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Entrepreneur Profile

Steve Rumberg

Silicon Valley Real Estate Group, Inc.

San Jose, CA

www.SteveRumberg.com

Some people seem to be born with an entrepreneurial gene. Steve Rumberg could serve as the poster child for this phenomenon. His business savvy first appeared at the age of eight when he clipped an ad for $2.00 address labels out of the newspaper and paraded around his neighborhood offering to sell the labels for $3.00. He laughs, “The only order I ever received was from my dad’s friend,” but that didn’t deter him. Soon he was in business mowing lawns and washing cars.

When his grandfather visited, he was so proud of the neighborhood businessman that he had some business cards printed up for Steve and his partner, Marcus. “He printed the name of the business as S&M Jobs,” Rumberg says with a chuckle. “Of course I didn’t see the humor in that until much later.”

In junior high Rumberg ventured into candy sales. When the neighborhood drugstore offered bulk candy bars on sale, he stocked up and sold them for full price at school. He says the business was quite profitable and he carried it on through high school. In fact, when his high school business class wanted to come up with a student-run business, Rumberg suggested a candy store. The students rented soda machines, purchased candy and opened a successful shop.

While pursuing his Business Administration degree at San Jose State University, Rumberg expanded his sales offerings. He shopped at warehouse stores to acquire products and sold soda, beer, and frozen burritos from his dorm room.

Eventually Rumberg took a job at a computer store during the time when personal computers were expensive and just entering the marketplace. He taught himself how to use dBbase II and III and became the point of contact for customers who needed advice. When a client asked him to develop an inventory and accounting program, Rumberg produced a unique product that evolved into a business.

The program was tailored to art galleries and framing stores. Rumberg took his show on the road and promoted his product at industry trade shows. He found it was a tough sell. “I ended up spending more time educating people about what computers could do instead of selling the product.” Though interest in computers was growing and his product was solid, Rumberg says he “made enough to eat, but it wasn’t the type of income I wanted.”

He eventually sold the business and took four years off to work in Japan and Switzerland as an English teacher. During the final months of his international teaching adventure, Rumberg decided to pursue his interest of working in the real estate business and began studying for a California real estate license. He returned home in 1997, passed the real estate exam and began interviewing with brokerages.

He says he realized that most of the brokerages will hire an agent simply because they can “fog a mirror.” Rumberg believes that agents shouldn’t have to be interviewed; instead the agents should be asking the questions. “What agents need to do is interview the brokerage and find out what kind of support they offer.”

After several successful years in real estate sales, Rumberg was invited to a franchise sales presentation with Keller Williams Realty International. He attended with a large group of agents that he worked with at his current brokerage, and said that many dropped out after attending the second round of presentations. “We went from 35 people down to 20, then eventually it was down to six of us.”

Six turned out to be the magic number. Rumberg and five others decided to move forward with the franchise opportunity. The team became equal partners and each invested personal income to launch their San Jose, California office. They were required to assemble a business plan and write an evaluation of their competition. The team of six formed a Sub-S Corporation and once they completed the required processes with Keller Williams, received approval and opened the first office in 2000.

Four years later, Rumberg reports that his company has over 200 real estate agents in three offices andÂ that they are in the process of opening additional offices in neighboring cities. Overhead expenses are low because the business runs on a tight staff. They have one office manager who oversees the entire sales team, one administrative assistant who pays the bills and handles paperwork, and a receptionist.

Having a business based in the heart of the Silicon Valley makes hiring a breeze. “We’ve had a flood of new hires because downsized tech people think real estate sales is an easy transition,” says Rumberg. “Really good people can make a lot of money with real estate but they have to be motivated to work.”

One way they manage expenses is by outsourcing. “We have online backups (of data) that are encrypted and sent to L.A. Almost our entire (computer services) infrastructure is outsourced.” They use a company called CI Host for their website and e-mail hosting and are pleased with the services. “My goal is to outsource everything in the company,” says Rumberg. “My advice to other entrepreneurs is to focus on what you like and outsource everything else. It’s a commitment when you hire someone. But if you outsource, you can give someone a small job and see how they perform. Then give them a bigger job and so on.”

If he could go back in time and do anything differently, Rumberg says he would have kept in touch with people. “Networking is really valuable and I didn’t realize that until later on.” He only kept in touch with a small group of friends from college and regrets that he didn’t make more of an effort.

In addition to running the successful real estate office, Rumberg has expanded his business offerings to include real estate loans. He also began buying single family homes as rental properties and devised a property management system to rent out the individual rooms in the homes. This system is working so well for him that he is getting ready to launch another business: a property management company that operates under this same formula.

Though Rumberg admits that he usually works a 12-hour day, he likes the flexibility in his schedule. He also likes juggling his many projects and different businesses and says the key to success is to set goals. “People need to know what they want, set a goal and go after it.”

This entrepreneur lives by his own advice and says in the next five to ten years he envisions running multiple businesses and opening even more real estate offices. “As entrepreneurs we want to be in charge, we want to set our own destiny.” From lawn mowing to candy sales to real estate tycoon, Rumberg is proof that we can create our own success.