You’re A Successful Agent, But Wondering… What’s Next?

You’re happy with your business, but change is coming. What’s next for you?

You can try to justify that the market is not changing to yourself and your clients, but reality has to set in at some point. There may be some outlying areas of the country that haven’t been affected by the incredibly fast mortgage rate increases, but as a whole, the market has already started to change.

You are successful in your career, and life, things are good. But if the market slows significantly or even goes into a correction, do you want to go through all of that again? I hated short sales; but did them, and I did pretty well on REO’s, Relo’s, and some probate sales in the great recession. But do I want to do it again? I don’t know.

If I were a younger, more aggressive agent, like I was back in 2007, hell yeah. I would be all over that right now. I would be learning as much as I could about the last downturn and making my plan. But for those of you that are like me, and aren't sure that we want to go in that direction, what do we do?

I told Susan last night that if it weren’t for our moms, I would sell our house and rent a condo near a beach in Hawaii, just spend the next two years focusing on coaching and being a beach bum. Doesn’t that sound great? Then when all of the dust has settled, come back, and buy back into the market with as many homes as I can buy. That may be one option for those of you without parents, or kids, to take care of.

What are the other options? Well, that depends on each of you individually. Change always creates opportunity. How can you take advantage of that change and create new business? One option is to do something you’ve always dreamed of doing. Something fun that can make you some money while doing it! I’ve tried to convince Susan that I need a new bass boat so I can start fishing tournaments. Somehow, she doesn’t think a $100k boat will improve my fishing enough to allow me to make money on the circuit. How dare she!

If you’re financially set, there are a ton of options for you. Retirement is one that I think most of us think about. But what does retirement mean for you? I know I would never be able to fully retire, I would drive myself and Susan nuts. When the time comes, I will most likely be “semi-retired.” Meaning I don’t market, other than maybe a letter every quarter to my narrowed-down sphere, and I only work via referral. Any other business can be referred out to a couple of my most trusted agent friends for a modest referral fee.

Other agents in the “hasta la vista” mode may sell their practices to a younger, aggressive agent who will take care of their clients as well as they did, and of course, kick back a certain percentage for a set number of years to you. Others may bring in a partner to do all of the things they don’t want to do anymore. You can train the partner on how to be successful in the new market and let them do all of the work for a split of their business.

For those not ready to slow down, you need to do a mindset reset. Acknowledge that change is coming and know that you will be ready for it. You will plan for the worst while maintaining your current clients and business model. Then if the market changes for the worse, you will implement your plan so you can be just as successful, if not more, than you are now. The key here is to be mentally, financially, and strategically ready for a change. If the market doesn’t change dramatically, fantastic! Just continue with your current business model until you are ready to slow down. All of this is covered in my Plan Your Pivot program, designed especially for agents like you.

If you are in the sunset, or hasta la vista stage, of your career, or if you just would like to look for “something more” out of life, take a look at my Next Chapter program.  I would be happy to collaborate with you through your next chapter and help you discover what’s next!

For me, these changes bring the opportunity to help agents enjoy life a little more, have some fun, and remember that putting you, your family, and friends first is not only important, but it’s also vital for a successful life. As one of my favorite brokers, 11 Beaches Real Estate Group, says, “Don’t sweat the small stuff… and remember, it’s all small stuff!” Easy to say, not always easy to live by. But if you strive for that attitude, life will be much more enjoyable.

Thank you for giving me a piece of your time, please don’t hesitate to reach out if I can help in any way.

Brad