The Property Doctor

Dr Andrew Threadgold

Entrepreneurship podcast where Andrew documents his journey from NHS doctor of 20+ years into a 'seat of the pants' entrepreneur. Initially this was through property (which enabled his exit from the profession) and more recent years through running his other trading businesses. Its a healthy mix of amazing contributors and their stories, advice, analysis and discussion with like minded individuals.

  1. 4d ago

    From door to door at 19 to a £2m roofing business, with Paull Newsome

    Paull Newsome started out selling Christmas trees at 14, trained as a marine engineer, then walked out of the door at 19 with an empty briefcase to sell double glazing door to door. Today he is co-founder of Proactive Flat Roofing (Vanguard Waterproofing Systems Ltd), a flat roofing business that has held around the £2m mark and is pushing for more. In this episode of The Business Doctor Broadcast, part of The Property Doctor podcast, Andrew asks Paull where it all began and what each chapter taught him. They cover learning KPIs one door at a time, going from zero to millions in nine months and then going bust with orders still sitting in the warehouse, the BBC report that had him heading for the Channel Tunnel with a million pounds in his boot, taking a business from man and van to £2.6m without negotiating any shares, the Green Homes Grant rollercoaster, and how he is now using AI agents to try to make himself redundant (and designing a flat roof robot on a walk). Find Paull: vanguardwaterproofing.co.uk and LinkedIn (Paull Newsome). 00:00 Welcome, Paull Newsome 00:24 Unread books and a marketer's dream 02:09 Christmas trees, paper rounds and marine engineering 03:34 Selling double glazing door to door at 19 07:53 Every door is worth money: learning KPIs 09:58 Zero to millions in nine months 10:36 Why they went bust: cash flow 14:24 The BBC, a million pounds and the cleaner 16:35 Black Wednesday and the mortgage 18:17 Choice, consequence 20:36 Plan for the worst, hope for the best 22:14 Elon Musk, plan A and playing to win 23:56 Paull 2.0: insurance, America and kitchens 26:22 Mexico 86 and the Hand of God 27:09 From fascias to flat roofs 28:53 Man and van to £2.6m 30:48 The mistake: no shares 32:40 Bolting on a sales system: Zoho and Google Ads 35:07 Going it alone with Stephen 37:16 "Do contractors turn up on time, Andrew?" 38:37 CEO for Christian Simpson 41:31 Covid and the Green Homes Grant 43:47 The VIP campaign and lobbying a minister 45:57 From two teams to eleven 47:08 "On the Saturday, they pulled the scheme" 48:52 Working with government: read the small print 52:09 Replacing a care home roof unasked 53:47 Finding EC 55:51 Top heavy: act faster 57:15 The exit plan: a holding company 59:15 AI: making himself redundant 1:01:22 A five-minute Zoho fix 1:03:31 Designing a flat roof robot 1:06:15 Finding Paull, and a 25th-floor roof Thank you for listening, I'm Dr Andrew Threadgold and the host of The Property Doctor Podcast. You can find me on instagram: www.instagram.com/andrew_threadgold All other enquiries: andrew@cornerplotproperties.com

  2. Oct 11

    How I actually use AI to run my businesses

    How does a former GP running a security company, a physio clinic, a hotel and a property portfolio actually use AI day to day? In this episode I walk up the ladder, from the most basic way people use AI to the most complex thing I've done with it, with real examples from my own businesses. In this episode: - Ground zero: using AI as glorified Google - Level 1: "do this" tasks, like writing a full CCTV engineer job pack in minutes - Level 2: research, including pulling apart six months of bank statements from a business we're looking at buying - A tip you can use today: getting AI to research your competitors and work out who is growing and why - Level 3: basic builds, like an interactive 3D anatomy model for my daughter's Pilates course - Level 4: letting AI drive your computer, from checking job applicants on Indeed to building a live KPI dashboard - Level 5: rebuilding our systems, replacing several paid subscriptions at Hawthorne with our own platform, complete with AI how-to videos - Why your customers don't care whether you use AI, and why the human still matters Want to see the screens? The full video version is on YouTube. This episode is sponsored by Hawthorne. The Business Doctor Broadcast is a new series from The Property Doctor podcast. Business, entrepreneurship, interesting people and the business side of topical stories, from a retired GP who now runs businesses across several sectors. Thank you for listening, I'm Dr Andrew Threadgold and the host of The Property Doctor Podcast. You can find me on instagram: www.instagram.com/andrew_threadgold All other enquiries: andrew@cornerplotproperties.com

  3. Oct 5

    Will Polston: lost everything twice, found his North Star

    Will Polston is a business strategist, performance coach and author of North Star Thinking. He grew up believing money equals happiness, was earning more in a month than most people earn in a year by his late teens, and then lost everything twice, at one point carrying over £300,000 of personal debt. In this episode of The Business Doctor Broadcast, part of The Property Doctor podcast, Andrew Threadgold talks to Will about spotting misalignment between the life you want and the one you are living, whether a coach who has never run a business can help you, why he thinks people really burn out, the five ways he helps people find their North Star, and the lowest point that changed the direction of his life. Find Will: willpolston.com and on Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook. Will's book: North Star Thinking: Master Your Mindset and Live a Life You Love. Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/NFy6qHos8Is If anything in this episode affects you, Samaritans are available free, day or night, on 116 123 or at samaritans.org. Chapters 00:00 Lost everything twice 00:17 Welcome, Will Polston 01:36 Spotting misalignment 02:59 Why he grew up thinking money equals happiness 05:24 From schoolboy trader to City broker 07:56 Tony Robbins and the moment it clicked 09:21 What broking taught him about behaviour 11:50 City culture and what killed the nightclubs 14:07 Can a coach who has never run a business help you? 17:00 Renewables, mushrooms and an AI agency: his businesses 19:50 Trying to build a business on two hours a week 21:54 Why "do it like me" mentoring lets people down 24:34 Clarity, action, accountability 26:32 What a North Star actually is 29:43 How do you wake people up to it? 31:37 Five ways to find your North Star 35:25 Why people really burn out 39:07 Being successful vs looking successful 41:42 Turning a North Star into goals 46:00 £300k in debt and his lowest point 53:14 North Star Thinking, the book 55:33 The one habit he would wave away Thank you for listening, I'm Dr Andrew Threadgold and the host of The Property Doctor Podcast. You can find me on instagram: www.instagram.com/andrew_threadgold All other enquiries: andrew@cornerplotproperties.com

  4. Sep 27

    Business Doctor Broadcast - Deep Diving into Man United's Accounts!

    Manchester United have just posted record revenue of £677.6m. They also lost £43m. So is the club healthy? Can it still buy players? And what does the Glazer debt actually cost? I'm a season ticket holder, and I get frustrated watching people with no business background explain football club accounts. I own multiple businesses and I know my way around a balance sheet, so I've gone through United's FY26 results properly. In this episode: - How the Glazers bought the club, and why the mechanics are the same as an interest-only buy-to-let mortgage - Where record revenue came from in a season without European football - EBITDA and player amortisation in plain English - Why academy players are pure profit on the books - Where the cash went: players, land for the new stadium and refinancing - Why selling future transfer instalments early is a warning sign - Whether the debt really stops United buying players, and what UEFA's squad cost rules mean - Who pays for a new stadium The Business Doctor Broadcast is a new series from The Property Doctor podcast. Business, entrepreneurship, interesting people and the business side of topical stories, from a retired GP who now runs businesses across several sectors. Thank you for listening, I'm Dr Andrew Threadgold and the host of The Property Doctor Podcast. You can find me on instagram: www.instagram.com/andrew_threadgold All other enquiries: andrew@cornerplotproperties.com

  5. Jun 30

    A Doctor's Honest Guide to Leaving Medicine and Building Real Wealth

    Former GP and surgeon Andrew Threadgold sits down to tell the full story of how he built a property and business portfolio that let him leave medicine on his own terms. From a council estate start and medical school in London, to a GMC investigation around 2011 that became the turning point, to years as a touring doctor looking after the crowds (and the odd rock star) at Donington, Madonna's Confessions tour and more, Andrew traces the path that took him out of the NHS and into business. In this conversation he covers: - The GMC investigation that made him rethink everything, and why it set him on a different road - His first property: a flat on Hercules Street, Darlington, bought for £42,000 with a loan from his father-in-law, refurbished himself to learn what a bag of plaster actually costs - The Redcar deal nobody else would touch, and how he bought it creatively - Why serviced accommodation is a hospitality business, not a property strategy, and how aiming to be 10% better than the next best built full occupancy - Buying Halo physiotherapy, and the hard lesson about changing the people in a business you acquire - The skill-will matrix he uses on every member of staff - Acquiring a security firm in Norwich and what really matters when you buy a business: EBITDA, contracted revenue and volume - The rescue deal that brought in around £1.5 million of property for roughly £16,000 in total acquisition costs - How social media changed his trajectory, and why putting yourself out there for free is a no-brainer - Building a portfolio now in triple digits, almost entirely through creative strategies rather than buying on the open market A candid, no-spin look at leaving a secure profession to build something of your own. Ready when you are 🫡 Thank you for listening, I'm Dr Andrew Threadgold and the host of The Property Doctor Podcast. You can find me on instagram: www.instagram.com/andrew_threadgold All other enquiries: andrew@cornerplotproperties.com

  6. Feb 27

    Old Bendylegs Herself! - Dr Jo Watkins!

    In this episode of The Property Doctor Podcast, I sit down with Dr Jo Watkins for a candid conversation about medicine, leadership, risk, and life beyond the consulting room. Dr Jo shares her journey through the medical profession — the pressures, the pivots, and the personal evolution that comes with building a career in a system that demands resilience. We explore identity, responsibility, entrepreneurship, and what happens when high achievers decide to redefine success on their own terms. This isn’t a surface-level conversation. We talk about: The realities of working as a doctor in today’s NHSBurnout, boundaries, and professional responsibilityTransitioning skills from medicine into business and leadershipRisk tolerance and decision-making under pressureThe psychology of high performersBuilding a life that aligns with your valuesIf you’re a clinician, entrepreneur, property investor, or someone navigating change at a high level, this episode will resonate. Medicine shapes the way you think. Business tests the way you act. This conversation sits at the intersection of both. About The Property Doctor Podcast Hosted by Dr Andrew Threadgold, former NHS GP turned multi-business owner, The Property Doctor Podcast explores property, business, leadership, and the mindset required to build and scale in the real world. Expect honest conversations, practical insights, and lessons from people who have actually done the work. Connect with Dr Jo Watkins: www.jowatkins.com Connect with Andrew Threadgold: instagram.com/andrew_threadgold If you found this episode valuable, subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone building something meaningful. Thank you for listening, I'm Dr Andrew Threadgold and the host of The Property Doctor Podcast. You can find me on instagram: www.instagram.com/andrew_threadgold All other enquiries: andrew@cornerplotproperties.com

About

Entrepreneurship podcast where Andrew documents his journey from NHS doctor of 20+ years into a 'seat of the pants' entrepreneur. Initially this was through property (which enabled his exit from the profession) and more recent years through running his other trading businesses. Its a healthy mix of amazing contributors and their stories, advice, analysis and discussion with like minded individuals.

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