{"id":935,"date":"2016-01-28T07:00:03","date_gmt":"2016-01-28T15:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.checkworks.com\/blog\/?p=935"},"modified":"2016-03-01T13:43:18","modified_gmt":"2016-03-01T21:43:18","slug":"kevin-kwan-the-harder-i-work-the-luckier-i-get","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.checkworks.com\/index.php\/kevin-kwan-the-harder-i-work-the-luckier-i-get\/","title":{"rendered":"Kevin Kwan & Century 21 West Coast Brokers:\u201cThe Harder I Work, the Luckier I Get!\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"House<\/a><\/p>\n

By MJ Plaster<\/em><\/p>\n

High school graduates relish the precious few weeks between high school graduation and the beginning of college classes. It\u2019s the last hurrah with classmates before they all scatter to the wind. Kevin Kwan<\/a> knew he wouldn\u2019t have that last \u201chot fun in the summertime\u201d because his mother had warned him that he\u2019d have to get a job as soon as he graduated.<\/p>\n


\nAlways the Dreamer<\/strong>
\n\u201cI started developing an independent streak in high school. My parents had a restaurant, and I grew up working in the restaurant. I lived there. My parents taught me that if you want something badly enough, you can go to work and get paid to get it, so that\u2019s what I did,\u201d says Kwan.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always had pretty big dreams\u2014I\u2019m not there yet, but I knew I could never get there in a corporate environment. For the lifestyle that I envisioned, it would be difficult and take me a very long time to get it [in the corporate environment]. Owning a business to get the lifestyle I had dreamed of would have been difficult. I needed a very low cost of entry to own my own business. All I needed was a real estate license, and I had access to billions of dollars of inventory without paying a penny for it,\u201d Kwan added.<\/p>\n

From Dreams to Reality<\/strong>
\nImmediately after graduation, Kwan applied for a job at Bank of America (BoA), and he began working as a teller. Little did he know his summer job would cement his future career path. \u201cRight before my college classes started, I gave notice to my manager, but she said I couldn\u2019t quit. She needed to keep her \u2018numbers\u2019 up to make them work for her bosses.\u201d Instead of quitting his job, Kwan reduced his work schedule to Saturdays and Mondays until just before his senior year in college.<\/p>\n

Kids Say the Darnedest Things\u2026<\/strong>
\n\u2026and ask the darnedest questions. You get a lot of truth from teens and young adults before they hone the art of self-censorship. While working as a bank teller, Kwan asked all the \u201cbig depositors\u201d what they did for a living. (Can\u2019t you hear it: Excuse me, I see you\u2019re depositing a six-figure check. What exactly do you do for a living?) Instead of saying \u201cNone of your business,\u201d most of the customers answered, \u201cI\u2019m in real estate.\u201d<\/p>\n

The market was booming in 2002. Naturally, the young Kwan\u2019s interest was piqued, so he studied for his real estate license, passed the exam and got his license while he was still in college.<\/p>\n

During the course of his work at BoA, Kwan became friendly with a real estate broker. Kwan told CheckWorks, \u201cOne day I asked him if I could work with him, and the guy said, \u2018Yes.\u2019 You go through four years of college thinking you\u2019re preparing to go into a corporate environment as a steppingstone to your dreams. Instead, I went into a job that\u2019s completely commission based\u2014no sales, no money! My parents let me go back home, and I had no debt, so why not go for it? I wanted those checks my customers deposited at the bank.\u201d<\/p>\n

One Shot at a First Impression<\/strong>
\nAfter Kwan accepted the position, his boss told him he would have to change three things immediately:<\/p>\n