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Sally Patch, Chairperson for Leading Ladies of Real Estate in Queensland, had the pleasure of sitting down with Roxanne Patterson recently to chat about her journey in real estate thus far over her real estate career.
To date, Roxanne has sold more than 650 homes while seamlessly managing business ownership of two offices and mother to two sons. Roxanne placed in the top 10 per cent of sales agents within the Ray White Group in her first year and more recently, consistently placed in the top one per cent of agents. Generous, warm, and engaging, Roxanne shared insights and learnings from both her stellar sales career and her role as a leader, coach, and mentor.
Roxanne was recognized very early on with LJ Hooker as their best new talent internationally, and had only been in real estate for about 12 months at that time. By the end of year two, she was doing 60 deals a year by the second year.
Was it really that easy? What did the early years in real estate look like?
It was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. It certainly wasn't easy, but I think when I accepted it for what it was, it relatively became easy.
I think on day one, I really started to think I was a real estate agent. My shoulders back, I thought I could conquer the world in the industry, and then I really realised that that is just not the case.
I'm going to share a story actually because I was offered at the time a job in NRMA, to be honest, working five days a week, no weekends, and I was stupid enough, but very smart enough to take the real estate job at the same time.
So it was less than a quarter of the pay working six days a week. And I'm so grateful that I took it. But there were lots of moments in that first initial period where I really thought I'd made the wrong decision to be honest.
And I fast forward eight years and think I'm so grateful that I stuck it out and pushed those barriers down because I was so close to walking away and the industry's changed my world.
If you could go back then put yourself in somebody else's shoes at that same stage of their career, what key piece of advice would you like somebody to have given you?
“Throughout your career, no matter what you're doing, to be honest, if it's real estate or whatever journey you’re on, you're going to have a brick wall in front of you. And there's a pivotal moment if you knock it down or simply turn off and walk away. And I think if I can give any advice, just keep knocking the brick walls down because you never know what's on the other side of it.”
What did you learn about yourself during this time? Probably that you are stronger than you thought you were?
Yeah, absolutely. And it's probably only, to be honest, fast forward seven to eight years that I've started to realise that I think I was just in the go-go phase. Losing was never an option for me. But I guess you have to be resilient, but I think you've got to be resilient in anything you do in life. It is not meant to be easy. If you want great reward, you have to have those scary moments where you make really hard decisions.
So what was your motivation for having your own business? Why did you want to do that?
To be honest, I had come from somewhere where I felt that I was probably just a number and I was a young mum in what I call a big man's world. I don’t know if I can say that, but that's how I felt. And I wanted to open the doors for a business that was inviting for everybody, I think. And it was nurturing to young moms. It was nurturing to someone who had a different story. I just wanted a safe place and I'd worked so hard where I was that I didn't want to work so hard and have it not work out again that I just wanted to create an environment that everyone could come and work in and succeed at the same time.
Can you think of any standout moments over the past seven or eight years in terms of leading a team and outcomes that you have had? Anything that you are particularly proud of?
I'm proud of the whole lot, to be honest. That's hard to pick one out. I guess I'm proud of the fierceness and the ability and the want to help each other. It's just an overall end game that I'm proud of. I am filled with pride when I look back over the seven. And like I said, there's been hard lessons in there, but none that I'd take back because they were all a crucial piece to arrive at the destination that I've arrived at.
There's some pretty big milestones that you've been hitting, some pretty big achievements. How are you feeling about where you are at in your real estate career and what you've achieved to date?
That year when I really had hit the peak was the most amazing night of my life. I can still remember it so crystal clear. I did not expect to achieve half the things that were called out that night and nor that year to be honest. And it was without doubt a highlight of my career. And then the weeks followed and I found myself a bit lost. I won't lie, I didn't know what was next.
And the pressure to outperform on what you'd done in the previous year weighed really heavy on my shoulders. It actually makes me emotional even thinking about it. My kids weren't getting any younger. I was probably really starting to feel the burn of that juggle and how I did it. And I started to re-evaluate what was next. I wanted something new. I felt like I'd climbed the mountain and I'd achieved more than what I could have ever dreamt of.
And it was time to almost climb a new mountain. So I guess I started exploring what that looked like. What did the growth of the business look like? Where was I going to go? I looked into all sorts of different things. I spent a lot of time soul searching on what was going to be next. The first change I actually made in that was pulling back from frontline selling. And that was terrifying because for nearly eight years I had given it all I had. But I'd built an amazing team around me underneath me in regards to the Roxanne Patterson team. And I felt really safe for the first time to actually pull back and do that and allow them to shine too at the same time. So I made that change a terrifying one, one that many people didn't think I'd ever do, but I felt so free. I look back and think far out, how did I actually do all of those years at such a high level? I think to be honest, I don't think I stopped very much, but I wouldn't change it for the world. And I felt free. I felt clear and I felt free and I felt ready for a new chapter to be honest.
So now you've started a new chapter; you've made some really significant changes to your business. So can you tell us about that? What does that look like? What does that mean for your team?
I spent months and months thinking about what I was going to do and who I was going to do it with. And I made a very exciting decision to merge the group with the Ray White Aspley group making us one of the biggest within Ray White Queensland I believe now. So I'm still a shareholder and the future looks really different, but the most exciting it’s looked for me for a long time, to be honest. We've joined a huge family and their core values really aligned with mine.
In terms of what values do you think have contributed to your professional success and personal success?
It's funny, people always ask me for the magic recipe, but there isn't one. It's persistence and it's consistency, it's volume, it's just never giving up that they're probably the main traits that it was. I was just determined to never give up. And I think it's so I didn't listen to head noise as well. I am anyone who knows me in this industry, I feel like I've just had my blinkers on for the whole entire time. I don't know who many people are. I went as hard and fast as I could to be the best that I could be without listening to outside noise. When I did stop to listen to outside noise, it derailed me and I learned that. And then I think if you're sitting on the other side, give compassion, you also don't know that person's story or journey. That's been really important to me.
What do you think is the value in a community like this? Why are you supportive of us building this community?
I think women in business in general. It's not about the women's side of it, but it's just an acknowledgement, I think for us to come together and share vulnerabilities because it is different on our side of the fence as it is on the other side of the fence. So it's just nice to be real and network with each other, but embrace each other and support each other. I don’t if that's the right answer, but that's what I see from it. And I think we have come so far and the acceptance of women in business is amazing. I remember starting as a business owner in the Ray White Group, and I felt like I was the youngest, only female in the room, and I would've gotten so much from these events throughout that time. So I hope that that helps and motivates other women.
