Today we’d like to introduce you to David Griffith.
David, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I moved to Atlanta out of college from Missouri in 1984 as the first safety manager at White Water Park in Marietta. Met my wife through a lifeguard supervisor I hired and was in the real estate business two years later. My wife had her first epileptic seizure 17 days after we were married. Thus, began a 28.5 year battle with seizures and mental illness that eventually lead to brain surgery and dementia, Multiple Sclerosis and the eventual homegoing in October of 2014. Together we had 3 children which I got the privilege of spending a lot of quality time with due to my wife’s illness and inability to drive and do the normal things moms usually do. Real Estate allowed me the flexibility in my schedule to be a VERY involved dad. By 1991 I had started my own real estate company and begin other entrepreneurial ventures that kept me from the 9-5 routine. In 2005, I started the Real Estate Information Center at Legacy Park in Kennesaw, GA which did very well until the recession hit in late 2007. We rode out the recession with creative program offerings and tenacity and in 2014 started a local move real estate relocation company called Relocal Move Real Estate Benefits which is now doing business in all 50 states. As RM grew, we needed a real estate company to receive the referral fees from across the country, so I left my real estate company and my partners and started Relocal Home Real Estate Services. In looking for new office space for those two companies, we came across an empty CVS Pharmacy building near downtown Kennesaw, but did not need 10,000 sq. ft.; but we really wanted the building, so we developed the concept of a co-working space in the suburbs that gives entrepreneurs and work-from-homers a place to go that is business focused in a collaborative environment. We have since opened the Kennesaw Coffee Co. in the space as well to better serve our members and the community. Our desire is to open additional desktop.’s in the suburbs of Atlanta when the opportunity arises.
Has it been a smooth road?
No business venture is every easy. I have made myself rich on paper more times than I can count. It always comes back to treating people well and having a business that serves a need. They you have to be able to get that story out to the public in a way that makes sense to them.
Cash flow issues always come up in any startup and they certainly have come up with ours. We are kind of building the plane while we are flying it due that lack of startup capital; everything has been paid for with cash as we went. But now we find ourselves with very little debt and have not had to give up any equity in order to get to where we are. The struggle has been worth it.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the desktop. co-working community; Relocal Home Real Estate Services; The Kennesaw Coffee Co. story. Tell us more about the business.
The “IT” of our company is the magic of how all four businesses work together to help each other grow. desktop. serves the public by providing a place to conduct business and business meetings; which brings people to the office where they see the Relocal Home Real Estate marketing concept, “Does Your Realtor Do That?”; which also happens when someone comes in to get a cup of coffee or a gourmet iced tea. They are told about real estate offerings or co-working space or relocation services. All of the businesses complement each other and help grow each other.
Relocal Home is a traditional real estate brokerage with the tag line, “Does Your Realtor Do That”. And what we do is pay for the things that most sellers don’t pay for when selling a home like professional staging and professional photography; the things that help the home sell for max dollars and the most quickly. We also act as the general contractor for our clients whenever they need renovation help prior to or after the sale; all at no charge to the client.
Relocal Move is a “local” move real estate relocation company. We provide real estate benefits to the 95% of employees in the country that never get a relocation package in their lifetime. We set them up with a professionally certified relocation agent in their city, anywhere in the country, who will help them sell their home, buy their home, or both; and we give that client 20% of the agents earned real estate commission as a rebate. It amounts to thousands of dollars per transaction which is usually enough to pay for the movers or to equip the media room.
desktop. is our co-working space that is designed around the small business person or entrepreneur, or the out-officed corporate employee who works from home but needs an office environment to be productive. We provide the blazing fast internet they need (much faster than they can get at home or at Starbucks), copy services, business consulting, coffee, snacks and a comfortable yet professional environment. All is included in their membership fee.
The Kennesaw Coffee Co. provides locally small batch roasted beans and a personal touch from our baristas and confidants. The coffee experience is second to none in the NW Cobb area. With our addition of Nitro Coffee to the menu and exclusive pastries from Cake House on Main chef, Sarah Williams; we offer an experience that cannot be had anywhere else in our area.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
The real estate industry is changing daily with the advent of I-buyers such as Opendoor, Offerpad, Knock, Zillow Instant Offers and others. I believe that the public is looking for more of a car buying experience when it comes to purchasing and selling a home and we are looking to create that kind of experience for them.
As far as co-working is concerned; desktop. is on the cutting edge of that trend in HR. More and more companies are downsizing their office footprint because they can. With most employees able to just email their work or get on a teleconference, the need for private offices or cube farms is becoming obsolete. desktop. is looking to capitalize on that trend in the suburbs where people live.
Contact Info:
- Address: 3070 N. Main Street,
Kennesaw, GA 30144 - Website: workatdesktop.com; relocalhome.com, relocalmove.com
- Phone: 770-316-5444
- Email: david.griffith@relocalmove.com
- Facebook: kennesawcoffeeco; desktop; relocalhome
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