“We’ve got five years, stuck on my eyes
Five years, what a surprise
We’ve got five years, my brain hurts a lot
Five years, that’s all we’ve got”
That’s David Bowie’s “Five Years”.
This is Kingston REM’s “Five Years”.
Around this time of the year, TimeHop on my phone reminds me of the entire journey to today- from renovating our little space at 1423 Beacon, unpacking and setting up the furniture and the surprise visit from my parents from WI to KREM’s first open house to the various accomplishments through the past 5 years.
I have an exercise that begins every October of every year. This consists of a full audit of the past year, not just business and individual performance metrics, but most importantly where we felt pressure and deficiencies. This gives us valuable input & data on how we can tweak things and continue to evolve and thrive as we forge ahead into the future.
I’m also careful to look at my team. How are they holding up? Who needs a vacation? Who took too many vacations? I think how I can offer a competitive advantage to my agents in the workplace- whether that’s updated technology, new marketing ideas and techniques they can use or holding one-on-one meetings to get feedback and discuss what would be valuable to them.
After that, I have to of course look in the mirror. What do I want? Am I accomplishing what I set out to accomplish? What’s my exit strategy?
No, this is not my resignation letter 🙂
Every anniversary, I take the opportunity to reflect a bit but this year I’m going to do things a little differently. Instead of reflecting on the past I’m going to write about KREM’s bright future. Now that I’ve had five years to think about it, allow me to share with you what our future looks like. From me to you..
First, we have been busy working on processes and the foundation of the business in order to support good, stable growth. Without a solid foundation, good growth is difficult. We’ve been very deliberate and patient with this and are confident now in our scalability options. That’s not to say we’re out to take over the Boston market but… I guess we could…? How’s that for an exit strategy!
We’re also focusing strongly on client retention. With over 130 five star Google reviews it’s downright foolish to not have a significant plan in place for our happy customers- many of whom will become first time home buyers in the very near future. We’ve been busy not just laying out the groundwork for our customers to be new buyers but also training our agents to ensure they’re fully prepared to shepherd them into home ownership.
Personally, I’m working hard on rekindling old and developing new relationships with property managers and building owners in efforts to work together to ensure zero vacancies. Furthermore, we’re excited and eager to provide assistance and resources to you on the property management side as well. We can now confidently offer a complete end-to-end solution for rental owners.
And if that’s not enough, we’re exploring new broker partnership opportunities to expand our geographical footprint. It’s time we realize and put into practice these procedural and foundational things we’ve worked so hard on and bring them to other markets.
As we grow, I’m reminded of the legacy clients who’ve been with me longer than Kingston’s been around. You know who you are and I’m forever thankful.
So what does the next five years look like for KREM? Whatever that answer is, I’m sure it’ll be exciting and challenging. But never mind KREM for a second, what will the next five years look like for me personally? I’m turning 45 years old a mere month from now and I’m not ready to take my foot off the pedal yet. I’m going to continue to encourage each agent on my team to develop their personal brand- however that looks for them personally- and nurture their growth with Kingston’s support. I’m also going to transition my role, relying on my team to care more for the day-to-day tasks allowing me to focus on relationship building and business development. I’m thankful I have a team of trustworthy people on my side, all of whom I feel confident can help me execute.
With all that said, you will forever have my cell phone number. That’s a pledge I made from the jump. You see, to me, growing doesn’t mean compromising quality. You can do both and do them well and in earnest. We’re out to prove it.
