June 15, 2025 • 38 mins
I sit down with Dionne Payn, founder of Women for Homes and High Impact Property Investments, to explore her groundbreaking mission: inspiring 1 million women to invest $5,000 each to end homelessness for women by 2030. Dionne shares how her own journey—from property developer to ethical investment advocate—ignited a movement that combines community, financial empowerment, and social impact.
We uncover:
- The shocking reality of homelessness among women over 55 and why it’s growing.
- How ethical property investments offer double-digit returns while making a difference.
- The story of Women for Homes, born from a retreat and built to foster collaboration, inclusion, and transformation.
- Practical steps listeners can take to join this life-changing mission.
This episode isn’t just about investing—it’s about rethinking how we use resources, empowering women, and creating a future where everyone has a home.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
- Dionne’s Vision: Why she believes ending homelessness for women is achievable.
- Breaking Barriers: How ethical investing is reshaping the housing market.
- The Fastest-Growing Homeless Demographic: Women over 55, and the systemic factors that led to this crisis.
- How You Can Help: Ways to join Women for Homes, whether through financial investment, time, or skills.
About Our Guest:
Dionne Payn is the founder of Women for Homes, a movement dedicated to ending homelessness for women while empowering them to build wealth through ethical property investments. With over a decade of experience in property development and a passion for social impact, Dionne is on a mission to inspire collaboration, action, and change.
FREE LIVE MASTERCLASS: Monetise Your Magic
Connect directly via Instagram or Linkedin
To work directly with me, bookings are available at https://www.prueaja.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
So after coming back from the retreat and I was like,
okay, well, if I'm playingsport, like how do I go bigger?
And what came to me was just,you know, work with what's
already there.
Like there was so muchbeautiful energy at that retreat
and so much support, like womensupporting each other.
It was so amazing.
From there, women for Homes wasborn.
(00:22):
My goal is to inspire a millionwomen to invest $5,000 to end
homelessness by 2030.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
The fastest growing homelessness is in women over 55
.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
We've got the gender pay gap time out of the
workforce to have children.
We've got divorce that adds tothat, and then you know, if they
haven't got as muchsuperannuation to retire on.
We can do better, and let's dobetter together, because that's
going to be so much fun.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Welcome to the Seen and Heard podcast, created for
you if you're a consultant,coach or creative and want to
enhance your connection to yourhigher self, evolve your mindset
and embody your personal brand,creating freedom, fulfillment
and success.
Whether you're leveling up ornavigating a new chapter, this
podcast helps you own your powerand show up confidently to be
(01:15):
seen and heard.
I'm your host, pruaja, personalbrand coach, photographer and
motivational speaker.
Photographer and motivationalspeaker.
Thank you so much for joiningme today, dion.
It's been an absolute pleasuresince I've met you and I've
loved all of our interactions.
(01:35):
Actually, do you just want totell me a little bit about
yourself and what you do,because I think you might be
better at explaining it than me.
Okay, cool.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Well, look for context.
I was a property developer.
I started about 10 years agoand it was very much about doing
property development to makemoney, so I didn't have to work,
so I could stay, you know.
So not stay home with the kids,but just not have to go into
the workplace and compromisewhat I wanted to do.
(02:06):
So I did that and a couple ofdevelopments in.
We started off quite small, buta couple of developments in.
I ended up doing a largeraffordable housing project and
it already had the DA attached,so we just bought the land and
then continued with theconstruction.
And that was a bit of a gamechanger for me, because I
(02:27):
realised that I could make moneythrough doing property
development and also have a bigimpact on the community as well,
and that was really valuable.
So I quickly realised well,probably not that quickly,
actually, it took me a littlewhile and a few kind of you know
, burnouts, but I realisedeventually that development
wasn't my strong point.
(02:47):
There's a lot of skills thatyou need to have to be a
developer and they're differentskills to the ones that I have.
So as soon as I realised thatand I was like, well, what game
do I actually want to play.
I decided that I was going toraise money for property
developers that were creatingaffordable, sustainable and
inclusive homes, because Irealized, once I'd done that
(03:09):
project, I couldn't go back todoing property development or
supporting property developmentin any other way.
So now that's what I do.
I've got a company called HighImpact Property Investments.
I founded it in 2021.
And that's what we do.
We raise money.
It in 2021, and that's what wedo.
We raise money and, on the flipside, we raise money from
(03:30):
investors and our sort of targetfor them is that we help them
to achieve double digit returnsthrough investing into
affordable, sustainable andinclusive homes amazing.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
And I remember chatting to you about this at
the retreat that you came torecently and I was like, oh, you
know, I would love to be aproperty investor or a property
developer, but like, where doyou even begin and start with
that?
And I think you mentioned thatyou know, for a property
(04:00):
investor, the minimum amountthey would really need to get
started was $50,000.
Is that right?
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Yeah, so that was the old me.
Let's talk about the retreat,actually, because something
shifted for me as a result ofthe retreat which was really
profound.
Yeah, the retreat was great,and all the way through the
retreat, I kept getting thesemessages of you're playing small
.
Actually, that was on the lastday, so the messages I got were
(04:32):
around resistance, um, and Ijust could not understand what I
was resisting because I thought, you know, with all of the work
that I've been doing, I'm likeyou know, I'm here, I'm open,
I'm ready to do whatever isneeded, um, but the, the message
that I got in the tea ceremonyon the last day was that I was
playing too small, um, and thatI really needed to think bigger.
(04:53):
And one of the beautiful thingsaround being at the retreat was
being surrounded by women and,um, you know, when I spoke about
what I did in a very naturalsetting, um, the, the responses
that I was getting was thatsounds amazing, how could we be
involved?
So, after coming back from theretreat and I was like, okay,
well, if I'm playing small, likehow do I go bigger?
(05:14):
And what came to me was just,you know, work with what's
already there.
Like there was so muchbeautiful energy at that retreat
and so much support, like womensupporting each other.
It was so amazing and, um, yeah, from there, women for homes
was born and women for homes isa movement, um, and a movement
(05:38):
that I started and um, yeah,it's.
It's really about makinginvestment into ethical
properties, whether it beaffordable, sustainable or
disability housing, making itmore accessible to people.
So that's a long way ofanswering your question, but the
minimum investment is $5,000.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Which makes me excited, because I've definitely
invested $5,000 after $10,000on different projects and
startups in the past as well,and what really excites me about
this is it's ethical, it's anentry level, it's supporting
women and it's creating housing.
And there was one big thingthat you mentioned that was a
(06:21):
part of your mission, which wasaround ending homelessness for
women by 2030.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Absolutely, Absolutely so.
Um, my goal is to inspire amillion women to invest $5,000
to end homelessness by 2030.
And it's so achievable.
I'm so excited.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Tell cause.
That feels very overwhelming tome.
I'm like how is that achievable?
Can you tell me?
Break it down a little bit?
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Yeah, absolutely so.
Look, there's a couple ofdifferent aspects to this.
One is looking at how manypeople are homeless in Australia
at the moment and the 2021census there were, I think it
was, 150,000 people that werehomeless.
So, in the grand scheme ofthings, that's actually not a
(07:17):
lot of people, and so thatthat's one aspect.
You know we can.
We can go okay, well, let's.
What are the facts that we'redealing with?
Well, the number of people thatare homeless in Australia is
not that large.
It's too large, but it's notthat large.
It's not insurmountable.
The other thing to add to thatis that those were the people
(07:38):
that were counted in the census.
There are people, andparticularly women, who are
called the hidden homeless.
So they're women that are couchsurfing, sleeping in cars, just
living in really unsafesituations, and they were not
counted in the census.
And there's a lot around thatbecause there's a lot of pride,
(07:58):
there's a lot of, you know, notreally wanting to tell people
what your situation is if youare homeless in that environment
, because you know as long asyou can carry on and as long as
on the surface, it's okay, thenthat's what a lot of women are
actually doing that are in thatsituation.
So the number of homelesspeople is definitely higher, but
(08:21):
it's still not aninsurmountable number.
Now we definitely need to bebuilding more houses, for sure,
um, and, and we need to bebuilding more houses.
We have an increasingpopulation and we've got people
that are coming in from overseasfilling the skills gap that we
have in australia, and so wedefinitely have that.
We have, um, we have familiesthat are breaking down, and so
(08:44):
where we had, you know, four inone house, now we're looking at
more houses to house thosepeople.
So there's that too.
So we definitely do need to bebuilding more houses houses, too
(09:09):
.
So, as an example, I wastalking to a colleague a couple
of days ago.
He has a client who has adisability and needs some more
help around the house.
They just happen to have agranny flat on their property
that is sitting empty, sothey're looking for some
additional help.
They could offer this, thisgranny flat, as rental
accommodation for free, inexchange for that help.
So you see what I mean.
There's like there's aredistribution of housing.
There's empty rooms that arethere.
(09:30):
There's um people couples,elderly couples that are looking
to downsize, can't find theright home, but they're in
three-bedroom homes.
So there's, there's, there's alot of rooms, there's a lot of
houses, and and we can be moresensible and discerning about
how we use those.
So that's another thing.
And then the other thing is amillion women investing $5,000
(09:51):
each is $5 billion.
Now I like to think of it thisway If you go to purchase a
property, you go to the bank,you ask for a mortgage, you put
down a 20% deposit, the bankwill give you 80% and you can
buy your property.
So you've only had to come upwith 20%, and that leverage gets
(10:12):
you into a house that might be$500,000.
So if we look at it in terms ofthe $5 billion that we could
raise through a million womeninvesting $5,000, then that is
also leverage for the biggerfunds of money that can then go
out and purchase these homes ordevelop these homes.
So all of those put togetherjust mean to me that this is
(10:35):
absolutely achievable.
I think it's worth justcommenting, because I can hear
in my head people are going tosay well, you can't just take
homeless people off the streetsand dump them in houses.
It doesn't work like that andit doesn't.
There's a lot of wraparoundsupports, but do you know how
much money is being spent by thegovernment our taxpayers money
in helping people that arecurrently homeless.
(10:58):
There's a lot of money thatgoes to that.
There's a lot of money.
I was talking to a lady theother day who said that that, um
, foster children or childrenthat are homeless, that, uh, you
know under 16, there's a largenumber of them that are being
housed in hotels, um, andthey've got somebody that's
looking after them a supervisorbut the the taxpayers money is
(11:21):
going towards the hotels andproviding that accommodation and
the wraparound services aroundthat.
Now, it's not that there's notmoney there, it's just being
used in a way that isn't.
It's the best that we can do atthe moment.
I'm not bagging what they'redoing, but I think it if we have
that holistic view of how wehome people, then we can do
(11:42):
better.
So there's definitely moneythere to solve this problem.
So I'm not afraid of that goal.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Wow, there's so much in that that you've said, and
I've written down a fewquestions that I want to dive a
little bit deeper into as well.
Is this a global vision orAustralia?
Speaker 1 (12:04):
global um, and it's not necessarily that I I
previous to um my developer life.
I was a researcher.
So, um, I did a PhD inchemistry and research was a big
part of my life and and what Iloved about that time was that
there was a lot in sharinginformation, and I really see
(12:27):
that Women for Homes can also dothat, not necessarily in an
academic perspective, but fromthe perspective of we.
You know, we do this inAustralia.
We inspire other countries tobe doing it as well.
We share our knowledge becausenone of this is proprietary and
it shouldn't be.
We share our knowledge so otherpeople can do the same as well,
and we support other people todo the same.
(12:47):
So, yes, it's global.
That's the kind of long answerto that question.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
I'm just so excited that this was born from the
retreat and to be a part of thismission, alongside you and do
everything I can to help supportit and get the word out there,
which is why I'm really excitedto have you on the podcast and
just start spreading the message.
One of the things.
Well, a couple of things.
I heard statistics that thefastest growing homelessness is
(13:19):
in women over 55.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Absolutely yeah, and there's a number of reasons for
that.
So we've got the gender pay gap, which is still an issue even
in this day and age.
I don't understand it, but itis.
And so that's, you know,traditionally same job.
In some workforces men get paidmore for the same job as their
female counterparts.
(13:43):
And Then if women decide totake time out of the workforce
to have children, then that's abreak in that earning capacity
that they have.
It's also a break in theaccumulation of superannuation.
Some women do choose to go backinto the workforce.
For some women it's sooner,some women it's later.
But what I've seen is a lack ofconfidence in, you know, the
(14:07):
time that they've had that break, because it doesn't seem to be
so valued in society, eventhough child rearing is the most
important thing that we can do.
But because of that women oftenlose their confidence and, you
know, don't necessarily get backinto the roles at the same pay
scales that they were before.
So there's that sort ofstopping of earning capacity and
(14:29):
loss of earning capacity forthat period of time.
And then you know whenrelationships break down, and I
think the statistic is one inthree relationships, one in
three marriages fail, and it'soften the women that are worse
off as a result of that.
So you've got divorce that addsto that, and then you know if
(14:50):
they haven't got as muchsuperannuation to retire on,
it's not surprising.
All of this compounds and comestogether and makes it so that
that cohort of women over 55 arethe fastest growing group
facing homelessness.
Yeah, so there's a lot ofthings that I think can be done
about it.
I think that valuing the childrearing period of our lives is
(15:12):
really important, and I'd lovefor the government to do that.
I remember reading a few yearsago that if a woman was paid for
the work that she did in childrearing, that job would be
$200,000 a year, and I'm like,oh, bring that on.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
Yes, please Can we have that salary.
A friend of mine who we've beenplanning to get on the podcast
for a while now.
She started a movement calledmotherism and touching on all
these topics as well.
So, um, um, yeah, it's all apart of it, and I was, I guess,
a victim to this as wellbecoming a single mom when my
(15:54):
daughter was five years old, andthen going and renting.
Having to rent a two bedroomapartment in the city I didn't
want to live at in the sticksbecause that would have affected
my mental health, being so faraway from my friends.
So I did pay the extra rent andjust hoped that my business was
going to do enough to supportme.
But then also, you know, havingto work more while also
(16:17):
mothering and running a home anddoing other things like it's a
lot and there was something youtalked about with, you know, the
women not being a part of thecensus because of the shame
around it and us not reallybeing honest about our
situations.
Like that actually made me tearup a bit because I know
(16:39):
personally I've had to just keepshowing up and not talk about
the reality of what, how hardthings have been behind the
scenes doing it all.
So, yeah, it is really sad andI'm very passionate about about
this, because for a single mumin australia to go and buy
(16:59):
property, it's it's not reallypossible.
I'm very grateful that I wasable to.
I have a apartment in melbournebut it is costing me a lot of
money out of pocket.
And, speaking of this, Iactually listened to a podcast
yesterday on Diary of a CEOabout the future of money and
(17:20):
investing and superannuation andhow it all works and what was
something really interestingthat popped up?
Two things one is that buyingyour own home is not really the
best investment and havinginvestment properties that are
going to create a return.
I know this isn't a financialadvice podcast at all.
Yeah, I'm just putting that outthere.
(17:42):
So do not take any of thisinformation and speak to a
professional.
But the other thing wasinvesting and having those
dividends and returns in yourretired years.
So the other side of the coinof what you're doing as well is
inviting people to invest with aminimum of five thousand
dollars investment, which then Ithink you were talking about
(18:06):
the return on that as well.
So not only are you helping inhomelessness and create homes,
but you're helping women buildwealth through investing too.
So if we want to touch on thatpart of it as well, yeah, I'd
love to.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
And, um, look it, I I was thinking about um, I'll
backtrack.
So, um, as part of women forHomes, I'm building the
community at the moment.
So you can imagine, a millionwomen is quite a task and my
commitment to myself is to justkeep showing up.
So every day I'm showing up and, just you know, creating very
(18:46):
short videos, couple of minutevideos, just on, really around
building the community andbuilding the case for women,
investing in other women.
And so I was thinking thismorning about what I was going
to talk about today.
And yesterday I saw a post onLinkedIn and it was about
(19:07):
Maslow's hierarchy of needs.
And I wrote a book a couple ofyears ago called Ethical
Property Investing, and in thatI talked about Maslow's
hierarchy of needs and it waslike you know, at the bottom
there's your basic needs, sothere's your food, your shelter,
warmth, and then, as you go upthe pyramid, you get to
self-actualization.
So you've got to have yourbasic needs taken care of to be
(19:29):
able to thrive and be the bestthat you can be.
This post on LinkedIn that Isaw took it a step further, and
I didn't know this at the time,I didn't do the research, but
I've researched it since, andMaslow created his hierarchy of
needs from speaking toIndigenous Canadian peoples and
(19:51):
they were called the Blackfoottribe and and they shared the
the hierarchy with them.
But their, their triangle andit was actually a teepee
actually was at the bottom wasself-actualization, in the
middle was community act,community actualization, and
then the top of that wascultural perpetuity.
(20:11):
So, essentially, when your cupis full, then you can look to
creating things for the benefitof the community and that keeps
the life of the community andthe culture living and breathing
and all of that.
So, in a similar way, that'show I see women for homes.
(20:32):
Yes, okay, we've got to takecare of our needs, so we've got
to make sure that we'reinvesting.
But when we also invest inalignment with our values, we
feel really fulfilled at that,when we also invest in a way
where we're helping to solvemeaningful problems and we're
helping other people to movetheir way up the up the pyramid
as well, and I think that is thebest way to invest.
(20:54):
On the flip side, we have, um,we have what I call extractive
investing, or somebody else hastermed it arsehole investing,
and that's not necessarily tobag anybody.
That's um, you know that'sthinking in a different way, but
it's a, it's an invitation tothink differently about
investing.
So, rather than take, take,take um, which a lot of you know
(21:15):
, when we think about coalmining, for example, that's
that's a very extractive type ofinvesting.
Anything that is not helpingpeople and planet to thrive, I
would say, is extractive.
Anything that is um isinclusive and joyful and fun and
fulfilling, and that's the waythat I think that we should be
moving towards.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
I feel like that just creates a more expansive,
supportive community, betterworld on so many levels as well.
So to get one million people apart of your community.
What can we do today to supportyou, support this mission,
(21:56):
change the world andhomelessness for women.
What are the action steps thatyou know the people listening
can take?
Speaker 1 (22:07):
yeah, look, there's a few things.
So I think that the first stepwould be to sign up to Women for
Homes, and I can share thelinks for that.
In that signing up process,there's a few ways to be
involved.
Do you want to contributefinancially?
Do you want to contribute time?
(22:28):
Do you want to contributeconnections?
Do you want to contribute time?
Do you want to contributeconnections?
Do you want to contribute yourskills?
So we all have resources and insome areas we are more resource
rich.
In other areas we don't havethe same amount of resources as
everybody else, but we all haveresources and we all have
something to give.
So, yeah, I mean, this is thisis a movement very much about
investing rather than charity,but there are lots of ways in
(22:51):
this movement to be able to movethings forward.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
Amazing.
So when you say investing withskills, what does that look like
?
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Good question Okay, so let's take you as an example.
Prue.
Good question, okay, so let's.
Let's take you as an example,prue and I.
I think I remember you sayingthat you did a fundraiser a
while ago where you did like ahundred headshots in a hundred
days or something like that.
Can you remind me?
Speaker 2 (23:17):
Yeah.
So that was for the HungerProject and their mission is to
end world hunger by 2030.
So as a part of theirleadership program, you had to
raise $10, and I was like, okay,let's do the math on this and I
worked out if I do a hundredheadshots of a hundred people
for a hundred dollars, I'll getthere.
Yeah, I nearly killed myselfdoing it and I'm so grateful.
(23:41):
There were some incrediblepeople that invested more so I
didn't have to do 100 hours ofshooting and editing.
Didn't think about my time valuein that enough.
This is like six or seven yearsago, but there's definitely
ways.
So, like by offering yourservice, by creating.
(24:02):
So for me, as a photographer,what I would do now, going
forward, is create a day whereyou know, know the certain
amount of money doing headshots,say, and a certain amount of
money would cover the expensesand the rest would go to charity
or creating an event, so maybehaving a lunch and inviting
everyone in your networktogether, which would be an
(24:22):
amazing opportunity for peopleto connect and also grow their
own businesses.
But then maybe there's an extra20 50 added onto the ticket,
could that could go towards itum, yeah, so it's things like
that.
It's like you know, whateverthat skill is for people, bring
it on, you know yeah, and so ifsomeone was to go, okay, I'm
(24:45):
going to join the community,here's five thousand dollars I
want to invest, then what is?
How does that play out?
Speaker 1 (24:53):
Okay, well, let's talk about the timeline.
So right now, it's aboutbuilding the community.
We're not quite ready to invest, but the position that I'm in
and the work that I do throughhigh impact property investments
, I have companies that arelooking to, you know, looking to
(25:13):
raise capital and are offeringreally decent rates of return on
that as well.
And when we talk aboutinvestment, we really have to be
looking at risk, and that'salso one of the things I talk
about in Ethical propertyinvesting book.
But you need to know the risks.
So, having done all of this workand sort of looking at many,
(25:34):
many developers' projects,there's a few key things for me
that you know I look at.
It's like, okay, how do weminimise the risk of people's
investments?
And also, is this projectactually going to move things
forward?
Is it creating affordable,sustainable, inclusive homes?
Now, if those two things aremet, as well as some other
things, then I can say, okay,well, we've minimized the risks
(25:57):
as much as possible.
We know that it's going tocreate a really massive impact.
The developer has committed todefining the impact, measuring
the impact and reporting theimpact.
So we know that it's notgreenwashing, yeah, and then,
yeah, it's essentially poolingour resources together to invest
(26:19):
into that particular project.
So in terms of that's themechanism of it, in terms of the
timeline, actually creating aplatform to allow that to happen
as you can imagine, a millionwomen investing would be quite
an administrative thing to dealwith so creating a platform that
(26:42):
makes that really easy.
So we're hoping to launch thatat the end of January, start of
February.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Wow, that's quick yes .
Speaker 1 (26:52):
Launched that in at the end of January, start of
February.
Wow, that's quick yes.
And I'm not expecting a millionwomen by the end of January.
Yeah, although if that doeshappen, that would be wonderful
and and um, yeah, I mean for mesort of on that, like I'm, I'm
so looking for partnerships withother women that are inspiring,
that they are inspiring theircommunities and have those
networks to join forces withthem.
So I just see this as being areally collaborative initiative.
(27:17):
It's definitely not a solo show.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Definitely it's a huge mission and, yeah, it will
take community to bring it alltogether as well.
Now I just want to stay on thepart of investing.
So well, firstly, when wouldyou ideally like to hit the
million women mark?
I've mapped it out and I thinkthat within the next four years,
(27:44):
we could hit a million womenokay, amazing, yeah, I like to
hear these like numbers andvisions, because then I start
manifesting it as well.
Oh, you know how a part of theretreat was really like sharing
your visions and because when wecan all see and mirror back
each other's visions, it plantsseeds in one another and we
(28:05):
start that, you know,collaborative, powerful
manifestation for one anothertoo.
Um so say, okay, when you areopen to investing and I put five
thousand dollars in and I knownothing's guaranteed and there
is a risk, like, oh, what if Iwanted to put twenty thousand
(28:26):
dollars in, say, when would Ipotentially look at seeing a
return on that?
Like, how does that part work?
Speaker 1 (28:33):
Yeah, well, the projects that I've got earmarked
for Women for Homes, thereturns are sort of it's
basically a 12-month period ofinvestment, so the money is
locked up for 12 months and then12 months is when the dividends
happen.
One thing I would say andsomething to consider, and
(28:56):
definitely not financial advice,but there's the power of
compounding, which I think isreally worth talking about.
So when you invest let's sayyou invested five thousand
dollars and your return oninvestment was ten percent per
annum, and so that's fivehundred dollars that you in
(29:17):
interest in that year, andcompound interest is actually
leaving that five, five hundreddollars of interest in with your
original five thousand dollarsand letting that that increase
sort of year on year on year.
Doing something like that on a10% per annum interest rate,
that leads to a doubling of yourmoney within 10 years.
(29:39):
So in terms of creating wealth,which is what Women for Homes
is about, the compounding effectis one that shouldn't be
ignored, I think compoundingeffect is one that shouldn't be
ignored.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
I think A hundred percent yes.
And is it investing this in asimilar way of shares, where
then you can sell your share ifyou need to access money at a
time, or is it more likeinvesting in a property yourself
, where you have to wait tillyou then sell the property?
Speaker 1 (30:05):
At this stage, I think it would be more like
investing in shares and then youcould sell the shares, yeah, as
you need to.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
Yeah, yeah um, this is my inquisitive mind, and
these are questions that come upfor me, which I hope are useful
also to anyone who's listeningas well.
Now, on the other side of thespectrum, this money is being
invested in ethical propertydevelopments.
So what does that side looklike?
You mentioned that you'relooking at a couple of projects
at the moment.
(30:32):
Can you tell me a bit aboutthem?
And are they sold or rented out, and who rents them?
And, yeah, what does that looklike?
Speaker 1 (30:40):
Well, I can give you an example of a project that I'm
working on at the moment.
I think it will be funded bythe time Women for Home starts,
but it's a good, it's a verygood example.
I think it will be funded bythe time Women for Home starts,
but it's a good, it's a verygood example.
So this is an organisation inWestern Australia and they are a
housing cooperative.
Now, housing cooperatives arepretty cool because they can
offer affordable housing.
(31:01):
So somebody that wants to be amember of that housing
cooperative will pay only aproportion about 30% of what the
property is actually worth, andthat 30% secures them a home in
this housing cooperative andthe balance that just basically
gives them the right to live inthat home until they're ready to
(31:21):
sell and move on, and so it's avery affordable way to be
buying homes.
And the Housing Cooperativeitself is a charity,
not-for-profit organisation, soit's getting grants and loans as
well to be able to offer thatas a service.
(31:45):
I just think it's quitebeautiful the way that it's been
done.
So even from the design of it,the members of the cooperative
were involved in the design.
It's a really collaborativeapproach to doing property,
because normally what happens isa developer will just go ahead
and build something.
(32:05):
He or she will do some research, find out what's selling in the
area and then build more ofthat because there's a track
record, whereas, and what thatmeans is that people don't
necessarily have an input intotheir home until they then go
and buy it and then modify it orwhatever they choose to do,
whereas in this case, themembers and every member is
(32:26):
equal every, every member hasthe right to vote, and so
they're involved in the design,they're involved in the rules
for living in that cooperative,when it's complete as well.
So it's just a beautiful way todo it and it's providing
affordable housing.
So they received a grant of $8million, but they needed an
(32:51):
extra $4 million to be able togo ahead with that, and so
that's the work that I was doingto help them to get the grant
in the first place, as well asget the additional $4 million
which they pretty much now havefingers crossed.
As get the additional $4million which they pretty much
now have fingers crossed, and sothat $4 million would have
(33:13):
attracted an interest rate of15% sorry, no 12% per annum.
So it's those kind of projectswhere you've definitely got that
impact in the affordablehousing You've got the risk is
reduced because you've gotgrants that are in the
affordable housing and you'vegot, um, that the risk is
reduced because you've gotgrants that are in there as well
.
So it's not just the investorsmoney that's in there and and
(33:36):
there's a decent return for theinvestor as well.
So I look at that and go that'sa win-win-win and those are the
types of projects that I'll beputting forward for women, for
homes amazing.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
I I love that it's just so powerful on so many
levels as well.
I know there was a couple ofprojects similar in melbourne
actually, and it just createdthis really community
environment in these apartmentblocks.
So some of the things I noticedis they didn't have car parks,
so to encourage people to ridebikes more and be more
(34:08):
environmentally sustainable, andalso things like having a
laundry room.
Like I remember a lot ofapartments back in the eighties
their laundry room would beseparate and I kind of think
that's nice because then peoplekind of come together, hang
their washing out together.
I don't know, maybe it's justme, but a big problem that leads
(34:30):
to mental health is lack ofpeople connecting and community,
and I think this is creatingcommunity again, like knowing
your neighbors and having that,and I'm going a little bit off
track here, but it's really goodto know now both sides of the
story.
So how do you see this endinghomelessness?
Speaker 1 (34:51):
I see it increasing the supply of homes.
I see housing as a continuum.
So I think that when I thinkthat the common way of looking
at housing is okay, we're justgoing to build homes without
looking at, well, what's thecontinuum that we need to be
taking care of, and looking atthat from a holistic level.
(35:12):
So when I talk about thecontinuum, talking about social
housing, even before then,transitional housing, social
housing, affordable housing, andthese are all rental, moving
into affordable home ownership,moving into private market rent,
private market housing, movinginto downsizing, because you've
(35:37):
got people that are older andneed to reduce the amount of
space that they have, and thenyou've got aged care.
So if you look at that wholecontinuum, I see that we end
homelessness by looking at thebig picture and going, ok, well,
how do we move people up thisway?
So help people enter and helppeople move up this way as well.
So, in the supply of housing,in seeing the housing continuum
(36:02):
as a, as a big picture, andusing the space that we have
more efficiently, Amazing.
Speaker 2 (36:12):
Well, I think I might wrap it up there.
I feel like we've had a niceholistic view of what you're up
to, and I'm excited to actuallyprobably get you back on the
podcast in six or 12 months fromnow to see how many people have
joined the community and whereit's all at.
Um, I'm really on board withthis mission and will do
(36:33):
everything I can to put the wordout there and make it happen as
well.
Is there any last things thatyou would like to share to the
listeners to help them takeaction?
Speaker 1 (36:47):
yeah, look what sort of springs to me at the moment
is.
I've spent the last few yearssaying you can make double-digit
returns through investing inaffordable, sustainable and
inclusive homes.
That's been the drum that I'vebeen banging for all of this
time, and now it's a real shiftto.
I mean, it's the same story,but it's also we can do better
(37:09):
and let's do better together,because that's going to be so
much fun let's do bettertogether.
Speaker 2 (37:15):
I love that take, take away the build back better
and let's do better together.
I think is a much bettermission to work on.
Speaker 1 (37:24):
I'm all in for that.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
thank you so so much for your time, Dion, and I will
leave some the links in the shownotes as well for people to
find out more and join thecommunity and be a part of your
mission.
Speaker 1 (37:38):
Wonderful.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (37:42):
If this episode has inspired and motivated you and
you, you know it could helpsomeone in your network please
share it on your favorite socialmedia platform.
To explore other ways you canwork with me as a personal
branding coach or photographer,visit pruajacom or join one of
my personal brand transformationretreats, where you reinvent
(38:05):
yourself and walk away feelingexcited and energized, with
clarity on who you are andphotos to show the world.
Thank you for tuning in andremember to own your power and
shine your light.
I'm your host, pruaja.
So after coming back from the retreat and I was like,
okay, well, if I'm playingsport, like how do I go bigger?
And what came to me was just,you know, work with what's
already there.
Like there was so muchbeautiful energy at that retreat
and so much support, like womensupporting each other.
It was so amazing.
From there, women for Homes wasborn.
(00:22):
My goal is to inspire a millionwomen to invest $5,000 to end
homelessness by 2030.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
The fastest growing homelessness is in women over 55
.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
We've got the gender pay gap time out of the
workforce to have children.
We've got divorce that adds tothat, and then you know, if they
haven't got as muchsuperannuation to retire on.
We can do better, and let's dobetter together, because that's
going to be so much fun.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Welcome to the Seen and Heard podcast, created for
you if you're a consultant,coach or creative and want to
enhance your connection to yourhigher self, evolve your mindset
and embody your personal brand,creating freedom, fulfillment
and success.
Whether you're leveling up ornavigating a new chapter, this
podcast helps you own your powerand show up confidently to be
(01:15):
seen and heard.
I'm your host, pruaja, personalbrand coach, photographer and
motivational speaker.
Photographer and motivationalspeaker.
Thank you so much for joiningme today, dion.
It's been an absolute pleasuresince I've met you and I've
loved all of our interactions.
(01:35):
Actually, do you just want totell me a little bit about
yourself and what you do,because I think you might be
better at explaining it than me.
Okay, cool.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Well, look for context.
I was a property developer.
I started about 10 years agoand it was very much about doing
property development to makemoney, so I didn't have to work,
so I could stay, you know.
So not stay home with the kids,but just not have to go into
the workplace and compromisewhat I wanted to do.
(02:06):
So I did that and a couple ofdevelopments in.
We started off quite small, buta couple of developments in.
I ended up doing a largeraffordable housing project and
it already had the DA attached,so we just bought the land and
then continued with theconstruction.
And that was a bit of a gamechanger for me, because I
(02:27):
realised that I could make moneythrough doing property
development and also have a bigimpact on the community as well,
and that was really valuable.
So I quickly realised well,probably not that quickly,
actually, it took me a littlewhile and a few kind of you know
, burnouts, but I realisedeventually that development
wasn't my strong point.
(02:47):
There's a lot of skills thatyou need to have to be a
developer and they're differentskills to the ones that I have.
So as soon as I realised thatand I was like, well, what game
do I actually want to play.
I decided that I was going toraise money for property
developers that were creatingaffordable, sustainable and
inclusive homes, because Irealized, once I'd done that
(03:09):
project, I couldn't go back todoing property development or
supporting property developmentin any other way.
So now that's what I do.
I've got a company called HighImpact Property Investments.
I founded it in 2021.
And that's what we do.
We raise money.
It in 2021, and that's what wedo.
We raise money and, on the flipside, we raise money from
(03:30):
investors and our sort of targetfor them is that we help them
to achieve double digit returnsthrough investing into
affordable, sustainable andinclusive homes amazing.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
And I remember chatting to you about this at
the retreat that you came torecently and I was like, oh, you
know, I would love to be aproperty investor or a property
developer, but like, where doyou even begin and start with
that?
And I think you mentioned thatyou know, for a property
(04:00):
investor, the minimum amountthey would really need to get
started was $50,000.
Is that right?
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Yeah, so that was the old me.
Let's talk about the retreat,actually, because something
shifted for me as a result ofthe retreat which was really
profound.
Yeah, the retreat was great,and all the way through the
retreat, I kept getting thesemessages of you're playing small
.
Actually, that was on the lastday, so the messages I got were
(04:32):
around resistance, um, and Ijust could not understand what I
was resisting because I thought, you know, with all of the work
that I've been doing, I'm likeyou know, I'm here, I'm open,
I'm ready to do whatever isneeded, um, but the, the message
that I got in the tea ceremonyon the last day was that I was
playing too small, um, and thatI really needed to think bigger.
(04:53):
And one of the beautiful thingsaround being at the retreat was
being surrounded by women and,um, you know, when I spoke about
what I did in a very naturalsetting, um, the, the responses
that I was getting was thatsounds amazing, how could we be
involved?
So, after coming back from theretreat and I was like, okay,
well, if I'm playing small, likehow do I go bigger?
(05:14):
And what came to me was just,you know, work with what's
already there.
Like there was so muchbeautiful energy at that retreat
and so much support, like womensupporting each other.
It was so amazing and, um, yeah, from there, women for homes
was born and women for homes isa movement, um, and a movement
(05:38):
that I started and um, yeah,it's.
It's really about makinginvestment into ethical
properties, whether it beaffordable, sustainable or
disability housing, making itmore accessible to people.
So that's a long way ofanswering your question, but the
minimum investment is $5,000.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Which makes me excited, because I've definitely
invested $5,000 after $10,000on different projects and
startups in the past as well,and what really excites me about
this is it's ethical, it's anentry level, it's supporting
women and it's creating housing.
And there was one big thingthat you mentioned that was a
(06:21):
part of your mission, which wasaround ending homelessness for
women by 2030.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Absolutely, Absolutely so.
Um, my goal is to inspire amillion women to invest $5,000
to end homelessness by 2030.
And it's so achievable.
I'm so excited.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Tell cause.
That feels very overwhelming tome.
I'm like how is that achievable?
Can you tell me?
Break it down a little bit?
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Yeah, absolutely so.
Look, there's a couple ofdifferent aspects to this.
One is looking at how manypeople are homeless in Australia
at the moment and the 2021census there were, I think it
was, 150,000 people that werehomeless.
So, in the grand scheme ofthings, that's actually not a
(07:17):
lot of people, and so thatthat's one aspect.
You know we can.
We can go okay, well, let's.
What are the facts that we'redealing with?
Well, the number of people thatare homeless in Australia is
not that large.
It's too large, but it's notthat large.
It's not insurmountable.
The other thing to add to thatis that those were the people
(07:38):
that were counted in the census.
There are people, andparticularly women, who are
called the hidden homeless.
So they're women that are couchsurfing, sleeping in cars, just
living in really unsafesituations, and they were not
counted in the census.
And there's a lot around thatbecause there's a lot of pride,
(07:58):
there's a lot of, you know, notreally wanting to tell people
what your situation is if youare homeless in that environment
, because you know as long asyou can carry on and as long as
on the surface, it's okay, thenthat's what a lot of women are
actually doing that are in thatsituation.
So the number of homelesspeople is definitely higher, but
(08:21):
it's still not aninsurmountable number.
Now we definitely need to bebuilding more houses, for sure,
um, and, and we need to bebuilding more houses.
We have an increasingpopulation and we've got people
that are coming in from overseasfilling the skills gap that we
have in australia, and so wedefinitely have that.
We have, um, we have familiesthat are breaking down, and so
(08:44):
where we had, you know, four inone house, now we're looking at
more houses to house thosepeople.
So there's that too.
So we definitely do need to bebuilding more houses houses, too
(09:09):
.
So, as an example, I wastalking to a colleague a couple
of days ago.
He has a client who has adisability and needs some more
help around the house.
They just happen to have agranny flat on their property
that is sitting empty, sothey're looking for some
additional help.
They could offer this, thisgranny flat, as rental
accommodation for free, inexchange for that help.
So you see what I mean.
There's like there's aredistribution of housing.
There's empty rooms that arethere.
(09:30):
There's um people couples,elderly couples that are looking
to downsize, can't find theright home, but they're in
three-bedroom homes.
So there's, there's, there's alot of rooms, there's a lot of
houses, and and we can be moresensible and discerning about
how we use those.
So that's another thing.
And then the other thing is amillion women investing $5,000
(09:51):
each is $5 billion.
Now I like to think of it thisway If you go to purchase a
property, you go to the bank,you ask for a mortgage, you put
down a 20% deposit, the bankwill give you 80% and you can
buy your property.
So you've only had to come upwith 20%, and that leverage gets
(10:12):
you into a house that might be$500,000.
So if we look at it in terms ofthe $5 billion that we could
raise through a million womeninvesting $5,000, then that is
also leverage for the biggerfunds of money that can then go
out and purchase these homes ordevelop these homes.
So all of those put togetherjust mean to me that this is
(10:35):
absolutely achievable.
I think it's worth justcommenting, because I can hear
in my head people are going tosay well, you can't just take
homeless people off the streetsand dump them in houses.
It doesn't work like that andit doesn't.
There's a lot of wraparoundsupports, but do you know how
much money is being spent by thegovernment our taxpayers money
in helping people that arecurrently homeless.
(10:58):
There's a lot of money thatgoes to that.
There's a lot of money.
I was talking to a lady theother day who said that that, um
, foster children or childrenthat are homeless, that, uh, you
know under 16, there's a largenumber of them that are being
housed in hotels, um, andthey've got somebody that's
looking after them a supervisorbut the the taxpayers money is
(11:21):
going towards the hotels andproviding that accommodation and
the wraparound services aroundthat.
Now, it's not that there's notmoney there, it's just being
used in a way that isn't.
It's the best that we can do atthe moment.
I'm not bagging what they'redoing, but I think it if we have
that holistic view of how wehome people, then we can do
(11:42):
better.
So there's definitely moneythere to solve this problem.
So I'm not afraid of that goal.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Wow, there's so much in that that you've said, and
I've written down a fewquestions that I want to dive a
little bit deeper into as well.
Is this a global vision orAustralia?
Speaker 1 (12:04):
global um, and it's not necessarily that I I
previous to um my developer life.
I was a researcher.
So, um, I did a PhD inchemistry and research was a big
part of my life and and what Iloved about that time was that
there was a lot in sharinginformation, and I really see
(12:27):
that Women for Homes can also dothat, not necessarily in an
academic perspective, but fromthe perspective of we.
You know, we do this inAustralia.
We inspire other countries tobe doing it as well.
We share our knowledge becausenone of this is proprietary and
it shouldn't be.
We share our knowledge so otherpeople can do the same as well,
and we support other people todo the same.
(12:47):
So, yes, it's global.
That's the kind of long answerto that question.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
I'm just so excited that this was born from the
retreat and to be a part of thismission, alongside you and do
everything I can to help supportit and get the word out there,
which is why I'm really excitedto have you on the podcast and
just start spreading the message.
One of the things.
Well, a couple of things.
I heard statistics that thefastest growing homelessness is
(13:19):
in women over 55.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Absolutely yeah, and there's a number of reasons for
that.
So we've got the gender pay gap, which is still an issue even
in this day and age.
I don't understand it, but itis.
And so that's, you know,traditionally same job.
In some workforces men get paidmore for the same job as their
female counterparts.
(13:43):
And Then if women decide totake time out of the workforce
to have children, then that's abreak in that earning capacity
that they have.
It's also a break in theaccumulation of superannuation.
Some women do choose to go backinto the workforce.
For some women it's sooner,some women it's later.
But what I've seen is a lack ofconfidence in, you know, the
(14:07):
time that they've had that break, because it doesn't seem to be
so valued in society, eventhough child rearing is the most
important thing that we can do.
But because of that women oftenlose their confidence and, you
know, don't necessarily get backinto the roles at the same pay
scales that they were before.
So there's that sort ofstopping of earning capacity and
(14:29):
loss of earning capacity forthat period of time.
And then you know whenrelationships break down, and I
think the statistic is one inthree relationships, one in
three marriages fail, and it'soften the women that are worse
off as a result of that.
So you've got divorce that addsto that, and then you know if
(14:50):
they haven't got as muchsuperannuation to retire on,
it's not surprising.
All of this compounds and comestogether and makes it so that
that cohort of women over 55 arethe fastest growing group
facing homelessness.
Yeah, so there's a lot ofthings that I think can be done
about it.
I think that valuing the childrearing period of our lives is
(15:12):
really important, and I'd lovefor the government to do that.
I remember reading a few yearsago that if a woman was paid for
the work that she did in childrearing, that job would be
$200,000 a year, and I'm like,oh, bring that on.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
Yes, please Can we have that salary.
A friend of mine who we've beenplanning to get on the podcast
for a while now.
She started a movement calledmotherism and touching on all
these topics as well.
So, um, um, yeah, it's all apart of it, and I was, I guess,
a victim to this as wellbecoming a single mom when my
(15:54):
daughter was five years old, andthen going and renting.
Having to rent a two bedroomapartment in the city I didn't
want to live at in the sticksbecause that would have affected
my mental health, being so faraway from my friends.
So I did pay the extra rent andjust hoped that my business was
going to do enough to supportme.
But then also, you know, havingto work more while also
(16:17):
mothering and running a home anddoing other things like it's a
lot and there was something youtalked about with, you know, the
women not being a part of thecensus because of the shame
around it and us not reallybeing honest about our
situations.
Like that actually made me tearup a bit because I know
(16:39):
personally I've had to just keepshowing up and not talk about
the reality of what, how hardthings have been behind the
scenes doing it all.
So, yeah, it is really sad andI'm very passionate about about
this, because for a single mumin australia to go and buy
(16:59):
property, it's it's not reallypossible.
I'm very grateful that I wasable to.
I have a apartment in melbournebut it is costing me a lot of
money out of pocket.
And, speaking of this, Iactually listened to a podcast
yesterday on Diary of a CEOabout the future of money and
(17:20):
investing and superannuation andhow it all works and what was
something really interestingthat popped up?
Two things one is that buyingyour own home is not really the
best investment and havinginvestment properties that are
going to create a return.
I know this isn't a financialadvice podcast at all.
Yeah, I'm just putting that outthere.
(17:42):
So do not take any of thisinformation and speak to a
professional.
But the other thing wasinvesting and having those
dividends and returns in yourretired years.
So the other side of the coinof what you're doing as well is
inviting people to invest with aminimum of five thousand
dollars investment, which then Ithink you were talking about
(18:06):
the return on that as well.
So not only are you helping inhomelessness and create homes,
but you're helping women buildwealth through investing too.
So if we want to touch on thatpart of it as well, yeah, I'd
love to.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
And, um, look it, I I was thinking about um, I'll
backtrack.
So, um, as part of women forHomes, I'm building the
community at the moment.
So you can imagine, a millionwomen is quite a task and my
commitment to myself is to justkeep showing up.
So every day I'm showing up and, just you know, creating very
(18:46):
short videos, couple of minutevideos, just on, really around
building the community andbuilding the case for women,
investing in other women.
And so I was thinking thismorning about what I was going
to talk about today.
And yesterday I saw a post onLinkedIn and it was about
(19:07):
Maslow's hierarchy of needs.
And I wrote a book a couple ofyears ago called Ethical
Property Investing, and in thatI talked about Maslow's
hierarchy of needs and it waslike you know, at the bottom
there's your basic needs, sothere's your food, your shelter,
warmth, and then, as you go upthe pyramid, you get to
self-actualization.
So you've got to have yourbasic needs taken care of to be
(19:29):
able to thrive and be the bestthat you can be.
This post on LinkedIn that Isaw took it a step further, and
I didn't know this at the time,I didn't do the research, but
I've researched it since, andMaslow created his hierarchy of
needs from speaking toIndigenous Canadian peoples and
(19:51):
they were called the Blackfoottribe and and they shared the
the hierarchy with them.
But their, their triangle andit was actually a teepee
actually was at the bottom wasself-actualization, in the
middle was community act,community actualization, and
then the top of that wascultural perpetuity.
(20:11):
So, essentially, when your cupis full, then you can look to
creating things for the benefitof the community and that keeps
the life of the community andthe culture living and breathing
and all of that.
So, in a similar way, that'show I see women for homes.
(20:32):
Yes, okay, we've got to takecare of our needs, so we've got
to make sure that we'reinvesting.
But when we also invest inalignment with our values, we
feel really fulfilled at that,when we also invest in a way
where we're helping to solvemeaningful problems and we're
helping other people to movetheir way up the up the pyramid
as well, and I think that is thebest way to invest.
(20:54):
On the flip side, we have, um,we have what I call extractive
investing, or somebody else hastermed it arsehole investing,
and that's not necessarily tobag anybody.
That's um, you know that'sthinking in a different way, but
it's a, it's an invitation tothink differently about
investing.
So, rather than take, take,take um, which a lot of you know
(21:15):
, when we think about coalmining, for example, that's
that's a very extractive type ofinvesting.
Anything that is not helpingpeople and planet to thrive, I
would say, is extractive.
Anything that is um isinclusive and joyful and fun and
fulfilling, and that's the waythat I think that we should be
moving towards.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
I feel like that just creates a more expansive,
supportive community, betterworld on so many levels as well.
So to get one million people apart of your community.
What can we do today to supportyou, support this mission,
(21:56):
change the world andhomelessness for women.
What are the action steps thatyou know the people listening
can take?
Speaker 1 (22:07):
yeah, look, there's a few things.
So I think that the first stepwould be to sign up to Women for
Homes, and I can share thelinks for that.
In that signing up process,there's a few ways to be
involved.
Do you want to contributefinancially?
Do you want to contribute time?
(22:28):
Do you want to contributeconnections?
Do you want to contribute time?
Do you want to contributeconnections?
Do you want to contribute yourskills?
So we all have resources and insome areas we are more resource
rich.
In other areas we don't havethe same amount of resources as
everybody else, but we all haveresources and we all have
something to give.
So, yeah, I mean, this is thisis a movement very much about
investing rather than charity,but there are lots of ways in
(22:51):
this movement to be able to movethings forward.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
Amazing.
So when you say investing withskills, what does that look like
?
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Good question Okay, so let's take you as an example.
Prue.
Good question, okay, so let's.
Let's take you as an example,prue and I.
I think I remember you sayingthat you did a fundraiser a
while ago where you did like ahundred headshots in a hundred
days or something like that.
Can you remind me?
Speaker 2 (23:17):
Yeah.
So that was for the HungerProject and their mission is to
end world hunger by 2030.
So as a part of theirleadership program, you had to
raise $10, and I was like, okay,let's do the math on this and I
worked out if I do a hundredheadshots of a hundred people
for a hundred dollars, I'll getthere.
Yeah, I nearly killed myselfdoing it and I'm so grateful.
(23:41):
There were some incrediblepeople that invested more so I
didn't have to do 100 hours ofshooting and editing.
Didn't think about my time valuein that enough.
This is like six or seven yearsago, but there's definitely
ways.
So, like by offering yourservice, by creating.
(24:02):
So for me, as a photographer,what I would do now, going
forward, is create a day whereyou know, know the certain
amount of money doing headshots,say, and a certain amount of
money would cover the expensesand the rest would go to charity
or creating an event, so maybehaving a lunch and inviting
everyone in your networktogether, which would be an
(24:22):
amazing opportunity for peopleto connect and also grow their
own businesses.
But then maybe there's an extra20 50 added onto the ticket,
could that could go towards itum, yeah, so it's things like
that.
It's like you know, whateverthat skill is for people, bring
it on, you know yeah, and so ifsomeone was to go, okay, I'm
(24:45):
going to join the community,here's five thousand dollars I
want to invest, then what is?
How does that play out?
Speaker 1 (24:53):
Okay, well, let's talk about the timeline.
So right now, it's aboutbuilding the community.
We're not quite ready to invest, but the position that I'm in
and the work that I do throughhigh impact property investments
, I have companies that arelooking to, you know, looking to
(25:13):
raise capital and are offeringreally decent rates of return on
that as well.
And when we talk aboutinvestment, we really have to be
looking at risk, and that'salso one of the things I talk
about in Ethical propertyinvesting book.
But you need to know the risks.
So, having done all of this workand sort of looking at many,
(25:34):
many developers' projects,there's a few key things for me
that you know I look at.
It's like, okay, how do weminimise the risk of people's
investments?
And also, is this projectactually going to move things
forward?
Is it creating affordable,sustainable, inclusive homes?
Now, if those two things aremet, as well as some other
things, then I can say, okay,well, we've minimized the risks
(25:57):
as much as possible.
We know that it's going tocreate a really massive impact.
The developer has committed todefining the impact, measuring
the impact and reporting theimpact.
So we know that it's notgreenwashing, yeah, and then,
yeah, it's essentially poolingour resources together to invest
(26:19):
into that particular project.
So in terms of that's themechanism of it, in terms of the
timeline, actually creating aplatform to allow that to happen
as you can imagine, a millionwomen investing would be quite
an administrative thing to dealwith so creating a platform that
(26:42):
makes that really easy.
So we're hoping to launch thatat the end of January, start of
February.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Wow, that's quick yes .
Speaker 1 (26:52):
Launched that in at the end of January, start of
February.
Wow, that's quick yes.
And I'm not expecting a millionwomen by the end of January.
Yeah, although if that doeshappen, that would be wonderful
and and um, yeah, I mean for mesort of on that, like I'm, I'm
so looking for partnerships withother women that are inspiring,
that they are inspiring theircommunities and have those
networks to join forces withthem.
So I just see this as being areally collaborative initiative.
(27:17):
It's definitely not a solo show.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Definitely it's a huge mission and, yeah, it will
take community to bring it alltogether as well.
Now I just want to stay on thepart of investing.
So well, firstly, when wouldyou ideally like to hit the
million women mark?
I've mapped it out and I thinkthat within the next four years,
(27:44):
we could hit a million womenokay, amazing, yeah, I like to
hear these like numbers andvisions, because then I start
manifesting it as well.
Oh, you know how a part of theretreat was really like sharing
your visions and because when wecan all see and mirror back
each other's visions, it plantsseeds in one another and we
(28:05):
start that, you know,collaborative, powerful
manifestation for one anothertoo.
Um so say, okay, when you areopen to investing and I put five
thousand dollars in and I knownothing's guaranteed and there
is a risk, like, oh, what if Iwanted to put twenty thousand
(28:26):
dollars in, say, when would Ipotentially look at seeing a
return on that?
Like, how does that part work?
Speaker 1 (28:33):
Yeah, well, the projects that I've got earmarked
for Women for Homes, thereturns are sort of it's
basically a 12-month period ofinvestment, so the money is
locked up for 12 months and then12 months is when the dividends
happen.
One thing I would say andsomething to consider, and
(28:56):
definitely not financial advice,but there's the power of
compounding, which I think isreally worth talking about.
So when you invest let's sayyou invested five thousand
dollars and your return oninvestment was ten percent per
annum, and so that's fivehundred dollars that you in
(29:17):
interest in that year, andcompound interest is actually
leaving that five, five hundreddollars of interest in with your
original five thousand dollarsand letting that that increase
sort of year on year on year.
Doing something like that on a10% per annum interest rate,
that leads to a doubling of yourmoney within 10 years.
(29:39):
So in terms of creating wealth,which is what Women for Homes
is about, the compounding effectis one that shouldn't be
ignored, I think compoundingeffect is one that shouldn't be
ignored.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
I think A hundred percent yes.
And is it investing this in asimilar way of shares, where
then you can sell your share ifyou need to access money at a
time, or is it more likeinvesting in a property yourself
, where you have to wait tillyou then sell the property?
Speaker 1 (30:05):
At this stage, I think it would be more like
investing in shares and then youcould sell the shares, yeah, as
you need to.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
Yeah, yeah um, this is my inquisitive mind, and
these are questions that come upfor me, which I hope are useful
also to anyone who's listeningas well.
Now, on the other side of thespectrum, this money is being
invested in ethical propertydevelopments.
So what does that side looklike?
You mentioned that you'relooking at a couple of projects
at the moment.
(30:32):
Can you tell me a bit aboutthem?
And are they sold or rented out, and who rents them?
And, yeah, what does that looklike?
Speaker 1 (30:40):
Well, I can give you an example of a project that I'm
working on at the moment.
I think it will be funded bythe time Women for Home starts,
but it's a good, it's a verygood example.
I think it will be funded bythe time Women for Home starts,
but it's a good, it's a verygood example.
So this is an organisation inWestern Australia and they are a
housing cooperative.
Now, housing cooperatives arepretty cool because they can
offer affordable housing.
(31:01):
So somebody that wants to be amember of that housing
cooperative will pay only aproportion about 30% of what the
property is actually worth, andthat 30% secures them a home in
this housing cooperative andthe balance that just basically
gives them the right to live inthat home until they're ready to
(31:21):
sell and move on, and so it's avery affordable way to be
buying homes.
And the Housing Cooperativeitself is a charity,
not-for-profit organisation, soit's getting grants and loans as
well to be able to offer thatas a service.
(31:45):
I just think it's quitebeautiful the way that it's been
done.
So even from the design of it,the members of the cooperative
were involved in the design.
It's a really collaborativeapproach to doing property,
because normally what happens isa developer will just go ahead
and build something.
(32:05):
He or she will do some research, find out what's selling in the
area and then build more ofthat because there's a track
record, whereas, and what thatmeans is that people don't
necessarily have an input intotheir home until they then go
and buy it and then modify it orwhatever they choose to do,
whereas in this case, themembers and every member is
(32:26):
equal every, every member hasthe right to vote, and so
they're involved in the design,they're involved in the rules
for living in that cooperative,when it's complete as well.
So it's just a beautiful way todo it and it's providing
affordable housing.
So they received a grant of $8million, but they needed an
(32:51):
extra $4 million to be able togo ahead with that, and so
that's the work that I was doingto help them to get the grant
in the first place, as well asget the additional $4 million
which they pretty much now havefingers crossed.
As get the additional $4million which they pretty much
now have fingers crossed, and sothat $4 million would have
(33:13):
attracted an interest rate of15% sorry, no 12% per annum.
So it's those kind of projectswhere you've definitely got that
impact in the affordablehousing You've got the risk is
reduced because you've gotgrants that are in the
affordable housing and you'vegot, um, that the risk is
reduced because you've gotgrants that are in there as well
.
So it's not just the investorsmoney that's in there and and
(33:36):
there's a decent return for theinvestor as well.
So I look at that and go that'sa win-win-win and those are the
types of projects that I'll beputting forward for women, for
homes amazing.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
I I love that it's just so powerful on so many
levels as well.
I know there was a couple ofprojects similar in melbourne
actually, and it just createdthis really community
environment in these apartmentblocks.
So some of the things I noticedis they didn't have car parks,
so to encourage people to ridebikes more and be more
(34:08):
environmentally sustainable, andalso things like having a
laundry room.
Like I remember a lot ofapartments back in the eighties
their laundry room would beseparate and I kind of think
that's nice because then peoplekind of come together, hang
their washing out together.
I don't know, maybe it's justme, but a big problem that leads
(34:30):
to mental health is lack ofpeople connecting and community,
and I think this is creatingcommunity again, like knowing
your neighbors and having that,and I'm going a little bit off
track here, but it's really goodto know now both sides of the
story.
So how do you see this endinghomelessness?
Speaker 1 (34:51):
I see it increasing the supply of homes.
I see housing as a continuum.
So I think that when I thinkthat the common way of looking
at housing is okay, we're justgoing to build homes without
looking at, well, what's thecontinuum that we need to be
taking care of, and looking atthat from a holistic level.
(35:12):
So when I talk about thecontinuum, talking about social
housing, even before then,transitional housing, social
housing, affordable housing, andthese are all rental, moving
into affordable home ownership,moving into private market rent,
private market housing, movinginto downsizing, because you've
(35:37):
got people that are older andneed to reduce the amount of
space that they have, and thenyou've got aged care.
So if you look at that wholecontinuum, I see that we end
homelessness by looking at thebig picture and going, ok, well,
how do we move people up thisway?
So help people enter and helppeople move up this way as well.
So, in the supply of housing,in seeing the housing continuum
(36:02):
as a, as a big picture, andusing the space that we have
more efficiently, Amazing.
Speaker 2 (36:12):
Well, I think I might wrap it up there.
I feel like we've had a niceholistic view of what you're up
to, and I'm excited to actuallyprobably get you back on the
podcast in six or 12 months fromnow to see how many people have
joined the community and whereit's all at.
Um, I'm really on board withthis mission and will do
(36:33):
everything I can to put the wordout there and make it happen as
well.
Is there any last things thatyou would like to share to the
listeners to help them takeaction?
Speaker 1 (36:47):
yeah, look what sort of springs to me at the moment
is.
I've spent the last few yearssaying you can make double-digit
returns through investing inaffordable, sustainable and
inclusive homes.
That's been the drum that I'vebeen banging for all of this
time, and now it's a real shiftto.
I mean, it's the same story,but it's also we can do better
(37:09):
and let's do better together,because that's going to be so
much fun let's do bettertogether.
Speaker 2 (37:15):
I love that take, take away the build back better
and let's do better together.
I think is a much bettermission to work on.
Speaker 1 (37:24):
I'm all in for that.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
thank you so so much for your time, Dion, and I will
leave some the links in the shownotes as well for people to
find out more and join thecommunity and be a part of your
mission.
Speaker 1 (37:38):
Wonderful.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (37:42):
If this episode has inspired and motivated you and
you, you know it could helpsomeone in your network please
share it on your favorite socialmedia platform.
To explore other ways you canwork with me as a personal
branding coach or photographer,visit pruajacom or join one of
my personal brand transformationretreats, where you reinvent
(38:05):
yourself and walk away feelingexcited and energized, with
clarity on who you are andphotos to show the world.
Thank you for tuning in andremember to own your power and
shine your light.
I'm your host, pruaja.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.