When it comes to the first blog post (which this is for me) I’m told “write a story about how you started the company”. But the “how” seemed so much less important to me than “why”. The why is the real story.
The why is simple, freedoms. Freedom to be our own boss, freedom to get off the mouse wheel, free to be creative and free to be out of the box and by pushing ourselves is the only way to know how free you can be. I’m sure most people consider freedom is to be financially free, but that’s only a small part of being free.
My previous day job paid more than the Prime Minister earns. Mel and I could easily live a long and completely debt free life if we had chosen to turn up to a desk every day and help someone else deliver their dreams.
That’s financially free, but that’s not freedom.
The truth is there is no absolute freedoms, we all answer to someone or in some regards controlled by others. No matter how successful or wealthy you can become. So, it’s not absolute freedom that started C&P but the pursuit of them.
Early 2000’s Mel and I found ourselves investing heavily into the property market, nothing complicated just residential buy and holds. High capital growth low income generating properties. It was a very good time to get into property, and we were fanatics at it. Every cent went into a deposit to buy another. Why? Because we were after financial freedom.
By 2004 property was well on the move, rising faster than we expected and we had a lot of houses. We had our portfolio valued and the result was emailed to me while I was at work. I sat stunned for 3-4hrs, I was earning vastly more money per hour than my day job was paying. The numbers based on a 40hr work week was astonishing. This was financial freedom. I walked up to my boss that day unannounced and said “Harry, I’m sorry but I’m no good to you anymore. I hope your project works out for you.” And with that I walked out of my job into whatever was going to happen next.
We moved out of the city (Perth) down into one of our houses on the beach in Halls Head, just south of Perth. Little did I know at the time but within 6 months we would be in partnership with a developer living on a Greek Island, Rhodes. But that’s exactly what happened. We were free to find our own destiny, opportunities that would never have been found sitting at a desk were now flooding in.
Stay tuned for Part II