This has been a strange and unpredictable year – and one that a number of people will look back on almost with disbelief.
None more so than Kathryn Hunter.
Starting a business can be stressful at the best of times. But when your office burns down three weeks after you move in it can seriously test your resolve – as Hunter discovered when she launched Hawkmoth Property Consultants in April.
A former compliance case handler for an estate agency chain, she had set up her Milton Keynes office and was looking forward to her new career as an independent estate agent.
Then came the call about the fire.
“I drove straight over and couldn’t believe it,” she recalled.
“My office had gone up in flames. All I had left was my laptop and a company pen.”
The fire, which happened over a Bank Holiday weekend, was caused by an electrical fault in the building next door and thankfully nobody was hurt.
Unfortunately, however, Hunter wasn’t insured. “I consider myself a shrewd business woman, but I made a mistake.
“I’d got the insurance paperwork but had decided to wait until after the long weekend to finalise it.”
There was, she says, never any question of giving up.
“What happened was devastating but the office was just bricks and mortar. It was a horrible start but I knew that I was the business, not the building.
“I hadn’t worked so hard to give up at the first hurdle.’
She phoned round all her friends and contacts appealing for help and within 48 hours had secured a new – bigger and better – office.
She also appeared on that evening’s local television news, gaining some unexpected but extremely useful publicity for her newly-launched business.
The name of the company, said Hunter, comes from her childhood.
“My grandfather was fascinated by hawk moths and when I visited him I used to see this caterpillar. One day it looked like it was dead but when I went back again it had turned into the most beautiful, colourful moth. I thought that was amazing.
“To me, that moth signified transformation and a new beginning – and that’s how I felt about starting my new business.”
She was also – and remains – on a mission.
Having worked for large estate agency chains as a sales negotiator and latterly compliance controller, she said customers were often receiving a poor service from corporates.
Issues that repeatedly came up were lack of communication, failure to turn up for viewings and the misdescribing of properties, she claimed.
“I was frustrated by the impersonal approach of these estate agents,” said Hunter.
“Many of them just didn’t seem to care about their customers. I wanted to set up an estate agency that had a personal and caring approach.”
She also wants to help others effect change in the industry as a whole. “I’d like to be seen as a trailblazer, someone who works really hard to give estate agency a better name.
“It’s about really listening to what customers want, being available whenever they need me and keeping them in the loop.
“Buying or selling a property can be incredibly stressful and I want to do whatever I can to ease their journey through the process. One customer told me that even the cat liked me coming round because it got extra cuddles!”
Hunter’s commitment to go that extra mile was rewarded earlier this year when she was announced as a finalist in the Best Customer Service category for the Women Leaders MK Awards.
She is also dedicated to raising money for charity and in September received a ‘Best Individual Fundraiser’ award at the annual Agents Giving charity ball in London.
As well as supporting local charities, she had also braved a sky dive and the Three Peaks Challenge to raise money for MIND, a charity particularly close to her heart since her brother’s suicide ten years ago.
“I’ve really thrown myself into some scary fund-raising challenges but it’s absolutely been worth it.
“Knowing that the money you’ve raised can help change someone’s life is what spurs me on.”
EYE wishes to express our congratulations and good luck to her.
If readers know any truly remarkable individuals in the industry who would make equally interesting interviews, please let the editor know.
Really? Publicising the fact you didn’t get the basics sorted, like insurance, isn’t really a good marketing opportunity to get vendors or landlords. They’ll be thinking “what else will she forget? To lock the door? Set the alarm?
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That’s a bit hard. A lesson learned but doesn’t alter the fact that it was the neighbours that burnt her down. Did they have insurance which she could claim off?
“I was frustrated by the impersonal approach of these estate agents,”
Bravo, this is the right attitude and why the high street independents do so well. They don’t treat customers as cash numbers, all to often seen by the corporates and their targets to milk every penny from staff and customers. It is that attitude that gets the industry a bad name. Go get at girl …. your will succeed. Stick a post it note on the back of the WC door to remind YOU everyday why you are in business and better than many!
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Moth’s drawn to the fire ?
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A testing start for her, so full marks for her commitment. She has a lot of work to do, with only 2 houses for sale and 1 for rent. She needs someone to teach her how to stage a house and take enticing photos..look at the instruction in Monkston http://www.hawkmothproperty.com/properties/monkston/
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Best of luck Kathryn.
Never easy opening up especially in a market like we are in now. Given the issues you faced as well can only be admired you are still continuing.
Everybody makes mistakes, its learning from them that is important and looks like you have and come out of it shining. Well done.
Being an owner is very different to being an estate agent.
Without being negative like others have above, looking at your site, i think things may have moved on from when you were last in “Front line agency”
Make use of the Arena and ask for assistance as and when, do not be afraid to ask for help. I am more than happy to give an opinion 😉 as are others with a lot of experience.
Couple of pointers which are meant as constructive not criticism.
1. Looks like not on RM – I know its expensive but you should be on it, they give a discount for first 6 months. (if you are on i apologies)
2. Step up on the photography. They are pretty poor pics going into 2017, Just watch some youtube videos would be a good start. They are an advert to your agency so need to look amazing especially if you are starting out.
3. Beware of advertising, stick to portals and canvassing the rest is drain with little to no return if you are starting up.
4. Make sure you take a couple days off every couple of weeks, i remember when i started i was in 7 days a week 14 hours a day. You need the time out to recharge and gain a clear perspective.
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Well said Smile Please. lets hope Kathryn takes your comments as constructive.
If I may offer my opinion to the pot, I think Hawkmoth is great name! but, I found your website to be a little bland/underwhelming. There is a whole lot of text! – believe me, people dont read that much. I know there is a lot of info you want to convey but try to keep it simple and eye catching.
I made the same transition as you and I can tell you that you will never look back!
Very best of luck
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best of luck Kathryn…….happy to impart any of the experience I have gained over the years especially the hundreds (did I say hundreds…perhaps that’s more like thousands) of mistakes I’ve made. Follow us on twitter and I’ll give you a great marketing idea to get you more stock.
https://twitter.com/AgentV_co_uk
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If the cause of the fire was the next door property, claim on their insurance. In law you’re liable for all damage emanates from your property.
Get a loss adjuster on board to cut through the nonsense excuses to get the claim settled.
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Just remember the KISS principle. Show your clients why they should use you, not because you are better than your competitors (customers can rate that for themselves, just about always do). It is your personality and the conviction of service you offer that will matter the most. Opening with no stock is a bold move and does impress your vendors, you are going to have to put in some hours over the next few months, but it will be worth it. Your marketing must impress!
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First of all I would like to thank those of you who took the the time to comment on this article. As far as I am concerned there is no such thing as bad feed back and I genuinely appreciate all the input.
Honesty, as with most things, comes at a price and while I freely admit that, putting off until tomorrow what should have been done today – a hard lesson well and truly learnt… I find it interesting that out of the whole article, some people chose to focus on the mistake rather than appreciating the bigger picture and the positive message that I was trying to convey.
There is of course, much more to the story, the details of which I won’t go in to now. If nothing else I sincerely hope that my story offers encouragement to those who are feeling disheartened, admitting ones mistakes – and we all make them – is not easy! But it is how you deal with that mistake that demonstrates far more than the error its self!
On that note I would like to thank everyone again for the valuable input, it is early days and feedback like this is priceless. Wishing you all a very merry Christmas and a prosperous new year.
Kathryn Hunter
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Wow! Interesting stuff to read! Many people give up on this terrible situation but she didn’t give up and tried. For every business owner, business insurance is much necessary. When starting a new business, one must insure their business to protect the business. Few days back, my friend’s office was also burnt due to fire and lots of damage occurred. After that, he claimed for business insurance with the help of fire damage adjuster(http://allclaimsusa.com/fire-damage-boca-raton-florida) for getting insurance money and for settling the claim.
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