From Academia to 30 Properties: Tosin Obata’s Journey to 75% Direct Bookings

Summary and Highlights

Facing Fear: The Key to Starting Something New

Tosin’s journey began with a simple resolution: to start a business in 2019. With no clear idea of what kind of business it would be, he took the first step by registering his company, Sigma Place Limited. His advice? “Some of the things we are afraid of are not as bad as we think. If you just start, you’ll find that the first step is possible, and then the next, and the next.”

This mindset shift became a cornerstone of Tosin’s success. He compared it to walking on broken glass—a fear he literally conquered during a training session. “What I learned was that the things I was most afraid of were not as big as I thought. Starting a business was no different.”

Scaling a Portfolio: From 1 to 30 Properties

Tosin’s property journey began with a single one-bedroom apartment in Bristol, UK. He described how he set it up using Facebook Marketplace to source affordable furniture and managed everything himself—from cleaning to guest communication. That first property became a training ground, teaching him the processes he would later replicate to scale his portfolio.

Key takeaway: “The first property gave me the confidence to realize it was possible to do another and another. That confidence is everything.”

As his portfolio grew, Tosin strategically outsourced tasks, hired a team, and built systems to free up his time. Today, he operates a business that runs independently—even when he’s away for weeks at a time.

Mastering Direct Bookings: Tosin’s Three-Part Strategy

Direct bookings are at the heart of Tosin’s business. After facing a challenging winter with low occupancy, he and his team shifted their focus to achieving a 75% direct booking rate. Here’s how they’re getting there:

1. Building Relationships with Companies
   Tosin tracks corporate bookings made through OTAs and contacts these companies directly to offer discounted rates for future stays. This approach fosters repeat business and long-term partnerships.
2. High-Touch Guest Engagement
   Tosin personally visits guests, especially long-term contractors, before their check-out. By building rapport and even surprising them with thoughtful gestures like food deliveries, he ensures his properties are top-of-mind for their next stay.
3. Proactive Outbound Sales
   Taking an unconventional approach, Tosin visits construction sites and major project locations, armed with business cards and sometimes doughnuts, to introduce his properties to workers and project managers. These efforts have led to bulk bookings and loyal clients.

Evolving the Business: Quality Over Quantity

Tosin’s current focus is on fine-tuning his portfolio by phasing out underperforming properties and reinvesting in high-performing ones. He’s also leveraging cash flow to purchase properties outright, ensuring greater control and profitability.

Mindset and Lessons Learned

When asked about his biggest piece of advice, Tosin emphasized the importance of starting, even if the path ahead is unclear. “You don’t need to figure out all the steps before you start. The resources and ideas for the next step will come as you take action.”

Take Action Today

If you’re inspired by Tosin’s story, consider how you can apply his tactics to your own business:

• Reach out to past guests or corporate clients to explore direct booking opportunities.
• Explore unconventional methods to meet potential clients in your local area.
• Start small, but start today.

For more actionable insights, check out the full episode of Direct Bookings Simplified.

CTA: Ready to elevate your direct booking strategy? Book a demo with CraftedStays to discover how our platform can simplify and optimize your booking process.

Transcription

Tosin: The message from there is that some of the things we are afraid of are not as bad as we think. Some of the things we think is a big deal, it’s not a big deal. If you just start, a lot of people say, Oh, I don’t have money. You don’t have to have money. I didn’t have money when I started. So the goal is to face it head on, because if you don’t face it, it will just be there.

You think it’s big. It’s actually not as big as you think. So that’s the first mindset. That helped him to overcome that inertia. Uh, and as you overcome that, you see, Oh, the first step is possible. And then you get, Oh, let me do the second step. And then that’s possible before you know it, you are doing 10, 20, 30 steps.

Gil: Hey folks, welcome back to direct booking simplified, where we break down the strategies and tactics to win in direct bookings on today’s show. I have Tosin Tosin. Welcome to the show.

Tosin: Thank you very much for, for having me on this show. 

Gil: Yeah. 

Yeah. It’s good to, good to meet you. I met you through Vee, one of our previous guests on the show. He, he definitely recommended it. Have you jump on and kind of share your story? So maybe let’s start off there. Um, can you give folks a quick introduction on who you are, what, what you do, what your portfolio is like?

Tosin: Right. Thank you very much. So my name is Tosin Obata. I, I’m a Nigerian, so I have lived in the UK now for about, uh, 15 years. So initially I came, I went to the UK to study for my master’s degree, and then I had a, I did a PhD, uh, for my, uh, after my master’s degree. And then I started to work in the university as a researcher and then as a lecturer.

But over this time I, I’ve been interested in property so. My goal was to find a way to invest in property, uh, in a, in a cheaper way, because I know that property is very expensive. So the plan was then to find a way to try and get into property without spending too much money. So I found a way, uh, by leasing properties from landlords and then setting them up nicely and putting them online and, uh, charging for, uh, per night.

And so that, and that’s how I built from one property in 2019. So right now we are about 30 properties. So and they range from one bed, one bed, about maybe three, and then one bed, two bed, three bed, up to five beds, so we can actually cater for at about half a million a year. Uh, just from that initial. One bedroom property that I started with in 2019.

Gil: Wow, that’s a, that’s an amazing journey and just a five year time span. Are you still at the university or now is this is your full time gig?

Tosin: I was at the University for a while. I was doing both side by side until, uh, in 2022 when it became too much. Because we have grown, at that time we were about, at about uh, Maybe 15 properties in 2022, and it was getting in the way of my work because, uh, uh, I couldn’t manage where I was. I had actually outsourced a part of the business, like the cleaning, the maintenance, but the communication of the kids and everything like that, I was still doing that.

So, and then it was becoming too much. So, and because we’re making money, so I got to a point where I had to leave the university work to focus mostly, uh, on the, on the business. And since April, 2022 up to now, I’ve been full time in the property business.

Gil: Nice. Do you ever, uh, miss being, uh, being a professor back at, back at the university?

Tosin: Uh, sometimes, you know, when I see, when I see, when I go on campus, you know, I used to see where I used to teach or where I used to do research, but in terms of my time freedom, I don’t miss it very much. Because right now I tend to be able to manage my time the way I want. I can, I still work really hard, but, uh, I drive that.

So it’s not somebody else is telling me what to do. It is me doing things that I want to do when I want to do them.

Gil: Yeah, yeah, yeah. That’s, that sounds awesome. I think you went through an evolution of various stages in your life where you went to school yourself. You ended up becoming a professor. Now you’re starting your own business out of those learnings. What did you find gives you the most amount of energy? Like what really excites you out of all, all the things that you’ve learned about yourself over the last five, 10 years?

Tosin: Yeah, I, I used to like academia a lot because I’ve done it now since 2005 up till 2022. So it was all I knew. In fact, if you ask me, maybe five years ago. What do you want to do long time? I would say I want to be a professor and just retire. But, uh, the routine, I wasn’t very used to the routine of the university work, how to, you have to publish a certain number of papers.

You have to teach a certain number of modules. You have to do something, you have to write grants and things like that. So, there’s a lot of, um, scheduling that did not really work well with me. But, uh, yeah. The fact that I was very academic and I loved research. So some of those skills that I’d learned while I was doing my master’s degree and my PhD then helped me to look for ways to do things.

So if I want to do something and no matter how difficult or nonsensical I will find, I would try to use my research queue to find a way to do it. I might do it badly, but usually there, there, there will be a way to attempt to do it. So, uh, the, the, that research aspect of it has helped me in any, anything I want to do, it will help me to actually look critically into it and then find a way.

Yeah,

Gil: you remind me back in the grade school when very early on in your school life, not even not even in getting a PhD, but in grade school, you learn the scientific method of really putting hypotheses down, testing it out, seeing if it works. It sounds like even to this age and with the credentials that you have right now, that is still ingrained into.

how you attack new problems, even in the short term rental space.

Tosin: that’s right. Yeah, that’s correct.

Gil: That’s, that’s amazing. We’ll dive a little bit deeper into kind of your direct booking side, but that’s, that’s a very, um, interesting way. I’ve never, I I’m always excited. And I love to hear how people got into this industry, how they’re using their skill sets and, um, applying it to it because I feel like almost no matter what.

walks of life you came from, where you came from, what background you came from. Everybody has a unique skillset and that unique skillset, you don’t think that you’ll be able to apply it towards your next endeavor. That’s something completely different. But in some way, everybody approaches just slightly different.

And the good thing about industry is that we like to share, we like to help each other. So even if we’re in the same market talking about this, like we’re talking about the same target market of guests that coming through. We always like to help each other. So I just see like a lot of innovation, a lot of sharing, a lot of new approaches on how we attack problems and industries.

Like I, I love your story about how you came from a professor all the way to being a short term mental operator and how in some way of form, those worlds crossed each other. And you’re still applying those old skills. That’s that’s remarkable.

Tosin: That’s right. Thank you.

Gil: Yeah. Do you still remember the first time you got that first?

Uh, you, I think you guys call it rent to rent in, in the UK. Is that right? We call it a rental arbitrage here in the States, but, uh, do you still remember your first rent to rent, uh, uh, apartment and, and how’d you kind of come about that?

Tosin: Yeah, I remember it like it was yesterday. I tell this story all the time because now I give a lot of advice to just start. The goal is just to start. You can start very badly, but just start. It was in 2019. Uh, in that year, I told myself I need to start a business, but I didn’t know what, what businesses was.

So, uh, in the, in the entire month of January, 20, 20, 19, I didn’t know what I would call the business. I haven’t registered a business on the first day of the second month of the year. I started, I just registered a business. I didn’t know what it was going to do. Sigma place limited. So, uh, but we didn’t, during that time I was actually researching and finding out how I can.

What I can I could do to, to, uh, have additional source of income because that was the goal just to have additional source of income. So, uh, then, uh, I attended a webinar and then I attended a course, I was using credit card to pay for them because I wanted a change on it to that, to make that progress. So, it was during that time I found, I was searching on Facebook market and that’s why I got the property.

This young lady, very young lady, she had a property on, on, she put it on Facebook market. And then I contacted her. Oh, my name is so I work in the university. I’m also doing this on the side. I would like to rent your property in this way. And, uh, uh, you know, make it look nice and then use it as a base for people who are visiting the areas and things like that.

And then she asked me to come to come by to have a chat. So I went there, had a chat. She, uh, she understood the process and then said, OK, I’ll give it to you. And that was it. That was the beginning. Uh, so that one property in 2019 was the start of it. It was the one bed flat in the center of Bristol in the UK, and it was there.

I was working full time. I also looking after that. It took me one week to set it up because I just wanted to do everything quick. I bought most of the things I bought on Facebook market because I didn’t have a lot of money. But, uh, it was, it was the start. I started very small and the goal is just to start.

So I started and then, uh, I I learned, I used that property to learn all the processes from set up to, uh, listing online to welcoming guests to cleaning to then, you know, to getting it ready again and learn that process. So all I needed to do for the next one was just to rinse and repeat the process. And since then, it’s just been very similar or the same process that I’ve used to get my landlord to give me a property.

Gil: Yeah. And, um, I don’t know if you ever listened to the bigger pockets podcasts, um, it’s in the States. It’s actually pretty popular, but there’s a podcast called bigger pockets and they have several versions of it. But the main one, uh, the two folks that were on it, Brendan Turner and David green, they always talk about your first property that you acquire.

Isn’t doesn’t have to be a home run doesn’t have to be the one that makes you a lot of money, but it’s the one property that you learn the most out of. And it’s just about getting started and getting on base. And then from there, it’s the third, it’s the second, third, fourth one that really you tend to find out what type of market it is, what type of asset class, how do you want to operate it?

How much do you want to invest into rehabbing it? And really Understanding all the different variables. Um, and it sounds like you, you went through that hyper learning stage with that first property there. And it taught you not just how to acquire and, and start a rent to rent business, but also allowed you to learn how to be an effective host as well, too.

Tosin: That’s right. You’re

Gil: Um, given, given all that, what was your biggest learning out of that entire experience?

Tosin: So for that one, uh, you know, it’s after that property was my, my only property for like six months and, uh, a bit more. So, when I realized that it was possible. So, what I did for me was, it was possible. So from that point on in my head, it is possible, it is possible, because I’d already cracked it the first time.

So in my head, I learned that it is possible to do another one and then another one. So that confidence helped me to then make the other processes a bit easier because of the confidence from the first one. So it taught me that it was possible and that I could do it. I could do it anywhere in the country.

So, yeah, confidence was, was the first, was the main thing that I learned from that particular property. Apart from the whole process from start to finish.

Gil: Yeah. So it’s more of a, it taught you the mindset more than the mindset and the confidence more than the tactical stuff, along with the tactical stuff that you learn along the way as well too. Um, that’s really interesting. What do you, what does your team look like now? So you went from that first property that you found on Facebook marketplace, you’re now operating 30 properties doing this full time.

What does your, what does your team look like right now? Like what is, yeah. What does your team look like? And start there.

Tosin: So, yeah, when I started, you know, I was like a one man army. I was the one doing the setup, the listing, the booking, even the cleaning. You know, during my break time in the university, I would go there, spend two hours, about an hour, because the one bed flat doesn’t take a long time. So I did everything myself for the first property, up to like, uh, maybe three, four.

So by the time I got to five, and then I hired a cleaning company to look after the cleaning side of things. And then I continued to do, to run everything. But by the time I got to about fifteen. I hired a virtual assistant to look out, look after the admin side of things. She was based in the Philippines, so she was looking at, um, there was also helping with direct, with storing some of those, uh, contact details.

So, but right now, uh, we have a full time, uh, two full time member of members of staff. So, one of them is an operational manager. So, you look at, after the operational, uh, operational side of things. The other one is the admin. So, all this gets communication people works. He looks after that. And then we have part time maintenance officer and part on the cleaning company dedicated cleaning company to look at the cleaning of the entire portfolio.

So this, then we have an accountant and decide who does well, add up services. And then the lawyer on the other side. So that’s like, uh, an idea of my team. So I just manage, I manage the operational manager, the admin person, and, uh, the operational manager then manages the cleaning team and the, and the, and the maintenance team.

Gil: Yeah, so are you, so you manage the man managers. Are you still in the day-to-Day, or now you’re, you’re at a point where it’s a somewhat sustainable business where you’re, you’re maybe focusing your attention on other places now.

Tosin: Yeah, right now I actually do not, uh, work in the business, uh, on the, on the day to day basis. Like right now I’m in New York. So, and, and the business is in the UK. So. And I’m going to be away for like three weeks plus. So the business is running, the money’s coming in, we’re doing everything we need to do.

So it can run itself now, even if I go away for six months, I think the business will run itself without my intervention at all. So that’s, that’s like the goal. But that then giving me time to do other things. So Sigma Place are now giving birth to, uh, Houses and Apartments Limited. That property was set, that company was set up to then start to buy.

So some of those high performing properties, we approach the landlord to say, Oh, do you, would you like to sell these properties to us? Some of them will say yes, and then we’ll buy, buy the property. We didn’t have control because we know that it already works, but there was nothing else to do. So, and then there’s another company, uh, that is also, uh, well, because my time is now freed up.

So I’m also able to teach people. So I teach other people, I give advice on a regular basis on how to do some of these things. We also help people to find deals across the country and then pass it on to them. In fact, we’re like a project manager now. So there are some properties that we’ll find in the area that are very below market value.

We’ll help investors to find the property. We’ll help them to do it up, to refinance it. And then to rent it. So, and most of the time they pull out all their money. So, because I no longer have to work on the business on a day to day basis, it does free up my time to be able to focus on these three other sites.

Buying, teaching, and mentoring, as well as, uh, selling of deals and project management.

Gil: Wow. You’ve, you’ve grown quite a bit, not, not even just in the portfolio, but in terms of the knowledge that you have and the new projects that you’re taking on. Um, that’s, that’s an amazing story. Maybe, um, switching topics just a little bit. I was really impressed, impressed when I met you that you actually have a terrific.

A really, really solid direct booking rate there. Um, and you do some somewhat unconventional things to get you to kind of where you are. Do you mind sharing with folks at a high level, maybe to get begin with on just how you’re able to be successful in direct bookings? Silence. Silence.

Tosin: they don’t really work very well. So, there are three key ways by which myself and my team try to drive, uh, direct bookings as much as possible.

So, the first thing we normally do is, uh, we just take note of companies that book our properties. Because we know there are a lot of projects that are happening across the country. A lot of projects are happening and we know that. Engineers and contractors and field workers are working on this project.

So sometimes somebody in the office will book for them. So we make a note of the phone number and the email. And then, uh, maybe after they check out, we then ring or, or message the, the people at the office. And they find out, oh, what kind of project they’re working on. And if they require, if they will require an, uh, accommodation for another time, or an ongoing accommodation, uh, need.

And we let them know that we can actually give them a better rate. We can save up to 20 percent if they book directly with us. And most of them like that. They like to save money because it’s a long time thing. So that, from that point, they just tell us, oh, we’re coming back next week. And then we have like a two, three months project.

And if you can give us a good rate, then we’ll book with you. So that’s the way that person in the office would then, would then be the one to continue to. To interact with us. So that’s the first way we do it with companies. Even for even with individuals of holiday makers, we tend to also contact them regularly, but we’re focusing more on the companies because those are the ones who will want to stay for longer.

Holiday makers, maybe they stay for a week this year. Maybe they won’t come back again in another year, but for companies, we know that sometimes it might take, it might have a project for up to a year, so we focus on that, on them. The other things that myself and my team, uh, do is to, uh, before any of those long term guests, before they check out, I tend to drive there.

Sometimes I send them, uh, if they stay a bit long. I send them Uber Eats, you know, I just order food based on my interaction. I will know the kind of food they like. I’ll send it to them. And then before they check out, I just go and pay them a visit to say hello to you. I hope you have enjoyed your stay.

And, uh, if you still need any accommodation or you know anyone who needs, we’re here. We’ll give you a very good rate. Sometimes they say, oh, can I take your number? And, uh, we’ll let you know. There was one I did just, uh, this. This, uh, last Saturday, I just went to visit them and they said, yeah, they’re coming back.

They have a year’s worth of, a year’s project and they will want to take our four bed house, detached house for like for a year. Because of that visit, I’ve got their phone number and they’re going to commit to that bookings from October. So this is, this is, uh, these are ways that we can actually drive, uh, direct bookings.

So the last one we will also do is a bit non conventional. Some people are very shy to do this, but. I’ve taught my team and myself, I do it. So we’ll just drive around and look at where they have projects. So there might be bridges getting built or a sport complex or a bus station. There was one I remember very, very well, the bus station getting built in the city center and our property is just right next to it.

So when I visited the property, I saw them building the place. So what I did was just to then get my card, And a box, a box of doughnut. So I went there to say, Oh, I appreciate what you’re doing. You guys are working really well. I just want to say thank you. Gave them the doughnut and they were very happy because maybe people don’t tend to do that.

It was, it was strange to them, but I’m sure they won’t forget it. And then before I left, I said, Oh, in case you need any accommodation in this, in the area, this is where we are. I gave them like our card. You can just ring the number. We’ll give you a very good rate and you wouldn’t have to. To what? But I stay in hotels because we have full lounge.

We have full kitchen. We have full bathroom. You know, I sold so the advantages to them and all of you can stay together. You don’t have to stay in the video room so you can have breakfast together. You can have lunch together or do whatever you like together. Watch Netflix at night. So things like that.

They were really excited to hear that. And that brought them. We had like 10 properties in that place. So they took like half of it after a few weeks because they needed accommodation in the place. They were staying in hotels, so they had to move away from the hotels where they were paying like it was 85 pounds per night per person.

But we were able to give them a rate of 45 pounds per night per person. So it saved them almost half of what they used to spend. So a better place to stay and lower price is good business for them, it’s also good business for us. So these are the three keywords that would be. We tend to drive our direct booking.

Gil: Yeah. So if I want to summarize that. One, you try to figure out who’s booking your place and you give them a call, you ring them, you try to see and understand how often are they visiting the place, where are they coming from and really you’re trying to build a database of basically leads for them to kind of come back to you, but also building report there.

Um, second is continuing to build report before they check out, actually meet them in person, give them the ability to put a face to who’s hosting them and really establish that report so that they know if they need help in accommodations in the same area, you’re the one they think about. And then, and then third is you’re actively doing outbound sales and trying to find out Where are people, what projects are happening, what could be a potential customer and reaching your hand out there and see if you can help them out.

Tosin: that’s right.

Gil: That’s amazing.

Tosin: There’s another approach that a few of my friends use. So where you have hotels and then you see van, uh, company vans or company construction van, so you can actually just go to the hotel lobby and then stick to a few of the contractors. I haven’t done this myself, but I think it’s an approach that can work because uh, based on my interaction with some of these contractors.

They don’t really enjoy staying in hotels. They stay in hotels because maybe of the, they know there’s a standard of service that they require. So all we, all we need to do is to try and match it and surpass that. Give it, and then giving them more value and better price. So when we can provide that, they forget about hotels.

Gil: Yeah, where I’m very curious, these are very unconventional, uh, at least from what I’m used to. I’m more used to email marketing using social, using technology. You have a very high touch experience on how you gain your direct bookings. Was this kind of going back to your research days of just trying a whole bunch of things out and seeing what works or was there some inspiration that kind of led you to explore quantum more the high touch sales that you, that you deploy.

Tosin: Yeah, I think it’s a mix of, uh, both. So it’s about conversion rate. You know that we can send 100 emails, maybe one person will respond. But if I go to two sites, maybe I’ll get one of them to come and stay with us. And if I visit, let’s say before the checkout or during checkout, I visit like five of those contractors.

Maybe three of them. So the conversion rate is a lot higher, although it’s much more time consuming, it’s much more, uh, practical. It’s not like I just sit in an office and then send the email. Although all of these processes will work, so, but because I like to be out and about anyway. So it’s part of the things I enjoy doing, to be out and not be in the office.

So I already got tired of staying in the office.

Gil: Silence.

Tosin: and then sell our properties to them, to people. We also use Facebook Marketplace,

Gil: Silence.

Tosin: see a lot of inquiries, people want to stay, but because of pricing, Uh, you might, you might do one, one in 15, one in 12, you know, you’ll get it over the line. So, yeah, it’s mostly about what I enjoy doing and then the conversion rate.

Gil: That’s interesting. Um, when did you, you mentioned earlier as you’re coaching your team, you tell them that one of the measures of success is how many people do we convert into direct bookings or what our direct booking rate is. When did you realize in your business that direct bookings was critical?

You said core, um, to your business.

Tosin: Yeah, thank you. This is a very good question. Last winter, from end of September, first week of October, we, we already started to struggle because we realized throughout the summer, we rely a lot on the OTA. Right. Uh, to, you know, to get bookings. And it was good. And then in the summer, in the winter, things started to dry up.

Our major direct bookers had to, had to be called back about, so about 10 properties became empty at one. So, and because we were relied so much on maybe one or two major, uh, direct book, uh, bookings or bookers. We didn’t do a lot of, uh, other artworks. So we struggled October, November, December, January, February time.

Really struggled. So since then, I told my team, our desire now is to drive our direct bookings to 75%. So whether we get OTA bookings or not. We will not be bothered. So right now we have gone past 50 percent and we’re still pushing to try and get as close to 75 percent as possible across all 30 properties and then, uh, try to then fine tune those properties and focus more on those ones that convert more or that people like more.

Because there are some of the properties now that because we’ve run, we’ve done them for like maybe five, four, three years, they’re becoming undesirable or they’re now too small. So our goal is to then focus on the ones that are doing really well, that people desire, and then probably change or move away from those ones and then replace them with other more performing ones.

Because there are some places where people, uh, The kind of people we are providing accommodation for, they might not like the area or they might not like that type of property because it’s in a communal place or there are no parking or things like that. So, we’re then trying to focus on the ones that do very well.

So, quality over quantity, and that’s one of the things that we’re doing all the time to try and review our processes to get better at what we’re doing.

Gil: yeah, that’s interesting. I hear the quantity, the quality over quantity quite often, um, even in the coasting side as well to where, um, a lot of folks nowadays are less about the number of doors or keys that they might have. Um, it’s more about. The actual, like, what’s the actual revenues that are driving at the very end of the day?

Because a lot of times, if you have really a good portfolio of a few really strong performing products, they can outperform a large number of doors. And it sounds like you’re, you’re not necessarily looking to scale from 30 to 60 to however many you’re, you’re, you’re really trying to fine tune your business and create a very sustainable business.

Is that right?

Tosin: That’s right.

Gil: Interesting. So you’ve done a lot of learnings along the way. It sounds like right now you’re also in the process of learning and applying those learnings back to those original properties that you acquired five years ago. And you also have this goal to go from a phenomenal 50%. And it sounds like this 50 percent goal you got to really, really quickly.

It’s not like you were building for a long time. You just focused your attention to it. And now you’re trying to get to that next milestone of 75%. What are the things that you’re thinking about as you’re training the team, as you’re thinking about this to help you get to it?

Tosin: thank you. Uh, so one of the ways, because, you know, as we move away from less durable, less performing properties. So, let’s say, uh, in another month or two, we decide to take away, maybe, maybe, uh, leave five properties and focus on the properties that are doing really well. Because there are some properties that every month, they give maybe two thousand pounds net, and some, they only give us maybe four hundred.

So, and we, we spend the same amount of energy into them, into driving this. So the goal is to then focus on those ones that are doing well. So if we take out maybe three, four, five, our percentage will go up. Our revenue will go up, but our expenses will go down. So the goal is to have, is to widen the gap between revenue and, uh, net, net profit, not to make a lot of money and then, They have everything goes on expenses.

No, it’s the widening the gap.

Gil: Yeah, the margin. Yeah.

Tosin: And as we do that, then we have more money to then maybe start continue to buy because the goal is to then own almost all of the ones that we that are performing well in our business

Gil: Got it.

Tosin: yeah, to own them. So that then it becomes less expensive to run because right in the UK.

Mortgage payments are usually smaller than rent.

Gil: Got it. So you’re doing us in terms of growth, there’s several different pillars. It sounds like you’re, you’re paying attention to one. You’re trying to diversify your revenues away from the big OTAs. You’re trying to get for them 50 to 75%. So you have a much more sustainable revenue. You’re decommissioning, you’re taking away lower performing, Properties that may have less margin.

They’re not making as much, but they’re costing you the same amount of energy. So you’re trying to increase your margin per property, um, significantly. And it sounds like also you’re trying to also re leverage the existing cashflow to go into acquisition of purchasing the property. And those are, if I kind of get that correctly, those are kind of like at least three pillars.

It could be more of your company’s growth. Is that right?

Tosin: Yes. Yeah, you’re right. You’re right.

Gil: That’s amazing. I’m, you have gone, you have come a long way from that zero to 30 and you have a very strong business mindset. Um, I’m definitely going to keep in touch with you and see how you’re doing in this, in this journey. Um, before we move on to the last segment of the show with, uh, our two remaining questions, was there anything else that you want to share with our listeners here today?

Tosin: Uh, well, uh, I’ll just say that, uh, the business itself is very, it’s very rewarding, but it’s very, uh, very hard, very hard. But if you do it right, you will get the reward. It’s very rewarding. And, uh, you can, you can, you can be a start of something big. I, I never imagined that I’ll be able to manage this. The property.

I just wanted to, to, I just wanted like additional type of income. But, uh, you never know how far you can grow. So this mindset was, uh, was Jim r who said that, uh, profit was better than wage. So when I, I kept hearing that in 20 20 18. 2019. So I wanted to, although any good wages or good salary as a, as a lecturer, I wanted to then try and get profit.

So that was the, the mindset that I had. And, uh, that’s what now I’m able to even employ people. I used to, I used to apply for jobs a lot, uh, over the year, but now that I’m able to even, uh, employ other people, like a, uh, a dream.

Gil: Yeah. Um, I don’t know if you, I don’t know if you get this feeling, but being an entrepreneur myself and seeing yourself grow and weather through so many different things, being able to build a business, be able to learn how to grow, how do you grow into yourself? How do you hire a team? Um, how do you think about all the operations?

At the very end of the day, if you take a step back, there’s this immense amount of proudness in yourself that you get, and you don’t have to say it, but I can hear it in your voice that you’ve come a long way and you, if you aren’t saying this to yourself, you should definitely be proud of, um, the milestones that you’ve crossed, uh, in this whole journey.

Tosin: Thank you.

Gil: Awesome. Well, there’s, uh, the last two remaining questions I asked. One’s a mindset question and one’s a an actionable question. So starting with the mindset one, what’s the one piece of mindset advice that you would give to someone that’s starting something completely new?

Tosin: Yeah. Thank you for this question. When I, when I get asked this sort of question, I, I reminisce on my own story. So when I was little, I just tell a short story if you don’t mind. When I was little, I, I used to be very afraid of glass because when I was playing in the, in the yard, I. I had a very bad cut from from a glass.

So anytime I hear or see a piece of glass, I’m terrified. Uh, so it was a few years ago. I was in a training, a property training, and then I had the opportunity of working on broken glass. It was a session on how to face our fear. And it was, it was optional. You don’t have to do it. But if you want to face your fears, you can just come and do it.

So I was sitting down there. You know, I was feeling, uh, you’re too old for the booth like that. But it got to the point where I just said, okay, let’s go for it. The worst that can happen is that I will have a few puncture on my feet, but I won’t, I won’t build to death or something like that. Well, I just gave it a go.

Maybe the worst case scenario already played into my mind. So I was okay with that. And then I tried to walk on glass. I took several steps on this broken piece of glass. It’s a lot of it. And then I go to the end of it. And check my feet. There was not a single puncture on my feet. There was no blood.

There was nothing. And then it started to play in my head. So this thing that I was really, really afraid of is actually not as bad as I thought. So the message from there is that some of the things we are afraid of are not as bad as we think. Some of the things we, we think is a big deal. It’s not a big deal.

If you just start, a lot of people say, Oh, I don’t have money. You don’t have to have money. I didn’t have money when I started. So the goal is to face it head on because if you don’t face it, it will just be there. You think it’s big. It’s actually not as big as you think. So that’s the first mindset that helped me to overcome that inertia, you know?

And as, as you overcome that, you see, oh, the first step is possible. And then you get, oh, let me do the second step. And then as possible, before you know it, you are doing 10, 20, 30 steps. So that’s the first. Uh, uh, knowledge. First thing I, I, I might say, study for me.

Gil: Wow. I love that story. I’m curious. Are you a father at all? Are you a dad? Are you a

Tosin: Yeah. Yeah. I have, uh, two boys. Yeah. Eight and six.

Gil: Do you pass down these wisdoms to them in the same manner? Do you tell them these stories? Please.

Tosin: Yeah. I tell them stories all the time. Yeah. So they, in fact, they’re part of my business. They, we do a lot of things together.

Gil: Your kids are going to grow up with so much knowledge, so much wealth of knowledge, because they’ve seen you go through so many different phases of your life, not afraid to try new things. Like, I think as a parent, That’s the, one of the best gifts that we can give our children is to show them that we’re still learning.

We’re still growing. We’re still trying different things out. And I, like, I have two young kids myself. I have a, I have a, I have a girl and a boy, and I’m not afraid to tell them that like, Things are hard and I’m learning a bunch of new things and like, it’s going to take some time and showing them that like, I don’t have all the answers is not a sign of weakness as a parent, but it’s really empathizing with them because they’re learning new things all the time.

They don’t know whether or not they, they don’t know if they can do it, but if they feel like their idol, the person that they look up to in life is constantly learning, constantly feeding themselves. It gives them the courage to keep on pushing too.

Tosin: that’s right. Thank you. So, so yeah. So another point that came to my mind while you’re talking is, uh, if you think you cannot, there’s the quote that if you think you cannot, you probably cannot. But if you think you can, you’d be surprised what you can do. Some of the things I’m doing now, maybe five years ago, I would say, no, I cannot do it. Um, uh, yeah, I’m very introverted. And then I just wanted to focus on academia and just do it. But some of the things I have to put myself out there and then drive around. I didn’t think I could do that. But the more I did them, the easier they become. So you never know what you can do until you try.

Gil: Yeah. Is that why you ended up? Incorporating the company Sigma before you decided what to do is you committed yourself to, yes, I will start a business this year in 2019. I don’t know what it is, but by doing this incorporation, I’m committing myself to that mission.

Tosin: That’s right. You are very correct. It was, you know, every year people do New Year’s resolutions, right? It was number one in my new year, new year plan. This year I will have a business, and the goal is actually started in, in January, but in January I, for, for some reason, I could not even think of a name or what it was gonna do or whatever it is.

But thankfully on the first, 1st of February, I just came by the name. Uh, I don’t even know. I know stigma is an alphabet in the Greek, in the Greek, uh, alphabet. The letter there. Uh, and then play place where people can stay. So I was thinking maybe it would be like something that can help people to stay in a nice place, things like that.

And then I just registered it. And because I did that first step, everything I needed to do the second step started to come. Ideas, uh, people. So that’s how I actually do it. You don’t have to figure out all the steps before you start. Maybe just the first one. And as you do that, the resources, the ideas, the understanding you need for the second step will come.

But if you don’t start the first one, those ideas might not come.

Gil: Yep. It’s almost like, uh, I don’t know what the, the exact saying is, is that you commit to the goal before you just, before you figure out how to actually get there.

Tosin: Yeah.

Gil: Awesome. All right. Last question I have for you. What’s the one piece of tactical advice that you want folks to put into action today? 

Tosin: To drive the Red Bookings, right?

Gil: Ideally, or you can talk about something else too, uh, or you can split it and talk about both. That’s you. All right.

Tosin: Right. Uh, so I would say to drive the Red Bookings, uh, because I know that the Red Bookings is in the heart of this business. If you’re able to do it, you’ll do well. They’re not, they might struggle a bit. So to draw the red booking, uh, I’ll just, some of the things I’ve, I’ve, I’ve spoken about is to think outside.

Some people say, think within the box box, think outside of the box. Do unconventional things like, uh, the, the way I would do visit site, sites of constructions, and I see a bridge being, being built. I just even just go and have a chat and say, say, this is what I do. So as soon as I started, I let everybody that I meet know, although this is what you used to know me, you used to know me as a lecturer, right now I also do this.

And then I’ll tell them if you know anyone that knows anyone that has a property, a nice thing, let me know. Before you know it, the communication is going, oh, they might know somebody who’s struggling to rent out a place or who has a bad tenant and needed help, and then help will be coming up. So first key thing is to let people know what you’re doing.

It doesn’t matter who it is. It might be people in your neighborhood or people in your church or your community, anyone, everyone you come across. Let them know what you’re doing. Start the conversation. You never know how far they can go to help you. And then to drive this, these bookings or even to find a nice landlord, just visit places that are, that things are going, going on in or where you have projects.

Sell your, sell your business, give them your card, maybe, uh, a cup of coffee, something like that. They won’t forget, because it’s not, uh, it’s not usual, it’s not every day that somebody comes to give them Costa coffee, uh, at the place of work. So those, those small things can then help you to, to, to that, to continue that interaction, even if they don’t have immediate need.

Maybe in another five, four or five months, you have a big need, and then you are the first person they will contact. Yeah.

Gil: yeah, you definitely, um, use the high touch to really elevate and kind of get through all the noise. And really try to get to the source and really make a relationship with the person on the other side of it. That’s amazing. Uh, Tosin where can folks learn more about you? How can they follow you? Uh, if there’s any projects that you want to work with folks on, like, how can kind of people get in touch with you?

Tosin: So, uh, we have websites. So, the first one is Sigma Place Limited, SigmaPlace. co. uk. But the other one is the one for my, uh, teaching. It’s Real Estate Campus. So, recently, a lot of people were asking me, oh, teach us what you’re doing. Let us, uh, give us, uh, also share this idea with us. And because I could not share the idea, uh, individually, it would take me the whole year to, to go around.

So, I had to set up a company, a business, and then. Real Estate Campus Doco uk. So it is a campus, online campus that people can come to and learn many things about property, and you can, how you can start investing in property even when you’re broke. So, so you can contact us on real estate, uh, real estate campus.

Do Dakota, UK or Sigma Place? Doco uk.

Gil: Nice. All right. I’ll be sure to grab those links from you and include those into the show notes so people can follow along. Um, I’m also going to personally send this show to Emanuele Pani. I don’t know if you know him or follow him on SDR secrets. He’s a big mindset guy. And I think like him and many others.

We’ll get a lot of value out of just like how you think about your different problems and how you’ve grown as a person and just overall, like your mindset. I absolutely love. The way that you think about life and how much you’ve invested into yourself,

Tosin: Thank you. Yeah, I, I can also share with you our TikTok account, Facebook account, uh, YouTube page, all of this.

Gil: all the places that you’re at.

Tosin: Instagram, yeah. I’m not a very good social media person, but my admin staff is looking out for me.

Gil: Awesome. All right. Well, it was, uh, again, really good to have you on the show, uh, and I will definitely follow along. Please definitely keep in touch with me and, uh, let me know as you kind of cross through that 75 percent direct booking rates and I can’t wait to check back in with you in a little bit.

Tosin: Yeah, I’ll definitely keep in touch. Thank you very much for having me.

Yeah.