The Yegi Project
The Yegi Project
How to Know When to Quit a 9 to 5, Being Taken Seriously as a Young Entrepreneur with Chris & Ben
Chris & Ben are the owners of two businesses in the UK - a used car sales and property businesses - and they aren't even 21 yet. After joining forces a year or so ago, they have been able to quit their 9 to 5's and use the power of social media to build their businesses. In this episode we talk about the importance of delayed gratification, how they make sure their taken seriously despite their age, and what their biggest regret in business is so far.
Follow Chris & Ben!
Ben's instagram: https://instagram.com/benpickering03?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
Chris's instagram: https://instagram.com/chrishughes2003?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
Chris & Ben's TikTok: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMNDbYen8/
YouTube Channel: https://youtube.com/channel/UC3tJIe02_Pb_Ue52YL9DkPw
Check out their businesses!
Park Lane instagram - https://instagram.com/parklane_automobiles?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
Pickering Wayside instagram: https://instagram.com/pickeringwaysiderealestate?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
Pickering Wayside website: https://pickeringwayside.co.uk/
Park Lane website: https://www.parklaneautomobiles.co.uk/
The Yegi Project, is the podcast for the young entrepreneur who may not know where to start, doesn’t have anyone to guide them in the right direction and may not have full support from others. This podcast is called The Yegi “Project” because although Yegi is happy with where she is now, she knows that she still has a lot to do to complete her mission and purpose in this world. She aims to use this podcast to work hard alongside all of you to grow to a point where she can make a lasting change in people’s lives and in the world.
If you would like to be a guest on a future episode of The Yegi Project, please email info@yegiproject.com
The Yegi Project is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher and more!
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[intro] Hey beauty lovers and fellow entrepreneurs. I'm Yegi, the owner and founder of Yegi Beauty. Within five years of being my own boss, I was able to grow Yegi Beauty into a multi-million dollar company. This podcast is where I share what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur in the beauty industry. Hello hello hello everyone welcome back to The Yegi Project. Today we have Chris and Ben joining us from the UK and they're gonna let us know about their two businesses that they currently started and are running so please gentlemen if you can introduce yourself give our audience a little bit of a preview of what you guys do and why you decided to go on your own.
Ben:Yeah so my name's Ben
Chris:And my name's Chris
Ben:And we're 19 year old entrepreneurs based in the north east of England in a small con a town called Darlington and a little about our businesses.
Chris:So we'll start off so I mainly focus on the car side which is called the business is called parkland automobiles and we specialize in modern classics sort of like mazda mx-5s and bmw z3s.
Ben:And I focus solely on the property portfolio so we've got eight properties at the moment and we utilize a creative acquisition strategy to provide mutually beneficial deal structures for vendors landlords and homeowners and that is the business in itself so that's the two that we run at the moment.
Yegi:Awesome and how long have you guys been doing these two businesses?
Ben:So we Chris and I came together in May 2021 uh so just over 14 months now so yeah.
Chris:So we started we started the property business around that sort of time Ben was uh Ben was focusing on that and then we've started we've actually set up a limited company with the cars as well but that was a bit later on that was December/January of 2022.
Yegi:Awesome so normally the real estate business and the car specially used cars industry is pretty hard to get into just on your own a lot of times people work under a company or they really are kind of struck as being stuck as being employees for these um uh big I guess industries. It is hard to kind of make it on your own so what sparked you guys is interest and what are your kind of goals with trying to do the real estate and the used cars deal?
Ben:So I think it all started in school really um and I know it's definitely especially in the UK it's seen as an older generation type of business for property uh so it's a lot more like yeah the typical old grey-haired landlord that you see not typical 19 year old um so it was mainly just because upon research you always seem to see the wealthy invest in real estate and it's just it's a common asset for them to invest in and just park their money in and just sort of get the recurring income so it's something I just immersed myself into and I believe you know I'm gonna stick at this and see how I can get in there at a young age.
Chris:And yeah with the cars I think well me and Ben both but specifically me uh because I started selling the cars I've just always had a passion with cars if it's been watching them driving games or whatever and then when it actually came to it I thought how can I make money out of a passion and I just really put myself in the deep end and I just thought yeah I'll try and buy a car and I'll make some money on it and it's exactly what I did and it's all just flown from there.
Yegi:Oh I love that so you made what you love to do you made it into a way you can earn revenue doing it.
Chris:of course yeah Ben: exactly that.
Yegi:Now um I love that that's all we're about on this podcast it's all about enjoying what you do making money along the side and and like um you said been seeing the opportunity of what the market needs as well and kind of getting outside of that norm and cookie cutter approach and doing our own thing and that's why I love having all sorts of guests on this podcast to share their story and and and spread kind of the encouragement for young entrepreneurs to to see that you know this is something you really want to do even as a 19 year old you can get up and get started right. Now um there is a big challenge into doing something on your own and getting started as an entrepreneur so for you guys what were some of the um doubts or or challenges that you face starting out?
Ben:I think especially um within property there's so many moving parts and there's a lot of sort of barriers to begin with because a lot of people at this age I don't want to sort of stereotype but they do- don't take it sort of seriously at this age especially in an older generational industry and but I think you just have to push past that and there's always going to be rejection everywhere you go and just because I'm 19 it may be a bit more difficult than than usual but it shouldn't hold me back whatsoever and so I thought I'd just fully commit to it.
Chris:And yeah also similar with the cars I think age is a very big thing in there specifically when it comes to actually selling the car now a lot of people that come to buy of the car that's a lot of their money and uh it's pretty hard for some of them to put all their trust and all their money into into buying a car with a 19 year old so yeah.
Yegi:So how do you guys look past that? How do you try to not let that get in your way or to have you come up with strategies to kind of not not make your age a highlight of you know the deals that you're making with the real estate or the cars?
Ben:Definitely and I think maturity has to be a big thing I think you definitely have to approach every scenario with maturity because if you if you don't lack - which if you lack maturity then they will see you straight through it and a lot of people when we spoke although we do have pretty baby faces they don't think of us as 19 year olds especially in conversation and especially over the phone and a lot of like the business ventures that I do is via the phone and some of them don't even meet me to be fair so which is even better for me because they won't see my age and but yeah.
Chris:And also I think confidence and knowledge is a very big thing because if you hold the facts and you show someone about the car they obviously have a bit more understanding and trust actually in you because -
Yegi:And trust in you
Ben:Yeah
Yegi:they probably trust you more you know what you're talking about and you know what you're doing that's definitely a big selling point and I actually faced the same challenges when I started out too um not a lot of people know but I think I was actually 19 years old when I had kind of my big grown-up job and it was to be a student advisor and counselor for graduate and undergraduate students which my students and some people were like way older than me that I was advising them on what to do with their lives and their careers and it was hard for me to kind of see myself as that but I think for me what helped too because I was a lot of face to face with people what I did is like you said know what I'm talking about dress the part act the part really just carry yourself and don't let that kind of be in your head right just look past that and I feel like it worked well for me too if I'm if I look past that the people in front of me also looked past that and they didn't second guess what I was saying.
Ben:Definitely just just to sort of agree with that it's definitely a solid foundation of knowledge that you'll need in order to give that confidence in them and I think it's just major anything you want to get into or any industry it's always just it begins with education and building that knowledge base so you can portray that image across to anyone you're doing business with.
Yegi:Okay so another fun question actually just to get to know you guys a little bit better I ask a lot of my guests this question and it's not related to what you do but just an outlook on the world - if there was one thing if you had like a magic wand and you can change one thing in the world what would it be? And it doesn't it could be anything.
Ben:I'll let you go first so I can take a minute.
Yegi:Take a minute to think about this one.
Chris:I think it's a bit of a weird one and I wouldn't really think of myself saying this but I think especially with how we've seen social media and other stuff generally perceptions about us I wish that there was a lot more positivity in the world I think there's definitely in this current age it's very pessimistic world and we've we've seen that in a vast array from all our social medias.
Yegi:Definitely I agree with that one too I'm all about trying to spread the positive possib spread the positivity and change our mindset and outlook on things and you know try to really get past all the negative media.
Ben:Definitely and I think it's sort of I think I don't know because it's always going to be around you to stop and obviously everyone's in the world but I think it's it we need to sort of look look upon sort of the life differently and not keep up with the joneses because I think that's there's too much in society where people are trying to impress others that they may not necessarily even like which is how the rat race is really uh created to be honest get stuck with bills overheads because they're trying to impress others I think that should be yeah if I supposed to take it out of the world if that made any sense.
Yegi:I love that I love those answers I love how differently everybody answers but wow definitely two big issues that would make the world a much happier place if it was solved um but thank you for sharing that now going back to being entrepreneurs so if somebody wanted to get started in real estate or a um used cars sales business what advice would you give them as somebody who's interested in the industry and has no idea what to expect?
Ben:So the first thing I'd say with anything that you want to get into is set a goal and what you want to actually achieve because that'll break it down to what potentially what industry you want to get into or what strategy because there's so many different strategies and sort of ventures within a certain industry like for cars there's you can you can like become a franchise you can sell certain types of cars or you could just become a used car dealer. Within property there's so many different strategies as well and so it really does come down to your reason why in setting a goal and then you can break it down so I think that is definitely step one for anything to be honest.
Yegi:How did you guys get together into supporting each other with these businesses because it seems like each of you really focus on one side of the business or on one business right and then you guys support each other through this process and that's what it seems like and I actually love that because I I'm big on holding people accountable so if you do have a peer who's going to kind of budge in be like hey did you get this done it's more likely that the person's gonna get it done so how did this partnership get started for you guys?
Chris:Uh well it's a bit of a bit of a weird one -
Ben:It's a long story as well
Chris:Yeah it's very long story we covered it on our podcast, but basically I was focusing on the cars and Ben was focusing on the properties and we were very good mates at school and then we just messaged each other about how we were doing in general and all that other stuff and it all just came down to one meeting at a mcdonald's near us and we just said let's team up and let's see where this can go.
Yegi:I love that well I do wish you guys a mountain of success and it looks like you guys have a good partnership so that's very very impressive and very difficult in business so um actually going into that has there been any challenges between you guys if you agree on a certain thing or disagree on how you run a certain part of it because I know a lot of people are kind of get afraid and me myself too I was always afraid to get into a business with a partner or even a friend because that could be kind of a reason why you know things go south because you always hear you know you don't mix friends with business but what are some of the pros and cons of that in your relationship?
Ben:Yeah and in sort of the second that as well I think my family's big on don't don't get into business with family but with me and Chris because we've got such a strong bond since secondary school it just made sense and it seemed right at the time and of course I'd still keep the same. We do dispute on certain things I wouldn't say it's not really decision making though is it like -
Chris:No
Ben:It's not in terms of decisions it's sort of just certain roles and responsibilities I think that's the only other disputes we've had but never decisions I think we always agree we've got a pretty similar outlook.
Chris:Yeah definitely Yegi: That's great And what I think is brilliant about us is I think Ben's so disciplined and hardworking in what he does and sometimes I've maybe gone a bit but he's just he's just always been there and he always checks up and he always brings the accountability back so if I ever am sort of lacking or if I'm not doing what I'm supposed to be doing Ben's always there to tell me yeah you should be doing that or this is how you can improve in that way as well.
Ben:And it's and it's a bit easier because if it was sort of just a joint venture partner that we met and we didn't know each other for that long it'd be much more difficult approach to sort of push in the right direction without taking it the wrong way and having egos to be like sort of hurt and but because of the bond it just it's we we can do it and yeah not follow.
Yegi:Yeah so what I take away from that and from my experience too I've noticed as long as you have a good relationship and set some ground rules of who's responsible for what area it usually works better but I think a good practice for some people out there too would be just literally sit down and break down the different aspects of the business because a lot of times when people have disagreements about a certain area that's when it can get challenging if you guys don't agree so you've been very lucky that you guys see eye to eye and you agree on on most of everything but for some people I um just for our listeners out there what has worked for other um partners is literally sit down and be like okay this is your responsibility this is mine we run things by each other but at the end of the day if we don't agree on a certain area if this is my area then I get the last word last say in it and if this is your area you get the last word and last say and we're happy about it because that is like a system we set in place from the beginning so um I'm definitely impressed with your friendship and I think that's another um thing to take into account for our listeners out there too is you want to take time and build a relationship and a bond with your partner before jumping into business together to make sure that you're gonna get along um uh and have the same vision for what you're doing.
Ben:Definitely and and a lot of people do mention that within in within ah I can't speak within the industry because you sort of it's like you're getting they use the phrase that you're getting into the bed with that person so you really need to be careful because they're going to be on your credit file for that long if anything was to happen if like bankruptcy anything like that you really do need to be careful and sort of put your research in beforehand if you don't have that bond with them before and because me and Chris as I say know known each other like for so long we are we already know we didn't need to do that but definitely don't rush into into any business ventures uh with a joint venture partner if you haven't put the sort of ground working beforehand.
Yegi:Now for um for people who usually have nine to five jobs or regular day-to-day um uh um responsibilities with their work it's interesting for them to see like what does a day in your life look like as entrepreneurs? Like how does your typical day look like or are your days totally different from one another?
Ben:So it's actually funny you say that so I'll let Chris go first but his is very sort of with with the cars it's always fluctuating and mine's very structured but I'll let you.
Chris:Yeah so for example at the moment we've got uh we've got a few cars on the go and obviously not every day but uh a lot of say if I do have someone that wants to view the car I've got to put some prep in before it comes make sure it looks good make sure it drives well and then once they come I do the viewing I'm as respectful as I am and then if they end up do buying it that's good if not oh well uh back to the drawing board uh but also we are very we're starting to get very big on social medias with all of our work right on there so we we we're putting out a lot of content on instagram youtube tick tok and facebook so a lot of my time at the moment is is doing that and there's also some updates but what about yourself Ben.
Ben:And yeah I think in in terms of the property I can be very structured so I always have it and I think it's the way my mind just it just triggers if I if I get out of routine I don't like it so I always wake up at the same time work out at the same time and then get into certain activities whether that be marketing sort of cold calls social media it's always sort of similar times in the day and just so I feel like it works for me and you've got to find what works best for you well I think that works for me yeah just continue to do so.
Yegi:Yeah definitely a routine works for me too my all every single one of my day looks different but having some sort of sort of a routine per day of the week is is very important for me to make sure I get the most done in my day I feel like if I personally don't have a routine either or at least have like my checklist for that day of the week I'm less productive and it's hard right as entrepreneurs nobody's gonna be on top of you nobody's gonna tell you hey did you do this did you do that no one's gonna make sure you get everything that you can get done so it's up to you to keep up with your load and and and that's kind of the beauty and also kind of the curse of being an entrepreneur if you guys agree is that no one's gonna hold you accountable. So that's a good thing about partnerships so you guys hold each other accountable but for most entrepreneurs unless you are a self-starter and motivated and push yourself um it's gonna be hard to be successful. Now actually talking about motivation and getting you know self-started what are some strategies you guys use because I know for myself too I have days where I don't feel like doing anything you know I might be discouraged because something's not going the way I want it to go what are some motivating factors that you guys use to kind of push yourself up and be like okay no like I'm gonna pick up the phone and do some more cold calls or I'm gonna make some more content for social media at least you know to get the ball rolling?
Ben:I'll let you go first.
Chris:Yeah well I think I think motivation is definitely a factor there but I don't think it's only a very short-term boost so I think habits in what we do as we said with routines as well I think that's one of the main ways to keep ourselves going.
Ben:And as well the main motivator is because yes we've got two of the two businesses at the moment but we've got so many like sort of things in the pipeline some - plates I really can't speak some plates spinning in the background and a lot more ventures to come so I think because this is only it is a very long-term thing with these two businesses but what the intention is to systemize and then move on to the next thing so once we get to where we want with these goals then move on on forward so there's so many things we can't we don't really want to be demotivated and take time off.
Yegi:Okay so one when you were speaking with one of uh what the producer and you guys were asking kind of quite she was asking some questions she mentioned that you guys um learned from past mistakes in the industry did you guys want to share more about that story of what happened there or do you have anything to add?
Chris:Yeah so I think with cars it's obviously a lot different with the property but a lot of with what I've had to do I've found out myself it's not really research from other people people can tell you stuff but you don't really learn from it until you actually do it so normally a lot of the time it's come from actually buying the car and then I'll have found out actually a few days later this has happened and I didn't think it was there before the car and it's so annoying but what happens yeah but you make sure you you add that to a checklist and you make sure that when you're looking at a new car in the future that you go through all the checklists and make sure that that car is perfect when you buy it.
Yegi:So you constantly are evolving your system basically like you said you're adding new items to your checklist to make sure you don't miss it next time so anytime something happens you're using it as a learning experience to grow and do it better the next time right you're not using it to get discouraged oh you know I messed up I didn't check and the check engine lights came on a week later.
Chris:yeah, yeah 100 percent yeah
Yegi:Cause that has happened to me actually when we bought cars I'm a big fan of buying used cars I think you get more value from them so that has happened to us and we've definitely learned from our mistakes it'd be nice to have you know expert and get advice before buying it and I think that's where you guys come in too right you want to build that trust where people can trust you that whatever car used car they're gonna get from you they're gonna it's gonna be reliable.
Chris:Yeah definitely and I think as well with young people that's a very massive thing I think older people generally know a lot more about cars and they're a lot more experienced but with young people they're a lot more scared of buying it and we want to kind of install that knowledge within the younger generation.
Yegi:Yeah so speaking of building trust now are you doing anything specific with your branding in order for people to um know that they can trust you with this aspect of it because I know it's a tricky thing to do with a business um but I was wondering if you have any strategies or any advice for for other people who are trying to kind of set that message that hey you know I'm reliable I'm trustworthy do you think there's something you're doing now that you're sending out that message or is it going to be time and experience and word of mouth?
Ben:I think it's definitely a mix of both because obviously the more track record you've got the more time the more trust you gain automatically and but a major thing especially when you're starting out is to always document the journey online so what me and Chris Chris do is always sort of the concealers on the camera where I was speaking whenever whenever on social media because especially in the modern age it's so easy to get a nice looking professional website but there's no trust behind it you can't see anyone and people invest in people and people buy from people so they need to really trust you your brand and then sort of read into you as well.
Yegi:Exactly so you're putting your face in your trust and your guarantee behind it as a person you're building that one-on-one connection.
Ben:Definitely like more of a personal brand as well as a business brand well.
Yegi:Um that's great that was most of my questions and related to your business now is there any um last kind of word of encouragement you would give our young entrepreneur listeners out there actually let's talk a little bit about the kind of elephant in the room always when it comes to starting your business. I think it's a huge one and it's kind of difficult to talk about and I know I'm gonna spring this on you guys a little bit but I'm curious to see what answers you have for me but it's the financial aspect of it right. So whenever you're starting a business you can have great ideas you can have great motivation you can have um you know the the work ethic and even sometimes the customers but it's hard to get the financing in the beginning for those startup costs or just kind of get you by um until money keeps you know coming in - what what was your experience with that and or currently your experience and what have you done to secure some funding?
Ben:I think majorly and I preach it all the time and all of the word is delayed gratification so me and Chris we were both in in full-time employment as well as doing the businesses on the side until we could we could eventually leave so every month rather than spending sort of enjoying time with friends going out and just like partying and stuff like that we were always just saving money and putting it to the side putting it into the business.
Yegi:Wow that's hard to do as a young men
Chris:Yeah it is yeah
Yegi:Definitely have to do the sacrifice right so later on you can you can get all the benefits from taking the savings and putting it into business compared to going out and spending all the money.
Ben:Definitely I think as well with sort of profits per month as well in the business we always just reinvest we don't we don't take anything out we don't pull pull any any capital out we always just reinvest every month a month.
Yegi:And that's great advice um now as far as uh your current point have you guys already been able to um stop doing your regular jobs and fully invest in your own businesses or you're still kind of trying to get there?
Ben:So yeah we fully we've fully left employment now um and Chris is focusing solely on the cars so I'm on the property and they're merging together.
Yegi:That's exciting congratulations that's a big one that's really difficult to finally you know take that leap and put your 100 percent time and energy into your own business it's scary.
Chris:Yeah definitely yeah.
Yegi:Was there any um any hesitation at first or you guys were like no we're ready we have money coming in I'm just gonna put my full full force behind my own business right now?
Ben:So I think on that and I made a post about it um I think it was yesterday it's solely and I preach it staying stay in your nine to five um as long as possible because I've noticed a lot of the younger generation especially you always want to find the answer to leave the job quickly and I don't think that's right because there's so many cash flow issues especially in a start-up and you always need that secure income and the only time I'd say I'd recommend to leave your job is just when your schedule tells you to do so when you physically have no more time to put into it and exactly with Chris he was the exact same couldn't physically put any more time into it.
Yegi:Okay I love that that's great advice now well thank you so much for sharing I know that's always a tricky conversation to have when it comes to finances and starting a business um but any last word of advice or encouragement for our listeners?
Chris:I think you've just got to get yourself out there honestly uh a lot of people procrastinate with it whether it's actually going out there and meeting people in the industry networking I think the main one nowadays is is also social media. Now a lot of people are scared to actually do what they really want to do on social media because of like society and we we felt that with our very first post but as soon as we started uploading more and more content it's just become normal.
Ben:It's just second nature isn't it?
Chris:And we don't have any regrets in business and I wouldn't really say this is a regret either.
Yegi:It's almost like building the habit of posting or being true to yourself.
Ben:Yeah it's as Chris was just gonna say as well I think the only regret regret sort of thing is not getting on social media soon enough I think that that would be the main main thing we would probably agree on.
Chris:Yeah definitely even though it was only it had only been like six months before whatever but even that time we could have got even more bigger on social media.
Yegi:Well you know it's never too late and everybody has their time and like you said no regrets you just wish you did that but moving forward I feel like everything has a timing it you probably were trying to find your exact you know niche or what you want to do so I think everything happens for a reason so maybe when you got into it it was the best time to get into it.
Chris:of course yeah.
Yegi:Um all right so can you tell everyone where they can find you give us a clear um spelling of your social media your website and all of that good information but we'll also link all the information below.
Ben:Perfect so I'll start because I'll forget so looking at mine up - so my instagram is @benpickering03 um and my facebook is Ben Pickering so I'll let Chris say the socials.
Chris:Yeah so so for my instagram it's @chrishughes2003 and then my facebook is Chris Hughes and then we've got a TikTok which is @adayinthelifeofchrisandben and then we've got a youtube which only "Chris and Ben" so we'll send you all the links and there's a few.
Yegi:And we'll make sure we display all of it on the screen and underneath so people can can take a screenshot and go search for your names.
Chris:Thank you very much
Yegi:Well gentlemen it was a pleasure to speak with you thank you for being on our podcast we look forward to seeing where your journey takes you and um continued success to you guys.
Ben:Thank you so much
Chris:And thank you for having us as well
Yegi:Thank you have a great day bye![outro] Thank you for listening. Please rate and review this podcast. Follow and engage with us on social media under @theyegiproject and if you’re interested in being a guest, email info@theyegiproject.com and don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss out on any future episodes.
