The most important factor that will determine if a real estate agent will be successful is their work ethic. Many very successful real estate agents work 80 to 120 hours a week. The super successful ones will then take their profits and invest them into things like rental properties or other leveraged businesses to allow them to eventually not have to work at all if that is their desire. Besides work ethic, there are several other variables that will lead to a real estate agent’s success.
Self Accountability
Have you ever tried to lose fat or gain muscle, and failed at it trying to do it as a solo person? Most of us have, and the fact is, eating right, going out jogging, doing 100 situps, pullups, pushups, and jumping jacks is free and honestly easy to do at the end of the day, but we for some reason just cannot do it. However, when we spend money and join group coaching, we now have an accountability partner and the results happen.
This is true for real estate agents going solo or joining a real estate team. As a solo agent, you do not have a personal trainer waiting for you to show up, so most solo real estate agents just do not show up. On the other hand, a successful real estate team has a strong standard and expectation for you to show up and to do XYZ in order to be a part of the real estate team.
For most new real estate agents entering the industry, they came from a traditional W2 job. For many, they have done w2 work for a decade or two. This means they have shown up and followed a very simple standard operating procedure over and over. As a solo real estate agent it sounds simple, and for most, they believe it is simple and they will become all-star agents or at the least, replace their old income while working less and having more flexibility in their life.
A real estate team is a hybrid of an entrepreneur and a w2 employee. It blends both of them together to make an entrepreneur. Belonging to a real estate team is an at-will relationship. It is not an employee and employer relationship. This means if either party is not living up to either side’s standards, they can terminate the relationship.
As a solo real estate agent, nobody honestly interviews you. A real estate brokerage will make sure you can be a realtor and that you pass some very low-level expectations to have their name stamped on you for their liability reasons.
On the other hand, a real estate team will actually interview you over days and hours to get to know you. They will discover if you have prior skillsets and experience that suggest if your next logical step in your real estate career should even be in real estate as a licensed real estate agent selling homes, whereas a real estate brokerage’s primary worry is their liability and hoping you will bring in some revenue for them. A real estate team is spending a massive amount of money and time on you hoping for a return on their investment. Therefore, they will make sure you are a fit and they will hold you accountable too or usher you out if you are not living up to their expectations and standards.
Remember, on average, seven percent of agents do 93% of the business. Then 93% of the other agents fight over the leftover seven percent. It is widely known that roughly 87% of agents fail in their first five years in the business. NAR issued a report in 2014 on this. Then on top of that, most of the 87% of agents who fail over five years see their failure occur during their first year, and then they just hang in there over the next five years until they finally say this is not for me.
Real Estate Agent Business Knowledge
If you are a new real estate agent to the industry, you might have savvy business knowledge or none at all. For most new agents coming into real estate, they lack the core fundamentals of running a successful business, otherwise they most likely would still be focusing on their other successful business. The core basic fundamentals are:
- The ability to listen and come up with creative solutions to solve a consumer’s problem.
- The ability to market, advertise, and package it together to get it out to the general consumers that you have their solution.
- To truly be likable and approachable by a massive amount of people like a popularity contest.
- To have a high level of trust by the general population that they believe you have their best interest and you can get the job done in a very friendly, professional, and protective way.
Real Estate Agent’s Creativity
In college, we would commonly see a bell curve where, let’s say, 5% of the students would get the A’s and 5% would get the F’s, 10% would get the B’s and 10% would get D’s and 70% would get C’s. The difference between C’s and B’s, and A’s was just a little more work ethic and some wow creativity on an assignment.
In real estate, there is a lot of work ethic and creativity required. If it is getting a property owner to list with you, or selling a seller to accept your buyer’s offer, or it is getting your seller to understand the buyers won’t take their home in its current situation, etc.
There is a lot of negotiations on offers, and there is a lot of psychology keeping a deal together. As a solo agent, all of this is on you. On a real estate team, they have marketing and advertising departments, they have a full-service admin that guides your listings and escrows, there is a lead listing agent who handles negotiations of offers, counteroffers, and repair requests. They typically even have event planners and licenses agents who schedule appointments for their agents on their team.
Real Estate Agents Means to Invest Into Their Business
As the solo real estate agent, you are the one who has to spend the money to make the money. One of the first places a real estate agent should spend their money is on real estate coaching. You can easily spend $1000 to $2000 a month on a coach. Whereas a real estate team will provide coaching for you. In the next area, you would spend $1000+ a month on real estate leads. Whereas a team would provide you leads. The next area to spend roughly $1500+ a month on tools, platforms, websites, and systems. Whereas a real estate team would cover that. Then finally, you will need to spend roughly $3000 a month on your admin. Then if you want an office you should expect $500 to $1000 a month for one of those. As you can see, joining a real estate team makes a lot of sense financially, besides all of the other benefits of joining a team.
Are You a Likable Person?
If you have a small number of people that you know, this will impact your sphere return on investment (ROI). As a solo agent, your sphere is your key to getting into real estate. Most people have a small sphere, whereas a real estate team has a large sphere and a vibrant personality that everybody loves. When you join a real estate team you will get the energy of the team to help you personality-wise. I know that sounds funny, but it is true. You will begin to act and talk like them.
Plus, as a real estate agent on a team, you will get things to energize your sphere of influence. Most successful teams do four to six events a year for their agent’s sphere. They send out things in the mail, and they teach you how to call them and do pop-bys with them to become the popular relationship in their sphere. In turn, you can them to use you and refer you.
Do You Have a High Level of Trust?
You might be a really likable person, but the truth is, they do not trust you to handle selling their number one asset in their life. When you join a team, you get the trust of a successful real estate team. Why? The team has proven models, platforms, systems, and a brand already in place. You are training to sell the brand versus yourself.
Wrapping Up The Pros and Cons of Joining a Team or Being a Solo New Agent
New agents to the real estate industry should seriously look to become a team member on a successful team. When deciding between a team or being a solo agent, we have gone over the pros and cons, and for most new agents, we recommend seriously considering join a team.
Besides everything we have shared with you about working with a team, there is also a healthy work-life balance as an agent on a team. When you would want to attend an event or go on vacation, who will be handling your buyers, sellers, and closings business? As a solo agent, that would be you. However, as a team member, it would be the team.
The final piece of joining a team versus going solo is the place of belonging with a common purpose. As a one-person show, it is kind of lonely. Whereas, being an agent on a team, you very commonly and frequently communicate together. This alone makes it easy to answer joining a team or going solo. Many agents who join a team say they never realized how lonely they were prior to joining a team.
In closing, we hope you enjoyed this article on the pros and cons of a solo agent vs a team. Whatever path you take, we wish you a wonderful career in real estate.
