Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Rachael Novak. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Rachael, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Talk to us about building a team – did you hire quickly, how’d you recruit the first few team members? Any interesting lessons?
My husband and I have been entrepreneurs for over 18 years – in 2017 is when we go back into Real Estate, just the two of us.
We had the foresight to hire a coach who helped us deepen our understanding of real estate business processes and acumen and we hired our first assistant in August 2017. I treated the hiring process as I was coached to: read the resume, ask the questions, set a few expectations, hire!
At the time, it was not as comprehensive as it is now. I WISH someone would have taught me my 8-step hiring process then and it would have saved a lot of head and heartache :)
We had however made a name for ourselves in our office as the #1 small team month and after month with our sales revenue and GCI, and put out that we were looking for agents to partner with. By the end of 2017, we brought on two agents (one of which is still on the team today). Again – if they had a pulse and a license and answered a few questions the right way… they were in.
We grew big quickly and realized that we were not setting people up for the success they deserved, so we scaled back by raising our standards for production and lifestyle … a lot of people don’t like standards and accountability but we haven’t looked back since.
Understanding your core values, your mission, and aligning that with people you are in business with is absolutely critical to a successful and thriving quality of life and business.
Hiring isn’t just about bringing people in with the minimum requirements but screening those to see who is willing to invest in you just as much as you will invest in them?
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My husband and I started in the building & development space in the mid 2000’s, and it was a BOOMING time.
We then picked up a small restaurant as a “side hustle” in 2007. In 2008, we lost our $7M+ portfolio due to loans being called before project completions.
So, as good young entrepreneurs, we threw ourselves into the restaurant – learning everything from the ground up; bartending, cooking, menu development, marketing, processes, systems, training, manuals, operations, SOPs, HR, and more…
Meanwhile, I also got into the fitness space and coached Crossfit on the side. While having babies in 2009, 2011, and 2015. It was a busy time :)
In 2016 in Washington state legislation passed that increased the minimum wage from just over $10/hr to $15/hr overnight. My husband and I looked at each other in November 2016 and knew that was going to have a devastating effect on a company we had now built to over 420+ employees, 7 locations, and more than $10,000,000 in annual revenue.
So we decided to circle back to our first love; real estate. We were both licensed again within 60 days and while the executive team at the restaurant company was scrambling to save the scraps, we threw our “spare time” at converting real estate leads, just the two of us. We had contacts for marketing, SEO and PPC and knew enough to generate immediate leads so we quickly created follow up systems, action plans, SOPs, and managed very tight schedules between the companies to accomplish what we could.
With 3 months of the change in minimum wage, the restaurant company was deep underwater (as were over 50% of restaurants in Seattle area and WA state)… so we file for chapter 13 in order to save the 5 profitable locations.
The state assigned us a “trustee” to “help” through the transition – unfortunately with zero business experience our P&L overwhelmed her and her team so in May 2017 she sent “managers” to our 5 open locations and shut them down with no notice, putting over 300 people out of work and pushing that company into chapter 7.
May 2017 also happened to be the first month we made over $100,000 in gross commission.
While of course dealing with the fallout of a restaurant business forced bankruptcy we were full speed ahead on serving clients and helping people buy & sell real estate.
Business is a mutual exchange of value and after owning a restaurant company for 10 years, hiring and firing hundreds of people and getting a LOT of frontline experience with human nature, I know what to look for, how to hold people accountable, when to cut people loose, and when to empower and give others a platform.
There will always be victims and I will always be the bad guy in someone’s story… but while I can certainly find “success” myself, my long-term success is predicated on first making many others successful and making their ideal lifestyle a reality.
Building a team isn’t for the faint of heart and retention of teammates is the hardest “thing” to figure out. With teammates who have been with me for 3, 5, 8+ years and even a few ending with us and us getting to see them into retirement I have been fortunate enough to align myself with some incredible people while at the same time making incredible impact serving our local communities with housing, while maintaining over $100,000,000+ in real estate sales volume for 8 years straight.
We do things a bit differently, in that – we are a true team. Our admin are empowered to be very client-facing and show off and utilize their expertise often. We didn’t hire them to cower in a back room and push paper!
We are very active with role playing, scripting, sharing stories in the market, having proximity with each other in the office weekly (Tuesday Team Days) and have adopted a lifestyle of ultimate accountability where we each push each other in every area of life…
Mike and I now run a congruent coaching and development company called The Warrior Agent, where we train, coach and mentor agents nation-wide not just on real estate business practices, but on all domains: Business, Body, Balance and Being.
In our world, if you are crushing it in business but your marriage is in shambles that’s not a win. If you have great relationships with your kids, but you are broke, that’s not a win. If you make good money but you’re exhausted all the time because you don’t prioritize your health and are 50 lbs overweight and diabetic, that’s not a win.
We’ve cracked – and share – the code for living with ALL domains in harmony. You CAN make the money AND have a great relationship with your partner and kids AND have a great body you’re proud of AND have a high sense of self-worth or relationship with a higher power. It just takes structure, intention, and accountability (which is the highest form of love)!
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
I think my fiery spirit and calm demeanor, my knowledgeable approach and well-coached clients have earned me a reputation of someone who does what it takes (ethically and legally) to cross the finish line. I fight, but am fair, and always include the other agent in the process without “bulldozing” them – I recognize that I am going to work with other agents and industry people in my market 10x more than my clients so my relationship with my colleagues is infinitely more important and I treat it that way.
Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?
Continuing to bring them value long after the transaction ends. I connect with every client I’ve ever worked with at least 2x a year just to check in on them. Are they doing a project they need a referral for? Are they expanding their family or did they experience loss? (flowers!) So many good reasons to keep in touch with people (just check social media) and by continuing to be the one who checks in, I can remain the one who is a referral source for anything home / property related and therefore stay the expert and top of mind to them in our market. Going from building a business that was 98% online leads to now 75% past clients / referrals has show this strategy has worked well.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.meetthenovaks.com/meet-rachael
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rachaelnovak/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rachaelanovak
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachael-novak/
- Twitter: https://x.com/therealsheeo
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOD0nzItU5GSHX4Kd3lnqlw
