Find out how South East London born, Charles Gordon, himself into a self-made millionaire at the tender age of 21.
Mycomeup.com: What motivated you to become a successful entrepreneur?
CG: I don’t think it was actually a motivation, for me it was more a lack of option.
The way I saw it, when I was 17 - 18 years old while I was in school I was repeatedly told that I was unemployable, as a result I started to believe it myself. Now for some people that would have been alright to go and sign on (get benefits) and make the most of it. But for me it kind of worked the other way, well, if I’m unemployable that means I got to become the employer. In that way I wouldn’t need anyone to employ me.
Mycomeup: So was that the situation that led you to become self- employed?
CG: The state of play was, I was out of the house, having been kicked out, and I needed to find accommodation and make money. So then I saw a guy who’s a friend and has been a friend ever since, and he had a Porsche, so he was obviously making money. My thought process was to ask him how he made his money and he told me he buys and sells houses, I asked him how that works and he came over and explained how it worked, you buy a house for a certain price and you sell it for a certain price- that was all the information I needed at that point.
So I went and made some viewings with an estate agent and found a property and went away and found a buyer, someone to buy that property because I had the basic principles worked out. I knew that they would qualify with a mortgage for a certain amount, so I went back to him right, now I got a house and I’ve got someone that wants to buy it. The deal went through and he gave me a commission of about £1600, and then that was the money I used to set up the first office, including desks and chairs, and that’s where my career began.
Mycomeup: Where you’re friends and family supportive in you’re career choice, and if so how where they supportive?
CG: You know what, what I found out along the way is that there’s a lot of negativity when it comes to business, and a lot of people, 90 % of the population are quite negative. So when you say were friends and family supportive, the answer would be not really, only on the basis that in their minds they didn’t believe it could be done, and the unit (office) I went for to start this estate agency had estate agencies prior to me and they all failed. About three of them consecutively, so I was told. So the feedback I was getting was that it was a black spot, it doesn’t work for estate agency and general negative comments.
People would rather convince you to give up rather than to soldier on, because that makes them feel better, they sympathize but really they are thinking “well it didn’t work you’re one of us now”.
I’m very bull-headed, pig-headed and stubborn, so once I decide on something that’s it, I don’t care what anyone has to say - I put my blinkers on and I go for it, tooth and nail until I get the result I want.
But yes the answer to you’re question is yes they were negative, did it affect me- no, in fact I go as far as to say it actually motivated me, because when people say it cant be done, that gives me the incentive to prove that it can be done.
Mycomeup.com: Did you have any role models or mentors in the earlier stages of your life, and if so, what did you learn from them?
CG: Not really, I think that was the biggest part of the problem for me, because it was quite a unique area and what I found is that the people that were already in the arena were very selfish with the information (laugh), they weren’t actually trying to help. So that’s why early on I decided to do a lot more press and bits and pieces just to help motivate other young people, especially people from ethnic backgrounds, because I found that there wasn’t anyone for me to aspire to be like.
Which made it a lot more difficult to know where I was going, but I’ve always aspired to the likes of Richard Branson and successful business people, but their not the kind of people you can call up and get information from unfortunately, so it makes it a bit more difficult.
Mycomeup.com: What jobs did you have before becoming self-employed?
CG: I worked in a sports shop, I was selling trainers, and I was the best salesman in the shop, this was about when I was 16, and I think it was my only real job. They sacked me on numerous occasions because I was late, I just completely bent and broke the rules, but they always brought me back because of my Manager who’s been my friend to this day.
Mycomeup.com: What’s your definition of hard work?
CG: It’s not about working hard, it’s about working smart and there’s a distinct difference, alright it does entail hard work, but the key is, it’s easy to do hard graft for no rewards.
Its about thinking about what you’re doing and planning it out, and then executing the attack, but doing it strategically, and I’ll say for every hour working, you need to spend a hour planning what you’re going to do, because if you attack something and you have fully thought through the plan then you have got an eight out of ten percent chance of getting it right.
Business to me has always been glorified gambling, you look at the odds and you decided whether or not you’re going to go take a bet, so the more time you spend looking and analyzing the odds, the more probability you have got of hitting a good note. You can calculate the odds to such a degree, that you’re working with an 80 or 90% chance of making money on the other side, but yet again there’s no guarantees in business, because it wouldn’t be business if that was the case.
Mycomeup.com: So do you believe planning is essential?
CG: Yes, but don’t get me wrong, its easy to over analyze as well, and do it the other way where you analyze too much and talk your way out of doing stuff, which is always really a bad move, so its about getting the balance right.
Mycomeup.com: I get the sense that you are a planner, from a young age did you always write down your goal?
CG: Yes, you know what I did, I always used to work on a minimum of a years plan, so at the beginning of the year I look at what I aimed to achieve that year, and then I diligently tick off the lists, meticulously.
I have daily agendas and objectives of what needs to be achieved and what needs to be done, so, yes the basic rules are, if your failing to plan, you’re planning to fail, you got to know where you’re going, otherwise how would you know how you’re going to get there, playing football without a goal post is never going to happen.
Mycomeup.com: Can you remember the age you where, when you first started getting a significant amount of money, and how did it make you feel?
CG: I remember the plan, I sat down one day and I realised that you can buy and sell, it was a car, someone showed me the how undertake a transaction with a car, and I thought I wonder can this be done with property.
And then I thought, I reckon it can, then decided that I would need solicitors, mortgage brokers, and all of those relevant bodies, so I brought the team of people together, and then I realised that every 5 years properties double in value.
So 5 years going back properties had doubled; going back again there’d doubled again. So when I started out, a property at Dulwich with a two bedroom flat would probably cost about £45,000 now, 5 years on from that it was £110,000 odd. It might be more than that, so, my estimation was this, if you buy ten properties and over the next 5 years they double in value, that’s a million pounds.
And my plan was once you buy those properties, effectively and there’s ways to do it so it doesn’t tie in a lot of capital, those properties are rented out effectively, the rent then covers what its costing on the mortgage for that period, and then in addition to that you’re benefiting from the capital growth. So, taking that into consideration, I thought I’ll buy 10 properties, and then I started and I brought ten properties, and I thought that was easier than I anticipated, so I then brought another 10 properties, then another 10 and it kind of went on from there.
Mycomeup.com: What sort of obstacles did you face when starting out in business?
CG: I faced a lot of challenges, I remember one time particularly when the office got broken into and the photocopier and lots of bits and pieces, got stolen, and it was at a stage where insurance was a luxury (laugh). It wasn’t like okay you could just put in a claim. I remember waking up and it was soul destroying, and I was at a point where I said you know what I’m just going to give up, this is too much work. But luckily I had a very motivational girl friend at the time, and she was like ‘get up you punk’ (laugh), and yeah it did the job.
And to be honest I think everybody, no matter how successful you are, everyone needs a kick up the ass every now and again, everybody needs the push and the pull and the motivation.
Mycomeup.com: What is the one thing you know now, that you wished you knew when you started out?
CG: Good question, to be fair I don’t regret anything that I’ve done in a sense that every time that you’re wrong, you’re getting one step closer to getting it right. It’s the times that you get it wrong, you learn most from, if you go for something and you get it right every time, your not learning, your not growing, your not understanding where you’ve made a mistake, so would I change anything I’ve done? I probably would not of wasted so much money in the music industry, but to be fair, its got to a point where were making decent money out of it. So I don’t think there is anything I would change, I don’t think you should have regrets it’s a waste of time, I think it’s more about looking at it as an evolution point as opposed to ‘I’m upset about it’, just move on.
Mycomeup.com: When did you start you’re music company Charles Gordon Entertainment Management (CGEM), and why did you decide to go into that field?
CG: I started it about 5 years ago, and the reason why I kind of jumped into that (music business) was because I needed a challenge. I had done the property game, and you know when you play a video game and you get to the level where you clocked it, you need a new game to play, it’s kind of like that.
I was thinking about what type of business I should go into, so I thought about parts of machinery, I thought about import/export, it needed to be an international business. I figured out that the biggest thing to buy and sell on any local level was property and I already done that, so for me the next business I choose was music for the reasons that it’s got a much bigger client base. But when you’re dealing with music its high risk, my metaphor when you dealing with property is that you’re working on a 80 percent chance that you’re going to make money and a 20% chance your going to lose it; when you’re dealing with music the odds are reversed, your working on a 80 percent chance your going lose money and a 20 percent chance your going make it. But then on the flip chance of that, the rewards are reflective in the same type of proportion if you get it right
So in music the risks are higher, and it’s a harder game, but if you get it right in music the rewards can be brilliant. Ultimately a product, effectively an album which cost you 30 grand to make can reap you benefits of 2 or 3 or 4 million.
Mycomeup.com: Would you change anything if you had to start again?
CG: To be honest I don’t think I’ll change much because I’ve had a f*****g good time, to be completely frank, it’s been good fun, I mean I was driving sports cars when I was 21, 22 years old, I was having a really good time.
You know what, I’ll tell you what I would do, I would have gone to University, because I hear that you have a really good time at University and I missed all of that (laugh), but overall, I’m not upset with what I’ve done.
Another thing I would have done different is, I’ve always done everything pretty much on my own, so If I could start again I would have spent more time trying to find like-minded individuals. This is so I’m not standing alone. The only issue I’ve always had is that when the shit hits the fan, there’s only you that’s got to solve that problem, and sometimes you’re too tired (laugh).
Mycomeup.com: Are you the type of person that read self-help books or books relating to business?
CG: I don’t read a damn thing, and it’s to my folly because I’m pretty sure that had I read business books I would probably know a lot more, but I work on a simple principle of common sense. However from what I understand, common sense isn’t that common!
Mycomeup.com: What is the most inspiring film you have watched?
CG: Films are my education, books were never me but I watch movies. I thought Scarface was quiet inspirational to be honest. I was quiet impressed with him, he wasn’t having none of it; Scarface was big in the game. Also the Pursuit of Happiness I really enjoyed. I think its films that you can empathise with, films that you can relate to. When I first started out it was a mission, because literally we had no money, it was quite deep.
Mycomeup.com: What is the most expensive luxury item you’ve purchased?
CG: That would be a house; I mean houses I’m always purchasing, also luxury cars I suppose, I’ve got a lot of cars.
Mycomeup.com: What kind of cars do you drive?
CG: I’ve got the Lamborghini Gallardo Spider, I’ve got the Bentley, Ferrari 360 spider, Aston Martin, yeah I do cars, I think that’s my thing, they say the only difference between the men and the boys is the size of the toys (laughs).
Mycomeup.com: You are bringing out a book titled ‘Empowerment’, why did you write the book?
CG: Well, I frequently get lots of people asking me how did you do it, and I felt that it would be selfish of me to keep all the knowledge and information to myself, so I figured out that I haven’t got the time to explain it to everybody. The easiest way for me to do it – was to write it down and put it in a book - so that people can see how I did it and learn from it.
And if you see that it can be done then that motivates you to be able to do it, and I think that’s the main objective, just to show people that yes it can be done, this is how I did it, and these are the principles that I live by.
There’s some chapters in the book like – ‘if you let someone kick you in the ass, bend over’, this is basically outlining that if you don’t set parameters within your relationship with people, no one else will set those parameters, and these are things that are obvious but are not obvious.
Mycomeup.com: And finally, what advice would you give to a young person looking to become a successful entrepreneur?
CG: For anyone starting in business, I would say believe in yourself, believe in what you can do, and I think the other thing I’d say is I wasn’t more intelligent than anybody else. The thing that benefited me was the fact that when I left school, I went straight into business, the only thing that I have had over most people is confidence, and where I think a lot of other people go wrong is when they listen to societies norms.
Society tells us that we should do is to go out and get a job, and then once were proficient enough in any skill, then when should look at the potential of becoming self-employed. But the problem with that overall philosophy, is that by the time you are proficient in any thing, you’ve been working for 5 years, you got a car which has payments attached to it, a house with a family, a wife and kids, by that stage you cant take the risk or take that leap of faith at that point in your life, where as if you do it straight from school , you got your parents there, their paying your bills. I mean I didn’t have that luxury, but for anyone else moving forward I’d say just believe in yourself, because even though it may appear a lot more difficult on the surface, in reality it’s not that hard and if you’ve got half a brain in your head, you can work it out, because there was a lot of kids that were a lot more intelligent than me in school. But I think once your caught in the money trap , its just to late, where as if you go in there in a position of having nothing to lose , which was the position I was in when I started in business, you can only then get bigger. Whereas if you leave it 5 years or 10 years, you stand to lose your house, your car, and everything else you’ve worked for along the way, at that point in time that would make you stupid because it’s high risk. So you got to minimize the risk and then make a decision based on those elements, that’s how I would address it.
Mycomeup.com: Is there anything you would like to say?
CG: If anyone (musicians) needs management they could let us know, and look out for the book (Empowerment).
For more information Check out : www.empowermentbook.co.uk
