Anna Sukharevska

From a PR agency and passive income to a real estate agency, RentLab

I’m Anna Sukharevska, founder of the real estate agency RentLab. I have worked in public relations and communications for over 15 years, hold a Candidate of Sciences degree in social communications, and have taught at a university for over 10 years. For most of my professional life, I developed my own PR agency and worked with a range of businesses. At the same time, I began investing in real estate: buying apartments, renting them out, and studying the market as a private investor. Eventually, I realized I wanted to change the pace of my life. I created a passive income stream for myself, closed my PR agency, and allowed myself not to work for almost two years. After the full-scale war began, I moved to Moldova with my grandmother. There, I faced difficulties finding a place to live. Having gone through the process myself, I realized that many people were dealing with the same problem. I combined my experience in communications, entrepreneurship, and real estate investing and founded an agency that helps people find homes and property owners manage their real estate effectively.

Moving to Moldova and a personal problem that became the foundation of a business

How did you come up with the business idea?

The idea for RentLab came about after I moved to Moldova. My grandmother and I spent a long time unable to find a home that met our needs. Then I realized that if I had encountered this problem, others must be facing it too. Before that, I had worked in marketing and communications for many years and had also invested in real estate for myself. That’s why I decided to combine my experience with a new field and founded the real estate agency RentLab.

Proactiveness, marketing, and communication skills — three skills carried from PR into real estate

What key skills helped you launch your business?

• Proactiveness
• Marketing knowledge
• Communication skills

Starting from scratch and returning to day-to-day operations after working as a manager

What were the 3 toughest challenges you tackled in the early years?

The first challenge was launching the business itself. I wasn’t looking for a new job or additional income; I wanted to do something interesting and meet people. The second challenge was having to handle all the operational work myself at the beginning. I had previously managed a PR agency with a team, so I had to go through all the processes myself again and understand how this business worked.

Smear campaigns and employees taking client databases — challenges without calling them a “crisis”

What crises has your business faced, and how did you overcome them?

I don’t call them crises. The biggest challenges have been finding strong employees and dealing with unfair competition. The market has repeatedly forced us to contend with smear campaigns, as well as cases of employees taking client databases or contact information.

A strong team, a CRM system, and a revised agency structure — what drove growth

Which decisions proved most effective in growing the company?

The most effective decisions were building a strong team, letting go of employees who did not meet the company’s standards, implementing a CRM system, and rethinking the structure of the real estate agency itself.

Trust, but verify — a lesson learned from employees

Which mistake do you now consider your most valuable experience?

The most valuable lesson is to trust, but verify what employees do.

From TV journalism to $100 000 at a real estate agency

How did you earn your first $100?

After my first year of university, I started working as a television journalist, where I received my first official salary.

How did you earn your first $1 000?

I started earning my first thousand dollars while working at a PR agency. That income became my monthly salary.

How did you earn your first $10 000?

I earned my first $10 000 working in public relations, thanks to delivering major projects.

How did you earn your first $100 000?

I earned my first $100 000 in the RentLab business. It was a real shock to me and the moment I realized I could earn sums like that.

How did you earn your first $1 000 000?

That milestone is still ahead of me.

Real estate investment and financial planning — without pressuring the client

I can share my experience in real estate investment, personal finance management, and family financial planning. When working with clients, the most important thing to me is not to persuade someone to invest, but to help them make the right decision. That is why I can tell someone directly that now is not the right time to invest. For example, if this is almost their last $100 000, I would not advise them to invest it in real estate, because investments always involve risk.

Personal finances first — then putting the business in order

Your experience: how do you systematize a business?

For me, putting a business in order starts with putting personal finances in order. I see many entrepreneurs earn well but spend everything and live on credit because they do not separate personal and business finances. The next step toward putting a business in order is learning to manage budgets and clearly understand which funds should be saved and which should be invested.

A strong team, clear planning, and oversight — the formula for x2

Your experience: how do you grow x2 in a year?

To grow x2 in a year, I rely on three things: a strong team of specialists who can support and strengthen the business, clear planning, and regular oversight of the implementation of the plans set.