We recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Olivia Maher, the trailblazing mind behind Cosi Living, to explore her journey into the property industry.

In this inspiring post, we learn about Olivia's remarkable journey from starting as a young apprentice Sales Negotiator to becoming the co-founder of Cosi Living, a successful HMO management agency in Liverpool.

Through her unwavering determination and hard work, she and her partner Joe overcame the financial the worries of a double redundancy to build a thriving property business, that aims to provide exceptional service and top-notch accommodations to their clients and tenants.

After already winning the award for 'Best Master Lease Operator' at the HMO Awards 2022, managing over 250 rooms across Liverpool, and being nominated again for this year's awards, these guys are really making waves in the HMO community at the moment and are aiming to become Liverpool's' biggest (and best) HMO agency in the future.

Read more of their story below.

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Give us an overview of your business, what you do and where?

We are a HMO management agency in Liverpool.

We started out in the industry solely as a rent-to-rent company, but quite quickly realised that the service that we were offering to our landlords was totally different to your standard management agency, and the quality of accommodation we were providing for our tenants was far higher than what was out there for them – that's when we made the decision to grow an agency, and we haven't looked back since.

How did you start out in the industry?

Before meeting Joe I was a Sales Negotiator for Whitegates. I wasn't academic in school at all, so going into an apprenticeship and right into work suited me perfectly! I absolutely loved it, and after a year of doing my apprenticeship I was asked to stay on full time and was put in charge of the sales department (which I was over the moon with!) I always remember thinking how much I'd love my own, but as I was only 17 at the time I didn't know how my career would go, but I definitely knew that I had a passion for property.
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In 2017, an opportunity came up for a contracting role at Clydesdale & Yorkshire bank. Although the actual position wasn't particularly thrilling, it presented an tempting risk-reward balance. As a contract role, I knew it could potentially be withdrawn after three months. Additionally, being self-employed, days off and holidays wouldn't be covered. However, these factors contributed to a highly competitive day rate. At that time, with my minimal personal expenses - living at home and having no car - the decision to take the risk seemed clear-cut, mainly due to the potential savings.

On the first day of training, I found myself sitting next to someone named Joe. And as the cliché goes, the rest is history!

Joe had the same mindset in regards to savings, and funny enough had a massive passion for property and business too, due to listening to podcasts and reading books about both. We both made the decision to just save as much as we could, knowing that one day when the contracts end, we would have a pot of cash available to do with what we like.

We both moved from one contract to another doing the same type of job, and then COVID-19 hit and we were stuck in the house with no work and an endless amount of time! We pretty much spent the first lockdown looking into all different property strategies, and we came across the R2R model. We explored buying a franchise, and also buying a vanilla buy-to-let but none of that excited us, due to our circumstances we wanted something that we could put our capital into, that would create reoccurring income, quickly.
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After the second national lockdown we had been furloughed at this point and had managed to secure our first rent to rent property, which was a HUGE 10 bedroom property. Juggling this massive project, along with still trying to hit our targets at work, definitely had an affect on the quality of our work, but at this point the property and business were our priority.

But then the company announced that they were making 50% of the company redundant . We thought that even if one of us was to go (which we both knew would be me, as Joe was slightly better, ONLY SLIGHTLY! 😅) that we'd be fine, but the list eventually came through via email (totally brutal), and both our names were on it!

The income from that one property alone wasn't enough to cover our wages, but it was enough for us to get by. That was the point where we thought it's now or never, so we've got to make this work. From that point on, property 2, 3 and 4 came quite quickly!

You started out at a very young age, did you have any hesitations because of this?

Honestly, no, I really haven't felt held back by my age at all. I've always been quite mature for my age, so it never seemed to be a factor. We've only ever had one or two people ask about our age since we started. This could be due to our confidence and passion for what we do. I think that us investing so much time and energy into becoming experts, and caring about providing the best service, makes age irrelevant.

What does your support network look like (i.e. mentor, mastermind, network)?

Our support network is incredible! I truly believe that surrounding yourself with like-minded people, who will hold you accountable and who you can learn from, is one of the key factors to success. Each month we have a full day in Sheffield with Andy Graham and Jade McNeil at The Business in Property Mastermind, and each time you come away feeling inspired!

Andy has also been our mentor for 2 years now, and now feels more like a friend – we couldn't thank him enough! Having somebody there who is 5 steps ahead, who you have to bounce questions/ideas off, is worth its weight in gold. As the business is changing so much it's nice to have somebody who is not involved in the day-to-day to have an outsiders point of view, to be able to let you know that what you're doing is right, or if there are any improvements that can be made, which will benefit the business.
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I also think you build really strong bonds with people during networking sessions, everybody knows a lot about your business, which is the most important thing to you, and everybody is so happy and passionate for your success, which is just so refreshing.

You work side-by-side with your partner Joe, what are the benefits of building a business together?

It's the best! A lot of people say "I don't know how you work and live together 24/7!", but since we met we have always worked together, so I suppose we don't know any different!
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It can be tough at times, experiencing the stressful moments in the business together. But despite that, I wouldn't change it for the world. In the face of difficulties we often tell each other, "it's all part of the journey."
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We realised early on that we both have different strengths and weaknesses, which is a huge benefit to the business. We're the best team, and I'm so happy we're in it together!

How do you manage to keep the balance of work and fun, tell us what you do to unwind and switch off?

To be honest we really struggle to switch off, especially because we're in it together.

We're both so passionate about the business and know exactly where we want to take it. So for us, chilling at home with our laptops, knowing that what we're doing is benefitting the business, is better than simply chilling out and watching TV.

That being said, we do absolutely love our holidays, so I would say when we do go away, we like a nice hotel in the sun, as that's probably the only time we can fully switch off from work mode!

At home, I would say I can kind of switch off when spending time with my niece Myla, as I want to be as present as I can be whilst she's going growing up because it's going so quick, and I also think its so important to see friends and family when we have the time.

The time goes so quickly when you're so busy, and when growing a business you feel like it's your whole life, and often forget that live is going on outside of that.

What 3 bits of advice would you give to anyone who is thinking about starting their own business?

Go for it! Don't worry about people telling you not to. Take the risk, work hard, be prepared for up's and down's, and if you want it enough, you will achieve it!
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Enjoy the journey, and don't get too caught up on the end goal, the start is the best bit.

Don't care what people think! Do what makes you happy.

You recently launched your new brand ‘Cosi’, tell us why you decided to take the branded approach?

For us, our previous brand J.O. Property Group just didn't represent us as a company or a brand – it was formal, it was standard, and it was just like every other agency out there.
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We wanted a name that represented us. We wanted something that stood for co-living, stood for a young company, who have a different approach to the way young people live together, Cosi Living.

The colours and design we have gone for is a true reflection of who we are, and we couldn't be happier with the feedback we have received about it!

Where do you see your business in 10 years time?

This is such a hard one! We would like to be the leading HMO agency in Liverpool, and in other large student cities.

What is the business focus for the next 12 months and why?

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GROW GROW GROW!! This year, our main goals were to successfully roll out the rebrand, which we have done, and also to double the amount of rooms in the portfolio.

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If you haven't already, please go and follow Cosi Living on Instagram to keep up-to-date with their progress and projects (and to watch them become Liverpool's biggest HMO agency!): @getcosi_

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