Bluebird x The Urban Developer Webinar - Making the Jump - Starting Your Own Property Business
On Making the Jump from Employee to Entrepreneur
On August 18, Claire O’Rourke and Riye Arai-Coupe shared their experience on branching out and starting their own property business as guests on The Urban Developers latest webinar, Making the Jump. What follows is a exciting conversation on how they made the jump from employee to entrepreneur and the triumphs and challenges that followed.
When asked what really sparked that initial jump, Claire admits that it was something that she and Riye had been speaking about, but it was Tony Robbins that really pushed them to make the leap. She says that “after collectively spending 30 years in the corporate world, we were ready for change and new challenges. We love working with big developers and fantastic projects that we were lucky enough to deliver, but we found it was our time to try something different and take more of control of our future. On reflection, resigning was the hardest part, because once we did that, the rest fell into place”.
Co-founders, Riye and Claire, saw an opportunity in the property sector that required specialist expertise and a personal approach. Riye states that “with our experience and passion for property, we saw an opportunity to fill a gap in the market in the development consultancy space. We saw an opportunity to innovate and explore our passion. Along with this, being a smaller company, we saw an opportunity to be nimble and flexible”.
Like anything new, starting a business was hard, but both knew that by putting the effort in, they would ultimately be rewarded. Claire recalls, “We hustled hard and operated out of cafes and on our back decks. We took a broad approach to securing new work, whether it was a home renovation or a three-sub lot division. It was not glamorous, but it did pay the bills! Eventually that determination really paid off, because in February 2019, not even a year after forming, we joined the Queen’s Wharf team to bring the first residential tower to market.”
On Creating Your Own Personal Company Values
Another crucial key that Riye and Claire have learnt over the last couple of years is the ability to be adaptable. “Plans always change and we will always be pivoting to align with market conditions”, says Claire. This flexibility allows them to continue to refine their company values and allows Bluebird to evolve as a business.
Riye and Claire stress the importance of having a company vision when starting off, this should be modelled on your personal values and where possible challenge the status quo. Riye continues on to say that “at the end of the day, we are not here to just make money. Although that is a nice outcome in the property space, we need a purpose to jump out of bed every day. For us, it is giving back and contributing to positive social, economic, and environmental outcomes. Our vision is a company that is renowned for creating, inspiring, innovating and making lives better through sustainable and connected communities.”
Life is not a dress rehearsal- so make that jump!
Q & A Time
Could you describe the Bluebird moment where you reduced salaries and stood away from the corporate game?
“Unlike developers, we went into the game as consultants. Thus, we didn’t have or were not seeking a lot of capital upfront. The first six months was about establishing the business and marketing ourselves. In those months, we got out there, hustled hard, met as many people as we could, hunting down opportunities, getting referrals and introductions. Fortunately, Brisbane is a small place, so our extensive past careers allowed us to tap into a our extremely strong network.”
Claire continues to stress the importance of having cash reserves, because as a service business, it very tempting to strip money out of the company. She states that having a good cash reserve helped Bluebird survive the harsh times during COVID-19 as construction site began to slow down.
Who has been a good mentor for you and your business when you first formed?
“In the beginning we had a lot of coffee dates with a lot of our industry peers who either had established businesses like ours or were experienced veterans of the development industry. We then discovered that when we finally made the jump, so did many of our fellow industry peers. So now we have a good network of small business owners. Our co-working space has also been an inspiring space for mentorship”, says Claire.
What has been your biggest challenge?
Riye explained that during the period of early months with COVID-19, PM Scott Morrison was releasing new restriction data and information daily, which panicked Riye quickly. She started preparing for the worst, and Claire stepped in and quickly snapped Riye out of it.
“What resulted was a new laser focus on who we are, what we want to do and where we are going. It gave the Bluebird team the ability to reflect and strengthen our plans.”
Rough seas make good sailors.
Bluebird Property is a residential development management and advisory company, based in Brisbane. We provide a dedicated and personalised service to developers and landowners who may not have the time, expertise or resources to oversee their projects.
We have extensive experience, networks and the resources to manage all or any part of the development process.
We are your ‘one stop shop’.