Brett Reddell spent years moving between franchises and independent agencies before joining Area Specialist at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, a decision he says came down to backing himself rather than reading the market.
“It was the beginning of COVID, doom and gloom, world was ending,” Brett said.
“And I thought it was time to make the move and looked at a few different models and Area Specialist just stood out.”
Brett, who operates across the Gold Coast and Logan area in Queensland, said his own mindset was the biggest obstacle to starting his own business, not market conditions or ability.
“The biggest hurdle I had with doing this, and I should’ve done this a long time ago, was my own mindset,” he said. “So it was me stopping me doing it. I lacked a lot of belief. I had the ability, that wasn’t the issue, it was just a belief in myself.”
Before making the move, he spent two hours with a mentor working through his doubts and aligning the business with his family values.
“It takes a lot of guts and self-belief,” he said.
Brett joined Area Specialist six years ago after a difficult divorce had depleted his savings and superannuation, starting the business on a very low budget.
“It changed my life in a massive way,” he said. “Having the ability to be able to market myself better, present myself better, and then get into investment strategies and having a better life at the other end, which is so important.
“I would have probably spent the next twenty years working for somebody else to get back what I’ve got in a very short time within a couple of years of being in the brand.”
Beyond the financial turnaround, Brett said he’d found a supportive community through the brand, including one of his best mates, who he catches up with every year at the national awards.
His focus now is on the next five years, and on his son. Ethan Reddell, 20, is already a licensed agent working alongside his father, and Brett is planning a gradual handover.
“Three year goals, I step back, I allow him to take more of the reins under my guidance,” Brett said.
“And then for another two years, I’m there to obviously guide him through the whole process and make sure that he’s stepping on the right stones.”
He said Ethan didn’t complain about the hours the job demanded, adding that young agents needed to understand there was no such thing as a standard working week in real estate. Local clients have already told the pair they want Ethan handling their properties in future.
On navigating tougher markets, Brett said joining during COVID had prepared him well.
“I fell off the Australian cricket team, was getting duck after duck every week. So I was always used to a tough market and a very slow market,” he said.
His approach leans on client education and deep-dive market analysis, built around one message: “It’s not their house, it’s just a market, that it’s a little bit tougher. But there’s always a buyer for a house.”
For agents weighing up going out on their own, Brett didn’t hold back.
“A lot of these agents who work for franchising brands, they run around every day of the week, they do all the hard work, and they don’t realise that they’re paying the business owners all their hard-earned money,” he said.
“If your mobile rings because you’ve got people calling you to list their property, then go do it on your own.”
With his son Ethan set to take over the business in the coming years, Brett is looking forward to stepping back and enjoying the fruits of his labour – something that wouldn’t have been possible without taking that leap of faith six years ago.
Area Specialist is a real estate platform for top-performing agents, providing the systems, tools and technology they need to create, grow and power their business. For more information visit beyourboss.com.au