The Trailblazer Podcast

Paul Smith

Details

Touchstone Education founder Paul Smith welcomes guests from various fields and backgrounds into the studio to discuss the important lessons and key insights they've picked up along the way as they blaze their own trail.

Recent Episodes

APR 13, 2018
011 Abi Hookway and Gordie Dutfield
Gordie is part of the touchstone education team, he has been involved in sales for his entire life, previously running a large sales company. He is now involved in building the touchstone brand Abi is managing director for the Paragon Group, she has a large amount of previous experience in senior management roles. They each run their own Serviced Accommodation business. After fearing that property was a difficult venture, Abi attended the SA Masterclass and decided to invest in the Peak District for SA, mainly for the tourism industry, and for her own family to travel to. She now has 2 units, with another 5 in the pipeline, and was the first one in her family to do it. The main thing previously ' holding her back ' was that she thought property required a lot of money, and experience. She thought it was simply something that was out of her reach. Little did she know she was more than capable of achieving success in property. Abi follows the Rent to Rent strategy, meaning she controls the property, but doesn't actually need to own any of the properties. Gordie started the Touchstone Education Serviced Accommodation masterclass 18 months ago,with no previous experience and is now also involved with rent to rent. None of his family are involved in property, so again he was the first to make this jump. He didn't have a lot of spare time, despite his well paid day job he decided 18 months ago that he wanted to get into SA. Although his day job was well paid, he was exchanging a heck of a lot of time for money. It took him 3 weeks to acquire 2 rent to rent units. He now stands at 28 units, with another 5 going live soon. They earn an average of £1000 a month… EACH. Listen now to learn: Why getting started in property requires no previous experience How to manage and make money from properties you don't even own Why being the first person to do something is not a bad thing
35 MIN
APR 6, 2018
010 Scott Weir
On this weeks Trailblazer podcast, I am delighted to be joined by Scott Weir, a Mancunian born Scotsman, and a truly inspirational human being. As Scottish as Scott sounds, he was actually originally born in Manchester, and was then moved to Scotland with his parents at the age of 3. He first noticed that life was different for him, when he was mixing with the other children and realised it wasn't normal to not see your parents all the time. At the age of twelve, Scott often spent his days alone. His mother suffered from a severe drinking problem, leaving Scott to fend for himself. At the worst of times he actually had to steal food, to make sure that he ate that day. He never wanted to admit these things to anyone as he did not want to end up in care. At times, the family would go weeks without power in the house, and no shower. His mother was not optimistic or hopeful for him when he way a boy, she told him not to bother getting a job, and just ' sit tight ' . To Claim his benefits that would pay for his home and provide his ' drinking money 'as his mother put it. Now many of Scott's prior peer group have ended up in jail or dead. However, Scott was unwilling to accept this as his future Up until the age of 15, he had four goals in life: Not to get caught by the police Not to get beaten up Stay away from drugs and crime To get some food to survive. These were survivalist instincts and not goals that would ever accomplish anything real for Scott. ' To change your life… you have to change your goals ' He decided – enough is enough, and set himself four… seemingly impossible goals. He wanted to be smarter than his teachers He wanted an MBA He wanted enough money to pay for things he wanted He wanted to be seen as an expert in his field Fifteen years later, having accomplished these goals and more. He started his first company ' home sure ' in 2005. After a horrendous experience with his own single let property. Within 10 years Homesure has brought its main competitor's market share from 50% down to 2.8%. He runs a Martial arts academy, helping to sculpt the future of the next generation, and this one. Despite the difficulties that Scott has faced, he is grateful for the troubles that he went through as a child as he believes that they have sculpted him into the person that he is today. As you can imagine, the kind of workload that Scott deals with on a daily basis requires a great amount of organisation, and time management. It is an absolute pleasure to be hosting Scott at Touchstone HQ on April 12th, for his ' Productivity Blackbelt ' training course. He is going to show us the systems, the techniques, and the software he uses. To make sure he never wastes a spare moment.
48 MIN