A Roast and a New Beginning

Beginning a new company, beginning a new path and beginning a new life. Recently I have been going through a lot of changes. Some sudden and some pre-planned (sort of).

Last month my former real estate company announced that it was going in a “new direction” Usually it’s time to brace yourself when these words are uttered, but there’s a chance it can be good. The company at one point had roughly 350 agents in about 8 years, however with quick growth comes consequence. They admitted that in simple terms they had bitten off more than they could chew. The structure was disorganized with only 4 managers. The ratio of 4 managers to 350 agents takes a toll when new agents don’t know what they are doing. There was just not enough man power to give one on one attention. Thankfully I had good training from the company I was at before that so I was able to get by on my own for awhile. That is until I ran into some personal problems which left me needing a large influx of cash, a similar problem that a lot of agents have. I never seen so many agents begin and end their career immediately after starting there. The motivation stopped at the entrance of the door. What we needed was a leader, and without a leader it’s easy for us sheep to wander out of the heard. I found myself wandering so far off that I ended up in the moving business.

For the last year I had tried my best to blend two industries together, since real estate was the prerequisite of moving, but after learning the hard way, I now have come to realize that each industry deserves it's own dedicated expert. I had to make a choice of where my heart lye's and it was not in moving. I don't shy away from hard work, but I must say that the moving industry is much more difficult than Real Estate and with little reward. It's not as simple as estimating the amount and moving on the to the next. You have to track where your customer is at all times starting with booking the job, sending them boxes, sending their buildings certificate of insurance, changing the estimate if the inventory changes, sometimes be with them on the day of their move to ease their comfort and get them set up with the claims department if the movers break anything. not to mention being verbally abused if the move goes wrong. Take this process and multiply by 15-50 people a month. In addition to this having a prehistoric Moving CRM program that looked a lot like windows 95' doesn't help much either.

However, despite my moaning and groaning I can't say that it was all bad. Much like all breakups it's easy to talk about the negative than the positive, but I can honestly say that there is a part of me that will miss both of them especially the friends that I made along the way. They both helped me get to where I will be in the future and once I reach my destination it will be clear that I wouldn't have been able to get there without them. Thank you two past companies who will remain nameless. You will always be in my heart.

As one door closes another one opens. Two weeks ago I found myself perched on the doorstep of Highline Residential peering in. With impressive technology and thorough training, I saw myself having that same feeling of excitement when I first got into real estate, the feeling all agents get before they realize what they have gotten themselves into. It was a good feeling. To which I decided to move myself in and prop my feet up on the coffee table. I think I’ll stay awhile.