CHICAGO COMMERCIAL BROKERAGE BLOG

When talking with customers and investors, I often get asked what “GC” stands for and what the meaning behind our logo is. I will get into what “GC” represents in another article, but I wanted to share with you how we came up with our current logo and how it represents us as a company.

Our company was originally established in 2003, and our current logo is just the second logo we have used. Thinking back, our first logo did not have a true business meaning, and it didn’t fully represent who we were as a company. Since then, I have learned the importance of a company identity. The only meaning the old logo had was that it was personal, and we were proud of because it was ours. In 2006, just a few years into our business, GC Realty & Development suffered a devastating loss when the original founder (my best friend) was killed in a car accident. We had used that logo for 11 years. I had an especially hard time letting that logo go because I felt I was moving on from my personal loss. At first, I fought my partners against making the change, but it wasn't until my partner, Bryan, came up with the design you see today that I felt ready to move on.

Our current logo has a couple of meanings. You may not see it at first glance when you read it below, but it is clear as day. These ideals separate us from other companies.

Letters Wrapped - you will notice that G&C intertwine with each other - where one ends, the other one starts. We look at that in our partnerships with employees and customers. A lot of what we do for each business area is more of a partnership then just a working relationship. Yes, we might hire a contract worker to do one job, or a painter to paint one place, but at the end of the day, the success of this business boils down to how we are interconnected with our employees, vendors, and customers. If we partner with each of these two groups to create a win/win relationship, then everyone benefits. In 2006, one of our customers (still a customer of ours) told me that we needed to be partners with him. What made us partners wasn’t because I had ownership in his property on his tax returns, but that GC had financial equity in the relationship. We are always trying to create a long-term win/win relationship that interlocks two parties.

Box Around - This is my favorite part and is probably what makes us stand apart from other companies in our field. If you notice, GC is elevated and moves outside the box, which demonstrates how we think outside the box as a company. We do have thousands of pages of written and repeatable procedures, but 10-15% of the time a company is required to think outside of the box. This could be in the form of creating a relationship, saving a relationship, solving a rare maintenance issue, making a tenant happy, or saving a deal. We know problems happen outside the norm. Sometimes they are freak coincidences, sometimes they are outside of our control, or sometimes they may have been prevented in hindsight. Those issues require outside the box thinking. Most of the time, how you react and how quickly you react to an issue outside norm will make the difference in nipping an issue or creating a larger issue.

We now use our current logo everywhere. We are proud of how it looks and what it represents, because we know the meaning and the people that support our logo will “Make It Happen.”