Aaron Woolard: from White Pages cold calls to New Farm’s attraction agent

In episode 14 of Raising the Bar, George sits down with high end attraction agent Aaron Woolard from Place New Farm 😎

From White Pages cold calls to making moves in New Farm, Aaron has built one of Brisbane’s most recognisable inner-city teams 🌇

We unpack how he went from solo operator to equity partner at Place New Farm and why simple systems done well beat shortcuts every time ⚙️

We cover:

- The journey: from early days in West End to owning a Place office. Aaron shares what it really takes to build longevity in real estate - the discipline, the hours and the mindset that keeps him showing up 💪

- The niche: how Aaron carved out dominance in Brisbane’s inner-city apartment market, turning consistency and service into serious market share 📈

- The team: what it takes to run a seven person EBU that transacts hundreds of properties each year and the systems, challenges and rewards of scaling while keeping culture front and centre 🤝

If you work in Brisbane real estate or want to, this is a masterclass in focus, process and playing the long game 🎯

Contact Aaron: https://www.eplace.com.au/agent/aaron-woolard
Follow us on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/empirelegal/
More podcast episodes: https://empirelegal.com.au/podcast/
Check out our blogs: https://blog.empirelegal.com.au
Website: https://empirelegal.com.au

Transcript

We've got a very good guest today, a very cool guest, Mr. Aaron Woolard. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Thanks for coming on, my friend. I know you're a very busy man. Try to be.

You can be seen cruising the streets of New Farm, floating from house to house. That's it. Fun fact, we've known each other, at least... Empire's eight years old, so I'm going to say at least eight years.

Welcome to the Raising the Bar podcast, where we story tell excellence in Queensland Property. I'm your host, George Sourris from Empire Legal. 

Yeah. You've been from the get go and haven't strayed. 

Thanks for trusting us, mate. And the journey, it's evolved quite a bit, hasn't it?

And I remember it was you and Anissa, if I recall correctly, when it was just Abi and I. How many people do you have now? 

So we've got a team of seven people now. Wild. Bit like you guys.

 It's grown a bit, mate, from two to 18, or something like that over the time.

It's crazy, isn't it? It is, it is. And like this year, we're in October. That's scary to say out loud. I know. Yep. Yep. Not even 12 weeks to Christmas. How's that? 

I don't, don't say 

it. Well, mate, this podcast, it's called Raising the Bar. The whole point is to story tell excellence in Queensland property.

So we think you're pretty excellent. We are going to add some value to the listeners here about Aaron Woolard's journey. And yeah, some tips and tricks for anyone out there that may want to replicate an EBU, an Effective Business Unit. That's, that's the correct, yes, I know real estate.

Yeah. Let's talk about your journey. So you started, gosh, you tell me how many years ago. I know it was West End, and I know it was just you in the very early days before Place. Let's start there and let's end up with Aaron Woolard as an owner as part of Place New Farm. You, you're involved with the business as well, aren't you? 

Yeah. So recently purchased as an equity shareholder.  Congratulations mate. So in the New Farm business. Yeah. Beautiful. So, yeah, pretty exciting. Beautiful. Yeah. 

Let's, let's re rewind all 

the way back, and go on a quick journey.

Okay, so starting real estate 2009. And I think real estate in general has evolved a lot over those years. And not just me personally. Back then it was a case of here's a desk. Everyone was pretty much commission only. Good luck, sink or swim. So. I started in a smaller independent company in 2009, and had no idea what real estate really was about.

So for those people that don't know, it was a case of the White Pages, but we were a bit more advanced. We weren't the hard book. We were "online", so we'd have to search for people's names and numbers. Wow. Using the White Pages. 

Literally? Literally. 

Whoa. 

So no database, no contacts, just here's a list of buildings.

They're yours. You go find the people and you see if they want to sell. Did you? Okay. 

I have, that's how I felt. I have a few questions. Yes. You said sink or swim. Were you a junior under a senior, or were you just like your own lead agent and you'd never worked in real estate? 

I didn't even know what real estate was about.

I did the five day course and thought I'm going to make this. 

Can we rewind a tiny bit more? What were you doing before real estate out of curiosity? Did you have like a sales job at least? No. So, oh man. I worked 

for my family's business. Okay. That a transport company that delivered product for Woolworths.

So, not really. Totally different. My, not my gig. Didn't love it. My mum retired. I went, geez, what am I going to do with my life? And I thought, I'll give this real estate job a crack. 

Okay, so it's 2009, you've got White Pages. Yeah. And you are what? Cold calling door knocking, doing all that, that OG real estate stuff?

Pretty much. So when I started, the company I worked for, they pinpointed that they wanted to push into the CBD, from their office in West End. So, they gave me, I don't know, six buildings and said, that's your core area. Find the owners, see who wants to sell. I had some really good mentors in that office.

A friend of mine, Ben White, he was our sales manager at the time. So I got a lot of learnings. But, it was a lot of hard work. So, trial by fire?

Oh yeah, absolutely. 

Forgive me if it's a naive question, was this a commission only job, or did you have a base. How does it work? 

It gets even more interesting.

So I started with a very basic base. 

Yeah. 

As minimal as you can get. And I didn't have the experience, so I was doing the calls, wasn't really getting any traction. Then the managers at the time felt that maybe I wasn't, "hungry" enough? Oh no. So they took the base away from me, to see if I would have enough fight in me to get more sales or more listings.

Wow. Yeah. Okay. And you obviously did. Ah, so there, there was no, there was no "RP datas" right. Just to clarify, oh, you can't just go and look up like the owners on RP data or anything like that. You had to like hustle to find the, 

I think you had RP data, so you could find the names. But then there was very little information. So then you'd have to use all different sources to try and find a landline phone number.

Okay. 

Yeah. So  you're not using RP data and then getting a number and ringing? No. Their name is Ben Smith. And then you've got to try and find that Ben Smith's landline to try and have a conversation about whether they want to sell their apartment or house. 

Yeah.

Yeah. It was great. Wow, man. Wow. It  was tough, but then we'd just come off GFC. So the market in general was a bit soft. I didn't know what I was doing. So I think it was four months before I even got a listing. So I didn't really get anywhere. And then maybe I had one or two, sold those, and then nothing again for a long time.

At that point, maybe I think six to eight months in that I got the call. We don't think real estate is for you. 

The principal had that conversation with you, like, we don't think real estate's. How, how cool is this? You look at your journey now. So back then there were people that said, mate, you should just get out of the industry.

Yeah, pretty much. Okay. So what goes on in your brain then to make you go, no, I'm going to stick around. Why didn't you leave? 

I said, look, I've got a bit happening. Give me a bit more time. I fought for the position. I think maybe that conversation happened twice. Wow. Hung in there, and then it just started to pick up.

And then we had 2011 floods. So I worked in West End, our office flooded. So the market was dead. Shocker

I sort of never really got a good run at it. I was ready to give it up. It was two years in. And the manager, and friend at the time, I met with him and just said, look, I don't think it's for me. I've tried. I always wanted to sell cars. So I thought, you know what? I couldn't imagine you. I could not, 

I couldn't imagine you anywhere but where you are mate. That was the dream. Mr. New Farm, Mr. inner city, like you live and breathe it. Yeah. And ever since I've known you the eight years. That's the persona.

That's who you are. In that period of time before, you invented that, right? So how'd you go from that point to being a go-to name in New Farm? 

It was a long road, and I think that's the difference. Back then, there were no co-agents. There was no springboard of data for you to be able to accelerate your career.

There's no working on a listing with somebody, having the co-agent role and doing a hundred transactions and getting that experience, you had to just nut it out. 

So that's a relatively new. 

It's new. Yeah. "Thing" in the, in the real 

estate market. At least up here, you're saying. So that that was not common back then?

No one did that. 

If you had a person that worked with you, that was your assistant and that person would be your assistant. Like, old school, like get your dry cleaning and buy your coffee. Righto. Righto. Right. And they would do a bit of paperwork. Yep. Gotcha. They weren't a real estate agent back then. 

And certainly not a lead agent.

No. Nothing. Like now I know have a few lead agents in your team. They're agents in their own right. They're definitely not assistants. They sell their own properties without you. 

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly. And I think that's what's probably evolved and what's really exciting about real estate these days.

Yes. 

So yeah, I was going to give it up. I talked to Ben. He said I'm about to join Place. You should talk to Paul Curtain. So I met with Paul, I had a meeting. I went with the white flag and was like, please just take me. And joined Place New Farm in 2011. 

I was going to ask what year this all happened.

So, okay, so we're talking 14 years ago, roughly. Was it at that little office? You know, the one, that before where you guys are now, the one on Brunswick Street? Yeah. Was it? Was it there? Yeah. So where the IGA was on the corner of 

Brunswick Street and Kent Street. 

Because when I first met you, I would come to that office when I do my presentations and whatnot. 

Yeah. So, okay. So it was in that same office.

But I was super lucky, that when I started in that office, it was a small office. We couldn't get out of our chairs without hitting the chair behind you. Our desks were like maybe 800 wide, or a meter wide. So it was tight. But I worked with Judy Goodger, Heath Williams, Simon Caulfield, Alex Rutherford, Garry Jones.

All of these really experienced powerhouses. And just the information that I listened to and absorbed because we were so close, it really propelled my career. What Place offer as a company, you know, ongoing training, access to all the directors, all of those things that I didn't have, from these super successful people. You had, again, a different form of sink or swim. 

Mate, two comments on the back of that. One is those names you rattled off - I know all of those names, and they're all heavy hitters, so that's very cool. So you're saying a part of the success is being surrounded by those, I guess you would've got mentored right?

By those guys. 

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like that sponge analogy. Just absorb every little bit of information that you can. For me, I don't think I know everything. I'm still at every training event. I can still continuously learn and grow and change and evolve. I think that if somebody is getting into real estate, it's not a know it all culture.

It's a learn it all culture. Because I'm forever learning to get better. 

It's no ego. And that's the cool thing with Aaron Woolard, and saying this to your face. Yeah. We've been working together for eight years and people ask me, oh, what's Aaron Woolard like?  I say, he's a dude.

He's a nice guy. You are performing. Top Agent in your suburb, your top Agent in the region. If I say your name, everyone knows you. But when people have a conversation with you, you're just a normal guy. Yeah. I feel like the ego's left at the door and that forever learning piece -

It's true. When I come into your office and we have a chat, do a presentation, you are still asking questions, you are still engaging, and I reckon that's a huge part of the key to your success. 

Thank you. Yeah. In my, in 

my opinion, mate.

Real estate, you've got to have a bit of get up and go about you, but also I think people want to deal with real people.

They don't buy and sell real estate every day of the week. They just want somebody to help them and give them a plan and talk them through how they're going to get their property sold and make some money. 

Yeah. That give them a plan is a very important piece, isn't it? 

Yes. 

Because obviously I'm, I'm not an agent, but I, I've worked with a couple of agents when I've bought and sold my own.

I sold a property at Carindale, and the agent that helped me out, he had a plan. Yes. He was, we're going to take this house to auction. Yeah. These are the milestones. I'm already in the industry. I felt very comfortable, because I had a plan to work to. 

Our job is to maximise the price, minimise the risk, and get the property sold.

So, what is the plan around that to help them do that. 

Yes, right down to minimising risk. Like qualifying good buyers, right? Having good solicitors. Well thank, thank you, thank you. But, but that is part of the parcel, isn't it? Because if you go to all of this work and they end up with a solicitor that maybe doesn't do conveyancing every day of the week, or the solicitor that goes to court and isn't available for the time of the essence, your deal can fall over. And you put all this work into getting it to that point for it to only fall down because they haven't picked a good operator.

And even more so like with that form two and the form 33 like that is, more so than ever, making sure that you have people that you can rely on to give you the turnaround to ensure that your clients are ready before you go to market. That is a part of that big risk factor right now. Oh mate.

Hasn't it really made, it's made businesses like ours work even closer together? Yeah. Not saying we didn't before, but now agents really need to rely on good solicitors to help keep their deal moving quickly. Yeah, 

yeah, yeah. In a compliant way. 

Yes. 

Yeah, because fast isn't always good, if fast is wrong. Then you have holes that pop up, and then you're trying to plug them and makes the deal harder to get over the line.

It's true. Yeah, definitely. 

Alright, let's, let's finish this first point then. So, you're in the Place New Farm office. From that point of time, I know we're trying to compress 15 years worth of stuff, but you said you had these other guys that you were learning, mentoring off. How do you think you went from Aaron Woolard at West End to Aaron Woolard now?

What's the main thing springing to mind? Is it that mentoring piece? Do you feel like you really sort of "popped". Because when I met you, you already had a profile. Yeah. And that was eight years ago. That little gap in between, do you think that was due to being with high performers and learning and sort of having that extra....

I think it was a combination of things. I think yes, that's absolutely what helped sharpen my skills, helped me learn how to better myself. But I think the main key things was identifying a location. I think having an area that you can saturate, that you can market yourself, that you can brand yourself in, so that you get known, so that you can become that attraction agent.

Too many people, even back then, would jump from location - sale, sale, sale, sale, sale. You lose that momentum, because you're forever chasing. Whereas for me, I just wanted to be known for selling in one location, and get really good at that. Back then I started, it was Fortitude Valley.

A lot of people I knew there. I lived there. It was easy to relate to the clients. I just got really good at making sure that people knew who I was in Fortitude Valley. And then over time that grew, I then pushed into New Farm. Now is where I live in New Farm. And then again, we're probably jumping forward, but now I've got a team that Michael does Valley, I do New Farm with Flynn. We've got someone in Teneriffe. We've got someone in Newstead. I'd rather stick to that location, and just do that really well. 

Yep. Yep. Mate, I remember my wife and I, we were looking a couple of years ago, I think I actually messaged you. At one point we were going to stay in New Farm. We lived in the Valley and we wanted to move to New Farm. And we were driving around, a bit old school. I know that you can look it all up online, but we were just cruising around the streets looking at where we liked. And I just saw Aaron Woolard signs everywhere, and I'm like, man, this is the guy. You are, you've, you've built that brand in that area.

So that's a testament to exactly what you've just said, is I guess if people see you sign on that street, and that street, and that street, and that street, you just get momentum off the back of that, don't you? 

You've got to continuously do a good job. A risk if you're selling in one location and you aren't providing good service or you're not doing the right thing by good people, that will come back and bite you.

But if you are good at your job, you actually genuinely care about your clients, then that word of mouth will help with that brand recognition, with good service and great results. Hopefully that all together propels you and gets you called in more often. 

Well said. You can have the best marketing in the world, but if your product sucks or your customer service sucks, then you can't fake that.

And the word of mouth will be the testament to that. 

Exactly. Yeah. 

Yeah. 

Yeah. Mate, I reckon that's good for point one. Thank you. That's a pretty wild journey. We're going to talk about your team in a little bit, but just to wrap up this section, how many are in your team now? 

The, the, so seven in my team now.

Seven in your team? 

Yes. Beautiful. Yeah. Beautiful. So a little bit different to the old days, but I wouldn't change it. I'm really lucky. I've got a really awesome team. I love working with all of the guys in my team. That helps. 

And mate, they've stuck around as well.

Yeah. Which is cool. And you can usually pick a good leader from a mile away, because they don't have a high turnover. I know agents that have juniors, and you blink and they've got a new junior. You got to look at the variables and the constant. And if they're always going through juniors, it's why, why?

Whereas, you know, look at your team and man, it's the same faces. We've sat and had lunch together. And over the years they've still been there. So, mate, you must be doing something right. 

We have a good time. We work really hard. 

You do, you do high performing team. Yeah. Yep.

But we're all like-minded. We enjoy the fast pace. We enjoy the hard work. We are all texting on the weekends about work stuff when we're not at work. So we are probably a bit crazy. A bit obsessed, but we are all, but we're all as crazy as each other. Yeah. Yeah. 

But when you are obsessed, that's when you get the results.

Yeah. Like I live and breathe property as well. My wife's in real estate. Yeah. Funnily  📍 enough, she was working in your office for a little while there. Yeah. And this is a testament to your hard work mate. Is every single time, didn't matter if it was in the morning or at night, I'd see your car parked out the front.

And I, I said to Anna, I'm like. Is Aaron in there? And then she's like, yeah, he's always here. I said, well, you know what? There you go. There's that. The other side of real estate, which is people can look online and they can look at your hundreds of sales that you do, but the reality is, mate, you're in your office working.

Yeah, right. You're getting those results because you are working. 

And that's the thing, like yes, we are busy. Yes, I've got a team and, and we list and sell a majority of the properties in the area, but you've got to have a system to be able to take on that volume. To be able to deliver the right service, so that you're not taking on too many clients, so that they have the right client experience. But also deliver the outcome that you said you would.

You got to learn when to say no as well, right? 

Yeah. I'm not good at that. 

People pleasing. It's a tricky one. Yeah, but, okay. What I'm getting at though is you've got your core area, right? 

Yes. 

You're not going to go and take on a place out in like the middle of nowhere, are you? Say it's half an hour away in the western suburbs, would you take on a property like that, or would you refer that out?

Depends on the property. Depends on the person or the relationship. 

True. True. If it was a good client of yours that had a property, then maybe you would. 

Yeah. So like, I've sold a lot outside of our area, but you've also got to look at the pros and cons, the relationship. Also, do you have a relationship with an an agent in an area?

I've got a good relationship with somebody out in the Bayside. They sent me a friend of theirs that's selling in New Farm and I've sent them friends of mine that are selling out there. So it depends on the property. 

Yeah, true. You can't really put that into a one size fits all hey? No. Depends on the situation as well.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, mate. I'm happy with that. Let's move on to the next point. 

Cool. 

We could talk all day.

If you were looking back on your journey and you had to say - what's something that you would continue doing? Say you're a junior agent, there's a junior agent out there listening.

If you were to think about your journey and go, man, I would continue doing this.

I think that what's really important in this job is to not let the little stuff get to you, and I'm still really bad at that. 

Easier said than done. 

I think because I probably care, and maybe care a bit too much, that it does hurt when you don't get a lsiting. Or does hurt if a sale doesn't come together.

But I think you've just got to try and not let it ruin your day. Just let it ruin your hour. Maybe. I'm talking from experience right now. I think having an area is what I would do. I would do it time and time again. Focus on one location, become the best in that location. Know that area better than anyone else.

That's what I would continue doing. I would grow and service that area until you are the best at it. That's what I would continue doing. I've done and learned a lot along the way. I think have an area, grow a team and then be the best you possibly can.

That works perfectly with my next point mate, like that's perfect. I've got here - let's talk market share. So when it comes to New Farm and surround, I think of the name Aaron Woolard and in the more recent years, Team Woolard with your team.

Two questions. How'd you build it? Because you're obviously passionate about, like your whole model is saying live and breathe the suburb that you're in. How did you build it, and why did you choose to be so tunneled in on that niche? 

Was it part of the plan or did it just sort of eventuate that way? Did you always want to be in New Farm selling? Was that your goal? 

I would love to say that I was that smart, but I was not that smart. Well, 

you fake it well, mate. Yeah. You hide, you hide it Well, because it looks that way from the outside.

Look, let's say I did. 

Okay, let's go with that. Yeah. 

When I moved over to Place, I took on Fortitude Valley, because it was easy to relate to the clients. I was living there, my friends were there. It was easy. Yeah. So then as time grew, I moved to New Farm. New Farm I think it's the best suburb. I love New Farm.

I love everything that it has to offer, so it's easy for me to sell that. You're not "selling" that. So you live and breathe it. You live in it, 

you work in it, your office is in it. That's like your little bubble, isn't it? It's 

hard to leave the bubble. 

I lived in the Valley / New Farm for 18 months, and mate, it was hard to leave. A cool little part of the world. 

You get to know everybody. You've got a good community there. We've got some amazing restaurants and boardwalks, and anyway, so there's so much to love about New Farm. Once I started there, I grew into New Farm because you couldn't sustain a business of what I wanted to achieve in one suburb.

So that's where I moved to New Farm and sort of would balance the two. . At that point I was getting busy, so I brought on a co-share administrator. So they would do all of my administration contracts, marketing, all of the administrative stuff, so that I could list, sell, prospect. Then they took care of the rest. 

So was that Anissa in the early days? No. Or someone else? 

Another girl, Chloe. Yep. So she used to work, shared between me and another agent in the office. And then progressively got busier again, and then my best friend Anissa came on to work with me at that point. Anissa and I still work together 14 years later. She's got two little kids, but she was in the office this morning doing some part-time work for us. She takes care of all of our socials and copywriting and things like that.

Excellent. There you go. Testament to what we said before about the team sticking around.

That's a long time. That's very cool. Just to hammer this point home then, with New Farm and surrounds, New Farm now is, arguably one of the hottest suburbs, if not the hottest suburb in Brisbane. When you came in and you wanted to take that area, there would've been other big agents, and there's still are big agents in the suburb.

How did you go with your mindset? Let's go back. I want to take a New Farm. I want to give New Farm a run. And you've got these big names in the area. What was going through your head? because I imagine heaps of people would be stuck with limiting beliefs of, oh, you know, there's Matt Lancashire's, and there's Simon Caulfield's and there's all these names. How the heck am I going to give this a go? Or were you in a different frame of mind, going why not me? 

I think that you have a different mindset in terms of, you could probably do anything. If you work hard, you just do a good job, you help people.

But also too, I pitched myself in a segment of the market that wasn't really dominated. You know, I wasn't chasing the riverfront property. I wasn't chasing the big architectural family home. I started off selling one bedroom apartments. I built a really good business and a really good reputation about selling apartments.

But there were 562 apartments selling versus 20 houses. 

There's 50 agents chasing 20 houses versus five doing apartments. 

Small fish are sweet my friend, is one of my favorite sayings. Yeah. 

So it was easier to get in the door. You could build trust easier because it's probably somebody at that point, 15 years ago. Somebody probably younger than me or similar age to me, so it was easier to get that started. So it was just about building repetition one by one, doing a good job, getting people a great price, and then building from there. 

And all these interactions you're having with people. Let's stack this over, say, 10 plus years now. You would've come across a lot of sellers, a lot of buyers, and what started as one bedroom units, now you sell homes in New Farm. Because these people, maybe they've traded up or they've got friends and family, you've serviced them and done a good job. And they say, oh, my uncle's got a house in New Farm, I'm going to give Aaron a call. Is that pretty much how it's happened, just the word of mouth growth over time?

Yeah, absolutely. What's really exciting is seeing people that I've helped transition from the first apartment that they've bought, to the second one, to the house, to the next one. I just sold a really beautiful apartment on the river for over $5 million.

Wow. 

And I just sold for her daughter a few months ago, and then I sold to her a couple of years prior. She bought an apartment from me for $500,000. We then resold it for a million and then we've lucky enough to be able to help her mum sell for over $5 million.  

does that feel weird to say now?

Think of New Farm. Was it a unit for 5 million, did you say? Yeah, it was a $5 million unit. Yeah. Isn't it wild how Brisbane, especially that New Farm pocket has performed? 

When you started in New Farm, I imagine nothing like that existed. No way in the world. 

If only I had money. 

Oh. 

Like I looked, would've brought up everything.

Everything. Houses in New Farm are like $700,000 For a house? For a house, yeah. So, 

yeah, good luck. Now what do you need to even get an old, old rubbish house in New Farm?

Entry. You're roughly $2m. 

Yeah. Okay. Yeah. That's still fair gap from $700k! Yeah. Yeah. Mate, let's move on so we can finish this.

Let's talk hacks. One little hack or daily habit that you have, to keep you sharp in the game mate. Like I know you're very active you do triathlons and all sorts of crazy stuff, don't you, running and all that? What what do you think if just the audience out there, helps you stay sharp all the time?

Look, it's super cliche, but genuinely, if I don't do something physical in the morning, I don't feel as energised. I don't feel like I have as clear of a mind. So doing something for yourself in the morning I think is absolute number one for me. Another one, which it's corny again, but our team will get there at a similar time.

We all walk over and grab coffee together. We catch up, we chat about our night. You know, it's just a nice way to start the day. So I think starting the day right is a good one. I don't think 

that's corny or cliche, mate. Yeah. But at the end of the day, this stuff works. Yeah. And I keep coming back to that with every guest I've got on here is it's the simple things that you do consistently in this game, work. 

Oh, every day of the week. Look, we are not doing anything groundbreaking, but I believe we work harder. We have incredible systems. We devote ourselves to making sure we get the absolute best price for our clients, but we have a really good time doing it. So I think that's what works. I think that's a really good formula, but I'm super systemised and routine, so I think that helps.

Let's touch very quickly on the systems, because you've mentioned the word systems a few times. So are these Aaron Woolard built systems? Are these Place systems? Is it a bit of both? From when it was just you, to now with your team, you obviously need systems to manage like you guys are selling, gosh, what, over 150 properties a year?

Your stats alone is over a hundred. Your team would do hundreds. With Flynn and Mike and the rest of the crew. It's high volume now, isn't it? Yeah. You need systems to, to make this all work smoothly. 

Yeah, we've got our systems. Yep. We've got Place systems, but we've got a really incredible real estate coach that comes to Place, Josh Phegan.

So it's a combination of all. If it isn't working, we tweak it. So we are not like, this is the system for the rest of our life. We are forever adjusting, tweaking, and changing so that we can be competitive. To have that sort of volume, we've identified rules, systems, things that need to be done so that everyone has a job, and we call them the "lanes".

Everyone knows, out of the seven people within the team, everyone has a lane. And they know what their, their responsibilities are within that lane, so that we can effectively transact that many properties. 

Got one thing to add on the back of that, and it's perfect for what you just said.

Let's talk about Form 2 for a sec. We had a phone call. Interesting topic. I'm out. Emotion. Emotional topic. We spoke three or four weeks ago on the phone. 

Yeah. 

Because there was a bit of a, let's call it an "inefficiency" that your team had identified, going, can we make it faster?

Because this is obviously uncharted territory for everybody, and after what, a five minute phone call, you and I worked out a way to get the job done faster. Yeah. Which is obviously something that on your side, because you were the guys having the conversations with the clients, letting them know what Form 2 is, how to get it, what it costs, all that stuff.

We do it on the other side, but you guys are, are building the system in play on how the client can engage us to do it. And we shaved at least a business day off that turnaround time, just from a five minute chat on you going, mate, how can we make this more efficient? How can I and my team get the edge? And props to you my friend, I can count on one hand the other agents in Brisbane and Gold Coast that have rung me to do that. So good on you. Yeah. Yeah. And we did that together collaboratively. So that that extends beyond your team. That's now you getting efficiencies with external teams. 

Yeah, and I think that it's just being able to go, what is holding us back? Or what can we work differently to give our clients the competitive edge?

Who are the people that we trust that we can work together to streamline that process? And that's why picking up the phone and going, well, what are we doing - that isn't working properly? Let's fix it. 

Yes. 

And we did instantly. 

Yes. And I truly believe that your guys will get that result faster than competitors in the area because you, you deep dove into it and you understand it and you go, alright, this is a bottleneck. If all the other competitors are taking longer and we can get this edge, it just helps you guys as well, doesn't it? It helps the deal flow along without hitting the roadblock. 

Well, it's minimising the risk for our clients so that we can strike while the iron's hot. When we have the right buyer that's offered a price that they're happy to accept. 

Yeah, buyer's remorse exists, right? People do cool off, and when they're in the moment, you don't want to say, oh, okay, all good, give me five business days. You want to go, all good, let's get this underway right now.

You know, better than anyone I, I. Have moved a few times, I have the worst buyer's remorse. I'd wake up one day and be like, what have I done? And then I'd go to bed and be like, oh, I'm so excited. And I reckon it was a rollercoaster for a week. Unless you've bought and sold as well, it's difficult to know that emotion to be able to help your seller or your buyer through the transaction.

Until you've lived it yourself. 

Yeah. Yeah. And it, you know what, it still happens, doesn't it? I'm sure if you were to do a sale purchase, there's stress involved, even though we've, I know you've done them before. 

It's still stressful. It's not always a smooth sail.

Even as much as you try to get all the variables, it's still a stressful time. 

Having the right people around you will minimise that. The right solicitors, the right agent. Having the right people on your team. I think the more you do it, which you don't want to do all the time, but you get to know who are the right people.

Speaking of right people, let's jump into our last point, so your team. 

Okay. 

We've already touched on this a bit, but let's break down. Now you've got your team. Can you explain to me, I guess, the different roles and was it always Aaron Woolard's plan to grow a team like this? Or did you just think it'd be like you and a couple of others? Was this part of your vision, and what's that look like? 

Because I worked one location, we built a really great brand. We had really good transactions, we had great results. So as my business grew, to be able to deliver the right service to my clients, there wasn't enough of me. That's when I identified I need somebody to help me do that.

I now have seven people that work with me. We've got those lanes that we talked about. The first one is Laura, my operations manager, EA/administrator. So Laura is an absolute gun. She would handle close to 200 listings per year. 150 sales. Wow. She can work that volume like no other.

So she does...big problem solver too, mate. I know. 

When I get a, a message from Laura, it doesn't happen often. Not even a couple times a year, I reckon. Because she can just fix everything on her own. But when I see her name pop up, I'm like, oh, we got to fix something here. Yeah. And to her credit, we work through and we get a solution.

Yeah. So she's a problem solver. 

She's great. So she does administration, manages the team, handles all of our figures and all of that stuff, so that we know if we're on target. She manages the business in terms of goal setting and all of that. So there's Laura.

So then we've got Mikayla.

So Mikayla is administrator/marketing. Similar role to Laura in that regard. And she works for the team, but more directly with Michael Kafantaris. 

Yep. 

So Michael, he's now a lead agent within my team. Michael's been working for me for over four years now. He started as my co-agent. He then was listing and selling as my co-agent, and then at that point he was listing and selling so much that I identified, you are ready to become an agent.

We love working together and we can conquer more as a team. So he stayed in the team. Yeah. Very cool. And I gave him Fortitude Valley. 

Yep. So he, it's his core area. He took over my database. That's his, he does that. Michael will do probably close to a hundred transactions this year. He's got so busy that he now has an administrator, and he now has a co-agent that works for him.

So that probably puts me into Cody. So Cody works in our team. He's been with us for a year and a half. He started as junior. No real estate experience. I grew up with Cody. I'm family friends with them, oh, small world. How cool. Yeah, I've known his mum for 25 years. So he joined the team.

He learnt the ropes, he did a lot of the running around, getting experience, and now he works as Michael's co-agent. Then if you look at myself. So I have Flynn Park that works with me. Flynn and I have worked together for maybe three years now, and he's my co-agent. We work on all of the sales together, but he now is an agent in his own right.

He's listing and selling. He would do probably 60 to 70 transactions this year. Mate, 

let's pause on that for a sec. All these guys you're talking about that you've mentored and work alongside, we're talking like sub four years here. That's wild. So what you've learned over your career, you've obviously helped mentor these guys to grow within the team, and now they, come on with you. They are still part of your team, but they're their own agent in their own right, that's in a very short timeframe, compared to your journey with the White Pages. Yeah. Isn't it really cool, the great circle of life now? Yeah. That you can bring people into your business and mentor them up and we're talking on like, you know, 10 x timeframes. This is unbelievable.

 And that's the really exciting thing. And that's probably the change in real estate is, not everyone is the same. I'm not precious. I'm like, I want you to grow. I want you to learn. There's no one that's off limits. If I sold it to them. You call them if they decide to sell, that's you.

I'm all about where we do this together. We are a team. We can do it all together. Literally, Team Woolard. 

The branding out there in the world is Team Woolard. It's not Aaron Woolard and whoever. It's, it's Team Woolard. 

Well, these guys are so successful in their own right.

They're professionals in their own right. Laura's, Mikayla’s, Michael's. Cody will be doing those transactions in no time. Flynn is doing crazy things. And then we've got Nathan in the team who's moved here from Sydney. He's got eight years experience. And he's newer to Brisbane, but he's on track to do big numbers as well.

So we've got a really good crew of really sharp, hungry, humble professionals. Yeah. 

Yeah. People would dream of those nu those numbers you just spoke about. Yeah. Agents would dream about achieving that and your guys are doing that. 

We are all in it together. We're all helping each other, and making sure that we can do the right thing for our clients to get them the best price.

And it is that little community. When I used to come into the office, to see you guys when my wife was working in there, I'd pop my head into your little area, and you guys are all sitting in the same little pocket.

Everyone's there. It feels like a little family. I could comfortably walk in as an outsider and go, hey guys, and have a chat. And it was, it was cool. I was met with warmth from the teams. Like, hey, having a chat. I'm like, this is cool. This is like a little family. 

Yeah, it probably feels like that.

We have a, we have a really great time working together. 

Yeah. Yeah. Mate, rock on. One more thing for you and we're done. Okay. So it's called the Golden Nugget, and I'm not sure if you know about the Golden Nugget. Okay. Yeah. Do I get nervous? Don't freak out.

Raising the Bar. It's all about storytelling excellence in Queensland property, obviously. But this is more of a, let's zoom out of property and talk about just Aaron Woolard. You have to give one piece of advice, one golden nugget to someone. Not about real estate, just it can be about anything. Personal fitness, business, real estate, if you like, whatever. What's just that one bit of advice that you would love to give on to someone, to help add value to their life, mate? And you can have a few seconds to think. It's a pretty heavy question.

I am bad at it, so this is my advice. Stopping. 

Mm-hmm. 

And being able to absorb and understand how far you've come. What you've achieved and being grateful for what you've got. I think I'm not great at it, that's something I'm working on, but I think being able to take in everything and absorb it and be grateful.

Well, this podcast might have been a pretty cool trip down memory lane, right? Yeah, it's a good timing. I didn't know 90% of what we spoke about. Yeah, I learned a lot about you and yeah. It's cool to reflect back from when you were at that desk trying to be a lead agent with, with minimal mentorship. Oh, yeah.

In 2009, did you say? Yeah. Oh, man. Like that's just wild versus now the guys you are mentoring and, and their journeys. It's, it's very cool. 

Thank you. So yeah, stopping and smelling the roses. I mate, I struggle with the same thing. 

Yes I do. I think maybe it's our personality type, we just run at a hundred miles an hour.

But you know what? You actually just can't do that forever. No. And you have to live a little. 

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Agreed. 

And I'm the same. I wish I could take my own advice and I know I'm, I'm getting better now that I've got a little one and a wife at home and stuff, I'm forced to. Yes. 

Yeah. That's what family's about, isn't it?

Yeah. Yeah. 

Yeah. Well, mate, that's it. Thank you. Thanks for your time. Thanks for coming on. We will put all the information in the show notes for anyone that may be listening. Obviously if anyone is in the New Farm and surrounds and have any property related questions, I imagine you and your team would be happy to have a chat and help 'em out.

Absolutely. Happy to help. Beautiful mate. Thanks for your time. Thank you. Beauty.