This week I want to talk to you about why I’m so passionate about the team as a vehicle for growth in the real estate industry. Specifically, why is the team structured vehicle so well suited in so situated for growth? For ease of transformation of your real estate practice as an individual and self-employed individual to a leveraged business woman or man.
A CEO mindset, a running your business as a business, not just a hobby or a self-employed practice, that’s the difference. That’s what a team, the systems that support it and an entire framework around it really allows you to do. So, I started my team quick backstory about five years ago, after my second year in this business as a top producing high-performing agent. And what happened was I got overwhelmed with inbound business.
I needed help. I needed to grow.
So I had a couple of options, right? I could just bring on an assistant, maybe refer some business out, or I could maybe start a brokerage. It’d be a principal broker. But what I found is from doing a lot of research and talking to a lot of top producers around the country is that, you know, forming my own brokerage was going to be risky with new liability. I had to take on for other agents, errors and emissions, um, all these different exposures that I didn’t really want to absorb and take on.
Two is it had a lot of different expenses, both startup and recurring that I also didn’t really get excited about assuming. And thirdly, it, it was very rigid in the sense that I would not have a lot of flexibility to affiliate with other brands, a national or international brand and affiliation without signing very long stringent poorly weighted, not favorable contracts and franchise agreements for 7 and sometimes 10 years or more.
For those reasons that didn’t seem like a great solution. Now I could’ve stayed as just an individual agent, right? With my individual personal agent brand. It had some support in the back office and background. That was an option, sure.
A team is the best of both worlds
Why that wasn’t a great option is it didn’t really allow me to build a culture, to be a leader, to be something bigger than myself and my own vision. Didn’t allow me to do that. So a team is right in the middle there, which allowed me to achieve both of the things that were important to me, avoid the risks and expenses that were not attractive and important to me and allow me freedom and flexibility to grow organically and on the timeline and to the vision and goals that I had for myself and for my team.
Now, starting a team can be challenging. There’s a lot of strategy that goes into it. There’s a lot of choice on culture and mission and vision. You’re now becoming a leader and a manager and a mentor, not just a top producing agent. So there’s a new skill set that’s required that you learn and get up to speed and good at. And also it’s going to take some time.
It’s going to take some capital. It’s going to take commitment and creating in building a foundation for growth, but the benefits of doing so are multifold. The benefits of doing so can really far outweigh the costs that I just mentioned, because it allows you income growth. It allows you to step in to being a leader. It allows you to take leverage, systems, tech people capital, and make them start to work for the vision and the goals of the team.
It allows you to create an environment and an atmosphere of growth, of learning. It allows you to be a mentor. It allows you to open up new doors and opportunities to potentially start other businesses or pursue other passions and things that are important to you. It allows you the flexibility to not be locked into long-term contracts and franchise agreements, and allows you to take your team and go affiliate with another company or another brand or another organization, and do so as often, or as freely as you’d like.
It allows you to brand and be bigger than yourself
And it allows you to brand and be bigger than yourself, right? Most consumers, buyers, or sellers want to know that they’re well-supported in the transaction, in the person they choose to list their home with or work with on the buyer side, when you have a team, right? When you have a support staff, when you have systems, processes, a platform tech in different departments, eventually even. You’re providing a higher level of service, you’re providing more assurance that you’re going to deliver on the results that you promise.
And you provide something that is simply a more compelling value proposition, the unique selling proposition for your potential clients, right? For your prospective buyers or sellers that you might have and turn into actual co-listing clients.
So these are just some of the reasons why I really feel the team is the vehicle for growth in the future. Why I’m excited about that, why I counsel and coach my clients, my real estate clients, to get excited about that and to really consider that strongly before the alternatives, which is just staying as a top producing agent or considering being a principal broker and opening up a brokerage.
So hopefully this was of value that’s provided some helpful tips. I’m thinking about why a team could be a great option for you. As you start to grow your real estate practice and build your income, grow your sales, and really create a business. View this and choose to do and operate as a business, not just a hobby or a sole proprietorship. If you liked this, let me know, drop me a comment, leave me a like, share with somebody else that could benefit from it. And it’s always to success your happiness and your freedom. And we’ll talk to you next week.