Welcome to another episode of our serious S&D meetups by Super Luxury Group, where we connect with some of the most interesting players in the Luxury Market. My name is Alvaro and today we'll be having with us a very special guest. His name is Sam Palmer, the founder of Staffing Properties, where he's going to be talking about the magic behind the domestic staffing and lifestyle management for the affluent. Sam is also going to be sharing with us all the advices on how to build a successful business during a pandemic while leveraging your personal brand.
It's going to be a great conversation and insights on the Luxury Lifestyle Management and how to grow your business to technology. I hope you enjoy it. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another S&D meetup, Alvaro here. Today we're going to have a very interesting guest.
His name is Sam Palmer. I'm sure some of you have heard of him, but for those that have not, he's the founder of Staffing Properties, which is a domestic staffing and lifestyle management company in London, Monaco, New York, and Los Angeles. Very incredible business that is revolutionizing the way that lifestyle management and staffing is taking into the next level. What's going on my friend?
How are you Sam? Oh, I'm not too bad. You actually, I'd literally just got in, I just took the kids to football. So we've just been running around doing that today.
There we go, there we go. And you're currently Monaco, correct? Currently at a moment in Monaco. Yeah.
So it's different. The world is different. We've traveled a lot this year, trying to get out the way of Covid, but it seems to catch us everywhere we go. Well, I mean, it seems like you definitely find a way to make it a successful year.
I mean, you're expanding your family, your business, moving around, handing your own TV show. Like, what is going on with you and how exciting it is to have you here today? So thank you for joining. Thank you very much.
Yeah, I suppose, as a business owner, I know no different than Covid. So we started in January last year and obviously very quickly Covid here. So it became part of our business really from day one. So it's quite different.
And if you've already had an established business, then you have to change. We've adapted with it as it's gone along. So we've been a little bit lucky in that one. I wanted to ask you, Sam, because it's very interesting to share your story with the audience, because you actually went to the LA, one of the most incredible homes.
And you ended up seeing a really important thing that had to be taken into consideration, how to manage this stuff. Like in such a huge home, you know, over 50,000 square footage of over 100 million property, like it's mind blowing. Not everybody has access to these properties. And you were living there with your fancy now wife that you have a beautiful kids and congratulations.
But how did you turn that into what's your business today? I think I suppose it's a fascination. I'm as I say, I'm from the real world. I came into this 56,000 square feet, 17,000 square feet of attic on four acres in Beverly Hills.
And I just, as anyone would be, is so impressed by it. But what fascinated me more than the house itself was the running of the house and what it took to run the house. And I really delved in. I've never seen in my lifetime before plant rooms in houses and things like this, basically like a hotel where conditioning units as big as most houses.
So it's that sort of thing. But I really took an interest in it and I wanted to learn about it. And then I saw a different side of it of what it takes to run it. And I just thought, well, nobody's got sort of a better understanding now of it than me, because a lot of companies haven't been able to go in and actually see it.
So I've got first-hand experience of it. I actually live it. So I thought, well, I can bring this to other people. So it became, it's a passion.
As I say, it is a business. And I think the answer is, if you love what you do, you don't ever work a day in your life. And it feels like it's a minute. I found a passion that I didn't know I had on 38 this year.
So finding your passion of 37 of this. Oh my God, it's a blessing. It is a blessing. So now it's kind of, I want to do cool things with cool people.
I don't work with everyone. I'm not looking to be this company to be a billion dollar company. I'm looking for it to service people that really need help. What's the craziest request you've ever gotten when it comes to staffing a property?
A European client in Los Angeles who had a staff of 25 full time and he hadn't been to the property in three and a half years. That's pretty crazy. I have the wage, but he wanted it ready. Even with fridge in the food ready on any given day that he may decide to go there.
Very impressive. I mean, okay, that's a, yeah, there's needs for everybody and there's requests of any kind. So that's interesting one. But what's been the hardest part you'll say throughout this last year?
Oh, listen, there's no, there's no, anybody that sits there and says business is amazing. I believe there's a lie. Except if you're a real estate agent in LA, Miami at the moment, I think you're doing top real estate agents. But I think all real estate agents, I think somewhat some of the top agents have been very lucky because of the good work they put in previously.
Mine has been difficult. Getting a new business off the ground in a service industry, which is probably the worst hit industry in the whole world. And one of the areas that we touch face is technology because within all the craziness that we've been facing, there's also been an opportunity to leverage the technology that is given to us to really find a way to grow our business. And I think that one of the areas that it's very interesting is this kind of Instagram live, Zoom, Pinellas, and the platforms that we can utilize nowadays to connect with other brands, even clients.
And you were mentioning a very beautiful story that came out of doing one of these Instagram live. So tell us about it. That is true. I looked at it and I thought, and to be honest, American real estate agents, I think are the best.
They're the best at social media. They just they understand it. They use it to its full potential. By looked and I thought, we've got all these three tools around us that cost nothing other than time.
But we've all got lots of time on our hands at the minute, especially me. So I thought, this is the time where I have to get my business out there and known. So when it does come back around, a lot of my competition will be out of business. And I want people to know who I am.
Obviously, I'm lucky that the press do give us more attention because of my wife. So we get that side. So I thought I'm stupid not to use that. So I used the free platforms, Instagram, and I actually saw it where I got the idea was from the society group.
And I loved watching theirs because I got to see the best agents in America. So I started doing my own Instagram lives and they started going, well, people were really interested in that actually. It was funny. And I thought when you first do it, you've done the same.
You think nobody's going to watch that. Who cares? And I'm looking now 37 people have watched it now. Okay, like you think, Oh, what's the point doing it's only 37 people or something?
But then afterwards, people watch it, people share it, people like it. They might take one little snippet from it. They might watch it for two minutes and then watch something. But they know who you are.
They've seen something. There's no TV at the moment. So it's kind of like people have in business have created their own TV with this. So I use this and I done an Instagram live with David Palms from Million Dollar Listing.
After that Wall Street Journal heard the story and they contacted David and said, could we speak to Sam? We've got in touch. They done an article on me. I got approached to do a TV show on the business by quite a few different production companies.
And we are now in the middle of production, sorry, putting together a pitch for production on the TV show. So that if I hadn't have done Instagram live and put myself out there in the uncomfortable circumstance, I remember doing my first one. I was sweating. I was like, what's going on?
Now, you know what? Now when I do it, I forget that actually people even watch it. It's kind of like, I'm just having this chat with you. And you get more comfortable with it.
That's where I think the people, the American real estate agents are, I think, the best at social media. They use lots of platforms, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Clubhouse. They're using everything that's available. But I think that also your story is very inspiring.
So not just your adding value to what you share, but also your inspiring huge amount of individuals. Because faces are not, I mean, you might have right now a successful year, but there's 99% of the people that are actually really struggling, not finding the way to get through. So really listening to somebody that's making it, it's doing it successfully. You have a newborn, I mean, you have a baby and you have a lot of things on your plate and you're making it with a smile successfully and growing new opportunities landed your way.
And one thing that you mentioned that is critical is all these things come by being vulnerable. You know, you get out of your comfort zone and you start doing things that at the beginning, I seem a little bit like, oh my God, that's so weird. So new. But once you start doing it, you start opening yourself to so many opportunities.
And you never know, it might be just that one person watching or listening that might open you the doors to a lot of opportunities. So it's great. 100%. And I think that's what I say.
If you've just got to put yourself out there, and I know it's the first thing in business, all you got for yourself out there and people say, well, how? And I think if you're trying to do something, look at what your competitors are doing and what they're not doing. And the ones who are not doing it, I'm not going to be the ones doing it. I'm not saying you have to spend lots of money.
I'm literally spending time. That's true. So if you have to give like one takeaway to everybody that is listening, what would it be? Speak to people in your industry, your competitors, and see how you can club together and make the industry better.
It's beautiful. I think that's the philosophy. A lot of people especially in this industry, they become very competitive and very selfish. But once you start getting out of that zone and starting in more in terms of collaboration and growing together and networking, you start becoming a really strong force.
And reality is that right now, I'm sure in your business as well, maybe not so much, but there is always established businesses that have been doing it for many years. And the only way to really disrupt it and to get into it is by working together with also like-minded people that want to make a difference. And I think this platform is something to the opportunity. So what you're sharing is completely true.
I do appreciate your time, by the way. So everything that you're putting out here, I think like a lot of people are putting some nice comments about it. So it's very exciting to see that. Well, I mean, you're in Monaco right now.
So try to make the best out of it. I know that your business is a little bit diversified, but I don't see Miami in the portfolio. So whenever you want to make the decision- No, I think where we will end up long term, I don't know. At the moment, we're enjoying Monaco.
It's been different. I've got to say we've been in the last year, I've been London, Croatia, Switzerland, LA and now Monaco. So it's been a lot of travel. I'm looking to just sort.
But every time I travel, like Monaco now, we're setting the business up. It gives me a chance to actually see the place and set it up. And Miami, I had a great chat with a good agent, Nadine at the other day, again, Matt for Instagram, introduced by a friend. And we were talking about an up Miami.
If someone comes to me and say, we've got clients in need of services, we can set up in Miami. It's very easy. So it's something that I want to get this up in every city in the world in some way. What happened?
Just put your mind into it. I'm sure that with what we have nowadays, it's very more accessible to make it happen. So I mean, I wish you all the best, of course. I'm looking forward to seeing you here in Miami or in Monaco, whatever we can get to be in Miami at the moment.
It sounds like it's the best place on Earth at the moment. Hey, tell Petra, bring your kids and if you can come here, that'll be also fun. I love Miami. It's one place that I've always loved.
So I'll definitely get there at some point. Well, I look forward to seeing you soon. And I do appreciate again your time and everything that you've shared with the audience. And speak to you soon.
Anything that you will do. Thank you very much. Take care and I wish you all the best. All right.
Take care. Bye. Bye. Bye bye.
And thanks again for everybody tuning in today. We hope you enjoyed it. And remember, embrace it's beautiful success in life. My name is Alvaro and I'll see you next time.