Beginning a property investment journey: ‘Be reflective and critical of yourself’

In the end, he spent four years of his life and around $100,000 to educate himself. By the time he was ready to buy, he’d already missed a good market cycle in the area of his choice.

It was only until he took a more holistic approach and reflected on the different aspects of his life as a business owner and an aspiring investor that he found the right path towards success.

Minimising stress

Before beginning his property investment journey, Grant believed that the best way to steer himself towards success is to know as much as he could about the venture. However, after suffering the all-too-familiar “analysis paralysis”, he realised the importance of being backed up by mentors and property professionals.

Right now, he’s spending time preparing for a development project, but instead of taking on the role of the project manager, he wants to utilise the skills of his financial team to help him make the most out of this investment.

He said: “I don't think I'd be a good project manager. It's not my area of expertise … I want to invest more of my time in developing a team around me.”

“[I want to be] a leader—supervising, overseeing it, but getting out of the way and letting those guys do … what [they] should be doing, and [I will] just kind of [check] in on them,” the property investor explained further.

This new perspective, which he had to learn over time after missing good market cycles and opportunities, ultimately lead to a more enjoyable investing experience for Grant.

Find your direction

As a property investor, Grant takes inspiration from his experiences as a business owner. Just recently, after spending 20 years in the hospitality industry selling beers and burgers, he decided to run a naturopath clinic with his partner.

According to him, he wouldn’t have thought that he would be lead down this path, but now, he finds himself enjoying going to the clinic every day and working to keep it growing as one of their main sources of income. Moreover, he enjoys seeing the opportunities they can create through the business and work on ways on how they can carry it over to property investment.

His advice to budding property investors: “You've got very good clarity of what you can see down the track. I think the biggest change that I've had from the Newcastle days is I can physically see [where] I'm heading towards and it's written down.”

“My accountant's got a one-page plan of where we want to be in two years, five years, and as long as everything just keeps flowing forward, it's a lot easier [because] the strategy is in place.

“We know that we've just got to keep ticking this box and this box and this box. We've got a direction now,” Grant added.

Smart Property Investment’s Phil Tarrant, who is an avid investor himself, agrees that it is important to have goals and a direction set in mind before jumping into the venture. After all, there’s no overnight success in property investment.

“You need to know where you're going. If you don't know where you're going, you'll never get there … It's just the way that works,” Phil concluded.

Tune into Grant Iverson’s episode on The Smart Property Investment Show to know more about the challenges he faced throughout his property investment journey, including facing banks and his 12-month unemployment period, and how he and his partner overcame these obstacles.