Professional success loves the bold, daring, and combinative

Introduce yourself in a few words..

My name is Mihaela Georgieva, entrepreneur, commercial director of the French real estate agency Galardo Real Estate and co-founder and managing partner of Assure.Next - an insurance structure in exclusive partnership with the international insurance brand Allianz. 

A long-time professional, having held leadership positions internationally in the commercial and marketing business sectors for the past 18 years. 

Before rediscovering the real estate sector in Bulgaria as a core of multifunctional and high-value services for end clients as an entrepreneur, I worked in the insurance field, and prior to that in France - I managed international projects related to the development of global alcoholic beverage brands, such as the French liqueurs Marie Brizard, cognac Gautier, wines Marques del Puerto. 

Tell us about the philosophy and values of the company you are currently working for?

The word “exclusivity” is our philosophy in both a direct and metaphorical sense. With it, we launched our business platforms in the real estate sector and “dissected” them into each of the segments we serve today. Our companies profess a higher business goal, which is to create an exclusive experience for our clients at the service level through uncompromising multi-spectrum expertise in real estate through insurance solutions for retail and commercial properties, as well as for corporations, financing, property management, in addition to construction  and finishing architectural solutions for the property. To be “exclusive” means to be one step ahead of others by offering added value that the competitive environment cannot reproduce according to the client's expectations.

We do not allow our client to leave our office without an optimal 360-degree solution for their need  - investment in real estate through professional analysis of market goals, creating models for additional income through rentals, high-value insurance protection for their property and business, suitable credit solutions for mortgages, finding the best balance between price and quality when finishing a property to key. Today, every one of our salespeople is recognized by the market as a top consultant in the real estate sector, possessing the knowledge that will be useful to our clients, creating from a given property an extremely valuable asset with the prospect of short-term or long-term profit. 

Our three main values are teamwork, transparency, and continuous upgrading of knowledge. There is no strong company that develops through individualism and lack of trust and transparency among team members and towards clients. Just as there are no experts who understand everything, but the best are those who are not afraid to “raise their hand,” to seek help, so that they can fill a gap in specific knowledge and become even better and more confident the next day.  

How long have you been working in the current company? What are the main motivating factors that keep you there? 

I have been on the path of entrepreneurship for the second year now, and I have always been a woman who strives for professional independence and the creation of effective and united teams. If I have to mention what the strongest motivating factor for me in my daily life is, it is undoubtedly to create better situations for my teams and for each member of our companies - to be more confident in themselves, to have the necessary knowledge, to know how and in what way to attract a new client, to be financially profitable and even happier in personal terms. I do not like to work with insecure, negative people who do not know how to orient their professional development, and in this regard, I am on the ground every day to change these situations for those who need insight to create business solutions through confidence and empathy towards clients and colleagues. At a business level, the real estate sector is multi-spectral, and this alone is my long-term motivator and my professional creed. Home is the most sacred thing that every person should focus on, as it is a source of security, warmth, building a family and human values, and at the same time an exceptional asset that over the years can also become a basis for business through investments. 

If you had to recommend the company to your acquaintances or friends, what would you share with them to attract their attention?

At Galardo Real Estate and Assure.Next, we work for the clients, not so much for us as people in the team. We have gone through periods of financial losses and market upheavals, but they somehow pass unnoticed, as for us winning the trust of a single client is a much more important and long-term victory. Financial losses are compensated precisely through a constant focus on making your clients happier and more profitable from their work with us. We are very close to our clients, as in our desire to write the exact formula for their property, the purely professional attitude organically translates into building personal and I would say friendly relationships. About 90% of our clients have more than 2 property transactions with us and additional home services, as their recommendation to their acquaintances is a natural behavior that turns our companies into large families. 

What does your company do to organize a constructive and fruitful working environment for everyone? Should we be friends with our colleagues?

Daily focus on problems and specific cases - this is what makes the environment in our companies constructive and fruitful for our teams. I have never shied away from problems, and I want to instill this fact in the people around me - to desire to work on problems, to find a solution today and not to postpone it for the next period, because the client and the market as a whole love the quick and resourceful. Training in our companies is a key factor for fruitful work for our sales departments. They will be increasingly strengthened over time. When you constantly learn and share knowledge with people in your team, this elevates you informally to a mentor role, which combined with the ability to implement a working business vision leads to a leadership category. And I want to create leaders, which is also my personal calling in a professional aspect. 

Building good relationships in a working environment for me is the way to the most effective and long-term existence among a group of people with a common mission. By nature, I am a “Unifier” and I have always tried to instill a team spirit in the diverse corporate divisions I have managed over time. I realize that when friendships arise among team members, people work like “avatars” - they connect with their energy and can fly over the depths of obstacles in a much more successful and pleasant way. So yes - I am a supporter of the idea of establishing a friendly working environment, where the leading elements of this friendship are respect and empathy towards the person next to us. 

Tell us a little more about your responsibilities in the company? What makes you enjoy going to work? How do you deal with difficult and stressful moments?

My commercial and marketing spirit, with which I was born, makes me today a professional whose duty, together with my teams, is to create an exclusive platform for the real estate sector. In this regard, my role is comprehensive - to form teams of the best salespeople and marketers, to train them according to their individual profiles and needs, to build them as team players, to develop working strategies for specific properties and clients,  to integrate new market niches and attract business partners, to create specific services and competitive advantages with which to move one step ahead. My affinity for the so-called “economy of scale” is also my key responsibility, as I believe that the most successful leader of a company and sales teams is the one who knows how through cost and process optimization to bring a given company over time to high results in terms of revenue and profit without directly harming the workforce. 

What work model does your company adhere to – office or remote? What are the advantages in your specific case and position?

90% of our employees are salespeople.  The salesperson is on the ground, he is in constant contact with the client, and in this sense, successful deals cannot happen remotely. Physical presence in our offices is a symbol of life, team spirit, and a desire to share market practice, to meet a client in a comfortable and conducive business environment for conversations. That is why,  physical presence in our offices is something that should not be underestimated, as it brings us commercial successes, and for the client - satisfaction. Of course, our sales representatives have the freedom to work remotely according to their personal calendar, so this work formula is not excluded. But in the real estate industry, I emphasize again, for us, success in deals is based on personal meetings in our offices, where business conversations take place, including high-level consulting.

What have you managed to seriously upgrade in your work over time in this company?

There are several things I would summarize as a summary - I contributed with a vision of how to diversify our business through “speaking” services for the property, which I will continue to develop through innovations for the industry. I upgraded processes for faster and more expert service of our clients, as well as I am working on forming effective multi-spectrum sales teams. I dream of going international, and this is the next big step for which I am working hard with my business partner Toma Stanishev.

How important is hierarchy and what does it mean to you? 

As an entrepreneur, I do not deny the need for hierarchy, which is important for coordination, clarity, and responsibility. The question, however, is how it is applied - whether it limits innovation and communication, or supports and develops people.  Regarding the importance of hierarchy, I am a supporter of the theory of Ray Dalio (Bridgewater Associates), who is known for his model of “radical transparency” and “idea meritocracy,” through which ideas are evaluated not by the rank of the speaker but by their value. For me, hierarchy is important for responsibility in a given company, but it should not limit freedom of expression and thought, through which a new natural layer of hierarchy should actually emerge over time through the development of personnel. I cannot comprehend how managers of companies for decades remain at the same management levels and responsibilities without giving capable team members the opportunity to inherit their positions by taking the “baton” in the game. For me, this is a symbol of egocentrism and lack of vision and courage for one's own subsequent development. 

What is your career advice for all people who are building a strategy for their professional development?

My career advice to these people is to constantly challenge themselves, to be active and dynamic, in whatever environment we live in. Professional success loves the bold, daring, and combinative. Think big and plan  your development in the long term, taking small but logical steps over time and according to a given situation. 

My rule for professional development is to first focus on purely personal development, which is the foundation for many things in our life. It is essential to understand who we are as a profile in interaction with people and situations  - are we warriors or subjects, as both profiles have their qualities and significance in managing processes. Do we love to take risks with unknown parameters or do we prefer to operate  within our comfort zone? It is important for a person to understand what their mission in life is as a person and as a professional, so that they can analyze through which qualities they will achieve the desired result. Self-knowledge unlocks doors to the most accurate professional development, which makes a person truly successful and unique.