Part-Time to Full-Time

[Jacob D.]

Hey guys,

I apologize for this question as I know it gets asked weekly on here.

I'm making the career transition into Real Estate, and I'm currently taking my RE License course right now.  For the past year or so, I've wanted to make this transition.  The reason I waited so long to pursue the transition was because I wanted to make sure this was the correct career move for me.  I've done a lot of research.  I've spoken to many people in the business, and I finally decide to make the change.  

I'm not someone who believes this will be an easy transition.  I fully understand how difficult it is to get started in this business.  I'm not married (am in a serious relationship), and I also do not have children.  I know I'm going to have to grind like hell to make this work.  

I'm also not looking for answers that are going to try to scare me off.  I'm logic and a realest.  I understand what I'm getting myself into.  I just want honest advice, I greatly appreciate it!

Like many of you on here, I have many short term and long term plans.  For the short term, I plan on working part time at my current job, along with part time realtor.  I know, this isn't idea, and that's why I'm giving myself six months to become a Full Time Agent.  I plan on doing whatever means necessary to make this career move quick and permanent.  

My current job I work for 7 A.M. - 3 P.M. My plan is to prospect Monday - Friday from 3:30 - 7:00 P.M. and I also plan on working on Saturdays and Sundays while I'm part time (I know I'll be working on Sat and Sun. when I'm full time as well).

My question is who here has transitioned from Part Time to Full Time and what was the experience like for you?  How hard was it for you to transition from one career to Real Estate?  What did you do to generate leads while you were Part Time?  How many hours did you work while Part Time?  And when did you decide to make the transition to being Full Time?

Any information regarding your journey would be great!  Also, feel free to PM me if you'd like as well.  I will be working in the Dayton/Cincinnati area.  Thank you for you all your help.

Cheers!

[Irene Nash]

@Jacob D. Hi Jacob, I have a few more minutes now so will jot down a few thoughts in case they're helpful. I didn't start out in RE part time, I was full time, however I did not have much financial padding, knew nothing about RE and had virtually no sphere so I at least know a bit about scrambling in the beginning. :)

I'll try to break this down so it doesn't end up too long. Essentially the must-have cornerstones of your foundation are:

1) Bringing in new clients - through effective and hopefully not expensive marketing (I'll give ideas later)

2) Wow-ing those clients - by being as competent and attentive as possible.

3) Actively soliciting referrals and testimonials from them and EVERYONE you deal with - there are ways to make that easier.

4) Keeping EVERYONE you know who could refer a client or might become a client on a 'watering system' of marketing that positions you as an expert in the field. Once a month is OK IMO and it doesn't have to be expensive, but it's crucial.

It's easy to get caught up in day-to-day real estate stuff and let one or more of those things slide, but not focusing on generating referrals is like farming a crop and buying new seeds every year when the crop could self-seed exponentially. And not having a consistent marketing system is like not watering your garden - the potential is all there but a lot of will wither away if it doesn't get tended to and you'll find yourself re-planting again.

For #1, if I were starting out now I would be looking at some new ways of marketing, esp. developing a presence and positioning myself as an active agent and a guide to buyers and sellers via Instagram and Facebook. I'm not an expert in that area and I'm not looking for new clients now myself or I'd be exploring that, but Gary Vaynerchuk says FB and Insta ads are very underpriced right now. Old style blogging is much harder to get found by these days.

For a website (and all marketing) I would concentrate on something with lead capture so you have peoples' emails, and from what I hear the 'search for homes' leads may not be as powerful as leads you can get by offering, or at least also offering, something like a guide or a course or set of videos you've made to help people through the buying or selling process, etc. You said you'd been a teacher and a coach so it sounds like this might be up your alley - I don't know if you'd get lower initial response if you position yourself as a 'guide' but I'm wondering if you might still get higher conversions because you develop trust and expertise before people even meet you.

To be clear, you can do targeted ads that market a Home Buyer Guide' or course or something along those lines for email capture. If you're not familiar with the Facebook pixel just Google that and you'll see how it allows you to target advertising on FB and Instagram. 

Also, Donald Miller has a new book called 'Building a Story Brand' that talks specifically about the guide concept in marketing, you might find it interesting.

These are three people I'm curious about, I am not affiliated with them and have not tried them out but if I were a new agent I'd be checking them out, I think they all focus strongly on lead capture and conversion:

Easy Agent Pro  https://www.easyagentpro.com/

Honey Bar Media   https://honeybarmedia.com/

The Lead King  http://theleadking.net/

If you try any of these out I'd REALLY appreciate it if you let me know your thoughts on them, good or bad - I'm looking for good resources I can recommend to newer agents.

If you go the expired listing/FSBO route, I would recommend using good scripts (I think Tom Ferry has good ones? Also Kevin Ward from YesMasters, he gives away a ton of free scripts and has a good Youtube channel) and internalize them so they feel and sound natural and are 'you'. (I'm not affiliated with either of those two coaches.) Some people mock scripts but I think the good ones simply allow us to get out of our own way.

#2) Expertise - sadly the name of the game is currently to learn as you go, so if you can find an excellent mentor that would be huge. I'm working on changing that because I think it's insane that new agents get so little training on how to actually DO real estate, but currently my courses are not ready yet - there's some free stuff on my site and podcast that you might find helpful, I just won't link to it because I think that might break the BP terms of service.

#3) Asking for referrals and testimonials - this is so easy to let fall by the wayside, and it's one of the most important things. Unfortunately it's also one of those things that doesn't announce itself by its absence - in other words, agents can go years and years and never realize how much money they've lost by not actively asking for referrals. I have a written guide and a podcast issue about this, with some tips on how to make asking for referrals and testimonials easier. Do whatever it takes to become comfortable with some kind of non-awkward-feeling 'referral spiel', internalize it so it feels natural, and then use it. A lot. :)

#4) Marketing consistently - I like the Brian Buffini concept of marketing that shows 'character and competence' - people need to know you're competent and they want to know you're a good person. (i.e., Market stats or a how-to homeowner tip, plus something more personal, inspirational, or funny.)  In the beginning twice a month is probably great, but once a month is probably fine too - most of all it has to be do-able, and if possible automate this if you get too busy.

Finally, if you're a perfectionist and find you're getting hung up on over-planning and not executing (this has been my big problem, I'm not saying it's yours :) a book I think is excellent is "Finish: Give Yourself the Gift of Done" by Jon Acuff.

Apparently I'm incapable of writing a short post. :)

Would love to hear how things work out for you, I know people throw around a lot of dismal stats about starting out in real estate but I was a long shot and I lasted (including through the recession as a single-income person, my husband conveniently showed up in 2012 :) and I have a friend who started out new in 2007, right when we were gearing up for the recession - she did amazingly well while other agents were leaving real estate - combination of good sphere, amazing work ethic, high competence and she's very good at articulating her value.  So definitely there's plenty of room to succeed, best wishes!