Today, Helen and I are joined on the show by Olga Nechaeva from No White Walls. Olga is a self-described Woman From Mars, which if you have read the book Men are From Mars & Women are From Venus will make sense to you. I guess this helps to explain why Olga is a PropTech entrepreneur, although she also has an established portfolio of co-living style properties, which was fascinating to hear about.
She gives really honest and perhaps some soul-searching answers in our discussion, especially around balancing business with home life.
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Resources mentioned
Property Deal Tips & How to Reach me By Telephone
Link to the Podcast feedback survey
Contact Olga Nechaeva
Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/olga-nechaeva/
Web: www.nowhitewalls.co.uk
Today’s must do’s
Subscribe to and review the show in iTunes…and while you are at it please help us to spread the word by telling all your friends too!
Send in your property stories, questions or moans to podcast@thepropertyvoice.net and we will try and feature YOU on the show too!
#PropTech: A guide to how property technology is changing how we live, work and invest – a link to the latest book.
Property Investor Toolkit – here is the book link on amazon.co.uk & amazon.com in case you would like to get yourself a copy to accompany this series
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Transcription of the show
Hello, and welcome to another episode of The Property Voice podcast. My name is Richard Brown and as always, it’s a pleasure to have you join me on the show again today.
Today, Helen and I are joined on the show by Olga Nechaeva from No White Walls. Olga is a self-described Woman From Mars, which if you have read the book Men are From Mars & Women are From Venus will make sense to you. I guess this helps to explain why Olga is a PropTech entrepreneur, although she also has an established portfolio of Co-living style properties, which was fascinating to hear about.
She gives really honest and perhaps some soul-searching answers in our discussion, especially around balancing business with home life.
Property Chatter
Discussion summary between Olga, Richard & Helen.
Background
In UK for 12 years, last 20 years spent in a corporate environment undertaking business development role. At one point she looked after 67 countries, so she was very entrepreneurial.
Missed dealing with people closer to the business, so started to look for something different. Looked at different businesses and property was one of them. Learning from courses and books. Decided to go into lettings and management more so than flipping and development. Started a property rental business but kept looking for new opportunities quite naturally. Looked at HMOs with a twist, more of a lifestyle…before The Collective…so looked at a co-living model before the term was trending.
This allowed her to quit her corporate job. However, she also needed to outsource and systemise to manage her properties as no technology or manager seemed to fit to work with HMOs. Then, saw another opportunity to offer a better service to people like her. There was a market gap for service and a platform, which lead to the formation of No White Walls.
Co-living…
Excluding communal living, where families live together in a community. Co-living is a product of our age, based on…
Shortage of housing
- High job mobility, with freelance and contracting
- Cost and hassle of starting to rent your own space
- Culturally, young people don’t value ownership as much
- Sharing a house as a 2-year old seems normal
- Trends in technology, such as space-as-a-service Citizen M & WeWork is an emerging trend still being defined but is still is an expectation of sharing a house and also a service…such as experience, network, hobbies, exchanging, car-pooling, etc. Co-living allows this to happen…it is the merger of sharing where you live with your community.
Digital space within an app, to put out notes and chat for example. There will also be some events provided, such as personal growth, networking and local area and networking in the house. For example, drinks nights, movie nights, local business events. Then, tips and ideas about the local area.
Triggers that lead to stepping out of the safety of a corporate career…
High-risk taker for a woman, a little crazy and have a supportive husband. But the driver is the freedom to decide for yourself and make your own decisions. It is a nightmare managing work and family, especially in a start-up. Wanted to be an example to her children…must pursue your dreams. Want to run a company based around a modern life, with a young family.
Work-life balance…
Olga says she copes to strike the right balance…you can have it all, but not in a perfectionist sense. You can be ‘good enough’ but not perfect. This depends on having a support network. Olga’s husband supports a lot, sometimes she has to take them to business meetings with her. Workaround school pickups and school holidays…plan the year around school holidays. Important to share these values as 60% of staff are women with children. Examples, not working at 3pm but are working at 10pm perhaps.
Biggest successes…and mishap
Failure…got really entrenched in the idea of developing a prop tech platform. Started alone, got a development team and then met Victoria, her co-founder. Victoria said it would never fly, suggested ditching the project and start again. However, Olga insisted that they persevered, and they launched but without any real result. Had to start again six months later. However, they had an open conversation about how this could have been avoided next time. This strengthened their relationship by being open and transparent with one another and being prepared to risk upsetting ego in favour of the business.
Successes…networking and blogging (Woman From Mars) is a strength. A place for females in business and tough situations. This allows her to talk and present to people at events. Now invited onto BBC News as a commentator on PropTech, which gives great exposure. A client testimonial after the first month is also a success.
Values and principles…
Integrity, braveness/courage, candour (speak up & challenge), hold each other accountable, learning loop and being systematic (Lean Start-up concept). Black Box Thinking – book recommendation…those that observe this tend to be three times more successful. If it does not works change or pivot until it works. Have them on the wall at home!
How do you find the courage?
Embracing the stress that comes from the unknown. Step out into something new…don't be afraid to ask stupid questions or make mistakes. ‘The whole point is in the climb’. Look back and reflect how far you have come…it will surprise you to see what you wanted to do compared to where you have come. Studied accounting for a month to set up the accounts. When you look back and see how far you have come already, it gives you the courage to keep moving forward. It is still very scary, but you learn how to support yourself through it.
State of the UK property market and future trends…
Political uncertainty! Now people are fatigued (with Brexit) and are just getting on with their lives anyway. The EU changes are not in itself changing the property market. PropTech is growing very fast, there is and will be further consolidation. There will be greater convergence of technologies.
The property industry is slowly embracing the tech side…still a long way to go. Attend various tech events and yet there is no representation from PropTech at such events. The bricks and mortar element might put some off. Looking to see the boundaries merge in some way.
References…
Property Tribes, Unissu Sunday PropTech Review, Infabode
Tips and advice to people starting out or at an early stage…
Property investment and business investment could be different things. The former might be a little safer perhaps. The support between women in business is amazing…member of Women in Property Tech. So, network with other women. Have mentors and don’t be afraid to reach out to people with networking. Olga has a 5-step model that you might want to ask her about 😉
Most of her opportunities have come about by reaching out to people.
Contacts…
Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/olga-nechaeva/
Web: www.nowhitewalls.co.uk
Open to custom, but also prepared to help smaller landlords to create the same experience of The Collective. ‘The Hilton of House Shares’ – No White Walls…ask how she can help, including new investors starting to find their feet. Happy to connect with any female entrepreneurs as well.
OK, so that’s all for this week. If you want to talk about anything from today’s show, or just talk property investing more generally, email me or Helen at podcast@thepropertyvoice.net, I would be happy to hear from you! The show notes can be found at our website www.thepropertyvoice.net
All that is left to say, is thank you very much for listening once again this week and until next time on The Property Voice Podcast…it’s ciao-ciao.