Mr Donny Lee has sold a lot of things in his life – from 20-cent erasers in primary school to digital cameras at IT shows to insurance policies. 

Recalls the down-to-earth 41-year-old: “I would also source comic trading cards from a schoolmate and resell them at marked-up prices to another.”

These days, the executive group division director at real estate agency ERA has moved on to selling landed homes, penthouses and entire commercial buildings and closing multi-million-dollar transactions. 

Mr Lee, who has been with ERA for 15 years, has been its top achiever for 13 years with close to 150 ERA level recognition to date. He also holds the status of being a “millionaire realtor”, a title awarded to agents who earn more than $1m in sales commission in a year. 

He heads a team of 150 realtors, plans and executes projects for higher management, recruits new talent for ERA, attends property viewings and closes transactions.

Mr Lee quips that he is known for moving “challenging” private properties, like the time he was engaged to sell a one-bedroom penthouse unit in the East Coast enclave. Despite having eight agents market it over eight months, the property did not sell. 

He explains that while many homeowners desired a penthouse with a private rooftop terrace, this particular unit had a terrace outside the living quarters. To access it, one had to step out of the home and unlock three separate doors in an open, unsheltered area. 

“I did home staging (styling a unit with props to make it look appealing) and a lot of premium marketing strategies. Then I pitched the penthouse to prospective buyers who were looking for a unique home with a unique lifestyle. And I sold it.”

For Mr Lee, being in sales is not just a job, it is a passion, a calling and a life-long career. As a young man, he fell in love with selling things for a living when he worked in the shoe section of a department store where he became the top salesperson.

“That was the first time I tasted the sweetness of doing sales. While my peers were waiting on tables or delivering heavy furniture at that age, I worked in an air-conditioned store yet I earned much more.”

He is not coy about admitting that there are plenty of opportunities to earn good money in a sales job. 

“But I can also positively influence a customer. When I buy something, I also hope to meet a good salesperson with good advice. So I want to be that person who’s there to help someone who wants to spend money.” 

The right job can elevate your life and your family’s too 

On a deeper level, Mr Lee shares: “I also changed my life doing sales.”

Growing up, chicken rice was a luxury for him and his three younger siblings. Their taxi driver father and homemaker mother had enough money only to buy a McDonald’s meal for the kids, not themselves. As his parents could not afford toys, Mr Lee made robot figurines out of clothes pegs. 

But his childhood experiences did not make him bitter. Instead, he credits his father for instilling a hardworking and can-do attitude in him. 

“Even though we had so little, my parents have been encouraging all my life. As the eldest kid, I always wanted to do well so I can give them a comfortable life and they no longer have to be worried about money.”

He empathises a lot with those who feel lost about their career track or who do not have the family means to help them in their studies and jobs. 

“After national service, my friends either went to university – which my parents couldn’t afford – or they ‘warmed the seat’ in their family businesses.”

Mr Lee, who has a diploma in mechatronic engineering from Temasek Polytechnic, told himself that he wanted a job that would become a life-long career. “And this is what I found in the property industry at ERA.”

As long as you can learn, you can make it in property 

If you think that all realtors have to be sociable and fast-talking, Mr Lee is happy to dispel that myth. He has team members who are shy and introverted, or who can’t speak glibly.  

“But even they made at least $60,000 or up to a few hundred thousands in a year. They were single parents and had to earn a living. They knew they had to do well so they grinded through it all and learnt from mentors and leaders at ERA. As long as you can learn, you can make it.”

As a team leader, Mr Lee does one-to-one coaching and takes some of his agents out with him for property viewings for on-the-job training. He also attends training courses related to sales, leadership and self-development every year to “elevate both my mind and heart skills”. The savvy tech user keeps up to date on social media trends since influencer-style videos in property ads are now almost a prerequisite to hook in eyeballs. 

“I enjoy helping other agents, empowering them and influencing their lives. When I can motivate them, I feel a lot of joy and it makes me happy. If you know the way to success, help someone get there too. If your life is all about yourself, you are living too small.”

This is why he now wants to recruit more agents in their twenties. “I want to build the generation of real estate agents and see young people succeed like I did.”

There are lots of perks to starting young in the real estate industry. Younger agents
can earn ahead of their peers in other jobs and have a longer runway to build a
customer base as well as an entrepreneurial career that works like a self-owned
business. For those who want to expand their social circles, there are many
opportunities to attend lifestyle events and company functions.

Millennial and Gen Z generations also value the  work-life balance and  flexible hours real estate offers. “You don’t have to apply for leave and you decide what time you want to wake up and start work,” says Mr Lee. 

This is how he is able to spend precious time on weekday evenings and weekends with his daughters, aged six and eight. His wife is also a realtor at ERA and the couple has won the Top Husband and Wife Award in the company. 

Ask him how far along he has come in life and he doesn’t mention the usual status symbols like cars, watches and designer clothes. Instead he offers an unexpected anecdote. 

Before his father became a taxi driver, he delivered Christmas turkeys which the family could never afford. 

One day, his father’s boss let him bring home an unsold bird for dinner, and it left such an indelible mark on the young Mr Lee. Today, he never fails to order turkey as part of a lavish spread every Christmas for his parents and family. 

“The turkey dish reminds me that my job has changed my life and my family’s. And I hope I can now inspire others to take control of their future and transform their lives too.”