Real Stories Real People

Truck parts salesman makes the leap to Real Estate

Dennis Serrao thought he wanted to be a diesel mechanic and went away to trade school to achieve his goal. When he returned from Arizona it became increasingly clear that the Parts and Parts Sales end of the business is what attracted him the most. For seventeen years, Dennis worked for the same company. Back then he was very passionate about this profession in the beginning to mid years of the approximate 17 years with this company. It was necessary to climb the ladder, start as a parts delivery driver and work your way up. In one year at age 21, Dennis was promoted to manage the shipping department and soon after became a parts sales associate. He held this position in an area that most others always tried not to end up in, working directly in the trenches with the service department personal.

Dennis despite the responsibilities of a big family which includes his wife and 4 children, he started to feel like something was missing. He became very stagnant, unhappy counting vacation days, days until the weekend, pension money and dreaming about retirement. This is was not a good sign for an aggressive 30 year old with an entrepreneurial spirit. He stayed in this place for the next 7 years. His efforts to expand his horizons seemed to fail and mostly due to his fickle nature about the projects / businesses that he selected. His main desire was to sell these heavy duty trucks and become a truck salesman as this was considered the top rung of the ladder. He had already accomplished the maximum promotions and was feeling very stagnant. Unfortunately due to possible personality conflicts and the statement “we really can’t afford to loose you in the parts sales department you are our top salesman” Dennis never made it to truck sales. Now as he looks back “it’s the best thing that never happened to me”.

Then his wife introduced him to her boss’s husband who happened to be a Real Estate broker with a large firm. Dennis found himself very interested and followed up with him immediately to sign up for school. You could find Dennis studying on his lunch breaks, before work, after work, weekends it was all he could think about.Dennis was so passionate that he was able to obtain his license in record time. The exciting prospects of owning your own business and helping people follow their dreams was driving him to obsession with this new found love. At one point, Dennis worked two jobs, 17 to 18 hours a day, 7 days a week. There was passion again, determination, hard work and fun. Finally, real estate left him no choice but to leave his secure dead end job. One day after spending his lunch break fielding calls from clients, escrow companies and inspectors he returned to his desk only to find an irate miserable soul (must have also been feeling very dead-end) making simple but irrelevant demands. Dennis looked at him square in the eye and said “as miserable as you are I am going to make this my last transaction here”. He knew that this company did not believe in a two week notice and had always ushered quitting workers to the door immediately. Dennis packed his belongings, said his goodbyes without the option of a notice and immediately left.

Dennis couldn’t begin to describe the feelings at this point, nervous, relieved, happy, angry, and excited to mention a few. Dennis left a well paying job with full medical, dental, orthodontics, 4 weeks paid vacation and most of all 4 CHILDREN AND A WIFE AT HOME. His first year he was his company’s rookie of the year and a top producer ranking in the top 10 of 125 agents. Dennis never looked back and has become a top agent in the entire tri valley with 5 members on his team. He credits his success to his love and passion for real estate shows through in all he does.. Dennis believes once you find your passion don’t be afraid to follow it and make your dreams come true!!!

Dennis said recently, ‘’ I strongly believe that Craig Nathanson is an individual that knows what it takes to get started.

Dennis Serrao is a Real Estate agent with Keller Williams Realty servicing the greater East Bay at dserrao@earthlink.net

What can we learn from Dennis's story?

Once a decision is made to move forward towards doing more of what you love, don't look back!


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