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After 18 years of successfully operating her own hair and beauty business, this Victorian woman was in search of a new challenge.
Jessica Chea said she began to observe her husband and his real estate team and began to wonder if she, too, could achieve success in the industry.
Despite leaving school in year nine, Ms Chea acknowledged she has always had a hunger to learn and a determination to succeed; illustrated by the fact that she didn’t give up on her real estate licence despite requiring six attempts over a four-year period to achieve success.
Ms Chea learnt the value of hard work younger than most. In the early 1980s, Chea and her family fled Cambodia and made their way to Australia.
After school, when other kids would have time to study, eat, and sleep, she would go home from school and work until midnight or even later, helping her parents and sister sew to make enough money for the family to live.
She then set her sights on the hair and beauty industry. Through enough persistence, the owner of a renowned local salon finally gave in and let her work unpaid shifts to learn the ropes, which led to a long career in the space — before she cast her eye over the real estate sector.
She also wanted to pave her own way in the industry — and did not wish to simply be granted a role with her husband’s agency, First National Real Estate Waverley City. Instead, she began working for an independent agency.
Having the ability to translate her people skills from her hairdressing business, she began listing and selling houses so swiftly that she surprised herself and everyone around her.
“Whatever it is, I always think everyone else is amazing and I can never do it, but I also think if I start just with one step and do the little things, maybe I can,” said Ms Chea.
Her natural ability to empathise, connect and relate to people of all backgrounds quickly established her as a trusted adviser in home selling and buying.
“I thought real estate would be so different to hairdressing and much harder, but I found it was actually the same — it’s talking to people, building relationships, finding out what they want and then helping them,” Ms Chea said.
“It’s not easy, but it is simple. I still find texts and emails hard, but I just keep working at it, talking to people and helping them.”
She later joined her husband at First National Real Estate Waverley City, where she was named salesperson of the year 2013 in the First National Real Estate network in her first year.
“Even before I joined First National, the group made me feel very welcome. It’s like a family; it’s fun, there’s no judgement, and everyone helps one another,” Ms Chea commented.
She’s since won a number of accolades with the network.
“There’s constant training, and with the support from everyone around me, I feel I can succeed. I have found my home, and I’m so proud to be part of First National Real Estate,” she concluded.
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