What should other do to achieve the same?

“The training and guidance provided by Touchstone Education has been nothing short of invaluable. I can’t even begin to imagine trying to start a business like mine without some form of training. The network provided by Touchstone is just as valuable as the education. It acts as a support network for day-to-day queries in the early days, and it also enables great relationships to form in the long term.”

“It goes without saying that knowledge is pointless unless action is taken. However I believe there is also such a thing as taking too much action and I have certainly been guilty of that.  Shiny object syndrome is very real - my advice would be to choose one strategy only and be absolutely laser-focussed on it. I think it is also important to be very careful with your time and wherever possible, get other people to take action for you! In the early days I did far too much myself, and if I could turn the clock back I would have employed (or contracted) team members much earlier. We now have 2 Philippines-based Customer Service Representatives (one of them has been working for us for 3 years, her standard of work and reliability is exceptional and she is now our General Manager). We also have a very capable Philippines-based bookkeeper who takes care of our day-to-day bookkeeping, VAT returns and prepares our accounts to hand over to our accountants. Then we have teams of cleaners, teams of Property Managers and teams of maintenance staff. Trying to co-ordinate them all to create a “machine” that works by itself in every eventuality is harder than it looks, but we are now getting there and the lessons learnt in the process have been phenomenal. The business is not yet passive for us, but with all the projected growth in the pipeline, we will be able to take on a UK-based Manager early next year and this will enable us to take a huge leap towards truly “passive” income from the business.

When Rob and I first attended a Touchstone event we were asked if any of our friends were millionnaires, since you become like those people you spend time with. At the time we did not know a single millionaire. However I can now name at least 20 people who we consider either friends, clients or close associates, who are all millionaires or multimillionaires, many of whom have told us that they would like to Joint Venture with us when an opportunity arises. Needless to say, we endeavour to spend our time with these people and less time with those who attempt to pull us down. This brings me to my last piece of advice. Please either ignore the naysayers or take their comments as a challenge to prove them wrong. Only take advice from people who have relevant experience and success in your chosen endeavour.”