Camilita Nuttall is the world’s No. 1 “Rock Star” international speaker, is the founder of Event of Champions®, a seven-time award-winning corporate sales and business growth expert, an executive business coach, an entrepreneur, an author and a property investor. She has been featured in Forbes magazine and quoted in Think & Grow Rich for Women. Camilita has appeared on SKY TV, BBC Business News and with Dr. J. B. Hill, Napoleon Hill’s grandson, in front of 20,000 people. Camilita is a top sales expert who works with companies to increase their profit and create workable systems through strategic planning. She has traveled to 50+ countries and lived in Spain, Germany, Trinidad, Netherlands, and the UK.
“So we went to see the lawyer and he told us there had been a big upheaval because the guy who sold us the land, who my brother had put us on to, had sold the land three times over to another 10 or 15 people. We just froze because we knew then that there was no way we would ever get our money back.”
– Camilita Nuttall
Worst investment ever
You trust your family, don’t you?
Camilita grew up in the Caribbean, where family means trust and helping each other, especially growing up poor so you tend to believe your family. After moving to the UK and enjoying some success, her global businessman brother who had earlier moved to Britain thought with Camilita’s success she might be interested in some opportunities back in Trinidad.
Amazing property deal
Her brother introduced an “amazing” property deal to develop a piece of land because Camilita was already a property investor in the UK, and they could make share profits touted to her as in the millions, with her brother managing the project on the ground. So he introduced Camilita to the purported landowner, who was going to inherit the land from his father, or so she thought. The landowner was quite pushy about the benefits of the deal
‘Don’t worry, he’s legit’
Her bother said he knew the man, he trusted him, said he was legitimate, the brother had seen the land, said it was great and that it was not far from where he lives and that he would watch the deal carefully. Then he asked Camilita to send US$10,000 as a deposit to hold the land and “don’t worry”.
‘My brother won’t let me down’
She thought: “This is my brother, he would not betray me. I trust him. He wouldn’t let me down. Camilita’s husband was very skeptical but I sent the money and then they went to Trinidad to do the paperwork. Her brother then suggested using the same lawyer that the “seller” was using.
Despite studying law, she agreed to share lawyer in land purchase
Camilita studied law, but she still agreed to this unusual arrangement. She trusted her brother because he is her brother. The lawyer assured them he could handle the whole matter and that everything was in hand and they felt confident. Then the lawyer asked for more money for the process. And added, that there was more land available and suggested buying that as well and that with more land, Camilita could make more money. Her and her husband and brother thought they might as well buy all the available land because of the opportunity.
Loaded up on more land
On an outlay of $50,000, they could make $2-3 million in developing the land. They went ahead with it, but they were spending more and more money to pay for this supported land. The lawyer was supposedly doing all transactions, and they had paid him upfront.
Return to Trinidad to find house built on ‘their’ land
About a year and a half later, they returned to Trinidad to find there was a house on the land they had supposedly bought. They went to see the lawyer who said there was a big problem because the guy who sold the land, who her brother had connected her with, had sold the land three times over to another 10 or 15 people. They then realized there was no way they would ever see that money again.
Revelation that seller and sold the same land to many
Camilita and her husband stayed in Trinidad for another two months trying to get their money back. Meanwhile, she was neglecting their existing businesses back in the UK. They never got a cent. The lawyer however returned their money as he acknowledged he should have done better due diligence.
Some lessons
Do thorough due diligence.
Use independent lawyers.
Have a contract in hand before handing over any money.
Have multiple streams of income so that loss in one deal doesn’t ruin your life.
Andrew’s takeaways
Most common mistake investors who have spoken to Andrew is:
Failure to do their own research. Andrew said that wasn’t Camilita’s core mistake, but it was more about mistake
Failed to properly assess and manage risk. That includes not just research what return an investor is going to make but all the risks as well.
Separate the process of researching the return of a project from assessing the risk of a project.
Actionable advice
Camilita's
Trust no one
Have a contract with a legitimate attorney for everything that you do.
Andrew’s
Don’t ever feel bad about having contracts, because it’s normal business practice.
No.1 goal for the next 12 months
Camilita has three
- To grow my inner circle to really support entrepreneurs across the world, to really understand what they need to do to build, sustain and develop a global brand.
- To grow my podcast so that we can have other successful entrepreneurs, people that I follow and people that follow me across the world, and to interview some more amazing people.
- To grow my Event of Champions to really support entrepreneurs at events so that they understand what their needs are and allow the speakers to meet their needs.
Parting words
“If it’s not making money, it’s not making sense. Do your due diligence."
You can also check out Andrew’s books
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