Each month we interview ONE of our members to discover their story and have them share their experience of setting up their own real estate business with One Agency.
Under the spotlight this month is Peter Vasiliou from One Agency Peter Vasiliou, from Wentworthville in the Western suburbs of Sydney. Peter has been a real estate agent for the past 17 years and has had his real estate business with One Agency for more than two years.
What do you love about your work in real estate? What drives you? I’ve been in the business since 1998 and still love it because of the flexibility and freedom it gives me. I’m driven by results and good customer service.
What attracted you to the One Agency business model? The ability to be your own boss with a great business model behind you and the fact that I can run the business in the way I want to.
If you want to have a more secure future as a real estate agent then you’ve likely been thinking about how you can retain more of your hard earned commission, and your real estate business opportunity for 2015.
It’s obvious to most that you’ll do better if you have your own real estate business, but if you’re concerned it’ll be too hard to do it alone read on… there are smarter ways to get started. See what Paul Davies, Managing Director of One Agency has to say about setting up for yourself:
“I only wish one agency had been around twenty years ago when I was setting up businesses because honestly it’s a no brainer. The business of the future is simple light-weight, effective and economical that’s what One Agency represents. I was a franchisee for twenty years and there were lots of restrictions. Why? Who likes them? At One Agency there’s no restrictions, you do business the way you like to do business, it’s what you’re good at. Make it enjoyable and make it profitable. The future is yours to choose.”
One Agency is different and we love the fact that it’s different. We’re a licensing arrangement, not a franchise, it’s a more efficient and economical solution for agents where they can operate their own business at a fraction of the cost of a usual real estate business and keep 100% of their fees.
We work very closely with agents to maximize their income,then we make sure they keep as much of that income as possible. We work very closely on the bottom line, it’s called profit. That’s what we’re good at and that’s what we deliver.
Don’t let fear hold you back from taking control of your own financial future this year.
Sandy Morris joined One Agency in April 2014 and is the Principal of One Agency Sandy Morris in Canberra.
She initially heard about One Agency through a former colleague at a large agency who had made the move and with his encouragement Sandy took a look at the One Agency business model.
‘The decision to join One Agency was not one that I made lightly. I had a great offer to join one of the other large agencies in town but I put quite a bit of thought into what I wanted to get out of the next 10 years in real estate. The freedom to run my own business the way I wanted to run it was the deciding factor for me.’
Once the decision had been made the rest flowed very smoothly for her.
‘Head Office took over and provided me with everything that I needed to get myself started and I had some very supportive vendors that followed me to One Agency so that was a nice start and I am thrilled with how it is going now.’
Sandy set up her business at home and the team at head office organised all the stationary, signboards, sold stickers and branding, helping to keep the whole process simple.
The holidays are becoming a distant memory for most of us and the shiny goals we set for 2014 may also be fading fast!
If you’ve been looking for a great business opportunity and thinking of setting up your own real estate business but are concerned it’ll be too hard to do it alone, why not consider what Paul Davies, Managing Director of One Agency has to say about setting up for yourself.
“I only wish one agency had been around twenty years ago when I was setting up businesses because honestly it’s a no brainer. The business of the future is simple light-weight, effective and economical that’s what One Agency represents. I was a franchisee for twenty years and there were lots of restrictions. Why? Who likes them? At One Agency there’s no restrictions, you do business the way you like to do business, it’s what you’re good at. Make it enjoyable and make it profitable. The future is yours to choose.”
In this blog, taken from Real Estate Business Online, Tom Panos busts some common myths about real estate:
Myth #1: The most successful real estate salespeople are born, not made Fact: Incorrect. Yes, a good agent may have a tendency and inclination to be a savvier negotiator with better people skills, but these are things that can be learnt and nurtured. Research shows that at a maximum, people are operating at 50 per cent of capability which means the majority of human beings are not realising their potential.
Myth #2: Agents that write $1m in gross commission do a lot of cold calling Fact: There is no evidence that seven figure agents do cold calling. Seven figure agents run an attraction business that is built on momentum; their prospecting is best defined as either “warm” or “smart” calling. They simply are nurturing contacts they already have. In marketing this is called “lead nurturing”. At one stage they did have to do cold calling, but most of these agents have got to a level where they are having more calls come in than calls go out.
We are looking forward to seeing many of you at our upcoming conference 28th November 2013 at the Novotel Brighton Beach.
Tom Panos is back to present by popular demand and we have a great day planned for all our members. Steve Carroll, Head of Sales Residential North at realestate.com.au will present after lunch and then a session with Joshua Hodge, State Sales Manager NSW/ACT for RP Data. You will have received an email announcing our new and enhanced RP Data Subscription for all our One Agency members at a greatly discounted fee – contact Head Office for further information.
Tony Chadwick Co-Founder of Rype Ideas – a new fresh IT technology business offering Apple-centric and cloud based business and creative solutions will present “Work in the Future Today”. It’ll be a great session.
The day concludes with a sharing and learning session before heading up to the bar for some festive cheer!
We have a new product catalogue launching next week with some great new items:
As the Managing Director of One Agency I talk to a lot of real estate agents who are unhappy in their current situation.
Many are considering taking the leap into starting their own agency and the biggest hurdle in making that decision is often fear.
An acronym I like for FEAR is False Evidence Appearing Real. You may be sick of working for a principal who retains more than 50% of your hard earned commission, or you may be a principal who is sick of feeding the ever hungry franchise head office with your hard earned profits. What’s stopping you from taking control of your financial future?
If you are fearful of opening your own business or moving out from the constraints of a traditional franchise, it would be productive to identify what the specific items are, that make you feel that way.
You need to analyse each of those fears and determine if they are ‘real’ or not.
Fear is a paralysing emotion and generally doesn’t achieve anything much positive. That is of course unless it’s fear your personal safety, such as crossing a busy road, which is to be respected. However for the most part, when we look back at what we were once fearful of we often find that we have usually moved on and it no longer applies. This is what typically happens if you plan to open a business, you feel the fear and then do it anyway, then wonder what it was you were fearful about in the first place! The perceived fear is ALWAYS greater than the actual situation, in other words, it’s never as bad as you think.
So let’s talk specifics. You’d love to have your own business (and who wouldn’t like the freedom AND BENEFITS that brings?) but you are fearful. The first thing you should know is that you are completely normal. Totally and utterly normal.
Whenever we step into unfamiliar territory and take a leap of faith, we don’t know what may occur and therefore it makes sense to have certain amount of fear and trepidation. That’s to be expected and it’s perfectly understandable.
Are you a real estate agent and feeling undervalued or uncertain with your job security in your role with your current employer?
Or are you a real estate business owner who is swamped by massive overheads that are eating into your profits?
I meet a lot of agents and business owners who are disenchanted with the actual profit they get to take home at the end of each working week. Many established agents bring great financial reward to their employers putting in hard graft only to see a big chunk of their commissions going towards funding the bosses European holidays or luxury cars.
Dealing with the inequities on the sales room floor is why so many (and often very talented agents) burn out and leave the profession. There can often be internal politics, fighting for listings, losing hard worked territories after re-structures or simply being overlooked and undervalued with the goal posts constantly moving.
As an agent you may think you’re secure but you’re completely at the mercy of the business owner. But that’s no fault of the business owner, I’ve been both and employee and an owner and I’ve made some obvious mistakes along the way. So I’m not pointing any fingers here. It’s just the way the real estate business is set up.
