This week Vivid Minds Vivid Futures interviews Kyle Garrahy, Kyle, while new to the industry has quickly progressed in his career and is now the award-winning lead agent at Professionals Armidale. Kyle is a high-achieving real estate specialist who has built a reputation for meeting or exceeding the expectations of his clients.
Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I was born and raised in Armidale – we initially lived on the east side of town and then moved to the north side. I was educated at Sandon Primary and then Duval High. I completed a few courses while I was at school, including a personal training course –which was a career path I was planning to follow. I love Armidale and all that it has to offer. My partner Kourtnee and I believe Armidale has been a great place to grow up and we are excited to raise our son Jaxon in this great community.
When did you start out in real estate?
When I finished school I wasn’t interested in going to uni, so I did a real estate course (a Certificate of Registration) and, just after I turned 19, I got a job with Professionals Armidale as a buyer manager. This gave me a great insight into what buyers look for when they are purchasing a property.
What have been some of your challenges?
Last year, just before COVID hit, I took on the role of lead agent, which was a really big step for me. I was the youngest and least experienced lead agent in Armidale by at least seven years. It was a tough start for me, but I have managed to figure prominently in the rankings. Just after starting in the lead agent role, I was ranked as the number 1 agent in regional Australia and then number 1 in Australia/New Zealand within the Professionals franchise. For the first financial year, I ended up selling over 50 properties. Since I started in this role I have been consistently ranked in the top two in the region for both sales and performance.
Everyone has the potential to be successful, it’s just a matter of having a mindset that sees an opportunity and being willing to pursue it even if there are some risks involved.
What do you like most about working in real estate?
I enjoy the challenge of setting targets and goals and then working to achieve them. I firmly believe that the path to success is through hard work and persistence. For real estate, I also like the fact that you are rewarded for the effort you put into it. It’s great to meet with a wide variety of people – and you learn so much from them. The law of reciprocity is alive and well in real estate!
Before I got in to real estate, I saw it as a means to build a portfolio for myself so that I could build generational wealth to ensure that my family is looked after well into the future. The more we can support local businesses and keep shops open, the better off the local community will be, so my focus is not only on my family, but on the community because I think both are linked.
What advice would you give a young person just starting out in their career?
In the words of John McGrath, if you encounter a problem, you just keep on peeling away the layers until you find a way – there’s always a process to follow and if you peel away enough of the outer skin, you’ll get closer you to resolving the problem.
The most important thing is not to allow rejection to discourage you. Sometimes when you start out, there might be a lot of rejection. But it’s all a learning curve – you can work out what needs to be tweaked – you need persistence. The rewards will come.
Breakout Box Everyone has the potential to be successful, it’s just a matter of having a mindset that sees an opportunity and being willing to pursue it even if there are some risks involved.
What inspires you?
I think that it is really about making something of myself. I look back to my school days and I don’t see myself as anything beyond average. I operated under the radar then but now I realise that it is up to me to make something of myself. So now, I’m future focused – I’m inspired by my own potential, really. Everyone has the potential to be successful, it’s just a matter of having a mindset that sees an opportunity and being willing to pursue it even if there are some risks involved. So, I’m inspired by people who have a mindset based on success and they put in the hard work and focus on achieving their goals.
What is your secret for success?
As I said, I’m a firm believer in hard work – if you put in the time and effort and follow proven processes, then you will succeed. That is what gives me the results I have set myself to achieve. I like to ensure that I keep my clients fully up to date with progress so that everyone has a clear vision of how we are going to approach their home sale.
What’s next?
I would like to think that 12 months from now I will have out-performed my own targets. I see this journey as continuous growth, so there is always something new to learn, something to improve.
