At its core, successful leadership is one that stems from the roots of failures and forges through the flames of adversity. It is about translating a vision into reality and ideas into action. It is about turning mistakes into experience and experiences into knowledge. It is about being persistent!
Nikita Zhitov is one such leader, who began his career at the age of 18 and has gone to become a pioneer in the real estate industry. His journey, however, was one that was riddled with challenges and failures.
Recalling his days of struggle, Nikita mentions “It’s certainly been not an easy ride. A lot of bumps along the way. There were more failures than successes. But without failures you don’t make mistakes, and mistakes ultimately become your greatest assets. When you get knocked down, the key is to get back up and keep going.”
Today, this persistent attitude has enabled Nikita Zhitov to acquire over 200 investment properties, develop over two dozen notable projects, and conduct more than 500 commercial brokerage transactions.
The Beginning
Right from an early age, Nikita has had an interest in the real estate industry. So much so that he has been involved in the industry throughout his entire adult life, since high school.
“I always liked the idea that a bunch of different people from all walks of life go about their daily lives, go to work, do their thing, earn a pay, etc., so that at the end of the month all of them get together and pinch in a portion of their earned income into one pot of money and give that pot to me so that I can make a mortgage payment on my apartment building or my shopping center,” asserts Nikita.
This very idea got Nikita intrigued about the industry in the first place and has acted as the biggest driver in keeping his interest intact.
However, talking about his initial days in the industry, Nikita recalls how he should have focused on bigger deals sooner. He mentions, “We tend to think too small when we are starting out and thus we don’t reach our full potential. Additionally, I would focus on class A assets sooner. We tend to be attracted to cheaper inferior assets in class C locations because they are perceived more affordable. It’s a trap. I can go out and buy entire town of Sharpsburg on a smile and a handshake, but who really cares at the end of the day if you own a bunch of real estate in the middle of nowhere. I’d rather buy a single well located asset in a highly infill, romantic location than twenty properties 40 minutes away from the city.”
CityPlat: Setting the Highest Standards
Since the inception of CityPlat, the team has established a reputation that echoes creativity and innovation. These has now gone on to become the cornerstone of CityPlat’s success in the real estate industry.
Moreover, under the able-leadership of Nikita Zhitov, CityPlat has set its focus on giving and over-delivering value to its customers. “Integrity, persistence, and reliability has helped us build valued relationships with those we serve,” mentions the passionate principal owner of the firm.
“We work with our clients before, during, and after all transactions, tailoring the experience to each unique situation. Sharply focused on understanding current market conditions, we also forecast future trends in local, regional, and national markets. Monitoring economic, demographic, and real estate indicators enables us to provide our clients with the knowledge essential in creating successful investments,” Nikita continues.
Through its services, CityPlat is committed towards setting the highest of standards across the industry in terms of innovation, professionalism, and communication.
Embracing a Growth Mindset
As the principal owner and broker-in-charge of CityPlat, Nikita has ensured to inculcate a growth mindset at the company.
“We constantly push people in our organization to pursue continuous personal and professional development, learn new skills, hobbies, etc. For instance, every broker and employee in the company is required to report on weekly basis a list of books they’ve read from the prior week. Such growth mindset coupled with a powerful vehicle such as real estate investing, can really yield some extraordinary results and transform lives.”
Being a visionary leader, Nikita is dedicated towards continuously helping and motivating others to achieve their highest potential. This approach has enabled CityPlat to adopt a go-giver mindset through everything it does; from how the company treats its clients to how it treats its own people.
CityPlat’s mission is to transform and enrich lives through the power of real estate. The company believes that when one is focused on giving and genuinely trying to always deliver and give back more than what you receive from a relationship, it always comes back to you ten-fold.
“As an example, one of our goals at Cityplat is to make every person who works for Cityplat a millionaire within 3 years or less. When we focus on such a goal, we believe that somehow, the company will do well along the way. I believe such approach to business and life is what defines a new generation of transformational leaders,” asserts Nikita.
Transforming Lives
2020 was a year of despair for businesses and individuals across the globe, however, CityPlat has ensured to seize the opportunity to grow by leaps and bounds and ensured that it is the busiest acquisition year for the company.
“As Warren Buffett suggested once – be fearful when everyone is greedy and be greedy when everyone is fearful. Well, our media coverage on COVID-19 has definitely instilled a lot of fear in people. So we simply seized the opportunity to get some incredible deals that were previously not available to us,” Nikita mentions honestly.
Talking about the future of the company, Nikita Zhitov and team envision CityPlat to become one of the top leaders in the industry. He believes, “As we continue to evolve our business processes, I think we’ll be able to influence and transform more lives. As that number of lives transformed increases over time, so will Cityplat’s success.”
Words of Wisdom
Through his experiences, struggles, and success Nikita has grasped that for a leader the most important trait is to inspire, motivate, and maintain calmness and positivity, irrespective of external circumstances.
He further exclaims, “In my opinion leaders are not allowed to have a “bad” day. We value positivity more so than productivity at Cityplat. A positive, healthy attitude will result in a happy culture in the office. And when everyone is happy, their neurons fire and wire together in a way that stimulates their brain creativity, which in a long run will yield higher dividends to them individually and therefore to us as a company.”
As for his advice for emerging and aspiring players in the real estate arena, Nikita Zhitov concludes by saying “Focus on asset accumulation. Brokerage, construction, or merchant build can be a good source of earned income, but the only way to create wealth overtime is by owning income producing real estate over extended periods of time.”
