How to Treat Your Real Estate Business Like a Business
You got your real estate license. But did you actually build a business, or did you just start collecting transactions? In this episode, we are giving you the pep talk and the reality check you need to finally treat your business like a business, because so many of the problems y’all email us about come back to this one shift.
Real estate has a sneaky way of deceiving you into thinking you are working when you are really just busy. Nobody warns you in real estate school that you will be the marketing department, the admin department, the accounting department, and the person running every single appointment. Whether you are solo or on a team, all of it still lands on you. You are an entrepreneur, and that means you have to make sure all of it actually gets done.
The Numbers Tell the Truth
Alissa met a Realtor at the nail salon (on a day she was, in her words, looking like a homeless person) who is leaving a team she genuinely loves. Not on emotion. On facts. One requirement was three open houses a month for ten years. When she tracked it, those open houses had produced three closings in a decade. She is not making an emotional decision, she is basing it on facts and numbers. That is what treating your business like a business looks like.
The same logic applies to your brokerage split, your postcards, your paid leads, and every other dollar that leaves your account. What is the return on that investment? If you cannot answer that, you are not tracking, and if you are not tracking, you are guessing.
Professionalism Is Part of the Job
There is a difference between treating your business like an actual business and behaving in a businesslike way. You do not need to be best friends with all 1,000 people in your database. You can be warm and friendly and still keep a professional line. As Alissa says, when you put your work hat on, you approach it with a level of professionalism that makes clients respect you. The agent who feels pressure to be everyone’s bestie is holding a standard that is impossible to maintain long term, especially if you plan on selling more houses.
Have Rules and Communicate Them
Treating your business like a business means having rules and actually communicating them. Businesses have rules and expectations of their customers, and those rules get communicated. If you are a business of one with rules you never tell anyone, how would your clients ever know them? Tell your people that addresses go to email, not text. Tell them how the inspection window works. Run a real buyer or seller consultation with everyone, especially friends and family, so they all get the same process, the same rules, and the same buyer rep agreement. The bonus? When your friends see how good you are at your job, they stop thinking they are doing you a favor and start seeing you as the professional you are.
Be the Boss and Be Efficient
Being the boss means scheduling the inspections yourself, stacking the general inspection, the termite, and the foundation check into one efficient window, and holding your ground when a strong personality tries to drive the car. It also means being honest when a price point or location is not a good business decision for you. Referring that client to the right agent and collecting a referral fee is not snobby. It is smart. Sometimes the most professional thing you can say is, “Renting one more year might actually be in your best interest.”
Treat Your Business Like a Business Every Single Day
This is how agents fail. They get so air-quote busy that they never make money, because the things keeping them busy are not the things that pay. The agent paying $9,000 a month for Zillow leads had to sell thirty houses just to break even. At what cost is your business running? Set aside at least one day a month to work on the business itself: your budget, your taxes, your LLC question, your CPA, your tracking. If you want to treat your business like a business, that monthly admin day is not optional, it is the whole point. You are a business. It is time to act like one.
Here’s what we cover in this episode:
- Why being busy in real estate is not the same as running a business
- Wearing all the hats: marketing, admin, accounting, and the actual job
- The nail salon Realtor who is leaving her team because of what her tracking revealed
- How to know your ROI on every dollar you spend
- Professionalism vs. being everyone’s best friend, and where that line really is
- How to set communication rules and actually enforce them
- Why the consultation matters even more with friends and family
- Treating every client the same: same consultation, same rules, same agreement
- Being the boss when a strong personality tries to drive the car
- When to refer a client out and collect a referral fee instead
- Why renting one more year is sometimes the honest, professional answer
- Working ON your business, not just IN it
Key Quotes & Takeaways:
- “Real estate has a way of deceiving you into thinking you’re working.” – Katy
- “She’s not making an emotional decision, she’s basing it on facts and numbers.” – Katy
- “Businesses have rules and expectations of their customers. If you never tell your clients, how would they know what the rules are?” – Alissa
- “You’re not trying to buy a house, you’re trying to act like you’re buying a house.” – Alissa
- “You are a business, but you aren’t acting like a business just because you got your real estate license.” – Alissa
Products, People & Previous Episodes Mentioned:
- Episode 113: Be the Boss (hustlehumblypodcast.com/113)
- Episode 198: Real Estate Side Hustles (hustlehumblypodcast.com/198)
- Hustle Humbly Community (hustlehumblypodcast.com/membership)
- Number Tracking freebie (hustlehumblypodcast.com/track)
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Music:
Straight A’s by Connor Price
The Good Life by Summer Kennedy
Be The One by Matrika
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