WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.200 Robert, would you talk to me a little bit about 00:00:02.200 --> 00:00:04.960 yourself? Introduce yourself and then we'll dive 00:00:04.960 --> 00:00:08.660 right in. Yeah, sure. Pleasure to be here. Pleasure 00:00:08.660 --> 00:00:11.880 to be here, Sue. So yeah, my name is Rob. I'm 00:00:11.880 --> 00:00:15.599 the founder of my real estate and investing business 00:00:15.599 --> 00:00:18.079 called Rolston Real Estate. I'm from Ireland 00:00:18.079 --> 00:00:20.359 originally, but I live just outside Glasgow in 00:00:20.359 --> 00:00:23.339 Scotland. I've been over here for about 17 years 00:00:23.339 --> 00:00:27.039 and roots firmly down now. My family's all across 00:00:27.039 --> 00:00:31.719 here. So this is now home. and i start i suppose 00:00:31.719 --> 00:00:35.159 from humble beginnings and i was never the smartest 00:00:35.159 --> 00:00:38.579 guy in school and did what i was told to do though 00:00:38.579 --> 00:00:40.840 worked hard and got through school got into university 00:00:40.840 --> 00:00:43.899 and came out with a degree in in healthcare and 00:00:43.899 --> 00:00:46.840 very quickly i think i realized that uh wasn't 00:00:46.840 --> 00:00:50.039 for me um and i just got a wee bit disenchanted 00:00:50.039 --> 00:00:53.479 with the nine to five and broke away from that 00:00:53.479 --> 00:00:57.520 after about two to three years and just chucked 00:00:57.520 --> 00:01:00.359 it all and went traveling to thailand and on 00:01:00.359 --> 00:01:04.319 a bit of a soul search and found financial education 00:01:04.319 --> 00:01:07.219 financial literacy deep dove a library of books 00:01:07.219 --> 00:01:10.700 on the stuff and when i landed back from traveling 00:01:10.700 --> 00:01:15.739 i immediately started pursuing property and i've 00:01:15.739 --> 00:01:18.859 built up a portfolio for myself and my family 00:01:18.859 --> 00:01:21.879 um and i'm a bit of an evangelist about property 00:01:21.879 --> 00:01:24.180 and about financial education and investing now 00:01:24.180 --> 00:01:29.590 and my current business model is sitting targeting 00:01:29.590 --> 00:01:33.049 an audience where we kind of identify a gap that's 00:01:33.049 --> 00:01:35.250 in the wealth between the wealthy and the well 00:01:35.250 --> 00:01:36.989 offered the wealthy and the working person as 00:01:36.989 --> 00:01:39.409 opposed to the rich and the poor that's the gap 00:01:39.409 --> 00:01:41.969 that everybody talks about but we want to help 00:01:41.969 --> 00:01:44.510 just the average person attain affluence that's 00:01:44.510 --> 00:01:47.450 our that's our kind of mission statement so there's 00:01:47.450 --> 00:01:50.109 nothing special about me i'm a very average very 00:01:50.109 --> 00:01:53.150 average guy and like i said i started with no 00:01:53.150 --> 00:01:55.359 money in the bank account but If I can do it, 00:01:55.400 --> 00:01:59.180 anybody can. And my business sits at that demographic 00:01:59.180 --> 00:02:01.379 to help the average person to get ahead because 00:02:01.379 --> 00:02:05.400 the wealthy 1 % are surrounded by financial advisors, 00:02:05.640 --> 00:02:08.979 family offices, and people whose sole job it 00:02:08.979 --> 00:02:12.500 is to create more wealth for them based on the 00:02:12.500 --> 00:02:14.620 fact that they make their money off those fees 00:02:14.620 --> 00:02:16.599 because it's larger transactions. But the average 00:02:16.599 --> 00:02:19.120 person doesn't have hundreds of thousands to 00:02:19.120 --> 00:02:23.879 throw around. But they still have... more than 00:02:23.879 --> 00:02:26.460 they realize and more capability to change their 00:02:26.460 --> 00:02:28.300 stars. They just don't have the tools to do it. 00:02:28.340 --> 00:02:31.120 So we will either help them to build their own 00:02:31.120 --> 00:02:33.539 portfolio, or if they're not in a position to 00:02:33.539 --> 00:02:35.960 do that, we will help them deploy capital so 00:02:35.960 --> 00:02:38.680 that they can attain investment -like returns 00:02:38.680 --> 00:02:40.500 that would otherwise only be available to the 00:02:40.500 --> 00:02:42.139 wealthy. So that's what my business model is, 00:02:42.159 --> 00:02:44.659 is basically helping the middleman to kind of 00:02:44.659 --> 00:02:47.759 climb and get security for his family. That's 00:02:47.759 --> 00:02:50.199 so great. Now, I want to ask you this question 00:02:50.199 --> 00:02:52.830 here. and you've touched on this a little bit 00:02:52.830 --> 00:02:56.909 you know definitely but what is it that vision 00:02:56.909 --> 00:02:59.490 when you imagine the person that you're serving 00:02:59.490 --> 00:03:03.469 like the the future that you can like imagine 00:03:03.469 --> 00:03:06.930 for them what is that vision yeah well so so 00:03:06.930 --> 00:03:10.740 how my business has evolved over time and the 00:03:10.740 --> 00:03:12.939 the kind of pivotal turning point in in my business 00:03:12.939 --> 00:03:16.960 was i have a background in healthcare and there 00:03:16.960 --> 00:03:19.099 was a gentleman came in to see me and he was 00:03:19.099 --> 00:03:22.479 in his 50s and he had had a heart attack and 00:03:22.479 --> 00:03:25.120 like a month and a half later two months later 00:03:25.120 --> 00:03:28.780 he'd had a stroke now He was a high -flying businessman. 00:03:28.979 --> 00:03:31.580 He was a high -ranking manager in a bank. His 00:03:31.580 --> 00:03:33.919 wife didn't have to work. Both his kids went 00:03:33.919 --> 00:03:35.900 to private school. They both drove Mercedes and 00:03:35.900 --> 00:03:37.740 he had the big house and everything was going 00:03:37.740 --> 00:03:39.879 great. But all of a sudden, he wasn't able to 00:03:39.879 --> 00:03:42.319 work because of what had happened. And now the 00:03:42.319 --> 00:03:43.860 bank was coming after his house. He'd had to 00:03:43.860 --> 00:03:45.800 sell the cars, uplift the kids out of school. 00:03:45.860 --> 00:03:47.960 His wife was having to go back to work. And the 00:03:47.960 --> 00:03:50.300 rug had been pulled out from underneath him for 00:03:50.300 --> 00:03:53.240 no reason at all other than he'd been dealt a 00:03:53.240 --> 00:03:55.849 really... crummy hand he'd done nothing wrong 00:03:55.849 --> 00:03:59.069 he'd in fact done everything right and i sat 00:03:59.069 --> 00:04:02.050 back and i thought my god well number one i have 00:04:02.050 --> 00:04:03.409 to put the skids under the property thing and 00:04:03.409 --> 00:04:04.930 get security from my family because if i get 00:04:04.930 --> 00:04:07.009 hit by a bus tomorrow i need to make sure that 00:04:07.009 --> 00:04:09.870 that they're going to be okay but on the other 00:04:09.870 --> 00:04:12.169 side of that coin i was like you know if this 00:04:12.169 --> 00:04:13.389 has happened to him and this could happen to 00:04:13.389 --> 00:04:15.969 me this could happen to anybody so there's a 00:04:15.969 --> 00:04:20.189 real need for the average person to be able to 00:04:20.189 --> 00:04:23.810 build passive asset -based income that is going 00:04:23.810 --> 00:04:26.689 to create financial security for them and for 00:04:26.689 --> 00:04:30.310 their family because without that you know everybody 00:04:30.310 --> 00:04:32.370 thinks that if you're in the nine -to -five job 00:04:32.370 --> 00:04:34.449 that it's secure but actually if something happens 00:04:34.449 --> 00:04:38.029 to you you're very quickly replaceable and that 00:04:38.029 --> 00:04:40.589 really it turns your life upside down you know 00:04:40.589 --> 00:04:44.370 and and and money is money is a stress money's 00:04:44.370 --> 00:04:46.149 a tool but money's a stress there's there's people 00:04:46.149 --> 00:04:47.949 across the globe hanging by a thread because 00:04:47.949 --> 00:04:50.329 of money because they're sweating the bills and 00:04:50.329 --> 00:04:52.370 it doesn't have to be like that And like I said, 00:04:52.410 --> 00:04:55.350 I am a bit of an evangelist about property and 00:04:55.350 --> 00:04:57.089 about investing because it's changed my life. 00:04:57.089 --> 00:05:00.089 It's changed my family's life. And my vision, 00:05:00.149 --> 00:05:02.269 like I said earlier, is that the average person 00:05:02.269 --> 00:05:05.050 can achieve affluence. The average person doesn't 00:05:05.050 --> 00:05:07.069 have to have anything special about them. But 00:05:07.069 --> 00:05:11.389 if they reach out and look to get the right tools, 00:05:11.509 --> 00:05:13.170 they can get themselves ahead. They can create 00:05:13.170 --> 00:05:16.329 financial security. They can create a life of 00:05:16.329 --> 00:05:18.829 affluence, a life of security for them and for 00:05:18.829 --> 00:05:23.660 their loved ones. So my vision is to create that. 00:05:23.740 --> 00:05:27.600 My vision is that there doesn't need to be a 00:05:27.600 --> 00:05:31.259 struggling middle class. There should be, there's 00:05:31.259 --> 00:05:33.079 enough wealth to go around. People just need 00:05:33.079 --> 00:05:37.560 to know how to access it. That's amazing. That's 00:05:37.560 --> 00:05:42.319 a, that's a bold, big vision. I mean, to eradicate 00:05:42.319 --> 00:05:45.279 that, that's amazing. Yeah, absolutely. You know, 00:05:45.319 --> 00:05:50.870 it's a big problem. The way that the Western 00:05:50.870 --> 00:05:55.850 economic system is built, it's built on taxing 00:05:55.850 --> 00:05:58.550 the working man and the middle class. And the 00:05:58.550 --> 00:06:01.370 wealthy 1 % are protected within corporations 00:06:01.370 --> 00:06:05.310 and they know the strategy is to offset their 00:06:05.310 --> 00:06:08.189 tax and to create further wealth. And they are 00:06:08.189 --> 00:06:10.589 wealthy enough that they, like I said earlier, 00:06:10.670 --> 00:06:12.810 have a team that they can surround themselves 00:06:12.810 --> 00:06:16.540 with who are able to then build. more wealth 00:06:16.540 --> 00:06:19.060 off the, off the fact that there's money to throw 00:06:19.060 --> 00:06:22.759 around. So it means that the, the gap between 00:06:22.759 --> 00:06:25.060 the wealthy and the well -off, like I said, is 00:06:25.060 --> 00:06:26.720 just, it's just getting wider, but it doesn't 00:06:26.720 --> 00:06:30.439 have to be that way. It just, the financial education 00:06:30.439 --> 00:06:34.259 isn't there for the, the average person. So that's 00:06:34.259 --> 00:06:35.759 the gap that we want to sit in and we want to 00:06:35.759 --> 00:06:39.000 change that. I like that. Now thinking about 00:06:39.000 --> 00:06:42.019 like your, your vision for your business itself. 00:06:43.240 --> 00:06:45.139 What do you want to see? You know, you're a young 00:06:45.139 --> 00:06:47.519 guy. What do you want to see for the next 20, 00:06:47.620 --> 00:06:51.839 30, 40 years? What could this become? Well, you 00:06:51.839 --> 00:06:56.040 know what? I think I'm quite a holistic guy. 00:06:56.180 --> 00:06:58.180 You know, there's nothing flashy about me. My 00:06:58.180 --> 00:07:01.579 goals have never been, you know, lofty to have, 00:07:01.579 --> 00:07:03.759 you know, the Lamborghini or anything like that. 00:07:03.819 --> 00:07:06.519 My goals have always been I want security for 00:07:06.519 --> 00:07:08.879 my family. I want time to spend with my family 00:07:08.879 --> 00:07:11.759 and I want to give my kids opportunity for nice 00:07:11.759 --> 00:07:14.639 things if they want them. So outside of that, 00:07:14.680 --> 00:07:18.660 from a personal vision, you know, I've created 00:07:18.660 --> 00:07:21.920 that. I'm quite secure in where I am and we're 00:07:21.920 --> 00:07:25.379 on that path. But as my business has evolved, 00:07:25.680 --> 00:07:29.220 I recognize that, you know, I'm not alone in 00:07:29.220 --> 00:07:34.879 those desires and the people who work with us. 00:07:35.610 --> 00:07:38.709 are very average people you know and all they 00:07:38.709 --> 00:07:42.149 want is they want you know passive returns ticking 00:07:42.149 --> 00:07:44.970 in that you know looks after the christmas presents 00:07:44.970 --> 00:07:46.850 in december so they don't have to worry about 00:07:46.850 --> 00:07:48.870 that big bill or it pays for the family holiday 00:07:48.870 --> 00:07:52.490 or it supplements the retirement or you know 00:07:52.490 --> 00:07:54.689 it builds a portfolio that they can hand to the 00:07:54.689 --> 00:07:58.709 grandkids it's it's very much building other 00:07:58.709 --> 00:08:00.670 people's visions is now kind of my vision if 00:08:00.670 --> 00:08:03.920 you like because we are we're small so we have 00:08:03.920 --> 00:08:07.439 the capacity to pivot based on what our our clients 00:08:07.439 --> 00:08:10.860 goals are so we can actually be very bespoke 00:08:10.860 --> 00:08:13.360 and where do i want to go where do i want to 00:08:13.360 --> 00:08:16.939 grow it at the moment we invest very much locally 00:08:16.939 --> 00:08:19.800 in scotland and we know the market here the market 00:08:19.800 --> 00:08:23.420 is is very good to us here and the cost of entry 00:08:23.420 --> 00:08:26.120 to get into the property market is really low 00:08:26.120 --> 00:08:28.220 compared to for the likes you know the likes 00:08:28.220 --> 00:08:30.660 of the states you know somebody over here can 00:08:31.100 --> 00:08:34.419 can get a flat or an apartment on a 75 % loan 00:08:34.419 --> 00:08:36.240 -to -value mortgage and the value is 50 grand. 00:08:36.519 --> 00:08:39.440 So you're talking around about 30K and somebody 00:08:39.440 --> 00:08:43.879 can be earning passive returns forever. But I 00:08:43.879 --> 00:08:46.600 guess we'll expand that in Scotland and potentially 00:08:46.600 --> 00:08:50.559 then look to expand it across the UK. And as 00:08:50.559 --> 00:08:54.259 the team grows, I suppose we can look to expand 00:08:54.259 --> 00:08:57.000 further than that. But it kind of depends. My 00:08:57.000 --> 00:09:01.200 real vision is to... keep this at a level that 00:09:01.200 --> 00:09:02.980 i'm comfortable with i like the very personal 00:09:02.980 --> 00:09:05.899 approach and like i said my personal goals aren't 00:09:05.899 --> 00:09:08.320 lofty i don't really want the yacht in the pacific 00:09:08.320 --> 00:09:11.879 to be honest with you and so as long as i'm helping 00:09:11.879 --> 00:09:14.980 other people that's kind of where i sit i can 00:09:14.980 --> 00:09:17.620 see that that's pretty cool how many people are 00:09:17.620 --> 00:09:21.120 in scotland now uh populations around about five 00:09:21.120 --> 00:09:25.039 million okay a lot of people you can serve yeah 00:09:25.039 --> 00:09:27.980 yeah it's a similar kind of size of population 00:09:27.980 --> 00:09:31.679 to ireland so yeah Both about 5 million. That's 00:09:31.679 --> 00:09:35.039 neat. Yeah. Do you have a team? Oh, go ahead. 00:09:35.220 --> 00:09:37.159 I was going to say about the same population 00:09:37.159 --> 00:09:41.539 as in London by itself is in Scotland. It's true. 00:09:43.480 --> 00:09:47.379 Do you have a team that helps you? So we kind 00:09:47.379 --> 00:09:51.460 of outsource most things. in so much as you know 00:09:51.460 --> 00:09:54.419 we have people we have connections now who will 00:09:54.419 --> 00:09:57.700 um bring opportunities with property deals to 00:09:57.700 --> 00:10:01.179 us we have a team of trades who we will be able 00:10:01.179 --> 00:10:05.419 to put in place for refurbishments and when they're 00:10:05.419 --> 00:10:07.580 in play and we have a team of letting agents 00:10:07.580 --> 00:10:10.100 that will put the tenants in and carry it forward 00:10:10.100 --> 00:10:15.269 because we can sort of serve here, there and 00:10:15.269 --> 00:10:18.629 everywhere. We don't really have a big team of 00:10:18.629 --> 00:10:22.889 staff as such because we will bring them in as 00:10:22.889 --> 00:10:25.370 and when projects demand it and depending on 00:10:25.370 --> 00:10:27.889 geographically where those things are, it wouldn't 00:10:27.889 --> 00:10:29.210 really make a huge amount of sense for me to 00:10:29.210 --> 00:10:33.070 employ somebody in Glasgow when I have a project 00:10:33.070 --> 00:10:35.250 that's up in Aberdeen and I need to send them 00:10:35.250 --> 00:10:37.750 all the way up there because, you know, that's 00:10:37.750 --> 00:10:40.240 going to be... uh not necessarily feasible for 00:10:40.240 --> 00:10:42.759 them to just ship up there for for four weeks 00:10:42.759 --> 00:10:44.580 at a time because they'll they're gonna have 00:10:44.580 --> 00:10:48.039 family and all the rest so the the sort of subcontracting 00:10:48.039 --> 00:10:50.559 or contractor model is is is where we work off 00:10:50.559 --> 00:10:53.019 but we're very well connected and we're we're 00:10:53.019 --> 00:10:55.500 several people deep in in all of those avenues 00:10:55.500 --> 00:10:58.940 because we've built those teams over time so 00:10:58.940 --> 00:11:03.259 all of those uh contractors know us and trust 00:11:03.259 --> 00:11:05.320 us and we have a very good relationship so we 00:11:05.320 --> 00:11:07.919 do we don't kind of hang around in terms of when 00:11:07.919 --> 00:11:09.779 we have projects on the go we act on it very 00:11:09.779 --> 00:11:12.679 quickly and then we can get them through to completion 00:11:12.679 --> 00:11:14.639 or to refinance very quickly as well because 00:11:14.639 --> 00:11:17.519 of that so the the model works very efficiently 00:11:17.519 --> 00:11:21.240 and based on those factors and again it means 00:11:21.240 --> 00:11:23.620 that we're able to to pivot and be mobile and 00:11:23.620 --> 00:11:26.919 because we have several people deep we're not 00:11:26.919 --> 00:11:29.919 relying on just uh a couple of members of staff 00:11:29.919 --> 00:11:32.100 and if one of them are busy we have to put the 00:11:32.100 --> 00:11:34.379 next thing on the back burner we can actually 00:11:34.379 --> 00:11:37.080 have multiple projects working at the same time 00:11:37.080 --> 00:11:39.519 because of that Thank you for being here today. 00:11:39.679 --> 00:11:41.460 I'm really happy that you tuned in to Vision 00:11:41.460 --> 00:11:44.080 Pros Live. I'm looking forward to seeing your 00:11:44.080 --> 00:11:46.879 reactions as these episodes continue to move 00:11:46.879 --> 00:11:48.820 forward. This is going to get more and more fun. 00:11:48.840 --> 00:11:50.700 We'll have more and more engagement as well. 00:11:50.740 --> 00:11:52.639 We'll invite people to participate in the show. 00:11:52.779 --> 00:11:54.820 And thank you for giving us your time and attention. 00:11:55.100 --> 00:11:57.740 Have an excellent time building out your vision 00:11:57.740 --> 00:11:59.120 and becoming a vision pro yourself.