On Wednesday, July 28, we hosted our monthly YPN breakfast at our home base, Manny’s Deli. We were so excited to get back together in person, connect with our peers and devour advice from local industry experts. You can stay up-to-date on upcoming YPN events by following the YPN Facebook page!
READ SOME KEY TAKEAWAYS:
Mo kicked off the morning’s breakfast by sharing two pieces of advice. The first was to find a mentor and learn from them often. Not only is our real estate community packed with experts who have figured out ways to be successful, but they’re also willing to share what they know! Ask, ask, ask.
The second was to not only establish goals and write them down, but to also plan them out. What activities do you need to do daily, weekly, etc. to hit your goals? Break them down, and suddenly, they’ll feel that much more achievable.
Career-Boosting Activities For New Brokers Are Totally Doable
What activities did these rising stars do to build such successful careers early on? The list is lengthy and impressive, and even though each panelist shared a handful of tips, we compiled our favorites below:
- Becky treated it like a career by going into the office every day.
- Both Becky and Feras worked two to four open houses every single weekend.
- All three panelists utilized social media to reconnect with their sphere! It wasn’t just posting on stories, it was engaging with their followers through likes, comments and reactions.
- Becky established a strong, sustainable follow-up system.
- Feras approached the top five producers in the office and asked them for advice about specific practices.
- Michael concentrated on meeting people all the time and spreading the word that he’s in real estate.
Be Human, Because Future Clients Will Connect Through That
As you establish your presence as a licensed real estate broker on social media, don’t filter out your personal life completely.
However, that doesn’t mean your privacy goes away or that total transparency is advisable. Our panelists recommend keeping topics like politics out of your social media feeds.
Feras and Becky have especially leaned into “humanizing” their posts, as Feras described it. He shares his experience raising his puppy Leo which attracts a lot of engagement on social and in person.
“I mean, everyone loves dogs. It isn’t just social media posts. When I go to the dog park, I talk to the other dog owners there. Someone will introduce someone else, and their dog, and mention that their brother is looking to buy a house in the area,” he said. “And there’s my in to mention that I’m in real estate.”
Becky observed that ever since she began posting about her two-year-old, there has been an increase in young parents in her client base. They list her personal experience with her own child as a reason to work with her. “They know I can relate. I know what will be important to them,” she said.
Their clients know they’re dog owners and parents, and they trust them more because of those human commonalities.
All three panelists use their personal social media profiles to talk about their business, forgoing official business pages entirely.
Better yet, during the busy season, keeping up those “human” moments in your life like going to the gym, exploring a new restaurant for dinner, posting a beautiful picture of a local intersection, picking your vacation spot for a long weekend and countless other possibilities keeps people engaged with you and your online presence.
Bond over your love of basketball. You’re building a relationship when it’s time to talk real estate.
Whatever Your Systems Are, They Should Be Organized
Neither Becky nor Feras use an official CRM software, but they do have a tool where they track their database, follow-ups and their activities — Excel!
Feras manually updates his tracking sheets himself. A lover of mathematics, he enjoys tracking and calculating his money-making activities and deals. His love of manually tracking goes so far as to maintain a giant whiteboard with his goals and what’s top-of-mind for his business.
Despite receiving advice that cold calls were a surefire way to prospect and build business, they weren’t a sustainable system for Becky. She didn’t enjoy them, nor could she motivate herself to keep making them. However, that doesn’t mean she isn’t prospecting or tracking her efforts via other mediums such as events, social media and emails.
“Honestly, setting up canned email responses have been a huge time saver for me,” she said. “That might no be the most obvious system, but it really saved time.” She recently hired a marketing coordinator to help, but up until then, she too had been implementing everything herself.
“My number one advice to people new to real estate is to build a great foundation,” Michael added. “Treat every deal like it’s your first one.” He and his team organize their systems with checklists. Whether they’re representing a buyer or a seller, there’s a checklist for every aspect of the business.
No matter what tools you choose to invest your time or money in, consistency and organization are key to saving yourself stress.
The First Step to Handling Burn Out is to Protect Yourself
Finding time for vacation is a challenge for each one of the panelists. However, that didn’t stop them from working at carving our stretches of time to take a step back! Burnout happens to everyone to different degrees, but protecting your mental and physical health is tantamount to combating it.
Feras recommends finding a hobby to help you step away and recharge. He goes to dinner with friends, allocated 7:00 AM for his workouts and more.
Michael reiterated the importance of organized systems, since the stress and time they save will help prevent burnout. “Be uncompromising when it comes to time for yourself!”
“I have morning me time,” Becky agreed. “Stick to the boundaries you set, and set expectations with your clients, too. People will respect that.” She also recommended scheduling a day for follow-ups and check-ins to build routines and a timeframe your clients know you will reach out, no matter what.