6,000km, one very old car, and John Piccolo behind the wheel

In this week’s edition of Movers +Shakers…

Woodards chairman to drive 6,000km through outback for charity

This isn't John Piccolo's first stint behind the wheel for a good cause – last year's Bash left him with a memory of a young Indigenous boy's smile that he says still stays with him. That's what's brought him back for round two with "Lovers Not Mechanics", chasing his $5,000 target before the cars roll out of Victoria on August 18. More here

Michael Qader and Vincent Ianni's AQ Properties joins Harcourts

Michael Qader has spent more than two decades in Sydney's south-west, long enough to know the area beyond property lines and street names. That local grounding, paired with Vincent Ianni's grip on landlord relationships, is what Harcourts NSW chief executive Andrew McCulloch points to in welcoming Harcourts AQ to the network. More here

Pardeep Singh – taking calculated risks to achieve success

Before Area Specialist, Pardeep Singh was selling two or three properties a year with no real training behind him. A message to founder Michael Choi changed that. "The way he provided me the platform – it's changed my life," Pardeep said. Now with a rental division and a three-person team under him, he puts this year's growth down to one habit: showing up in Pakenham and Officer every single day. More here

Norman Tran promoted to associate director at Adrian William

Five years after swapping a short leasing stint for sales at a brand-new office, Norman Tran now sits at the table with the founders who took a chance on him. William Pereira puts it simply. "He's a giver," William said. Norman is already turning his attention to Madison Burton, James Zamagias and Jonathan Roseworn – the team he says made the promotion possible. More here

No two rural markets are alike, but the challenges often are

Three days in Albury-Wodonga, one clear takeaway for Rohan Ibbs: rural agents don't need identical playbooks, they need a room to swap what's actually working. The Muster's charity auction backed that spirit up with real money – $25,000 for the First National Foundation, with Yes Unlimited's homelessness work getting $10,000 of it. More here

Why Storyhouse treats social media as a sales tool, not branding

Before Storyhouse, Mark Josem spent two years running the top sales team across a 41-office corporate network, honing the negotiation instincts he'd first built leading a 65-person national sales team. Now operating from Hawthorn East, he's ranked number one agent locally for sales volume, according to realestate.com.au, with one Camberwell buyer purchasing sight-unseen after finding the listing on Instagram rather than a portal search. More here

Matt Johnson opens McGrath office in Traralgon

After 16 years building a career rooted in Gippsland, Matt Johnson now has a McGrath shopfront to show for it. His Traralgon team – Matt Fava, Ben Britten and Sam Shaw – picks up the Toongabbie to Jeeralang patch just as McGrath Research flags the region for its east coast sales growth. More here

Andrew and Tracey Macmillan join FOUNDIT buyer's agency

Three decades of prestige sales expertise and a medical technology founder's eye for detail now sit under one roof at FOUNDIT. Andrew Macmillan and Tracey Macmillan bring complementary strengths – his deep read of Stonnington, Sorrento and Richmond, her advocacy work across Stonnington and Boroondara – to a Melbourne buyer's agency built on research and negotiation support. More here

Sophie Desprez and team join Stone Southern Highlands

Eight years running her own franchise, and a client book stretching from Boxers Creek to Bowral, are what Sophie Desprez brings to her new home at Stone Southern Highlands. She joins George Kolovos and Alexander Kolovos with a phrase that sums up the move nicely. "The people, the passion and the local knowledge remain exactly the same. What we've upgraded is the toolkit behind us," Sophie said. More here

BresicWhitney launches financial wellness program for its people

BresicWhitney is treating money literacy as a genuine staff benefit this month, not just a perk on paper. Daren Chan has brought in Fox & Hare to run August workshops covering everything from super to investment planning, with the door open for staff to keep working one-on-one with advisers afterwards. More here

Why one Perth agent came back on his own rules

Nearly four decades in, Mark Anderson still turns up to meet the photographer himself. That instinct – staying personally in the room throughout a campaign – is what he credits most for the trust he's built, and why he now limits his client list to people who share it. More here

Alistair Boyle – finding freedom and family time in Casey-Cardinia

Alistair Boyle spent 23 years building a signage business before real estate ever entered the picture, starting the trade at 15. That grounding in running his own operation shows in how he's structured his Area Specialist business – 80 per cent referral-driven, with clients who've used him three and four times across generations. More here

ALSO, DID YOU MISS…

• Tony Chen joins Knight Frank's Western Sydney investment sales team

And finally…