Dr Simone Boer says an investor’s mindset should be unemotional, full of belief and constantly evolving with their portfolio.
The key to property investors unlocking their full potential is taking control of their mindset.
This is the advice and experience of neuro coach Dr Simone Boer, who joined KnowHow’s Bushy Martin on Property Hub’s Get Invested podcast to discuss how her mindset has driven her to successfully build an investment portfolio now worth over $6 million.
The unconscious mindset
It’s important for investors to be aware of their unconscious self to control their mindset and transformation over time.
“The unconscious self is absolutely the seat of all of our decisions. And we may think we make our decisions 100% of the time consciously, but actually only 5% of our decisions are made consciously, and 95% of our decisions are made subconsciously. And as I’m talking to you right now, you’re currently taking in and processing 40 to 50 pieces of information right now consciously, and subconsciously you are processing 11 million pieces of information,” Dr Simone said.
“So that’s the reason why I call myself a neuro coach, because I bring in the neuroscience knowledge with the coaching to really go to the subconscious, which is the seat of transformation, not the conscious. I’ll go to the seat of the transformation and really upgrade that architecture that you’ve built as a child and gently dissolve parts of it and move parts around so that you can upgrade it as an adult.”
The unemotional mindset
Dr Simone shared her personal experience with an investment which struggled due to the purchase being emotionally-driven.
“We wanted to get something close to my mum in case things happened, and she needed to go into a smaller place. And that was the only reason why we thought, let’s make this an investment as well. But it was a mistake and the reason is because there was emotion to the decision,” she said.
“And by having that emotion, it meant that we probably didn’t choose the best property and it was more based on specific location to where her current house was. And it was just a whole lot of headaches from the tenants that we attracted, which were university students with rats that chewed through the cornices and the carpet and all of that. And there was strata and other headaches attached to it too.
“So we offloaded that within about four or five years of purchasing. We still made some equity and some capital on it, but not as much as if we invested somewhere else. But we learned from that mistake and went, right, numbers only.”
Bushy added: “I see so many investors who jump on investment property but eventually want it for their kids to live in. Or there’s some other, as you say, emotional attachment to the exercise that blurs the vision in terms of the cold, hard numbers associated with the investing. And it ends up compromising and it doesn’t quite work for what they intend, and it doesn’t work that well as an investment either. So that’s a pretty good learning”.
The belief mindset
When reaching new levels within your portfolio, such as through entering the commercial property arena, Dr Simone said having belief in yourself is crucial.
“I started to think about commercial, and I went no, too hard. And it was once again that mindset belief, because throughout my whole life I always saw commercial as being for those people who were big in property. I still now don’t see myself as being big in property, and I’ve got a fair, reasonable portfolio of real estate. So I always had the belief that no, commercial is not for me. It’s way too complex, way too complicated and not market,” she said.
“Then what happened was another opportunity for subdivision…but I did the feasibility and the numbers didn’t stack up. And just looking at that, for that amount I could actually buy commercial. So why would I be going down the path of another subdivision when the numbers clearly don’t stack up? And for that same amount of money I would invest on a commercial level.
“So I then spent a couple more months really researching, reading books, looking online, talking to people that I knew around commercial property. Once again, I got another buyer’s agent and said, this is my portfolio currently, where do I go with commercial? I’m thinking about something around the one million. So then that buyer’s agent was able to purchase a property on behalf of myself in northern Queensland. And it has ended up being a pool, a dance studio, a hairdressing salon, a beauty salon and two residential sets. One lease with six subleases. And so six forms of income to diversify the exercise means if one tenant drops out I’m not exposed.”
The evolving mindset
An investor’s mindset needs to change and adapt through the different stages of their long-term property journey.
Bushy said: “A person’s portfolio is only as good as the evolution of their mindset and their knowledge and comfort and clarity around what they’re doing. So over that journey, as your [Dr Simone’s] portfolio has increased, so has your comfort level and awareness of what doesn’t work, which is a really important part of the process”.
Listen to the full interview here.
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