Page 32
Polina Shepetkova: My Life Story
Interview Bethany Boyo
A gripping account of Polina Shepetkova’s life as she recalls growing up in Moscow, Russia, and how she still gets what she wants!
Bethany: Polina, how would you describe yourself?
Polina: I think of myself as ambitious, lucky, and as someone who dreams big and believes in my dreams. I’m someone who makes people around me feel better wherever I can, and I’m striving to connect with my purpose in life, whilst working towards making a global positive contribution to world development. I loved this question because it made me think and feel a lot.
Bethany: I love questions like this too! It’s almost like reminding yourself who you are.
Polina: Yes, and it's amazing to be able to share this. It was interesting when I remembered it all, because I use one of the skills a lot today in life. And I clearly remember that was the day, when I thought I could be different. I can, and I will, and this was back in school in Moscow when I was like 11 or 12 years old. I used to study in a school where one or two students from each grade were naturally selected to be a part of the same group in between all the grades. And, you know, just like any school, there was like a group of really ‘cool’ kids, and they were participating in plays in theater, they were going out together, partying, they were organizing projects together, they were successful, they felt successful. And so I remember it clearly, because you could only join this group after the fifth grade.
I remember it so clearly, because I moved to the fifth grade, and I was looking at all of it, and I knew that it was all happening, I was aware it was happening, but I'm clearly not part of it. No one was inviting me anywhere because no one knew me. I knew that in order to be able to present yourself, you have to be known by someone.
I remember the day when I thought, “I don't want to be living with a feeling that I am average, because I can be different, I feel different. And I wanted to make this difference. I wanted to be part of something different. I want to be part of something big. And long story short, my father gave me a camera, and I started approaching every single person from this school group, I was only 11. The idea was guys look, I'm going to take a picture of you, I'm going to do an interview, and I'm going to post it.
Bethany: Wow, only 11?
Polina: Yes! So, I started doing it and just by creating this group on Facebook, I attracted the attention of all these ‘cool’ people towards myself. They were texting me, they were approaching me and wanting to take pictures and do the interview. Then one day, I remember sitting at a table having lunch by myself, and they asked me to come and join them. That's really the strategy that I've been using all my life. I try to understand who I am in all of this, where I want to be and in which group and then it’s about understanding how to get inside. What would these people be interested in? It's the same with building businesses and it's the same way you build a relationship. I think that's when I really thought ‘okay, so, if I could do it there, I can definitely do it somewhere else.’
Bethany: That’s really interesting and could you?
Polina: Well, I moved to the UK when I was 16. I was very young and it was a very swift decision. It was the best decision in my life at that time. My life in Moscow had changed, my family had changed. But it was a coincidence, honestly. I had actually finished school in Moscow already, but because of my age, I couldn't get into university, so I had to do a-levels all over again, and I was completely shocked by all these Harry Potter style castles outside the London that I was dreaming about, [laughs]. But, at first, it was very difficult. I couldn't understand the language, I couldn't understand the subjects. Everything was very different and I started losing my attention and focus.
Bethany: That must have been hard.
Polina: Yes, because if you’d imagine all my friends are in Moscow, my family are in Moscow, I didn’t know anyone and people were just living their lives. I couldn't find anything that would ground me here. But at the same time, my parents managed to give me so much love, inspiration and they believe in me. I could never come back saying, “I don't know what to do, or I don't know where I'm going.” But I've always been very firm. You know, if you're giving me your trust, I'm not going to disappoint. I'm going to find a way. That's the motor of life.
So I was completing my a-levels, and it didn’t look good at all. My inner feelings were telling me I'm going to fail, and I had gotten all the offers from all the best universities I had applied to, but I could clearly see that the results of my exams were not going to be as promised. So what I did was find a job I could do over summer to earn an extra salary, so that I could go back to my parents and say that I found my way.
So I did my first CV, sent it and got no response. I had no response, no attention, you know, no one even called me back, so I had to find a way again. So what I did in between my exams with no sleep and so much stress is I printed my CV and went to the office of this Russian billionaire. I thought, “I'll ask if I could talk to him, and then we'll sort it out on the way,” [laughs]. So, I bump into him at the entrance, I look at him, and I just say, “Sir, give me five minutes, I believe I have to work for you.” And I got the job! It was difficult getting the job, I had to do some tasks and some tests.. I had to really work for it, but the main thing that helped me is once again is I believe I can, so it means that I will and I will find a way, and that way might be very different, but the way will be my way.
“And I just said, “Sir, give me five minutes, I believe I have to work for you.” And I got the job!”
Bethany: And what’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?
Polina: My main motto in life is, if you don't ask, you don't know! It could be a no and then you have to find other ways, but surprisingly, I've been in so many situations where everything was dependent on this question, which seemed weird or strange and you probably wouldn't ask.. but I was asking the question, and the answer was yes.
“My main motto in life is, if you don't ask, you don't know!”
Bethany: And what would you say to a young girl wanting to enter into the world of real estate and do what you do?
Polina: In most of the cases, when we're on the way, we don't know how all of this or pieces of the puzzle, we don't know what picture are they going to create at the end. But I would like to reassure every single person who will ever read this, that all these puzzles are connected. They are and there’s a picture that's already there. We're just at this stage where we are just not capable of seeing it. We'll understand later. All these bits and pieces, they were there to prepare us for where we were going. So it's about trust and belief and that was exactly the path to my real estate as well.
“We'll understand later. All these bits and pieces, they were there to prepare us for where we were going.”
Bethany: And how did you get into real estate?
Polina: I had a lot of changes when I moved here — different jobs, I had to move back to Moscow, and then back here again. I was only 16, so I was a mess. With properties, I had to change about 16 homes in three to four years. So that was moving every couple of months or every six months, because I couldn't properly structure my life. it takes time. So from around 17 years old, before even getting my first job, I was constantly on property websites, looking for a home for myself. I was constantly visiting 1000s of properties because I needed to move around all the time. So I met many agents, and learned the power of that picture that you see online. In most cases, they are very different from what you look at in real life. So it was natural, I was enjoying it. It was interesting. And then after a couple of my experiences and other directions, I was connected to the auction house Sotheby’s.
Here in the London office, they didn't have any Russian speaking representatives. And so as always, following my strategy, I came and I said, “Well, let's create a Russian department. Let's explore the market. Let's find new partners. Let's see what's happening here in this culture, with these people. Let me take over let me let me work on this.” Once again, it worked.
Bethany: Do you remember the first house you sold? Talk to us about that?
Polina: I remember well. It wasn't a house actually, it was an apartment, it was around 1 million pounds. In my first couple of months, I got connected to the Russian family office and we had some things to sell and leads came in. I met a beautiful couple, they were great people, and we were in the apartment, but I just thought it was terrible. It was just really bad. And I had to honestly say, “Guys, I'm very sorry, but it's terrible.” They were very impressed that I was honest. And they were like, “Oh, you're the very first real estate agent.” They came back to me a couple of days after and they had already chosen a property, they'd already seen it somewhere on the backside, from a developer and they just asked me to help them negotiate the price and structure the whole thing more clearly, because they were confused. There were other agents who were pulling them to different sides in terms of price and messing around. I was just like, “guys, let's do it. Let's, let's find a way.” And so that's what we did. It was a really good price for them and perfectly within what they were hoping for. They bought another three investment properties from me a year after.