Ailish Singlehurst

Following your dreams.

I grew up in inner city Limerick in a time where few people in Ireland actually had money. I left Ireland at the age of 19 and travelled around Europe, where I met God and eventually joined a missionary organisation called YWAM, where I met my husband Laurence. We had a family together and I very much enjoyed being a mum of three children along with the responsibilities I had in YWAM.

I always knew where every penny was and I made sure that I never paid more for anything than I needed to! I always loved figures and was never without my calculator. I started procurement for YWAM and managed to raise over £1 million of M & S food for the missionary organisation, all of which helped to develop my administrative, financial and organisational skills using the talents God had given me.

Looking back to my childhood I can see now that I always had the skill of making money! I was known amongst the nuns and priest to be a great raffle ticket seller and every Friday after school (the day the men were paid their wages) I went to Limerick railway station and did my weekly sales pitch to them, as well as spending Saturdays on the streets selling raffle tickets. I loved the buzz this gave me and always had money in the Post Office! When I went to Dublin and got my first job at age 18 I needed money for travelling, so as well as my office day job I sold encyclopaedias door to door in the evening and was the top sales person.

During my time in YWAM I did a psychometric test, which reveals your deepest motivations. The trainers said mine was one of the most interesting they'd seen for years because my motivation was to make money! One said to me "whatever you do, lady, one day you must go into business". I held that dream for 10 years, when the opportunity finally presented itself.

I've always been interested in houses and began to look at the town of Luton where house prices were a third of the price of my own town. My research highlighted the very good rental market for students and by borrowing £50,000 I bought my first rental property, got five students in there and loved it! I would go weekly to collect the rent and chat to the students, all the while continuing my research with estate agents and students, finally realising that I could very easily manage several properties. I loved the administration and the personal contact with students.

However, in spite of my success so far, no bank would give me a mortgage based on our missionary income. Finally I heard about buy-to-let mortgages and discovered that I could borrow 90% of what I needed, regardless of income and so went ahead on this basis, borrowing a total of £500,000 - which meant 10 more houses!!

My husband was away during this week - and at that time there were no mobile phones! On his return I told him I had bought 5 houses and had the money to buy another 3. He paled and said "What is Plan B if you can't make the mortgage payments of half a million pounds?". I replied "There is no Plan B! Plan A has to work and if it means I stand outside Luton University begging people to live in my houses then I wil do it!" And that's exactly what I did. I photocopied hundreds of leaflets and during the following weeks got 50 students to fill the 10 houses I had acquired.

The thing about being an entrpreneur is that there is no Plan B! This makes the big risk the big risk! I'm glad to say it paid off and my portfolio has continued to develop.

Where does my Christian faith interact with this?

I aim to be a very fair landlady and provide a good service, treating my students in a good way and giving them real value. At times, as in all businesses (particularly where you're collecting money) this can be tough and you need a measure of toughness as well, but it's great to see the fruit of what you do.

So I have learnt - keep your dreams alive, hold on to them. I've always dreamt about business. Develop your basic talents, take the opportunity that comes, be prepared for the big risk (it's always the big risk) and as a Christian seek to put your values into what you do!

January 2008