I received an exciting call this week.

Now, I spend the majority of my day on the phone, whether with clients, with past clients, with suppliers, team members, companies introducing their up and coming services, and they’re nearly all phone calls I love taking! But this one specifically made my week. It was the Chamber of Commerce calling to let us know that The Dan Gemus Real Estate Team had made the Finalist list in the Chambers Business Excellence Awards in the ‘Growth and Expansion’ category!

Now this caught me by surprise for a couple different reasons, first and foremost was the simple fact that none of our team members knew we had even been nominated in the first place. It’s definitely a nice surprise. Secondly, I don’t think I’ve ever been nominated for anything let alone an award from a professional association. It’s beyond humbling not only for me but for everyone on the team.

I wish we knew exactly who it was that took the time to nominate our team. We’d love to thank them personally! Along with all who took the time to vote for us and helped us make the finalist list!

If you would have asked me years ago where I thought this career would take me…I would have told you I’d still be working in radio full time and selling real estate on the side. I spent nearly 9 years in my previous radio career. It was a fantastic 9 years at that! All spent with AM800 CKLW. But after approximately 4 months in the real estate business, I very quickly learned that Real Estate is impossible to do on a part-time basis. It requires you to be available at all hours of the day (and night!) 7 days a week and on holidays. So a few months into my real estate career, I took a huge risk and left AM800. Many ask why I did…and the best answer I can always give is simply to have control of my future. I didn’t like having a ceiling.

This business has allowed me to do everything I’ve always loved to do, to work and interact with great people on a daily basis, to build long lasting friendships with many that started out as clients, to utilize my love for business and marketing, and most of all to have full control of my destiny. You bet leaving my radio career was one heck of a risk. I went from having a steady paycheque to having anything but. What it did do for me however was give me satisfaction that those 80-90 hour weeks working out on the road showing and selling homes were for a reason. I most certainly didn’t have the vision when I first started to even imagine I’d ever have the team we have today. But as time went on and my client base quickly began to grow, I knew there was only so much I could do on my own without completely burning out.

The team began with my very first assistant a year and a half into the business. She helped me get started and organized. But it wasn’t until about 5-6 months later when Lisa came around that my life changed. Lisa was my second assistant. The first found that the position wasn’t a good fit. So she graciously stuck around as long as she needed to help fill the position and train Lisa on what she had already started doing. Then Lisa came in and together we put the wheels in motion and really began working on changing the way Windsor Realtors did business! And so began ’The Team’.

Not long after, another great partnership was formed. The great Kathy Talbot – Top Producing Realtor with RE/MAX for 20 years and I partnered up and brought our businesses together and everything was history from there! 2 years has since gone by and the team has grown to 7 full time members. 4 Sales, 2 admin and Andrew our Media & Marketing Co-ordinator. Not to mention our regular industry partners, our home stager etc..

Another huge transformation was made at the end of 2014. The Dan Gemus Real Estate Team made the decision to leave RE/MAX. The decision was not taken lightly, but we as a team felt the time was right to do our own thing, and just as my career with AM800 had come to an end 5 years earlier so that I could control my own destiny….we as a team, decided the time was right to do the same. And so ‘The Dan Gemus Real Estate Team Ltd, Brokerage’ was launched and we haven’t looked back!

Our team has always strived to be different in our industry. We go above and beyond to make sure that we’re offering the absolute best tools and marketing for our clients. It’s the reason we’re able to average our clients more money in their pockets than the competition.

So whether you’re looking to buy or sell a house in Windsor, LaSalle, Amherstburg, Lakeshore, Tecumseh, Kingsville, Leamington or anywhere else in Essex County, The Dan Gemus Real Estate Team looks forward to taking you along on our journey…our journey to create the absolute best client experience anyone in Windsor & Essex has ever seen! Thanks to all who’ve supported us to this point. It means more than you’ll ever know. And to all the Business Excellence Award Nominees, congrats and best of luck. Every single one of us has already won. In more ways than one.