Braydon Birch: From Skate Parks to Property Investment Success

In this episode he divulges all about his younger years growing up in Melbourne’s east, where skate parks and shopping centre car parks took precedence over school. However, he caught himself from slipping into a downward spiral, and explains just how he did so to become the company founder and property investor he is today.

Transcript:
Braydon Birch:

[00:07:19] And I just felt like that wasn't me, that wasn't a true representation of who I was and what I could do, regardless of the disadvantages I had with having [little] education or formal education, with being brought up in commission housing and things like that. I just felt like I could still do so much more.

**INTRO MUSIC**

Tyrone Shum:

This is Property Investory where we talk to successful property investors to find out more about their stories, mindset and strategies.

I’m Tyrone Shum and in this episode we’re speaking with Braydon Birch, a buyer’s agent at Hirch Property and a property investor at heart. His childhood was a little less than conventional, but proves that where you come from doesn’t have to determine where you go. Armed with a strong sense of determination, Birch turned his sights from the skate park to success.

**END INTRO MUSIC**

**START BACKGROUND MUSIC**

A Little Bit of Everything, All of the Time

Tyrone Shum:

Birch has worked hard to show the importance of mindset and how it can triumph over a disadvantaged upbringing, as long as you dedicate yourself to it. He’s built on his background to form the basis of both of his careers, yet doesn’t shy away from giving props where they’re due.

Braydon Birch:

[00:00:33] So obviously [I'm] a part time advocate at the moment. So I still work a full time job. So a little bit of a side hustle at the moment. But [I] work in the construction industry at the moment, [I've] been doing so for a little while now.

[00:00:53] [I've got] my passion on the side, which is obviously property investing and helping others get through the journey of investing and creating the life they want for themselves as I do for myself as well.

Tyrone Shum:

His trade background led him into the concrete placement industry, where he’s been working hard for the past five years.

Braydon Birch:

[00:01:17] So pretty gritty game, to be honest with you, mate, it's not fun at all. It's hard yakka, but [it] pays the bills very well. So [you've] got to do what you've got to do to keep funding, getting to the next level, I suppose and get your next deposit, getting to the next stage. So that's what I currently do. But obviously [I'm] looking to continue to grow the portfolio. That's the main thing.

Times Have Changed

Tyrone Shum:

He’s the first to describe his childhood as less than glamorous, but he also knows how much it taught him in ways that formal education never could.

Braydon Birch:

[00:01:59] I grew up in Blackburn South. So east of Melbourne. Very nice area now, gentrified. But when I was growing up in commission homes it was a little bit rougher back then. But overall, it's a pretty nice place now [on the] east side of Melbourne.

[00:02:29] But overall, at the end of the day, I had food on the table and a roof over my head. So I can't complain. That's more than most people ever have. But yeah, look, it was Housing commissions back then. So Mum was a pensioner, Dad was in and out of jail sort of thing.

[00:02:42] So sort of your traditional stigma role of sort of a rough upbringing, but overall, mate, that's just character building. And there was a great experience. I can't complain as well. I still had, as I said, food on the table, roof over my head, I had more than most people ever have in their lives.

[00:03:12] It made me the man I am today. And I think it's just definitely driven a lot of work ethic into me. And it's a good way to grow up, a little bit disadvantaged, not hav[ing] anything fed to you, I suppose. So it's worked out for the benefit.

Downward Spiral

Tyrone Shum:

Childhood fun for Birch often centred around areas like the skate park, which were fun at the time— until he realised he was skating towards the wrong path.

Braydon Birch:

[00:03:42] It's not the best, but I never really went to school. So I sort of started in year five, I sort of cheated my way through two years. And then just kind of ended up flunking out of school.

[00:03:53] So it was a little bit of a disadvantage, I had to sort of learn to read and write at a later age, in my late teens, and it was a little bit difficult upfront having no background at school and just sort of leaving early and kicking around with other kids and that sort of stuff.

[00:04:08] So at some point, I had a sort of downward spiral in life, I'd say, is the best way to put it. I was sort of hanging out with a bad crowd. And if I continued [on] that road, I was probably going in a bad direction.

[00:04:21] I ended up pulling myself out of that, thankfully, and set myself in the right direction. So to an extent that was a disadvantage, not having to go to school. So obviously, I spent all my days just running around doing hoodrat stuff and things like that.

Tyrone Shum:

Thankfully, he was able to pull himself out of it and make a U-turn right in the nick of time.

Braydon Birch:

[00:05:09] I never did anything crazy or anything like that, but we're just talking rough kids hanging out in rough areas, always getting into fights and doing silly things. And it's just always things along those lines, it was never anything crazy like that.

[00:05:23] But I think if I continued down that road, it was going to lead [to] things like that. So being brought up in commission housing, I was hanging out with kids in the DHS space, in residential homes and stuff like that. It was a little bit of a rougher crowd, and they were definitely heading into a bad space.

[00:05:54] And because I never went to school, and I'd just be hanging around with these kids that were sort of bringing me down a path. So it was sort of a bad space to be around. As I said, nothing crazy at the time, but you could see the direction it was going to take me if I continued to go that way. So I ended up pulling myself out of that.

[00:06:18] Looking back, I used to spend a lot of time at the skate park and things like that. I used to do a lot of that and hang around shopping centre bus bays. But yeah, that was the bulk of it, really.

Tyrone Shum:

The story of Birch’s upbringing isn’t unheard of by any means, but he’s in the minority where he was able to turn it around. So how did he do it?

Braydon Birch:

[00:07:05] It sounds a little bit weird. But I think I saw more potential in myself. I just felt like I could do more. And I could sort of see these other kids I was hanging around with— a lot of them have gone to jail now. A lot of them have gone down paths that [mean] I've never seen them again.

[00:07:37] And I ended up just sort of [getting] out of that and just sort of slapping myself and saying, 'Braydon, you've gotta get yourself together, this isn't [the] path for you'.

[00:07:45] And that was sort of happening in my early to late teens. And I just started to stop hanging out with those kids, started to get into training and started doing some mixed martial arts and some going to the gym and things like that, just started to do more positive [things in] life. Because I knew what I was doing and where I was going was going to take me in a bad path.

[00:08:04] So ultimately, that just ended up being a driver for me to become successful and achieve my goals. So it worked out for the best, mate, I wouldn't have changed anything. If I go back in time, go back to school and get a formal education or have a great upbringing, anything like that? I would not do it. Because I just feel like I wouldn't have that fire inside me if it wasn't there.

The Overhaul

Tyrone Shum:

He found that surrounding himself with positive people was the catalyst for the renovation of his life.

Braydon Birch:

[00:09:25] It all just comes down to you. It's your mindset, and really knowing that, 'Look, this is where I am in life. And this is not where I want to be. And I know I can do more'. And I think everyone listening to this podcast can do more with their life, wherever they are at the moment, if they're not happy with where they're at. And just knowing that I can do whatever I want to do, I can be whatever I want to be, as long as I'm willing to work extremely hard and do whatever it takes to get to where I need to be.

Tyrone Shum:

He knew the journey ahead wasn’t going to be easy, but once he’d made up his mind, there was no turning back. Thankfully, technology was on his side— as is a special someone.

Braydon Birch:

[00:10:15] It was difficult. To put it into perspective, my partner, she has a double degree, and she's an engineer and she graduated high school with a 97 HR and I never even went to high school.

[00:10:28] It's been great. She's been there to always correct my grammar and things like that. She's a gem for that. But look, mate, it was challenging, but just bit by bit, just not looking at the whole thing, going, 'Wow, I've got so far to go'. Being a mid teenager, can barely read or write, just saying, 'Okay, this is where I'm at now, let's slowly get a little bit better every day'.

[00:10:55] And I think I was very blessed being in the era I am now with technology and all that sort of stuff, you can use it all to your advantage to learn quicker. Maths and English and all that stuff. Even just being on Facebook, you'll learn to read and write pretty quickly so I picked it up relatively quickly.

The Fuel That Lights the Fire

Tyrone Shum:

While Birch’s childhood may have been missing some of the things many of us take for granted, it wasn’t lacking in love.

Braydon Birch:

[00:11:34] My parents were amazing people. They always took good care of me and all that. So although the story looks a little bit grim, I always had great parents that always put me first. So that was always fine to stay at home. And [I] always tried to milk that as long as I could while I was investing as well. If you can do it, you can do it. So yeah, no, they're the best.

[00:11:58] And then suddenly my motivation for what I do and the people I love, I want to build wealth not just for myself, but for them as well. I want to retire the parents and also my partner and everyone else. So they're the fuel that lights the fire sometimes.

[00:12:16] Mum's still around. Mum's still on the pension, still doing her thing. But she's remarried now. So she's very happy. But yeah, everyone's all good mate.

Tyrone Shum:

[00:12:28] And do you have any siblings as well? Or were you the only child in the family?

Braydon Birch:

[00:12:33] So I'm the baby of the family. So I have two older sisters and one older brother. So I'm the fourth. So I'm the youngest, but they moved out a lot earlier than me, so they left and I didn't really spend a whole heap of time with them. So I was more or less a single child in a way.

[00:12:55] My brother's in corporate and the other two are in retail. My brother had a similar upbringing to me, actually, but he had a similar story and he took the corporate route actually sort of had some disadvantaged upbringing but turned it around as well. So he's done really well, and my sisters are killing it as well. Similar story, they had disadvantages, but they've all made something of themselves and they're family people now so yeah, it's all been positive.

Proving the Haters Wrong

Tyrone Shum:

After leaving school, he knew he was at a disadvantage in terms of his skill set and what he could and couldn’t do. In true Birch style, however, that wasn’t going to stop him.

Braydon Birch:

[00:14:01] I was determined to become successful. I really wanted to prove the teachers wrong. Everyone said I was crazy for leaving and I was never going to make something of myself. Which they had every right to say so, I mean, it looked pretty dark. But I had this burning desire to prove them wrong and prove the haters wrong and make something of myself.

[00:14:21] I left school, and I was always just trying to make a quick buck, always trying to get rich quick, trying to start some sort of business or trying to start something to make my million dollars overnight, whether it be something online or I'd be doing something that just never had any long term value. [I] wasn't taking anything super seriously, it was just 'Let's get rich quick quick quick'.

[00:14:42] Ultimately, [I] kept failing and failing and failing and failing. So it never went anywhere. I didn't have any skill sets. I didn't know what to do. So I just didn't know how to be successful. And that ultimately led me to getting into property investing because of all those countless failures I had with trying to get rich quick, I ended up learning about long term wealth and building things slowly. And that was my sort of discovery into property investing.

Tyrone Shum:

[00:15:09] Wow, that's really interesting. How did you stumble across that? Because as you said, you did try so many things. Do you remember when you go to property investing in building wealth, this is something I actually can resonate in, this is where I want to go through?

Braydon Birch:

[00:15:22] I always knew that rich people invested in property. I think it was just sort of a no brainer. I think I may have read, I think, Rich Dad, Poor Dad, as we all have, I think I read that book which was one of the many books I used to read when I learnt how to read. And so I think I read that and [it] sort of started getting me interested in it.

[00:15:46] And then there was another sort of figure, he was a bodybuilder who passed away, his name was Rich Piana, and he was this millionaire figure. And he had all these properties. And he used to just go to the gym every day because he had rental properties paying for his lifestyle, and that sort of sparked my interest as well into property investing. So he was an American guy. And yeah, that got me interested in it too and I said, 'Okay, I think I should look into this property stuff. It seems pretty legit'.

Start Your Engines

Tyrone Shum:

Once he realised property investing could be the vehicle to get his life up and running, he started revving some other engines to make a buck.

Braydon Birch:

[00:17:18] So I knew nothing, I had no skill sets, I didn't know what to do. So I thought I could mow lawns. That was pretty simple. I could figure that out. I knew how to turn it on, I knew how to do it. So I got a job mowing lawns and doing gardening.

[00:17:32] It was pretty unglamorous work. I was a little bit embarrassed to do it. But it is what it is, I just had to do it. It was a job, and it paid about $600 a week. But I was living so frugal at the time. So, so tight. And all my friends and family always laugh at me being such a tight ass. But it is, you've got to do it.

[00:17:51] So I think I was making about $600, I was saving about $500. I used to just [buy] a little bit of petrol, a little bit white rice and chicken and a gym membership. And that was me. I was sweet.

[00:18:02] So I used to drive this banged out beat up car, and the rest would just get saved and saved into my deposit. So that was the name of the game. Just save and save and save. And yeah, that's all I could do. So [I] ended up getting a loan and pulled it off.

Tyrone Shum:

Sometimes it’s all about knowing what you don’t know, and not pretending to have the skills you don’t.

Braydon Birch:

[00:18:55] I think I saw the value of a buyer's agent at the time. I know I had to use one. I was very nervous about making mistakes. So I think the value in using a buyer's agent your first time is pretty important when you don't know what you're doing.

[00:19:07] So I had to reach out to one, and obviously paying the fee and stuff like that would be hard on such a tight wage. But I managed to find someone and sort of [explained] where I [was] at [and] what I was doing. And they said, 'Yeah, you could probably make something happen, let's see'. I ended up getting help on that front.

[00:19:23] And yeah, it wasn't a glamorous property, that's for sure. But it was something, and I was super proud of myself being able to pull off the first deal, and from that it just sort of snowballed then.

[00:19:47] I think I paid just under $200,000 for it at the time. So I managed to save up about $25,000 or something like that over a year. And [I] managed to purchase it in Brissie, which is sort of my favourite [city] to invest [in] at the moment, and bought down there. And it's done okay, man, it's been a couple of years now, it probably hasn't been the best performer, but it's done okay for what I paid for it.

Tyrone Shum:

After putting off his formal education earlier in life, Birch wasn’t about to procrastinate on what he knew would help further his goals.

Braydon Birch:

[00:20:30] Making no decision is making a decision at the end of the day. If you're just on the fence about it, even if it wasn't the best thing ever, [the] best property ever, it was still great to get my foot in the door and learn how the process works and all that. So that was just invaluable.

[00:20:55] I think I was on the fence when I bought the first one, whether I wanted to continually buy cheaper properties and cheaper assets, or did I want to take a back step and buy high quality assets, which I was sort of on the fence about a little bit, which route to attack.

[00:21:11] So I think the first step I knew that what I was making wasn't enough, so [I] obviously needed to increase my income massively, because it just wasn't gonna cut it property investing. So [I] pretty much just started hustling, man, just started doing UberEATS, working seven days a week and had a side hustle to build fences on the weekend.

[00:21:28] And then I [was] still doing that gardening job. But I negotiated a pay rise. So I was just hustling, man, saving, saving, saving. And then managed to buy another property in Brissie, sort of north, which is [a] really good asset. I learnt a lot more, I was a lot more educated coming into it. I just studied property so much, I became an absolute nerd about it.

[00:21:51] And [I] bought a more high quality asset, I'd say. So leaning into sort of your blue chip property. So I bought one there. So I'm sitting on two at the moment, and just about to buy a third one, hopefully, assuming [the] pest and building [report] comes back all good. So yeah, buying my third one at the moment, and then hopefully [I'll] have another one towards the end of the year. I plan on it anyway.

Tackling Disaster With a Positive Outlook

Tyrone Shum:

While all aspects of life have been on the up and up since he turned his mindset around, that’s not to say his investment journey has been constant smooth sailing.

Braydon Birch:

[00:23:01] I think it's part of property investing. And it's part of anything that sometimes things go wrong. And sometimes it just turns into a disaster.

[00:23:11] So one day I checked my email on my phone, I looked up and I got an email from the property manager. Absolute disaster. A tree root into the toilet or something, or cracked a pipe. The toilet exploded. All sorts of nasties came out, flooded the lounge room, the whole carpet got destroyed.

[00:23:33] And then they had to keep the air conditioner running 24/7 to get the smell out. And then the air conditioner blew up.

[00:23:38] So I had to get a new toilet, which wasn't covered by the body corporate, all the carpets redone, and a brand new air conditioner.

[00:23:44] So it was a pretty expensive bill. And I was sitting there going, 'Oh my god, what just happened? I can't believe that'. It was out of nowhere. But you've just gotta take the good with the bad, man. These things happen. They're gonna happen. Whatever you do, whether it's property investing, whether it's a business, whether it's your job, you're gonna have days where you go, 'Oh, my God, I can't believe that just happened'. It's just part of life. Things happen, good things happen, bad things happen. And you've just gotta roll with the punches.

[00:24:12] So I was going to crack it, I was going to freak out and then lose it. But at the end of the day, you've just got to take a deep breath, understand this is part of the process, it's going to be okay, it's going to be in the long run, it's going to be all all good. A lot of these things are going to be tax deductions anyway.

[00:24:26] So you've just got to be relaxed [and] calm. [At the] end of the day, if you can't handle stress, you can't handle success, because it's just a given with it.

Decision Fatigue

Tyrone Shum:

Birch’s aha moment came early on in his property investment journey. It had been playing on his mind who he should listen to and whose advice wasn’t for him. While some people were going all in on commercial, others were singing the praises of blue chip properties. When they all had 50 to 100 properties that were performing well, the choices seemed endless.

Braydon Birch:

[00:26:01] And that was a real problem for me, because it's such a big investment of your time, your energy, your money. Who do you follow? You've got to follow someone, you've got to get some mentorship in this game. You don't know it all, you've got to learn at all. And that was a really big problem for me.

[00:26:01] And I was stressing out and I'm sitting there thinking, 'Do I need to buy another four or five cheap properties? Do I need to go the blue chip route or renovate or developing?' Whatever the case is.

[00:26:27] I think for me, I just took a deep breath and [understood] that it's really important to diversify, and have a portfolio that works for you. And it's okay to own some blue chip. It's okay to own some cash flow positive properties that balance each other out. It's okay to own commercial. It's all about just having a good foundational portfolio and being well diversified.

[00:26:46] And that's what I really started to believe in. It's okay to be diversified. You don't have to be all in on one thing. And everyone's arguing and fighting with each other. That was my aha moment.

It’s All About Balance

Tyrone Shum:

Everybody has their own set of goals and their own strategies to get there. For Birch, it’s all about the big fundamentals like diversification.

Braydon Birch:

[00:27:26] I think it's all about just balancing your portfolio out for where you're at in your current situation. So it's okay to have cash flow properties that are maybe balancing out some of the yields in some of your blue chip assets, for example. Or wherever you're at, really, and it all comes down to: What's your goal?

[00:27:44] But it's all about just building a core foundational portfolio. I'm [a] pretty big believer in just following the traditional macros of investing, buying good quality assets, and just making sure everything balances out, I suppose, and more just buying assets that are suitable to your current situation in life.

Tyrone Shum:

[00:28:01] That's absolutely right. So at this point in time, what is your why, or your goal, behind building a portfolio?

Braydon Birch:

[00:28:12] I think the goal and the ambition have changed, growing up and maturing. When it started off, it was because I want a Ferrari, a big mansion, and a lot of girls. Or something like that. That's what it was when I was a teenager.

[00:28:24] Now the goals are completely changed, man, it's all about just building wealth and helping my family and my loved ones out. Retiring my parents, retiring my partner, helping my friends out, and then ultimately building enough of a huge foundation of wealth to give to charity and do cool things with it.

[00:28:42] Because that materialistic stuff, it's sort of worn off on me, I don't really care about fast cars and all that stuff anymore. It's all about just doing things for the people you love and building a great life for everyone else. And ultimately, that's where you're going to get your fulfilment in.

[00:28:56] And that's what's going to give you your biggest drive as well. I think sometimes you wake up in the morning, and if your goal is purely for you and what you want, 'I want to retire on the beach, and I want to have passive income and all that stuff', which is fine if that's your goal, but it's not going to really drive you.

[00:29:10] But when you wake up in the morning and think, 'Wow, my mum's still in a bad position', or, 'My dad's still working in his late 60s' or something like that, that gets me out of bed. That fires me up to say, 'No, I have to keep going, I have to keep pushing because other people are depending on me. My loved ones are depending on me. So I've got to keep going, I've gotta buy more property, I've got to build more wealth, I've got to create a lifestyle that can give to them'.

[00:29:31] So that's what's going to give your fire, your motivation to buy your next property, to read your next book, to do the things you have to do to get to where you want to be. So that's what sort of changed as maturing.

Covering All Bases

Tyrone Shum:

After overcoming the obstacles in his way, he purchased his first property and is now looking forward to the future with the support of his strategy.

Braydon Birch:

[00:00:51] I think it's really just about balancing yields at the moment, because I just want to have a property portfolio that looks after itself. It just doesn't affect me or my lifestyle. I never really know what's going to happen, you know, I might lose my job tomorrow, or business might not kick, or whatever position I'm in. So for me, it's super important to just [have] a balanced portfolio.

[00:01:09] So at the moment, I am holding a really cheap property that's a cash flow property. And then I'm holding a blue chip asset that's somewhat negatively geared as well, in sort of inner city area. So for me, it's all about balance. It's all about having a portfolio that works.

[00:01:25] And [at the] end of the day, if I can have blue chip assets that are consistently growing, and then cash flow properties that are paying for those blue chip assets, that's great. I've got a portfolio that's just taking care of itself.

[00:01:36] And then ultimately, later on, I can look and revalue my portfolio and say, 'Okay, I can sell this blue chip asset, pay those cash flow ones off and keep the cash flow', or whatever I want to do. I'll have to obviously revisit that later on. But for me, it's all about just balancing that portfolio.

Tyrone Shum:

With his ultimate goal to acquire passive income for himself and to provide for his loved ones, he’s got a well-thought-out plan to tick all the boxes.

Braydon Birch:

[00:02:09] I think, first and foremost, is just having that foundational portfolio built. So just getting this next one on the books will be great, that's sort of established in somewhat, and it will be a big block of land this time. So having that there will be great.

[00:02:23] And I think the goal is going to change, to be honest with you. I could say, 'I just want $50,000 of passive income', or $100,000, whatever the goal is. I think it's going to change. [As] soon as I get close to that, it's gonna go more and more, and I think that's just the ambitious individual I am.

[00:02:41] I don't think it's ever going to stop. I don't think I'm ever going to stop buying property, I think it's just gonna keep going and going. But to give you a short answer, I think about five to six good quality assets is what it's gonna look like. And then as soon as I hit that, it's gonna say, 'No, I need 12 now'!

Tyrone Shum:

He’s always building on his goals, which involves building his portfolio and branching out beyond Brisbane.

Braydon Birch:

[00:03:45] I'm Melbourne based and I was never going to buy in Melbourne. But considering the rate of decline recently, it just seems like too good of an opportunity to miss out on buying a property in Melbourne. So the next one will be in Melbourne.

[00:03:57] Currently, both of them are at Brissie. [I] love Brisbane for the long term growth aspects. I think it's gonna be a killer, as most people do. But the next one will be in Victoria. And then yeah, look, we'll just continue to diversify, mate, I think it's pretty important to be sort of spread out across the country. Different markets are doing different things at different times. So I'd like to buy in Perth soon, just all over the place. But yeah, next one will be in Melbourne.

The Power of Leveraging

Tyrone Shum:

He worked all sorts of odd jobs between leaving school and forming Hirch Property, a process that happened much more quickly than he’d anticipated.

Braydon Birch:

[00:04:56] I think if you're constantly looking to improve and look for opportunities that [are] around you and leverage, things can change for you really quickly.

[00:05:04] But to put it in perspective, I started off making probably $30,000 a year, a couple years ago. I just sort of leveraged, I didn't have any skill set or anything like that. But I knew people, I was networking and all that. And I managed to land a job, construction union and sort of jumped it to $180,000 a year.

[00:05:21] So it's been great. It's been very nitty gritty work, it hasn't been fun or anything like that. But it's just been such a great opportunity to be able to make an income like that.

[00:05:30] And that's from someone with no education, no skill set, nothing like that. So that's the opportunities that Australia presents. And as long as you're just willing to network, speak to people, I think everyone knows someone who has a job somewhere that can get you in or knows someone who has a business that can introduce you to that.

[00:05:46] There's always opportunities out there if you're constantly looking. And I was just constantly looking for different things, and high paying jobs, high paying skill sets, side hustles that someone can teach me, all this sort of stuff. So it's definitely out there.

[00:05:58] So I managed to get a high paying job. And from this position, I've been able to save a lot and say, 'Okay, great, let's do what I need to do with it'.

Tyrone Shum:

He’s proud to show how it’s possible to buy on both ends of the spectrum, regardless of your income, but that doesn’t mean you should stop reaching for your true worth.

Braydon Birch:

[00:06:46] I think it's super important to always keep growing your income, and just take baby steps as well. Don't try and go from $50,000 a year to $1 million a year, just, 'I'm on $50,000 now, let's get to $70,000 within the next however many months'. 'Great, let's get to $100,000 now'. 'Now we're here, what can we do to make more?' So that was the sort of thing that I did.

Find Your Mentor— Wherever They May Be

Tyrone Shum:

Much like Birch’s desire to continually improve his income and life as a whole, he doesn’t limit himself when it comes to mentors and resources.

Braydon Birch:

[00:07:52] Personal development's been a huge one. I think it's important to everyone to just constantly improve themselves and try and find mentors. And if you can't find a mentor in person, there's so many great mentors online that you can learn from and different aspects of mentality and education.

[00:08:08] So I think my mindset was just developed from finding people that I inspired to be like. It's just sort of creating the person you want to be.

[00:08:17] And ultimately, I think it's about creating the person you needed in your life. A guy I listen to a lot, Wes Watson, he was a guy who came out of prison a couple of years ago, and now he's a multimillionaire. And he says you've got to create the person that you needed when you were young.

[00:08:35] And I think that's what I'm trying to be like. I'm just trying to create the man that I needed when I was a lost teenager. I needed someone who was in the right direction, who had the right work ethic, all these things. Who did I need? Well, that's who I need to become.

Tyrone Shum:

Formal education is great for teaching the basics, but there are some things you just can’t learn in school that can take you far in life.

Daily Disciplines

Braydon Birch:

[00:09:10] I think having daily disciplines is super important. So just having a routine, whether you like doing it, or whether you don't like doing it, you wake up every day, and you do it because it needs to be done.

[00:09:22] So just having a to do list. Like, I've got to wake up, I'm pretty much up at about, like, 3:30 every morning, I'm in the gym, I'm studying, I'm doing what I need to do.

[00:09:31] I don't want to do it. And I'm not saying I do that every day. I'm doing it four or five days a week. I mean, I've gotta rest sometime. There's things I've got to do every day. And I think just following those disciplines, like, 'I've got to learn real estate for an hour'. That's one of my daily things. Every day I spend one hour listening to someone, taking a call, reading a book. That's a daily discipline I do, just to constantly stay on top of the game, constantly stay on top of the market.

[00:10:00] I go to the gym most days, I spend time with my partner every day. These are things that are non negotiable that need to be done to continue to progress in all areas of life. So I think it's just having that discipline. And it's all about discipline, not motivation.

[00:11:15] Small wins every day stack up.

Tyrone Shum:

[00:11:19] What do you think's been sort of the best advice that you've received?

Braydon Birch:

[00:11:25] [I] think ‘Life happens for you, not to you' is probably the best quote I've heard. And just taking every day, whether it's a bad thing, or what, and just turning into a positive thing. It's probably the best way. And it's something I try and live by, which is another quote by the guy I follow, Wes Watson, it's pretty inspiring stuff.

Tyrone Shum:

When it comes to cash flow, it’s more about what it represents than a literal stack of cash— in some cases.

Braydon Birch:

[00:12:02] Cash flow is king. That's what it represents. That's the name of the game, man. It's passive income, it's cash flow. Whatever goal I'm trying to achieve is always trying to achieve cash flow at the end result. So I keep a few of those things around all the time. Another one in the other room. It's got Scrooge McDuck diving into a big stack of coins.

Tyrone Shum:

[00:12:41] Well, I want to sort of take a step back, if you had a chance to travel back in time and meet yourself, say 10 years ago, what do you think you would have said to him?

Braydon Birch:

[00:12:52] I think I just would have said, 'Stop trying to get rich quick. Understand it takes time. It's a long term game'. And just think with longevity. Just don't think about trying to get rich in five months, think about trying to be rich in five years, or 10 years or 15 years. Just take a long term approach. I would have been so much further ahead if I took that mindset.

Results Speak

Tyrone Shum:

They say patience is a virtue, yet it’s a concept many younger people still struggle to grasp without seeing what it can do.

Braydon Birch:

[00:13:50] I think it's all about just kind of showing them in a way. I mean, you've got to prove your success and your results to them and say, 'Hey, look at what I've got now. This is because I've done the hard yards, and I've taken a long term approach'. I think results speak.

[00:14:05] So if you can present with them the lifestyle you have, the results you have, all the things that they want, whatever that may be. And say, 'This is how you do it'. Not by doing, you know, get rich quick schemes, or whatever it is. 'This is how you get it', that's going to sort of put a fire in their belly. I think, anyway. It sort of just depends on the individual at the end of the day.

Tyrone Shum:

[00:14:41] What are you excited about for the next, say, five years for you?

Braydon Birch:

[00:14:47] [I'm] currently [working] part time as a buyer's advocate, my business partner runs a business full time, so he's a weapon. So I want to spend more time on that because that's my passion. I love getting on the phone, speaking to people.

[00:14:58] Especially people that are [from a] disadvantaged background. That's sort of my [specialty]. I love speaking to people when they're in sort of a rough path and they don't know what to do, but they want to get better. I love doing that, man, I love helping people on that front and sort of advising them the road to take and how they can do it.

[00:15:15] So [I'm] really looking forward to spending more time on that part of the business and get that going, which is great. And then obviously, just keep building the portfolio, man, just keep growing, get to the next level. That's the name of the game is property investing for me. So just keep building the portfolio, man.

Tyrone Shum:

One of his biggest goals is to help the people that mean the most to him. However, he also has goals that are just for him.

Braydon Birch:

[00:16:01] I just sort of take each day as it comes, I don't really think massively too far ahead like that, or what I want to do. I don't really have too many things. Like, obviously, I want to travel and things like that. That'd be great. I'd like to see the world.

[00:16:15] But apart from that, man, I just love what I'm doing, man. So just keep doing what I'm doing. Keep hustling, keep working, see where the future takes me, different opportunities, different paths. Just keep going, man. That's all I want to do.

Step Outside Your Comfort Zone

Tyrone Shum:

The world is a big place with many paths to wander down, and Birch wants to explore them all.

Braydon Birch:

[00:16:41] So I travelled the first time ever last year. And I went to some pretty crazy places. My first time wasn't your typical Bali, I went to Dubai, which is first one up, which is great. A lot of inspiration from all the wealthy people over there and the fast cars.

[00:16:59] And then I actually visited Iran, which is crazy. And my partner's from over there in the Middle East. So that was super cool as well. That wasn't your typical, normal place to visit.

Tyrone Shum:

[00:17:08] Wow, it must be a big contrast from one country that's so wealthy to another country that [is] sort of [a] bit torn.

Braydon Birch:

[00:17:16] I was a celebrity over there. Honestly, they treated me like Brad Pitt. I didn't pay for anything over there. I was shouted everything. It was awesome. So such a shock from what you'd expect from what the TV says. Yeah, man, I love visiting third world countries and things like that. It's just really eye opening.

[00:17:34] And super humbling as well. Like, you go there and you see what people don't have. And you go back home— and I'm guilty of it too— whinging about, you know, things that you don't have or what's gone wrong. And you think, like, there are people with so much less than what you have, and you're sitting here whinging and complaining about all the things you do have. It's such a gratitude check. It's super humbling. And I think everyone should go and see some places out there that so much less than what you have.

Tyrone Shum:

[00:18:57] How much of your success is due to intelligence, skill and hard work? And how much of it do you think is because of luck?

Braydon Birch:

[00:19:05] So there's no skill, there's no intelligence there, that's for sure. Pure hard work. That's what I just depend on. That's an insurance for success. It's just hard work. You wake up every day and just do everything you can, work your backside off, and you lay in bed at night and say, 'There's nothing more I could have done today. You will be successful'. That is a guarantee. So just hustle. I love it. It's all about hard work for me.

[00:19:30] So I'd say a fair bit of luck, obviously being in Australia and all that sort of stuff, having the resources, yes, there's luck in that component. But I'd say all of its hard work, man.

**OUTRO**

Tyrone Shum:

Thank you to Braydon Birch, our guest on this episode of Property Investory.