By Jake Dixon
Odds are you got into real estate for freedom, flexibility and financial gain. And yet, if you are like most new agents, you have quickly realized this is a challenging business.
Roughly 87% of new licensees end up not renewing their license within the first two years. Combine that with the fact that more than 90% of agents sell 24 or fewer homes per year. Yet when asked, the majority claim they want to earn six figures per year.
So, what gives? Why is it so out of balance? What do the “successful” agents do to create a sustainable business compared to those who become a negative statistic?
Rookie agents often make things more complicated than they need to — then hide behind that manufactured complexity to justify failure. Agents end up finding evidence to support their beliefs, saying things like, “See, I told you so: This is hard.”
Other agents end up living in scarcity, thinking there is not enough opportunity available to achieve their own goals. They play the blame game, pointing the finger everywhere but themselves, eventually saying, “I’m going to go get a real job.” But they’re turning their back on an amazing opportunity.
Success is not easy, but it’s also not complicated. To build a sustainable, profitable, consistent business, you must get granular: Chunk things down into manageable pieces. It takes 90 days to create or lose momentum in business, so what we do today may show up three months later. A farmer doesn’t plant his crops and expect to see the fruits of his efforts tomorrow. It takes time. Cultivate the ground, plant the seeds, water them and then allow time to produce the fruits.
Similarly, for most agents, the question is not, “What are the 101 things I need to do?” Rather, the question becomes, “What are the simple things I need to do repeatedly to produce the fruits I am seeking?”
Success always happens by the slight edge. Errors in judgement, repeated over time, compound into failure and disappointment. But disciplines, repeated over time, can compound into massive results. Success can be boring, tedious and even mundane. Sometimes, though, we must accept that boredom is associated with success.
Consider this: Would you rather have $1 million cash upfront or a penny that doubles every day for a month? We know the temptation is to take the $1 million cash, but with time, patience and consistency, the penny will yield $5.3 million.
So, where am I going with all of this? Let’s do some math together.
After working with thousands of new agents over the years, I see a consistent conversion rate of 2% from contacts made to business opportunities. In other words, every 50 real estate conversations ultimately yield one new piece of business. Knowing this to be consistently true over time, there is a formula to building a sustainable, predictable real estate business that earns six figures per year.
What if you simply spoke to five people per day about real estate and you worked five days per week for 50 weeks out of the year? Five contacts x five days per week = 25 contacts per week. The compound effect totals 1,250 real estate conversations over the course of the year. If we take those 1,250 real estate conversations apply the 50:1 ratio, that gives you 25 sales. Simply put, five conversations per day for five days a week over 50 weeks of the year can yield you 25 sales: a six-figure income in real estate.
This is the true meaning of consistency. It’s having faith over fear, trusting that you are showing up every day doing the work. Although these results are not guaranteed for everyone, how many agents are really repeating this activity over time? As the statistics prove, not many.
In closing, what is easy to do is also easy not to do. This is deceptively simple. Many agents overcomplicate things because they are convinced it could not be this simple.
So, get out there! Have five conversations per day, five days a week, for a year — and report back to me in 12 months. Your future self is thanking you.
Jake Dixon is founder and CEO of The Locker Room Real Estate Coaching and Training.
