Question for you…
What career path are you taking with your real estate business?
Do you know what you’re building?
Last week, I did business planning with my team. The framework that we use for planning makes us start with our vision for the future. I realize that’s really hard for most agents, but I strongly believe it’s the most important thing to figure out.
Otherwise, why are you working as hard as you are?
Anyway, I wanted to share the path you’re on for your real estate career today.
If you don’t know which path you’re on, here are what I see as the options.
The Hobby Agent. This person has their license and will do a deal if it comes across them, but they’re not active in the business. (We all know this agent)
The Struggling Agent. Working in real estate is their full-time job, but they just aren’t doing the right things to be successful. They don’t generate leads, they don’t follow up, and they rarely close deals. (You’re not alone; most agents are here)
From this point forward, we move to the successful agents. They’ve found out how to make a living out of this business and are consistent.
The High Paying Job Agent. This is the agent that is doing everything themselves. They haven’t built systems or brought on people to help leverage their time. They’re making good money but not running a business. They have a really high-paying job. (the ‘hustling’ or ‘grinding’ agent)
These last two agents are the ones who have decided to treat their career like a business, not a job.
The Rainmaker Agent. This is the agent that everyone in the marketplace knows. Usually, this is a top agent who has been there for a while. What most people don’t know is that they’ve built systems around them and have hired help. This allows them to focus on growing the business. Most people also don’t know that this agent is investing in real estate. They use their position in the market to buy flips and rentals, growing their income outside of just selling. These agents usually see their investment income outpace their salesperson income rather fast.
The Team Leader. This is a trap that a lot of rainmaker agents get stuck in. They want to build a team but don’t want to build a business. Or at least they don’t want the team to take away from their personal sales. Which means they’re half in half out. Most rainmakers turned Team Leaders end up having an unprofitable team. On top of that their personal production suffers with the added work and distraction.
For team leaders that want to build a sustainable business, they need to treat their team like a true business. This is hard because the team they need to grow – just to produce the income they could on their own – is bigger than they think.
Yet, if you get past that point, you can keep reinvesting into your people and your systems. Building something that at some point might not need you involved in it.
So, bringing us back to my original question… Do you know what you’re building?
If not, my advice (not that you asked) is to get clear on your vision for your future.