Finishing University

I graduated from university in September of 2016 after studying Economics for 3 years. From a young age, I always liked the concept of entrepreneurship… at 6 years old I used to go and sit at a local shop in Kashmir and pretend to be the shopkeeper, I sold some football cards in school, I sold past exam papers in uni and so on and so on. But I never thought it was realistic to build my own business and the best thing to do was to get a job.

During the 3 years ago university, I got rejected for over 30 internships and graduate jobs and ended up finishing university without any job offers…

Starting a Serviced Accommodation Business

Since I didn’t have a job and I was back at home, I decided to give entrepreneurship a go. After a couple of failed business ideas which I got no traction with, I started looking into property.

Since I didn’t have a job or much money, I couldn’t buy property and invest the typical way. Instead, from the start of 2017, I started renting properties and advertised them on Airbnb, on a short-let basis, for twice the monthly rent. This was a great way of generating a lot of cashflow, fast! In the first two years, I ended up doing over 40 deals by either renting properties or by managing short-let properties for others.

Becoming a Speaker

As I built up my serviced accommodation business, companies started to approach me to speak at their events. I was fortunate enough to work with the largest property education company in the UK for two years, where I got to travel across England, Dublin and Cardiff to speak at events. Meeting people and sharing my experience has definitely been the most enjoyable part of running a property business.

Starting a Property Development Business

Towards the end of 2018, I decided to enter into the property development field. My strategy was pretty simple. I started buying one-bedroom apartments in Zone 1 & 2 in London and started converting them into two-bedroom apartments to massively increase their value. In 20 months, I managed to complete 5 projects and built a £2m+ portfolio.

What’s Next…

Taking small steps towards your goal is always much easier than trying to take massive leaps. I started my property development business by converting apartments, and now I have started working on the next ‘small step’. In October 2020, I purchased a three-bedroom house which I will be converting into two apartments. I’m by no means a ‘huge' developer but my plan is to continue to keep taking steps in the right direction. If you want to follow my journey, follow me on social media, and feel free to drop me a message if there’s anything I can help with. :)

Ahmed Khan

Property Investor

292

--