PDF In just over a month I will be graduating from Saint Mary’s Executive-MBA program. Was it worth it and what’s it got to do with real estate?
My journey back to academia began late spring of 2003 when a newspaper ad caught my eye. It was for the Saint Mary’s EMBA program . “Earn an MBA while working full time, call today”. Having just completed a Dale Carnegie Course a month before, I knew I wanted something to challenge me and tackling an MBA was way outside of my comfort zone and thus something to be conquered. So I called.
I had no idea what I was getting myself into by making the call to Bonnie Kirby, the Program Manager. We had a lovely chat and I agreed to come to the next mini-workshop that gathers up potential EMBA candidates and gives them a run down on different aspects of the program. After the meeting Bonnie got my attention and in her ever so serious manor said “I think you should apply”. I was very impressed she would single me out to give me encouragement to go back to school. The last time I graced the steps of academia was 30 years ago, on my way down them to the working world. It was an escape. The circumstances being, I best leave before the Dean reviewed my marks and locked the doors.
But why go back to school and a “masters” program at that? Good question. I can hear my critics now. “Your a Realtor, God sakes boy, you’re a salesman and there is a reason for that?” Yes, I’ve been a Realtor for 17 years and 15 of those a Broker. But I am also a business person. All Realtors, whether they know it or not, are a small business onto themselves. And as a Broker, not only am I responsible to run the business of managing Realtors, I am responsible to run it efficiently and profitably to ensure continued employment for everyone. In my mind, going back to school would accomplish that.
Many small businesses like mine come to a cross-roads at a certain period of time in their growth. The crux is, should I keep growing or stay small or get out of it altogether. It is a tough decision and one this small business person was agonizing over. Having built the business well beyond my original intentions, I was faced with many decisions on growth, technology, market directions and remaining profitable.
“Profitable” is the key word. I did not know how to remain profitable. Not that the business wasn’t profitable, but it was an outcome I wasn’t managing. The business happened to be profitable by default, but not by my design. With fast paced technology and more and more decisions to be made, I felt future profitability may be in question. I was faced with the hiring a MBA manager or investing in myself and becoming an MBA, I choose the latter.
It is now 20 months later and to my amazement, in less than 3 days, as part of the culmination of the EMBA program, I will be in Shanghai , China (a city of 20 million people) -with 26 of my classmates- for 3 days of business meetings. One of the meetings will be with 88 Chinese student entrepreneurs enrolled in Shanghai International MBA (SIMBA) program and other academics at Tongji University . I will be giving a presentation on a franchise concept developed in Canada and ready for exposure on the international market. This is well beyond any comfort level and any preconceived idea I had of an MBA program or the empowering effect it would have on me.
An MBA has everything to do with real estate. The real estate business is an exciting industry. You have so many things to manage. starting with managing clients, (both buyers and sellers), administration staff, web wizards, your own Realtors, other Brokers Realtors and other Brokers. You have to manage money – your own and the company’s – and balance trust accounts. There is time management – yours and your company’s staff. Human resource management for hiring and firing. Contract management for web hosting, new hires and building leases. Then there is business of knowing how to sell, successful negotiation tactics – “The Art of The Deal”. So having a little “dry powder”, like an MBA goes along way in managing this industry.
So, is there growth in my business? Most certainly. over the course of 20 months I have grown my business by about 30%. That is just in manpower size and now I know how to keep things profitable. My expectations of growth go well beyond anything I had imagined and with the tools I have now, I see no reason why they can’t be achieved.
The most amazing thing I find from these past months is my increase in capacity to do business. Besides the continued growth of Tradewinds Realty to a truly province wide company with realtors in every market area and future Atlantic Canada expansions. I am developing a fitness franchise -Take Thirty Fitness Centers- network for all of China, having secured the distribution rights to Asia. I have also acquired the licensing rights to Asia for a fruit juice company -Euphoria Smoothies-, including the rights to Atlantic Canada. I am working on an affiliation with a national franchise company to develop a Canada wide real estate referral system and lastly I have researched a profitable business plan for a real estate web portal that could service all the needs of Realtors and clients in one location. An lastly I publish this Weblog, usually writing an article every second day. Not bad for a fella that couldn’t decide what he wanted to do 20 months ago!
EMAIL Tim Harris with a comment
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