Nico Jodin

True success comes with admitting some degree of vulnerability. After all, how can one continue to thrive without admitting that they have weaknesses too? Use it to fuel a persistent cycle of self-improvement.

 

Nico Jodin is an eclectic entrepreneur and one of the founders of the real estate startup beycome.com. Being a “business trendsetter” over the last two decades has given Nico a diverse range of experience and a large network to source the best talent. Since beycome’s inception, he has been the driving force behind the company’s unique approach on product development and design. His tenacity has allowed him to push beyond what others believe is a limitation. For Nico, it’s the attention to the details, unparalleled customer service and commitment to his team which has propelled beycome’s steady growth. When he’s away from the office Nico enjoys traveling and spending time with his family. He’s also an excellent chef!

Where did the idea for beycome come from?

Being a previous homeowner myself, I remember contacting agents who were listed on Zillow and discovered that most of these agents were simply “open door” agents with no real knowledge about the property. They were paying Zillow to gain me as a lead. Furthermore, I was always waiting for visit requests, and when agent(s) finally did schedule the visits, it was never at a convenient time. I was expecting more from someone making 3% commission on my sale..

At one point, I had enough and decided to get direct access to the MLS. Fortunately, my father-in-law was in the real estate business and had MLS access. I was able to deal directly with the listing agent and in some cases with the homeowner. What I discovered was that no one knows a property better than the homeowner which makes him/her the best real estate agent. Because I was dealing directly with the homeowner, the 3% commission that would normally go to the buyer’s agent ended up in my pocket and I saved a lot ( $17k in my case)!

I thought: ‘ As one of the longest-standing industries in every country, why has there been virtually no innovation in the decades? And it’s a strong industry with no signs of slowing down. Well, saving all of this money was nice but was all the work worth it?’

And then I brainstormed: ‘Well, hmm… how can I make this process a win-win situation for the seller and the buyer so that they still get the whole commission fee without having to split it with an agent, while doing little to no work?’ Thus, beycome was formed.

We created a solution, beycome.com, where a homeowner can list, promote and market his property by himself. For a fraction ( $79 to $299) of what a real estate transaction can cost him (an average of 6%), beycome.com can directly connect a homeowner with a potential buyer or renter. We provide an easy way to finalize the deal from start to finish (including all legal contracts).

Recently, we introduced the beycome “buyer’s program” aimed at providing a similar solution for parties interested in purchasing a home listed by agents. How does this work one might ask? In a nutshell, buy a property with us. If beycome represents you as the buyer’s agent, at closing we collect a $999 from the real estate commission and we refund 100% of the traditional real estate commission (an avereage of 3% which is the buyer’s agent’s half). So, imagine if you buy a property at $500,000 with a 3% commission refund, it’s $15,000 less our $999 sucess fee. It’s almost like we’re paying you to work with us!

What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?

When I wake up or during breakfast, I make a list with a rough itinerary of goals I would like to achieve during the day. This could involve dedicating time to work with my marketing team on brand strengthening, collaborating with my passionate customer support team on how to further improve customer satisfaction, or even setting aside an hour for self-reflection and brainstorming ways I can continue to make beycome an even stronger company moving forward. My door is always open and I have always held the view that collaborating with my team is best investment of my work day.

As human beings, it seems to be an inherent trait within us to work harder when deadlines are instated. By giving myself a checklist of tasks to complete within the work day, I find that it has consistently fostered productivity.

How do you bring ideas to life?

My secret recipe is passion, hard work, determination, the utmost trust in the members of my team, a healthy dose of frustration from time to time, and also with … more hard work.

What’s one trend that excites you?

Definitely the gradual integration of AI-driven technology into the real estate industry. Machine learning processes are the way of the future and will even transcend the cognitive capability of a human being in perhaps the near future. beycome is interested in this technology and has already begun to do research on how we can incorporate these concepts into our software.

What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?

Perhaps my best and worst trait is my inability to stop working on a task until it reaches its completion. This makes my checklists particularly dangerous, because I have poured many late nights into ensuring its completion by the end of the day.

What advice would you give your younger self?

Life will get hard, throw curveballs at you, and sometimes you will feel that the universe is working against you. Create a path for yourself, work tirelessly until your dreams come to fruition, and don’t dwell on every mistake (because you will make plenty!) We learn from mistakes not from success.

Tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on.

True success comes with admitting some degree of vulnerability. After all, how can one continue to thrive without admitting that they have weaknesses too? Use it to fuel a persistent cycle of self-improvement.

As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?

Never stop trying to be innovative! Even at the peak of success, never stop thinking about what you can do better—how your business can do better.

A bad idea is always better than no idea at all! It’s much more exciting that way, no?

What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business?

My tenacity! Never give up! Never never never! If a door is closed, pass by the windows, and if the windows are closed, pass by the fireplace. This is not a business strategy has requested in your questions, this is a business life strategy. Nobody is waiting for you, make it happen.

What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?

In my younger years as an entrepreneur, I suffered from the shotgun hiring approach, so that I could fill up my team as quickly as possible to start getting more things done. This ended up being a costly mistake because sometimes I would hire the wrong person to fulfill a job description. Now I’m a lot more diligent when it comes to filtering out potential candidates, and ensure that they not only a fit with our company culture, but are also reasonably qualified for the job.

What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?

I’ve always thought it would be pretty cool to have a 3D printing furniture company, where the customer is able to design the wildest furniture pieces they can imagine, choosing the material, color, size (though there would have to be some restriction on this), and other stylistic details. Then, the company would design a prototype of it, have the customer verify everything is okay, and 3D print it to true size.

Of course, technology for this might not be fully plausible yet, but, mark my words, in the next few years, maybe a decade, this will be a thing.

What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?

I invested $50 on a bucket a beer to celebrate with my team at the end of the month. That helped us to break barriers and a few members of my team to shared ideas for improving various areas within our company. So far the returns have more than exceeded the investment.
I also spent the last bit it on bouncy balls for the office. Productivity has increased tenfold.

What is one piece of software or a web service that helps you be productive?

I’m a big fan of Google Suite Tools, as well as Google Calendar, for organizing my time.

What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?

The Three Little Pigs! The book has remained a sentimental fixture in my life since it was introduced to me at two, or three years old and I now share the story with my son. Jokes aside, the message of the book has always resonated with me: build a strong foundation or don’t build one at all.

What is your favorite quote?

“Do not focus on numbers. Focus on doing what you do best. It’s about building a community who want to visit your site every day because you create value and offer expertise.” -Cassey Ho, Founder of Blogilates.com

Key Learnings:

• We built beycome because we saw a need for innovation in the antiquated real estate industry.
• If you’re starting a company, failure is inevitable. You’re going to run into problems but you have to press forward.
• Don’t rush into creating a team just to have one.
• Get to know your team, show them an appreciation and respect them.
• If you aren’t already using it, use Google Suite.

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