It couldn’t have been easy for an accomplished business owner of two successful hairdressing businesses and a cult following of clients, to suddenly switch careers.

Yet when Kollosche sales agent Hayley Kidson swapped scissors for a sales board two years ago, she says the decision was cut and dry – and she has not touched a hair on a head ever since.

Instead, Hayley wholeheartedly threw herself into fulfilling a long-time desire to sell real estate.

“When I went into hairdressing I had clear goals, like working at Fashion Week, which I did for seven years, and owning my own salon,” she says.

“But after 20 years in the industry, I was bored and needed a new challenge. I still own two salons, but they are fully managed by someone else.”

Focused, driven and determined, Hayley, who lives in Bonogin and is married with three children, set about gaining her real estate license and started working at a local agency.

By leveraging complementary skills that she had acquired as a hairdresser and business owner, Hayley managed to carve out an extraordinary start to her new career. In the first 12 months she made 20 sales, with a total value surpassing $20 million.

“The correlation between running a hairdressing business and selling real estate has been one of my biggest advantages,” Hayley says.

“Relationship building, great communication skills, being organised, time management skills – they’re all attributes needed to succeed in either industry.

“I knew I had the personal attributes to be a sales agent, so all I needed was to learn the systems and processes.”

After spending two years proving herself in the industry, Hayley has joined Kollosche armed with a vast client contact book and network of potential customers, many of whom she already has a relationship with from her hairdressing days.

Hands-on experience

Born and raised on the Gold Coast, Hayley has widespread knowledge of the market, as well as the rare attribute of understanding the psyche of her clients.

“My husband and I have bought and sold five houses over the years, three of which we actually built ourselves,” Hayley says. “As much as I loved the building process and drawing up plans, it was the sales process that really excited me.

“Yet the most beneficial thing about flipping houses, and what I think makes a huge difference to being a great agent, is that you come to understand the emotion of being both a buyer and a seller.

“It’s such an intense period, and I personally know what both parties are going through, which really helps me connect with people. As an agent my focus is to take as much stress off the vendor and the buyer as possible, and make sure everyone is comfortable.”

Fulfilling dreams

As one of the newest members of the Kollosche team, Hayley has high aspirations and hopes to help expand the brand.

Insightful and a forward thinker, she believes that effective and prompt communication and marketing are key components to achieving sales success and she works tirelessly to make this her point of difference.

She will focus on listings in the inner southern suburbs, such as Burleigh Waters, Tallebudgera Valley and Reedy Creek, where she sees untapped potential, and from there the sky’s the limit.

While Hayley wasn’t actively seeking to change agencies when Kollosche reached out to her, she always had a feeling that she would work for the brand one day, so it seemed like the right move.

“Since starting out, I watched all of Michael’s K Series videos and podcasts and I used to think ‘I’m going to work alongside that man one day and I’m going to be on his podcast’. Hold onto that, because I am halfway there,” she says with a laugh.

“I’m definitely motivated and competitive, as long as I feel that the goal is achievable. If I get told I can’t do something, then I’ll want to do it even more.”

A creature of habit, Hayley says she finds comfort in routine and likes to start her day in the gym at 3.30am before heading home to help get her kids to school and start her working day.

“I’m probably the only person to ever say this, but I don’t like going on holidays because it throws out my routine. If I do go it’s for a week, and my family end up hating it because I’m always dragging them to go see something or do something. I am always itching to get on with things. And when I do, I throw myself at it.”