Waikato Business News News | February 7, 2024

12 FEBRUARY 2024
ADVERTORIAL
Becoming A Commercial
Agent – What A Career
Looks Like Today
Education through
business
By Penny Thompson
I
am often asked what being a
commercial agent looks like today,
as opposed to what it was like when I
started in the mid 2000’s.
While some aspects are significantly
different, many fundamentals haven’t
changed at all.
For those that have an interest
and pondering a potential career in
commercial real estate, I have one
comment – it can fundamentally
change yours and your families’ lives,
as it has with mine.
Occasionally I cast my mind back
to how my life used to be – I don’t
regret my 10 years at Telecom, but
the leap of faith from a salaried role
to an independent contractor where
I get paid for my effectiveness, was
very scary, but mind-blowing the
transformation that has taken place.
Commercial real estate is a
competitive industry, so it’s important
wherever you may choose to go, that
you get genuine support and resources
in order to succeed.
For new agents it can often be a
daunting process initially, hence the
reason we like to get new agents
working alongside experienced agents
from day one.
Being included on listings from the
very outset and working as part of a
team, befitting from its knowledge and
experience, is critical to future success.
The Best Bits:
• You get to meet and work with an
amazing array of people from all
walks of life. Clients and customers
are looking for good credible
advice and assistance from you in
achieving their business and real
estate goals.
• Your time is completely flexible, but
it must be used wisely. Effective
and efficient use of time will ensure
you get more completed each day
than others around you.
• You learn new skills, improve others
and gain cutting edge market intel,
every day. Every time you talk to
someone you learn something you
didn’t know before. The challenge
is to talk to more people, ask more
questions and then do something
with that information, much like
putting a jigsaw together.
What we do is actually quite simple,
but it certainly isn’t easy.
On our wall in the office, we have
“10 Things That Require Zero Talent”.
1. Being on Time
2. Work Ethic
3. Effort
4. Body Language
5. Energy
6. Attitude
7. Passion
8. Being Coachable
9. Doing Extra
10. Being Prepared
The Hardest Bits:
• Making mistakes
and learning from
them. My first
boss said to me
on day one – “there is no issue with
mistakes, we all make them, but
if you continue to make the same
mistakes, we both have a problem”.
• Every day looking to improve what
you do and how you do it, from the
quality of photos, to wording of
agreements and put simply, being
able to find ways to make things
happen.
• Changing how you deal with
people. Everyone is different and
we need to be like a chameleon, to
deal with them the way they need
to be dealt with, not the way we
want to be dealt with.
• Delivering bad news. This is
undoubtedly the one in life that
people struggle with the most.
None of us like doing it, but our
ability to deliver bad news the right
way, is often the very thing that
sets the top performers apart from
the rest. Don’t procrastinate and do
it face to face, if at all possible.
“Success Leaves Clues,
and if you sow the same
seeds, you’ll reap the same
rewards” – Brad Thor
Commercial and industrial real estate is
a very broad field and we decided early
on that having specialist knowledge
about a specific market segment or
geographical area, might be a smart
way to deal with this issue.
Every agency is different, some
agents like to cover retail, office,
industrial and land all over the city and
region.
I work with two other agents within
the CBD (we have others that cover
the various industrial markets and
suburban areas) and the amount of
knowledge to do this well is significant
– it’s an information game.
We feel, and others may disagree,
that having a team of specialists
working together, gives us the
opportunity to provide our clients
and customers with the best possible
advice.
In summary, if you are enthusiastic
and motivated, then a career in
commercial real estate could be for
you. Working hard, being focussed and
keen to learn provides a unique career
opportunity.
Take the opportunity to talk to
several different agencies, to see where
you could fit in and how they will assist
you. It’s very much a relationship game,
so the longer you are doing it, the
greater the number of relationships
you have the opportunity to build.
You definitely wont be bored and
there’s always something to do.
A group of students who participate in the programme - from left, Anna Miles, Emma Sherburn,
Helen de Vries, head girl Kate Monsma, Isabella McClean, Ashleigh Smith, Ella Tunnell, Kayla
Westgate.
When four French nuns travelled to
New Zealand from Lyon, France in
1884 and purchased two acres of
land in Hamilton East, Catholic education in
the Waikato was born.
Today Sacred Heart Girls’ College staff and
students are showing the same pioneering
spirit on the land the four women bought
by cultivating a relationships’ first approach
with the community.
Instead of spending time in the classrooms
for the first week back at school, all 940
students and staff will challenge ‘educational
norms’ by putting curriculum learning on
hold and develop meaningful relationships
with students, teachers and their whānau.
Whanaungatanga, building relationships,
starts with a whole of school p pōwhiri and
continues with student mentoring activities,
guest speakers, goal setting and learning
conversations.
It wraps up with competitive house events
to lay the foundation for a supportive and
nurturing environment.
The school actively seeks opportunities
to engage with local businesses to provide
students with opportunities to transfer these
skills beyond the school gates.
Programmes like Gateway allow students
to experience potential career pathways
and through Smart Waikato Secondary
School Employer Partnerships the school
collaborates with Three Peaks Honey, Paua
Architects, BCD Group, HD GEO, and
Hamilton City Council.
School principal Catherine Gunn said the
nuns’ passion for education developed into
the charism of communion, contemplation
and mission is still prevalent in the school
community today.
Those manākitanga principles – showing
respect, generosity and care for the people
who are part of the greater school community
– are at the heart of the initiative.
“We are not like other schools because of
our Catholic character. Building community
and nurturing positive connections is a core
aspect of our faith formation and our culture
of care.
“The global skills students learn from
a ‘relationships-first’ approach mean we
are supporting our students to develop the
confidence in our young women,” she said.
“No robot or AI can do caring like we can.”
Paua Architects business development
manager Phil Mackay said his practice
valued the opportunity to engage with the
school and see students provided with realworld
examples of the concepts they are
learning.
“They’re engaged and enthusiastic and are
learning to build meaningful relationships;
we value this as a business.”
Deputy principal Caroline Gill, who leads
the project, said research showed that
strong relationships provided a foundation
for student engagement, belonging and
learning.
“The more high-quality relationships
students have with their peers and teachers,
the better their engagement is in school.”
The school will create space and
opportunity to practice a radical
inclusiveness which benefits everyone in the
community, she said.
Parent Abbie McCall of Te Awamutu
supports the programme and working with
businesses.
“Our young wahine love building
relationships with their teachers and
community.
“If the foundations of a sense of belonging
and care are strong, this only builds them up
and forward in their education.”
Sisters of Our Lady of the Mission standing outside the old Convent in Hamilton East in 1943.