Steve's first property wasn't an investment. it was his own home, which he later rented out when he moved on. For a while, that was the whole strategy: work hard, save a deposit, buy a flat, repeat. No real process behind it.

Everything changed when he discovered the HMO model, renting rooms individually rather than a property as a whole. He ran the numbers obsessively on his first HMO, trying to find the flaw in the maths. He couldn't. That single property generated more profit each month than his fire brigade salary.

He scaled from there, the same street, then further afield, while living below his means the entire time. His rule: never spend more than 10% of profit on lifestyle, reinvest the rest. It's a discipline that compounded everything that followed.

At 18, with almost no relevant experience, Steve applied to join the London Fire Brigade against long odds. He got the job and loved it. But alongside the job, he had another ambition: financial freedom. He worked every rest day trying to build something on the side.

A senior colleague once told him the job alone would make him a millionaire, thirty years of service, added up over a career. It was meant to reassure him. Instead, it convinced him he needed to move faster than that.

About 12 years ago, he left the fire service for good. It's the last job he's ever had.