A real estate podcast you can’t miss!
Welcome back to the “Inspired To Invest” Real Estate Podcast. This week, we’re thrilled to have the remarkable Debora Randall from Beyond Bounds join us.
Wouldn’t you love to leverage your experience in business or real estate to help improve the communities you care about?
As an experienced investor and business professional, Debora has spent the last 19 years creating effective business models in Africa, with an impressive ability to transform lives of those in need while maintaining lucrative business ventures.
She’s a trailblazer in the field of real estate investment, striking an admirable balance between profit-making and social impact.
We’ll be delving into Debora’s incredible journey, from her daring move to Uganda during a global pandemic to her investment in a sustainable community in Tulum, Mexico.
Hear how she stays authentic, takes calculated risks, and leverages her network to uncover promising investment opportunities. Deborah is remarkably ambitious, aiming to generate a monthly cashflow income of $30,000!
Not to mention her unwavering commitment to creating a positive societal impact.
You’ll be left astounded and inspired by her approach to real estate investing and entrepreneurship, where her business acumen blends seamlessly with her philanthropic endeavors.
To connect with Debora, go to @deborabeyondbounds on social or online.
Thank you to Dijon Properties for bringing us this month’s episodes of “Inspired To Invest”. To learn more about them, go to @dijon.inc on social.
To connect with our host, Serena Holmes, go to https://www.linktr.ee/serenaholmesrealtor.
To buy a copy of The Accidental Entrepreneur, go to https://www.linktr.ee/serenaholmesauthor.
And, for everything related to real estate and real estate investing, please make sure you’ve subscribed to @serenaholmesrealtor on YouTube & other platforms. We also have a page dedicated to this podcast on Instagram and Facebook @inspiredtoinvestpodcast where we preview guests each week, highlight their episodes, top takeaways, tips, quotes and more.
Are you a full-time real estate investor with an inspiring story to share? Apply now – https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1p6SfS8dePhLl6wMmSgdPpQ7xsJuEsBUbPDTJ0vgy9h8/
Tune back in on Wed., Nov. 29 to Episode Twenty-Five with a couple of guests focused on building homes in Victoria, BC. For past episodes, click here.
Thank you for tuning into “Inspired To Invest”, hosted by @serenaholmesrealtor & remember, “when you invest in yourself, the sky’s the limit!”
Real Estate Podcast Transcript
Speaker 1
00:01
Welcome to the Inspired to Invest podcast, where we’re sharing stories from real estate investors and how investing has changed their lives. This episode of Inspire to Invest has been brought to you by Dijon Properties. Hey everybody, welcome to the Inspire to Invest podcast. I have Debora Randall here today. I promise she sounds a lot better than I do, and before we dive into our questions, I’ll read a short pile so you can get to know her, and then I’ll let her take over doing all the talking.
00:34
So Debora spent the last 19 years working in Africa. She’s in Uganda right now and her work has focused on developing commercially viable business models benefiting poor farmers, women and refugees. Her most recent work was in northern Uganda, working with 80 companies, leveraging 100 million US in sales and investments to improve the incomes of 240,000 farmers and their families. So it’s pretty impressive. She returned to Vancouver in 2021 with her daughters and she continues to leverage the power of business to benefit people in these emerging economies. Her latest venture, beyond Bounds Properties, embodies this approach and she’s tries to make real estate beneficial for investors and also for tenants. She’s currently investing in US and in Mexico. So thank you, Debora, for being here. Welcome.
Speaker 2
01:26
Thanks. Thanks so much for having me, serena. It’s great to be here, and always like such an impressive career.
Speaker 1
01:33
I guess where I really want to start is like where did your career start before real estate and business kind of came into the picture?
Speaker 2
01:42
Well, you know, I’ve always believed in the power of business to change communities and when I first started, we were looking at kind of microfinance and small loans and that was kind of like quite a new thing, a new perspective, because typically, you know, in the in emerging economies or in the development sphere, in order to respond to people who are, you know, who are impoverished or in poverty, is that we would look to give them food or give them things right, so actually to get them to work themselves and make their own monies, with kind of this unique perspective.
02:21
And then, just since then you know that was like 20 or so years ago since then it’s just evolved more and more and we see how critical business is to improve local economies, because people want to work, then they can provide for themselves and their families. So it kind of makes sense when you think about it. So how can we drive business to be a force of good, basically? So it kind of evolved from there and I just became so passionate about it because it’s so much about, you know, working with people, working with business and thinking about thinking outside the box, thinking innovatively. How do you change the way a company relates to its customers or sources you know as their suppliers, in ways that actually are positive and not negative. So it’s it’s really exciting work and we’ve seen it work, which is so great yeah.
Speaker 1
03:14
I’m sure it’s going to be like so fulfilling. Now, where did real estate come into the equation? And like, what was the catalyst to get you to start investing? And, you know, connect all of this together.
Speaker 2
03:25
Yeah, well, I decided I’ve been living and working in East Africa for 13 years my career has spanned longer than that but specifically in East Africa and then I did my. My young daughters grew up and became teenagers, my parents became more elderly and so, for a number of other reasons, I decided to go back to Vancouver, where I was originally from. And so I did that. And then, actually, because I’d been away for so long I was out of Vancouver for 23 years I just thought I wanted, I was looking at, you know, real estate, I wanted to find a home. And then the whole issue around affordability kind of struck me full in the face and I was like then it.
04:10
And then just started delving deeper into that and realizing I’d always been quite passionate about real estate and house hacking and all that kind of stuff, you know, when I was young, but I I, you know left Canada so I couldn’t do much of that.
04:26
So it just sort of piqued my interest and I was like, well, not only for myself, in terms of a home and my own financial future, for myself and my daughters, but also I started realizing, wait a minute, there’s a bigger, like huge social issue that actually is erupting here, and it’s not that dissimilar to some of the work that I’ve been doing in Africa. And so that’s how I started getting into the real estate world and also, I think, really interestingly, interestingly, I you kind of have when you’re not in the real estate sector, you kind of have this perception of real estate entrepreneurs or developers as kind of these people who are, you know, schmucks and they’re just, you know, making as much money as they can and not caring for people and everyone’s kind of these victims. And I realized that there’s actually a whole group of people out there in real estate investment and development that are not like that you actually really care for people. And I was like, wait a minute, maybe these two worlds aren’t so different. So let me actually come into this world and be part of some good things that are happening in the real estate sector.
Speaker 1
05:42
And I was like no, and that’s what I found in with this podcast. To you know, it’s ordinary people doing these really extraordinary things that just made a decision to change their life. Maybe they talked to someone or met someone that just totally changed her path, right. So I found that to be so fascinating. Now, what kind of things are you investing in yourself when it comes to real estate?
Speaker 2
06:03
There’s a couple of elements that I’m really interested in. So obviously I’m wanting to create my own financial future as well, right so, and it’s sort of this win win that we’ve been talking about. But I so I’m quite passionate. I do love like rentals, like short term rentals, and we are I’m currently investing into loom Mexico. We’re actually doing some villa builds up there with some other partners.
06:31
But also I’m really interested in the multifamily space, and mostly in the moment, because I believe that there’s a number of opportunities because the multifamilies are. They don’t quite work for what I want to do in Canada, but, you know, just trying to get and not so much this massive value add where you buy a multifamily, you renovate and you double the rents. I mean, that’s not in my, that’s not my thing. I want to really kind of work with the C class and the B class. Those are the asset classes I’m looking at. And just again, how do we make good quality, provide good quality housing for people, so that people have homes to live in right and they’re cared for? So mostly looking in the south, the southern parts of the states like Texas and Arizona, so that’s where, where we’re focused now.
Speaker 1
07:27
Now, when you look back at your career like obviously at the philanthropy, and you know the social justice aspect what would you say you feel like is your biggest success or accomplishment? It doesn’t have to necessarily be real estate focused.
Speaker 2
07:43
Okay. So I mean, I think, accomplishment. I mean, I guess, if we think of the holistic part of life, right, I am proud of the fact that I have stayed true to myself and lived and worked what I was passionate about. And it’s not easy, and it wasn’t easy for me to kind of figure out this career. It wasn’t something that actually I’d seen a lot of people do in Vancouver, where I grew up right, maybe more so in Toronto and Ottawa, where you have a lot more people who are focused on overseas work.
08:27
But Vancouver is a little bit different and so really so thankful and happy that I have been able to have the adventures that I’ve had and lived in the countries that I lived in and been part of doing something good where I’ve worked, but also, I think, coming back to Vancouver and connecting into the real estate space also, just really and maybe I haven’t done this yet, but this is sort of my focus is to also stay true to myself in that sector right and not just do what other people are doing because that works for them, but actually really did keep and find out what is it that I want to contribute in a sector right? What do I want to do what is linked in with my skills and abilities, but also my passion and my system. So just yeah, staying true to myself, it isn’t so easy to do right, and it really takes a lot of thoughtfulness and really also not just jumping into things really kind of assessing is this something that fits within who I am and what I want to do?
Speaker 1
09:40
So yeah, well, I think it’s obvious that you have a very deep sense of purpose and that really drives you, and not only your career, just all of your decisions and how you choose to live your life. Now, when it comes to challenges like, what kind of lessons do you feel like you’ve learned along the way that have helped support your path going in down this direction of, whether it’s in your career or as a real estate investor?
Speaker 2
10:06
I think well, I mean, I think that that is maybe a little bit of what I said is that in this sector, I find it’s very much there’s a lot of hype and a lot of people are like, oh, I’m not doing things, I’m not, I need to jump on this bandwagon, or I need to jump on this, I’m not doing anything.
10:25
So actually sometimes not making a decision and really grounding yourself and knowing what is it specifically that I want to do and that makes sense for me, and doing the not only just you know, to myself, but also then, does this make sense in the market? Is this going to, you know, give a financial return? Is this going to give the social return that I’m really passionate about? Right and actually really, I mean I know it’s that’s not going to work in that market or so where where broadening my scope, focusing on that, bringing like minded people together, right. So all of those things I’ve been a challenge right, especially the market that we’ve been in, but also have been something that I’m determined even more to stay focused on.
Speaker 1
11:15
So yeah, when it comes to obstacles, like I think your career is really, really interesting just in terms of the path that you’ve taken and I’m sure that working with you know not for profit and people that are in these impoverished situations like how do you overcome those obstacles to really connect with those people and, you know, make that positive change?
Speaker 2
11:35
Well, so the way that we do it and it very similar. The approach that I’m taking in some of the investments that I’m looking at is you look at the problem. What’s the problem? Right? So here I’m in northern Uganda now, where the economy is mostly agriculture based. So what are the problems? Climate change, you know. Lack of adaptive seeds, lack of links to markets, right? Climate sector are not providing the products and services to help farmers adapt and sell and make as much money as they can, right? So okay, so we know what the problems are. So now, what do we do? Now we actually have to look at the market and find out what kind of changes in the way that business is being done is going to help provide those solutions. Right, and a lot of.
12:24
Sometimes the solutions aren’t obvious, they’re not there. It can be. It has to be an innovation. How do we do things differently? It could be a whole other model, right? Like, for instance, in Kenya about 15 years ago, there was a company, a telecoms company, that started using saving money on phones, right, and then it grew into mobile money, which is something that in Africa now is a huge norm, because it reaches millions of people where banks aren’t right, because people are dispersed, so a whole different business model where it could just change or a tweak on an existing model, right.
13:07
So, for instance, using digital technology to create traceability, right or organic, you know, we know with organic or fair trade we need better traceability. It’s expensive to do that. If we use digital technology, it’s not that expensive. So it’s about having really great minds coming together and just trying to create new ideas. And that includes a lot of these companies where we’ll go and talk to them and they’re like I have a really great idea that I’ve been thinking about and maybe we could try that. And then we’re like, yeah, let’s try it. So the real estate sector and the approach that I’m taking, it’s very similar to that. What are the problems? We know the problems are affordability, but it’s not just affordability, it’s lack of connection, right?
13:54
It’s lack of needed, you know high costs of running buildings right, and those costs are only going to get greater as the you know costs for electricity and water go up. So what are some of the solutions to that? And this is again who are the innovators, who are the entrepreneurs out there who are thinking differently and are going to make those changes to their buildings or their properties to respond to those problems? So it’s really about that. It’s not one person. It really takes that collective thinking and trying and learning and sharing to kind of get that broad change that we’re looking for.
Speaker 1
14:34
Yeah, I think it’s a unique perspective and just looking at other real estate investors that I’ve met, you know, over the last five years, and I think that you’re definitely like stand apart in that sense. So I think it’s nice that you’re shining a light on this bigger picture of those issues and how we, as investors can hopefully come in and be part of that solution. We’re just going to take a really quick break from our sponsors and we’ll be right back. The Dijon vision is to add value and create beautiful spaces that make a positive impact.
Speaker 2
15:15
We transform homes and lives and believe that everyone deserves a beautiful home.
Speaker 1
15:27
Thanks again for following along with this episode of Inspired to Invest. In addition to real estate investing and running my own brand experience agency for 18 years, I also published a book called the Accidental Entrepreneur in October of 2021. This is my story and it chronicles how I turned tragedy into triumph to embrace my destiny in entrepreneurship. If you’re interested in picking up a copy, you can find the link at SerenaHomesRealtorcom and you can also find my link tree with all of the retailers in the details below. Thanks again for your support. Welcome to the Inspired to Invest podcast. We’re back here with Debra Randall and she’s talking about her interesting career, not only in philanthropy and helping out farmers in Africa, but also how that relates to her career as a real estate investor. Now, when it comes to the craziest thing that you’ve ever experienced, what would that be? And again, I know your career is really diverse, so you can talk about it in whatever context you’d like.
Speaker 2
16:31
So what’s the craziest thing I’ve ever done as a real estate investor or just a general?
Speaker 1
16:35
Yeah, I mean you can allude to both, just because I feel like you’re walking that parallel line.
Speaker 2
16:42
I mean, I remember so during COVID, right, you know, everything was locked down. I was in Kenya and not only did they lock down, they actually locked the country down. No airplanes were going in and out of the airport, nothing right. And then, slowly, things started opening up again and we were able to fly in and out regionally and so but of course, this was even before the vaccine jabs. And you, just what you do is you go in. You see what your risk are, what are my am I gonna be able to make this? And I flew Uganda actually, I was in Kenya at the time, flew to Uganda and then I had a flight.
17:22
You know, I was there for a week. We, you know, we were all masked up, we were careful, but we had to continue on with the work right, we’re also an essential service because we were in agriculture. And then we’d gone out for dinner with one of the business CEOs and my colleague actually had found out two days later that he had COVID and I was flying that night and I remember just getting in a taxi and getting to the airport as fast as I could See you out here.
17:53
All the way over here, yeah, but there’s lots of sort of crazy stuff we’ve been doing. But just recently we were actually in Mexico at a conference and we went down to Tulum and, you know, took to Tulum, mexico, which is a little bit south of Cancun, and took a look at some of the opportunities there. We loved the town there. It’s really an interesting place, very sustainably oriented a lot of sustainable, environmentally you know oriented builds, connecting with nature and the environment, and we decided to buy two lots right near the beach and we’re gonna build some kind of eco-type villas and so that I mean it’s maybe not so crazy.
18:37
I’m sure other people have done crazy stuff, but it’s really about sometimes you gotta just take risks. You don’t just jump into things like I was saying, it’s calculated right. So you know, going on a trip during COVID, I knew what I needed to do. I knew I could pretty much get back if I kind of, you know, was careful. Same with you know, some of these investments that some people look at you and say you’re absolutely crazy. But sometimes you do have to take those calculated risks that are a little bit outside the norm to be able to get that new thing that not everyone is going towards, so that’s why I’m saying that Absolutely no.
Speaker 1
19:15
When you look back, what do you think is the best advice you’ve ever been giving?
Speaker 2
19:23
I think one of the. When I first started in my real estate work, someone said to me build strong, not fast, and I felt like that was really great advice, right, just. And you hear also, you hear you know just to stay true to yourself, don’t jump into things, be certain, even if it feels like everyone is rushing by you. Make sure that your investments are sound and true to yourself and what you feel passionate about doing right. So I really did that.
Speaker 1
19:54
Yeah, someone on my recording yesterday said you know, again to that same point, like there’s always going to be another bus coming, you know, so you don’t have to worry about just rushing away if you need that time and even if it does seem sometimes just to even give yourself peace of mind, to know like this is the right path, right. So I think that’s wise.
Speaker 2
20:15
And also when we we tend in this sector to be a bit in a frenzy right, we got to hurry, we got to, you know, we got to go, we got to invest, we got to invest. The opportunity is going to go. But if we’re open to opportunities, if we’re kind of scouring the market, if we’re connected to networks, we are going to find good opportunities, good things to invest in. I mean, you and I have spoken about this there’s a lot, there’s almost too many choices about opening your mind up to that. And maybe Canadian you know, vancouver, toronto markets maybe aren’t the best, but there are so many other places the world is open to us. So it’s kind of opening our minds and thinking outside of what we normally would think about.
Speaker 1
21:01
Yeah, no, and I think that’s why these communities are so important, right? Because they expose you to all the different things that are out there. Now you talked about, you know, creating your own financial future and path. Do you have a particular freedom number in mind for you, what you’re working towards?
Speaker 2
21:17
I mean, yeah, so I have a certain amount of cashflow that I’m interested, I’m working with, you know, 30,000 a month kind of cashflow income, but also I want to be involved and this is a who knows where this will get to. This is my starting point anyways a thousand units, and I want them to be not just not affordable only, but people-centered. So whether it’s building community with it, it’s co-housing, whether it’s you know, or a portion, or affordable, but in some way they benefit people. So those are the two things that I hold on to.
Speaker 1
21:52
Yeah, no, I love that. No, is there any particular quote that really inspires or motivates you?
Speaker 2
21:59
Yeah, I’d written one down and actually it’s from the guy that co-wrote the screenplay for a space Odyssey and I think this really resounds with me. And he says the only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them to the impossible. And he was a real champion of space travel. And he says where are that happened? And it’s so interesting because we think, oh, we can’t do it, we can’t do it, but actually we can, and maybe we can’t do it by ourselves. Yeah, maybe we need others around us or we need to partner with other people around us, but finding that making the impossible possible is really what I’ve found the journey in my adult life has been and believing. So often it’s our belief that stops us right. But let’s not. Let’s go beyond what we think that we can do.
Speaker 1
22:52
Yeah, no, I think that’s amazing now for anyone that’s watching. Is there anything that you would like to leave them with in closing? Any advice for them, or wisdom, or go beyond right.
Speaker 2
23:08
Bring amazing people around you that help you live your best life, and that includes real estate investment. It’s not only real estate investment. We know our lives. It’s also about people and love and connection. But have a great time doing it, too right. So live your full life and live it amazing, and, you know, reach out to who you need to to make that happen.
Speaker 1
23:35
So never anyone that wants to connect directly. How can they reach you?
Speaker 2
23:39
Yeah, you can reach me on my. I’ve got an Instagram account at Debora beyond bounds, so the name of my company is beyond bounds properties and that kind of symbolize that that whole go beyond my. My website is beyondboundsproperties.com. So reach me on there and on Instagram.
Speaker 1
23:57
Great and we’ll include that below. Thanks for being on today and, of course, for anyone that’s watching. If you like this episode, make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss a future guest and make sure you’re also following along at inspire to invest podcast. And remember, when you invest in yourself, this guy’s the limit. Thanks for tuning in. Thanks again to our sponsor, dijon properties, for bringing us this episode of the inspired to invest podcast. The views represented on this podcast are for general information only and does not constitute investment or other professional advice or an offering of securities. The hosting guest featured on inspire to invest make no representations as to the performance of any particular investment. Should you decide to make an investment, you are responsible for conducting your own review and analysis. It is recommended that you obtain independent legal accounting and tax advice from licensed professionals.