So, you want to be a real estate agent?

What to expect and how to succeed

This month, I’ve decided to spice up The AHA! Moment a little bit and dive into my area of expertise upon the request of many: the real estate industry. We’re in the spring market, activity’s picking up, and I’ve been inspired by many readers and listeners of The AHA! Moment to cover this hot topic that I could talk about all day.

I’ll be interviewing some of my favorite preferred partners who I love working alongside throughout the transaction, along with tackling some topics from my own agent perspective based on my audience’s feedback and what I know would spark your interest the most. Whether you’re familiar with the business or not, buckle up, because no matter how much you think you know, in real estate you never know it all. To kick off this theme for April, today I’m breaking down what to expect and how to succeed if you want to get into the real estate industry as an agent.

1. Know your why and be ALL IN

If you don’t know why you’re doing this, don’t even bother touching it. If you enter the real estate industry, you need to be ready to build something sustainable. That means a slow burn kind of business. It is not an instant gratification business, and therefore you need to develop a lot of patience, passion, and commitment to the craft. You need to be OK with not making much money for a decent amount of time, and be in a position financially that allows you to make that work until you start to gain some momentum. Whether that means entering through a salaried role as an assistant first, having a part-time job that pays the bills, or substantial savings, be aware that it is very normal to not make a reasonable salary in the first year or so.

But if you’re all in, and if you work really hard, the hard work always takes care of itself. But like all good things, it takes time. If you’re willing to fall on your face a million times and still are willing to get back up and push through the mush, build thick skin, and put in the work, step right up.

2. No one is coming to save you and make sure you know your stuff

Generally speaking and in my opinion, there isn’t a formal way to train a real estate agent. There are some brokerages that provide stronger systems to train agents than others, but the reality is this is not your corporate 9-5 job that gives you a formal training program to reference. You will be uncomfortable throwing yourself into the fire at times, you will make a ton of mistakes, and you need to do your due diligence actively on your own. You are expected to ask for answers or else you likely won’t get them.

But when you start to experience the reward and rush that you earn from knowing your stuff, doing the right thing ethically, and giving something your everything, it turns into the trust muscle you build with yourself that reaffirms you can keep going limitlessly.

3. Be intentional with your time

Whenever anyone says ‘Oh, being an agent must be nice, you can make your own hours!’ as if it gives you the opportunity to work less, that could not be further from the truth. It actually means that if you’re doing anything right, you end up working significantly more than anyone else. One of the hardest things new agents face when jumping into the business is how to best spend their time. You have all this time in the day, what the hell do you do?

It’s completely your responsibility to choose how you spend your time as an agent. Again, no one is going to tell you what to do or how to do it. You get to choose: how you want to generate business, how you want to build your brand, how many people you want to meet every day, how much time you spend studying the MLS and going to open houses, how to build agent relationships, how to stay top of mind and make sure everyone in your database knows you’re a real estate agent and why you should be their go-to for any thing real estate-related and shouldn’t choose their Uncle Pete instead of you, and how to build actual momentum via this structure of your day.

You have to figure out what works best for you and what makes you feel empowered and strong so that you don’t burnout or give up too quickly. Tweak your tasks, switch things around until things start to make sense. You’ll also know when it’s all starting to click once the productivity levels and transactional results speak for themselves.

It takes a second to figure this all out, so be patient with yourself. But when you create this discipline for yourself as an agent, it truly allows you to take the next step into not being like every other Joe Schmo that just happens to have their real estate license. It promotes you to build an actual business that’s sustainable.

4. Prioritize every relationship and follow through

Every. Single. Relationship. Matters. It’s a small, small world. Your relationships are the foundation of your reputation. How you connect with other people and leave an impact when you’re not even in the room speaks volumes. Nobody wants to work with an asshole. Especially one who doesn’t do what they say they’re going to do.

There are a lot of agents and other real estate professionals out there who simply don’t follow through with anything. They don’t follow up with clients and wonder why relationships slip through the cracks. They blow off agent meetings as if agent relationships don’t make or break deals many times. They don’t make establishing referral partnerships a priority. They don’t do what they say they’re going to do. And if you’re someone that isn’t a person of their word, you cannot expect to succeed in this business. Your follow through is all on you.

5. Never stop learning

Continuous education in all possible ways is vital in the real estate industry. Things are constantly changing, and you never know it all. The vet agents that think they do will eventually plateau. The beautiful thing about this industry is that no deal is the same, no client is the same, and the market is always going through changes. Like everything else, it’s on you to educate yourself on what’s going on.

If you know that an ongoing area of improvement of yours tends to be on the salesmanship side, figure out blocks of time to prioritize that every week. If your clients are very data driven and expect you to educate them on every single piece of insight from the news, your eyeballs better be glued to the computer all morning studying and taking notes to send their way. If nurturing your sphere is something you’re trying to further streamline and strengthen, learn creative ways in which you can start doing that. As an agent, continuous education is the one and only way to keep top of mind how you’re providing value to your clients, sphere, partners, and life. Ask yourself every day: how do you want to show up? What you add to your plate and rolodex should be infinite.

Know that when there is no ceiling in how much money you can make, that means there are no boundaries as to how much work you can put in. Go the extra mile and blow through the ceiling.

I expand a little deeper on each of these tips in the episode of The AHA! Moment Podcast if you’re curious for some more insight, give it a listen HERE.

But all in all, the real estate industry is certainly not for everyone, and yet it baffles me still how many individuals decide to take the leap and pursue the career path due to the low entry threshold to pass the exam. Anyone can pass a test (coming from me, the worst test-taker through and through), but not everyone can build a business from the ground up. It’s you versus you. What’s it gonna be? You decide.

But for those who choose to stick with the path should it align with them, it is such an exciting, rewarding, and fulfilling career. If you’re ready to be a business builder, expander, marketer, chief financial officer, event planner, therapist, cleaner, neighborhood nerd, mayor of the town, social media influencer, and everything in between, welcome. I’m happy you finally made it.

If you want me to dive deeper on any of these tips or have any questions, never hesitate to let me know and reach out directly. I always love chatting about real estate and being of service to anyone who needs it. And if you have any real estate needs in Massachusetts or New York, I’m obviously available anytime.

Cheers,

Angelina