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A unique opportunity to jump from one industry to another has helped this agent build a strong brand in today’s thriving property market.
Agent Jignesh Kapadia started his life in Australia back in 2005, when he moved to Melbourne from India to study environmental science. Finding it hard to find a job related to his studies, he jumped onto telecommunications, which saw him spend the next 12 years working for Telstra.
Now, the newly minted business owner has made yet another industry jump — this time, to real estate.
As the owner of the new western Melbourne agency Luxon Real Estate, Mr Kapadia has revealed his aim is to add a certain level of “wow” into Melbourne’s real estate scene.
“Whatever we do in terms of providing service to a client or vendor, or just a phone inquiry, we want to add ‘Wow!’ to it,” he said.
“My focus is, ‘How can we create experiences for vendors and purchasers which becomes a long-lasting relationship?’”
According to the business owner, his customer-centric approach has stemmed from his time in telecommunications, where each day that he spent as an account manager was all about customer interaction — meeting with stakeholders, understanding their needs and providing solutions.
He said: “Talking to people is my strength.
“When I finally started, it was a bumpy ride and I wasn’t sure whether it was for me, but then, the things I’d learnt working for Telstra — try and do things differently, don’t do what everyone else is doing — actually helped my career.”
Building his own brand
Prior to launching his own business, Mr Kapadia started his real estate career by investing in property himself, then landing a role at a friend’s business in 2019.
Realising his ambition to start his own business, he then made moves to expand his horizon, which saw him begin selling within the new construction sector — a career move that proved to be fruitful in 2020.
“COVID hit and a lot of agents were in trouble, but I was working with builders and had brand-new houses to sell,” the agent said.
“I made relationships and built networks, so in 2020, when everyone else was struggling, I got a lot of work.”
Apart from wanting to keep more of his commission, Mr Kapadia was also eager to grow his operation by leveraging on the name recognition that he has built through the years and utilising effective marketing strategies.
He said: “[I realised] I didn’t need to rely on working for somebody else — I could have my own brand, create my own culture and pass on to other people whatever I learnt.
“With a lot of the builders I worked with, they were happy with me and saying they didn’t care who I worked for, they just wanted to work with me. I decided, ‘That’s enough of working for someone else — let’s do it on my own.’”
Mr Kapadia has since begun operating within the UrbanX system, ultimately focused on building up his brand and achieving holistic growth — as a human, a business owner and a team leader.
“[Ultimately], the focus is on overall growth, not just, ‘Open up an agency and do $1 million or $2 million a year’... I want to grow as a human, I want to grow as a business, and I want to grow as a team. Those things are very important to me and my family,” he said.
“My business is just four weeks old, but I know that six months down the track when things are even busier, I will thrive with the back-up of UrbanX.”
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