You have a reason you came to real estate but the path might not be clear.
This business has it’s up and downs and those can be exacerbated when you are a part-time agent. There are a million ways to succeed in this business but that sometimes is a problem. It can be overwhelming even knowing where to start!
Here are some of the obstacles that part-time agents face:
- Lack of a flexible schedule to meet client’s needs
- An inconsistent schedule that you can’t rely on to make plans
- Keeping it a secret from your current job so you don’t get fired
- Lack of funds to provide the basics like signs and business card
- A brokerage that will take you serious
- A team that will take you on
- A mentor that will give you enough time
Let’s take this point by point.
The most important part of real estate is taking care of your clients. This is very difficult to do when you work a 20-40+ hour job. Real estate is currently very hot and if you can’t show homes now, it might mean you will lose a client to an agent that can. If you only have a day or two that is completely open, it becomes a tough juggle. The agent doesn’t want to tell the client that they are working another job, so they hide it and come up with excuses and that’s just begging for problems.
For the agent that has an unknown job schedule, it’s hard to plan for anything. That other job is the one that pays you consistently so you can’t just reschedule it as you want normally. So once again, it holds you back from really launching your career.
If you have a job that you are scared where you are scared you will be fired if they know you are doing real estate on the side, you become a secret agent. Secret agents don’t sell a lot of homes.
Most agents that keep the previous job do it because of a lack of funds. Your passion pushed you to jump into real estate now instead of after saving money. But then the costs piled up and you are one financial bump in the road to freezing any extra money you had for real estate basics, like business cards, flyers, signs, etc.
The last three points are versions of the same thing. Few brokerages have a broker that will put a lot of energy into a part-time agent. Let’s be honest, most agents fail in this business and they fail quite quickly. If you don’t start producing in a few months, well, they need to spend time helping their producers. The same goes with a mentor. Part-time agents don’t have the time to learn quickly in most cases because they are losing 40 hours a week to something else. So they come back with the same questions over and over.
Teams usually have the same mentality. They have a system and that system doesn’t have room for part-time agent. They want people available to go when they say go, to pick up the lead and be available for open houses. Part-time agents can’t do that so they aren’t valuable enough for the team to put their resources into them.
So, it’s not looking to rosy huh? Well, let’s talk about the solution, the path.
The Path
After years of creating and working on teams, we have a solution for the part-time agent.
Part-time agents have a passion that many other agents don’t understand. They are willing to work 50, 60 even 80 hours a week to make their life better. That should fire should be fed not suffocated.
By putting together like-minded, passionate part-time agents we believe we can forge a force greater than most teams. Everyone understands what each other is going through and will help each other fill the gaps which will make you all succeed.
Once we have that put together, then you need support. We have a 20 year agent/Principal Broker and a co-founder of a $50 million team that has expanded into other markets. This gives you the organizational support and the training and coaching you need to reach your passion.
Organization support is everything from organizing this part-time agent alliance, who to bring on to the team, scheduling how everyone helps each other, finding vendor partners like contractors, and much more.
The coaching includes weekly 30 minute calls with a coach to meet your unique schedule, weekday script practice calls and weekly group calls.
The support also includes help with the basics like signs, business cards and transaction coordination.
Our goal is to surround you with the right people on the ground, provide you with the tools you need, build your network, give you the training and coaching that fits YOUR goals to live your passion.
There’s only one reason to be in real estate, to give you the opportunity to live your perfect life. Notice there was no mention of money. Your perfect life is more than money. It’s opportunity, relationships and time. Money is an aspect of that and a fundamental piece of life but there’s more to it than money.