Today we’d like to introduce you to Dan Zeltser.
Dan, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I’ve taken a long, bump road to finally get to where I am today. From the day I graduated from the University of Maryland, I’ve been a firm believer that each experience will fill me with industry knowledge, expand my network, and most importantly, learn what not to do/act.
My 15+ year career started in my backyard of Washington, DC, working in the capital markets side of commercial real estate. With three years of work experience under my belt, the Great Recession took its toll. Much like most of my friends, regardless of industry, for those companies actually hiring during this period, we’ve found ourselves to be the least desirable candidates. We were no longer entry-level nor senior level and feel into this 2-10 years of experience window that was least sought-after. So, we turned to grad school. Since I’ve known I only wanted to be in Commercial Real Estate, instead of a traditional MBA, I’ve opted to get a specialty Masters’s Degree in Real Estate Development from Georgetown University. During this time, I got a career-changing opportunity by being part of one of the top office tenant rep brokerage teams in DC. Many thought I was crazy to go into brokerage and 100% commission job during the great recession, but I disagreed. I knew there was a learning curve and it would take time to build a pipeline. In hindsight, there was no better time to actually make a transition like this, while things were relatively slow.
Years of non-stop grinding, grad school at night while working during the day, the toll of the great recession, and personal matters, I hit a wall. I needed a change. So, with encouragement from family and friends, and my sister, who is a Doctor in Dallas, I picked up and moved from DC to Dallas. I haven’t left a 20-mile bubble for the first 30 years of my life. Here I am, moving to a new city, where I only now my sister, her husband, and kids.
Fast forward to today, nearly eight years since moving to Dallas, I have a beautiful wife and two adorable little boys, and I’m finally where I wanted to be professional. One thing I’ve always taken pride in is my ability to observe, absorb, and be creative and proactive in my approach. While working for some of the largest commercial real estate brokerage firms in the US, my view of big brokerage, as well as my view of the overall shift of office leasing, has drastically changed. I like to say “same sh*t, different firm.” While these firms continue to get bigger and bigger, the overall approach is still archaic. Eat what you kill, poor splits with the house, and too much competition.
For someone like me, that never felt I was being looked out for, not getting hired because of the firms I was at, and having the feeling of being taken advantage of, I saw no reason to be at those firms. In addition, I found it hard to focus on the service and relationship side of the brokerage business, as these firms were not only over brokered, our fees were getting small (i.e. companies taking less space and signing shorter terms), with poor splits with the house. One of my greatest strengths is to learn, observe, and learn to pivot when necessary. This is what brought me to Partner with Shop Companies, a forward-thinking boutique retail brokerage firm with institutional expertise.
Not only was it a cultural fit, but we were also aligned with a similar approach to client relationships and transactions and shared a similar view of how our world was changing. Lines are getting blurred between retail and office and was void an opportunity to address the void in the market to communicate between the street-level retail to the companies in the office buildings. Through this partnership, this has proven to be successful both with leasing and transactions. With the foundation of the office platform, WORK, a SHOP Company, being built. My plan is to grow the team with like-minded individuals that want to be part of something great.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The road has been anything but smooth. I attribute many of my struggles to the following:
– Timing, which you can’t control
– Too high a bar that is nearly impossible to achieve
– Lack of appreciation and loyalty from previous employers and some senior colleagues
Over the course of my career, I’ve learned to be build thick skin and set more realistic expectations.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with SHOP Companies – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
I’m a Partner at SHOP Companies, a multi-faceted real estate firm built and run by market leaders specializing in Retail and Office brokerage services along with Development. As Partner, I started and run the office platform, called WORK at SHOP Co, where we specialize in office leasing, investment sales, and advisory services.
I’ve spent the greater part of my first two years at SHOP dedicating my time, money, and resources to build the WORK platform from scratch. I take a tremendous amount of pride in what I’ve created, along with my Partners, and how well it has been received from the market. We have a lot of things that separate ourselves from others, but if I had to take a few characteristics, they would be as follows:
– Culture. Lots of companies through this word around. After working at some of the largest brokerage firms that sell themselves on “culture,” since joining SHOP, I’ve truly learned what Culture actually means and looks and feels like.
– People are valued and apart of something great that they can help influence, rather just being “another person” at a larger company. At SHOP, brokers can be a shark in a pond rather than a fish in the ocean.
– Opportunity. At SHOP, we like to consider ourselves opportunistic brokers. Whether written or unspoken rules, many of the big firms put brokers, at the least the non-senior brokers, in a box. This is old-school brokerage at its finest. With the sheer amount of competition between brokers, even within your own firm, and our fees contracting, it’s getting harder and harder for many to make a decent living.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
My plan is to grow the WORK platform with an experienced, team, and service-oriented opportunistic brokers, but limiting the amount of how many are brought into the fold. I see an opportunity to change the “old-school” brokerage mindset and approach by putting an emphasis on service to client (rather than focus on moving from transaction to transaction,) while fairly compensating/incentivizing brokers. Quality over quantity.
Contact Info:
- Address: 4809 Cole Ave, Suite 330
Dallas, TX 75205 - Website: https://shopcompanies.com/work
- Phone: 214-637-4472
- Email: dan@shopcompanies.com
- Instagram: shopcompanies
- Other: www.linkedin.com/in/danzeltser
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