Advice from Golden House’s Monika Slowikowska - from a start-up to a R100 million commercial real estate business
In 2014, Monika Slowikowska founded her company, Golden House, and within three years, it went from a start-up to a R100 million business. So how does someone who started her professional career in advertising achieve such success in a commercial real estate business? Here’s her advice for experiencing next-level growth.
Nicole Crampton, 15 June 2017
1. Insource your team
“Since the beginning, I decided to follow this strategy because I believe that people who know each other and are a team, can work better together”.
Numerous construction businesses subcontract each package, but Golden House doesn’t. Instead, it has an internal team of 170 employees, only using external subcontractors for specialist work, when necessary.
Your lesson: Minimise your risks by having an in-house team to call on instead of relying on other companies to deliver on your projects.
2. Keep leadership engaged
“As a leader, if I become too estranged, then the values which we operate on would not be so alive during daily operations”.
Disengaged leaders or executives could result in lower productivity, profitability and overall employee dissatisfaction. All of which will impact your business growth.
Your lesson: To counteract disengagement, Slowikowska spends time on each work site once a week. During time-on-site, she also has formal meetings with clients and Golden Houses’ in-house designers.
3. Cultivte the best team
I have never sent people home due to no work, there is always a continuation and they have that security…. It’s tough love – I’m not keeping on the books anyone who cannot pull their weight or do the work, because no one wants to work with someone who is lazy”.
Keep your team solid by pruning away those who aren’t prepared to work hard or embody the company’s core values. By having such a strict requirement for employees, Slowikowska teams know what’s expected of them, without the need to micro-manage workers.
Your lesson: A solid foundation is the starting point for all healthy, growing businesses, and a solid team is essential to that. Focus on how to support and upskill your workers to reach their potential.
Key takeaways
- Build an internal team instead of outsourcing to subcontractors.
- Keep your leadership engaged by having them visit your building sites and incorporating a hands-on approach.
- Foster a solid team by weeding out those who don’t work hard towards the collective business success, or don’t embody your business’ values.