Today we’d like to introduce you to Sophia Du Brul, Isa Am

Hi Sophia, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?

Nine years and counting, I am still conducting estate sales and doing appraisals. It started with one sale in 2015, and a hundred sales later, I am one of the premier estate liquidators in the Chicago area.

Along the way, there have some ups and downs and some good business lessons, but despite the challenges, my passion for this career grows stronger. There is something to learn in every sale, and I am really helping people in challenging situations.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?

Covid-19 threw a real curve ball, because I could not do a traditional, in person estate sale which was the cornerstone of my business. I had to pivot to online which meant better photos, more photos, detailed descriptions. It turns out that was a good habit that I continue, even if it is a traditional, in person sale because everyone “shops” first online before they walk into my estate sale. My post-Covid sales are much more successful than my pre-Covid sales, and a lot of that is the online marketing that Covid forced me to master and it made me more flexible in my approach to a sale. Covid taught me a lot of lessons and made me a better estate liquidator.

I also learned to put aside the financial resources to hire a professional when I need one. The cost of entry into the estate sale business is low: create a website, print some signs, scavenge some fold tables, but to really succeed in this business and stand out, I needed to hire a designer to create a better website, a real logo, tighten the branding, create social media templates, etc. It can be hard as a small business owner to set aside a few thousand dollars to get this done, but it is so worth the investment and I no longer feel like I have to do everything myself.

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Sophia’s Estate Sales and Appraisals?

Somewhere, there’s always a house that needs to emptied, and that’s my job. There’s no regulation in the estate sale business, but I took it upon myself to become an appraiser with the International Society of Appraisers to give myself some credentials, and I have to fulfill education and requalification requirements every two years. Having an estate liquidator who is also an appraiser is an advantage and unusual. Being an appraiser gives me the tools and resources to better evaluate a home’s contents and get the correct price for items and sell them in the correct markets and venues. Plus, as an ISA appraiser, I have a code of ethics that I must adhere to in all of my professional practices. This make me different from other estate sale companies.

What was your favorite childhood memory?

Going to museums with my dad. Even though my mother was an art dealer, my dad should have been an art historian (he was an executive for Sears). He was so passionate about art history and starting taking me to museums as a very young child. I vividly remember a trip to the Art Institute of Chicago. I must have been about six, and my father took me to look at two different Van Goghs. He would not let me see the dates. One was a Paris street scene, Impressionist style; the other was Van Gogh’s famous “Room at Arles” with its bright colors, heavy, almost cartoonishly black lines, forced perspective, somewhat primitive in many ways. I had to guess which one was painted first. I picked the room, and I was wrong. Then my dad asked me why to explain why Van Gogh would choose to paint that way. My father was a good teacher. He died a few years ago, and I miss going to museums with him.

Just a little aside, my dad and I had a little game we played in museums, and it’s a great little thing to do when you go to an art museum. Art museums have these huge collections, and we get wowed by the big hits, so we tend to overlook the small items in a collection. So, here’s the game: you have to pick an item that you would like to take home with you, but it has to be small enough to slip into a pocket. When you find your item, you then share it with your companion and tell that person about the item and why you chose it. It forces you to consider the small things and not just the big famous pieces, and you share something you find beautiful with your companion.

Pricing:

• Estate Sale Commission 40%
• Consignment Commission 40%
• Art Brokerage, hourly plus 15% commission
• Appraisals $195/hour

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.sophiasestatesales.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sophias_estatesales/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SophiaEstateSales

Image Credits
Personal photo–Jeremy du Brul
2nd photo–Jeremy du Brul
me holding the cat and all excited–Patty Nitto
all other pictures–Sophia du Brul, ISA AM