“How did Gary Wong, the Author of The Book on Vancouver Real Estate Get Started in Real Estate?”
So you’ve seen my ads on Facebook about me giving out a copy of my book, The Book on Vancouver Real Estate. You’ve watched my youtube videos . But you’re wondering, who is this guy?
My name is Gary Wong. I’m married and I have 2 children. I am born and raised in Vancouver, BC, always interested in the topic of real estate and it all started with a game of monopoly. I graduated from UBC with a double major in Psychology and Mandarin but my mandarin sucks which tells you how good the program there is at the time.
I worked in the corporate world for about 8 years, from government, to union, to telecommunications, to banking, to a manufacturer. I was fooling around and not really going anywhere in life. Then, I got married.
My life changed.
Can’t play video games all day anymore. Gotta have goals, plans, etc…
I studied my GMAT (entrance exam for the MBA) for 5 years but I could never do well in it. I applied to some local schools and they all mentioned that my grades were too low. I applied to SFU and they said that my grades weren’t good enough for the MBA but they have this online Graduate Diploma of Business Administration program that was 1 – 2 yrs long. If I did well in that, they’d waive the GMAT requirement and they’d transition me to the SFU MBA.
So, paying for school out of my own pocket, can’t rely on parents anymore as a married man, I busted my butt and aced the program and transitioned into the MBA. At the time, I was on paternity leave and not really making money. I had a side gig tutoring a child whose father was a builder/investor. He said to me that if I got my real estate license, he might give me some homes to sell.
My Golden Ticket *ching$ ching$*
As someone who had always been interested in real estate, I jumped on the chance. Why didn’t I study it before? As a child growing up in an Asian family, the typical career paths emphasized were Doctor, Lawyer and Accountant. Entrepreneur was not encouraged and real estate agent was something that my parents discouraged me from, stating that the competition was too high and such.
Well, when I got a student loan to study my MBA, that was the 1st time I burned my ships, doing the real estate license and potentially failing in business was the 2nd time I burned my ships.
I busted my butt through MBA, being probably in the top 10 students in the class, out of sheer hard work, rather than academic smarts (there were a bunch of geniuses in the class). I wrote my 15 page business plan, interviewed 7 brokerages, created my differentiation strategy, serving others without expecting anything in return, going above and beyond, incorporating internet marketing heavily and focused on adding value and the rest is history.
Since then, I hustled and bustled and have been excelling in the real estate industry and differentiating myself from my competition in multiple ways. I can’t wait to do more to serve my clients and expanding my reach and influence. Stay tuned!