JOHN PERCUDANI OF REALMARK in WA looks back at the early days and forward to the next 25 years.
GROWTH IS something for which all small business owners constantly strive. It’s something that provides the impetus never to rest on your laurels and continually to innovate, regardless of how well you may be doing.
Earlier this year, Realmark celebrated its 25th anniversary – an immensely proud moment, both on a personal level and for everyone who’s ever been involved in our journey. This milestone has since prompted me to look ahead to the future and reevaluate where we currently stand, where we want to be, and how we want to get there.
When Realmark was founded in 1989, we had two staff, some second-hand furniture and we specialised purely in commercial real estate. Since then, we have established 17 offices around Western Australia and have diversified into residential sales and leasing, property management, strata management, financing and marketing. There is much to be proud of in the growth of Realmark. However, the question of ‘Where to now?’ was becoming increasingly apparent.
In order to continue to grow, it was clear that we needed to reevaluate our strategic direction and take steps to set Realmark on a path to compete with some of Australia’s best- known agencies.
To meet this goal, we needed to possess a deeper corporate understanding. Realmark, like so many in the real estate industry, specialises in property. It’s what we know best. The inner workings of big business and the corporate sector weren’t necessarily where our focus lay. Furthermore, our internal structure still mirrored that of a small- to medium-sized business and wasn’t conducive to delivering sustained growth.
Consequently Realmark has been undergoing some very significant behind-the-scenes changes in recent months. These changes not only reflect our growth as a business but also indicate where we hope to be in the future.
In November, we announced the appointment of the group’s first-ever Chief Operating Officer, Paul Slaughter. Paul brings with him extensive corporate experience that will be integral to Realmark’s future growth. We are also in the process of appointing a Board of Directors to oversee the strategic direction of the entire group. Finally, we have been focused on attracting and appointing highly-
skilled, highly-respected professionals across all facets of Realmark to ensure we have a solid foundation now and into the future.
These measures are about evolution, not revolution, and refinement, not reinvention. They reflect the growth Realmark has experienced since those early days in a small, one-room office in Perth’s western suburbs. We grew from a micro business into a small business, then from a small business to a medium-sized business. Now, with the appropriate structures, skills and knowledge behind us, we’re readying ourselves for sustained growth into the future.
