At the age of 15, I was told I wouldn't make it into the 16 team. At 17, I made my professional soccer debut in the NSL. Over the course of two years from 15-17, a few games in between, one crucial thing changed - belief. I travelled overseas to Italy and England trialling for a few teams. I got to experience the beauty of Milan, the buildings, the architecture and the people. The world seemed so small and every person, no matter the country, was more alike than unalike. Then I tore my ACL in my left knee. I worked hard, persisted and came back after 9 months. I then tore the meniscus in my left knee. Came back and tore my ACL in my right knee. I was shattered. Becoming a soccer player was the best thing that ever happened to me. If something hasn’t panned out like you thought it should. Then ask …. What else could this mean? See different.

I remember when I was a teenager my parents were selling their house. At the time, selling was critical. It wasn't a great time. Two agents came in. One spoke of all the sales and how great their brand was. My parents listened and looked at the agent with a blank face, it meant nothing to their situation. The second did the same, no one sought to understand what the situation was. After the first open home, the agent asked them to reduce the price. My parents just couldn’t at the time. Second open home, no one turned up. The agent had left a blunt note on the kitchen bench “we need to drop the price, it’s very slow, zero groups”. You could feel the disappointment in my dad.

In the end they dropped their price. They reluctantly let go of a home they loved. It was the approach that created a lowered state. I still remember the sadness on my father’s face after the property was sold. He still, to this day, reflects about that moment. People's homes could mean everything in some cases. Everyone deserves the right to have someone who cares and shows energy, to maximise the result and provide an experience, that no matter the outcome, the person is left in a high state.

I went from a professional soccer career to working in a factory at 4am. I wasn’t content at the factory, so I took on a job as an assistant to a real estate agent. My first day they set me a task to knock on doors. I was too shy and never asked for anything, but I listened and heard the many stories of why people were selling. I found their stories mirrored my father's and it resonated with me. I spent most of my time working on solutions for people to keep their homes. As time passed, people began to trust what I had to say. Now for those who wanted to sell, I had come up with a way in which they could maximise the outcome but also provide a great experience for everyone. The marketing, the language, the care, the intention, the meaning behind everything we did had to change.

After a year, the company I worked for decided it was time to close down. I thought about what my next steps were and took all those ideas to create Ausrealty at 24 years old. Many said to avoid this, as it would be too hard for someone so inexperienced. These were the same people that had that disconnect to someone’s selling situation (starts with belief). I thought back to my soccer career - we used to say it all starts with belief . That’s what influenced me to commit. I knew the importance of these moments for people. I knew my belief would drive change in the language and processes used - just one person at a time.

I never intended to be in real estate, I didn’t particularly love property. I was shy and disliked the idea of sales. When the reality of my soccer career ending became clear, I found myself looking for a job. I finally opened a company with no prior experience other than the innate ability to do a job and make people I had just met feel better after meeting me and Ausrealty. I wanted people to have the greatest experience and for people to know that regardless of the decision they make with their home, that I cared for their situation as much as I cared for them. I wanted to bring what I knew to more people. People told me to write out a ‘business plan’. I had no idea about business. I just believed everyone deserves the right to the maximum outcome and the greatest experience during a life changing moment. So I wrote out our business plan, “the person we take care of in the area we serve will have such an amazing experience that they would pass that experience on.” Moving forward to the future will always require going back to basics.

Here is Mel (now my wife and mother of 3 kids) and our first office space in Carlingford. I remember sending out a mass email to 100 people I knew. I watched the screen, eagerly awaiting for a reply. One person unsubscribed - I was devastated. This is the level I wanted Ausrealty to operate on. Always focused on the individual experience, the care, the empathy. Everything had to have meaning. Mel would do the signs with me and we were so grateful for anyone that would call us. Our office space was the best thing ever in my mind. It was about 45mᒾ so we put the wall up to give us just enough space to fit a desk and operate behind it, to improve the size of the reception area so people would be comfortable. When people came in and I went to the back, I would slide to the back desk with one step. We are all capable. We have to be grateful, resourceful and grow with what we already have.

Our first hire. Daniel Sutarov turns up to the office for an interview. On time, a well mannered quiet kid. I asked, “How are you feeling mate?” Daniel replies, “Really nervous”. You are hired. Customer service isn’t about pressure washing someone's driveway or doing the extras before the basics. It’s about empathy for the other person's situation. Then nailing the basics of what that person expects, plus the 1% extra - it’s caring. A kid that turns up on time, has a routine, is well mannered, and is humble, appreciates others and listens is bound to go far because that’s the start of seeing different, you need to see another perspective of yourself to improve yourself to then help others. There is no ‘5 star service, we believe in the customer slogans’. There is just empathy for another, reverse engineered through an experience.

Paths cross for a reason - take a chance. Things were growing. I needed help as we never wanted to grow and at the expense of someone else's experience. I would drive past a place called Edge Estate Agents on my way to work. I would always see a young lady in the back of the office working away in the morning and again on my way home at night. I would drive for about 40mins, so by the time I got back to where she worked it was always about 8.30pm. She was always there. Things started to grow and I was looking for a business partner that would fit some of our whacky ideas. I always wanted to go and see her, but was apprehensive. One day I did a U-turn on the way to work, and walked inside. I introduced myself and after about 6 weeks, Joyce agreed to partner with me across the whole business and open another location in Riverwood.

What made us want to partner with her were 3 things: 1. She told me the business was struggling but did not want to sacrifice people for the numbers. So she borrowed money from anywhere she could and made sure they always got paid. 2. She would call and ask advice all the time on current sales she was managing. 3. She was so resilient and brave running her own show, without ever looking stressed or worried - never complained and always smiling. People's intent and beliefs are what makes them attractive. People are either a Blessing or a lesson. There are so many people in the world, we must cross paths for a reason. Grateful to have found Joyce.

Your beliefs are your perspective, which determine your actions. It all starts with belief. We believe people want the feeling that owning a property gives them and not the property itself. Finding the essence of the property and demonstrating the feeling this gives a person, is what we believe marketing is all about. We removed everything that is unnecessary or filled with ego. Our message had to be inspiring, it had to create a beacon of belief for people to want to be better after having met us. We simplified everything in our marketing and worked to the core of what matters.

I was helping a couple make a life changing move. They where selling their home and needed the proceeds for something personal. One of the owners would worry a lot, she would ask what if people don't like our home and we can't make it work? I decided to send her a post card with a picture of her home, that said "sold record", before we even put the home on the market. She stuck it on her fridge. As I was leaving the house one day, I noticed our board had gone up. It was plain at the back. So I replaced it with something that has always driven me and reminded me to check my belief. "It starts with belief".

The next morning received a text from her, she said; "As I was leaving for work this made me feel better". Together we created a different future by changing our vision of it and energy. Yes the property sold for a record. From then on, we embedded these two points into our communications log that we continue to build. Any outcome can be created with a vision of the future that is clear, strong and consistent. Intention and meaning create the greatest outcomes. You just have to believe.

When I was younger I somehow knew how to bridge the gap between two people in an argument or diffuse a situation and move it to a positive outcome. 1. Show self interest - take a breath to understand the person. 2. Be unbiased - articulate to them what you understand.  3. Provide knowledge - here is what we should do. Provide a direction to help everyone move forward. In that exact order influence takes hold. It's great for negotiating, conflict resolution and influence. This tool has helped us positively help people move forward. It's now a training module.

I was helping a lady sell her house. She told me she was speaking to an 18 year old kid who wanted to be in real estate, that she really loved. She said he was well mannered and pleasant and went out of his way all the time. So I contacted him. At 18, Imam Sayed walked into our office and said “ I want to win.” He has worked out “winning”, is actually working out what you really “want” while making people's lives around you better too. Today, Imam serves more people and helps more families through life changing moments than almost anyone in the country for his age. A story of belief. Long way to go like all of us, but grateful to be along for the ride with him.

1% Philosophy - Nail the basics go 1% above. The 3 states: Low state. Neutral state. High state. Part of our “special sauce" is the 1% philosophy. Nail the basics then one percent above. “Magic moment” this is the moment that changes the service provider and the receivers state. Releasing electric energy. Max price and selling a house is an easy outcome. High state is the goal. We had to bring what we do to more people. We hired marketing people from the wedding industry, and young kids to teach them our way. We looked for people from all kinds of industries that had not been exposed to the language and behaviours normally found in “sales”.

The goal was to raise the state of everyone we connected with - that came first, everything else second.  Ausrealty would help people have an experience that would leave them speechless, it would get to the heart of marketing that affects state change - we got so immersed into it, it became much deeper as we had to improve ourselves first to then improve another’s experience. People inside were the first challenge, the second was how do we raise the state of someone systematically with every connection they had with the business.

After years of intense behind the scenes work and with help, we created the first version of our app. All the typical functions of a customer relationship management (crm) but, the ability to embed magic moment procedures that link directly to each property, that links directly with each person linked to that property. Rapid fast automation, with a tracker on each procedure, the whole Ausrealty way in the palm of one's hand. Basic things like contracts on entry at open homes, signing of all documents through the app and embedded into its online file, advert creation etc. We now have amazing humans with a system in the palm of their hands offering the Ausrealty way, consistently and faster every single time with lightning fast automation to most questions one will ask. The really amazing thing here is, one change to a procedure instantly changes the entire company's procedure in real time, so we can keep up to speed and stay ahead of the expectation of each person to ultimately keep their state high and positive.

Our Interview Process. step 1: Associate level. We call them in, we ask them to go to a street (where we know the occupants of the house well), their goal is to approach the home, and ask the owners if they can have some of their flowers in the front yard. The rules are: 1. They must tell the truth of why they really like the flowers and where they could use them.  2.They must leave the owners in a high state  3.The owner of the home must feel, the person is kind considerate and empathetic  4.They must deliver the outcome.

We then call the street and ask those people we know, what their thoughts were? what did they ask and how do they ask? If 100% of the occupants reported the person was kind empathetic and well mannered and the person was able to retrieve flowers from at least one of the people they approached, they move onto the next level of the process. Service delivery and experience are key. Getting the flowers is easy - why someone chooses to give them to you is what we are interested in. They can then pass the flowers on as a gesture, to the person they got them for. Modules are: Belief. Energy. Empathy.

We knew we wanted another home in the South Hurstville location and preferred to own a space rather then rent. So we relaxed about it, turned our focus to it, and ran through our belief process we use when representing our clients. I spoke about it with our friend, an non formal chat and we went for a walk on the strip to feel the energy. A month past, I  got a call from my friend, he had found a building and asked if we would be willing to buy instead of rent. Subconsciously we wanted a permanent home and not a rental, so we did the deal and here we are. Only a limited amount of properties on the strip we wanted to be on. And with belief and focus - one becomes available to buy that was not advertised for sale - nothing is a coincidence. Everything is connected - everything is happening for you. When your true intent is to bring good into a community, good returns to you.  Very grateful. Starts with belief.

The Vision: Every person that moves in or out of a home will have a life changing experience during a life changing moment. 

Everyone has what it takes but will you do what it takes.

Take the first step, you don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step - Martin Luther King.

One person with a belief is equal to the force of 99 who only have interest.

You don't know what struggles a person may be experiencing in their lives - be kind to all.

Own yourselves. Own your decisions. Own your choices. Own your mistakes. Own your errors. Own your circumstances. Own your outcome/results or they will own you. Total accountability. Take control of yourself. I AM THE PROBLEM. I AM THE SOLUTION. Not the traffic. Not the weather. I AM THE PROBLEM. I AM THE SOLUTION.

The past is gone. The future is not guaranteed. All you have is the present.

We fight ourselves everyday - in our mind, asking how can we be better? Jab weave, jab duck. Constantly working scenarios against ourselves. What to say, how to say it. We are our own competition. We are our worst critic.

Hard work, doing extra, being kind and open to learning. Believe - if you can't nail the basics, prepare to live with the basics.

Trust takes seconds to build. Seconds to break. Years to rebuild.

5 Steps to belief. 1. Grateful for what's happened. 2. Think things will follow. 3. Now focus on an outcome. 4. Re-affirm the outcome over and over. 5. Intense focus activated. ELECTRICITY STATE.

There are two ways to have the tallest buildings. Build yours, or destroy others. Tearing down others creates damage to your own. Build, believe, focus and create the greatest buildings the world has ever seen. That will inspire others to choose the same path.