The First Steps to Starting Your Real Estate Business
Nov 18, 2021Congratulations! You’ve decided to make a huge change to your career and your life by becoming a real estate agent. Whether you’re licensed or are working towards your license, it’s about time you start thinking: what next?
Chances are that you got into this business to reclaim your freedom, time, and choice — but all of that requires you to actually earn an income. If real estate is your new full-time job, what should you be doing all day? And more importantly, what should you do on day one?
Simply put, these first days are about setting up everything you’ll need to run your business. Let’s dive into what that means and which tasks you should set out to accomplish right away.
Schedule your headshots
One of the first things you’ll want to schedule is an appointment with a photographer to get your headshots taken. You’ll want to hire a professional photographer whose work you like, and avoid having a friend snap some photos on an iPhone.
It’s important to realize that you are the core product of your real estate business, and you’ll want your face associated with your name. Ideally, you’ll include your photo on all your marketing materials, including your business card, listing flyers, presentations, website, and more. Putting in the extra effort to make sure these photos are great is essential and will be well worth it.
Order your real estate business cards
Once you have your headshot completed, it’s time to order some business cards! If for any reason your headshots are delayed, go ahead and order a small batch of simple business cards to tide you over. Research shows again and again that having your photo on your business card is ideal so you will want to replace them down the line!
Why is it so important to have business cards on hand as a Realtor? Whether you’re hosting an open house, attending an event in your community, or just cheering on your kids at a soccer game, you never know where or when you might meet someone who might be considering a real estate transaction. Always be prepared and have a professional, high-quality business card on hand.
Sync your mobile devices
Next order of business is making sure all the devices you’ll be using across your business are synced and share a calendar. As a real estate agent, a lot of your time is spent on-the-go. So whether you plan to carry an iPod, laptop, or multiple phones, make sure you aren’t caught al missing an appointment due to your calendar not syncing. Make sure all your devices are up-to-date, can hold a charge, and are ready to support you in your new career.
Update your social media accounts
It doesn’t matter whether you’re extremely active on social media or barely touch your profiles, you’ll want to make sure your profile clearly states you are a Realtor. If possible (and safe), make sure your profiles are set to public. Why is this?
One of the first things a potential client will do is look you up on social media. They’ll want to easily discover that you are a real, respectable person without having to search too hard. Before you even start to consider a social media plan moving forward, simply set yourself up to be easily found and recognized.
Share the news with people you know
Last but not least — nobody can sell a secret. It’s absolutely essential that starting day one, you start to spread the word and tell anyone who will listen what you do. There are a variety of methods and ideas for letting friends and family know about your career change, but even more important, is that you don’t hide what you do. This can be an adjustment from other careers where you might be used to keeping your job to yourself. New real estate agents succeed when they spread the word at every possible opportunity. Make it your mission from day one to let people you interact with know what you do.
The bottomline is that these may feel like small steps to getting your business going, but they are essential. You need to lay the right foundation before you start getting clients and building a sustainable flow of business. Check these boxes and you’ll be ready for what comes next.
