NovaLoca 2021- Independent, Strong & Passionate as ever
Miranda Munn, Managing Director & Founder of NovaLoca Ltd shares the story of NovaLoca’s beginnings and the exciting, busy times the company are in now.
NovaLoca launched in 2008 perfectly timed for the last recession; Michael McIntyre described the mood at the next Property Awards as huddled round a KFC with attendees throwing themselves from the balcony. I always felt that if we could successfully launch then, nothing would stop us. Having completed a full 13 years since then we feel more confident than ever.
I began planning NovaLoca in 1996; I had been tasked with finding new premises for the company I was working for and found the job a lot more difficult than I had expected. An easy to navigate website that listed all commercial availability was clearly needed. Having left the company in 2001 I started MJM Marketing; a direct mail company working exclusively with commercial agents, but NovaLoca was still being worked on in the background.
MJM was quickly successful, enough so I had money to invest in NovaLoca. For reasons I sometimes find hard to fathom, I was totally & relentlessly passionate about delivering the best commercial property availability website possible (still am). Passion and determination have been essential, getting sufficient contracts to keep MJM Mailings afloat was one thing but with NovaLoca it was never going to work with just a few clients, it needed to be the go-to place for all, or as many agents as possible.
The most important part of NovaLoca is the team behind it. I have been lucky enough to find a team of people better than me in each of their specific areas (so much so that they barely need me) “great things in business are never done by one person. They’re done by a team of people.” – Steve Jobs . We compliment each other, but I hope they would all agree; also promote a supportive environment where we all feel genuinely cared for.
Over the years our systems and processes have been honed; there have been no short cuts, and although at times it has felt like a thankless task, we have worked consistently hard. It has always felt like we have been building something with a very strong foundation, it has taken time, but to quote Hanson ‘foundations are one of the most critical elements of any project, even though they aren’t visible when the structure is complete’.
The past year has been difficult for pretty much everyone, we have all been able to work fairly seamlessly from home so we know we are the lucky ones. We have also been exceptionally busy, just last week alone 5 companies agreed new subscriptions with us. It does feel like we are reaching a tipping point, the more agents are aware of their competitors listing the more they want to join for themselves so they don’t miss out. Our traffic levels are higher and more relevant than ever and more clients are asking their agents to make sure they advertise with us. It’s a bit of a snowball effect, one that we are loving !
Exciting times ahead.
Check out our pictures, reflections & fun comments from the team after 10 years in business
