2018 In Review

2018.

What a great year we had. The BRE Team is seriously grateful for a great year of growth and development. 

Highlights:

Settling Into Our New Home: So anyone who knows me knows that I am a perfectionist. This side of me can come out in an awful way when it comes to design. Meaning I will procrastinate forever until I feel that I have the right vision for every nook of a space. Finally in the summer of 2017 we had settled into our new office space (the settling may have taken 9 months). I thought this was the perfect time to announce to the team that we were moving again! Let me just tell you, they were absolutely thrilled (read not happy). The best office space in the building had just come available and I knew it was a great fit and that it would provide us space to grow. I made a promise to my team that I would make the design decisions quickly and that we'd get the space finished quickly. We moved in late 2017 and by January we were truly settled in. The space has been a great home for us this past year. We have incredible views of the city & amazing natural light. We also rented out the unused space to two of my friends who own companies in the architecture and real estate investment space. 

Tightening Up Systems: Anyone who has worked with The BRE Team knows how systematic & process driven we are. We truly believe things run better with specific systems and processes. That said, we know that we always need to be improving. We also had areas in our business that still felt like they needed systematizing. With 2018 closing out I'm so proud of the steps we've made to grow in optimizing current systems & processes as well as organizing area's in the business that were lacking in structure. We have already experienced benefit from the way this helps us serve our clients better. 

Our New Team Member Chase McDaniel: I met Chase 2 years ago. When we met he was nearing the end of his schooling at my alma mater and had built a successful window washing business. He got introduced to me as someone who could help give him direction in the world of entrepreneurship. I liked him off the bat. He had drive and grit and I knew he'd do well in whatever he put his mind to. Fast forward to the spring of 2018. Chase reached out and wanted to get together. We setup a time to grab a coffee and he proceeded to tell me how he wanted to work for BRE. I explained that I was only looking to hire a new office manager and that I didn't think it was a fit for him. He then started selling me on why I should hire him anyway and that I should create a role for him. His directness made me laugh and I admired his courage to make such an ask. I agreed to consider it but honestly didn't think it made sense. Over the next few weeks we had several conversations where Chase continued to sell me on the idea of hiring him. I finally agreed to hire him for a month to see how it went and promised to reevaluate with him at the close of the month. Chase joined us in June and he hit it out of the park that first month. The team unanimously agreed that he would be a great asset and we took the chance and created a new role for him. He has proven to be an incredibly valuable part of the BRE team with the ideas and work ethic he brings to the table. Chase was a win for The BRE Team in 2018.

Role Definition: Part of what makes us special is that we truly do operate as a team. No client is served by just one person. Each client really benefits from the work of the entire team even when they don't see it. In the last quarter of 2018 we decided to really drill into our roles and responsibilities and make sure that we were operating as efficiently as possible. We did new strengths tests and created our own assessments to discern what brings each team member energy and what drains them. The result was a better division of labor which we believe will provide an even better experience for our clients in 2018. 

The Numbers: Lastly, we were thrilled to see our business grow. We finished the year with 69 sold/pending transactions, and just over $28M in sold/pending volume. Our favorite stat this year was the fact that 95.65% of our business came from a referral from a past client or someone on the team. We are beyond grateful that so many people continue to believe in the mission of The BRE Team. We wouldn't be here without that kind of support and engagement. From the bottom of our hearts we are HASHTAG Thankful!

Well those are the highlights of 2018. We're thrilled for another year of serving you all! Please pop by the office for a coffee sometime (or LaCroix/Spindrift). We'd love to catch up and show you our space. 

Here's to an amazing 2019!

Jack B.