PUBLISHED ONMay 09, 2022 11:26 AMByMelissa Teo Ever wondered what CEOs and founders are like? Are they all work and no play? Do they have a nurturing or intimidating personality? In Employee No. 1, catch a glimpse of what it is like being a homegrown boss under 40. Take an inside look into their day, how they run their successful companies, and learn what it takes to be employee number one.
Whether or not you're looking to buy a new house, chances are, you've probably heard of PropertyLimBrothers.
In fact, some of us are so familiar with their advertisements that we can recognise the iconic duo, Melvin Lim, 41, and Adrian Lim, 44, just by their voices.
With over 1,300 property videos on their channel to date, and a total of over 34 million views, the duo cemented their niche in virtual home tours years before it became the in thing. And they've grown so much that they've turned their two-man show into an actual company with over a hundred employees.
Curious to know how they tick, AsiaOne met up with them to have a chat about their booming business, family life and the inspiration behind their video home tours.
They're not really blood brothers
Right off the bat, it's easy to tell that Melvin is the more outspoken of the two, while Adrian is more reserved, but their different personalities are like yin and yang — contrasting forces that complement each other.
"I think we're almost like blood brothers because I think, in totality, we've known each other for about 20 years," shares Melvin.
With how well they get on, here's something that may surprise their viewers — despite their catchy name, they're not actually blood brothers.
Rather, the name was suggested to them by a client due to their shared surname.
Melvin and Adrian also liked that it had a "Singaporean tonality" that locals could resonate with.
Despite not sharing the same genes, the duo is as close as brothers can get and they even entered the real estate industry together.
The pair first crossed paths back in 2004 while they were both training as prison officers with the Singapore Prison Service.
"You were shirtless in the bunk," Adrian says with a laugh as they reminisce about the fateful day that they met.
In the final year of their prison service bond, Melvin's interest in the real estate scene was piqued after a casual conversation with a friend.
"I started reading very rapidly about this industry, finding out about what entails a very successful real estate consultant or salesperson. And it just created a passion for me to want to explore this industry," he tells us.
As luck would have it, Adrian, too, had an interest in sales and property, especially since he had helped his parents when their home went through an en bloc exercise - it just made sense for them to go down this path together.
Taking on a new frontier — YouTube
Melvin and Adrian had already been in the real estate scene for around 11 years when they realised that the way things were marketed in the local property market was "extremely stagnant".
Back then, many agents relied on flyers and listings on property sites, which Melvin found "very passive".
"There was no creative way to tell a story. There was no creative way to reach out to potential audiences that might be interested in this particular property."
Hoping to "breathe life" into the properties they were tasked to sell, the duo decided to give virtual home tours a try.
And so, they found themselves a video team and filmed their first home tour in December 2016.
As their approach took off, Melvin and Adrian realised that not only were virtual home tours more entertaining, they also made the experience easier for both the buyers and the sellers.
"Buyers feel that it's so convenient now to view properties in the comfort of their homes or while they're travelling," Melvin explains.
"It also enhances the quality of viewership for our clients as well, when we help people to sell their homes. So, I think it's a double win for consumers."
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_y67yo9XUU[/embed]
And this approach has certainly paid off — both Melvin and Adrian were named PropNex millionaire realtors for each hitting over $1 million in sales commissions in 2019 and 2020.
'Work-life balance can be a myth'
However, their success does come at a price.
At the start of their career as real estate agents, the pair admit that they were "quite extreme workaholics" who would usually go home around 11pm or 12am every day.
Things got even more hectic when they started PropertyLimBrothers, especially in the initial stage.
"Over the years, we realise that work-life balance can be a myth," says Melvin, who shares that the entrepreneur life has got his mind thinking around the clock.
"Because as business owners, ideas will come at 12 midnight, sometimes, ideas will come at 12pm. Or most of the time, ideas and problem solving come while I am bathing."
On regular days, they spend their weekdays doing tasks like home staging, shooting home videos as well as research analysis for arrangement. They also burn most of their evenings meeting clients after office hours since that is the period when most people are free.
That's not all — while most people look forward to the weekends to unwind and relax, the life of a real estate agent is the opposite since they have to spend it doing physical viewings.
And in between all of that, there are phone calls to attend to and text messages to reply, even in the wee hours of the morning.
"Your phone technically is activated almost 24/7," Melvin summarises.
Unsurprisingly, they admit that they've both suffered from burnout before.
During one particularly tough period about nine years ago, Melvin tells us that he was so overwhelmed that he was "scared to answer the phone".
Adrian shares that he's experienced it too and to cope, he started the habit of jogging every day to destress.
While it's still hard for them to achieve complete work life balance, the pair, both married with kids, say they now make a conscious effort to carve out time for the things that matter most such as their family.
Kids failing at school? No problem
While most people are afraid of failure, Melvin and Adrian beg to differ.
"It's quite strange to say that we love failures, but I will say that having enough failures is sometimes a good thing," Melvin tells us.
And this mantra extends to his parenting philosophy as well.
"I also tell my kids that if they happen to fail their PSLE (Primary School Leaving Examinations) or if they happen to fail O-Levels, it might be a good thing for them sometimes because when you experience failure early on, you can pick yourself up."
He adds that the company has experienced setbacks multiple times, whether it be their videos' performance, or their customer service.
However, to the duo, what truly matters is how they process the failure and how they turn it into a learning point so that they can improve as an individual and as a team.
"We don't view failures lightly. But we think that this is part and parcel of just growing."
melissateo@asiaone.com