Own Your Time Melissa Lewis
On Own Your Time this week, I’m joined by Melissa Lewis.
If you’ve ever chased a timeline, hustled yourself into burnout or assumed success required sacrificing your weekends, this episode is for you.
I’m joined by Melissa Lewis - property investor, entrepreneur and co-founder of Venrus, a proptech platform making investing simpler, faster and way less confusing.
Melissa's story is all about redefining what "success" looks like and learning how to design a business around time freedom. From hitting her goals early to facing full-blown burnout, her journey is a total permission slip to stop forcing everything to happen on a schedule and start creating from a place of alignment instead.
We get into the realities of building something from scratch, the not-so-glamorous side of entrepreneurship and how Melissa is helping others access property investment without needing to be a millionaire.
In this episode we chat about:
Why timelines can become toxic if you don’t pause to question them
What burnout taught Melissa about business models and boundaries
Her philosophy of seeing work as "projects" and why it’s a game-changer
How Melissa is bringing property investing and tech together to save time
Why your next big idea doesn’t need to be perfect before you share it
Tangible time-saving tips that make the day-to-day feel lighter
Read the transcript:
Please note - this podcast episode was transcribed by an AI tool, there may be some typos or errors.
What if running your business didn't mean sacrificing your time, your house, or your weekends? Welcome to or near time. The podcast where we trade hustle culture for mindful, sustainable success. I'm Sarah Stewart, and around here we're all about getting more time for what really matters. Today I'm chatting with Melissa Lewis. Melissa is a property investor, entrepreneur and co-founder of Venus, a prop tech company shaking up the way that people invest in property.
She built a small property venture from the ground up and turned it into a thriving investment consultancy, helping others break into the market with confidence. Now, she's blending her industry insight with smart tech to help investors ditch the guesswork and wasted time. Melissa used to believe success at a time line, until she ditched the pressure and started designing her time on purpose, and that mindset shift.
It's changed everything. Let's get into it.
Okay. Melissa, thank you so much for joining me on my podcast. It's a pleasure to have you here. I would love if we could start just by you telling the listeners maybe a little bit about you and your business.
Yes. Oh, thank you so much. So thank you for having me on. Really appreciate it. So yes, I'm Melissa.
I am the founder of ML Property Venture. So I started a little over six years ago now. And yeah, I'm based in Essex and I think my business has kind of taken over my life. When people say, oh, you know, they tell me about you. I'm like, what do you even say? That's not business. But, yeah.
So that's that's interesting in itself that you feel like your business has taken over your life. We could we could maybe explore some of that.
But let's start with this idea and and your pitch and, you know, some of the stuff that I've looked at you, you know, it's this idea that time is being a race and, you know, sort of you, you were setting out to hit success, you know, however, you deemed that you know, by a certain age or a certain stage in your life and can you maybe like reflect back and think about, you know, exactly like, what was it that you were chasing and how you did then that shape, how you sort of started out with your business?
I wanted to be a HR manager or a senior HR officer by the time I was 30. So 20 year old me had set this time.
Why? You know, I'm going to I, you know, into uni, studied hater. I think I was in a relationship at the time, so I thought, yeah, you know, marriage, kids. Hey job manager by 30, that was my plan. And then I actually became a hater, a senior hate officer, when I was 25. And it was like around that same time that I bought my property as well, that I live in now and then.
Yeah, from there, I kind of thought, okay, I'm going to start my own business. So the way I live at the time was completely different because, you know, 20 year old me for what? I've been married, kids by 30 and X, Y and Z, but actually 26 year old me was now, you know, single, living alone, but had bought my first property, which of course is a massive achievement.
And then I was thinking, what, I'm going to start my own business in property. So
Certainly evolved. Yeah. Over time.
Yeah. And what? And so now, like, you know, the the sort of the, it felt from your pitch that you sort of your, your approach to time is sort of shift and it shifted and it's now sort of thinking more about, creating alignment rather than chasing after those timelines.
But was there sort of a particular trigger or catalyst or something, you know, something that happened that maybe did change your thinking?
when I was 20, you know, I thought I would be in a certain place by the time I was 30. Completely shifted when I was 26.
And when I first started my business, I just I remember thinking, wow, it's going to be really difficult for the first 2 or 3 years. And then apparently it's going to be really easy and I'm going to be sitting on a yacht and actually from starting, I saw that you've kind of got to keep pivoting and,
The. Yeah, I think the shift for me was. I guess I'm always just looking at how to do things better, how to make money better, how to spend my time better. I guess.
I think for me, you know, I've, I've probably been on a bit of a similar path as well in that, you know, when I was younger, it was very much striving and, you know, climbing the corporate ladder, chasing the next promotion and and so on.
And it was probably Covid that opened my eyes, and, and sort of realized that, you know, there are, there are other ways that we can do things and, and certainly now, you know, running my own business that like the flexibility and, and all these extra things that come with it is, is great. Yeah.
And and you, you talk about sort of time now being something that you can sort of design. So what does that look like for you now when you think about, you know, your life and your business and maybe circling back to the, to the the thought of like, you know, your, your business sort of taking over like how how does that how did those two sort of work together
Well? So much has shifted over the years. I, I, I'm really ambitious. I, I'm really driven. I, I'm really focused. So I really thought that I just needed to work harder,
It's taken a while to get here, but I've, I've got into a routine or more of a routine where I'm even hesitating because it's a battle to keep on the routine,
but to manage my time now, I always look at what is the priority.
What do I need to do today?
There's always at least 1 or 2 things. No more.
I see the work that comes in as projects.
So I'm what projects opportunity has come in. How do I feel about that? How does that feel for me? How does that align with what I want to do? Because I have complete choice and complete freedom to say yes or no. This is something that I say to myself regularly to remind myself because when opportunities come up, that part of my brain goes, oh, money.
Okay, okay. Why? You know, can I make that work? Can I fit that in? Can I stretch myself? But that's I see that now as I have to remind myself, that's the old me who was wanting to run myself into the ground because actually, time is still passing. I it's not like you're going to get to this day again.
I thought that you get to a day of a month of a year and then that's it. On that day, everything you've got there, you've got everything. You just kind of sit back in your chair and you relax. But life isn't like that.
And this is why, business wise, I even think project wise. So this is a project.
This project is going to take me X amount of months, or I'm going to be with this client for X amount of months or whatever it may be. And then we're going to go from there.
Yeah, I really like that. I really like that approach. And I think, well, my background is project management. That's that's my thing.
So my corporate job has all been about project management. So sort of seeing your work in sort of discrete projects, I think is a really, useful way to look at your workload. And I also really liked what you touched on there around knowing that you have a choice. And I think that's really impactful. What I think there's probably a lot of people listening that are maybe at the start of their business where they maybe do feel that there isn't as much of a choice and that they have to follow the, you know, projects, because there's the the revenue attached to them.
And they, you know, they want to keep the business going. Do you have any advice for anyone who's maybe in the the shoes that you were earlier, where they maybe feel that they don't, you know, they're maybe not feeling as empowered that they do have that choice.
Yeah. So
if I'm being completely honest, I hit burnout phase in my early days
So I had gone from, oh my gosh, I need to say yes to absolutely every single project that's come this, you know, and it doesn't matter if I, you know, just yes to everything to do. You know what?
I can't make that inventory appointment today. I'm. And do you know what? I don't even care that I'm going to lose the money. Can I lose the business? Potentially lose the contract? So, yeah, that was burnout. How you avoid that for how you avoid that is the question. That is a big question. Yeah.
I think it's knowing that this isn't forever.
So my mindset in those early days is I just need to keep doing this for as long as possible. And, it's one day it's going to be better. So I was focused on this magical one day that we talk about. But when you say to yourself, one day that feels like never, and actually you feel like you're never going to get out of it, you know?
So what I would say is, if you need to say yes to everything for now, you say yes whilst looking at what else you can do to to make stable monthly recurring income.
I've learned first hand the more you do, the further in in your business, you, the harder it is to step out
until you bear in mind that this is you're just doing this for now whilst you build the steps, your next steps. So again, when I was in that mode, thinking I just need to say yes to everything, I wasn't really focused on what else I could do instead or how I could build upon it.
It's like I waited until I was completely burnt out at the end, saying no to work when I needed the money to then be like, okay, so what should I be doing? And then I realized, okay, it's not money per appointment I need. It's monthly recurring income that I need. So then I changed, not change strategies. But then I looked at what we could do business model y.
So then I so we have had two modes now for example. So we have paid two modes. We have tenants, which means that the business always has some kind of bread and butter. So if you, you know, so if I'm not able to get out of bed one day, the business is still making money.
And it's interesting what you shared there around sort of the further end you get, the harder it is to then get out.
And I think, you know, with my journey into business, I've been from the start, really intentional about what I do with my time and, you know, choosing to not burn the candle at both ends. I don't do crazy late nights and and so on, but I but I do see it often where there's founders that are putting in all the hours.
And like you say, if you if you keep going like that, it can, can then be really hard to sort of step away. And yeah, sorry,
I thought that it was helpful. I thought that if I used all of my time, all of my spare time, I would get further forward. I didn't realize that you actually need to stop and take a break to be more productive.
for anyone else, I don't know who who was like me. So because I'm single so I'm in my 30s, I'm in my mid 30s, I'm single, I don't have children. So over the years I've put a lot of pressure on myself because I think, well, hello. This you know, you have an added advantage.
Say you can keep going. You don't need to stop for the school run. You don't need to stop for weekend activities, children's parties or anything. You can and should keep going. But no, it's not that you know breaks. There is a reason why there is a weekend, a break for, an end to the work day. That's something else I love a start, an end to the work day.
Didn't have that one point.
Wow. I would just kind of. Yeah. Keep working until I'm tired. Like, you know, not tired. Like, oh, you're like a little bit tired. Like tired. Like, it's 10 p.m.. I've been going through this, you know, since I woke up and. Yeah, yeah, gosh. Yeah.
tell me a little bit. You started with your sort of more traditional property investment, and now you're you're leaning more into this tech driven innovation. Tell me a little bit more about that. And, yeah, what you've sort of learned from being in both spaces. Yeah.
So from starting my property venture, I saw that property. It's really community based.
Your it's almost like you're only as successful as your, your kind of network, really. So
on the property side of things,
It's very people based. It's very relationships based. But it can be quite slow moving. So for example, when I would be finding properties for investors, oh, especially when I'm finding properties for investors, I have that criteria.
And it would take hours like sifting through online off market speaking to people. So again off market stock it's all relationship based. It's all you know who you know and stuff like that.
like, wouldn't it be good if we could kind of create an all in one platform?
at this stage it's going to be a property investment platform and a development platform and a community
all in one.
Amazing. And and so and I think, you know, from what you shared this is like part of that values pivot, you know, and you're thinking more about, you know using your time well and so on.
And what so what what made this feel like the next thing to to move into
A few things really.
I feel like over the past few years, I've learned a lot about property and I've kind of straddled lots of different sectors within it. So I've looked at property management, I've worked with investors to fund properties. I've worked with developers looking for development sites to build houses, and I've gone through mentoring.
So I've mentored people who have wanted to learn about property. And, or you know what? My support,
what I wanted to do now was bring everything that I've learned together.
And have a community kind of vibe with it. So there's also something else that I'm that I've done, a few months ago, that I've forgotten about until recently. So in keeping with my theme of wanting to kind of make property accessible, property is seen as it's like big, glamorous, you know, you've got to be a millionaire to, to kind of get started.
And that's not that's not actually the case. So
there's two things I'm doing now. One is I've been funded by Tendring Council to deliver property training. So I'm building out an eight week, property training program. So I'm doing that alongside with building out the software. So of course I have a software developer who's doing more of the tech science.
But my vision at this stage is to have a go to place where people can find sites or have all of the tools that they need to invest in property, to find property, to analyze property and have a community all in one. So it's not just, you know, we go over to this Facebook group for this and then log into this platform for this, and then the CRM for that, because that's what I do now.
You know, I have a CRM. We use land sourcing, land sourcing software, which is all very different to our property sourcing software. And actually we want to bring it all together.
Nice. Yeah, that makes sense to sort of take it all into, into one. And, and I think, you know, you talk there about investing in property seeming like this big thing.
And I think certainly, you know, and I probably won't be alone, like watching all of these shows on Netflix and in America when it's all these, like, I mean, $10 Million Mansions and stuff like that, and I think you probably could get carried away and think, you know, that you need to be a millionaire to invest in property.
And so if someone was thinking, actually, property might be something that I'm interested in exploring, like where where do you see people wasting time when, when, when we think about and, you know, and making investments into property.
I think a lot of time gets wasted
on not doing anything. So we all have goals and things that we want to do, things that we want to achieve.
And everything feels. So for example, you know, I think people say, oh, you know, I'd love to get started in property, but because it's seen as such a big thing, no one really knows how to start or where to start. So this time is spent talking. Whereas everything that is achieved is like little. It's like step at a time, like one thing at a time.
So I would say, anyone that wants to get started, first of all, you look at how much money you have to invest. That's something else I want to kind of get out there about property. It's a form of investment. It's you have some money and you want the money to to work for you. You know, you want to invest in something to to grow.
It's not a case of okay, let me. But what I see at the moment is it's like we're told to kind of borrow money and, you know, string money together to try to invest in property. But it's property investment. It's meant to be money. Kind of spend money to invest, not kind of make yourself poor to kind of quickly, like jump on the property market to become a millionaire.
It's not. Yeah. It's just it's not how it works. It's meant to be money that spare that gets invested in the right way.
Yeah, that's a really good point as well, actually. Probably one that I hadn't properly considered. But yeah, you don't want to get yourself in loads of debt and trying to trying to pursue this. Yeah, that's really interesting.
And I think also the, the what you shared there in terms of like taking that first step, like I think that can be applied to so many different like areas of, of life. You know, you might think that you've got this idea even just, you know, starting a business, for instance, can be like, oh my gosh, you know, there's so many different parts to that.
And like, where do you start? And so yeah, like you say, people talk about it and they talk a talk. But then they maybe don't take that first step. Which is where then, you know, like for me, thinking about things as a project, like what that you shared, like, how can you then break that down into the little tangible tasks that you can do?
Then over time? So, yeah, I think that was really useful advice.
Yeah. Oh, thank you so much. Yeah. So literally in my mind's at the moment, instead of thinking, right, you know, by year ten we need to be here. I'm seeing as at the moment on my plate I'm very grateful to, you know, to Tendring. So I'm to Tendring Council.
So my focus at the moment is putting on the best project, the best program that I can and, you know, ensuring that people learn and take stuff away from the program.
Second of all, I'm, you know, that, platform that we're building. I really want it to be a beneficial platform. I want it to be
Somewhere.
Properties that it's all kind of demystified. You know, we have all the tools on there
Where you'll be able to find your your buy to let your property flips. But, Yeah, it's difficult because we're still in build stages. I'm like, oh, you know what? What is it going to look like? But at this stage, definitely a community that's going to have the resources that we need
for property
investment.
Was it quite daunting to think about moving into the tech space?
I sort of I, I, I've, I've wondered, you know bulk you know thinking to the future and like for my business like, you know, would I want some kind of asset or something. You know, something like that. Yeah. But I suppose it is maybe a little bit of a barrier there in terms of like, technology seems quite. Yeah.
It is, it is massively overwhelming because of how how much it evolves. So when the idea, the idea is sort of within the last two months and at the start, at the start I was thinking, who, who could I help? What, what part needs the most help? So I started off thinking maybe property management software, because we still use property management software in-house, and then you do your market research and then you say, okay, okay, now there's there's already quite a lot of property management.
Okay. So then I think about who else I can help as well. You know, I'll have a conversation then. So what's been happening this year is by to let's, you know, people are finding by to that sign is profitable.
I've been working with a landlord who's been trying to sell their portfolio of buy to let's for about a year now, and things just aren't moving.
How, how how they should or how, you know, how they would usually. So then I started to think, okay, what would be good is to build something where if a property is no longer profitable as a buy to let, what else could be done with it? Because I know I can look at property and see, okay, that won't make a good buy to let depending on the area with it in an article four area, could that be converted into a tomorrow?
Could that be a holiday? Could that be a flip? Could that be a be like there's so many property investment strategies
and I it shouldn't be something that just I know or a select few people know how about I build a platform where, you know, everyone can know, like, people can log in and see if they're looking at a property on Rightmove and they're saying, oh, you know, it doesn't make a good buy to let because what was happening is, people would call me and say, Melissa, I've been looking at these buy to let other people who have bought properties with me in the past still come back and ask for advice,
and they would say, oh, it doesn't work as a buy to let you know, what could I do with it now? And I would walk through the steps with them, because I've built a load of different calculators and stuff over the years to make it, you know, to save my own time. Yeah. And then I thought, well, actually, we could build something that, you know, you just copy and paste and then, you know, I tell you, okay, that would make a good buy to let.
And the yield would be this or the return on investment would be that. But then as I start going into that direction, I started to remember what I was saying before about community. Like it's all well and good having these tools, but people come to me because they want that conversational element. They want to bounce the idea back and forth.
It's not just like they want, you know, okay, they've got this property. It's not going to make a good buy to let, okay. It's now going to be a flip. In a way. They go they almost want to kind of discuss it with me and others and see what other people will do and see what other, you know, what you, the other people could get on, you know, that particular strategy or whatever it may be.
So then I'm thinking, okay, maybe. Yeah. So the community element is more important than the tool. So this is why when I'm asking the questions, I'm still we're still in like the really early phases. But this is why I see things as a project. Because it's not like right, come on now. It's got to have reached this amount of revenue and this amount of uses.
And if in this amount of time actually, this is a nice little project, I'm working on taking it step by step, seeing how it goes, testing the market, seeing what works. Speaking to different people, tweaking it as we go. And I'm also been able to be kept occupied with still obviously having conversations with people and tools that they need, but still having that training element still, you know, kind of keeping people involved.
You know, their course isn't just going to be on property investment. It's more it's introduction to property.
So, yeah, real kind of as you can see, I'm kind of in tune to two things, but still, it still feels really in alignment with what I want to be doing and how I want. You know, I feel really good with my projects at this time, but I think I'm not said, you know, there's a deadline and we have to do this by this time.
Well, yeah.
Yeah. The sort of the flexibility is there if you, if and I think you said at the start around like having to pivot and so yeah it, you know, you've not
yeah. It's maybe what I'm taking from that is that maybe the first few steps are quite clear in what it is that you need to do.
But the project in terms of the overall, like where you actually end up, may shift and change with time. And as you get further along the path, maybe new ideas open up. And yeah, that's sort of what I'm taking from that.
Yeah, literally that's literally how I feel. Yeah.
Yeah, I like that. I think what you touched on there around the idea of the market research, I think is a really important thing for maybe listeners that are thinking about starting a business or starting out in business, like, you know, doing that part of the like the due diligence and speaking to people.
And, you know, what is it actually that people need like, so that then you can uncover the like the, the root of the problem, I guess, rather than having an idea, you go off, spend all your time creating something and then no one actually wants or needs it. Yeah.
Because there's that there is a kind of pressure that we have to have everything perfect.
So I still sometimes feel like there's no, you know, you've got to have everything perfect behind the scenes. And then you go and say, hi everyone. This is it. And this is all perfect and it's all dazzling. But yeah, it doesn't need to be like that. The things don't work like that. And actually
It's nice to go on the journey and it's nice to bring others along with on the journey. So just kind of from what you said, listeners who are thinking about starting a business or are working on it quietly and they're waiting for this magical day when they're going to pop up and say, oh, here it is. Good idea.
But it doesn't have to be in private. It doesn't have to be, you know, you work hard quietly, and then one day you pop out and it's all perfect. You know, it's this is life. It's the journey. It's meant to be imperfect pretty much the whole way along.
Yeah, I like that.
Well, I was touched ever so slightly on, like, systems.
And I know you've mentioned a few, like, different tools and stuff that you use and part of your, new, company is like to sort of bring things all into one place. But when we think about good systems and getting our time back, is it an example from your business that you could share where you know you've experienced that ability to save time through the use of a tool?
You know, the main thing that has saved my time is turning all my notifications off,
I can distract myself. So, like, it's so easy to be distracted and.
It took a long while to get here. It was like step by step of like first the social media, notifications go off, then the message in an email.
But I now
I work on what's in front of me. I time block, and if I do get distracted, or if I do see that I'm kind of wasting time, I acknowledge that it's happening. Nice. Yes. Sounds bizarre, but again, a part of, you know, being in in charge of your own time, sometimes in the middle of the day, I will just I will sometimes want to team squad.
So if I'm going to do scroll in the middle of the day I will acknowledge, okay, is this what you're going to do? Is this your lunch break time, Melissa? And then you know, set a time limit to kind of get back back to it.
That's really impactful. Yeah I, I have my notifications off as well. I think the only I still have some WhatsApp ones on mainly because of my kids, you know, they, they might be messaging me or whatever.
But the, the main one is if you know something's urgent, people can phone me in like a phone call unless it's on, my phone's on, like, do not disturb. A phone call will normally come through to me. But, yeah, that made a massive difference because you're right, it before it could have been pings from all sorts of different things.
I forget the statistics, but, like, you know, it's something ridiculous. Like, I'm going to say like every three minutes there's a distraction or like something, something crazy. And then every time you're distracted trying to then claw back your focus and get back into what you're doing is really hard.
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And even down to, like, the times I set meetings, or like even meeting, you know, coffee meetings and stuff like that, I'm a lot more, I think about the whole day, you know, what do I need to get done today?
Because if I'm, if I'm going out for a meeting, you know, in the morning or if I've got a meeting at some point in the day, it's likely to affect my focus for the day. So I work my tasks around it.
Yeah, yeah. Like that I love
I love that you use time blocking. That's one of my favorites.
Yeah, definitely. Recommend time blocking. Ten on that. Hasn't given it a try. Yeah.
Tell me what what the future looks like. What are your what are you thinking in terms of, you know, you know, future projects or what does the, you know, thinking about using your time. Well, you know, into into next year.
Yeah. So good question.
I think my aim at the moment is to continue to feel happy and the ease with what I'm doing. So I want to bring this into forthcoming years, like I've spent a lot of years getting it wrong in terms of, you know, knowing I'd be, you know, burning myself out and not understanding that you need to take a break and stuff like that.
So future Melissa is just going to keep taking on different projects. I, I would say by this time next year, Fenris, my second company is going to be fully fledged, you know, it's going to the platform will be here. We'll have users and stuff. So I can't even imagine what that's going to be like. So I'm really pleased, really excited.
the fact that I can bring together people and teach them about poverty is something I really enjoy. So yeah, more more training this time next year, I would say as well. So yeah, usually I would answer this question with, yes, you know, I want to have moved to a bigger house.
And, you know, I give really people answers, but actually I'm really pleased with where I've got to. I can't believe that I've even got to this point. I can't believe I've become this person that, you know, thinks about my time and my productivity levels and stuff like that. So yeah, more of the same, actually. I want to continue with this mindset and it gets stronger.
Yeah, I love that a lot. Okay, so I have got a few sort of quick questions for you. It's the my little lightning round called the Time Crunch. So my first question for you, Melissa, is do you have one piece of timeless wisdom that you live by or swear by?
Get it? Yeah, it is, it is. Get it done.
So my next question is, what's the best investment that you've made? That's not property.
The best investment. Oh, yeah. It's a typical answer. It's in myself.
But for me, it's anything that I have needed to, get me on my way. So my audible subscription, oh my goodness, that was massively helped. Like just any investment that I have made in my mindset. So
yeah, building my network, meeting the right people and educating myself. Yeah. The books. Yeah.
Do you have, do you have a particular favorite book when you think about like, business mindset?
Yes, I do. It's,
it is Think and Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill, just because of how it's everything's broken down into steps. He talks about mindset. And yeah, it changed my whole perspective on things.
Interesting. Okay. Well thank you Melissa. Where where can the listeners find you? Are you, on a do you have a website or are you on Instagram? Like, where can people find you? Yes. So main place to find me is going to be on Instagram at ML Property Venture. So that's all handle for tick tock as well.
Or Melissa Lewis on Facebook and LinkedIn website is Twitter ML property venture dot Kodak UK. And very soon our landing page will be finished. So that would be Fenris echo.uk. Amazing! That's super exciting. Wishing you all the best with your new projects. I hope that I hope it goes well. And yeah, you can keep me updated with how that's going.
And, when I publish this and everything, I'll put all the links and things. But when you're, when you're, new landing pages ready, you can let me know and I'll update. I'll update everything. Thank you so much for joining me. Thank you so much.
Thank you for listening to On Your Time. If you enjoyed today's episode, maybe you have been nodding along, taking some notes. Do me a favor and leave a quick review or give us a thumbs up or, leave a comment depending on where you're listening or watching. Yeah, it really does help. And please share this with someone who needs a little bit more calm in their calendar.
Until next time. Bye for now.