![\"Nikki](\"http:\/\/blogs.wcpt.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Nikki-Gogan-2019-300x300.jpg\")
Nikki has built her entire working life around real estate, having kicked off her career when she was just 15 in a Saturday administration role at her local agency. From there, Nikki worked her way through property management and then sales in Northam, east of Perth. Once she reached her mid-twenties, with a decade of real estate experience already under her belt, Nikki felt a nagging urge to study \u2013 both for her own, and her industry\u2019s, benefit.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter selling for 5 or 6 years, I was thinking \u2013 \u2018why don\u2019t I have it?\u2019. So much of what we need to know we are learning operationally \u2013 this was about formalising that knowledge,\u201d Nikki explains. <\/p>\n
Nikki\u2019s Diploma study evolved with her career, offering her immense flexibility to shift her focus with her career aspirations. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I think about when I first started to talking to (WCPT CEO) Jackie about getting my Diploma – and compare this to when I finished it \u2013 I was at a completely different place. My life had changed significantly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eventually, when the time came to transition from Northam to Perth, Nikki credits her Diploma for providing her with the self-assurance to join high-profile agency Caporn Young, despite being a Perth novice. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was constructing the career I wanted and speaking to high performers in Perth gave me enormous confidence. There were agents who wrote incredible numbers in real estate terms, but I had higher qualifications than them. I knew what I was talking about despite being a little fish in a big pond. <\/p>\n
Nikki used her own high customer service standards as a template for selecting a training provider \u2013 which for her, made WCPT an obvious choice. <\/p>\n
\u201cI really appreciated the fact that the business was family owned and run and Jackie was the face of the company. If I had questions or queries, she was a real person and I could run things past her and ask her questions. This is the expectation of me as an agent in the market, so that is how I related the industry I was in to the training I wanted to do\u201d, Nikki said. <\/p>\n
\u201cReal estate comes back to being personal and the way that people can make other people feel. I used the same process I would use if I was selling my house- that idea of putting my biggest asset in someone else\u2019s hands: it\u2019s a big deal.\u201d <\/p>\n
While Nikki agrees that there was never necessarily a perfect time to start her Diploma, the WCPT format gave her the flexibility she needed to fit her study around her work. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere is always something to do, there is always something else to turn my attention to \u2013 knowing I could leave the classroom with a lesson ticked off was actually a low level impact on my week \u2013 and having flexibility was awesome, in the event that I did need to change something\u201d, Nikki said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to get it done and was motivated to do it, but there was still no pressure \u2013 we all need to sell houses and Jackie understood that. I put timeframes around things and she made sure I stuck to it. She created that structure and deadlines for me. She held me accountable to what I wanted to achieve.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was this partnership to getting the Diploma completed \u2013 in a personalised and professionally-relevant way \u2013 that has delivered Nikki the confidence to pursue the next phase of her real estate career. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we do is all about self-confidence and belief in myself \u2013 and that is what the Diploma has given me more than anything else. I don\u2019t necessarily see myself running a company in the shorter term, but it is such an awesome tool to have. And who knows where it will go!\u201d<\/p>\n