Step Five: How to Launch a Kick-A$$ Real Estate Career Without Going Broke

By Patti Hornstra

Launch a Profitable Real Estate Career Now!

 

Most new real estate agents have no idea how to actually launch their real estate career after they get their license. Even worse, many of them waste a small fortune on costly mistakes-simply because they don't know what to do or how to even get started. &n

• Language: English
• Publisher: Team Eleven Publishing
• Release date: Nov 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9781736918135

Patti Hornstra

Patti Hornstra is a native of Richmond, Virginia, and a graduate from Virginia Commonwealth University with degrees in Marketing and Business Education. She married the love of her life, Curtis, in 1987 and together they have raised four children. They have adjusted nicely to life as empty nesters and eagerly await life's next great adventure. Patti is the author of Unholy Scandal: Based on a True Story and When He Was Anna: A Mom's Journey Into the Transgender World. Follow her at www.authorpattihornstra

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INTRODUCTION

Have you ever been to a small mom and pop restaurant where the owner’s kid was hanging out at a table near the back, working on a coloring book or playing a video game, maybe even folding napkins and sorting utensils? As the kid gets older, he starts cleaning and setting tables, eventually refilling drink glasses, working in the kitchen, waiting tables, and handling the cash register. Chances are that he’ll spend thousands of hours at work with mom/dad before he’s even old enough for a work permit. By the time he graduates from high school, he’s learned the business inside and out without even realizing it.

Wonder what the heck that has to do with launching your real estate career? Read on. It’ll make sense.

In the 1970s, that kid was me, although my family wasn’t in the restaurant business; instead, I hung out in the family real estate office. I was an only child (a manageable number for a parent who needed to take their kid to work). I had manners (meaning I knew when to be quiet). And I was pretty strong (a big help when you need to rearrange furniture to make a room look bigger). By the time I was an adult, I knew more about the real estate business than I knew about anything else. And I swore I would NEVER become a real estate agent.

Fast-forward to the late 1980s. I was newly married, had two shiny new bachelor’s degrees (one in marketing, one business education), and I ended up getting—you guessed it—a real estate license.

Over the past several decades, I’ve worked in the real estate business as an office administrator (I was the only one in the family who knew how to operate a computer in the early days), an agent (salesperson), an office manager, a broker/owner (of both a small, independent firm and a national chain franchise), a state-licensed instructor, a recruiter, a trainer, a mentor, and a coach. I’ve seen it all.

I know the real estate business; I’m good at it. And I love it, especially when I’m working with new agents; they’re truly the ones who make me love my job. I love watching them succeed, become outstanding agents, and make substantial incomes. All of which starts with Step Five.

WHAT IS STEP FIVE?

Step Five is the last step in my theory of what happens when someone gets a real estate license. In order to understand Step Five, you’ll need to know steps one through four.

STEP ONE: You take a real estate class (either in person or on-line), and you pass the class.

Yes, you’re on the way to getting that license!

STEP TWO: You take the state and national real estate exam (sometimes more than once, but don’t feel bad—they’re hard), and you pass both.

Way to go, this is happening!

STEP THREE: You interview with a few brokerage firms, and find the one that’s (hopefully) a perfect fit for you!

Best decision ever!

STEP FOUR: You finally have that license in hand, and it’s time to get the party started.

Dollar signs are everywhere!

AND NOW . . .

STEP FIVE: You have absolutely no idea what comes next.

OMG, what do I do now????

Step Five is that scary part where you begin to question your decision to get a real estate license.

How do I get clients?

Why isn’t my phone ringing?

What am I supposed to do all day other than wait for my phone to ring?

Why does everything cost so much in this business?

Why did I get a real estate license in the first place?

Step Five is when you realize that getting that license in hand is just the beginning (and is actually the easy part), and no one really told you how to use that license after you got it.

Step Five is where countless new agents give up every year. They aren’t making any money, and they’re spending money on dues, leads (clients), and advertisements that they can’t afford in order to try to make some money. It’s a vicious cycle.

The goal of this book is to change that, to re-frame YOUR Step Five by showing you how to:

Find your first clients without paying to find them.

Build a business based on referrals.

Prevent costly mistakes.

Reach your income goals.

Become one of the best real estate agents out there.

This book will also show you how to:

STOP making career decisions based on emotion & START (or restart) your real estate career the right way.

STOP (or never start) paying for client leads & START expanding your sphere of influence and work with people you