EPISODE 06 – SAM BATTISTA

Meet Sam Battista. A Comm ‘16 grad, the Co-founder of PropertySpark, and a hype guy living out his dream in Downtown Toronto. As our guest lecturer for last week’s COMM 339 class, he shared with us his journey from his short-lived consulting career, to having absolutely no idea what he wanted to do, drinking eggs and orange juice on camera, to finally how his startup—PropertySpark—came to be. I asked Sam a few questions to understand what it really takes to become a successful entrepreneur, and to go out there and do what you love.

What inspired you to take the risks that you’ve taken to propel Property Spark forward?

The idea for PropertySpark started when I was helping my dad with his real estate business. The idea didn’t come from some inspired moment of genius or from sitting around a meeting room drawing on a white board. It came to me when I was grinding in my parent’s basement making online ads for the properties my dad was selling. When I was working on this, I realized that the return-on-investment for real estate ads on social media was through the roof.

My dad and I had the idea that we should offer social media real estate ads as a service to other Realtors. But, we didn’t want to start an ad agency. We wanted to start a software company. So, that’s what we did. It wasn’t easy though, we had to test a lot of assumptions, we had to partner with the right people and we had to raise money. But, it was definitely worth it.

What are your personal top 3 books that every entrepreneur should read?

The 10x Rule by Grant Cardone

The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber

The Lean Startup by Eric Ries

For those of us that aspire to start our own businesses like you did, what little things can we be doing now to push us in the right direction?

The most important thing in entrepreneurship is not talent. It’s not intelligence. It’s not even courage. The most important thing in entrepreneurship is self-awareness.

You have to start by knowing what you want. Some people want to try entrepreneurship and see if it’s for them. Frankly, I’ve never met someone that tried it for fun and decided to go into it full time. The people you meet who have succeeded and stuck around are the crazy ones. The ones that leave themselves no other options. The ones who know right down to their core that unless they’re running their own business, they’re not going to be happy.

Self-awareness - knowing that being your own boss is your only path – is the only knowledge that will keep you grinding when things get bad. Courage comes from knowing that you’ll do whatever it takes to get what you want. In my opinion, courage is a product of self-awareness.

You can muster up enough courage to try anything for a few months. But to stick it out for a year in your parent’s basement like I did, to hear the word no from prospects day in and day out, to put all of your money and then some on an idea, to do all of that… you need to know that it’s worth it to you. And that’s the key, it can’t just be worth it in general, it has to be worth it to you.

You are the determining factor. Even though people say that they’re doing it for the environment, the people or the profits, that will never be enough to get them out of the initial darkness that is involved in starting your own business. The environment, the people and the profits are outcomes, they are external factors. It’s the internal factors that will keep you up at night with your laptop open. It’s that inner voice that says you can be more, that you can do more. It’s the inner passion for growth, for never giving up. It’s the love of the process. When you find that within yourself, that’s when you know you’ll make it against all odds.

What’s next for Property Spark?

More industries. More happy users. More growth.

The message that he gave during his lecture was a powerful one: in order to get what you want, you have to want it. Starting your own business isn’t easy, but it’s about doing the little things right, and doing them consistently. “If people don’t think you’re crazy, you’re doing it wrong” was my favourite quote from his presentation. I truly do believe that whether it's pursuing your startup, chasing your athletic career goals, or becoming a Youtube sensation, sometimes you have to be a little crazy. Or a lot crazy.

Thanks Sam for your inspo, and I’m excited to see what’s in store for Property Spark’s future!

Check out Property Spark here (http://propertyspark.com/) and follow his Insta (@road2abillion)