Why Llion would be an effective mentor

  • As a farmer’s son, Llion can identify with anyone that requires more than one source of income in order to make a living from their farm. 
  • Llion’s way of tackling this was to set about co-founding a self-catering agency called Y Gorau o Gymru / Best of Wales, which grew to be a national company employing up to 12 bilingual staff. This led to 8 years of invaluable experiences in terms of satisfaction, the lessons learnt, and in terms of success.
  • Whilst Y Gorau o Gymru was a success in terms of creating an income that allowed him to return to live on the farm, there was a new challenge – finding time to farm! The next period was therefore an attempt to find ‘financial freedom’ which allowed the necessary flexibility  for the family and the farm. If this challenge sounds familiar to you too, Llion’s hope is that he can share some of his findings to enable you to reach the same goal.
  • To achieve this goal, Llion invested in a 1 year course named Property Mastermind in 2021 which focused on property portfolio building strategies, in order to create a cash flow. He won the best Performer award at the end of the course, which led to a place on the Property Entrepreneur course. This is a training programme over a period of one year which follows a strategic blueprint that has been proven by successful entrepreneurs, to systemize and grow a business in property.
  • For over two decades, Llion has been investing in properties, ranging from self-catering accommodation to ‘flips’, from ‘buy to lets’ to student housing. Until 2021, this was something in the background. Nevertheless, following the investment in specialist courses, Llion managed to increase his portfolio x4 in a period of 18 months.
  • Llion’s wish in his role as a mentor is to be able to use the above experiences to inspire others who also have a desire and vision to develop new initiatives in areas such as self-catering accommodation, property investment and a growing portfolio.

Current farm business

  • Llion is in a farm partnership with his parents and brother, jointly farming 240 acres of grazing land.
  • 375 breeding ewes, mainly Speckles and the rest Mule/Speckles cross and Blue Faced Leicester rams. Blue faced and Texel for the fat lambs and Speckles for ewe lambs.
  • Llion also rents out 4 self-catering units on the farm, including two cottages and two cabins.

Qualifications/ attainments/ experience

  • Winning the ‘Best Performer’ award on the ‘Property Mastermind’ 2021 course.
  • Accepting a place on the ‘Property Entrepreneur’ course, which goes hand in hand with farming and further developing the property investment business. 
  • Co-founding and directing Y Gorau o Gymru / Best of Wales company and winning a number of awards along the way. Some of the main achievements were creating jobs for local people and increasing the business and profits annually. Also, as the only national agency operating bilingually within the sector at the time, the pride of knowing that this, over time, influenced the rest of the industry, to give a more prominent place to the Welsh language and Welshness.
  • Experience of dealing with the interest of larger companies within the industry as a company, and being in a position to negotiate an exit strategy in a way that ensured the continuity of the brand, job retention and extending the company’s Welsh values to even wider audiences.
  • Experience of leading a highly public and ambitious project named ‘Hafan Epic Retreats’ in 2017 which included working in partnership with two other companies with the aim of succeeding commercially, while meeting the government’s requirements on the one hand, and a television company on the other. This led to the TV series ‘Cabins in the Wild’ and secured worldwide publicity for Wales, as well as unique cabins which are still available to book for holidays.
  • Masters Degree in Entrepreneurship from Aberystwyth University.
  • Llion spent the first 4 years of his career working for Menter a Busnes, helping young people to trial business ideas, before spending the next 4 years as Marketing Manager for Cymraeg i Oedolion / Welsh for Adults in Cardiff and the Vale.
  • NVQ Level 5 in Management
  • Professional Diploma in Marketing (CIM)

Top tips for business success

“Make sure the reason “why” is strong enough and clear in your mind before going for it.”

“Make time to enjoy the view from each peak before turning your sights to the next peak.”

“More income does not mean more profit”.

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