Marketing. Marketing. Marketing. Not only on the projects you have, but also on marketing yourself to get new projects. It’s one of those underestimated aspects of almost every industry.
Frank Jermusek works as a commercial real estate professional in Minneapolis, MN. Jermusek currently acts as the president and managing director of full-service commercial real estate company, SVN Northco and Frank’s law firm, The Jermusek Law Firm LLC. Both of these pursuits combine Frank’s passions. He loves being able to combine his love for the law with his love for commercial real estate to ensure that both sides find the best option for everyone involved. Given the nuanced nature of the commercial real estate industry, Jermusek focuses on using his expertise to effectively and efficiently sell golf, resort, and other hospitality properties, in addition to the more typical commercial real estate properties.
SVN Northco maintained their position as a leader in the Twin Cities’ commercial real estate market over more than four decades, with Frank Jermusek spearheading the charge. Given the firm’s specialized interest in the golf and hospitality industry, Northco has affiliated entities that include Northco Golf & Hospitality. The company services clients worldwide with their golf and hospitality needs.
His expertise helps in managing the sales of local retail spaces all the way to corporate transactions settling over $150 million dollars. Over the course of his tenured real estate career, Frank Jermusek has amassed a transactions total well over $2 billion in volume. Jermusek loves a new listing challenge be it a private island or a retail space local to his Minneapolis home. Each listing is a new opportunity to hone skills, expand his understanding of the current commercial climate and help his clients find the perfect space or sell the perfect space.
Given his interest and real estate prowess, he also applies that to his work with The Jermusek Law Firm. Based in Minnesota, the firm focuses on providing comprehensive, practical and forward-thinking solutions for clients experiencing problems with real estate, insurance, business or insurance problems. Jermusek, in particular, focuses on real estate, business, lending, and matters related to the golf and hospitality industry. He likes being able to help his clients achieve their business and real estate projects and goals while minimizing the hassle.
Frank earned a degree in Business and Accounting from the University of St. Thomas. He then went on to earn his law degree at William Mitchell College of Law. After graduation, Leonard, Street and Deinard, a sizable law firm based in Minneapolis, hired Frank Jermusek out of college.
In his spare time, Frank enjoys spending time with his wife and children. He loves living in the midwest and being able to raise his family in his home of Minneapolis, MN. Jermusek also has a strong online presence where he blogs about commercial real estate trends and tips for newcomers.
Where did the idea for SVN Northco and The Jermusek Law Firm come from?
I was practicing law in the real estate department of a large law firm. I was working with Northco at the time on a real estate transaction and the owners of the company approached me about acquiring the firm. It was a great opportunity to acquire a top real estate firm with nearly 50 years of history in our market. When I moved over, I also opened the law firm so that I could continue working with some of my legal clients.
What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?
Since affiliating our Northco companies with SVN, and accepting the position of National Chair for resort and golf activity for all of SVN’s 225+ offices, I have been spending a lot of time traveling to hospitality projects across North America. The new affiliation gives me the opportunity to see many different kinds of resort and golf projects all over North America and open my eyes to what we have on the market.
How do you bring ideas to life?
Having nearly 30 years of experience in law, real estate, and hospitality has provided me with a broad range of projects that help me recognize and realize opportunities. I definitely handle deals in a different manner than I did 30 years ago when I started. Hindsight is 20/20 and that only makes me a better businessman.
What’s one trend that really excites you?
Seeing more people interested in investing in resort and golf properties. Many families and small business groups alike are now able to own and operate their own hospitality businesses, which is something a lot of people and organizations didn’t consider before as an investment opportunity. It’s something I’ve always been passionate about so I’m excited to see more people who feel the same way.
What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?
The ability to focus on many projects at a time. You need to multitask in this business and almost any business. It’s just a matter of accepting that and making everything happen even if it all happens at once.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Never stop learning, developing and growing as a professional. As much as you think you know, there is always more to learn and someone out there for you to learn from.
Tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on.
Surveys are an absolute must for every property you want to close. Any time clients or potential buyers try to get around it, it causes a complete mess and delays everything.
As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?
Marketing. Marketing. Marketing. Not only on the projects you have, but also on marketing yourself to get new projects. It’s one of those underestimated aspects of almost every industry. People can’t enlist your services if they don’t know about them.
What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business?
I am absolutely willing to venture into markets that I am unfamiliar with. There is always something new to learn and that only serves to make me a more capable broker. If I never ventured outside my comfort zone, I don’t think I would be where I am today.
What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?
There was a time in my career in which I was more focused on training others and finding more team members. This took my eye off the marketing side of the business, as well as the management of projects we had. There were far fewer closings that year and I will never make that mistake again. Having more people is not always the answer, but having the right people is.
What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?
Working in teams is invaluable, but make sure that your people also have some alone/private time to think and get things done.
What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?
New crockpot. I can just put food in before I leave, and it’s all done when I get home.
What is one piece of software or a web service that helps you be productive? How do you use it?
I spend a great deal of time working on spreadsheets. Excel/google sheets are invaluable. It took me some time to get used to Google Sheets, but it is great when I travel because our entire team can work on it at the same time from wherever we might be.
What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?
“Jaws“. Because it is also the best movie ever made.
What is your favorite quote?
We’re going to need a bigger boat.
Connect:
Frank Jermusek on Twitter:
Frank Jermusek on Crunchbase:
Steve (Stefan) Junge hails from Germany and helps with the day-to-day publishing of interviews on IdeaMensch. While he and Mario don’t share a favorite soccer club, their enthusiasm to help entrepreneurs is a shared passion.