The Events That Led Me To Start My Buyer’s Agency Business
Sometimes it has to go ALL WRONG for it to go ALL RIGHT.
It was 2013 and I had just returned from a month in Asia.
But this was no holiday.
It was therapy.
It had taken around 2 years to finalise my separation from my then fiancé and sadly it had left me mentally bruised battered and depressed.
Like all break-ups this was no different in terms of emotional difficulty but for us, we also had a long list of assets to divide, sell and separate. Businesses, houses, dogs to name a few.
When it was all said and done, I knew in my heart that I needed to get away if I was to get back to a place of happiness and mental stability.
Yes, it was a dark time for me, but I took solace in knowing that I had an extended family waiting for me overseas to ease the burden of the pain I was feeling.
And so I booked a one way ticket to Manila to meet up with my cousin and from there, I hopped around Asia for a few weeks, visiting friends in Singapore and staying in one of the most beautiful hotels I’ve seen - the Venetian in Macau.
Now this trip might sound glamorous to you, but in truth, I was bone broke.
The separation had left me financially devastated to the point where I had less than $5,000 in my bank account and was running on fumes of a maxed-out credit card.
But despite this fact, my cousin took care of me during that time. He paid for my stay in Macau and my friend in Singapore let me crash on his couch for a week.
I needed this trip.
I saw it as my only way to re-set my life and try to get back to a better place.
When I returned to Australia, I needed a job.
I applied for a property management BDM role at a local Ray White office and was hired pretty much straight away.
It lasted all of around 7 weeks before I called my boss in to a meeting, and fired him.
Yep, that’s how it went down.
Just like a break-up, I said the whole, “it’s me, not you” bit and politely thanked him for the opportunity, but it just wasn’t for me and it was obvious to both of us that I wasn’t the right fit.
I fired myself from that job because it was killing my soul (and my finances).
I was so used to earning the bigger bucks as a selling agent that it just felt wrong to be stuck in a role where I couldn’t spread my wings.
Serendipitously, within a few days of firing myself, a recruiter I worked with when I had my sales agency called to see what I was up to.
She knew I had sold the agency and asked if I would be interested in a role as a Buyer’s Agent.
This piqued my curiosity as the space was new and I had never done this before. Having built my real estate career from the ground up from junior receptionist, to property manager, to sales associate, to principal licensee, I was keen to give Buyer’s Agent a go.
Going from sales agent to buyer’s agent.
It took around three to four months for me to fully adjust my mindset to that of a Buyer’s Agent (rather than selling agent) but once I got the hang of things, I flew.
It felt so good being on this side of the fence for a change and I was meeting so many new people, particularly real estate agents, all over Brisbane. I even dated a few of them!
Whilst I was working for the agency, I setup my own website www.wendyrussell.com.au and started writing blogs about property and a short bio on myself and my experience.
I wanted to create my own profile as a Buyer’s Agent and since I’d been in business for myself twice beforehand, it just felt natural for me to have my own website and start winning business for myself and the agency. I figured it was a win/win if I was bringing in business as well as buying for clients.
The trouble was, my boss wasn’t a fan of this plan.
He felt like I was setting myself up to leave but in truth, all I wanted to do was what felt natural to me as a real estate agent. And that was to Win business.
Working for the agency, we were handed clients to represent and I felt this was all so easy because I had been conditioned to having to fight for business in my sales agency.
Being given a lead on a silver platter felt like I wasn’t really earning my keep and naturally, I wanted to impress my boss and start bringing in business of my own.
But in exchange for doing so, I was offered only a smaller percentage of commission and when you sit back and do the math, it only makes sense what the next step should be.
I guess when you look at it, I fired myself from that job too.
Realising I might be “unemployable”.
After around 12 months of working with the agency, it was time for me to go out on my own… for the third time.
To be very honest, it was never my intention from the start.
I was still knocked around from my separation and didn’t need any additional stress of starting a business but tensions began to grow in the office, and it was best that I leave.
Not only this, the office arguments were triggering my anxiety and there was just no way I was going to allow my mental health to slip so low again.
It almost killed me the last time.
Making the jump out on my own was f*cking scary.
I had owned real estate offices before, but I also had a partner to share the emotional, physical and financial load.
This time, it was all on me.
Starting my buyer’s agency business.
I’m proud to say that I never went after the agency’s clients, as tempting as it was.
As a principal licensee in a past life, I’d had this done to me many a time by rogue sales agents and swore I’d never be one to do that to anyone.
And I didn’t.
My first few clients came as referrals from friends and one client I had worked with at the agency chased me down because she flat out refused to work with anyone else but me.
Then I started getting referrals from selling agents and eventually, google started ranking me on the first page, and I was off and running.
The rest, as you know, is history.
But that’s how it all began for me.
It feels good sharing this story because I know that some of you have walked a similar path and can probably relate, or perhaps have thought about it but haven’t had the pain point pushed hard enough yet.
And if working within an agency suits you, then that’s okay too.
Not everyone in real estate needs to be going it alone. It has its challenges - believe me.
How did I do it?
But if you’re curious to learn more about what I did to kick-start the business in those first few months of starting out on my own, I share a detailed breakdown of my first month as an independent buyer’s agent exclusively with members of the WENDYRUSSELL Institute. To access this post, you’ll need to become a member. Sign up below - it’s FREE.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Wendy Russell writes about the realities of a career in real estate. She is a self-made woman and Independent Buyer’s Advocate based in Brisbane Australia, representing busy professionals in luxury home purchases.
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