Hi, everyone. Welcome back to the Bilna Sandeep show. Today on the show we have a very successful Entrepreneur A who is quite well known among the social media community, especially if you are on Instagram or TikTok, you definitely know this guy. Welcome to the show, Farhan.
Farhan: Thank you so much. Thank you so much for inviting me.
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Bilna: Thank you so much for being on our show. I’m sure in today’s episode, our listeners are going to hear some things which they can also definitely implement into their businesses. Definitely so far behind. Like, how long have you been on your business journey? Like when was Revo Realty launched?
Farhan: I have been in this business in real estate for seven and a half years, and Revo was founded in July of 2021. So we had a one and a half year old company as of now.
Entrepreneurial Journey and Leadership Insights
Bilna: Wow. And that is like a huge growth, I would say. Right. You are like almost 75 now. Yes. That’s like, wow. So I think a lot of that growth has come through the out of the marketing techniques that you have. And it’s very organic marketing techniques. I think everyone in your team has a personal brand and you help them develop that. How did that idea come about.
Farhan: Talking about the social media idea? Yeah, I mean, it was in so I started my company in July of 2021. For the first six months, we went all in on paid ads, Facebook ads, Google ads, YouTube ads. And somehow I realized a market is extremely competitive and it was not working out very well for us. And I was going through some really tough time in every second or third or fourth day. I would wake up and I would think that I cannot do it anymore. Okay. One of these days when I’m you know, completely down, I had one of my friends who was in the very same building.
Bilna: Okay?
Farhan: And I would sit with him to have a casual chat. Okay. And then that particular day, I don’t remember the day, but he casually mentioned that Why don’t you do tik tok, tik tok.
Bilna: Okay. And then you had no social media presence.
Farhan: I mean, I used to post actively on LinkedIn, but apart from LinkedIn, I had.
Bilna: One that was like not video as maybe probably like this was post about.
Farhan: I’m someone who never met anybody, was all my videos will be my travel videos, which I had to upload in WhatsApp status. Okay, I’ll just make a 30 second video from a back camera. And showed the view. Okay. It was all off my video presence.
Bilna: Okay.
Farhan: And he told me about his gym. Okay. The gym is really doing well. And the gym trainer there has 3.3 million followers, and all he does is post videos of himself reading. And he showed me the videos and I was shocked.
Bilna: Oh.
Farhan: This was easy. And then he told me about a couple of more people who are making content in real estate in Dubai. And I saw the article and I was really impressed. Look, this is something that, you know, this is something different.
Bilna: Yes.
Farhan: Not everyone is doing a target three or four people at that time they were doing it.
Bilna: This was in 2022 to.
Farhan: 2021 end.
Bilna: Of 2021 is when.
Farhan: You can see probably around October, November of 2021. Okay. When we said and we had this discussion and that’s where it occurred to me, and then I started making content. But I’m someone who has always believed that, you know, if you can put in X amount of work.
Bilna: Yes.
Farhan: It will be X. But if you have people with you, it’s ten people with you. And if they’re putting in X amount of work as well, you will deliver the 10X. So this is a reason initially I had to really push my team very hard to make video as they would just not want to make videos and they did not see any potential in videos. And even my videos, they were doing fine, but not that well. I mean, my target use to be 2000 views if I’m getting 2000 views on a video.
I used to be very happy and when I was having a discussion with my team, with Harry, Sam,Danish,Jalal , with several people who are who have good social media following like okay, I’ll tell them if you get 2000 views, it’s really good.
Bilna: Okay.
Farhan: And then slowly and eventually they started making content. And then I mean, we had one of the founding leaders and once he came and he started speaking.
Bilna: And then you hired a content creator, it being.
Farhan: Yes, okay. The very first content creator was someone who was working as a freelancer. So he was shooting my reduce, he was shooting, had his videos. He was shooting videos of everyone in the.
Bilna: Oh .
Farhan: And one fine day we that we do started doing viral. Started getting leads I still remember the first video which went viral it result on 4.3 million views. Wow And the amount of leads we got from that video, we could not handle .
Bilna: What was that video about?
Farhan: So it was this Oromos 24 for developer. Oh, there was this video which we had shot with the children of Oromos. And I think that one and this video was about with just 4050 dhirums a month, you can own a property in Dubai with 7 world class amenities, just 4350 dhirums a month. Oh, that was a video. And every time someone new joined in my just to give them give them that initial push them you take that video, you upload it on your Instagram, it will go at it. Oh, okay. So for the first six or seven people, whenever they uploaded this with you, it went viral for them. Oh, so this.
Bilna: Is the same media do you kept posting on every one.
Farhan: Algorithm was allowing duplicate videos? No it does not allow us to come and it might not at that time it used to work very well. Oh someone news training. I’ll give them upload this week.
Bilna: That’s the starting video they do Revo.
Farhan: Oh yes. And they would see oh my God, this really works. Okay. So and then one became do became three, became four, became five, became ten, became 20, became 30 became 50. I know we’re 75 and very soon we’ll be 200.
Bilna: Very nice. So how, how are you managing the growth also? Because when a business goes, there are a lot of other aspects of it. Like you said, when you have a lot of leads came and you couldn’t manage right now, like how do you set up your systems as a company, you know, and what’s your advice to people who want to set up those systems?
Farhan: I’m a very big believer of system and processes.
Bilna: Nice.
Farhan: So I believe so a lot of my time is invested in making sure the systems and processes are set up, because once you have set up your system and processes and you have set them up keeping in mind that tomorrow I’m going to a thousand people company, 100 year old company, it’s 500 people company and means you are backtracking. It is. And then implementing it from the second person, from the third person, all of it becomes very, very easy. So we have a CRM which has been made in a way that we can even take 200 people and add them in our CRM and have all of these things work. We can even have 1000 people on that CRM and have it work.
Bilna: Oh nice. And then it’s like a customized CRM you created for your company. What is it like off the shelf product, do you using?
Farhan: So? It is one of the CRMs which we could customize.
Bilna: Oh, nice. So.
Farhan: I mean, I am someone who when I started the company, I had no money. I could not afford those costly CRM. I have a tech guy build something for me. So every time I was stuck at something, something that needed money to invest, yes, I’ll invest my time. I will learn and then back to that. So I’m not a programmer, but that customizable CRM was call of the hour. I had no other option, so I had to study myself. How how can I build this? How can I customize it? I read some books on what the CRM should look like and what kind of facilities features it should have. And once you have read enough about a business or marketing, you get all of these ideas.
Bilna: You are a reader. Like, do you read a lot?
Farhan: Yes, so much. I could easily 25 books yet, so I read anywhere between 25 to 30.
Bilna: And most of them are related to.
Farhan: Business. Half of them are related to business. I have this philosophy, one business book and one my favorite non science fiction fiction book. So that that’s what I do.
Bilna: Oh, okay. Okay, that’s nice. And that reading has also probably given you a great vision on the whole company and how managing the people, anything other than CRM. What other systems do you have in the company? Like do you have like written processes and you know how do you do have those thing?
Farhan: Honestly speaking, no, because I was the one who was doing all the work HR ADMIN and all of that. Okay, So we do not have any any of these processes. This is a lot. And you will be shocked. I mean, up just to three months back, we did not even have an attendance machine. So it just worked on trust it. It still works on trust. People don’t expect it to do so. You will be shocked as in how few were apart from the absolutely minutely once, which is about that client follow up and all of that. You will be shocked about the lack of processes we have and the lack of systems and the lack of, you know, with the bosses go aggressive with their people.
Bilna: We you know.
Farhan: We we just hired people. We have the right people and give them their own space to work and and again, when we are hiring people, we are very careful to hire the like minded people. Oh, so we do not hired the money oriented. I mean, it’s nothing wrong in being money oriented. It doesn’t we don’t hire money oriented people.
Farhan: We hire people who are associated with our vision, which is to make this world a better place because we do a lot of charity work.
Bilna: Yes.
Farhan: And someone who is coming with this mindset, okay, you’re automatically sorted. You don’t need a lot of processes to take care of whether the people are.
Bilna: Working hard, like automated themselves. Yes, like self accountability. Yes. Now, since you mentioned the right people, how are you finding those right people? Like, isn’t that a challenge to find the right kind of people?
Farhan: So I’ll tell you something a few months back I decided that I would not focus on people with real estate experience.
Bilna: Oh, nice.
Farhan: Because right now they are in too much demand because there are so many things which are opening up.
Bilna: Like this agency is real estate agency.
Farhan: And they are hiring left, right and center. So I thought for me, something that will work is higher freshers.
Bilna: Okay.
Farhan: So what we have done is more than 95% of our staff is completely and in real estate. Oh, so we hired absolute freshers and we trained them, I feel has been one of the major reasons for our success, primarily because, first, these people are extremely coachable.
Bilna: Yes.
Farhan: Because they are someone who know nothing about real estate.
Bilna: You can start drawing, right? Yes.
Farhan: Yes, I can. We hired people who are like minded. So they are not money driven, money minded, so they will not leave the company for higher commissions.
Bilna: Okay. And they stick with you because they connect with you and your values.
Farhan: Yes. Oh, then. And most important, you know, they really have deep respect for their leaders and for the company because they feel whatever they are in real estate is because of the company. You know, if I hire someone who has 10 and years of experience is already making content, yes, they would think I’m already a brand. Yeah, that was not doing anything to add value. But when you have someone who is a complete fresher and build a successful brand out of him.
Bilna: So you are building them up from scratch. Yes. Right. And I also see your hiring ads are also great. So how do you come up with all this creative ideas for your social media? Like not just you, all your team, everyone’s content is very spot on and something good is that in it? How is that happening?
Farhan: We have a team of content creators. We have 12 to 15 content creators. On his daily job is to shoot videos, okay.
Bilna: And come up with ideas. Yes.
Farhan: So I mean, I can come up with let’s shoot five ideas or two or three ideas a day. But if I have a team of 15 people whose dedicated job is content creation, they will come up with 50 60 Ideas day and a few of them will always go viral.
Bilna: Oh, yes, yes. That’s that’s a I think that’s a completely new perspective that, you know, we can all have about like how does that happen now coming to the real estate, Like you mentioned, it’s a very competitive industry right now that the leads has come. What are the process like? How do you take them to the next level? Like how do you convince your customers and clients? How do you maintain the quality and everything?
Farhan: Okay, so initially it comes directly into our CRM at new stage. Oh, clients are sent an automated email and a text message.
Bilna: Okay.
Farhan: And the person who got the lead is supposed to make three attempts only on the client. If the client responds and he’s interested, the lead is moved into the next. It’s okay. Pipeline Respond. He’s not interested. The lead is moved out of the pipeline. If he does not picks up. We tried three times. That is our maximum. And then we drop the lead. And then people are supposed to follow up on the leads and barely the clients are getting emails from our site. And then if someone has inquired on a particular video, which means they are watching this content. Yes. So then he’s upload and he upload the next video. They see that video as yes, and he upload five more videos.
They see those five. What we do is as well and then we have different types of follow ups. We just not only, you know, pick up the phone and call clients, we also connect with them on email, on WhatsApp. We make them customized videos which is dedicated to them, and we reach out to them in multiple ways so that they don’t feel like, you know, we are actually raising them.
Bilna: We are basically nuturing the leads not pressurizing them.
Farhan: So he lets a human interacted and nuturing, which happens for 2 to 3 months. And then we have a non-human nurturing which happens for up to six months.
Bilna: Which is the email marketing and WhatsApp marketing probably made. Yes. And now since mentioned about the email marketing today morning I was reading my team sent me one of the emails that you had sent personally in your email marketing funnels, and that was so touching and that had yours story as well. Yes. Well, do you want to share that story?
Bilna: The life changing moment that you had?
Farhan: Okay. So I mean, you started long back 20 something years back. I lost a brother in 11th of November 2011. So my family was sick during that phase and he was also sick. And then 10th of November. So I was sick. But my mother said, okay, take him to the doctor because he’s not feeling well.
Bilna: Okay.
Farhan: So we went to a doctor and the doctor said, You have to take him to an emergency immediately. And he was fine. I mean, he walked with me to the hospital.
Bilna: You went together to the hospital? Yes.
Farhan: Yes. And the moment I mean, they just disposed they immediately took him to the ICU. So I could not even understand. Could not have been was is what’s happening was he was fine. I mean, I was sick. My parents were sick. My brother was sick. Everyone was sick. I don’t know what was happening in the house. So they took him in the ICU immediately. And that was the last time I saw him. And he passed away the next day. Okay. Now, this date, 11th of November 2011, has been a very sad date in my family. My mother has cried for so many years, every day until I would talk to him, but okay. And then I got married. So the day on which I got married and this was the day which was not decided by my family, it was decided by my wife’s family.
It was the 3rd of November. Okay. And 3rd of November was the birth date of my brother. I lost.
Bilna: Oh, okay.
Farhan: So and then in 2020, the delivery was expected in December. And on 10th of November, I took my wife for a routine checkup. The gynac said, You have to immediately take your wife for an ultrasound. Okay. You will not be able to get the ultrasound done right now. So go. Tomorrow morning, discovery gardens, opens up, I think it was nine or ten. She said, go immediately recommend you and they will take you in.
Bilna: So you were in that frozen moment thinking about the date.
Farhan: And then this is what happened. And then we went to the Esther and they did the ultrasound and the specialist. She suggested that they have to do an immediate surgery.
Bilna: Okay.
Life’s Turning Points and Building a Purpose-Driven Real Estate Company
Farhan: So I came to my home to pack up her stuff and when I’m packing up their stuff. So at the time I did not remember that it. But then asks my dad, she says, What is a day today? My dad did not apply. She also what did the day to day She he again did not apply.
Bilna: Okay.
Farhan: She asked it for the third time and then I said I would talk to him, but I am like. And then I click to me. It is the same day. And the reason my father was not applying was because he would reply, She’ll become sad. Okay, so he was avoiding the question. Okay, so a lot of it happened like that 11th of November 2011.
I took my brother 11 don’t know, 2020. I took my wife to the hospital and the surgery. And when the surgery is happening, I always had this regret that I wanted to pray for my brother, but I was not So religious at that point in thinking, and nine years later when the surgery is happening, I heard Azan.
And that’s when I prayed to God to just let my kids be fine and I will become religious.
Bilna: Okay?
Farhan: And then I went to pray, okay? And I prayed. And then I came back. I got to know the surgery was successful. One of my kid was still in an ICU of one was completely fine. The other one, his was only 1.75. So they literally.
Bilna: They were twins. Yes. Yes. And premature as well.
Farhan: Yes. So that was a life defining moment for me because that increased my belief.
Bilna: Yes
Farhan: The same that faith completely changed. I mean, my mother, she lost a son on the same day and then she got two kids.
Bilna: Two kids.
Farhan: And my younger kid, Twin Zayan. He looks and he acts a lot like the brother I lost. Oh, okay. So even in my phone. So, you know, the phone automatically categorizes photos of the same people. My phone, my Samsung phone had categorized the photos of my brother with my with my younger son because they they look.
Bilna: So that’s like that is a moment of faith that happens to all of us. Right. And that change your perspect one life. Yes. And did that lead to the next steps in your life? Like what did what was it changes that happened after that?
Farhan: Everything completely changed from that point onward. So I became religious and I really the biggest challenge with us Muslims is, yes, we are reading Quran and we are praying. We don’t know the meaning of what we are reading, of what we are praying.
Bilna: We do it five.
Farhan: Times a day and we don’t even know the meaning of what.
Bilna: Is being inhabited. You were trained as growing up.
Farhan: Yes. So I thought, this time I’ll do it differently. Okay. And I started reading it with the meaning.
Bilna: Okay.
Farhan: And then there is this one particular chapter in the Quran, which proved to me like anything goes through the textbook and it is the translation is the competition for the worldly gain increases is okay and it increases till and you you do it till the time you reach your grave.and I Realize in my last company that was the it is it is meant for me these these this chapter.
Bilna: And this IS speaking directly to you.
Farhan: Yes. Because this is what I was doing. Okay? I was only focused on my targets. targets. Numbers. Numbers. I have to be profitable. I have to do this. I have to do that. And this is what I was doing in my previous company who.
Bilna: Were running after something which you can never achieve something like that. Yes.
Farhan: Yes. And and I realized that this is so true. If I keep on doing it, I will keep on doing it till the day I die.
Bilna: Okay.
Farhan: And probably when I was doing all of that, there are certain things which I was not supposed to do. Yes, I was still doing them because that was to maximize the profit.
Bilna: Yes. And you probably everyone had a target and to achieve .
Farhan: Yes. Yes. So those lines spoke directly to me and they really hit me hard, realize all I cannot keep on doing what I’m doing. Like no. Oh, because a few things were not fully, completely ethical and I just could not justify myself and I could not bring on myself to keep on doing this again and again. And that’s when I decided that I cannot continue what I was doing anymore.
Okay. Could this and and then at the time I was completely religious, so I thought, I will do something which will make this world a better place. I will go and do the charity organisations or something like this. I’ll build something up like that.
Bilna: Okay.
Farhan: And then I will look for and what do you know? And then I was real estate. So how do you combine charity and real estate? Okay. And that’s how Revo was born.
Bilna: Okay, that’s nice. I think that’s one of the amazing and inspiring stories for everyone listening. And because you had a vision, right, that I don’t want to be running after targets, you know, how do you change it for your team? No, because they are also working for a real estate company, Right. So do you do you set targets for them or like how do you because as a business, actually you need to have targets that do you set targets or do you just not do that?
Farhan: You still set targets. Okay. So we don’t drive people crazy, even those targets achieved at first. Okay. Second, I believe more in the collective business than an individual business. So, for example, just last week I have told my team, so we are Alhamdulliah in our best ever month and have told them I am, but we are not hitting our target. Okay, it is fine. Okay. I’m ready to miss my target and miss it by 25 30%.
Bilna: Okay.
Farhan: If the activation is more if more people are picking up business. So my main priority is all of these players who have never known real estate. I want to pick I want them to pick up their first transaction. So I always tell my team my first priority is to get as many people picking up transactions as I can.
Bilna: As many of them have opened their accounts. And I’d be right like, yes, let’s actually close the deal for the first time and it’s a great moment for them.
Farhan: So yes, that’s nice.
Bilna: Now that you have a team of 75 people, but when you started off, did you start by hiring or were you just a solopreneur when you started?
Farhan: I was it was really me in my living room. I could not even pay the office rent. And the reason I started alone was my model as of now, Alhamdulillah, to work. But at the time it looked crazy.
You know, my previous bosses even told me this is never going to work. And I told them I’ll put I’m ready to put my entire money to toarch. Okay. I’m ready to dodge my indictment, but I want to give this a try. Oh, this is not do able. How can you build a good work culture people on time and do charity and assist and company? So it looked completely crazy at that point in time. And I did not want to risk the career of other people.
Bilna: Okay.
Farhan: So I hired a team of, say, you wouldn’t.
Bilna: Hire anyone in this last day of the year. So okay.
Farhan: So until and unless I saw what I’m doing will work. I did not hired anyone. Okay. So how did you know that I was a first person I hired? And even this was by completely by accident. Okay, So he was going to join a different company. Okay. Then he spoke to me such that I’m leaving. I He had not been able to pick up business in the first nine months of real estate.
And he’s like, I don’t think this is for me. I will try secondary sales for one month. Okay. One or two months if it does not work out, I’ll go back to India. Okay. I said before trying secondary meet me and he met me and I told him that reason you have not been able to perform is . There’s two companies. Your heart is not in the right place. You’re not fully convinced that what you are selling is definitely right. But I’m not. Okay, Maybe you are asked to sell or you’re completely asked to focus on your target, even if that means you have to be miss sell or exaggerate.
Bilna: Okay.
Farhan: How did this is not you?
Bilna: Okay?
Farhan: You want to be proud of what you’re doing?
Bilna: Yes.
Farhan: And this is something that will make you proud. So that meeting went on for 3 hours. He told me he really needs time to think about it. And the next day he joined.
Bilna: Oh, nice. So he is your first employee. Okay. And what was that moment like for you? Like, remember, like when your hiring the first person? Because as a business owner myself, also, right. We have this there’s a bit of scared feeling will I be able to pay them on time if I take them right? Will I have enough for the next six months to give that?
So what was that moment and position moment for you? Like, did you have that in pipeline?
Farhan: Like so I did not hire my first salaried employer up until I think a few months back, six or seven months back. Okay, I hired everyone on commission business. So the initiative also commission business first. Second, I could have promise themselves, but I knew he would not be able to give. So my simple funda is, if I have their salaries for the next 1012 months and had them, if I do not have their salaries for the next ten, 12 months, I would not hire them.
If I’m committing them something, I should be able to deliver it. If I cannot deliver what I’m committing, I am not committed. So I tell this to my team. I promise to make loans and every time I’m making a commitment, whatever I’m saying, you can ask me to give it to you in writing.
Bilna: Okay?
Farhan: And I’ll honour it for you.
Bilna: Oh, nice. So that was your model until a few months and then six months back to have them on commission.
Farhan: But the commission is supporting the content creators. Yes, they are on salary.
Bilna: They’re all your full time. Yes, right. And what is the criteria? If I want to join a company, how would the interview look like? You know, what would be your hiring process like?
Farhan: Okay, the first thing that we check is are people coachable or not? Okay? Because if you are someone who is coachable, we know we can coach you.
Bilna: You.
Farhan: Okay? We have hired. So I mean, we have so many people 17, 18 who are working with us, 18, 19 who are working with us so effectively. Like what? Your second thing, we need you to be hardworking because real estate, you can not be successful without working hard. There are probably more than 80,000 agents right now. 5000 transactions are happening.
Farhan: So for every 16 agents, there is one transaction is. So let’s say if I’m hiring you. There are 15 other agents and all of you will be competing with the same length. They have more experience than you. They have been in this field for longer than you. They have better skillset than you until unless you are willing to work two times harder.
Bilna: Than them.
Farhan: And the other 15 people and only you will close. Second thing we check is work ethics. Are there work ethics, good or not? Okay, hard. Which is the deal breaker for me. You have to be like minded. Okay? You have to be someone who genuinely believes in making this world a better place. Because if you are not, you will never work with us.
Bilna: That is your value.
Farhan: Yes, because we have the lowest Commission, a structure in the industry. Okay, So we donate up to 1% of property value to our charity. Oh, that is roughly 20% off our revenue. Okay. It is 20% less than money for you. Okay. And 20% less money for me. And I feel this is, again, one of the reasons for our success and low attrition is that when we tell people that we have the lowest commercial structure in the industry or someone who wants to join us only to make money does not join us.
Bilna: Yes, they join for the principles and the values. And that does it. Actually, the success story of your company is that amazing? And these people you train them to do the videos. So during the interview process, as a do you ask them to create videos or like do you see like, are they good to create the videos?
Farhan: One different thing that we have is in comparison to other companies is we have a trial of two days, okay? And it is not only the trial of the candidate, it is also the trial of the company. So we tell them that before you join revo, you are supposed to spend two days on the floor. To see the company from the inside Right now, unrealistic dirty industry is a lot of companies. They commit things which they themself know they are not going to honor.
Bilna: Okay.
Building a Visionary Company
Farhan: So we let people we tell them ask negative questions, ask tough questions. Know what this job is exactly about. And I feel this is one of the biggest reason that our attrition is really low because people know what they’re going to get in Davos. Oh, so in this first two days, we also asking them to make content. So they make content.
Farhan: We check out their videos and build on the videos. We figured out, okay, this is something you can because you can make better content. And then we hired them. If they are willing to join.
Bilna: Okay. And for for your employee, what does one typical day look like? At revo? What time do they start to tell their sign off? What do the days they start?
Farhan: A nine.
Bilna: Okay.
Farhan: At 9 to 10 is the name and I address a team or we have a developer training. Oh, we have content training. From after my meeting is finished there are leaders, six leaders. They take their only meetings for around 2025 minutes. Oh, that is our schedule then. From 10 to 12, they are supposed to reach out to all of their existing clients. All of the elite. If they do not have leads, they’re supposed to brainstorm the ideas, the content ideas. Okay? And after 12, they can leave to developer to shoot. So from 12 to 6 they are shooting the videos, meeting the clients, closing the clients, all of that.
Bilna: Okay. So like they can take along the content creators of the team to do the videos.
Farhan: Yes. So we have one content creator for every five people in sales.
Bilna: Oh, very nice. And I think I have also seen on your like social channels that you have a lot of entertainment activities also for staff and what are they like?
Farhan: And I’m someone who loves to play sports, okay? I’m someone who loves to travel and I’m someone who loves people. Okay, Now have my own company. I could not do it in my previous company, okay? Now my own company. So every three months, okay, I take at least 10 to 15 people in my team and I travel with them.
Bilna: Oh, nice to be outside.
Farhan: Outside the country.
Bilna: Okay.
Farhan: Every three months. No, it’s two or three trips in the quarter. Every three months I take my leaders, six people who report to me directly.
Bilna: Okay?
Farhan:
And I order. And this is absolutely mandatory for them. And we have a lot of fights at home for this. But I have and I tell them there is no other option. You have to travel with me. I will not travel without you. Okay. And I want to travel. So you have to travel with me.
And then when we are in Dubai, we do a lot of sports activities. We play, we go out paintball, cricket, football. So every time there is a sports tournament, a good esports tournament. Okay. Also not letting you do that. In fact, we were the winner of the Lewis Brooker championship, which happened in August.
Bilna: Oh, that’s is also. So that is also your teambuilding and the way you build a culture for your team. Yes, right.
Farhan: So, I mean, if I talk about sports and traveling, it really takes on this. I mean, this is a really stressful job.
Bilna: Yes.
Farhan: For everyone alone, there are 16 agents. Yes. So the agents are really stressed. And then it’s like a commission based job. They’re also worried about their finances.
Bilna: Yes.
Farhan: They’re only thinking about work. I feel they will reach that mental breakdown faster. Yes. So I just want them a few days, a month or one day a week. They should completely stop thinking about work.
Bilna: Oh, nice. Nice. And no going to the client right. What is your unique point that attracts them to you? Was this any other agent they go to first?
Farhan: Which a lot of clients initially don’t believe is we have this rule in revo. If anyone in travel miss commits intentionally, unintentionally, it can happen.
Bilna: Okay.
Farhan: Intentionally miss commits to a client and that client has a financial loss because of this. Okay. And the client can give us clear evidence of that. Whatever is the amount of financial loss the client had, we will deducted from the sales commission. Okay. And will give it to clients.
Bilna: Oh, nice. Okay.
Farhan: We have had so many cases, okay. Where the sales people did mistakes and they themselves build the client from their pockets. Oh, okay. This is something which is very clear in revo. Are not supposed to miss committed to working and again then you are hiring people who are not in this business to make money, but to make this world a better place.
Farhan: You can be assured they will not lie. They will not commit. Yes, there have been times where where client mistake as well. It is a salesperson mistake. And he.
Bilna: Thought.
Farhan: He thought he will handle the situation. He could not. There is a guy in my team who paid 20,000 dhirums to a client, okay? Just because he thought he will be able to get the refund. Oh, developer refund did not happen from the developer. He thought he will be able to do it.
Bilna: Okay. And he did not have into it.
Farhan: Yes. He made 20,000 dhirums . Oh, okay. From his pocket. He asked me should he do it? And I said yes. This is a very good learning experience for, you know, from the next time onwards you’ll be very careful in making the commitments. Yes. And it made sense to him.
Bilna: Yes.
Farhan: It’s worth the investment. Yes. Let’s see if he has paid 20,000 dhirums once to his client. What was commitment and commitment? It was equally client fault.
Bilna: Okay. It was more of a miscommunication between them. Yes.
Farhan: But he committed something that he could not deliver. Okay. Do you think next time he will be committing something like this?
Bilna: No, because he had to pay the price for it. Paid nice nicely.
Farhan: Second, with every transaction, with every transaction that client does, we make this world a better place. So we have done a lot of charity trips. Okay. The first one that we did was in Lebanon. Okay, sorry Jordan talked to a lot of refugees. We help them directly. Okay. And we were in Lebanon in February and then we were recently in Pakistan, a team of ours. And then the next chapter trip was also happening next month by November and in probably in Kenny or Afghanistan We had yet to finalize the location.
Bilna: It’s a place to go, right? Yes
Farhan: When you are transacting with , ABC Company. Yes, you are helping their owners buy a big mansion or a luxury gone. But when a client is transacting with the REVO, he’s making this world a better place.
Bilna: You are making it, uh, like, easier for them to, like, maybe I cannot go to Afghanistan and do the contribution, but if I buy from you, then, like, you are doing that on our behalf. Yes, I think this is also some lines I have seen in the your newsletters as well. Led like you mentioned that even if you are not that I am doing it for you in your name.
Yes. I think that’s an amazing thing. Like because not all the businesses, especially in Dubai, are committed to those kind of charity or, you know, to giving back to the communities. And probably that is because you had that faith moment when you had to.
Farhan: That was just a beginning of my paid movement. I have had so many moments there in I had run out of every single penny I had.
Bilna: Okay.
Farhan: And then the help of God came. And it has happened so many times. You know, me and my initial. So there are four people who joined me initially HARYY, ZYAN, JALAL AND SAIFU .
Bilna: They are you core team. Yes.
Farhan: So we five used to joke about it. Okay, let’s run out of money fast so that the help of God can come. Oh, he does that. But so many times. I mean, if it happens once, you are like, okay, okay, so maybe a coincidence or happens twice. We’re like, okay, the coincidences is happening to you. But with me, with us, it has happened so many times.
Farhan: Every single of these five people are the leaders I have. They genuinely believe in this. And if we are at the verge.
Bilna: Something will happen.
Farhan: And this is a reason we do not donate money from our profit. Oh, we donated from our revenue. Oh, we have been a loss making company for the first 15 months, 12, 15 months. And we had been consistently donating.
Bilna: Okay.
Farhan: The first time we donated 5000 DHIRUMS. Okay. And then we donated around 18,000 drums to 1 billion Meals campaign. Okay. At that time, I was only eating one day, buddy. Oh, my simple idea was that front, if you can donate.
Bilna: Is.
Farhan: When the life and your life is really hard. This is the most important time. Yeah, this is definitely donate. Yes. Because if you don’t donate right now, Yes. You will always be able to donate.
Bilna: Yes.
Farhan: Because the situation will only get better from THAT.
Bilna: Is I think. How did that come about? Like in the idea of like what? Why did you feel it’s important that I donate not from my profit, from my revenue? Like how exactly? That also requires courage, right? Is it all faith?
Farhan: Yes. A part of it is, is is complete faith. And then if I wanted to donate it from a profit, I’m not different from any other company. Yes. And then I knew if I start writing from a profit, I’m someone who would invest a lot of money back into the business. Okay. So it’s very difficult for the company to be profitable because what I what I am earning.
Farhan: Yes, I’m actually committing myself to a much bigger amount. Okay. So if I do it on the profit, it will take me two or three years to actually start.
Bilna: Actually start.
Farhan: Learning. And I did not want that. I wanted a part of revenue of every single transaction going to a charity.
Bilna: Oh, nice NICE. And now coming to your vision for the whole company for the maybe next five years time, where do you see yourself and everybody? Guilty.
Farhan: So we are going to expand to do more cities in UAE. Oh nice. And four or five countries in DC. See, I have a in Edinburgh as well. So if things were to go really start in North America as well. And India is the biggest market. Yes, we’re going to start India as well in 6 to 8 months time.
Bilna: So that’s amazing. So that’s your plan for growth and when you go for growth, right. Do you have any partners or are you like your solo owner of the company?
Farhan: Technically, yes. I’m the sole owner of the company, but I’m not the one who is making decisions.
Bilna: Okay.
Farhan: So I have these leaders. Everything which is happening in the company is decided collectively by the group. Okay, I can veto. Okay, I do. I use it very, very rarely when I genuinely believe that I’m doing something which has to be done. Otherwise the decision is collectively talking. And since there are no designATIONS in revO, okay, every employee is the same.
Bilna: Oh, you don’t have designated level. So how does that work? Because without having an organization structure, if I’m a first person, like if I join a company as a new person RIGHT, who do I go to for help if I don’t have a line manager? You have.
Farhan: Logic bias. We have leaders, okay? People who they can report to. But no designations as such. So when you do not have any designations. Then the leaders cannot use their authority IN A NEGATIVE WAY. They can only inspire their team. Because he’s not senior to them. They’re not junior to him, they are the same. Okay, So that’s where real leadership is. Skills are developed.
Bilna: Oh, nice. And so that means everyone in your team, it’s like equal rate. That’s a motto. And like as a new person who joins right, like what will his career path be in level once he starts making sales? What’s the growth plan you give for your employees?
Farhan: Ideally, I want them to struggle. I do struggle so much. I want their hearts broken and I want them to cry.
Bilna: Okay.
Farhan: Because all of this struggle, it really makes them a stronger okay. Some people who are closing with all of this struggle, there are people who are closing after this struggle. Okay. Generally, once you have done your first lets say, several transactions, you have closed five deals in three consecutive months. Okay, We give you a B, then you’re supposed to enter a few people and then the team increases.
Farhan: So as of now, I have six leaders who are directly reporting to me. Okay. And then there are three leaders who are reporting to them, and very soon it’s going to be 15.
Bilna: So that’s how it grows. Has this just in the company? Yes. So it’s like you have said, like when they doing this of you tell them like when to close this many leads or this many deals.
Farhan: There’s also a lot of first. So it’s not really about the deals. It is also about how long have you been in the company as well, Because I want you to be completely aligned with my vision. Yes. If I’m making your mentor, yes, I’m making you responsible for people, I should have that confidence in you as well. Look at this guy.
Bilna: Yes.
Farhan: And take care of three more lifes, because then I’m hiding people and I’m giving them a leader. If I’m not giving them the right leader, I’m doing injustice to them. I’m putting their career at risk. So I just want to make sure that he is someone who can do it, who can grow other the people who can make other people successful.
Bilna: Oh, nice, nice. And again, coming back to our videos is right. You speak on the videos but when you started before this all like you mentioned, we were just taking videos to put on what that started but you are not speaking on the camera. So did you have any camera video and you started off like or how was that experience? Like.
Farhan: Not good. I mean, if you would see my first few videos, they’re absolutely horrible. Absolutely. I mean, I cannot even you know, I would prefer to be tortured than look at my own videos.
So it started like that. But then I did a couple of courses on the tic Tok videos. And then the one key thing that I learned was do not turn off the camera.
Bilna: Okay?
Farhan: Keep the camera rolling.
Bilna: Okay.
Farhan: Take as many takes as you can see if I’m stumbling or if I forgot.
Bilna: Okay. You still have to do something. Okay, I’ll.
Farhan: Start again and I will not turn it off until I have succeeded.
Bilna: Oh, nice. And how did so? Is it because you attended those courses that gave you more confidence? How was it first video mode like when you posted it and to see it? What was the feeling.
A Day in the Life of Revo’s Founder: Balancing Work, Social Media Commitments, and Wellness
Farhan: Of the first year that I posted, I had a post of, yeah, I posted it on YouTube and I was like, I don’t know why I’m doing this. I don’t know why I’m doing this, but let’s just, you know, do this, Let’s test this. Yeah.
Bilna: And it.
Farhan: Worked. It did not work, but I, but I’m someone so I give I’m a zero or one kind of a person. If I do something, I do it with full intensity. And if I don’t do something, I don’t do it at all. So it was I decided that I’m going to commit myself to social media. I was like while going out, I was like, I kept uploading videos.
There were times when I was uploading and videos. I’d be, Oh, I was shooting my own videos, I was editing my own videos. I was running a company, cleaning the office, doing all of that and is still uploading ten videos a day.
Bilna: Wow. That is like huge. Now, as the order of the company, what does your day look like? How are you managing your time and what all do you do in a day? Okay. Yeah. As do it it. What about you? How is your day like?
Farhan: So as often I wake up at six and I pray immediately and then I go to the gym six or seven. That is. But I’m working out. I come back and I know my family’s not there, but I spend some time with them.
Bilna: Okay?
Farhan: Or I read as often I am following the Israel-Palestine issue, so I want the videos on that. Really heartbreaking to see. But yes, you can’t help but yes, then nine they come to office. Okay. For the first 1 hours is when I’m addressing the team and then from 10 to 12 is when I’m doing what I was attending does okay, invoicing, collections, hiring all of that. That is when I eat, okay, and then I’m with the team or I’m doing some kind of activity. We have so many we have to wilderness be five. A lot of these activities. I’m just trying to engage with the teams so not a very planned so from 1 to 6 is is those 5 hours which are not as productive.
Yeah these are my flexible hours actually I go home read or this is one of the games I play different players sometimes and then by 10 I sleep.
Bilna: Oh nice things and I am very glad, like you mentioned about the exercise part as well, It’s like, do you make sure you work out every day?
Farhan: Yes, but I’m not traveling. Okay. So every time I’m in Dubai, I know it’s very, very critical. Yes. To work out and to have that extra energy in the day first. Second, be in good shape, can’t live longer. So if you have a purpose for which you feel you need to live longer, you need to work out.
So for the REVO a for 50 years versus running for 70 years will make a lot of difference in my life. Yes.
Overcoming Challenges and Building Ravo: A Journey of Resilience
Bilna: Yes. That’s amazing. And also about expanding to the office like before, you’re working from your home to your office space. Now, again, that is again, a scaling up and it’s an investment. So how did you get the courage to do that as well?
Farhan: So I thought, I’ll be able to work from home.But I have twins. And at that time they were eight months.
Bilna: Okay.
Farhan: All that’s really hard to work with them because every time I’m working, they will come in and they’ll start disturbing me.
Bilna: And they are distractions.
Farhan: Yes. And so I was I used to work at FOUR during those days. So I’ll pray and I’ll get free by 5 to 9. You I used to work and then.
Bilna: Before they wake of.
Farhan: Yes, they will wake up and then they will not let me work. And then those 4 to 3 hours in the afternoon. And that’s what I look of. So I tried that. I thought, No, this is not how I will be able to work. Okay. Then I started working from a co-working space, but then I realized it was too expensive.
Yes. And I found shortlisted of 120 square feet of office for which that Rent was 21,000 Dhirums.
Bilna: I don’t like to make it from the office.
Farhan: Let me extend myself a little bit and let’s open the first office. Oh, that’s how I did it.
Bilna: Oh, nice. Nice. So that is like step by step growth space. That is also very inspiring for everyone. And now, as you also mentioned, you have kids. So as a dad, as a parent, what values do you want to instill in your kids and how do you do that?
Farhan: I mean, when I think of my kids, I don’t think of them being highly educated, running a successful business. I want them to make this world a better place for me and for us Muslims. This life is just a test. Yes, the real life is what comes after this test. Yes. So you have to prepare for the life which is about to come.
And I genuinely want them to make this world a better place. And I am not someone who believes a lot of a lot in the formal education. So my idea is I will slowly start inculcating these values into them and the business values so that they can become a part of this business or they going to start their own business, which is again, with the vision of making this world a better place.
Bilna: Oh, very nice. How old are they now?
Farhan: Two and a half.
Bilna: And a half. Okay, Nice, nice. Now, coming to the growth in revenue rate, like you mentioned, you keep investing back into the business right, but how do you like you said, revenue targets each month? Like we have to set this much to achieve this much. How is that process like?
Farhan: Yeah, so I am someone who thinks so maybe this company was never content with the targets. So one achieve the target. I go to them and I tell them, Oh, you have done a good job, okay? And I feel you can overachieve. And this is a month. You should go all out and this is the money should break records and this is your month and this is why you should increase your target.
So I convinced them to increase the target a little bit more. Okay. So we take targets and Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah, for the last few months we have been overachieving.
Bilna: A lot of time, but I.
Farhan: Keep on increasing my target because.
Bilna: I think monthly you set your target. What is it like? Do you have a goal for the whole year.
Farhan: Or as often targets monthly?
Bilna: Okay, every month you decide what are you going to do the next month? Yes.
Farhan: And one more thing which inspires us, just to give you an idea about the kind of numbers we are doing, is basically charity numbers.
Bilna: Okay.
Farhan: Last month we got it on for 15 for 19,000 dhirums towards charity. This month we are already at three 9000 dhirums towards charity.
Bilna: Oh, nice.
Farhan: This is something that drives us as well. And if in a quarter is generating more than a million dhirums towards charity and I mean it’s not a comparison, but the organization’s whatever you go to charity organizations. Yes. And they are not raise. And what this really inspires us is we are raising more money, charitable organization by just doing real estate.
Farhan: So that really gives us that bum, that boost and then every time. Yeah. So first I keep this extremely transparent.
Bilna: Okay, so.
Farhan: Everything related to charity, all the expenses are completely transparent.
Bilna: So in your name, No.
Farhan: Yes. Okay. And then whenever we are going for charity trips, we generally ask all the old people, someone who has been with us for at least six, seven months, if they want to come, and then they go there and they have and then they help these people, you know, they are automatically bummed to do.
Bilna: More.
Farhan: Because. No, no, the thinking is not that I want to sell more so that I can drive a good car. Yeah, I want to sell more so that so that I can help a thousand more refugees, right?
Bilna: Oh, nice, nice. That’s a great vision to have now also, because you are on social media, have you ever heard any negative comments or any such issues.
Farhan: Negative comments on a back office? And I want to I tell my.
Bilna: People.
Farhan: Every time someone comes to me with the negative comment, I congratulate them. I didn’t. They were really good for you. Oh, I mean, there is not even a single person who does not have a hater.
Bilna: Yes.
Farhan: I have gotten I have been literally abused to this day. I get negative comments on my post. I’m absolutely fine with that. I look at them and I ignore them. But for people, there are some people in my team who love to get negative comments because they drive their engagement and they will reply to every single negative comment to get replies back.
Farhan: They’re pretty good. Yes. So negative. You really need negative comment.
Bilna: On social media. So what sort of negative comments are they mostly coming from?
Farhan: Like hate? Cummins Regarding my accent, regarding what I’m seeing, they don’t believe in what I’m saying. And when I talk about charity, they’re like, Oh, this is again a fraud. And these these kinds of comments.
Bilna: That affect you like, you know, has it ever felt bad, especially in the beginning? Probably. I know when in.
Farhan: The beginning it took it as it used to hurt. Yes, but but but once you get used to something and you realize this is working in your favor, what? It stops.
Bilna: Anything. Okay. Okay. So that’s how you deal with the negativity. Yes. Now, as a business, right? You might have ups and downs. How do you deal with the downsides? Like what is your advice to the people, especially in the first two years of business? I’m sure, like there’s a lot of learning goes right? How do you deal with them?
Farhan: It is all about getting up single day and showing up to your work and doing something different. That’s it. Nice. This is what I have done. I started ravo in July of 2021. For the first nine months of the year, we we were not even doing one transaction a month.
Bilna: Okay.
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Farhan:
July zero transactions. August we did zero transactions. September we did zero transactions, October we did three transactions in November, we did one transaction under December we did transaction Jan Fab and March one one transaction each.
Bilna: Okay.
Farhan: From October 2021 to March of 2022, I used to eat one time a day. That’s it.
Bilna: Oh my.
Farhan: Gosh. So my simple idea was you have to get up, you have to show up to office every single day and you have to do something new, something extra, something different, and you keep on doing that. You will succeed first, second. So in Islam we go to Tawakul, so Tawakul is you put in all your efforts and you leave the rest to Almighty.
Bilna: Oh nice.
Farhan: So for for example, if you if I want to be a successful real estate broker, I’m going to do everything which is in my power, okay? To be a successful real estate agent.
Bilna: Okay.
Farhan: And then I leave the results to all team. Now, some people confuse it. They like leave everything they already know. Leave everything.
Bilna: To you.
Farhan: The Almighty, after you have put in their efforts.
Bilna: Yes.
Farhan: So that is what I use with actively advancement.
Bilna: Expect that. Okay. Everything good?
Farhan: Yes. I just. If the God wants me to have a job and get a job, it doesn’t work like that.
Bilna: Yes. You have to put in your 100%. And then the best guess from this, that’s a great again and great inside for everyone. Now coming to before we close the session. Right. What is your single most advice like, if you were to put it in one lane, what’s the most important? Why is they wanted to give to anyone who wanted to start a business first?
Farhan: Don’t start a business to make money, okay? In my opinion, if you are starting a business to make money, there is a very high possibility it will fail. Okay. I have seen so many of my friends. They started business because they wanted to make money and it feel okay. You have to either start a business to add value to people.
Farhan: Life or to pick up a cause which is bigger than yourself. Because if you are doing it for money, you will. A lot of.
Bilna: Money is.
Farhan: What will you do then?
Bilna: Yes.
Farhan: First. Second, If money is important to you, and if it comes between choosing money and you people, who would you choose? Money is important. You will choose money and you will fail. Yes, because you will lose your people.
If it’s completely for money. And if you are to choose between money and lives and if you are a start up, a time like this will definitely come. Yes. Then you have to choose between money and your stuff. Yes. If you are money minded, you will do is money you will lose.
Bilna: Okay.
Farhan: If you are money minded, you will choose money over client and you will lose. Yes. So do not be money minded.
Bilna: Your value should always be outside the money like this.
Farhan: Selfless, have selfless values.
Bilna: Thank you so much for that advice. And every point which we discussed today, I think it’s very important for any business owner who is either starting out or already established. Also, because there are a lot of things we can take away. Thank you so much, Farhan.
Farhan: Thank you so much for having me.
Bilna: Thank you so much. And thanks to all our listeners who are listening to the show. You can follow us, subscribe and you can also get find all the links in the comment box we’ll be putting them all the details so you can take them out as well. Thank you.
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