An Interview with Shiry Sapir | Women Really CAN Have It All

AN INTERVIEW WITH

Shiry Sapir

This month the spotlight’s on Shiry Sapir, an entrepreneur who juggles it ALL! A mom with three kids and a real estate business, here she reveals how she’s overcome everything during the last 16 years. Hint: it’s taken lots of hard work, and carving out coffee time…

Shiry was born in Tel Aviv and now lives in Scottsdale, Arizona with her husband and three children. She built up her business, Platinum Design and Construction, from scratch, and is all too aware of the importance of adapting and expanding her horizons.

In 2004 she began purchasing, remodeling and selling properties, but now also focuses on managing them – and is now even diving into politics. She finds inspiration in other women…and we’re certainly inspired by Shiry’s story of success!

Tell us about your background before you decided to become an entrepreneur.

I have always been entrepreneurial. I had just finished 2 years of service in the Israeli army when I came to the US. I received an associate degree in interior design and as I was finishing my classes, I got a real estate license and with the booming market in 2004 began to purchase properties to remodel and flip. I took hard money loans and learned to quickly turn properties around. The market was extremely active, and I got to sell properties faster than I was able to list them. It was a very unique time to get into the business in terms of volume which not every first-time agent is able to experience. So I was very lucky.

How did you make the decision to start your own business?

I didn’t necessarily plan on opening my own business, but I brought in the interior design aspect and love of creating beauty to the knowledge I quickly gained of the market, and before I knew it, I was flipping houses one after the other. It was then that I realized that I really like working for myself and continued on that path.

After 3 years of holding the real estate license, I was able to test to become a broker and opened my own brokerage with the intent of mostly facilitating my own deals. Then as the projects grew bigger, it was necessary for me to either pay contractors or get my own contractor’s license, so I decided to get my own General Contractor’s license. By then the market crashed and new opportunities came along. An influx of investors flooded the market, and I was there to get them the deals they needed.

At the same time, I began managing all the foreclosed properties a major bank held and got more into the management aspect of properties while they were being listed for sale. That was again a lucky turn of events that kept me very busy in an otherwise very bad market for so many who lost everything they had.

Can you explain to our readers what your business is all about?

Right now my business is still focusing on investors, purchasing, remodeling and managing their properties. On the general contracting side, I select very carefully which projects to get into, because like every small business, you need to know where to draw boundaries so you don’t waste time and energy on projects that don’t yield enough to justify you putting your attention into them.

What was happening in your life and business when you first realized you needed to invest in personal development to make it to the next level of success?

When the business is YOU, you have to keep learning and keep adjusting. The world is very dynamic and the market fluctuates. You can’t do today what might have worked for yesterday. And that also means that you need to invest in your personal development and ability to adapt, so you are not stuck behind in an ever-changing market.

What aspects of your business do you find the most challenging?

The management aspect is by far the most difficult element of my business. The constant juggle between struggling tenants, investors who are looking at their bottom line and vendors who need to be managed on a very micro level is a balancing act, and it’s definitely the one keeping me up at night the most. The selling and buying is the fun and much easier aspect of the job.

What is your approach to work/life balance?

Work/life balance is not easy with three young children. You want to give them every second you have when you are not working, but then you disappear in the mix. I try to never skip my workout, which is by far my sanity formula. I wake up earlier than everyone so I can have my coffee by myself and that is my quiet “me” time. I can’t imagine waking up straight into the functioning mommy I am expected to be.

What lessons have you most learned through your journey as a woman entrepreneur?

The lessons I’ve learned being a woman business owner are number 1, you have to keep adjusting. You can’t be complacent or think that you have arrived. We never really arrive because just like in the book “Who Moved My Cheese” which is my little “bible” if you will, the cheese keeps moving. Somebody always comes along and takes your cheese and you have to keep looking for new cheese.

At the same time, you have to not get upset and discouraged because of the constant movement. It is part of the game. And it is up to you to stay ahead of that game by constantly searching around the maze. The good news is that hard work always pays off, and when it doesn’t you have to remember there was probably a good reason for it – you were probably heading in the wrong direction for you, even if it’s what your heart desired.

“So never give up, don’t get discouraged and remember that losing a battle does not mean you lost the war, so keep fighting for what you want.“

What’s next on the docket for your business growth goals?

Strangely enough, my business might need to be on hold soon as I venture into politics. There has come a time that we need to put our talents and passion into things bigger than ourselves. I’m extremely passionate about protecting our children in light of everything that’s happening in the world today. I’m currently running for the Superintendent of Public Instruction in Arizona. It’s a huge job, and once again, I’m stepping into the unknown, but our kids are worth it.

Beyond politics, I may get more into commercial real estate as the opportunity lays there with the huge transformation into working from home and a lot of commercial real estate dropping in value – I sense tremendous opportunity.

Any advice or tips to share with our audience on how “ordinary” women can do extraordinary things?

Never stop learning. Even if it is a cooking class or an accounting class. Anything and everything you learn will serve you. Through the years I always learned things that I took interest in even if they were not related to real estate. Expanding your mind and your heart is a fantastic way to keep happy and growing, and it always reflects in your business in a positive way.

There are no ordinary women. We are all exceptional. From the home maker to the 9 to 5 minimum wage employee to the CEO of a 500 Fortune Company, we are all exceptional. I am always amazed how impressed I am when I hear stories of other women; it is always so incredible and inspiring and fascinating. And I often ask myself, ‘how is it possible’? How is it that we all have such incredible life stories to tell when sometimes we don’t feel we are as accomplished as we would like to be, or that we “just” did this or “just” did that?

Well, the answer is that the world wouldn’t be the place that it is without each and every one of us.

We touch other people’s lives daily without even knowing it.

The birth of each one of us is God saying the world can’t continue without us in it. And when you believe in that, you’ll find miracles and magic in everything you do and everything you are.

QUICK FACTS

about Shiry?

BUSINESSES:
Platinum Luxury Real Estate,
Platinum Design and Construction

LOCATION:
Scottsdale, AZ

FAMILY:
Married, 3 children: 8, 6 and almost 3

AGE:
Just turned 42!