Rachel Morgan is a successful real estate broker in the Burlington/Greater Toronto Area and has been working in the industry for 8 years. Finding and selling the perfect homes for her clients is on her everyday to-do list and is her passion. Morgan was also drawn to real estate because she wanted to work for herself and run her own business. We sat down with Morgan to find out everything there is to being a real estate broker and a girl boss.
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Why did you decide to become your own boss?
When I graduated from college and started working in the ‘real world’, I realized very quickly, I didn’t like when people told me what to do.
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What have your learned most from running your own business?
That it’s a business and a career, not a job. Accountability and time management are the two biggest ones. When you are the only thing between you and your next paycheque, you learn very quickly that you won’t see the results unless you’re willing to put in the hard work and the hours to make it happen.
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Do you face any challenges as a female boss?
My biggest challenge is managing my other full time job, motherhood. I find that there is still a traditional mind set in our society. Juggling the two full time jobs can propose quite a challenge some days. That being said, I have a very supportive husband, who is okay with our ‘non traditional’ set up— I couldn’t do this without him.
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Who is your role model?
My father. He was the hardest working man I knew. He finished high school, started his own business doing what he loved and built multiple, successful companies. I believe his success was a result of his passion and love for what he did. My parents raised us to do what we loved, and my dad would always say “live to work, don’t work to live”.
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What have you found are the key ingredients to having a successful business?
Passion. You have to love it. Otherwise, it will just become a daunting task and when the going gets tough you’ll quit. As I said, success is driven from passion. If you love what you do, success will come. I also think it’s important to keep mentors and continue to educate yourself as an entrepreneur. There is so much you can learn from someone who has been down the path, learn from their mistakes and their wisdom.
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What is the best advice you have been given during your career?
This is a tough one because I’ve received a lot of great advice during my career. I saw the biggest shift in my success when I started to treat my career like a business and not a job I was waking up to do every day. Systems are key. I put systems in place for every task I do (i.e. checklists, spreadsheets, how to videos), this helps me stay on track but also eliminate important details from falling through the cracks.
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What advice would you give others looking to start their own business?
Do it! Haha. If you don’t take risks in life, you’ll never progress. Have a nest egg because you likely won’t see any income for at least a year and there are a lot of upfront costs. Also, pick 3 people you know who have successful businesses, either in your field or not and ask them everything about running a business. Do this before you start.
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What’s next for Rachel Morgan?
To build ‘Rachel Morgan’. I want to be a team leader and run a successful team under me. I have a tendency of rushing in to things so I’m trying to take baby steps and make sure my systems and my foundation is in place to ensure a smooth start.
Make it happen,
Alison Gordon Studio
By: Karolina Jalowska
ALISON GORDON STUDIO 