Think of Real Estate as a Business and Then Act Accordingly

Think of Real Estate as a Business and Then Act Accordingly

I'm almost embarrassed to admit this but when I started in this business 6 years ago, I didn't set my sights very high.

I remember interviewing with the KW Team Leader at the time who was in charge of recruitment. He had me take the DISC profile and said I was perfectly suited to real estate. That was good since I'd already spent the money to get my license.

He asked me what I hoped to earn per year in real estate. This is where it starts to get embarrassing. I replied, $25,000. He must've been pretty suprised at my response because then he asked why so low?

I explained that I was totally new to the area. I had no family or friends here. My husband was retired, my kids were home-schooled and, other than a few friends from church, I didn't know anyone. Silly me. Not the best way to start off a career in real estate.

If I had been this Team Leader, I would have run me right out the door. Instead, he told me that I could do better than $25,000 a year. Way better.

That first year wasn't too shabby. I was pretty pleased with myself. Because I really had no sphere, 100% of my business came from floor duty. I did make $25,000 that first year. So, I was happy as a clam. And then it happened.

I'd been in business a year and things started to crumble in the real estate market. I wasn't spending any money on marketing, so finding business became extremely difficult. Not much had changed in terms of my sphere.

I kept taking classes taught through my brokerage but they always hit on the "old school" way of doing business by calling expireds and FSBOs. I was looking for somthing different. I wanted people to call me, not the other way arround. In 2009, I was introduced to ActiveRain. Finally, something that no one else was teaching.

I wish I could say I took advantage of this venue as soon as I discovered it, but I didn't. Months went by before I started blogging. I was a slow starter. I dabbled a little bit but no one was really talking about SEO then. So much of what I was writing was without direction. As a result, I wasn't seeing any business coming from my blogging efforts. However, I was also learning to build out my website with local content. I did start to see some internet leads coming from that. There was only one problem. My website was a site offered by my broker. That's a big no-no but ActiveRain changed all that.

Here's what I've learned in the last few years because of ActiveRain members who willingly helped me:

1. Develop a Website - I know that broker website can be very inexpensive, especially, when you first start in the business, but get your own website. If you're anything like me, Wordpress may not be the best choice. There are plenty of template sites available. Invest in one of them. Your website can be a real money maker for you if done properly by building it out with lots of local content.
2. Use a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) - Many template sites like MarketLeader, offer a great CRM with their website. Use it. I've even loaded my other contacts into my website CRM. I didn't use a CRM for years. That alone cost me thousands of dollars. Don't make that mistake.
3. Start Blogging - I didn't know anything about blogging when I started here. A lot of what I did was trial and error. Actually, it still is. Produce quality hyper-local content and link it back to your website. I promise, you'll see results. But, it doesn't happen overnight. Like any marketing, it takes dedication and consistency.
4. Learn SEO (Search Engine Optimization) - I am not an SEO expert. I've picked up a few things over the years. It took me a long time to actually understand how this works. Many of my early blogs weren't ranking because I didn't know what I was doing. Now, we have those great ARU webinars to teach you. There's no excuse not to learn the blogging basics.
5. Implement a Business Plan - This doesn't have to be elaborate but without goals you have no may of knowing if you're hitting your mark. I started out simple by just writing down the total dollar volume of sales I wanted to achieve. Then I wrote down ways I thought would help me reach that goal. That's it. Put it in writing. It's a real motivator when you do that.
6. Find a Niche - Right now, my niche is my geographic area. However, I'm exploring several other markets that are currently untouched by many agents. Find something like golf communities, condos, high-rises, equestrian; wherever you see a need not being met. Niche markets are the future of real estate.

Doing these six things has really changed my business. I did eight times the business last year as I did the year before by implementing the plan above.

Don't do what I did early in my career and set your sights so low. Think of real estate as a business and then act accordingly.