#32 How to raise money with Nigel Best and Ray McLennan

In this episode of the Invest In You Podcast, Fredrik interviews Nigel Best and Ray McLennan. Today, the serial entrepreneurs discuss raising finance and how both Ray and Nigel are investing in themselves. Discover how they decided to jump into business together and also what they get from working with each other and how they raise finance. Nigel is a property investor, business owner, dad, and husband. He does a lot of things and tries to get the most out of life. Ray helps people find money for business or for property projects. He also has a few property projects of his own on the go. Tune in today to learn about investing in oneself and what stops one from doing so. KEY TAKEAWAYS: Learning. Where it starts for people is when they have an interest in something. If somebody develops an interest, if you develop an interest in personal growth or if you develop an interest in teaching and training or whatever, you can go out there and start finding that information. And one thing leads to another lead to another. And they've actually scientifically proven it. If you give a person a book that's of interest to them, the pupils actually dilate which they open up to take in more information. And if you're teaching other people that subject, you'll learn quicker. How to raise finance? Scarcity mindset. There's no shortage of money. People need to realize that. A lot of people can have a scarcity mentality. Thinking, Oh there's not enough money out there. Or Oh there's a recession on... Not true. There's more money in the world than there's ever been. Self-sabotage. Without skills and knowledge, all they gonna do is sabotage themselves. People have to work their way up. They channel. So when it comes to raising finance, you have to be realistic about now. Example, if you are thinking, I'm gonna do a commercial conversion and I don't have this experience, you can join and venture with someone who does. So, you can fast-track your way to that experience. But if you try and do it yourself, you run the risk of self-sabotage. Fear. This fear that there isn't enough money. This fear that the deal of the century only comes along every hundred years as opposed to every day. This fear of what we were talking earlier, and we were saying one of the biggest that holds people back is actually asking the question, would you lend me some money? Would you like to jayvee in this deal? Would you like to invest in this project? These very simple things now when we debated what was the reason, it's probably we're a product to the system. so, it's been highly structured for many hundreds of years, where we are predominantly shackled by our way of thinking. The concert pianist story. After the concert, they’re having drinks and someone would say to the pianist, I'd give anything to play the piano like that. And she turned and looked him straight in the eye and went, oh no you wouldn't. No you wouldn't. You wouldn't give anything because you've had your chance. You had piano lessons and you gave it up. So, you didn't. So, there comes a point in most people's lives you would imagine where there's a crossroad, there's a junction, there's decision to be made. It's the same when you invest in yourself, it's a never-ending process. Risk. Risk is risky if it is unknown. Just turn on the light. The internet is free. It's all there but why don't we do it. Atomic Habits: Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results. By James Clear. The idea on that is to do granular tiny change each day. This invest in you never stops. And we're always seeking ways to make a lot of changes. Incremental change. Tiny little changes on a daily basis. This invest in you doesn't have to be expensive, difficult, big, it can be tiny things. You don't have to be an expert. You can become an expert in something quite quickly by just a few hours of research. That's all it takes. It's very difficult to jump up 10 flights of stairs in one step. You got to take each step as it comes. When you open up your mind, you realize that you can choose to react to anything however you want. And you don't have to follow any other person. You can choose to do it yourself. Doing it. It is better to make a decision even if it's a wrong decision than to make no decision at all. At least you learn something. You learn something by doing it. It is not the thinking about it that matters, It’s the actual doing it that you will learn. Mentality. We are mentally obese because we fill our head with the equivalent of junk food. And I think that we need to get into at some sort of fitness regime for mental health fitness which is taking things in. Surround yourself with like-minded people. Surround yourself with inspirational people. Avoid the negative media. Don't get suckered into petty arguments of and joining in. Advice: Every morning and every night express gratitude for at least 3 things. Do that for the next week and you will see a completely different change in your mood. Advice: If you find yourself in a situation where normally you would be very negative about it, for example, road rage or something/someone cuts you up, just choose to pause and smile and wave and not judge them or anything like that but just relax yourself and don't rise to any bait... just choose to react differently. BEST MOMENTS: “I think it has to do with having an open mind. And if you have an open mind, there are no barriers. There's no ceiling. There's no limit. You learn something all the time. You think you know everything. All you have to do is watch a few quiz shows on tele, you realize how much you don't know. There's never an end.” “You are aware that you are walking down a corridor but no one's pointed out or you haven't realized just how many doors there are. And how many doors you haven't even tried to open to see what's behind that door. And then suddenly when you are almost when you become conscious and you are working on all these things, you are suddenly aware of how many doors are up. You are suddenly aware of how easy they are to open. And when you peer inside you realize, it is a whole new world that you're completely unaware of. And how much more there is to know. so, you almost need a hundred lifetimes to  kind of experience everything that's out there.” “It's a bit like washing or shaving or personal hygiene. You don't have to do it every day but it helps. And it's the same when it comes to investing in your self, you don't have to do it every day but it really does help.” “A great way to invest in yourself is to teach others. You have to invest in yourself so therefore you are worthy to pass all the knowledge to other people.” “Churchill. Give a man a label, and he'll live up to it or live down to it. And I think that's what we're doing.” ABOUT THE HOST Serial entrepreneurs Fredrik, Charlie and Ivan Sandvall love sharing ideas and interviewing world-class entrepreneurs and influences. Invest In You is about investments, entrepreneurs,personal development and doing fun things. They hope to ensure you to take action, helping others and yourself, plus enjoying the journey we call life. CONTACT METHOD Fredrik Sandvall fredriksandvall.com linkedin.com/in/sandvall/ https://www.facebook.com/FredrikinLondon/ Invest In You Facebook Page Charlie’s Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRYA8B8P29M- OzUrpfiP5Iw ABOUT THE GUEST Ray McLennan is a keynote public speaker and former corporate solicitor who has many years of experience owning and operating a variety of businesses in the UK and Ireland. Ray is the Regional Manager for Scotland & Ireland for Angels Den, which has over 13,500 high net worth Angel investors that help to find funding for property and SME businesses. Ray also helped to create Property Angels Den (PAD) in Sept 2014, which matches High Net Worth Investors with property proposals of all sizes. PAD now meets regularly and has funded dozens of property projects all over the UK. Nigel trained as an accountant but has for the last 11 years run the family care business. With a 7 figure turn-over and over 100 employees, the role has given Nigel quite a few valuable lessons! Nigel and his wife, have focused more and more on property over the last few years. The latest project is a 20 bed HMO with 12 SA rooms. But in the last few years Nigel is now helping property professionals understand that social media is a way to increase your customers, get more deals and earn more profit! CONTACT METHOD [email protected] [email protected] Howtoraisemoney.co.uk Nigeltbest.com