What they did NOT teach you in real estate school can make or break a real estate business. 

I don't know of one real estate licensing school that coaches their students in running a business or what it really is going to be like out in the real business world.
The reason they don't do this is because they are a business. Their business would not thrive if they told the truth.
They would not get as many students to enroll and go and take the real estate state exams.
The sole goal of the real estate school is to make sure their students pass the state exam and that the students fulfil the hour requirements as determined by the real estate commission of each state and or the Department of Business and Professional Regulations.

If you are thinking about getting into real estate here are the facts.
These facts are not here to deter you but rather to inform you so you know what you are getting into so that you can be prepared for what comes your way.
This is straight talk so be prepared - no sugar coating the facts here.

Real estate is not usually a salary job although you can work for a new homebuilder in their sales office and get paid a draw and a salary. For the sake of this post we will base your pay on commissions.

• Real estate is not a job. It is a business.

You should run your business like a business not like a hobby.
If you treat your business like a hobby; you will get paid like a hobby.

• When you embark upon owning and starting your own company you will need to have capital to invest.

You can go to work for a broker that pays for everything in the beginning for you in return for a higher split but there are still going to be out of pocket expenses.
You have heard the term, you have to spend money in order to make money. That is not necessarily true as there are many ways to get around that which we will talk about in another post.
But for now, I'd rather say; that you need to invest into your business.
That investment will be both financial and time.

If you have been an employee in your other life, you will need to come to terms with being a business owner. Not everything is paid for like a boss who provides his employees with everything they need to work for him/her. The employee mentality keeps many people from achieving greatness. So a shift in paradigms is necessary if that is the place you are coming from.

If you have been a business owner than this step will be much easier for you. Remember back to when you first started your business and apply those same principles to your new real estate business. Being an Entrepreneur really has its' advantages in the real estate business. Since there is no income ceiling in real estate; this can be an exciting and successful adventure  for those with risk taking personalities and those with solid determination.and a winning attitude.

• You need to have a business plan just as any business needs to have. 

You need to set up your goals, processes, systems, implementation of strategies and measuring profit and losses.
You may not even be profitable your first year in the business. That is natural for most businesses.
Remember the Perado principle; the 80/20 rule. 20% of the agents do 80% of the business.

You will also need to reinvest in your business. I will be writing a post about that soon also.
When you get a commission check, you will have expenses to pay from that check. You will also need to set aside some of that money for marketing and to carry you forward in your business.

The one thing that I would like to caution you with is:
If you are the sole bread earner in your family and you have another job when you start your real estate business - I strongly suggest that you keep your day job until you are used to the expenses and the 'feast and famine' type of business real estate is unless you have substantial savings on which you can draw on and live off of. You also want to make sure this is the right fit for you. The other thing is you need to get used to not having workman's comp, unemployment benefits, health insurance and other things that your employer may have covered part or all of .

If you are the spouse or the significant partner of the bread winner, than you should sit down with your partner and go over the expenses involved, how long it may take to have a profit coming back to the household and determine the support system you will have both moral and financial.

Alot of what is the deciding factor on whether you are ready to jump in with both feet will be in your risk factors, your success tapes in your subconscious and your relationship with money. We will address these factors in another training post. Some people are more likely to take risks than others.

All of the success and your decisions of when and how to jump in are determined by your WHY.

What is your why?

Why are you interested in running a business in real estate? The stronger your WHY the more you will be determined to make this business work for you.

• It is up to you. 
• It is NOT up to the market. 
• It is not to be left up to outside sources.
•  It is up to you. 

That does not sit well with many people but sometimes we don't want to hear the truth. We don't like the responsibility of our own destiny. It is easier to take the low road instead of the high road. It is easier to take the road without the bumps and the bruises. But I promise you the harder the bumps the more you learn and the more you earn, they are there to polish you into the shining diamond that you are meant to be.

We will cover the best success starters when you are new in the business or expanding into a new niche in our next post in this new series of success in real estate.
Then I will share with you how you can make it no matter what the odds against you are and I will share my story of where I was to inspire you to believe that if I can do this; so can you.
 

The Road To Better Health Found In Least Expected Places by Katerina Gasset is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.