Helen Pollock from The BizBook Foundry joins me for the last episode this year. We go under cover to discover the book writing and publication process, both in general and specifically around the writing of The Complete Guide to Property Finance; launched on 21st December.
The Complete Guide to Property Finance splits the topic into 3 sections, covering Institutional, Alternative & Creative Finance. With more than 50 different property finance techniques and strategies covered, there really is something in there for every property investor and developer in this readable reference guide. Make sure you get the cheat sheet mentioned, won't you?
What is property finance to me? Property finance comprises payment over time and/or a financial contribution and/or control without ownership of our property investments and developments. Property finance is therefore the combination of the three levers of money, time and control over property assets.
Helen Pollock reminds us that there are at least 7 different skill sets that go into publishing a book. On reflection, I counted more skills, which include conceptualisation, research, writing, editing, typesetting, proofreading, indexing, cover design, conversion and publishing and marketing of the book. The BizBook Foundry supports non-fiction authors in all of these stages, either as a coach or as a service partner to deliver these steps for you as a hybrid-self-publisher.
There is the purpose of the book to consider, is it to build authority, to educate, to generate book royalties, to add to our product and service offering or to generate connections and business partnership opportunities, amongst others? Whilst the world self-publishing does enable people to do the whole thing from A to Z on a DIY basis; we consider whether or not we really should, as we balance our time and capabilities with the cost and quality of publication.
In this episode there is much to learn, be it more about the wide-range of property finance techniques or the process of writing a book. I hope that you manage to grab yourself a copy of The Complete Guide to Property Finance, which I genuinely believe is the best and most professional of the three books that I have published yet.
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Transcription of the show
Helen Pollock from The BizBook Foundry joins me for the last episode this year. We go under cover to discover the book writing and publication process, both in general and specifically around the writing of The Complete Guide to Property Finance; launched on 21st December.
The Complete Guide to Property Finance splits the topic into 3 sections, covering Institutional, Alternative & Creative Finance. With more than 50 different property finance techniques and strategies covered, there really is something in there for every property investor and developer in this readable reference guide. Make sure you get the cheat sheet mentioned, won't you?
What is property finance to me? Property finance comprises payment over time and/or a financial contribution and/or control without ownership of our property investments and developments. Property finance is therefore the combination of the three levers of money, time and control over property assets.
Helen Pollock reminds us that there are at least 7 different skill sets that go into publishing a book. On reflection, I counted more skills, which include conceptualisation, research, writing, editing, typesetting, proofreading, indexing, cover design, conversion and publishing and marketing of the book. The BizBook Foundry supports non-fiction authors in all of these stages, either as a coach or as a service partner to deliver these steps for you as a hybrid-self-publisher.
There is the purpose of the book to consider, is it to build authority, to educate, to generate book royalties, to add to our product and service offering or to generate connections and business partnership opportunities, amongst others? Whilst the world self-publishing does enable people to do the whole thing from A to Z on a DIY basis; we consider whether or not we really should, as we balance our time and capabilities with the cost and quality of publication.
In this episode there is much to learn, be it more about the wide-range of property finance techniques or the process of writing a book. I hope that you manage to grab yourself a copy of The Complete Guide to Property Finance, which I genuinely believe is the best and most professional of the three books that I have published yet.
Property Chatter
Welcome to the property voice podcast helping you to navigate safely through the world of property investing. Get the lowdown and updates, insights and outcomes on all matters property with a splash of entertainment along the way, the property voice, a voice to trust among the crowd. Now, let's get started with your host, Richard Brown.
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 again on the show today. And I'm not alone today, because I'm joined once more by the delightful Helen pollack. Hello, Helen. How are you?
Hello, Richard. Yeah, I'm good. Thank you. Thanks for having me on the show again. It's great,
though, thanks for joining me. I mean, we just literally just let's share the secrets here. I think we just pinged a couple of messages to one another, about a certain thing that's going to happen. And for Well, why don't we just jump and have a chat, because you know, we can talk about this certain thing that's going to happen from a couple of different angles. And here we are just a day later, and trying to get this recorded before the shopping arrives. So thanks for joining me on short notice.
Well, we're all about keeping it real. Are we really so yeah. So this is very mysterious. Richard, do you think you should enlighten your listeners
as to the certain thing that's going to happen a certain thing? Oh, okay. Let's try and build a little bit more suspense. But I guess we'll get out the way straightaway. So long story is that you and I and others have collaborated. And there is a nother book coming out of the property voice book, stable, whatever, if there is such a thing. And it's, it's due out on Tuesday, the 21st of December, in a variety of different places. And it's called you better tell you what it's called. It's called The Complete Guide to property finance. And the subtitle. Now, I'm going to say something about the subtitle in a second. The subtitle is, it's a toolbox of 50 plus financing solutions beyond vital and I had to read that for myself. So yeah, the complete guide to property finance, so that I'm really happy about it was a goal for the year. It's been a goal for the last three years, if I'm honest. And, you know, I think it's finally happened. And publication will be 2021. And that will be my third book. And the previous books were 2018 and 2015. So we've got a nice little three year cycle going on. So there we go. That's the big announcement. So it's got it out there.
Indeed. It's really exciting. And just in time for Christmas, perfect timing, an excellent Christmas gift.
And I've discovered that the 21st of December is still before the last postal day first class postage state to get there in time for Christmas.
Perfect.
How about that? I guess if you delay a day or two, you could special delivery or something? I don't know. But yeah, it's gonna be there on top. Of course, the Kindle version is instant. So you could order the Kindle version, and maybe follow it up with the paperback later. Who knows. But you know, there's going to be a launch price specifically on Amazon with the Kindle version. So if people are looking for great value, we'd like to deliver great value. I think it's 199 launch price on Amazon Kindle. But it's, as I've discovered through this process, working with you and Katherine. There's more, there's more to this, you know, book, you know, distribution, world, then Amazon, I've realized, so that's something that's something. So anyway, it's available in probably all good bookstores and online places and stuff.
Brilliant. So it's the complete guide to property finance. What was it that made you want to write a book about that particular subject?
Yeah, so um,
you know, I do remember I do actually remember I was just joking. Several years ago, was wondering, I was a member of the property hub community, you know, the property hub community. And this was the time though, you know, Robin and Rob, who started that they were trying to get people to form like little mastermind groups around, you know, just together. And, you know, if you had an idea around a theme, you could kind of try and start your own mastermind community group. And so I really had this idea about just creative strategies into creative financing that account really wanted to explore, let's say. So there was a couple of us more than a couple, a few of us who got together in this mastermind group. And we started to kick around creative financing techniques in this mastermind. And then I just said, well, wouldn't it be nice if we had a purpose beyond just talking about it, and we did talk about it, but it never really went anywhere. That's the point. There were some mock ups of outlines of some of the techniques that were, you know, kicked around, mostly by coeliac, as I'm going to call her out personally. And myself. And there's a couple of other contributions, everyone's name checked in the book. I must admit, I can't actually remember if Damien was included in our group and gone from my mind completely. So if Damien you're in the group, thank you for all your contributions. If Damon, you weren't in the group, where were you? Anyway, so we started there. But I always had this idea of creative financing, because I think in finance, fire, sorry, in property, finance, is this the big it's the be all and end all, isn't it? Yeah. Without money, you can't do anything? Or was that too? Well, so I think we explore that a little bit in the book. Because there's a couple of different sections. And there's at least one big section that deals with what you can do without necessarily money. So anyway, there we go. That's how it came about. But you know, I suppose my so I had an interest. And I guess what, why put it into a book and why put it out there. It's just so consistent with my own sort of purpose, I suppose. Because I like to share my knowledge. I like to, you know, help other people along the way to learn from what I'm learning, and also my mistakes and things like that. So it's very consistent with just my personal ethos and approach. I'm a bit of a Gabi, what's it? So I do end up talking about things and writing about things prolifically sometimes. So that's how it started. And then it says, well, let's, let's actually do this thing. I'm trying to think when that was must have been good. Five years ago, when that idea was conceived, as I was serious, it has been a goal for the last few years running on my goals list at the start of the year to publish this book. I think you might have helped me along with getting that out. Actually. Yes, I
think I did. No, you did.
What did we just talk about? You know, obviously, we've got just so people know why you and I are talking? You know, you've got a big involvement here. And, you know, a strong connection with book publishing, generally speaking. So just sort of set the scene about what you do generally, and how you've helped here a bit. Yes, I
fundamentally, I help people to write great books, mostly. business books, always nonfiction, for now at least. And who knows if that might change in the future. But yeah, so that's, that's that. But I also came together with a book Layout Designer, for Katherine Williams, and we set up a new business in full lockdown. April 2020. We talked about, I suggested this idea to Catherine because I so I help people in the writing side of things. And book coach or ghostwriter and an editor. Katherine does the design side, but we both had people coming to us. Who would ask, well, I know you can help with the writing, but how much would it actually cost me to get the book out there? And how would I do that? And so Katherine also had people coming to her who haven't written their books yet talking to her about designing their book, but they hadn't written it and they needed some help. So I suggested that we join forces. And so the biz book Foundry was born at the end of June 2020. After initial conversation in April, and the aim of the Facebook Foundry is to help self-publishing business book authors from idea to final file and anywhere in between really, final file upload to to Amazon and as you say, there are other places as well that you can upload your self published book. So that was kind of how the Bismarck family came about. And I think and you know, you know, there was a three time or So Richard, there's more to self writing and self-publishing a book than people might think.
So for example, if a client comes to us and they have no content whatsoever, they just have an idea, then to get from that point to self publishing their book requires the skill sets of seven people on average. Oh, seven, yeah, yeah. So I would help people with the writing side of things, then the book would go to pass to Catherine to project manage once the final kind of draft, there would be an editor who goes through it, there would be, then the book would be designed by Katherine. And then it will be proof read. Because actually, editing and proofreading are two different skill sets, which, although some people do both, so it's quite confusing. And then there is indexing, which we always recommend for nonfiction books, because people don't read them in a linear fashion. And they might want to dip back in and they don't want to have to read through 200 pages to get to that bit that they remember that they need to see again. So and then there's ebook conversion. So yeah, there's actually quite a lot going on there. And cover design is the other thing. cover design.
There's also I mean, the front end, so you could that could be idea creation, and writing and research. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. And then at the backend, there is also so publishing, you know, on the platforms like Amazon or Ingram, spark, and others. And, and marketing and publicity.
Yes. And that's something so my backgrounds, marketing, and PR, as you know, Richard, and I think that that kind of sets me apart a little bit as someone who helps with that writing process. Because I always insist that my clients think about marketing from the outset, whereas most authors thing, I need to start writing this book, I need to start writing this book. No, before you start writing, we put pen to paper, you need to think how am I going to sell this book? Who is this book for? How does this book fit into my personal and professional goals? And my kind of ecosystem of products and services? And a lot of people don't do that? No,
I think, well, you touch on this. I mean, so first of all, you beginning with the end in mind, right? But I think, why would people write a book? So there's lots of reasons why isn't that? I think if you want to be the next JK Rowling, there aren't that many who do that? Who know? Right? An actual, like, New York Times bestseller or something?
No, and particularly in terms of, there's a few things. So the first thing is the vast majority of traditionally published non fiction books are commissioned books. So the publisher will have approached the author to say, Could you write a book about this, for example? So that's a little bit different. And, you know, I have got clients who have secured traditional publishing deals.
A mutual friend group or,
indeed absolutely right. And we Paul's book is fantastic from CIA to see. I mean, what a killer title, her book, what are you doing?
You can love her because, you know, it's good. And it's work. I think it'd be good. Anyway. I was I haven't actually really I have pre ordered it.
It's fab. I can tell you that right now. Just as yours is. But, yeah, so the marketing side of things. It's, it's really important to start thinking about who you're going to sell your book to, right from the beginning. And, you know, what you certainly don't want is to get to the end of the process, and then think oh, oh, Now I need to sell this book, but you haven't created an audience, you haven't built anticipation. And you're going to need to do that.
And also, you might have found actually, by the time you get to the end, and you think about that question that you might have actually written or positioned it in the wrong way, for that audience,
so that's, that's one of the great things about books. So you know, book will help you to build your authority and your credibility. And it will do things like help you to secure higher profile speaking opportunities, if you're interested in that, obviously, are acts as a, as a good first rung on your value ladder of services so that people can get to know like, and trust you. And then if they, they need further help, they will come to you for that. So you know, there's a lot to be said for a book. But longevity is I guess, it's a double edged sword, isn't it, because your book is going to be around for a long time. And we know that I don't know, where the stats from, but I've heard that, on average, a book is passed around to six different people. And I'm sure that's not you know, that's not true for all books, six degrees of
separation for books.
But it just goes to show, if you don't get the positioning of that book, right. When you before you start writing it, so you know what you want it to do for you, then it's worth a lot of wasted effort, which it isn't, it's
a lot of wasted, it could be a lot of wasted effort. And as you I think your point being if it's the longevity, how long it's out there, it's, you know, you can be discovered and, you know, read for by several people over many years. So, I think it is important to try and get it right. Yes. I think equally, especially in the sort of nonfiction sort of business space, you know, it's it's not all it's not usually about book royalties. It's, you can make some losses, but you know, I would say just based on my own knowledge, I mean, you can completely DIY, why self published, and then every, you know, pounds you earn in royalties is pretty much a pound in profit, almost. But, you know, obviously, depends on what set you how many sales you make. And in that sense, and, you know, if you don't tell anybody about it, they might not buy the book. So that's a bit, but I think it's, it's other reasons for writing a book, often for people like myself, for example. So perhaps a bit of profile, perhaps a bit of authority, perhaps it's a bit of, you know, access to other types of income opportunity, perhaps, is partnership opportunities, I would say that the royalties are very small part of the ecosystem that can come out of publishing a book. And the authority, you know, it's like a giant calling card, business card, whatever you call it. You know, people think, Oh, you wrote a book. So you must be some sort of orphan. Or you must know what you're talking about that? Well, some of them, we can get onto that, because it is there is a low barrier to entry. In terms of self publishing, that actually, there's a bunch of trash out there
as well. Yeah, there. Yeah, there is, there's no two ways about it. I think, you know, people bad mouths, the Amazon self publishing platform. But, you know, there's good stuff on there as well. It's not all bad. And it has, without a doubt, totally democratize publishing. So even, you know, normal people can now publish a book. But yet, there is still an inherent respect for many people about writing a book and someone having written a book that remains. Yeah,
exactly. I mean, it's like, you know, education, you know, so you go for education, you get certificates at the end of it, whichever level you're doing, and it's not, it's rare in a way that you kind of directly applying what you learn in your everyday life, or work. I mean, some, some qualifications are very vocational, obviously. But, you know, a lot of them they kind of just proof of a certain standard of, you know, learning or brain power or application. And a book is either in a way, you know, it's like, Well, okay, if you've, you know, gone about and set about writing and publishing this book that he says the same thing doesn't actually mean you can do what's in the book, you know, bit like an A level certificate or whatever, it doesn't tell you that you can do whatever it is that you've got the certificate in. So I think it's that part. But I think it's, it shows a great discipline. Because it means there's a lot of discipline. You know, and that's one of the things that I did differently this time. For example, with this book, I eventually put my finger out. And I think it was every weekend Come what may, for about six months, I actually sat down and did something for a couple of hours of morning, Saturdays, and most Saturdays and Sundays for about six months. And it was without doing that, you know, the alternative that I used to default to, would be to go and lock myself away for a week. And try and, you know, bash it out sort of thing. And that's what I did for the, that's what I did for the first book property investor toolkit. I actually, literally took myself off for a weekend break a long weekend, and I had the raw material for that, for that book at the time, by not to into a book game was quite a short form book. First one, and but it was like three or four days. And I was I was brain dead literally, at the end of it. That's how I wrote Courteeners. The toolkit proptech was done a hashtag proptech to give its proper title, it was written very differently. And I had some contributions to that, to help. And the this book, The Complete Guide to property finance was, again, I had some other contributions to it, but I still had personal discipline, you know, for that period of time. So that counts for something, and anyone who's written a book should know that. And if you've read a book, it really makes me of diving into sort of reviews a little bit here, because one of the ways to sift is through reviews. But obviously, you need to be a little bit careful with some of these reviews. But so if there's like a lot of reviews, and they're good reviews, and they seem to be genuine, and you know, specific and detailed, then maybe you can put a bit of, you know, content into that. But then, I do sometimes surprise me when people go, Well, you know, I normally have very good reviews, but guess which ones I focus on? So had one reviews, one review at one time say, well, it's really short, this proptech not promising this token. It's a really short book, and you know, I'm not sure you know, I pay this, this money for it. Some of them, I don't know, they just it was just like a bit of a moan. I was like, well, you paid like, I think three quid coffee. You've got all this information. I think there was a few broken links or something in the version. But I actually give away the people as a bonus, people can write in and go and get the up to date version. So it's all up to the AMA. So people are thinking, anyway, I'm drifting because well,
I was thinking because you mentioned the other two book ferreted I wanted to ask you what you see or your third time author. Now. What have you learnt along the way? What if you had to give your top three tips to aspiring authors? What would you say they were?
Yeah, I didn't think about top three tips before you before I came here. So I think some of it we've kind of been speaking about. So what is supposed to what's the purpose? What's the point you're aiming at? So why did you want to write a book and what you want to get out of it? And you know, who do you want to? You know, do you want somebody to do something as a result of Rena reading your book? So Hank, really, really be clear on that. And you kind of made that point really well earlier? You know, beginning with the end in mind marketing the audience and you know, is it royalties? Or is it you know, upsell product? Or is it authority and speaking engagements. So, you know, what is the, what is the outcome? Who are you trying to reach? What do you want them to do? As a result of original? Because, by the way, you don't know who's bought your book. Usually, if you, especially if you're distributing it through a third party, you don't know who's bought it. So anyway, so you can if you want them to connect with you, you need to find a way for them to do that. So bonuses, bonuses is a good way to do that. Yeah, so all of my books have booked bonuses. So that's probably one thing. I think a second thing is probably about what I've just outlined is about kind of the process of the writing process. And I think I've always kidded myself really, that I need to lock myself away and do it in blast and stuff like that. But it's not really an effective way to write. So I did do that in the past, but I think it was better doing it bit by bit and regularly we Chi brings me on to spending enough, I had an exchange with somebody else who's thinking of writing a book. And I said, you know, talking about goals has been talked earlier about three, it was on my goals list for three years. Now, it was a goal to publish, write and publish this book, the last three years running, including this year. But it didn't happen. So but that was what I call an outcome goal. Follow, not just me, a lot of people will call it an outcome goal to publish the book, that would be the outcome. But it doesn't, you know, it doesn't address the process. It doesn't address the writing process, and all the other seven people that you talked about, who get involved. So you also need process goals. So you need an outcome goal or process goal. And I think what made the difference issue is have the process goals. So a process goal would be I'm going to sit down and write every Saturday and Sunday morning for at least two hours. So that would be a process goal. So it didn't necessarily say when the book will be finished. But just by committing that time, by definition, I'm moving along at micro steps. And lo and behold, here we are talking about the book being complete. Yeah, which you know, but then in the last few years, I didn't have those process steps in place.
No, it's funny, I always recommend to clients that they shedule time in for writing, and they stick to it, it needs to, you know, the danger is, and it doesn't matter if it's like, you know, you want to get up early, an hour, early, twice a week to work on this book, or it's a Saturday, every Saturday morning, whatever it is, whatever time slot works for you schedule it in and stick to it, don't let it be, you know, swept away by a meeting or whatever, you just need to keep that discipline and keep that time set aside for writing. Otherwise, it will just fall off the bottom of the old to do list.
Yeah, serving. And I guess the third one of my top tips would probably be Well, I think recognize usyd. Seven, I think it's actually more in what the seven was at least seven different roles or functions in, you know, be especially professionally or publishing a book, even if it's self publishing. So I call you do the hybrid self publishing, because you facilitate all the extra bits around the edges. So self publishing means self, but you know, you can have help. And I think for me, it was to recognize the value and the contribution of those extra roles and resources. I can't proofread my own stuff. And if I did it, it would, you know, other people would laugh. You know, in fact, they you've had enough, you know, too many ellipses, for example, has become my become a comical response. I like to use ellipses, but maybe the reader gets a bit fed up of ellipses. So proofreading, you know, do that properly. You and I a long conversation about indexing, as you just alluded to earlier about nonfiction books, because my this book here, it's a long book for style. But it's what I call a readable Reference Guide. Yeah. And so you could try an account now there's about 16 content chapters of the actual strategies, and 300 pages, and 54 and counting individual strategies in the book. And like, Well, what was this one about bonds? He talked about something our bonds? Where the heck is that one? So I've seen the index, you know, so that was a conversation we had and I had the we engaged a professional indexer. And it's those things, and then there's the cover design, and then there's the there is the marketing and in all of those different components, and just recognize I can't do all of that. Yes, well, I possibly can because it did in the first book. But it wasn't necessarily the best. And, and even if it was good, it was good enough, let's put it that way. Was that the best use of my time? And, you know, did I capitalize on all of the different opportunities that those things will bring about? So I think the hybrid model, where you bring in extra people around you, who can professionalize your publication and make it credible and stand out and you know, it's going to be hard for people to pick holes in it now because of that standard that's being put in there. I think that's the that's been the icing on the cake. So each one has got a little each book has got more professional if I can say that. Then this last one bit in almost perfect.
Well, that was that was always our intention mine and Catherine's was to enable self publishing authors to publish a book that would sit very comfortably next to traditionally published books on the bookshelf, a book that authors could be proud of. And you wouldn't be torturing yourself about, you know, loads of glaring typos or, I don't know, slightly dodgy li design cover or whatever it might be
a read books like that. I've read books, and you've read books like that. And what's your reaction? What is the reaction that you have, as I was reading on the other day, and it's like, you just repeated the word twice in the same sentence, it's just annoying. And you're no longer focused on the actual content, you're focused on how annoyed you are that they put to words and nobody picked it up, put to the words say, hope there's not two words to say no, but now.
Well, that's, you know, and then we'll, we'll look at that kind of thing. So they're looking for things like repetition, they're looking for the flow of the story, because they matter whether it's a fiction or nonfiction book, there's all of the stivity telling a story. So yeah, there's loads of things. They do consistency of language. Have you referred to something using the same term consistently? Or have you thrown in some other term alternate, you know, alternate term, but the reader won't necessarily know what that means? Those are all things that editors, editors look at. But yeah, I agree with you. And the thing is, if you've got the repetition and blaring typos in slightly dodgy cover, that's going to be around for quite a long time. That's it,
you know, and you know, especially in the digital world, you know, it's loose on forever, almost, doesn't it? So that's your visual kind of CV is part of your public profile. So you probably do want to get it right. So I think I think that was, it was good to cost some money to do that. And I put out there recently that I actually said how much I spent on a proofreader, as long as as much then as like, well, there's a lot of work that goes into proofreading. And in fact, I believe the proofreader commented on a LinkedIn post today, that she read the book three times, you know, cover to cover possibly more, if you've probably looked at different iterations. But, you know, so you're gonna read it through that many times, you're gonna make the corrections. And, you know, take on board or the feedback from the author and the editor and everybody else, so you can't get that cheap, quality and, you know, price. So that was worth it and the index as well, which is a booger of a job.
That my worst nightmare, I think, apart from three reading, that is,
I think indexing is going to be worse and worse than proofreading. Because you have to go and find the reference, and then cross reference it everywhere.
Yeah, it gives me a headache just thinking about it. Yeah.
So somebody loves that sort of work. And you know, they're really good at it. And hopefully, we've got a really nice index. And there's artwork, there's art, whether it goes in the middle in the content is artwork on the cover or cover design. So that, you know, I can't draw for toffee. So that, you know, had to had to bring people in. So my father, for example, who is a study in design at university and found her on the paper round website, which is a gigging site for students. So she, Miranda Casanova. That's made sure it's a real name. Anyway, so there's a lot. So there's some of the lessons but I'd say, Well, let me flip the tables a little bit. And this may be a bit unfair, because A, it's not your book. And B, I didn't tell you that I was going to ask you this question and give you a chance to prepare. But let's just leave this. So let's start a little easier. There's like three main sections. So what was your what was the section that caught your attention the most would you say? Oh, you can remember the three main sections.
I hope you know, I mean, so I consider myself fairly knowledgeable about property investment. In theoretical terms, at least, I but the book blew my mind. I Well, the thing that blew my mind was using different strategies together in ways that I had never considered, but also just the kind of bonds and stuff that was a completely new world for me, never considered that such like things could be used to, you know, for Property Investment Finance.
Yeah, I think I knew that things like rent to rent. But yes, some of that it's really hard to say this most of the traditional finance stuff I knew about.
Yeah, so that was just a just a traditional institutional financing was the first section, which is what most people do know about by selling more stuff like that. Yeah. And then the next two sections, one was alternative financing. And the other one was creative. Financing. Financing.
Yeah. I think. Yeah. So using the creative financing solutions are, and but I think, as I said, it's the layering of different strategies, which is, the other possibilities are incredible. And it hadn't even Yeah, there were loads of things in there that are just never occurred to me. So when I say, my feeling was when I read the book. So before, before I read it, I kind of assumed it was for novice property investors. Having read it, I now think that, you know, even more experienced property investors will also get a lot from it. And that was a surprise. Yeah.
Thank you. But um, I think, you know, that was some of the one of the objectives, there was something for everyone. So, you know, put, you know, the first section on institutional financing would be where maybe the novices would feel most at home, you know, or some isolate mortgage, what do I need to know about it, you know, what's bridging finance, what's development, finance, development, finance, all designed to take you into different, more complex property strategies, but it's more commonly available that say that, then some of the other ones we get into later. But the alternative, one alternative basically means it's an offer is usually from an alternative source. So something you might not have thought of, could be banking, Mum and Dad. It could be a peer to peer lender. But it's still financing. It's just come from a different place. So so the first bits like traditional marketplaces, and banks and lenders, you know, lenders you can find, often on the high street. And then the alternative is like, well, it's still kind of financing the same sort of way. But often from different types of sources. That was the point of the alternative financing section, which I noticed it's got most chapters. And then the third section was the creative financing strategies in my definition of a creative is that it mimics finance, you know, so he uses contractual structures, in the most part to mimic the effects of financing. You said rents or rent earlier. So rent rents a good example of that, where there's no financing actually in rents or in people that why is that in there, because you're using a contractual structure, which is a sublease agreement or something similar to control that property for a period of time. So you're still getting in, you know, the financial benefit over an extended period of time, which for me, is still part of the definition of financing so and then you can, you can layer different types of financing together. But here's an interesting thing. You can matrix, different types of financing strategy to explode your portfolio. So you could have a bit of rent or rent, you know, going on, as well as some vital act, for example. And so that you know, only you don't need to, you don't need a lot of money to do a bit of rent or rent, you need more money, usually in deposits on by select, for example. So you can layer these different ideas to, as you say, but you can also matrix them so you could actually explode your portfolio growth. And so, yes, I think the objective would be to take people on a journey. Yeah. And some people are further down that journey already. I nearly put out a challenge. I sure I would, I'm sure there will be somebody, you know. I'm sure there'll be somebody but the challenge is going to be something like I bet there's something in there you didn't know of directly. We're 54 Different Finance strategies are better than at least one you never really thought of you might have no if I say for example, grants, people, of course, I know about grants. People have grants, but how could you use them in your financing in a property financing? Business specifically? So you know, it's like the application or the crossover, I'm getting excited, because I'm talking, I'm getting excited about what the book does and how it conveys that. But there we go. So. So the bonds one, so that's interesting. So chapter nine, chapter nine ones shares and mezzanine finance. So I, one of the guys who loosely proof read that he actually wrote back to me, and he said, My mind is blown. Yet, promise me it's one of the most complex chapters. And I even put a little warning at the top of the chapter saying, feel free to come back to this one later. Because it's, it's complex, and it's not for everyone. And you know, for example, you couldn't launch a property bond, just like that, you know, we might need regulating, you might need to have a high volume of business, you might need to be a big time developer. So if you're just starting out, scraping down the back of the sofa to raise your deposit, maybe that chapter is not directly relevant today. But you know, if you are further advanced in your, you know, journey, I think more so next stage for me, well, that might be in. Yes. So I was, you know, trying to get you to pick out some individual ones, you kind of mentioned a few there. What I say what I, to answer the question like myself, because my like is, there is something for everyone. So for example, if you are the novice, and you're thinking about property, investing or developing whatever,
there's a few ways in which the book outlines how you could get going, you know, with very little, so zero, or very little cash, which some of the creative financing strategies could help with, but it's also how to raise some of our cash, you know, so you know, you can have a larger, if you've got your own home, you could have a gift deposit from a family member, you could use the ISIS with, you know, government help for, you know, to top it up. So there's, you know, you can actually have a rummage around in your garage real often find some stuff and sell it to help Marino contrary, so there was stuff there for people like that. And a lot of people in the middle who have probably plateaued or are finding it difficult to keep going. And, and then obviously, somebody consider itself a little bit more advanced, you know, that I was still learning stuff, and I was researching and writing the book.
Yeah, that's, I think there are just, there really is something for everyone. And there are so many strategies, as you say, 54 and counting. But that there really, there is bound to be something that you probably haven't thought of,
oh, Helen, between you and me, I've already fought off what I haven't thought of. And there's a couple of there was one I managed to get sucked in just before it went to print, I was like, Oh, that's a good one. Get that in. And then there's a couple of CO is kind of one that could split into two, which is, gosh, it's not in the book. But he will he goes, the book bonuses can capture all that stuff. So hashtag book bonuses.
So let's do it. Let's think about sort of wrap up and next steps and you know, whatever about what we can do here. So from your perspective, because so I'm thinking as a as an author who's published a book, and you're probably coming at it from a facilitator, you know, who helps people to get to that place? So, we've got a common view and objective, but we're coming from slightly different perspectives. So what do you know, how do you help people and how, you know, what are you doing at the moment to do that? And how can people you know, take advantage of that.
So, I guess, you know, what, what I offer is I help people to get the knowledge that's in their heads out into a book and into the world. That's, you know, a very simple but absolutely accurate explanation. So, you know, I can help people to write their book I can coach people to when they write their book, but I support giving support and accountability. I can edit people's books. If they've already got a manuscript, there's lots of different ways but I it's that writing helping them to get that book written. That's my past the process then, you know, Catherine takes care of the design and production this boundary. So I'm actually, I'm going to give you a link to the Facebook foundry website for is it to say what is it? What is the website you're saying just so we know if this book family.com. So it's bi Zed, one Zed, book foundry.com. And so check us out there and find out a bit more about what we do. And I'm also running an in person, hopefully. But could the virtual if social distance, yeah.
I'm running this input person worked up somewhere near Milton Keynes, so very central in the UK, on Saturday, the 15th of January nine till 1pm. And the idea is to help people to get ready to write their book. So we'll be looking at all those things like who's it for? And what are your personal professional goals, and the outcome should be a draft table of contents at the end of that session. So if anyone's been thinking, yeah, I really want to write a book, but I'm just stuck. And I don't know where to start. They could consider coming around to that. Also, I have a brilliant if a decently myself document called, I just don't know where to start, funnily enough, I'll give you the link to that's a bit more tricky. I can't just reel that link off. But if your listeners want to download, that's just a PDF, a PDF document. And then that'd be a great, free way to get started on that journey to being an author.
Yeah. And I think you know, can make the difference. I was talking to someone who will remain nameless, who told me earlier today, they've got three part written books. Oh, yeah. And I was like, just on the juices. But imagine the effort that has gone into writing three books, partly for start, but not actually finishing them and getting them out there. And so I think, and then there's other my own father, for example, he always said he had a book in him. We never got out of him, before he passed away. You know, and, you know, kind of chokes me up every summer. I think about that. But it was part of the motivation for me to write, it took me 30 years to get to write my first book. Because I had two goals. When I was 18. I was in ruins to run my own business. And the other one was dry book. It's I don't
think I knew that. No, no.
I didn't run my own business starts 30. He took he took a while to get that one done. And then hours for us, you know, whatever I was, well, there Yes, there you go. That kind of puts it in perspective, it was 30 years to write the book. So that's a long time. And I think you know, what can be someone like you you can basically help driver process, you can talk about how to do it, you can be the Accountable person that mean nasty when it says What have you done this week and stuff like that? And how just well if you've got the content for three books, partly but none of them fully then you know, reorganize reprioritize.
And that we get that all the time. So in fact, we mean, Katherine recently launched what we call the over the line service. But exactly those people who, you know, that is this, so nearly there, but they've, you know, ground to a halt. And that this is this is so many people out there with not just one but multiple unfinished books. So let's get one finished.
Yeah. I mean, it's the last mile. So I think, you know, but I think going back to we said earlier, the different disciplines that go into it can be overwhelming. You know, so anyway, reach out to Helen for details about the live event details about services and the PDF that she talks about, which will drop a link in the show notes, because it's going to be one of those complicated ones. I think it is. Yeah. And then from my point of view, basically 21st December onwards, official launch of the complete guide to potty finance. I know it's 199 launch offer on Amazon Kindle. It's that that won't be that price forever, I can assure you and will be available in paperback as well. Somebody asked me the question about audiobook. And you probably know because you've seen the book. It's going to be blooming difficult to put into an audio book because it's got a lot of tables and figures and stuff like that. But what I am thinking about is an even abridged version, or even a mini Podcast Series, specifically around the books anyway, I haven't haven't finalized that yet. But I'm a bit exhausted right now. So I think I'm just want to get the book out. There's 50 Odd strategies in there, there's 16 chapters, there's three main sections, I believe there's something for everyone. I've got a nice little twist called Pay it forward. And so if you buy a copy of the book, dear listener, and decide to gift your copy, which probably is it does a paperback on YouTube, about six people. So if you gift your copy of your book to someone else, I will replace it with admittedly a PDF version, a digital copy. But then at least you both get the book. So there's sort of a peer Pay It Forward initiative. And I'll tell you what, Alan, just because right, you know that I was pointing out these teachings I've got, yes, you can see us right now, you've got a consumer screen, which I'm, nobody else can see. But whatever. So that's got the 54. Current pharmacy financing strategies and techniques, along with a snapshot summary a while. So it's a cheat sheet. I'm just writing the right hand, basically. And I'll just give you a copy of that. And so that's a bit of a giveaway, just reach out podcast at thepropertyvoice.net for that. But if there's anything else you want to cover off today, Helen,
yes, there's one thing. And that is, if anyone is thinking there's a book about property, investment, finance might be Dell. And I just say, not on Richards watch. So you can expect a, you know, an approachable and engaging read. And there are some, there are some complex strategies in there. But, you know, I'm very easily bored. And I really enjoyed reading the book. So it's a really important part of property investment. Get in there, get a copy, you won't regret it.
Oh, that's really kind of easy to say. Thank you so much. That was the aim. How would you write a book on property finance, without it being, you know, does ditch water? But you know, we're hopefully, well, I hope so let the reader decide. So thanks for that. So Helen, and Catherine, obviously, thank you so much, and the wider team at the bespoke foundry, I believe I might be one of the first people through the foundry. So you are indeed, probably through that
is big for end to end. But I think there's a bunch of other people quickly following suit. But reach out to Helen, if you'd like to hear more about that, and how she can help you get unstuck or, you know, get you through that process. But otherwise, rush out, get them out, leave a review. We'd love to hear your views on the book, and whether you believe what Elon said that is a interesting book on finance. Cool. All right, let's wrap it up. So I'll do my official outro. So Helen, thanks very much for joining me again. The links that Helen mentioned are gonna be in the show notes, you can find the show notes over at the website, the proxy voice.net. You can reach out to me podcast, thepropertyvoice.net to talk about anything from today's show. Get an intro to Helen, get it you know, I'll put you in her direction. But there we'll put the links to hell and stuff in the show notes as well. It's going to be the last time I do this outro for a while. So I'm gonna take a break from the podcast. So I think I mentioned with the podcast episode had we Shiggy Podcast Producer, there's going to be content that is shared on the podcast, but not necessarily me doing this each week. So it's like a bit of a break. And then to relax a bit when we come back with a slightly different style and format. So I guess all that remains to say right now is have a fantastic festive break. I wish you all the best for 2020 to everybody. If you want to write a book in 2022 If you want to make that a goal, you kind of this episode is hopefully helpful for you. And yeah, thanks very much for listening once again this week on the popsicles podcast. And until next time is John John.
Thank you for listening today. Now head over to thepropertyvoice.net for more inspirational content and gets updates through our mailing list. Join us next time on the property voice podcast and if you enjoyed the show, please don't forget to rate us on iTunes.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai