Opening the largest Real Estate office in the country

In this episode, Andi Kovalcek and Robbie Lofaro discuss how they ended up working out of the largest Real Estate office in Australia. Robbie shares the story of how he bought a small office and quickly outgrew it, leading him to search for a larger space. He stumbled upon an old 1300m2 warehouse and decided to take a risk and lease the entire space, despite warnings from others. Robbie negotiated a six-month rent-free period and then had six months to succeed in order to afford the rent and not go broke.

The move to the new office helped show others that Robbie’s business was serious and helped attract more agents. Robbie emphasizes the importance of taking risks and not overthinking, as well as prioritizing tasks and managing priorities rather than time. He believes that anyone can operate in this way if they have the drive and motivation.

Transcript

Andi Kovalcek (00:00):

Hey guys, it's Andi K and Robbie Lofaro again, on the Don't Think Just Do podcast. Sorry, I just smacked my knee into the desk and I'm about to cry. Hey, so we had a bit of an idea, a topic to discuss, I suppose. For those who don't know, we actually work out of the biggest real estate agency space, physical office in Australia. So Robbie, tell us how the hell that even happens. How did that story come to fruition?

Robbie Lofaro (00:27):

Okay, so I bought this business in March 2021, and I bought in and I started growing the business quickly. And by growth, I mean I started recruiting other agents from other agencies and we started just hiring people. And after about six or seven months, I think it was the end of 2021, I had 20 people in the office and we had this tiny little office at the time. It was 150 square meters, something like that. And I had 16 desks and a little reception area. I literally had people sharing desks-

Andi Kovalcek (01:00):

Wow.

Robbie Lofaro (01:00):

... in this office. I remember that. And so my desk was this tiny little piece of furniture that we got from A-Mart All Sports because it was the smallest thing that we could make fit that kind of worked as a desk. So I remember everyone just being really crammed in and it was just time to find a bigger spot. The problem is, we're with Harcourts and Harcourts... We had a franchise territory, which is Stafford, so that's the suburb we're in. And I had to stay in Stafford, so that was my parameter. So I had to go and look for a new bigger commercial space to put an office in.

(01:32):

And I started looking and all I could find was this little shoe shop that was attached to the office that we were in at the time. And the shoe shop would've added another 50 square meters. It was tiny. And so to take that, I reconfigured everything and I worked out, I could fit another maybe 10 desks. So that would've given us a little bit more space at the time.

(01:53):

But the problem is, I realized it's only going to take a few more months and then we would've outgrown that too. So I had to do something. I had to find something bigger. And I remember somebody sent me, as a joke, a link to the old Rebel Sports. So Rebel Sports, obviously the big retail giant. So somebody sent me that saying, "Well, Rebel Sports have moved, why don't you look at this space?"

Andi Kovalcek (02:15):

And they're huge warehouses, aren't they?

Robbie Lofaro (02:16):

Ah, it's ridiculous. So 1300 square meters. And I remember looking at that as a joke, but I was curious. So I sent a... No, I just called the agent actually that was representing it. I said, "Hey, I'm just curious, how much is this space?" And he goes, "Oh, it's about $25,000 per month plus outgoings, plus GST." And I was like, "Oh, okay, cool. Oh, thanks. I'll think about it." And he goes, "Well, actually, I'm going to be there this afternoon showing somebody else. Do you want to have a look?" And from where the old office was, it's literally a two-minute walk. And I thought, "Oh, yeah. I've got nothing on. I'll come and have a look." And I came down and had a look. The other people had already left. I think it was a gym that was looking at it, but it was too big for the gym, so the gym didn't want it.

Andi Kovalcek (02:57):

Wow.

Robbie Lofaro (02:59):

And he showed me through. And I remember we were just walking around the building and when I walked in, it was literally just a giant room. It has really high ceilings. It's about four and a half meter ceilings, and it was just a big empty room. That's it. Literally like a warehouse, because they'd taken all their fixtures out, everything was gone. So it was a big, big space. And he said to me, he goes, "Look, I've just got to make a few calls. Let me just step outside." I say, "Okay." And he stepped out and I'm just walking around the space, just looking going, "I wonder what I could do here."

(03:29):

And I could almost picture it. I was like, "Oh, geez, it'd be cool if I could have this place." I pictured where I would put things, where I'd put desks, and where the reception was going to go and a big boardroom and all this sort of stuff. And he then came in, this agent and he says, "I've got to go, but look, you're in real estate anyway. I'll give you the keys. You just hold onto them. I'm going to be back tomorrow and I'll pick them up." And I said, "Oh, okay, sure." So he gave me the keys, he showed me how to lock up, so he locked up and I went back to the office and I went straight back to my desk, my little tiny shoebox desk, and I just started drawing. And I drew the floor plan for the office just straight out of my head-

Andi Kovalcek (04:08):

Oh, cool.

Robbie Lofaro (04:08):

... because I could just picture it. I had so much space to work with. So whatever I wanted to do was going to work. And I started thinking about it and I was like, "Maybe I could do this. Maybe I could." 25 grand a month plus fees and everything. It's all ups about 30 a month. And I was like, "Maybe, maybe I could do it." And I remember talking to other business owners at the time and they were like, "You're an idiot. That's ridiculous." My accountant said, "That's just stupid. Find something else." My lawyer said, "No, you're an idiot." But I guess it comes back to the theme of this podcast. Don't think, just do.

Andi Kovalcek (04:37):

Yeah.

Robbie Lofaro (04:37):

And I really, in hindsight, it was probably a risk that I shouldn't have taken because it was reckless, but I just did it. I negotiated and I think it was probably less than two weeks later, I had signed a lease. And I remember I called the CEO of Harcourts and I said, "Hey. Can you come and meet me at my office? I want to have a chat to you." And he said, "Yeah, okay." So he came down. He met me at the office and I said, "We're going for a walk." So we walked down to, what was at the time, the old Rebel Sports.

(05:05):

And I opened it up and we're just standing in this giant empty room and he's like, "What are we doing here?" And I said, "This is my new office." And he's like, "What?" He's, "What, like a part of it? Where's the walls?" I'm like, "No, no, the whole thing." And he said, "But why?" "Because I don't know. Because it'll be cool. Imagine how cool this will be. I'll grow into it." And he was like, he goes, "But how much is it?" I said, "Well, it's 25 grand a month plus outgoings, plus GST." And he's like, "But you can't afford that." I said, "Yeah, I know." "So what are you going to do?" I said, "Well, I've negotiated six months rent-free. And he goes, "Okay. So what are you doing in six months?"

Andi Kovalcek (05:42):

Did you actually?

Robbie Lofaro (05:43):

Literally, yeah, I got six months rent-free.

Andi Kovalcek (05:44):

Wow. That's cool.

Robbie Lofaro (05:45):

Signed a ten-year lease to get it, which I'm still in.

Andi Kovalcek (05:49):

Locked in.

Robbie Lofaro (05:50):

Yeah, look, only eight years to go. But I got a six-month rent-free period. And he said, "What happens in six months when you got to start paying rent?" I said, "Well, I've got six months to be able to afford it." And he said, "You're an idiot. I don't think you should do it." And I said, "I already signed the lease." And he's like, "Shit, okay. Well, we better get to work then."

Andi Kovalcek (06:10):

Wow.

Robbie Lofaro (06:10):

And to his credit, he was very supportive and they actually... They helped us out with some of the signage stuff. But yeah, I did the fit out myself. My brother and I, Chris, we did the fit out because we're somewhat handy. And so I guess what I'm trying to get at is, I did it because I backed myself into a corner. I gave myself six months to be able to make it work. If I couldn't afford it in six months, then I would have to declare bankruptcy to get out of the lease. The business would fold, everyone would lose their jobs.

(06:39):

And I think having that pressure made me have to succeed. I had to turn up every day. I had to do everything that I needed to do. We moved in January 2022 and that first six months was horrible. It was a lot of work. It was a lot of stress. Everything... Yeah, it was a terrible time. But I got through it and I just had to keep recruiting. And I recruited a lot more agents. I did training all the time to get the agents that we had to be writing bigger numbers. And yeah, six months later, the first rent bill came in and I paid it. It's been that way ever since.

Andi Kovalcek (07:11):

Wow, that's really cool. I actually did not know that entire story.

Robbie Lofaro (07:14):

You didn't know that?

Andi Kovalcek (07:14):

No.

Robbie Lofaro (07:14):

Really?

Andi Kovalcek (07:14):

No, I actually didn't know that.

Robbie Lofaro (07:15):

Wow.

Andi Kovalcek (07:15):

That's really, really cool. I suppose it fits perfectly with the theme of the podcast. So I know you pretty well personally now. We've got to know each other over the last couple of years. But I've noticed risk taking is huge in everything that you do. Obviously, there's a small amount of calculation that you have to do before you take the risk. Certainly not advocates of jumping in blindly in any sense, but at the end of the day, risk taking is paramount, right?

Robbie Lofaro (07:40):

Yeah. And if I hadn't done that, I think it's not that I would never have succeeded or anything like that, but I think doing it helped me show people that we were serious. I mean-

Andi Kovalcek (07:53):

Yeah.

Robbie Lofaro (07:53):

... really, the office was only... We only had 20 people and I think we weren't doing massive numbers, but we were growing quickly and people could see that. But I think what showed everyone that I was serious was taking on this giant lease and doing the fit out, and the signage looks really good from the front. The fit out, it's not super fancy, but it's just big and impressive. And so when I would bring an agent from another agency in to have a look, it's just bigger and grander and it just looks like, "Holy shit, these guys are the real deal."

Andi Kovalcek (08:23):

And the funniest part is that right next door to us is another real estate agency about one sixth of the size.

Robbie Lofaro (08:30):

Yeah. And look, at the time, they were actually doing bigger business than us. They were beating us-

Andi Kovalcek (08:35):

Yeah, true.

Robbie Lofaro (08:35):

... hands down. But by taking on the risk, it's not just about having a big space and that's what helped me grow. It was putting myself in a position where I had to succeed. There was no other option. I just had to do whatever it took. I still do it now, but every day, up at six, get to the office 6:30. I'd be on my computer doing all the paperwork that I'd have to do early, then people start rolling in from about 7:30,. So I had to be on every day no matter what. I can't have a bad day. That's just not an option.

(09:04):

I teach the team that now. If you want to succeed, you can't have bad days. That's just not a thing. You have to... You can't let a bad moment turn into a bad day. Sometimes shit happens, sometimes bad things happen that aren't what you expected or what you planned, but you just have to move forward and power through it. And I think for me, it was huge putting myself under that kind of pressure because I didn't have a choice. I had to succeed.

Andi Kovalcek (09:27):

Do you think that everyone can operate like that, in the sense of jumping in and then having to figure it out along the way?

Robbie Lofaro (09:35):

I don't know. That's a really good question. But I think if I can do it, why can't anyone else?

Andi Kovalcek (09:40):

Yeah.

Robbie Lofaro (09:41):

I don't have any special skills or degrees or anything like that. I mean, I've always been a reasonable salesperson, but that's kind of the extent of my skills. I dropped out of high school. I don't know any different.

Andi Kovalcek (09:51):

Yeah.

Robbie Lofaro (09:51):

So for me it was, you just have to want it. And Andi, obviously now, since you've been here, you've seen. We hire hundreds of people every year.

Andi Kovalcek (10:01):

Absolutely.

Robbie Lofaro (10:02):

I literally hired well over a hundred people last year and maybe half of them actually stick around.

Andi Kovalcek (10:08):

Yeah.

Robbie Lofaro (10:09):

And that's because some people just don't have it. They don't have that drive or that motivation or the willingness to do what it takes to succeed and-

Andi Kovalcek (10:17):

To just do.

Robbie Lofaro (10:18):

Yeah, to just do. People think about it for too long.

Andi Kovalcek (10:21):

And look, I mean myself, I suppose until I kind of met you and we started bouncing ideas off each other, I suppose you really helped me with a lot of this part of my life in terms of just doing. Learning from you has been really cool. I suppose I was one of those people as well, where I would overthink and over calculate and actually never end up doing anything or even worse, start a million things all at once and never complete them. Have you ever been like that, where you've kind of gone into a project or something where you've started or you're starting multiple things at a time but you're not seeing it through to the end?

Robbie Lofaro (10:54):

I have, and I'm a big... One of my biggest issues, I take on way too much all at once.

Andi Kovalcek (10:59):

Yeah? Like spreading yourself too thin, sort of thing?

Robbie Lofaro (11:01):

Yeah, I spread myself very thin, but I guess I've always been good at prioritizing. I know what I need to do.

Andi Kovalcek (11:08):

Yeah.

Robbie Lofaro (11:09):

I know what's going to get me where I want to be. And I've never planned.

Andi Kovalcek (11:13):

Yeah.

Robbie Lofaro (11:14):

I've never decided I'm going to do it this way and this is how things have to go and I'm going to follow a certain plan and whatever. No. It's always been, if I want to succeed, I just have to keep pushing. I've got to keep doing things. I've got to be the hardest worker in the room, no matter what.

Andi Kovalcek (11:27):

Yeah.

Robbie Lofaro (11:28):

And so yeah, sometimes I do take on too much, but I prioritize and I get done the things that need to get done.

Andi Kovalcek (11:35):

Yeah, that's cool. I think something that you always say that's kind of stuck with me is, you can't... When everyone talks about managing time and managing their time, it's like you can't manage time. You can only manage your priorities.

Robbie Lofaro (11:48):

Yeah.

Andi Kovalcek (11:48):

You can only prioritize tasks. Time will get away from you. And what I've learned from that personally is, the tasks that were low priority, as time goes along, those low priority tasks will then become high priority tasks, which will then need to take first priority. So that's really cool.

Robbie Lofaro (12:05):

Yeah, definitely. So rather than setting yourself an ideal week, that's a thing we hear a lot, ideal week or an ideal day or this is exactly what I should do for the day or whatever. I'm trying to plan everything out. Don't plan in time increments because you set yourself up to fail because the minute you don't achieve one of those things or you don't do something that's on your calendar or whatever, or something comes up that you have to deal with more urgently, you just won't get everything done and it makes you feel terrible. A better way to operate is to have a to-do list.

Andi Kovalcek (12:31):

Right.

Robbie Lofaro (12:32):

Right? And just have the to-do list. And if you're disciplined and you say, "I will not finish the day until I've completed these tasks," as long as you stick to it and you complete those tasks, you'll succeed. And then a big tip for that is to write your to-do list for tomorrow, the day before.

Andi Kovalcek (12:48):

Cool. So you recommend writing the to-do list maybe the night before or after you finished work for the next day, right?

Robbie Lofaro (12:54):

Yeah.

Andi Kovalcek (12:54):

Because you obviously know what tasks you have at hand to complete for the next day. That's your tip?

Robbie Lofaro (12:59):

Yep. And then-

Andi Kovalcek (13:00):

Very cool.

Robbie Lofaro (13:01):

... you go further. So it's not just a daily to-do list. You have projects.

Andi Kovalcek (13:05):

Yeah.

Robbie Lofaro (13:05):

So what things need to be completed? And then you have a quarterly or a yearly to-do list. Things that I need to achieve or accomplish or get done this month, this quarter, this year, whatever it is, right? And so going back to this new building that we've got, so the fit out. That was a priority because I realized I can't chew into this six month rent-free period fitting things out. So I signed the lease in November and I think the official start date for it was the 1st of December. So I was like, "I want to only use a month worth of my free time in fit out."

Andi Kovalcek (13:39):

This is for the new real estate office that you're opening?

Robbie Lofaro (13:42):

No, this is for this one that we're in right now.

Andi Kovalcek (13:44):

Oh, right, okay.

Robbie Lofaro (13:44):

Yeah, the big one. So when I couldn't afford it and I got six months rent-free, a month of that was chewed up in fit out.

Andi Kovalcek (13:51):

Oh, wow.

Robbie Lofaro (13:51):

Whereas had I delayed that and taken longer than... Three months could have been to fit out and then I don't have any time to grow the business and be able to afford it. So prioritizing was huge.

Andi Kovalcek (14:02):

Really good. It's something I've definitely implemented in my daily business activities as a real estate agent is having... My ideal week is funny. I've got Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, all the way through, right? Every day. But there are no time blocks. There are just tasks that I have to complete on each day because I know those days require those tasks.

Robbie Lofaro (14:21):

Yep.

Andi Kovalcek (14:22):

... and I just get them done. And it's insane when you actually just remove the times of the day from those days and you've just got a list and with boxes for me to tick, for example. It removes so much pressure from time management or whatever the hell that is. And it just becomes prioritization. And if you do logistically end up forgetting to do one low priority task, the next day, it's got to get done. Otherwise, shit crumbles.

Robbie Lofaro (14:50):

Mm-hmm. Well, yeah, I thought that was a cool story to share and I think it really was just, to me, one of the proudest things I've done and the ultimate, don't think, just do.

Andi Kovalcek (15:01):

Yeah, absolutely. It was a huge risk that you took and it paid off because you just took action and did what you needed to do. You had a vision. Hey, like you said, and executed it. Well, we will be back obviously, on another podcast episode and we'll look forward to chatting to you then.