I started because international buyers were coming to a changing Miami and nobody was servicing them properly. That gap is where we began. What makes us different is simple: we are a private advisory for the buyer. A select group of clients, one to one, across the entire market.

I called every single contact I had. I showed them our services and what made us different, asked them what they thought, and asked if they knew somebody. I asked for recommendations, both for people who could join the team and for people who might be interested in what we do. Today, most of our new business comes from established relationships and referrals. These are people who have already done a number of transactions with us. They validated the experience, and they keep sending us more people. It has become a virtuous cycle. A positive flywheel.

My decision to always stay curious and explore new routes. It has allowed me to change and shift again and again, and it has opened doors that were never even thought about. The moment you are open to exploring, to learning about new people and new things, to going out and listening, it seems destiny opens doors. It is up to you whether to walk through or not. We have embraced walking through. The mistake that taught me the most: early on, I over-negotiated. I was thinking about my side and not about all the parties, and whether everyone would benefit in a meaningful way. A business succeeds only when it is a win for absolutely everybody in it. You have to put yourself in the shoes of the person on the other side of the aisle and see their perspective from the outside, objectively. Only then can you build something that everybody benefits from.

I live in a city that has gone from a small, sleepy tourist beach destination into one of the most important metropolitan cities in the world. The change I have experienced in Miami is unprecedented. It changed the dynamics of how people operate and how many people work in the field. The level of professionalism has been up-leveled, and the quality and star power, from inception to development, sales and management, has moved to a tier-one level. We have adapted by doing what we have always done: staying curious, listening, and shifting with the city.

First, sit with yourself and ask a simple question: why am I doing this? What are the true reasons? A business takes so much of you. Your time, your effort, your energy. Make sure you are fully aligned with what you want to pursue before anything else. Then analyze it objectively: how you would do it, and what unique characteristics would make you successful at it. Be aware of yourself, aware of the objective, aware of what it takes to make the business succeed and hold for the long term. If all of that checks out, start with a first principles approach. First principles means breaking the thing down to the basic facts that are certainly true, and building up from there, instead of copying how others have done it. What to ignore: everything else, until the why is clear. There are no limits except the ones that you tell yourself.