Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Meetrah Amini – Ohlen . We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Meetrah thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love for you to start by sharing your thoughts about the pros and cons of family businesses.
I’ve had the unique experience of working with my family for most of my life. I’ve worked with my mom and also my husband. I started working weddings with my mom when I was 17 years old. I started out just assisting then progressed into taking on clients of my own. With my husband, he flips houses and I’ve listed them for him over the past 3 years. I realize that family businesses aren’t for every family. For me, it’s proven to be a beautiful blessing. I get to work with people who I love, enjoy spending time with and trust. All businesses have tough scenarios to overcome – I’d rather tackle those obstacles with someone who I know has my best interests at heart.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
When I was in high school, my mom was trying to find ways to keep business costs low. She had been an accomplished hair stylist her entire life but she was tired of salon costs and had no interest in opening her own salon. To offset that challenge, She and I started networking with bridal boutiques, wedding planners and venues. Eventually, we would become a team of 12 stylists catering to large bridal parties , private clients and a few celebrities on location (anywhere and everywhere). It’s been a great way to combine my passions: people, hair styling and travel.
Real estate came into my life much later. My husband convinced me to get my license so I could start helping him list homes he was flipping. Over the last couple years, his business has grown tremendously. It’s been a great learning experience for me. Mostly, tackling a lot of self doubt and worry. This industry was so different from what I was used to but at the end of the day – it was offering the same level of professionalism, client services and attention to detail that I came to love.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I had my first baby in September and lost my father to cancer in December. To have such major life events happen so close to each other was emotionally overwhelming. Through the kindness and patience of our clients , I’ve been able to continue working weddings and listing homes. Every day has its own struggles but the love and support of my family has helped me find strength I didn’t know existed in me , mentally and professionally.
We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.
Although I started doing hair when I was in high school – my parents still sent me to college and to study abroad in Europe. Hair and real estate were never in my career path in the beginning. After college I worked in Europe for 3 years as a logistics coordinator. It was only when I came back to Dallas that hair became something I fell in love with doing full time – it allowed me to travel to beautiful venues all over the map. I knew I wanted this career when I started getting out of town clients regularly (Colorado, Montana, Florida, Mexico etc). It was around the time that we started getting overseas brides that our business scaled up to an agency of stylists working with us. It was a long road to where we are today.
With real estate, it was opposite. It feels like this path landed in my lap and just took on a life of its own , overnight. It went from listing a house about once every 4-6 weeks to listing almost every week. I like to give credit where credit is due and that credit goes to my husband for seeing potential and simply encouraging me along the way.
Contact Info:
- Website: Www.meetrah.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/meetrah?r=nametag