Career in the pure sense of the word has not been the ultimate goal in our journey through our lives. Our goal was to be happy when working, or to find the positive aspect that would make us happy. And teamwork brought the best out of both of us.
Before we were married, as Ron and I were finishing our college degrees we formed a company called The Collaboration. The name was inspired by a photo Ron had taken and a poem I had written. We created a poster combining both. One of our friends was in charge of merchandising at Judy's, a clothing chain in Southern California. And the posters found a home in that store, and sold out.
Collaboration is what characterizes all the various working adventures we have had in our lives together. We love working with each other. Here is a brief rundown of things we have done:
We taught seminars on relationships (100 to be precise) which were accredited as Continuing Education Credits by both UC Berkeley and University of San Francisco.
We had a life coaching practice, before anyone called it that. One of our clients was a major commercial developer in California and suggested that we would be good at commercial real estate.
We took his suggestion and for 20 years worked the Westside market in Los Angeles which included Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Westwood and West Hollywood. We both enjoyed the influx of new businesses and innovative ideas that came our way, It was joy to be privy to the next new trend in all facets of business (food, fashion, technology). Early on in commercial real estate, we learned the importance of marketing to the right people and placing them in the right place for success. That holds true forever more for any business.
And then came the Internet...The idea of working from home or on the road was enticing. One of our dear friends was working on his PhD at UCLA, and together we wrote a patent for marketing, which was granted 7 years later. By then we had moved to Napa in order to write this patent.
The broker who found us our home in Napa was abandoned by her partner in the midst of an expansion. She convinced us to step in and manage her practice and 14 agents. The franchise she was with did not communicate luxury, which was the majority of her practice. We created a separate brand for her, website and marketing materials. This was the time when the IDX was born, search engine optimization, etc. We all agreed to go for it all. (When she retired, she sold her web site for six figures $$$).
And our branding company was born. Word spread in the Napa and surrounding areas including San Francisco and clients came our way. We spoke at many functions around the U.S, and have worked in many states, many cities, as well as Mexico and Central America. We missed the ocean, and Santa Barbara called us.
From our recent trip to France, another opportunity came our way, which we are working on now as well as with other clients. Not a moment goes by that we are not appreciative of all our adventures, but most of all reveling in the joy of our teamwork! The joy has always been in the journey and not the particulars!
This is an entry in Jeff Dowler, CRS October Challenge. Thank you Jeff for hosting.
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