A gentleman named Matt Britt inspired me to take the leap into entrepreneurship. He purchased my first business book, signed it, and gave it to me. When I first had it in my hand I was thinking, “Who does this guy think he is?”, but then I read it and became addicted. Now I have a library of business, leadership, and self growth books. I think the first leap into entrepreneurship is taking the leap to start reading and stop watching - TV & Youtube is full of pop culture, immediate gratification & get rich quick testimonials. I think the real knowledge lies in books.
I left my comfortable six figure job in Ottawa, sold two properties that I owned and moved to Toronto to start my own real estate team. It’s been a challenge, I’ve been here for a year and just this month have I started making the progress and helped the amount of people that I was used to in Ottawa.
The biggest hurdle for me was building my network from almost 0 in Toronto. After living in Ottawa for 13 years I knew many people and was fairly established. I was a big fish in a small pond, a really small pond. Now I’m a really small fish in a giant ocean of people! Building my base of clients, friends, contractors, service providers, & business allies has been the real challenge. It’s not something that can be done overnight. I think the trick is not comparing yourself to other more established people in the business.
My friends and family have been very supportive. I was asked “Why” quite a bit, but my answer speaks for itself. I was simply bored. I wanted a new challenge and a new adventure.
The single most influential factor in my business success is reading all the business & leadership books and attending all of the seminars I can.
What I wish I knew when I started: Tracking expenses, it’s easy to get the money to start flowing in, but to have a really defined budget and business plan with weekly accountability meetings to keep the costs down is really important. I just started doing this months ago & since I did that I’ve had the best month of my career (just this month)
Advice for entrepreneurs: The secret to being an entrepreneur lies in the cliche: Don’t quit, you’re not alone. If it was easy everyone would do it. Success isn’t built overnight, adapt & overcome.
