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Name: Andrew Elliott
title: Engel & Völkers Licensing Partner of Jackson Hole, Star Valley and Sublette County; CEO and Managing Broker
experience: 17 years as a real estate consultant, 10 years as a managing broker, 9 years as brokerage owner, 7 years as Engel & Völkers franchise owner
Place: Western Wyoming and Eastern Idaho (Jackson Hole, Wyoming; Teton Valley, Idaho; Star Valley, Wyoming; Sublette County, Wyoming)
Brokerage company name: Engel & Völkers Jackson Hole (main location), Engel & Völkers Star Valley and Engel & Völkers Sublette
Sales volume:
- Total sales: $210 million (2021), $250 million (2022), $192 million (2023)
- Personal sales: $32 million (as of November 2023)
Team size: Jackson Hole: 25 consultants; Star Valley: 13 consultants; Subcontracted: 6 consultants
Awards: Inman Awards for Best Luxury Marketing Campaign 2019
What aspects of working in real estate do you wish more people knew about?
To be successful in real estate, it needs to be your full-time job, not your hobby or side hustle. There are many real estate “players” in every market. Treat this career like any other and spend your time whether the market is good or bad, in season or off season, whether you like it or not.
It’s amazing how many opportunities will come your way if you just show up. If you have a solid plan and execute it every day, it’s hard not to be successful.
What is your most important piece of advice for a newly licensed broker?
Work towards saving a year’s worth of living expenses, with the goal of covering your monthly living expenses within six months. Create a budget, marketing plan, and online plan and stick to them day in and day out.
Name 3 people you admire
Winston Churchill: He never gave up and never lost hope. His communication skills and determination gave others hope and courage.
Teddy Roosevelt: He was a man of action who changed the world through determination and courage.
Garth Merrick: A dear client and friend recently passed away. He started from scratch, built his own business, built a wonderful family, and lived a life full of faith and gratitude. He gave generously to others and impacted many lives. I hope one day I can leave such a legacy.
What makes a good leader?
As a leader, you must set the tone and be present, visible, and available. This sets the pace, expectations and culture. If you are on time, they will know that punctuality is expected of you. If you dress and act professionally, they will know there is an expectation that you dress and act professionally. If you do what you say, even if it’s difficult, they will follow it.
As a leader, you must remain humble. To be a good leader, you need to be confident, but there is a fine line between confidence and arrogance. Arrogance can hijack vision and corrupt teams. Humility means being sincerely sorry and promising to do better. Humility also means you don’t prioritize your own success over the success of your team.
As a leader, you should set goals, not processes. Leaders set the vision and define goals but should not micromanage the process. Good leadership is about harnessing the creativity, ingenuity and talent of others through collaboration and empowerment to define processes and create great things.
What’s the one thing you wish every agent knew?
The importance of staying resilient. There are many ups and downs in life, sometimes in just one day. You have to learn to deal with rejection, conflict, difficult personalities, direct competition, emotional clients, and losing hard-earned deals before dusting yourself off and starting over without losing your enthusiasm.
To be a successful real estate agent, business owner, or leader, you have to operate with the biggest heart you can muster and the strongest skin you can imagine. You have to learn resilience.
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