The ULTIMATE Guide to Your First Year as a Realtor

Most new agents have no idea what those numbers are. And because they don't know them, they can't build towards them. They can't build systems and processes. So you have to know your number. You have to build a business plan around that number and then you have to work that plan every single day like your business depends on it because it does. The second thing you have to do is know your database and have it working for you. The foundation of every sustainable real estate business is the number of people that you know, the number of people that trust you and would use you to to work with their biggest asset in life. And the best time to build that database and start building the systems and the campaigns and things around it is day one. Take it from me who did not do that when I first started in this business. And if there was one thing that I could go back and redo 24 years later, it would be that. it would be I would have had my database working for me right out of the gate, not a year and a half later when I actually sat down and realized how important it was and put it into place. I know my first year and a half in this business would have been far more successful had I done that because my second year and a half sure was when I had that built. The other thing that I don't think if we're thinking about this as a business owner that agents take into consideration is it's your asset. Your database is the asset of your real estate business.

You're not going to get rich selling off your your signs and your lock boxes when it's time to retire. But if you have a book of business that's consistently spitting you out revenue, that is something that is a sellable asset as you exit the industry. And that is a really, really big deal. Most new agents don't think through the CRM the way they should. If you know somebody, if you do business with somebody or have done business with somebody in a previous job or previous industry, whatever that looks like, if you know them, if they're in your phone, they're ought to be in your CRM. Make no assumptions that they wouldn't use you for this because of that or anything else. Have a reason to reach out. Now, here's the thing. It's labor intensive. The CRM always is. But once you get those people in and you get all of those contacts into your CRM, you have to reach out to each one of them personally. I don't want to sound rude when I say this, but you ain't got nothing else going on. Pick up the phone, call each one of them and tell them that you just got your real estate license. You'd love to be able to help them. If you ever come across someone who might need your services, you would appreciate the referral. Can you send them some business cards? whatever it looks like, get in front of those people and start planting the seeds that you've opened a business and you need their help to make it successful. I typically see new agents make one of two mistakes when it comes to prospecting. I also think we have a measurement issue when it comes to prospecting, and we'll talk a little bit about that. Mistake number one is they wait until they're out of money to start prospecting. And at that point, I'm sorry to tell you, but it's just too late. you might as well update your resume and go get another job. The second one is they prospect like crazy and then they get a transaction and they stop prospecting because they want to make sure that they guard this transaction with their lives because it's their first one and it's so important and it's money coming in and they sacrifice this that caused that that transaction. Then it closes and they're like, "Oh [ __ ] where's my next paycheck going to come from?" and they furiously go back and we see these peaks and valleys that form and that's not what we want to do. Prospecting is a daily habit. It's something that has to be done consistently regardless of how busy with transactions you are or anything else. You've got to block off time every single day to prospect. And the really really simple minimum viable product for prospecting is 10 contacts a day. Phone calls, text messages, whatever that looks like. real communication, not social media communication, real communication, not mass emails, real conversations with real people, 10 of them a day. You do that, that's 50 a week, it's 200 a month, it's 24,00s.

The the odds just they are what they are. You're going to do business if you do that kind of numbers consistently. Which brings me to the mismeasurement of prospecting. And this is something that I've talked about a lot over the years. I don't love the way that we measure success in prospecting in this industry. We typically look at prospecting from the standpoint of if you get an appointment or you get a referral, you've been successful and everything else is a failure. I disagree. I think that if you've had a meaningful conversation with somebody that deepens your relationship with them, that is a success and that should be considered a win. It may not pay dividends today, but it will in the future because the next time you call, they're going to want to talk to you. And at some point, they're going to have a referral or they're going to have a need or they're going to have a question and it's going to give you the opportunity to prove your value.

And so, don't be discouraged as you prospect if you're not getting immediate return. That's okay. We can't say that real estate is a relationship business and then treat it purely like a cold calling sales business. That's not the same. that's talking on two different sides of our mouths. Be consistent. Make it part of your daily habits. Talk to 10 people a day and I can almost guarantee you you're going to be successful. Beyond all the relationship talk, let's talk about why somebody hires you. Somebody hires you to help them with either the sale or purchase of their largest asset because they believe that you are an expert. They're hiring an expert in a field to do this job for them. You have to be an expert. Which means from the very beginning of your career, you need to start learning your market. You need to start learning the neighborhoods, the schools, the restaurants, the grocery stores, the insights into what's happening here or what's happening there. Are schools being reszoned? Are roads coming in that we don't know about yet? Is there a new neighborhood on the horizon? Whatever that looks like, you've got to know it.

You've got to know what's being sold where. You need to know your absorption rate and your sales and your months of inventory and all of those statistics so that when you get asked questions by people, you can speak confidently and intelligently about it. Can it be boring? You bet. But you know what? The best agents in the marketplace are the people who do the boring stuff. The best. The best agents are the ones who are consistently nerdy about their market. they're consistently performing on their prospecting, their database is right, their marketing is great, and they're doing it all the time. So, know your market like your career depends on it because at the end of the day, it does. So, our experience at our brokerage has been that when we give somebody a mentor, they tend to have better success. This is a weird industry if you're new to it. Things go crazy.

People are nuts. Deals will fall apart in the weirdest ways you possibly can imagine. The market is always changing. Forms, best practices, social media algorithms, all these things. There's a consistent to this industry and the consistency is change. That is the one thing that is always happening. And so it's really really helpful when you have someone you can go to when things are a little crazy, when maybe you just need to vent, maybe you have questions, maybe something has gone wrong, you need to have that person. So if that's not part of your brokerage training program like it is at our brokerage, then I highly recommend you find a mentor. Not your manager, not your somebody who's an there for administrative questions or anything, but actually a producing agent whose business model is something you could emulate. Somebody who has street credit. Buy them lunch and tell them what you're wanting to do and ask them if they'd be willing to just be that sounding board for you. Most will. Most would love to be able to do that. Most successful agents are willing to mentor someone if they show genuine commitment and a willingness to go out and do the work. Those are the ones that we all want to see succeed. Beyond mentorship, you also need to invest in your own training. Whether that's going out and getting designations or certifications, whether it's buying books, whether it's attending conferences or classes, surround yourself with people who are doing this well and absorb what they are doing and then steal it and go make it your own and build it into your business. Real estate rewards the learner. Real estate rewards the person who's willing to invest in their skills, build their craft, and become a professional expert in real estate. you do that, the faster the business will come. Listen, year one is hard. I'm not going to pretend otherwise, but it is survivable. And more than that, when you go into it with a plan, when you treat it like a business, when you build your database, you consistently prospect, you become the expert and surround yourself with others who are, you are going to be successful. The agents who quit year 1 almost always had talent to do this.

What they didn't have was a system. And now you have it. So go build something. Hey, if this was valuable to you, I would be honored if you would subscribe, follow, like, share with one of your friends. And if I can ever be of service to you, please don't hesitate to reach