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Sheila Espinol’s standout business lesson, while not necessarily a novel idea, comes from a place of true experience.
Her lesson: “Learn to live with less — your children will never want it.”
For someone who has run an estate sale business for six years, Espinol knows of what she speaks. Her company, Premier Estate Sales of Florida, works with clients who are selling the full contents of a home. That’s a whole lot of stuff that could be hard to get rid of.
Premier Estate Sales of Florida’s niche is in full-estate sales, which can stem from everything from a death to a divorce to downsizing. Inside the home, that could be furniture, jewelry and collectibles like Lionel model train sets. Clients also come to Espinol to sell non-home items, from boats to planes to cars. A Ford Tudor, for example, was listed at one of the company’s recent estate sales. Premier Estate Sales of Florida, with clients from the Tampa area through Naples, requires minimum sales of $10,000.
Espinol was born in the Philippines, where her mother was a seamstress and her father was a retired policeman who later ran an air conditioning business. She was entrepreneurial at a young age, selling snacks and pizza to fellow high school students.
She came to the United States in 2004, first to Oregon, before relocating to Florida. Espinol initially ran a house-cleaning business, which is where she noticed a gap in high-end estate sales. That led to Premier Estate Sales of Florida.
Outside of the American Dream come true, Espinol says the best thing about being an entrepreneur is…being an entrepreneur. “I get to see some many cool places,” she says, “and meet so many cool people.”
— Mark Gordon
Survey says
Name: Sheila Espinol
Age: 37
City of residence: North Port
Employer: Premier Estate Sales of Florida
Title: Co-proprietor
Birthplace: San Juan, Metro Manila, Philippines
Years on the Gulf Coast: 11
Marital status/children: Engaged/2
Alma mater/degree: Technological Institute of The Philippines/Electronics & Communications Engineering
Best place to network: Realtor Events
Messy desk or clean workspace: Always a clean work space
Eat lunch out or at your desk: On site at sale locations
Best business lesson ever learned: Learn to live with less – your children will never want it
Weirdest job you’ve ever had: Cleaning out deceased people’s homes and going through the belongings
A website that makes your job easier: premierestatesalesofflorida.com
App you use the most: estatesales.net
One thing you do every day: Kick on the Nespresso coffee machine
Community group you’re most involved with: Signing up to “Adopt-a-Road”
Favorite off-hours activity: Working out at the gym
Two people, dead or alive, you’d like to have dinner with: Warren Buffett/Jack Ma (Learn from your competitors but never copy)
What you would be doing if you could pick another career: Medical Doctor
Top item on your bucket list: Marina Bay Sands Hotel/Singapore at the Infinity Pool/moonlit evening
Your happy place is: Home
Your biggest fear: Won’t have achieved all the things I wanted to do in life
Favorite Ted Talk: How to build a business that lasts a 100 years
Skill you’d like to learn: To be able to fly a plane
Who would play you in a movie about your life: Selena Gomez
Describe yourself in three words: Living American dream
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