West of England. After successfully selling his large estate agency business Greg concentrated on building his property development and finance business.
As an entrepreneurial property developer Greg has looked to fund his developments with creative finance consisting of angel investors, crowdfunding and his own capital.
A range of developments have been completed by Greg which include commercial to residential conversions, new build apartment blocks and private luxury housing.
Greg devotes a lot of time to building a social profile and connecting with other like minded people and growing the group brand under which he operates his businesses.
In this podcast: - Developing quality homes and products - Crowdfunding developments and social media - Building a brand and becoming an entrepreneur - Building a finance business sector
The Magnus Group have a crowdfund going live this week with Simplecrowdfunding.co.uk and are featuring in Property TV's Developing Britain Series soon on Sky Channel 198
COMING SOON - BRICKING IT - ON AUDIOBOOK
Want to create a stunning property portfolio and still have time to go to the kids’ school plays?
Want to get started now and learn while doing it?
My book Bricking It takes you into the world of property development from first purchase to scaling up the business and growing an internationally-known brand.
- Choose a strategy which suits your skills and your lifestyle.
- Create an attractive brand so investors and partners come to you.
- Learn as you go, being prolific not perfect!
Here is a 5 minute sample from the audio version of my book, coming soon to Audible.
About the Author
For Nicole Bremner, property was not an obvious choice. An ex-banker with three kids to work around, she had tried all the usuals - photography, cooking, even knitting. None of them allowed her to contribute to the family finances in the way she wanted. Since her first property development in 2010 (her own home), Nicole’s gross development value has risen to over £120 million. Most recently, she has embraced crowdfunding – raising over £4 million with her team – and currently manages £10m in investor funds. She regularly speaks about her journey into property and entrepreneurship.
Hard copy on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2IP3XlC
What defines success when it comes to personal style?
Style consultant, fashionista and former model Lizzie Edwards joins Nicole to talk about dressing for work and making an impact through your personal style.
Starting her style career early, Lizzie was 'spotted' by Storm model agency and spent much of the 1990’s working as a fashion model living in London, Milan and Paris and working with some of the leading fashion photographers including Rankin, Corrine Day, and David Sims for magazines The Face, I-D and Dazed & Confused.
She also worked for fashion magazines such as Elle, Marie Claire, and Glamour and as a fit model with designers including John Galliano, Jasper Conran, Karl Lagerfeld, Chloe, and Issey Miyake.
In 2005 she set up her Style and Wardrobe Consultancy combining this grounding in fashion with a talent and love for shopping and effortless style, and an interest in personal development.
‘I loved advising people on what to wear, and it was a joy to see how my skills helped people become more confident and happy. As my business grew, increasingly many of my clients were executive women. I am also one of only a handful of UK style and image consultants who has been certified by the Association of Image Consultants International (AICI, FLC). I love my work, and have great fun with my clients. In the 12 years since I started my consultancy I have worked with hundreds of women, spoken in front of countless groups and led workshops helping people discover their personal style and upgrade their image.’
In this podcast:
- No nonsense advice
- Insights on how to create an effortless wardrobe
- Dressing for leadership
Lizzie’s new book, 'Look Like The Leader You Are; A Seven Step Style Strategy For Ambitious Women', is published this month.
Having left school at just 18 years old Ollie started to look for a "real" job. To keep him in petrol money for his racing cars Ollie started selling discontinued bathroom products on eBay. His eBay strategy snowballed and he never found the "real" job. Instead Ollie focused on building his bathroom product company. At just 19 years old the Bathroom Cellar was incorporated and now has a distribution hub, office and showroom based in Kent.
Seeing the frustration involved in buying full bathroom suites from multiple retailers and wholesalers Ollie came upon the idea of selling full bathroom suites perfectly curated to your individual bathroom. In 2017 he founded Salacia of London, a disruptive, online bathroom brand alongside long term family friend Jamie Dixon and Creative Director Simon May. In early 2018 I came onboard as the marketing director.
Ollie lives a life that many people only dream about with winters spent in Barbados and summers in St. Tropez. His passion really lies in fast cars and and one very unusual license. What struck me about Ollie is just how grounded he is despite his early success and the lifestyle he now lives. Take a listen to hear how this 25 year old reluctant entrepreneur is changing up an industry he was born into.
From a standing start of just one property, 30 years later Avi Dodi’s high-end commercial and residential property development portfolio boasts a global reach spanning the UK, Israel and the US.
In 2013, Nicole and Avi became partners and formed London Central Developments - the development partner to East Eight - now developing around 300 units together.
Here Avi joins Nicole at April 2018's Quorum Property Club to give insights into his long career in development including:
- Keeping construction costs competitive
- The UK and London market currently
- Building a loyal team in property
With a focus on sourcing interesting sites, Avi has navigated the vagrancies of the UK property market to become an expert in creating and handling property and development opportunities. His two sons have recently graduated from university and now work alongside him and with staff who have been with him from the beginning.
Property Investor, author and Londonphile Sally (Jing Wang) talks about what it’s like to be a Chinese Investor in London - a perspective you don’t often get to hear. Born in China, she has spent the last 17 years working, living and investing in property in the UK.
Author of two property books Buy Smart: what you need to know when investing in UK properties, and her latest book being released this week EXTRAordinary: a peek into UK property magnets’ minds, she has a unique perspective on the property market. The chinese version has been picked up by one the best publishers in China and is going live nation-wide from the 12th of May. In this book, she has managed to interview some of the top property ‘legends’ in the U.K. including the founder and chairman of the Berkley group. The book is full of untold stories, fascinating facts and timeless wisdom.
She is the Founder and Director of SJW UK Property Investment Ltd. A company focused on helping the Chinese with their property investments in the UK property market. She has great passion for three things: business, property and writing. And it seems that she has managed to combine all her passion together beautifully.
In property there's one thing which ALWAYS needs to be perfect - the numbers. Lisa is a financial adviser at a wealth management firm in the City of London. She is a Chartered Independent Financial Adviser and also a Fellow of the Personal Finance Society (PFS). This is the highest qualification a financial adviser can hold and less than 2% of PFS members have reached this.
I met Lisa at Sister Snog and we often chat about the relationship between people and money. Lisa has featured in national newspapers such as The Financial Times, The Telegraph, The Independent & The Daily Express commenting on issues as diverse as retirement planning, setting up a savings plan, getting out of debt and protecting your financial future.
Lisa is a Chartered Financial Planner, Independent Financial Advisor and a Fellow of the Personal Finance Society (PFS) - the highest qualification a financial advisor can hold. There are currently only 1300 Fellows of the PFS in the UK. Lisa holds advanced qualifications with the CII in Personal Tax and Trust Planning, Business Financial Planning, Pension Planning, Investment Planning and The Financial Planning Process.
Rob Lee is a social media speaker, trainer and strategist, specialising in helping brands to develop a meaningful presence on Snapchat and Instagram. Rob has developed and run several industry specific workshops, including #PropertyGoLive with Nicole and Marina from East Eight, and ‘Snapchat and Instagram for Recruitment’, which has been attended by brands including BBC Worldwide, Barclays, Virgin Trains and The Ritz. He also has a passion for the charity sector and works closely with the Salvation Army Housing Association, teaching homeless young people how to use social media storytelling in a positive way to improve their relationships, career and community.
Voted one of the top 100 young property professionals in the UK 2012 and the only independent consultant to make that list (Property Week's 'Hot 100'), Alexandra Notay’s areas of expertise include city economic development, real estate, regeneration and sustainability. She has led projects in London, Moscow, New York, Istanbul, Barcelona and many other global cities.
Alex operates as an independent advisor to a range of global organisations from the public and private sectors, providing strategic advice and initiative leadership. Her client portfolio includes Grosvenor, Cushman & Wakefield, IPD (Investment Property Databank) and the Greater London Authority.
Alex also sits on a number of boards, including the World Economic Forum’s Building Retrofit Steering Board, the UK Green Property Alliance and as an observer member for the UN ECE Committee on Housing and Land Management. Alex is also on the advisory committee for an independent UK charity promoting educational and career opportunities for women in the UK.
Alex Harrington-Griffin - Chiswick, West London Land Director @ TrustedLand; Committee Member @ Quorum Club; Founder @ Developers Boardroom; MD @ CDL Property https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-harrington-griffin-64571a13/
About Alex: Alex Harrington-Griffin, a seasoned entrepreneur in two continents, brings together insight into over 100 land deals, 45-years of family experience, from football clubs to graveyards, and a network of over 100 developers through his private Developers Boardroom and Quorum Club groups. Ongoing Land Director of award-winning property development firm Coeur de Lion Property, and founder of TrustedLand, the UK’s first land transaction advice platform, Alex believes strongly in business ethics, transparency and bringing land buying into the 21st century.
Alex offers audiences an upbeat, inspiring and authentic presentation. Whether chairing development panels or unique and original industry insights. Alex thoroughly enjoys his philanthropic work, as a LandAid nominated Charity Ambassador and Larches Community Trustee.
Rob co-founded Crowd with Us, an FCA-approved FinTech property crowdfunding platform in 2014.
As a qualified Master Mariner (Ships Captain) Rob has worked both commercially in the shipping industry and on several of the worlds largest privately owned yachts for some of the worlds wealthiest and most influential people, including a senior member of the Saudi Royal Family and former richest man in the world. Since purchasing his first property in London in 2002, with six months vacation per year, in the years that followed he continued to expand his portfolio, refurb, develop and raise investor funds alongside his day job. This eventually culminated in the formation of Crowd with Us.
Rob has vast operational and project management expertise, is used to running and working alongside large teams and has extensive experience in managing and budgeting multi-million pound projects.
Having retired from the sea Rob is now entirely focused on Crowd with Us.
Instagram: rob_wilkinson46 Facebook: Rob Wilkinson LinkedIn: Rob Wilkinson
Property sourcing has become a popular trend for many people wanting to get into property. Sourcers – are you being compliant? There is regulation around sourcing which few property professionals know about. Property sourcer and trained architect Laura McLoughney has a layered previous experience in Healthcare & Operations for urgent and primary care services in both UK & Ireland, with a responsibility for data protection policy & process implementation and adherence. She advises start-ups on data protection processes and has a real desire to ensure that private data is well protected at a time when we share more and more online.
On today’s podcast:
Property sourcing – what makes you compliant? GDPR – what you need to know about data protection e.g databases as of May 2018 Project Management tips and CRM
Robin is the CEO of Bamboo Auctions and Duomo. He qualified as a corporate solicitor in London and practised for a number of years, largely in the TMT and Corporate Real Estate sector.
It was personal experiences of the auction sector that prompted Robin to found Bamboo Auctions, with the belief that property transactions should be fast, certain, transparent and excellent value for money.
Duomo takes this fundamental belief and applies them to the new homes market.
The first come first serve reservation system is outdated. Being at the back of the queue means buyers could miss out on their dream home. With Duomo, buyers can place their highest offer online for individual new build properties, with the chance to increase that offer over the sale period. The highest offer when the sale period ends reserves that property.
In his spare time, Robin enjoys playing and following both cricket and rugby and is a Harlequins fan.
Matthew Siddell has been investing in property since 2001. An experienced entrepreneur, property investor and property developer, he has bought, developed and sold many millions of pounds worth of property. He has also helped countless other people with their property-related challenges.
Matthew is a regular public speaker and the founder and host of PPN Knightsbridge, a joint venture with Progressive Property. Since it began in 2015, thousands of people have attended to listen to Matthew’s contacts discuss a variety of entrepreneurial and property related topics some of which have been filmed and can be viewed here.
Matthew is also the founder and host of property developers club Quorum which gives investors, developers and professionals the opportunity to collaborate, share contacts and knowledge, and massively accelerate their progress.
Gavriel is founder and CEO of REalyse, the UK's leading big data analysis platform, helping property developers and investors to better understand the market, its opportunities and risks. Having previously worked in derivative structuring and quantitative finance with several hedge funds, he joined Quintain and then Essential Living, overseeing analytics across their £bn developments. The lack of fast, accurate and reliable data in the market is what prompted him to create REalyse.
Starting out as a software engineer in Silicon Valley, John made his first investment when he was 25. A ‘nothing down’ deal after a weekend seminar on the same. Yes, a Saturday and Sunday weekend seminar followed by exchanging on a purpose by Monday afternoon. They did not say you had to go slower.
John is a proper software engineer who spent years working on interesting projects with famous people and companies you would recognise. In the 1990s John moved to London to take up an IT role at Swiss Bank Corp. The oldest of the 3-big Swiss banks. After some mergers, the name changed to UBS.
These days, John is a multi-national landlord with property from Hawaii to Bradford. Yes, a spread of 11 time zones and multiple legal systems. Real estate really is all about finance the the legal details.
Having received a lot of help from others along the way, John is happy to speak with people when they have questions. He runs an Ask John hotline where people can book in for a 20 minute call. No strings. Just a bit of ‘Pay it forward’.
Andrea is a writer and communications consultant in the property industry. She most recently worked as Head of Marketing and Communications EMEA at CBRE Global Investors where she oversaw the corporate and programme marketing, press, branding and internal communications in the region.
Andrea began her career as a journalist at Property Week before moving on to be editor of EuroProperty for seven years. Following this she worked for various industry bodies including the Urban Land Institute as well as spending three years as a director and interim CEO at INREV in Amsterdam, and one year at its sister organisation ANREV in Hong Kong. She is currently working as a consultant in the industry while working on a book about the history of the modern European property industry.
Mark is a partner at Firstplan, a Central London planning consultancy based on Bermondsey Street, SE1. He has over 10 years of experience dealing with a variety of developments across London and the UK, including a range of residential, mixed-use and retail, restaurant and commercial developments, as well as high-end, smaller scale residential schemes such as basements and listed building alterations and extensions.
Mark first worked with Nicole on her City Road scheme – winning a planning appeal enabling her to build 2 additional storeys of residential on the roof of the building – and has subsequently assisted with a number of her other ongoing developments in Hackney, including the St. Matthias Club in Dalston and the Paintworks site on Kingsland Road. He specialises in managing and negotiating with local authorities, and advising developers on planning strategies aimed at helping them to maximise the planning potential of their sites.
www.firstplan.co.uk
Atuksha’s background is in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and data analytics. Over 15+ years, she has helped businesses, across many industries build a raving fan base through her CRM consulting business. Her focus is now crowdfunding. In 2013, Atuksha co-founded Simple Backing, a property focused Peer to Peer Lending (P2P) platform. She then launched a second platform, Simple Equity in August 2016 following feedback from the crowd. P2P (including investing using the Innovative Finance ISA) and Equity projects now sit alongside each other under her brand ‘Simple Crowdfunding’. Being an active property investor herself, she understands the benefits that crowdfunding brings to this industry. Atuksha is also a director of the UK Crowdfunding Association and in 2017 won the National Venus Award for ‘Influential Woman of the Year’. www.SimpleCrowdfunding.co.uk
Nicole Bremner speaks to Antony Slumbers – 20th September 2017
Antony has over 20 years experience developing and running online technology companies, primarily within the commercial office and property management sectors. He currently runs the office research site Cityoffices.net, the SaaS software company Glasnost21.com, blogs at antonyslumbers.com and writes a technology & real estate column for Estates Gazette. He consults widely with companies looking to leverage technology within the real estate sector.
For more information visit antonyslumbers.com