#3 Denzil Jones: Sourcing over £2 million in property and building a reputation

Let's say I rented a property for, from year for £1 pounds per month, I can rent it on a room by room basis, let's say £500 per month for example. Minus bills, you're left with quite a strong profit, so there's different ways it can be structured and there's an other cost that's involved, but that's essentially how it works. I was very inspired by people around me, initially my parents, you know, very hard working, especially my mom, you know, who's used to work two jobs and run her own business, you know, just to put food on the table. So that's kind of what made me realise I want to work hard so I can actually provide for her as well. People wouldn't say it'd be too tough to me for the sake of dental, but more because I'm a property guy, so I'll be like, I'll be at a party, I remember, you need first yours at a party. There's me just trying to enjoy it, I can teach you how to property and that's not why I just used to hate like, I just thought, ah, anything that's negative in your life, you kind of put that away and then you just focus on the positive. And then with that, you know, I have to start with clarity. So what do you actually want? There's a lot of times I work on towards something I'm doing, I work on towards. Welcome to the valuable podcast where there's value in every conversation. I'm your host Victor Sasanya and today I am joined with Denzel Jones, a property entrepreneur who has sold over two million pounds worth in property. In this episode, we learn about the different property deals Denzel exploits and how he opposes reputation, as well as balance and friendships being accountable and setting goals. You founded your company called DJ Property Solutions. So he talked to me a bit about how you founded it and what exactly does your company do? Yes, so with DJ Property Solutions, you know, after work with him for quite a while, I said to myself, I want to now, you know, make a successful myself. So there's a model that I use which goes cash flow first, then profits and then both preservation. So I said to myself, I had to focus on my cash flow and I spent two things. So first is financial independence. And that's when I started with my deal source and so I know that I can, you know, live off my own works rather than necessarily someone else's. So deal source is essentially when I may have a good deal, I have an investor who wants to deal and I sort of put the two together and then I get a fear of that. So I started that in 2019 and I was around my first time when I just started university and from there, I was, you know, just networking, going to different events, finding different clients that they can, you know, I could provide value to them and find them a deal. In addition, when it came to 2020, I then started something called rent rent rent rent essentially, let's say you're the landlord and usually it's a landlord who's tired so who, you know, doesn't really want anything to do with their property. So I have to provide a women's situation which, you know, provides a solution for you and take the property of your hands to make it stress free for yourself. So normally the agreements are about three to five years and essentially I'm guaranteeing you a rent for three to five years. Then in the agreement with the permission of, you know, the landlord, I can implement it out to a bmb on a nightly basis or as I mentioned before, HMO to, so like if you're a student, you'll know of a HMO a room-married basis. What does HMO stand for? House of Multiple Occupancy. Okay, so you basically guarantee a landlord rent for a fixed amount of years and then you use that property to bring an income anywhere you can through Airbnb and through renting it out. But isn't that risky because if you're guaranteeing an income which is fixed and your income that you perceive is fluctuating, how does one manage sort of that, that unbalance and is it actually profitable? Yeah, so that's a good question. So I think one bit that's very important is before you get into a rent to rent is to do something we call your duty diligence and that's essentially, you know, doing research on the area to ensure that there is actually a demand. So there's different ways which you can assess the demand in the area such as talking to local agents, putting fake ads out there to make sure that there's a demand for actually your services. So the benefits I guess to the landlord as well is that it sounds like COVID and stuff when, you know, a lot of landlords experience void, if you guarantee them a rent, they know that they're going to have a guaranteed income which is hassle free for the free to five of the period. So provides them with a solution as also you can benefit with it as well. In regards to your question about profitability, yes it is. As I mentioned, you know, as a sort of an example, let's say I'm renting a property for me for £1 pounds per month, I can rent it on a room by room basis, let's say £500 per month for example, minus bills you're left with quite a strong profit. So the different ways it can be structured and there's an other cost that's involved but that's essentially how it works. And what made you so focused on property? Like I'm sure you've heard of different lucrative ways to make money such as drop ship in, reselling, so many different things that people are doing right now trading, etc. Did you ever double into that or have you always been on the property sort of entrepreneurship path? Yeah, so actually to be fair before property, I did actually start with drop ship in, so I had a little bit of success with drop ship in, I was selling sportswear. So I think I started at about a year, 10 or a year, 11 and yeah, that's what I was doing initially because I knew it's similar to that something I can do with sort of low barriers to entry but it can be profitable. Over time I kind of realized that's not really what I want to do because with me I like human interaction, I like going out there meeting people and with drop ship in, with just sort of behind your screen and I had a bit of issues with the delivery time and things like that. So that's when I was looking for other methods on which I can actually build wealth. And how long did that drop ship in experience last for? So that was about six to seven months, I mean six to seven months drop ship in. And for the audience that's listening that don't know what drop ship in is, what is drop ship in? Drop ship in is where you make use of an outside provider and you essentially have a store and customers buy from your store but instead of the stock going to your house, it goes directly from the supplier to the customer's house. And what sort of company does that like, did you use, did you get someone to ship it out for you or? Yeah, so I use a priority called shop of fine. I think that's what most people use because that's a 14 day trial, free trial and then you can just experiment different strategies and then go on that way. One thing I've noticed about you is that from a young age, you were very interested in making money and making income and building businesses, et cetera. So I'm just curious to know where that stemmed from. Was that because of a lack of money? Was that because the people who you are around, such as friends were very motivated or money motivated, should I say it? So where did that passion or drive stem from? Yeah, I think initially it started from growing up. We had a lot of good time but also a lot of bad time. So go through some financial struggles. It really made me realize when I'm older, I don't want to have to go through this again or don't want my kids to go through these type of struggles. So I was very inspired by people around me initially, my parents, very hard to work in, especially my mom who used to work two jobs and run her own business just to put food on the table. So that's kind of what made me realize I want to work hard so I can actually provide for her as well. And as a thank you for all that she's done for me. Moving on, my cousins, friends around me, and just listening to different motivational speakers, Eric Thomas, as you know, Tony Webbins, that kind of instilled in me the drive to actually make something for myself. Yes, yes, and big of all the moms out there, I think, you know, mom is absolutely superhero job, similar to yourself, like my mom has played a massive role in my life in terms of getting me to where I am today. So yeah, big of all the moms, if I've got any, any mothers listening, but you grew up in Kent, right? So is that where your mom sort of grew up or your family grew up or? Yeah, so initially, so the birth of parents were born in Australia and were originally from, but my mom moved to London, you know, when she was young. And yeah, they moved to Grazend just before I was born because my brother was actually born in London, who's older than me. We moved to Grazend to kind of get away from that lifestyle and, you know, to find the bad gangs and stuff, which could have been in London and Grazend, which is a quite good area to start my journey. Okay, so your mom actually worked so hard to move the family to a better area. I guess that you were less prone to violence or gangs, did you say? So how was your education like schooling? Did you school in Grazend? Yes, I schooled in Grazend starting from primary school, it was actually a really good primary school. There was one where there was a lot of successful parents. So growing up, I would always ask the parents, you know, they would have a big house here, a nice car, so I would be asking them what you do for a living. And I guess that was well inspired and not young because certain things I didn't have compared to my peers, which made me actually motivated to go and make some for myself. Moving to secondary school, there was a bit of the opposite. I went to one of the worst schools I think in my area. When we finished year 11, only 50% of us actually achieved A to C in GCC's in English or math. The best secondary school, but again, you know, I think with every situation that you're in, there's always a lesson learned from it. So with that one, I kind of learned how to do different types of people that I came across. You know, some people who are from this privilege background similar to me, and I need to separate myself from the crowds, but still focus on what I'm looking to do. Wow, congratulations. I think for you to come out or score that only 50% got A to C grades in GCC at the and the success that you've been massed so far. And you actually made it all the way to university and you're currently studying business and management and entrepreneurship correct? - Yeah, that's correct. - And what's it like studying that course because as people say that entrepreneurship is not about the theory, it's not about reading or writing, it's about taking action. So what do you actually learn on your course? - Yes, I think uni in general is a fantastic experience. I know you're a very good genius, well, but I think first of all, outside of uni is the independence. A lot of us are used to being fed by our parents looked after 24/7 and even in school, but when you're in university, if you don't go to lectures, no one's really gonna get on to you. So it's a thing where I learn a lot more of my independence. I always enjoy cooking, but even then, going to uni, learning about cooking, actually going out for yourself. And I guess it just makes you grow up a lot faster. In addition, I've said networking, that's probably been one of my favorite aspects of university, you know, being in a different city, networking with international students and different people on the ever seeing what they've done and again, what their parents do. That doesn't still mean great inspiration to continue to do well and life. So it needs to be a good experience. In regards to actual the theory, I think with me, I think you can learn from anything and from everyone. So I think with uni, I've definitely learned a lot of school, which I kind of applied to my business. I'm much a hub of my business, actually managing people, managing staff, how to grow accounts. So it's been a very good experience. And with my module, I had one module, actually, and we'll talk about probably later about the Gen Z Club. So as I did business management on entrepreneurship, we had a module where we could actually create our own business. So that's kind of when the idea of the Gen Z Club, which has always been the back of my mind, that's what I was able to actually put into practical use and get different, we could have dragged into, look over our business plan to see where we can edit. And that's when I eventually launched the story early in 2021. - Well, yes, and this is the right time to talk about it. So you actually run two different businesses. Now you're on DJ property solutions that provides property deals, such as rent to rent, joint ventures, and I think self-commodation. And now you've also founded the Gen Z Club. So, and you've created value in both sort of business areas, both affairs. So I'm really interested to know that, it's about community, right? Because I think, especially with your business, not only do you have a business, but you actually have a community around your business. So can you talk to me about how you build a community? How have you become so valuable that people will into follow you, join you, and even go to further extents to buy courses or take up some mentorship from you? - Yeah, so I'll say first, if I'm far from property, do I was able to provide value? So as you mentioned, we're sourcing, I am the middleman to match investors with great property deals. So I decided to myself, I want to make sure that I focus on the niche and actually provide that value. So what I was able to do is actually find my investors first, identify their common needs, and make sure that I provide a solution, not just to take their money, and to sort of go on with my day, but throughout the whole process, and even after it's turned short, they are fully satisfied. With the Gen Z Club, I think when I started it, through Club Passions, which you were on as well, and that was just initially to, you know, bring entrepreneurs together, to talk about full provoking topics. And then as we go along, I think, what's helped me to build a community is not focusing on the money. So with the Gen Z Club, I haven't really focused on the money side of things. I just focused on providing value and putting myself in issues of our guess, you know, what would I want if I was a part of a community? So that's kind of what's helped me to, you know, the longevity of the company. - So you provide value to both communities, but what exactly, or should I say, how exactly do you provide value? - Yeah, so good question. So with the Gen Z Club, the way we provide value is through, initially was through Club Passions, as I mentioned, but now for networking events. So our machine is to empower and inspire young people. So Gen Z is 18 to 24-year-olds, I'm fully sure I know. And we've got a platform of growth, so we're bringing together through resources, through different opportunities that they can learn, and apply to their lives to increase personal development. In regards to my property services, really what we're doing is making a hassle for you for the investor. So we can allow, you know, so professions who usually work with, though they may be capital rich, but they may lack the time and knowledge. So we provide them a stress free process to ensure that they're finding good returns on their investments whilst building generational wealth. So we don't want to just leave them in a month, we want to make sure they have that full security throughout the whole process when building their wealth. - Yes, and for people like me, you see your page on Instagram, and I see the property pages, and I'm thinking, wow, this is great, they're probably making a lot of money, but I don't exactly know what you do. So I go on your link and I join a group chat. So you have a WhatsApp group chat, and I think there's over 200 members there, and people are posting daily. So can you explain to me what that group chat is for? How did you get the 200 members? And why did they post like, what's the value taken out of that group chat? - Yeah, so I have a WhatsApp and Facebook group chat, and essentially as I mentioned before, I'm a lot about community, so I wanted to provide a community where people can be posting different deals, have access to many investors and potentially do some joint venture collaborations. So I made the group chat to, I think it was about two years ago, and actually the way I agree was just for you, mainly for referrals, I approached people who already knew in the industry, I provided on social media, and so initially started, some deals was a similar to me, posting deals, investors buying it, and now, not even more so, there's a lot of people who've been collaborating together, they've been ready to make a financial freedom for themselves, they've been a very good platform. - And you also released the course, I believe that was a free course on property. So if you're listening and you're interested in learning much more about property and how you can make income, especially with little money as they call it, no money down or low money down, make sure to subscribe to the newsletter, it will be ninking the property course in there with exclusive tips from Denzel as well. But you created this property course, what was it like creating a course? How long did it take you? How did you ensure that you were providing as much value as possible in that course? - Yeah, good question. I think initially the reason I created the course is because once I had some success with my property journey at a young age, a lot of people's reaching out to myself, and my friend Poku, who at the time I created it with. So initially we didn't know how to deal with the demand of requests for people asking us to mentor them and stuff. However, as we were still quite young and early on in our journey, we didn't want to actually charge our mentorship. And I think with the property industry, there's a lot of controversy over people charging you know, premium amounts for property. So we thought why don't we document our journey but in like a course form where people can learn from our experience. So yeah, it was quite a good outcome to be fair. I think right now we have about over 2,000 emeralds. My people from all over the world who actually are proud of what we've learned and what we shared with them till they're live, so yes, it's been very good. - Wow, so you have 2,000 people who's enrolled into the course? - Yeah, yeah. - Well, and that just goes to show the value that you've provided in that course. And this is completely free. - Yeah, completely free. And I have declined a lot of mentorship because people have asked me to actually pay mentorship, but I've always been person thinking, you know, on-premise as much as I can first. And then when I actually want to do mentorship, I'll put my all into it. 'Cause that's doing things quite far to the lead. I know that I could have made quite a bit of money for mentorship, but I wanted to make sure that, when I'm actually doing the mentorship, I can give my sort of all my time one to one and actually ensure that they grow rather than just charging them premium just for the sake of getting money. - Wow, I think that's a unique perspective. I've never sort of really heard about someone who's rejecting potential income because I believe like they're not ready or they don't want to, you know, foreshort of the value that they can provide because it's sort of an unusual answer to say that, you're getting a lot of demand for your mentorship for people who want to basically walk in your shoes and become more successful, or at least break into the property industry, but you're rejecting that. So like, do you have any conflict with yourself in terms of some people you should mentor, some people you shouldn't, or is it sort of just straight, no mentorship? - Well, it's a good question, but I'll say firstly, one thing I care a lot about is reputation. So as Warren Buffett says, it takes a decade to build reputation and then she seconds it to destroy one. So I know that if I'm just taking on people for the sake of it, I'm finding them, you know, not as much value, well, that gets in paid long term, my name will be ruined in the industry. So when it came to mentorship, I think sometimes this can be detrimental to myself. I do offer a lot of my time for free, and it's just having crews and with people. But I think more recently is when people told me, you know, "Dendle, you got a lot of value to provide, "you actually start charging." So I still haven't really tried for mentorship. There's some people that I do help for free, and that's only because they offer value back. And this is something that I recommend to a lot of people, even if you don't have the money to actually pay for mentorship, see what value you can bring to someone. So for example, I'm not gonna mention their name, but there's someone who reached out to me. I think it was about too much persistently on LinkedIn, Instagram, on WhatsApp. And they said, "Dendle, I'll do anything to be mentored by you." And what they did was they managed my social media and returned for my mentorship. So they didn't pay for me, but they were still providing me some kind of value, which I was then happy to actually give them value back. Not just someone asking me, "Dendle, can you teach me everything that you know our property?" So just to make it so that I think with everything in life, it's always a women's situation where you're benefiting, but also the person you're going to is also benefiting as well. That makes a lot of sense and I can now see why your slogan is win or win solutions or DJ property solutions. But you touched on something very key. You talked about reputation and why that's so important. You just sort of dive deep into that. So how important is reputation if you are entering the property market trying to sell deals as you say, or trying to get good deals to investors for them to invest. How important is this reputation? The reputation is key because at the end of the day, a lot of business, or for me personally the best business actually comes from referrals and that's because if someone is actually come to you for a service and you've over delivered, they're going to recommend you to their friends and it's going to have a ripple effect. Now there's a lot of times where people have been exposing the industry for actually ripping people off, taking their money, running off of their money and that's something they don't really want to touch with your business because that will just affect your short term but that'll affect you long term of any future deals because people don't really forget these things. You may think it was a year ago, I can get away with it but if you're not going to do with someone, people often do their checks on you. And this is so much negativity about you that I like to do business with you. So that's why I think reputation, you won't guard it as much as possible. Don't let your reputation slip just for a little bit of money. It's not worth it. Wow, that's very, very key. I think in a world that we live in, it's kind of like a casino, right? This opportunity is to win money everywhere but some people that get too greedy, you know, actually might be to their downfall and you've upheld your reputation and you've remained of this valuable individual hence where you're on this podcast already dropping a lot of good information. But for somebody that's listening, I want to actually get a better insight into how you built up your reputation. How did you actually do that? Like, what is it behind the scenes that we don't know? How many hours did you put into your knowledge, a massive knowledge in the area of property or massive knowledge in the area of entrepreneurship or anything that helped you become where you are today? Yeah, that's a good question. So there's quite a few things. So with anything that I do, even when I started the Gen Z Club more recently, I would like to see some industry issues doing it the way I want to do it and then I'll copy their foundations and the people that I would trust to it. So when they came to property, and as I mentioned, I'll be in the Arctic before, what I'll do is I'll go and link them and DM everyone who I know who's doing more on property. And they just started to move from me having cool to them, you know, checking up on them regularly, building that relationship so I'm sure they actually get the great understanding that I need with property. In addition, I would also have podcasts, attend networking events, which is very key. And just I guess immerse myself in the industry that I want to go into. So that's something that's helped me along the way. Networking, you know, they say you're only seven people away from anyone in the world. So if you're not clueless for the greatest developer, you should, you know, start off with maybe networking horizontally with your peers, with people just a little bit above you, and then go on to the larger scale people. So that's something that's, I'll tell you, key in my journey, networking, you know, that's something that you can't underestimate and I encourage everyone to do. Yes, you've actually mentioned networking quite a few times on this podcast. So I can obviously tell that networking has been profound in terms of your journey. For somebody listening that it's not necessarily property they want to get into. How can network and benefit them in terms of getting closer to whatever they do want to get into? I think networking so key and that's even how I've met you and along my journey, you've helped me so much in different ways, industries. And that's something I'll say as well. Don't just think you should only network with people in your industry. Mean you, we're not in the same industry, but you've helped me in so many ways in regards to personal development, in regards to my journey. So I'll say when I come to networking, just surround yourself with people who you want to be like. So, you know, there's a famous saying if you surround yourself with five rich people, you'll be the six, five, I don't know, who you're looking at, you'll be the six, who you're looking sort of thing. So just making sure that you're putting yourself in a position where a networking is not just about your friend, it's about I think what you can she and what you're allowed to consume, you know, if it always is into sort of negative music, watching negative type of things, then that's just going to be in your brain constantly. But if you surround yourself with, you know, positive music, positive podcasts, positive events, positive environments, then in general, then you will be positive person as well. So I think networking has helped me a lot and even when I come to the Gen Z Club, that's something that I encourage people as well. So when I started the Gen Z Club initially, I was dinnered by myself. But then I was thinking this is not progress as much as I wanted to progress and also it's a bit difficult to manage with my property and my university. And then I came across this quote, which said, if you can go fast alone, if you can go, if you want to go long, you can go together. So that's my collaborated with Austin and Poke who are now on the Gen Z Club with. And it's helped us in so many different ways because it's a thing where we're all focused on the same goal, but we have different perspectives. So although it may cause initially, we disagree on certain themes, but that way we get the most value out of it because we're all working towards the same goal, coming out from different angles. And then the most important thing for me in my journey, I'll say, networking from my first mentor to people I've talked to today, networking has been crucial. Yes, and that's so true. I think when you even say networking, people think it was a corporate term or business term, but like you said, we are in contact right now because we networked and just for full transparency on the podcast, so then they just DMed me. And this is for anybody listening, like don't air your DMs or at least go through them. Well, if you're the person that's trying to shoot your shot, DM people is not necessarily on a romantic sort of tip, but it can actually be, you know, a form of network and trying to literally get in contact with someone to see whether they can help you. You can help them with any synergies and that relationship. And I think I was speaking to another guest previously, Flynn and he literally talked about different ways to network as well. And he talked about how he doesn't just reach out to a person on one platform that he might DM, then he might send an email, then he might know call, but it shows that that he's keen to really get in contact with this person, whether than rather than spamming them on the same one platform. If they don't get responsive, that makes sense. Yeah. And that's so key because even in property, when we do something called direct event marketing, essentially, you know, approaching a vendor directly to potentially acquire a property. And there's a famous rule which is that seven points of contact. So for you to actually get through to someone, need to contact them at least seven times for you to get through to them. So as you mentioned, there might be initial Instagram, then LinkedIn, then you might see them in public, then I don't know through word of mouth. So I think follow up is very key. And when you network as well, there's no point in a number of 100 people and not fully in that. And I remember when I mean you first gone contact was catch up maybe first of a week, then a month later, then just keeping that relationship because I feel like a lot of people value, I guess, quantity of equality. And I think you should have both. But I think quality, somebody should really focus on our person to have where I have 10 good people on my network and just 20 people who I never talked to. So definitely focus on that quality and bring that reputation within that. Yes, and we can tell by the way you speak and when you talk about quality, you talk about purpose, you talk about how you really want to provide a value so you won't just go out there half-hearted. And you also mentioned something about you like to, I guess, copy the foundations of someone who you would like to be, then you give it little twist or spin. And I think that's such a good way of going about things because there's this quote that says success leaves clues. Yes. Meaning that all these successful people, right, their success is not so hidden because we live in the age where you can type in somebody's name. I mean, if they reach a certain level, you can find information about them or at least when they leave clues, they leave clues in the sense of podcasts, like you said, or in the sense of books or courses or even a diary, whatever it might be. So I think people overlook the simplicity in just thinking about, okay, I have this goal or I have this project, I have this plan. How do I get started? What you want to do is find the clues of someone who's done it before because nine times out of ten, someone's done it before. And instead of doing that, they will try to pull the pieces together and just get lost in the source. So and again, I'll be full transparency. So even with this podcast that you're listening to right now, when I thought about making the podcast, I thought, okay, who do I listen to and who can I make a structure of? And you know, one podcast came to mind, which was the director of a CEO by Stephen Bartlett. You know, I thought that was a great podcast. He thought there was a lot of value in that podcast. I like the way it interviews guests. I like the way he asks questions to really get in in touch with the person, right? Not just the career, not just the whatever they do, but actually the person instead. And it brought out the best of the conversation. So I thought, okay, when I'm playing my podcast, I'm going to try to structure it just like that or I'm going to add my little spin on things and so far, so good because we're having valuable conversations. So thank you for getting on. And who have you looked up to in your journey or who have you said that's influenced you because I explained about, you know, Stephen Bartlett influenced me, but who's influenced you in your journey so far? Well, there's different areas of my life for different people. I'll say initially, as I mentioned in my family, so my mum, she really took me to the importance of helping others, networking, doing your best, being authentic. My brother, he took me a lot of, about 1% each day, staying consistent, focusing on your goal. my dad since bad may look like. to Etica, you know, wake up early dressing well. And in terms of business, I would say, Tony Robbins, he's been some of that's been very inspirational to me. Just everything that he's about, you know, I can really resonate with. Ed Miley as well, he's on his strong in business, but also shares openly about his faith. So good to see how he sort of intertwines them together. Bishop Jakes, as you know, I'm going to come to a spiritual faith. He's trying to look up to say, there's quite a few people. There's not people in my in my network, both friends and both celebrities who look up to me. But I think with me, I just have to get a little bit of everyone. And I like to get that a little bit of, I'm at like, I don't know, say, say the way that you speak. I'm like the way someone else and conducts himself in a business environment. I just played together, because as you mentioned, success leaves, please, you know, have that foundation, but then put my only need to rest to it as well. Yes, it looks like you got a lot of different people pouring into you and helping you in different sort of areas. And I think that's very, very key. And also, it sounds like you have different friendship groups as well. So talk to me a bit about how you manage relationships, whether that be family, whether that be personally, your community, romantically, how do you go about that? And is there been any sort of conflict with relationships while you were trying to manage, not just your personal life, but also your business? Yeah, that's a really good question. I think I saw what a lot of young people actually struggle with growing up. And to be completely honest, I think initially it was quite difficult because certain people, I knew I was throwing myself at the start with, I knew that if I wanted to get to, I wanted to get to, after separating myself from them. And I know that that can lead to, I guess them subconsciously thinking that you think that you're too big time or that you don't want to kill them, because you think you're too good for them, which wasn't the case. It's just that you need to know who needs to find yourself with and not get involved in certain things to actually progress to the next level. So I also growing up a lot of my friends, I'm still very close to today and a lot of my friends were all kind of on the same journey, but in different industries, a lot of my friends are clothing brands, some are music artists, others are doing property. But essentially I usually group it into, I say, three different categories. I have some friends who are strictly just business, like we don't really chill on a social thing, we're just, when we talk is literally just about business. Our friends who are, we don't we talk about business, like it's just like if I don't have a good time and relax, I'm chill with them. Then I have friends, like people like you who are a bit of both, like we talk about business, but we can also chill and have discussions or go out together. So I've just about rat place and the rat time knowing, because sometimes I didn't want to talk about business. And I think that's something that I used to not like as well. Because I got into business so young, people wouldn't necessarily be talking to me for the sake of Densel, but more because I'm a property guy. So I'll be like, I'll be at a party. I remember a uni first, it was at a party. There's me just trying to enjoy a dance, or can you teach me a property? And that's not why I just used to hate, like I just said, ah, I don't, obviously it's, I'm grateful that people are recognizing me for what I'm doing, but I just wanted to have that kind of separation for my downtime and actually building a relationship. So yeah, when it comes to family as well, I'll say I'm very much a family oriented guy. So when you come to family, I'm always checking up on the aunties, uncles, cousins and trying to organize. So I just keep the Gen Z club trying to organize things together. That's the same with my family, just trying to put people together. Do you think we have family? So yeah, I have a very relationship so much. I think that's probably the most important thing in my life. Just make sure I have good relationship with people around me. Yes, that's, that's all good to hear. And I like the fact that you said that it's not just in business like you're like bringing people together, but you actually play an active role in bringing your family together. Definitely, family is very, very important. And you even touched a bit about how you are at parties and some people just really think you're the property guy, right? DJ your dance or, you know, dance or property. And so how do you, I guess my question is like, how do you stray away from that? Like you said, you have many different friends. And I think it's important, in fact, it's important that you have different friends to meet different needs. And I think for anybody that's listening, I'll definitely recommend that because I think that's the same as you grow older and life. You start to see that, you know, you get on, or you get on well with certain type of people. However, because you made friends so young and these friends are growing up with you, you don't just want to abandon them. And some people might have that approach that they just, you know, what, this is the end of the road. It's been good. You know, I hope you get on well with your life and they just sort of, you know, turn turn the next path or going to go into a next path. So, I think the question I was going to ask you is that how do you overcome being known as for only one thing for the property guy or the property entrepreneur? Like do you communicate that you do other things? Is this something you generally openly talk about? Do you actually find yourself doing other things? Like what are your sort of passions, your hobbies, your interests, outside of business, outside of property? And of course, outside of being a family man. Yeah, I think that's a good question. I think that's probably one area of my life, which I'm actually still working on because it's a thing where, yeah, I still am very much known as the Dental of the Entrepreneur of God, but I think people have known me a long time, known me as the fun guy who, you know, likes to enjoy himself, who likes to play football, who likes to chew on relax at the outside. I think that's something which I've, I guess, I don't know if it's struggling with because the thing where certain things that I was doing when I was younger, it doesn't really interest me anymore. So, it's a thing where like what I'm doing right now, I'm quite focused on, you know, the goal that I have in mind. So, I'm just focused on doing the things I need to do to get there now. Obviously, in my downtime, there's things I do like chilling with my friends, playing football, just, yes, just do you feel that we have a cooking or like cooking, but yeah, I think that's something that I still need to work on, actually find that balance of, you know, okay, cool. I'm probably going to go out with business guy, but let me actually still, you know, stay true to my core personality and not get that lost in the journey. Yes, and you sound like a well-rounded individual in a sense that yes, you can play sports, yes, you can do business, yes, you can study, yes, you've been telling your family, yes, you can cook, you know, a bonus for any of the ladies that I listen in, but you also go to the gym as well. So, like, you do a range of things and you like to, you know, keep, I guess, a well-balanced holistic sort of healthy lifestyle, and you mentioned that you set goals as well. And I just wonder, like, what are the type of goals you set? Of course, we've just entered a new year 2022, and you've entered the gear already sourcing two million plus worth of properties. So, talk to me about the next step or what's next for you. Yeah, so I'll quickly talk to you when you mentioned about the goals. So, the way I structured my goals is simple to be said, so I started at the end of my end. So, I usually have like my five year plan, three year plan, one year plan, and then I have it into a 12-week year. So, every time I set my goals, I grew into health, finances, education, spiritual, and personal development, slash relationships. So, when it comes to the 12-week year, for those who don't know, you may have your one year goal, but then you break it down into 12 weeks, and we do that so that you can be in tents, because let's say you have a goal now of, I don't know, making X amount per year. You might be a bit slack, you might be slacking a bit throughout the year, but when it comes to November, you're like, oh, damn, I'm quite far away from my goal. Let me just go hard to get it. However, if you break that yearly target into 12 weeks, every 12 weeks, you're working on that same urgency to actually get those goals. And with the 12-week year, you have accountability partners, and that's something which I recommend has helped me a lot of my journey. So, I usually do with PokeBounce, most people probably know. So, he's my accountability partner, so every week we catch up, and we just make sure that we're on track with our goals. But that was working very well, but at the same time, I said, I want more accountability, because I think I work well under pressure. So, what I did was, I have accountability partners with every area of my life. So, when it comes to gym, go to general accountability partner, property, I've got property accountability partners, uni accountability partners, and that way, I know that I can't really slack because when we do, and even with us, we're in the same wake up group chat, so like in the morning, if we wake up late, the mandem are getting on to us and all that. We wake up at 80 and they're saying, good evening. So, you can't even wake up too late. So, there's a thing where, having that count, and that's if you work on the pressure, but it may be working different for someone else, but that's what's up to me, a lot actually, stay accountable to my goals, and if I don't achieve them, I said them quite high, so if anybody can achieve them, I know that I'll still be further than if I were to settle quite low, so that's what's up to me a lot, and achieve my goals. Yes, accountability partners, no, being in that, I think is nearly a year that we're in the morning group chat. It's nearly a year, so for the listeners, yet I'm in the group chat with Denzel and a few others, and we basically hold each other accountable to waking up early, because I genuinely believe that if you wake up earlier, that depends, so I was originally waking up on average around 90 and depending whether I'm on holiday, I'm in university or school, whatever, but waking up at 6am has definitely changed the game, because I get more things done. I wouldn't really say I'm an early riser or a lay out, I feel like I just work on energy levels. If I've not got enough sleep, I won't really function well in the day, but accountability partners is very important. Is there any tools you use that helps you with accountability? Yeah, and to add on to what we said as well, and I'll go back to what you just asked me, I think what's very key to what you mentioned is doing what works best for you, because of interest away saying wake up at 5am, dude, is dude that sometimes people doing a lot but not actually getting a lot done. So what I noticed is that I was working about 5 am but by 12 pm I'm tired I want to sleep sort of thing. So I said what simmities are now minds about 60 m to 6 30s where I did that I wake up I'm still early but I've got enough energy to do what I need to do. So I feel like don't just think I need to copy everyone else who look like I'm being busy but I actually do what works for you and find a um the right system that works but um talk to a question about accountability product. I think it's your system so look you might not believe but not actually I'm actually quite a lazy person so what I do is just have systems in place to actually help that laziness. So for example I know it's very easy to put my snooze on in the morning um because I've got two phones one of my phones I'll put it in some difficult place to get. So in the morning when my alarm's gone off I can't just turn up after the she gets up go walk across my room and turn it off um similarly like if I want to go gym in the morning I have my gym clothes ready so that way when I wake up and the gym clothes is looking at me I know I have to issue a pillow on and go to gym so I just creating systems in place because and I think that's important to discipline because motivation will only help you a certain way and that's where most people when they start the year the gyms packed February, March time the gyms empty and that's because people have run out of motivation but um there's a famous cook by James Clevver say you do not rise to a level of your goals but you fall to level your systems which means that the discipline that you have in place when motivation is a working that discipline you know is what will stand in your life so I think that's very important just have the routines in place that you know will benefit you and just just make it unique to yourself don't just think are after you're um dispense and doing all that person doing just do what works for you. Yes and James Clevver who is that and how has he had impact on your life in terms of this system methodology? So James Clevver he's offered a bit called atomic habits and that's one of my books I always recommend to people and it's just teaching about you know one percent each day and he just breaks down how you can add systems and discipline in your life to actually progress so for example one thing that he said that it's really good is that don't have a goal of go gym twice a week but you've got to adopt the identity of a regular gym go so you know I am a regular gym go who loves going gym that way if you're regular gym go who loves going gym you're going to basically go gym various times a week same with if you're healthy eating or whatever goal you have you got to adopt the identity not just have that goal because if you just have that goal you're separating yourself from that goal with the identity you're actually becoming the person who will achieve those type of things. Wow that is powerful that that is very very powerful I never actually thought about it like that because I think the common thing we do especially in 2022 is that we're setting goals and we set you know like it said short term long term goals and we just run out trying to achieve them and and if we short if we fall short we just say to ourselves I don't worry you know mental health we're taking care of ourselves and to that's big you know everybody should but that idea of actually making it a doctrine that identity is in you know it's not just about the goal this is a lifestyle this is how I want to play that my lifestyle I actually want to change you know physically mentally socially and emotionally for the better and just talking about goals just to bring that question back to you so what are your goals for 2022 so 2022 as I mentioned you know group into different goals I'll add for different quarters but I'll say in general my big goals are family of uni is this year so my god's grace to graduate of first class that's my I guess my educational goal sourcing is I'm not going to say it but it's a certain revenue goal which I want to achieve in regards to sourcing properties and also want to move myself from my uncle we're going to be developing some houses to HMOs as I mentioned how some multiple occupancies that's about looking forward to Gen Z Club as you saw at our event on Friday we're going to have something every single week and I'm looking forward to multi-wood ceremony so just you know make sure that we're providing continue to provide the environment for you to grow so yeah definitely as in my life I'm trying to improve on but I'll say why you'd like to do as always I have like three or four goals which will cover all my small goals so for example let's say I want to I don't know bar on my car do this do that if I achieve my revenue goal automatically I have enough money to bar on my car so I just have to focus on that I say the three or four which I think before I'd have like 20 goals and then I wouldn't be able to focus on them so now I have about three or four goals which I'm committed to as a result I'll achieve my other goals wow I never thought about like that so you actually bundle you sort of bundle your goals together and you make sure that if you achieve one goal it'll sort out all the rest of the goal and you do that 12-week in a year to make sure you hit that one goal yeah so I'll break it down so let's say my target is X amount in revenue I'll kind of divide it by four and then for that 12 weeks I already think about the rest of the year but for that 12 weeks I'm working hard to achieve my 12 week goals and that's that's what's taught me a lot you could work on a lot more intensity yes yes that makes sense and for somebody who's listening and they think okay 2022 I've heard great information and value on this podcast that's it I want to change my identity I want to adopt a new identity I want to become a highly valued individual by the end of 2022 that they want to launch into 2023 a completely different person right give me some actionable practical tips and advice that you'll give to a person who wants to make a change you know a self-development sort of change and how would they start that journey good questions so this is what I get asked a lot and I would say to people the first thing is setting the foundations so what I mean by that is the mindset so making sure as you mentioned earlier you're surrounding yourself with the right people you're you know anything that's negative in your life you kind of put that away and then you just focus on the positive and then with that you now have to start with clarity so what do you actually want because a lot of times we're working towards something that we never know we're working towards you will have that in mind okay this is exactly what I want and one thing that I do is write it down because it's easy to imagine stuff but until it's actually pen to paper then there's nonexistent so I say yeah start with clarity so what do you want I write it down and as I mentioned about you've got to become the person which is a type of girl so one thing that I like to do is um something called taste of success is what I love from Ed and my letter so let's say I know in the future I want to live in a nice house drive some nice car so what are you sometimes doing with my friends is I go out to some luxurious apartments in nice bridge we go sitting rolls away so I can just taste the success and know it feels like to be that success so if that's not necessarily your goal you know wherever your goal is just surround yourself with someone who's actually achieved that goal see what they do what things they get up to and I guess mirror that once you get that foundation you've got to make a plan so that's where it comes to the goal setting what plan do I want to put in place to actually tackle these goals on a daily basis and then get someone accountable for you so if you want to do something to me have different goals for your health your relationships have accountability plan it's going to keep you accountable so that's not going to if you don't achieve it say oh like I don't rate you this or that but somebody's just going to like encourage you and be like okay could we haven't achieved this however walking in your next time and actually make you self-reflect to go further um and then yeah once you go your plan your clarity and place you just got literally have tunnel vision you know work hard love meant to rest to recover and just keep going but I think one thing that's so important is that you'll never change your life until you change it daily I think a lot of times you think about the bigger picture which is good but you go think about what am I doing each day because everyone seems to be a millionaire but if a million was giving to you right now most people by a year's time know nothing to show for it so it's about actually knowing what I'm doing daily what systems I haven't placed because I think good doesn't give us stuff for a reason until we know that we're prepared for it so just make sure that you have everything in place that you actually prepared to achieve what you want to do in life wow that is very very powerful so number one laying the foundations number two clarity and number three tunnel vision you know coupled with work and hard and um you've literally just broke that down and literally I think under minute or a minute or two but for somebody that's listening and I really want to dive deep with you I'll just wondering if you were willing to offer you know one hour of your free time in order to help coach or help train or help mentor somebody or just give them that exclusive chance to get a Q&A session with you because we have our newsletters we have a great community and I'm sure someone will benefit from that so are you happy to do that? yeah I'm anything for you boy definitely I'm down I'm down to do that man and also a quick plug literally not just me but there's certainly people in I guess our age group because a lot of time people think are for me to be successful in property or there's it's only you know the rich old guys who are doing this but there's so many youngsters who have similar mindsets um and so I think a quick plug you know the Gen Z club a good community it's got people in there who are such an Ayola or St. Polk who and rest people are doing big things not just in property but I'm in e-commerce in trading in graduate schemes you know so just surround yourself with an environment and that's something that you can go to we do host quite a few events so just come along and never could people who can help you with your journey I'll say amazing amazing and so if you are listening and you're subscribed to the newsletter I'll be putting out those details on how you can win a chance to sit now with Denzel for an hour and talk all things business all things um self-development mindset and how you can literally adopt a new identity and power for 2022 launching into great success in 2023 and on top of that Denzel has just mentioned the Gen Z club now if you you're listening and you want to get involved with lack-minded individuals are highly highly recommended. So I think you've launched so far you've had three in-person events and correct two in London one in London and you're going all across the UK this year in terms of different cities that Manchester. So can you just talk to me a bit about the plans for people know you know from all different areas where they can get connected and how can they find you on social media or how can they get involved in some of the challenges that you guys are on. Yeah so on Instagram firstly and you can get to us at the.genz club, same on Twitter about Instagram's our main platform. In terms of events so we just had a London event um literally two days ago um but for those who want to go to our fair events we're doing something every single month for the rest of this year um so I can't remember if I'm talking my head but I never have like a crypto webinar in February and March I'm organizing a property dinner having some more webinars in April May um GM are going to have a Birmingham event so because we've got people from different parts of the country so we're going to cater to that audience July we're having a good event um we've perperceded um I'd definitely recommend you guys listen to their broadcast as well um September I think that's Manchester I've got a trading event so yeah just definitely um you follow our page we've got quite a few updates we do personal development challenges and then at the end of the year we're having an award ceremony so essentially we're going to bring together the best of the best from our age group we're going to have like putt-clothed in the year which hope you remember we're going to have um once you've been over the year business of the year and it's just to get to empower people as what our core message to empower people and to bring people together through a platform of growth. Well that is amazing and yes you should catch me there at the award ceremony on some of the other events and if you're listening I would love to catch you there as well as well all working together to provide value to each other and you know become valuable and Denzel has been such an amazing guest um I'm so grateful that you've joined us on the valuable podcast and just to quickly close off if you were to give your last piece of advice to somebody who wanted to um basically increase the value that they provide um what would you advise? I would say the most important thing is you know being true to yourself making sure that you're not faking anything just be authentic because at the end of day that would get cool tell um and I would say yeah just literally you know focus on your strengths see how you can improve them and what I actually is focus on my shape to improve them and outsource my weaknesses so that I know that what I'm good at and which is for me personally that network and bring people together and then that's the highest end of possible and the things that I'm also good at which I can just outsource so that I can continue to provide value to people and I think just being authentic and I think authenticity goes a long way uh make sure that you're always looking for a women's situation I'll always say that women's situation whenever you're going to in agreement a deal of business always look how that all person can benefit don't just think I want to make quick money because you know money in the day comes and goes but a good relationship for ever so just yeah provide that value um women's situation and just take you to yourself perfect and you've heard Denzel Jones win-win situations only thank you so much for coming on the podcast can you tell us where they can find you follow you support you your personal platforms as well as your business thank you both for having me first of all and um linkedin Denzel Jones Instagram @denz.jj and my property so if you are looking to get property deals you know whether you're an athlete a busy professional you want property deals DJ property underscore solutions um and as I mentioned the Gen Z Club at the the Gen Z Club um all those platforms reach me up reach out to me on three um and I'll definitely get in touch thank you for listening if you like this episode please leave a review on Apple podcasts and follow us on social media at valuable podcasts plus for not least for exclusive detailed content sign up for the weekly newsletter at www.vallablepodcast.com remember increase the value you provide and your rise in due time