Naomi's working life began at 15, with a four-year hairdressing apprenticeship. An injury later pushed her into sales, first with haircare brand Joico, then through business development, key account and state manager roles, training teams of educators and reps along the way. It was steady, successful work, but restructures kept resetting the clock, and after a redundancy during COVID, she found herself asking what came next.
Her brother, Pat McKinnon, had been asking her to join real estate for years. When the timing finally lined up, Naomi started as a business development manager at Place, a role she now describes as the perfect training ground, sharpening the follow-up, negotiation and communication skills that sales careers are built on.
From there, she moved into a sales associate role within Team McKinnon, working alongside Pat across Hendra, Clayfield and surrounding suburbs. Her first week didn't go smoothly, including a prospecting call to a seller who, as it turned out, was already listed with her. But three days in, she landed her first listing, a $3.1 million property in Hendra that would go on to sell, an early sign that the harder moments were worth pushing through.
The maturity and life experience have been an advantage at the listing table, while the technology has been the steepest learning curve. What hasn't changed is the belief that drove the switch in the first place: real estate rewards hard work regardless of when you start, and a deal is never really dead, even the ones that look flat on paper. It's the relationships you build that outlast any single transaction.
That philosophy paid off recently when Team McKinnon broke a Hendra sales record, a milestone Naomi calls a proud big sister moment, watching her brother's business hit a new high with her alongside him.
Her advice to anyone considering a similar leap: the barrier to entry is low, the first eighteen months are hard, and the other side is worth it.
Tune in to hear Naomi's full story, from the salon chair to the negotiating table, and what she's building next.
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