Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa November 2018 | Page 9

BILL RAWSON
KEY STATS
Age: 69
Current position: Founder & Chairman, Rawson
Property Group
Education/Qualifications: Associate of The Insti-
tute of Chartered Secretaries
Family: 4 children of which two are male and two
are female. 3 grandchildren (boys)
Books currently reading: Quantum Economics by
David Orell and Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
Life motto: Treat and respect others as you would
like to be!
Favourite quote: “Look after others and they will
look after you!”
W
illiam (‘Bill’) Rawson is an entrepreneur from
Cape Town who has built himself a successful
property business from humble beginnings into a
national household brand name and money making machine.
In 1978 he started his own estate agency called Bill Rawson
estates employing a team of 25 estate agents which today has
grown into one of the leading South African estate agencies
called Rawson Property Group - the rest is all history.
He incorporated his passion for the property business plus
the will to make serious money for himself into the Rawson
Property Group which he founded in 1982. Today they are
now affectionately known as ‘The Rawson Family’ a nationwide
‘family’ of property professionals who are connected by the
same values and culture throughout South Africa. This is what
makes them different as it is mainly about people and the
endeavour to make you feel a part of it.
Rawson Property Group through Bill’s vision and guidance
has developed into a property company which offers various
elements of property services. They first started in residential
sales and letting and then later expanded into auctions,
commercial and industrial sales and letting (including selling
farms and smallholdings). They subsequently expanded into
residential developments when he created focused on building
and selling quality residential property developments.
With the support of an inspired and enthusiastic team,
Rawson Property Group has entrenched itself as one of the
market leaders in property sales and letting. In 2004 Rawson
Properties was nominated as a Superbrand by the Independent
Superbrand Council of South Africa.
Where it started
Born, bred and educated in the Cape Town southern suburbs,
Bill grew up going to boarding school from the age of five
until 14 after where he eventually became a day scholar. He
was raised by a single parent who had limited earnings so Bill
had to learn how to earn an income at an early age to afford
the things he desired.
His foray into business started by selling fish bait and then
diving and recovering lost fishing sinkers and selling those
from the age of 14. He then qualified as a physical training
instructor in the South African Navy.
He started selling property in November 1971 while
studying part -time to complete his CIS after failing his finals
many times. In 1971 he started selling vacant land as an estate
agent to earn a living.
He learnt the art of managing people at the age of 24 and
how to build effective sales teams which he did during difficult
economic times. In hindsight this stood him well in building
all of his businesses.
The launch of Rawson estate
At the age of 32 he already accumulated 12 income producing
properties and that is when he decided to open his first estate
agency office and challenge the older established real estate
agent players in the market. Simultaneously, with the launch
of Rawson Properties he continued investing, developing
property, going from strength to strength and building teams
of people who supported him.
In 1991 a large commercial bank made Bill an offer to
buy his property agent business which he refused to accept
as he felt that the business had not matured yet. In 1998
he converted 15 Bill Rawson estate offices into 15 Rawson
Properties Franchises. Today Rawson Properties has more
than 150 offices and over 200 franchises throughout the
country. He believes that the building of technology needed
to support their residential franchise businesses is among the
best in the industry.
BILL’S BUSINESS PHILOSOPHY
• Lead by example.
• Have partners that add value and share the
work and profits.
• Always have business plans and goals.
• Keep a very watchful eye on cash flow and
financials. I still check bank balances daily.
• Treat people fairly.
• Define each problem in writing and then write
down all the possible solutions and choose the
one you feel is best.
• Continually study trends and get up to date
with current events both financial and political.
• It is important to make a profit so that you can
continue to build the business. It’s not import-
ant to spoil yourself with luxuries.
• Keep a written daily diary where you capture
your days meetings and opportunities. This has
helped me more than my electronic diary as I
can write all over the page to remind myself or
clarify my thoughts
SA Real Estate Investor Magazine NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2018
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