"How a Mentor's Guidance Transformed My Career and Life in France"

"Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn." — Benjamin Franklin

Mentors and mentorships are essential in our society. Still, we often don’t take enough time to recognize the people who have significantly impacted our lives.? I want to tell the story and the influence of a mentor that has changed my life tremendously over the last five years.? His name is Benoit Verdet .? Some of you may know the story of how I came to France, but you may not know the story of how I began in the real estate business.?

In 2019, I was looking for a career change after working in the tech industry here in Biarritz. At that time, I had no choice. ?Either I found a new career in France that worked, or my dreams and chance to stay in France would abruptly end.? My French residency permit was tied to my job in France.? No job and no residency permit equals no right to remain in France. Real estate has always interested me, but I needed help figuring out where to start. My wife had a great idea to get me going: send my CV to the top five real estate agencies in the Biarritz area to see what I could find. Prestant was the first one on my list because of the excellent reputation I had heard about in the community.

Benoit Verdet founded PRESTANT Luxury Realty after he managed the luxury agency Emile Garcin in Biarritz for many years. Over the past twenty years, Benoit has built a solid reputation as one of Basque Country's premier luxury real estate agents. As luck would have it, Benoit received my CV that day in 2019, and within 24 hours, I had a meeting with him. It was an interesting first meeting, as my French was not good enough for an entire conversation.? So it was half English, half French!

In jumbled French, I told him I honestly didn’t know what I wanted to do other than be in real estate.? Furthermore, I had massive doubts about my ability to communicate effectively in French and learn the business in a timely manner. Time was precious, as my only chance to stay in France hinged on my next career move.? It was a pivotal decision in my life. He listened to me profoundly and skillfully guided the conversation toward my joining the team as a real estate agent.? I think he could sense my motivation for this work and knew how to guide me in the right direction to succeed.? I began immediately.

My first property listing, to say the least, was not easy!? I had every issue imaginable, all in French words I had to Google to understand!? But Benoit was there for me every step of the way.? He gave his guidance and instruction humanly and calmly, never overreaching or dismissing my often basic questions.? This created an environment where I knew I had a solid foundation of trust from which I could build a new career.?

It was exactly what I needed in my life at this time: a solid, dependable, transparent mentor who gave me the foundation I needed and the freedom to grow.? Benoit had carefully and intelligently created a culture at Prestant where we could be supported enough to trust each other but free enough to experiment and push beyond our personal limits.? At this point in my career, I was approaching my late 30s, and it was the first time in my life I had experienced this type of mentorship and company culture.

Over the next few years, I continued to grow professionally and personally in my career. I modeled my discourse, my negotiation tactics, and my customer relationships, all after what I observed Benoit doing on a daily basis. Not only did my career grow, but my fulfillment outside my professional life also grew. I could live my dream of staying in France, building a career, and, most importantly, enjoying what I was doing with the people on our team.

I’m now a Partner at Prestant with Benoit. It is a huge step forward for me in my life goals. Benoit’s guidance and mentorship put me on a trajectory I would have never imagined. I am very fortunate to have been a recipient of his guidance. We now have a shared mission together: to grow and maintain PRESTANT Luxury Realty and to continue to preserve the culture I benefited from so that others can do the same. Thank you, Benoit. I appreciate you very much.