Standing apart from the crowd is essential in real estate. Do you pay attention to your personal branding? Are you part of a company that encourages uniqueness among their agents or is conformity the name of the game? What makes your professional personality stand out among your competition?
If you have a crystal clear concept of "Independent Contractor" vs "Employee" then you have the ability to be your own safety net when you are a real estate broker. Those agents who seem to be successfully navigating the current market pay attention to their personal branding, making sure that their sphere of influence identifies with them personally first and the company who employs them second. If you handle yourself and your professional relationships well, it will be immaterial to your clients where you hang your license.
In 3 months, MoonDancer Realty will celebrate its first full year as a real estate firm. We never missed a beat leaving the "safety nets" of working for another firm. In fact, two of the firms have imploded from poor management...staying with firms like those until the bitter end WOULD have caused irreparable harm to our reputations. As it is, being on our own and being able to take the risk, responsibility and reward for ourselves is the best thing we could have ever done.
The only way this success has been possible is by paying attention to what makes us unique in our community. So many agents do not care one whit about additional real estate education or designations. We do. We owe it to the clients who put their trust in us to be at the top of our game. A lot of other agents do not make the extra effort to have a personal website, send handwritten notes, do drop bys, phone calls to just chat with people, network, blog or any of the "extra-curricular" activities needed to stay front of mind with your circle. Sadly, these other agents will never realize that business isn't the only valuable result of these activities...the greater benefits are a sense of belonging to a true community, making friends and the pure act of engaging your brain by constantly learning new skills.
We love being on our own and having our own identity. Everything we've done has been to achieve this goal. Our name "MoonDancer Realty" stands out from all of the competition and reflects on our own creativity. Our logo is a piece of art - the image is synonymous with our name. Our office is comfortable and cozy offering clients privacy and professionalism in a welcoming atmosphere. We offer coffee, tea, or hot chocolate from our Keurig - a great icebreaker for new clients and a perfect relaxation tool for other visitors. We proudly display our framed designations, evidence of the effort and expense we've invested into our own business.
Let's not forget our Office Manager, she is all part of the total package we present as evidence that we truly do stand apart from the crowd.
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