Tell us a bit about yourself and your role.
Growing up, I was always very competitive in everything I put my mind to, so this built the habit of practise, practise, practise in me.
I love to train and study areas of interest, and real estate is the perfect vehicle for the need to train and practise constantly.
I find the training and the courses keep me enthusiastic so I am always looking for the next course to do or a new audiobook to listen to.
In another life, I owned a bakery for 15 years, which taught me a lot of lessons in work ethic and people skills.
Every day I had regular customers who shared their lives with me because it was a small, open-plan bakery.
I depended on these clients to come back every day .
When I went into real estate I’d prospect, sometimes for years, to earn the trust of clients. And the opportunity to sell their biggest asset, their home, was a real honour.
What motivated you to move into real estate?
It was time to change careers after 25 years as a baker/pastry cook.
It was time to get on the right side of the clock and life.
One of my customers suggested I should look into real estate because I was easy to trust and personable.
I looked into it and made the decision that if I was going to do this, I was burning the boat and not looking back.
I decided to get my Diploma in Real Estate and go from there.
It is funny how life sometimes works because I was also training as a Scuba Dive Master and one of the guys I was there with worked in real estate and said his boss needed someone in the New Year.
At the same time, my Dad told me a mate in his motorcycle club owned an agency and was looking for someone.
It was the same guy, so that was my start. I have now been in the industry going on 20 years.
How would you describe your relationship with technology?
When I owned the bakery, the GST came in, and it was a nightmare. Some products had GST and others did not.
Milk, bread and even fruit buns without glaze did not have it, but if you glazed the fruit bun, it did have GST. I had to get a computerised till that could calculate GST.
This was the start of my love affair with technology.
PC or Mac?
I have had both.
I prefer the software of a PC, yet a Mac feels better if you are playing around or listening to music.
iPhone or Android?
I love my iPhone and iPad for so many reasons.
Funnily enough, as much as I like PC software, I much prefer iPhone apps and what they can do compared to Android.
What are the three apps you can’t live without?
I use the photo and video app the most.
I have been sending personal videos for years now, and that is becoming my preferred way to leave a message or contact someone who isn’t picking up the phone.
I feel SMS can be misinterpreted depending on the mood you are in when you are reading them.
Sometimes you wonder what you said to upset someone when it was only the way they viewed the message and the mood they were in. You can get so much more across in your message through video.
I also like to do interviews and local area stories about different locations, history or clubs.
What piece of future tech are you most looking forward to?
Automation. It is difficult to keep up with so many clients, and you need to be able to service them on different levels, depending on their situation and where they are in the real estate cycle.
There is a lot of great tech out there already, and I try most of it as it becomes available, and some works for me and others doesn’t.
Sometimes the basics make the most difference when it comes to people.
Tech can only go so far when people usually weigh up how you made them feel.
