Mindset – Have you got what it takes to succeed?

By Lesley Tao, Director of CASHFLOW FREEDOM

I wanted to make a post about MINDSET as I believe that this (and taking consistent action) is what sets successful people apart.  For me, I’ve personally experienced quite a few failures before being able to (now) celebrate the successes.   Where a lot of people would have given up where they have encountered challenges or failure, it is important to keep pushing mental boundaries,  try different strategies and continuously work on yourself (your wellbeing, knowledge, application and skill set), until you REACH YOUR GOALS!

I love the ‘NIKE’ motto – ‘JUST DO IT!“.  It ANNOYS me immensely when people make excuses constantly to justify have failed to do XYZ and go on to criticize others who are successful.  What they probably haven’t seen or appreciated is the hard graft that goes on behind the scenes and the sacrifices made.  But even if they had….if their mindset is not right, would this make a difference?   

“For me personally, my mindset, attitude and WORK ETHICS stems from parents (and grandparents), memories of how hard they worked when they came to the UK and the life teachings they passed on to us.  I have provided the below extract from the book I am currently writing, in particular this extract is about MUM AND DAD’S PROPERTY JOURNEY.  I hope this will inspire YOU the reader to adjust your mindset and take action…. after all, if my parents could achieve this with broken English and no internet….you should be able to do much better!”

Mum & Dad

My parents came from Taiwan to the UK without much, particularly my dad.  He was a superstar basketball player with his twin brother in Taiwan and moved through school and college easily because of his athletic ability but didn’t get much of an education apart from being good at Maths.  He was particularly popular because of his good looks and the leader amongst his pack of friends/followers.  When he came to the UK in his early 20’s it was a massive culture shock for him and he quickly realized that his HOOP SHOOTING skills were not an asset.  He could hop on a plane back to TAIWAN or he could stay in the UK and try and try and make something of himself.  Although not the most GLAM, he got a job as a HUMAN DISHWASHER in the China Town kitchens.  He made a vow to himself that he would work through the ranks and become the youngest head chef one day.  Thus, the hands that only touched basketballs previously became swollen from being in contact with water for too long and scarred from cuts gained from vegetable chopping exercises.  He would memorize recipes and practice ‘speed chopping’ of vegetables whilst his colleagues were sleeping and would survive on 2-3 hours sleep a night.  He did reach his GOAL within 2 years and was the youngest head chef in London at that point.  However, he surveyed the kitchen he was working in and decided that he wanted to be the BOSS and own his own restaurant one day!  

How they got started in property

Through their hard work of  having a restaurant as a cashflow base and a ‘reputable’ relationship with the bank manager, the same bank manager then went on to lend my parents money for various real estate projects.  I remember visiting building sites with my dad and would then fall asleep whilst he and his Jewish business partner then (a builder) would draw plans on how they wanted to re-develop that property.   Therefore, my love for real estate was probably ingrained in my subconsciousness from a young age.  Although I didn’t personally get into investing in real estate until I turned 30, my dad always told me that ‘your BIGGEST BUSINESS PARTNER IS THE BANK!’

My dad’s most notable development was a PUB CONVERSION into 3 retail units and 4 apartments above in the 1990s which is still in the family portfolio (although the leases to the flats were sold off).   After, my dad’s business partner passed away due to a sudden heart attack, my dad then went to China for over 10 years and didn’t continue with property development in the UK.  NOW, my dad is still WAITING for me to follow in his footsteps and I promised him I would and that he would be around to witness this. 

My motivation

At an age where we have the INTERNET right at our finger tips to access information, access to online education and know-how, I absolutely believe that there are no viable excuses which should prevent YOU in succeeding in BUSINESS AND PROPERTY.  If my dad, someone who barely had secondary school education with very little ENGLISH could do it, YOU CAN TOO! He is living proof of that…and is also my motivation to keep pushing and advancing

Please feel free to comment and let me know what inspires you and your mindset….for me, as you can see, it’s my family xoxoxo