The power of being naïve

Although most people use it as an insult, I believe in the power of naivety. In 2007, pregnant with our first child together, my husband Graeme and I both quit our well-paid jobs, on the same day, with the plan of buying some property and becoming ‘financially free’. Safe to say we didn’t know the challenges and struggles ahead of us, if we had we might never have started.

I’ve never really been the one to follow convention, doing things the way they are expected to be done. I like to try to think outside of the box. I’m a natural problem solver, it’s where I feel most comfortable.

Before taking the leap together and leaving our jobs, Graeme and I worked together, in the same office, it’s where we met. I was a buyer for a food distribution and logistics firm. I loved the job because everyday was like a puzzle that needed to be figured out. I remember a problem that wasn’t of my doing, and required someone from another business to take action, it wasn’t getting resolved, so I just picked up the phone to their CEO to get something done. People around me thought I was nuts because I’d phoned their CEO, but to me, it was the quickest way to get the resolve I was looking for…and the problem DID get fixed, plus I built up a great relationship with that CEO, and business.

In our early days as landlords, I’d think nothing of knocking on the doors of our tenants when they hadn’t paid their rent. On a few occasions it wasn’t until afterwards I thought it was a bit risky going to some of the flats alone, but naively I hadn’t even considered it, I knew what would get the job done, so I went for it.

Naivety hasn’t just got me through problems, it has also let me find, and realise opportunities that otherwise I might have missed. Years ago I was out at the pub on a Christmas night out and got chatting to someone at the bar. Once I’d told him I bought residential property, he told me he had a portfolio of properties that was about to go on the market. The next morning, to his surprise, I just turned up at his office and asked to see the details of the portfolio. I ended up buying the portfolio, our largest acquisition by some margin at the time, and ended up winning Deal of the Year at the Bank of Scotland awards.

Naivety has allowed me and Graeme to move faster, as we simply don’t see the barriers that others see. We just press on with the belief that we’ll figure it out. Things are only ever impossible until they’re not. Take chances, ask the daft questions, and be prepared to listen and make changes. You’ll be amazed how far you can go when you don’t think about the reasons not to.