I’m not one to do things half-assed.

In my previous life (before real estate), I grew a business from scratch that became the largest of its kind in Canada.

I used to say I did it by outservicing my competitors. But actually, when I think about it, I didn’t much care or pay attention to what my competitors were doing. 

I just concentrated every day on continuously improving how I did things and, by extension, making my customers happier and happier. It worked!

You don’t learn this type of stuff at a weekend seminar. Either you want to be the best at what you do, or you don’t. I did.

When I became a REALTOR®, I had the exact same attitude. I wanted to be the best!

I mean, I’ll freely admit I wasn’t the best. After all, they don’t teach you much at real estate school. As a brand new agent, I knew about a tenth of 1% compared to what I know now. These grey hairs are hard-earned!

But I had the desire. I figured this business could be done so much better than the status quo, and I set out to do it, even with my limited knowledge.

For example, 20 years ago (it seems like yesterday), most agents did not even use a professional photographer! I thought that was ridiculous! I mean, it wasn’t 1975—the Internet wasn’t a new thing.

I always thought—and still believe—that the images are the most critical component in marketing a property. After all, it’s our job as REALTORS® to maximize the number of showings, and the pictures are the first thing people look at. If a potential buyer doesn’t like the images, no showing for you! (say this with the Soup Nazi voice—it’s funnier).

It wasn’t easy for me to find a good photographer back then. My assistant and I called (mostly) wedding photographers and asked if they’d be willing to try this new thing–real estate photography. Then, I had to direct them on how I wanted my listings to look, focusing on the property’s best features, taking photos at the right angle, etc. 

I burned through quite a few photographers because I simply wasn’t happy with the results.

Then, I found Angela! 🤩

Like most photographers, she was doing portraits and weddings at the time. 

With the very first listing, I knew I’d struck gold. That was August 13, 2006, and she’s been doing ALL of our listings ever since! We even try to plan around her holidays because it’s too painful to accept anything less than the quality we’ve become accustomed to. 

Do you know why she’s so good? Because she pours her heart and soul into it, continuously looking for ways to improve, even though she’s already the very best at what she does.

Now, here’s a funny story:

Sometime before we found Angela, I read about “home staging” (hardly anyone knew what it was at the time), and I thought, “Wouldn’t it be great to offer a home staging consultation to my clients, using their own furniture and artwork?”

I won’t claim that I invented the concept because I’m sure there was some other REALTOR® somewhere in North America who had thought of it before me, but I can say with absolute certainty that I was the first in Calgary. 

So, I started hiring home stagers! Actually, I hired designers because home staging was in its infancy, and there simply weren’t any in Calgary at the time.

So now I’m burning through every designer in town. Hey, I never said I was easy to work for; I have high standards. 

I would always follow up with my clients and ask how their staging consultation went. And I’ll never forget this excited response, “Oh, she was okay… But your photographer was amazing! She suggested I do this and that and move that over there and just look at it now! It’s incredible!”

And she was right! And guess who the photographer was?

It was Angela! 🤩

And she’s been doing our home staging consultations ever since!

She’s also added more services to her repertoire, including drone photography, iGuide virtual tours, floor plans, and more. She just keeps getting better.

Is Angela an integral part of our team? Let me put it this way: I’m not planning to retire any time soon, but if I do, it’ll be because Angela retired first, and I know I’ll never be able to replace her.

She’s the best there is, and we love her. ❤️

Ted