There is a reason some investors scale quickly and build real wealth while others stay stuck for years. It is rarely about income, suburb choice, interest rate cycles or luck. More often than not, the difference comes down to mindset. Specifically, the standard you apply to the small things. As Sam Gordon explains in this episode of the Australian Property Investment Podcast:
How you do anything is how you do everything.
The habits you practise in private are reflected in the outcomes you achieve in public. Whether that is how you structure your desk, prepare for your week or review a property deal, the small habits compound into the big financial outcomes. When you combine this mindset with the right environment and the right investment strategy, the results can be life changing.
Below, we break down the mindset, the behaviours and the investing frameworks that the top one percent of investors follow. These work regardless of your starting point or income level.
The Power of the One Percent Rule
Small habits reveal your identity
Sam grew up on a farm where he was responsible for cleaning the sheds. It was a simple chore, but it planted a lesson that shaped his life. The standard you apply to the smallest, unseen tasks is the standard you carry into everything else.
If you take shortcuts with a broom, you will take shortcuts with your finances. If you let the small things slide, the big things eventually follow. Excellence is not an act. It is a habit.
Why elite investors follow this mindset
Property investors who scale quickly all share a few traits. They are consistent, they make decisions quickly, they stay organised and they operate with clear intent. A cluttered desk often becomes a cluttered financial plan. A delayed email becomes a delayed opportunity. The one percent rule is about integrity with your standards. When repeated consistently, it becomes your competitive advantage.
Energy, Proximity and the People Around You
You cannot be what you cannot see
One of the most powerful themes from the episode is the idea that your environment shapes your ceiling. When you surround yourself with people who think bigger, act sharper and move faster, your mindset naturally expands. Sam describes this as the energy or frequency you operate in.
This is why events like the APS Summit create life changing outcomes. More than a thousand people attended the most recent event. Many arrived unsure about what was possible. They left believing in a different future. When you hear real people talk about holding six, eight or ten properties, something inside you shifts. You start asking yourself why not me.
Belief becomes acceleration
People underestimate how much proximity influences behaviour. When you are around people who are winning, you begin to expect more of yourself. You start operating with more confidence. You lift your standards. You stop tolerating average. This is not motivation. This is recalibration.
Why High Income Earners Still Feel Broke
A surprising insight from the conversation is that many people earning 300 to 500 thousand dollars per year still feel financially stuck. These people are often referred to as Henrys. High Earners, Not Rich Yet.
Lifestyle creep is quietly draining wealth
High incomes often come with high living costs. Luxury cars are financed. Large homes create enormous mortgage commitments. Frequent upgrades and expensive experiences become normal. On the outside these people look rich. Behind the scenes, some are running negative cash flow households and do not realise it.
The blue chip trap
Many Henrys believe they must buy in elite, inner city suburbs to feel like successful investors. These properties often come with holding costs of 40 to 60 thousand dollars per year. They drain borrowing capacity and make it extremely difficult to build a scalable portfolio.
Solid, affordable growth markets in blue collar areas consistently outperform these prestige markets in the early accumulation phase. They deliver stronger growth, higher rental demand and significantly lower holding costs.
Kill the ego and grow the portfolio
Sam puts it plainly. You must kill the ego. Status does not build wealth. Strategy does. If your goal is to build long term wealth, choice and financial freedom, you need to focus on performance, not postcode. Properties under seven hundred thousand dollars often deliver better outcomes than prestige homes in the early years.
Rentvesting for Long Term Results
Many new investors believe they must buy their dream home first. This belief is costing people years of progress.
If your ideal home is worth multiple millions, buying it too early destroys your borrowing power. Banks treat your primary residence as a liability. It locks you into repayments for decades and limits your ability to buy investment properties.
Rentvesting gives you the lifestyle you want without sacrificing your long term financial future. You can live in the suburb you love, continue building your career income and use your borrowing capacity to acquire growth focused investment properties.
Cost Versus Return: How Real Investors Analyse Deals
Temporary negative cash flow is part of the strategy
New investors often panic about temporary negative cash flow. They want neutral or positive properties from day one. The reality is that growth properties often cost ten to twenty thousand dollars a year to hold. Your income covers this. The property’s job is to grow.
When a property grows by one hundred thousand in a year, the holding cost becomes insignificant. If a portfolio of six properties grows by half a million or more in a year, the investor is not upset about the temporary outlay. This is how wealth is built. Through compounding equity, not short term cash flow.
Buy for growth, sell for strategy
Scaling a portfolio is not about buying and holding forever. That mindset belongs to a different generation. Real investors buy for growth, then sell when the market has delivered its full return. This frees up borrowing capacity, resets cash flow and allows you to reinvest into stronger opportunities.
This is how portfolios grow from two properties to seven and beyond. Selling is not failure. It is strategy.
Your Income Is Your Cash Flow Engine. Your Portfolio Is Your Growth Engine.
One of the biggest mindset shifts investors need to make is understanding the role of their income. Your job or business income pays your bills and cushions your portfolio during negative cash flow periods. It is your cash flow engine.
Your properties exist to grow your wealth. They are your long term growth engine. Their purpose is capital appreciation. Once growth has been achieved, you consolidate, sell strategically and move capital into high income assets later.
This separation helps investors avoid emotional decisions, lifestyle inflation and poor portfolio planning.
The Only Person Stopping You Is You
The most powerful message from the conversation is that success does not depend on your upbringing, income level or the economy. It comes down to your standards and your beliefs. As Sam often says, the only person who can stop you from becoming an elite performer is you.
Once you remove excuses, upgrade your habits and raise your expectations, your identity shifts. You begin to think, act and invest like someone who expects to win.
Next Steps
1. Audit your habits and environment
Identify small habits that are holding you back. The little things compound into the big things.
2. Review your current portfolio strategy
Determine whether your properties are true growth assets or expensive liabilities.
3. Run a proper cost versus return analysis
Focus on long term returns, not short term cash flow.
4. Reassess your primary residence
Consider whether rentvesting might accelerate your wealth faster.
5. Upgrade your environment
Surround yourself with people who stretch your thinking and challenge your beliefs.
6. Get professional clarity
If you want a tailored plan to scale your portfolio with confidence, reach out for support. The right team and the right strategy can change everything.
👉 Click here to book a free strategy call with our team
For more conversations like this, listen to the full episode with Sam Gordon on the Australian Property Investment Podcast, where we dive deeper into mindset, structure, and the strategy of property investing in Australia.
