Factors for Launch

6 December 2020

Written by Acme Mag

Twelve months ago Josh Saliba did something that many real estate professionals aspire to do – he stepped out into the unknown to begin Saliba Estate Agents. In this issue of Acme Magazine we spoke with this incredible agent to get a better understanding of the journey behind taking ‘the leap’ and where the leap of faith in himself has led to.

Even with a global pandemic being thrown into the mix while being situated in one of the most affected states of Australia, Saliba Estate Agents, comprising Josh himself and a stellar team have thrived; something that even Saliba himself shares some disbelief, “the business has moved a lot quicker than I thought it would despite COVID. You can’t fully predict what will happen in life so that certainly threw a spanner in the works for us”.

A factor that often plagues the minds of those starting such a journey is ‘will I thrive, merely survive or fail?’ leading to contingency plans that focus on mitigating stagnation or failure. Saliba, like most, planned for worst case scenarios but instead was met with rapid growth. This positive outcome is actually a make or break moment with some bowing under welcomed pressure. When faced with this welcomed hurdle, Saliba and his team met it by focusing on what they know to be fundamental for success:

“We’ve got a good team, we do the right thing, we do right by people. We went through a state of panic but realised that if I kept doing what I had been doing for the last 10 years or so, we would pull though”.

Saliba then went on to point out that this traditional service focus is balanced by well researched technology for smooth processes and systems that can withstand even the bumpiest of environments.

Saliba, having focused a significant portion of his pre-Saliba Estate Agents career on using marketing and visually appealing assets recognised that for his grand vision to pay off, he would need to develop a brand that would be remembered and that would connect but with little time he knew that it was a tall order, “I came to Steve Osborn in November with the view to launch in January and Steve was like “are you serious?!”, to which I responded “yeah, yeah we just gotta do it” and I don’t know how we pulled it together but the Identity Marketing team came up with an amazing concept which I think there was maybe one or two revisions at the most. Nothing major, the bulk of (the branding) was absolutely nailed” shared Saliba.

Although the branding experience was certainly expedited for Saliba Estate Agents, the planning behind the overall concept and business certainly wasn’t.

“I planned that I wanted to do this for a very long time, I just didn’t know when I wanted it to happen, so the transition of opening up the business was straightforward,” said Saliba.

Don’t mistake the experience of opening up your own agency as easy as Saliba says, “It’s been a lot of bloody hard work and if there’s anything that’s hard it’s the amount of hours that you need to do, in saying that I was already doing those hours. I was already 7 days a week, in fact I was probably working harder prior to opening up Saliba Estate Agents which is weird…”

Although transitioning from another’s business to your own may be comparable in hours, it’s certainly a different kind of work which tests your character and resolve: “you go past boundaries and what you start to realise is that what you thought your limit was, wasn’t actually your limit and the only way you find that out is to push yourself past the point of breaking. There are a couple of times this year that I have been burnt out but I didn’t know I could push myself that far and now I know where my limit is, or rather where I think my limit is” said Saliba.

Aside from pushing limits and time frames, starting out on your own will reveal areas of inexperience, which is why Josh Saliba says it’s imperative that you surround yourself with inspirational people to assist in transforming all areas of business – yourself, your team and the business as a whole, “I was quite lucky to have a good coach in Josh Phegan to keep us in line and advise us on what we needed to do. Prior to even going out or thinking of going out you need to run a business or be working for someone else that is running a business the way you want to run yours. If that’s not possible you need to go out and find people that have successful businesses that are
similar to your dream business” advises Saliba.

Twelve months in and a roller coaster of experience later, we can’t help but ask – what’s next for Saliba Estate Agents? Josh Saliba knows he doesn’t have an exact picture of the future, however he is certainly focused on supportive growth and sharing his love for opportunity, “I just need more help, to be honest with you! (laughs). The future sees hiring more staff because there’s so much opportunity out there and the one thing I love about real estate is the opportunity that’s out there – you’ve just got to go and find it. Overall, the view is to grow the people in the business, the people that we currently have, so lifting them up to be able to handle more and be more skilled. I want to get our sales having their own teams so they can go and run things. Lastly, I would love to take a step back and work on the business, improving our systems and the way that our staff do things to make it easier for them,” shares Saliba.

Advice from Josh Saliba for a successful first year: