If you are someone that usually likes to ‘go solo’ in life, it is likely that for you to have the best chance of success in property investing, you will need to open up and involve other people. Whether you realise it or not, your team will be instrumental to finding, funding, refurbishing and letting or selling your property. For some, however, an important additional team member may also be a family member. If you are asking yourself: should I invest in property with family, learn from two successful sisters who have done just that.
How to invest in property with family
Amrit and Gia are two sisters who started their property investment journey with Asset Academy. Having completed their Advanced Training Courses and mentorship, they have continued to achieve one success after the other.
Amrit – “Actually it was a metro advert [for Asset Academy]. I said to Gia that we should go along to this. This could be really interesting. We knew there was an opportunity to learn and we grasped it with both hands.”
Gia – “To be honest we’ve never looked back from that. It was definitely our intention for it to give us more time freedom but I think the biggest thing that the Three Day Intensive gave us was thinking outside of the box.”
Through their experience of working together on their property business, Amrit and Gia realised that there are certain principles that make working with a family member a success.
Respect, honesty and trust
Having respect and openness has been central to Amrit and Gia’s working relationship. This has enabled them to appreciate each other’s position and establish areas of accountability from the outset. Not limited to business relationships with family members, this is a key learning for anyone working within a team.
Gia – “We’ve always respected that we’ve made a commitment to the business. We’ve respected that we’ve got different avenues of work as well, and so I think we work really well together. [We need to] be honest with each other, not in a cruel way, in a kind and loving way. To be up front with each other, to have those healthy boundaries and responsibilities defined from the beginning.”
Strengths and weaknesses
For the optimisation of any team, understanding the individual team member’s strengths and weaknesses will play an important role. When the other team member is also a family member it can be easy to take their attributes for granted rather than closely examining how to leverage each other’s specific areas of expertise.
Amrit – “We realized during our mentorship [what] our strengths and weaknesses are. I think our biggest insights have been through realising that there are so many tasks that Gia loves to do that I hate doing, and vice versa. We’ve realized that we’re actually such a great team and now we’re trying to play more to our strengths.”
Shared values
Through the process of learning and investing together, Amrit and Gia have realised that there values are aligned, perhaps as a benefit of growing up in the same family. Even so, the experience of growing a business together has brought them closer together as sisters.
Gia – “We’ve been aligned on our strategies. We’ve been aligned on our growth. We’ve been aligned on our financial decisions. I think this shows the benefit of investing with a sibling or a family member because you have the same values from the family, hopefully from the outset.”
Amrit – “It’s kind of made us even more focused on what we what we’re driving for. We probably both lived our lives initially just doing our own thing. [So] it’s definitely brought us so much closer together. “
Accountability
At Asset Academy we promote the idea of having an Accountability Partner to our students. Having someone who will check up on you, to see how you are progressing, can be an extremely motivational tool.
Gia – “Not having someone to bounce off and not having someone to keep me accountable, it would be questionable whether I would continue without a business partner. When you have several work streams going on, you need an accountability partner to remind you what your vision is.”
The benefits of learning together
An interesting point that Armit and Gia make relates to undergoing their property education together. Beyond simply being able to support each other through the courses, other benefits transpired that are less obvious.
Gia – “Experiencing the courses at the same time was really important and I think that’s where [we came] together. Amrit realised that we make different notes if we were on a course [together]. So when we went through what we had experienced, we [realised] that we actually bring more to the table because we’re two individuals who are together in a business. I think it would have been different had Amrit or I experienced the education separately.”
The beauty of teamwork
While not everyone will have either the opportunity or inclination to work in property investing with a family member, the same principles can be applied to your Power Team and other business relationships. Considering how you can apply the experiences of Amrit and Gia to your own situation could be very valuable in the long run.
As for the Asset Academy property education itself, Amrit had this advice to leave on.
Amrit – “I would say just be really open-minded and be willing to learn. There’s going to be so much information so take lots of notes. Don’t be afraid of asking questions. My motto for life is just have fun. If it’s a new experience, just have fun.”
If you enjoyed this article and want to hear the full interview with Amrit and Gia, simply head over to our Podcast Page where you can find the full episode along with our other podcasts.
