I moved to Canada in 2003 and moved into the property we had originally rented out while still living in the UK. Shortly after that we bought three more cottages and lo and behold we had a rental business. We called ourselves Clearwater Cottages, had a website built proudly showing our 3 properties, and signed up to exhibit at our first Cottage Life Show in Toronto. This is the major event of the year where everyone and everything related to our Cottage Country lifestyle is on display and we thought we would knock it out of the park. We’d get owners lining up to list with us, and people who couldn’t wait to rent wanting to give us money…………. In fact, it took these new kids on the block four years before we got anywhere near being accepted as a key player in our very competetive market, and another three before we were in the top five in the province. It’s our tenth anniversary this year and we manage over 200 properties; can pick and choose who we accept onto our rental programme, and take over a dozen calls each week from owners asking to register with us. Our business processes bear no relation to what we had when we started out, and if we’d known ten years ago what we know now there are many things we’d have done differently. Back then we didn’t have anyone to ask; there was nowhere to find the information we needed to make a quick success of the business and it took us a decade to achieve what should have taken half the time, or less. And now, we are bringing our learning to you. We are still growing this area of the site and agency specific content, courses and resources will be coming soon.
