Don't Want to Help People Buy or Sell Homes? You Should Still Get a Real Estate License. Here's Why...

One of the things I love to share with aspiring agents when they come in for office tours (contact me here if you're interested in signing-up for one!), is the variety of ways you can structure a career in real estate. People often think of being a real estate agent as only representing clients in the purchase or sale of a property. That's how I started my career, and may be how you start yours too. But it doesn't have to be the only way you put your skills to work.

I'm a big fan of variety and of diversifying sources of income, including building in some passive income where I can. I thought I'd share with you today some of the ways you can do that as a real estate agent. Keep in mind that my experience has been with Keller Williams exclusively, so the opportunities I discuss below are the ones available with this brokerage. I don't know for sure what other brokerages offer. Okay, caveat out of the way, so here we go.

Option 1: Representing Buyers and Sellers. This is pretty straightforward. As a real estate agent, clients will hire you to represent them in the purchase or sale of a property.

Option 2: "Flipping" Properties. This is where you buy a property, invest in renovating it, and then sell it for a profit (hopefully!). There are several shows on HGTV profiling people who do this. As a licensed real estate agent you can represent yourself as buyer and seller and you'll have access to new properties as they come on the market. Keller Williams has a book to help agents learn how to do this successfully. It's called, appropriately enough, "Flip."

Option 3: Investment Properties. This is where you purchase a property and then rent it out to a third party. Again, Keller Williams has educational materials to help agents do this successfully, maximize their earning potential, and avoid some of the mistakes people commonly make when starting out as landlords. It's called, "Hold."

Option 4: Referrals. I know agents whose entire business is built on Keller Williams' Referral Program. Keller Williams has agents licensed to sell homes anywhere in the world. If someone approaches you wanting to purchase or sell a home outside of the area in which you work, you can refer them to a Keller Williams agent in that region. If that client hires that Keller Williams agent and they purchase or sell a property, you could receive 25% of the commission on that sale. Just for referring that client. Pretty great, right? I've done it several times and it's a win-win-win experience. I know I'm referring someone to an agent who is going to provide them with excellent service; a great KW agent gets to serve someone that may not have otherwise found them; and I get a nice financial thank-you.

Option 5: Profit Sharing. Okay, this one is a unique option within the world of real estate. When you close a transaction, you pay a percentage of your commission to Keller Williams, until you've paid the company dollar CAP in commission in a calendar year. After that commitment is met, then you keep 100% of the commissions you make. Here's where the profit-sharing comes in. The person who "referred" you to Keller Williams gets a thank you for sending you to KW. So, if you go into business with Keller Williams and then you recommend it to a friend or acquaintance and they join as an agent too anywhere in the world), you could get a portion of the commission. You're fully vested after 3 years and the benefit can outlive you and be passed along to your heirs.

Option 6: Salaried Positions. For whatever reason, maybe you want a more predictable 9-5, salaried job. Keller Williams hires licensed real estate agents to provide administrative and transaction support to our Realtors. So, you could use your knowledge and skills in this way as opposed to representing buyers and sellers.  Or maybe you're a great leader and want to take on additional responsibilities on top of your work as an agent. KW has formal curriculum for people who want to pursue a leadership role, and there is additional income associated with those opportunities.

Was any of this news to you? Did one or more of these options make you think about a real estate career in a different way? Please share your thoughts in the Comments section below or contact me here if you want to talk more about real estate or Keller Williams.

Thanks for reading and I'll see you here again soon!

Finding a Reason...

I set financial goals every year--I decide how much salary I want to generate and I create a specific plan for how to get there. You may do that too. Goal-setting is something you’ve probably read and heard about a lot.

Something that often is missed in all the business planning and goal-setting conversations is the why of it all. Why do we do any of this? Beyond what it takes to support myself, why do I want to do any more of that?

I am often motivated by a mission or charity I want to support. For example, I can't go on a mission trip with my church (I've got family and work obligations that keep me here), but I can devote some of my salary to sponsoring people who can go and do that mission work. So, I might set a goal of giving $10,000 to sponsor three people on a mission trip and then I'm working toward my financial goals with that motivation behind it. It's important to me to connect what I'm doing at work to whatever cause has spoken to me that year.

Other “why-s” can be experiences you’d like to have. Perhaps you want to travel, or invest in properties. Perhaps you’d love to create a family trust that could provide funds for the college tuition or down payments on homes for your friends and family. Perhaps you want to build a business that’s big enough to hire staff and other agents to work with you, creating income and opportunities for others. Or perhaps you want to build expertise that you can then leverage as a teacher, helping others learn and grow in their careers.

What’s meaningful to you? What dreams do you have for yourself or your family that would be made possible through your work?

Why I Have a Coach

While I work for Keller Williams, for all intents and purposes I have had my own business for more than 14 years. I set my own goals and no one is going to knock on my door tomorrow if I don’t show up to work and complete the tasks on my to-do list today. That is one of the things I love about my career—I wake up every day and create my own job. There is so much responsibility inherent in that, but also a ton of freedom and joy.

I doubled my business in 2016. No one told me to do that. I decided I wanted to set that as a goal for the year and I did it. I could decide to double it again in 2017 if I want to, and if I did, I would reap the rewards of that achievement.

But being an entrepreneur can be a lonely place sometimes, and often we can’t see ways we could be improving or pushing ourselves because we’re too close to have any perspective or objectivity.

That is the beauty of a coach. They can help us with those things and much more. So here are a few benefits of a coaching relationship.

You learn from someone who knows more than you or has a different area of expertise. This is the most obvious benefit of a coach—you have access to information that you wouldn’t have otherwise. Knowledge it took that person years, or decades to gain can be yours in minutes or hours. It can be a super-efficient means of learning, which should appeal to the busy entrepreneur you are!

You get honest feedback on your own performance. This is something that we have ready access to when we work for someone else in the typical boss-employee paradigm. But once you’re working for yourself, or in an autonomous job (like real estate), opportunities for external feedback can be non-existent. As much dread as an annual performance review has conjured up for me in previous jobs, there can be great value in hearing where there is room for us to improve, grow or change professionally. Coaches can serve that function for you.

You have a sounding board and cheering section. Again, these are often lacking in the world of the entrepreneur. It can be lonely being a one-person shop, or being the boss. Even the most introverted among us needs to bounce ideas off of other people from time to time. And even the most confident of entrepreneurs sometimes need to hear some words of encouragement or a pep talk. Just as a coach can see places where you can grow and improve, so can they see places where you are rocking this whole business-thing! We can be hard on ourselves and sometimes we don’t see just how far we’ve come or just how great our successes have been. When you’re feeling discouraged or overwhelmed, hearing words of support and encouragement from someone you respect is invaluable.

You expand your network. Networking is a word we hear repeatedly as entrepreneurs. I think it often gets conflated with “schmoozing” which we all have differing levels of comfort in doing. But really, networking is just about interacting with other people to exchange information and develop contacts. Building a relationship with a coach is a form of networking. They are learning about you and what you do—you are exchanging information. They might then refer other people they know to you for your services, or they might know people who can help you in some other area of your business.

You get inspired. Think about it. You saw the value in coaching and after the needs analysis, you were assigned a coach. And then they chose to coach you because they saw something in you worth the investment of their time and energy. Wow! How do you not find the motivation to get up, get going on that project and succeed when someone like that believes in you? That has been hugely motivating for me over the years.

Have you had a coach before? If so, what did you appreciate most about them? Where did you find them?

Have you been a coach to someone before? What tips do you have for prospective protégés for approaching a prospective mentor and making the most out of the relationship?

Please share your answers in the Comments section below.

Keller Williams matches new agents up with an experienced coach right out of the gate. This coach helps the new agent to decide on their goals for the year, and to develop strategies for achieving them. It’s one of the reasons why I love Keller Williams so much, and why 4 out of every 5 agents to start with us are still in business after the first year. Mentoring and coaching is an incredible gift to give and to receive.

Okay, that’s it from me this time! I’ll see you back here again soon.

5 Misconceptions About Careers in Real Estate

There are a few misconceptions about real estate careers that I'd like to address today. These are by no means the only ones (sadly), but there the one's that come up most often when I talk to people about this career. Okay, here we go...

Misconception #1: It's an easy job.

It's not.

It is a very rewarding career. It's a career that's challenging in some wonderful ways. It's a career in which you have the potential to define and achieve your own success. But it isn't easy. We work hard to earn a license and to stay current on the laws that regulate our industry. We spend time building our reputations and relationships, so that we can have long-lasting careers. I tell the aspiring agents I work with that I use the word "career" and don't use the word "job" deliberately. At my brokerage, agents are essentially building businesses within the company. We set our own goals and make plans for reaching them. As our business grows we can hire our own support staff, transaction coordinators, and listing agents. So, it's definitely not a 9-5 job. But I think that's a good thing!

Misconception #2: It's a cutthroat business and agents will do anything for a sale.

Oh my goodness, does this one bother me! I feel like the agents I work with and have gotten to know over the years are some of the most supportive and encouraging people I've ever met AND incredibly generous with their time and knowledge. Keller Williams really fosters this culture with our new agent coaching program, but there are specific examples that spring to mind. I work with an agent who has the corner on a particularly large market here in the Northwest. When new agents come on staff, he'll let them work his (many) open houses, so that they have the chance to meet prospective clients and gain valuable face-to-face marketing experience.

Secondly, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) has a code of ethics and standards of practice to which all of their members commit to honoring. If you'd like to check it out, click here. There are also laws that govern what Realtors can and cannot do and say. At Keller Williams we formalized our own belief system and gave it a name, WI4C2TS. It guides how we treat each other and our clients. It's on my homepage, but here it is again:

belief-system-poster

Are there unethical real estate agents? Sure. There are dishonest and unethical people in every profession. But the vast majority of us are honest and ethical and abide by a strict set of rules.

Misconception #3: It's expensive to get started.

It does cost some money for licensing, that's definitely true. But it's a far, far smaller financial investment than say, a 4-year college degree. The cost varies by state, so I can't give you a number that will be accurate. I guess my point would be, don't assume it's financially out of reach. You can easily research the costs in your area. If there's a brokerage you think you might want to work for once you're licensed, they can help you figure out what you need to budget for study materials, licensing exams and other fees.

Misconception #4: If I'm not a natural sales person, I won't be successful.

I would say that you have to be a good communicator and a good teacher, but not necessarily a "sales person," by the traditional definition.  You do need the ability to talk to people; to connect with them; to hear what their needs are and gauge whether your particular skills and expertise are a good fit for them. And then you need the ability to communicate who you are and what you offer in a genuine way. Lots of successful agents don't have a "sales" background. I think I may have said this before on the blog, but I find that teachers, baristas and bartenders are common backgrounds for real estate agents. It's something about the patience, communication skills, service mindset and attention to detail, that makes them successful. I think.

Misconception #5: Real estate careers are a good side gig/part-time job.

I've done a blog post dedicated to just this topic, but I'll give you the shortened version here and then you can go back and read that post by clicking this link.  I think it's impossible to stay up on all of the laws, regulations and details required to represent clients well if you aren't in it full-time. There are just too many moving pieces and the consequences of missing something are too grave to part-time this career. So if you find yourself in a position where you have to straddle the fence of 2 careers at 1 time, you would benefit from joining a team so that you can have the support you need to stay on it and your clients receive the best care possible. Or let's talk about referrals.... This is a great option for people who can't be 100% dedicated to the business. Ask me and we can go over the details together.

Thanks again for reading! Check out my Rebecca Math video here. I'll be back here with a new post again soon!