Comb every inch of the internet long enough, and you will soon find plenty of businesses looking for an exit, looking for a lease assignment of their current premises to its next owner.
This makes me wonder, what is the reason for their exit? Sometimes it might be as simple as retirement, or other times it might simply mean that the business is not doing well. New management is required to rejuvenate its capitalistic machines.
Starting your own business has a high degree of variability to success. 90% of the time, even experienced managers have no idea what is going and how to solve an existing issue. Gone are the days when simple arbitraging can net you a healthy margin… Unless you are well connected enough.
That being said, running your own real estate business as a real estate salesperson has many advantages as compared to starting your own business.
Having your own business can be fun as you have free rein on how to exercise different strategies to grow your customer base. However, starting your own business can have a lot of challenges as mentioned above.
I have previously run (and failed) a count of 2 businesses that mainly revolves around arbitraging.
An ancient Chinese proverb says, "Failure is the mother of success.” I find this to be very true. Learning from past experiences, I‘m running a marginally successful one which is more service-oriented. This should be a good position for me to write an article on this subject matter.
I feel that becoming a real estate salesperson is very similar to running your own business, without some detrimental factors. This article focuses on the advantages of having a real estate career.
Direction
Joining a real estate agency provides you direction throughout your self employed life. Being a real estate salesperson is a tried-and-tested method that has already been practiced for many years. It provides self-employed individuals a clear way forward if they are willing to put in the hard-earned effort.
I will be lying if I mention that it is a bed of roses in the real estate industry. It is a dog-eat-dog world out there. Hence, find a trustworthy manager who has been in the business, and learn from them. They will be able to share your experiences with you on how to proceed.
Besides, being a real estate salesperson does not have much overhead cost as compared to starting your own business. Such overhead costs can be space rental, manpower costs, inventory costs, and much more
As a real estate salesperson, most of these costs are not present when starting, and it is only required should you decide to take on managerial positions.
Starting, most of the overhead costs will be marketing expenses, renewal of licenses, and continuing professional development lessons.
A Tried and Tested Product
The avid wantrepreneur will come to a time where they will have dreams of pushing out a rare highly valued product or service and be a successful unicorn in a sea of startups.
However, this product is not yet tried and proven to sell in your target market. The stages of product testing will usually take years until a success model is ready for the market. Should you be keen on pushing out a Minimum Viable Product (MVP), be ready for huge sums of sunk costs. Just seeking your family and friends' opinions if your idea is feasible is just not enough.
These risks are not anticipated by most people. As a real estate salesperson, you are being made to sell a product that is most wanted and needed by people!
Shelter forms the support in Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs and as a basic need, it is highly required by all human beings.
Real estate is a product that everybody requires for investment or their own stay. This reduces the variability in your business and allows you to focus on other aspects that are important to the sale.
One-Man Operation
Starting up a business requires plenty of manpower roles that focus on different aspects of your business such as Human Resource, Sales and Operation.
Some specialists recommend selected roles over others when starting, but we will not dive into that debate.
All a Real estate salesperson is required to do is market and transact the property, with the accompanying paperwork. Processing of commissions is done by the agencies.
The moment your network increases you can source for additional help. Search for a personal assistant to arrange appointments for you. Grow your sales team so that when you decide to take a day off, they can conduct viewings for you.
However, all these are additional help that you can do without, and your real estate business is still functional.
Also, keeping your team lean helps you to keep your business remain resilient during challenging times. The COVID-19 epidemic is a good example of companies expanding too fast and collapsing under their weight.
If you are interested in hiring real estate salespeople to be operating in the same team as you, the standard practice is that there will be no basic salary. Real estate salespeople are strictly commission-based workers who are only paid upon a successful transaction. Of course, it's entirely up to you if you decide to pay them a basic salary.
Non-Restrictive Work Hours
Tired of reporting to the office at 8 in the morning and knocking off at 6? You get to decide your hours in Real Estate. This can be very challenging as you tend to lose track of how many hours you put into.
With the majority of the world population now working from home, most of them tend to complain of being overworked. This is the case for Real Estate salespersons for the longest time! Without dedicated workspaces and also, constantly moving between different properties to conduct viewings.
Some viewings are done in very short notice and you have to be prepared to make time for it! This means you will have to interrupt personal events to cater to your work life!
Part-Time
If you are scared of starting a new business, or joining Real Estate right from the start because of time commitments to your current job, starting part-time might be the option for you in the meantime.
As with all other functions, recognize that what you put in will be your eventual reward and you are required to put in the time and effort required outside of your normal work hours.
Are you capable of making that balance?
Summary
Being a real estate salesperson means that you are more towards working to a self-employed individual rather than having your own business. However, the advantages of being in real estate is more substantial than starting your own business.
However, being in the real estate business is not as scalable as starting your own business, as there is a lack of proper roles and functions.
When things get hectic, you should be able to plan your time well and be flexible enough to schedule things around important events.
Interested in being a real estate salesperson, or just starting a business in general? Contact me (Joshua) at +65 96329840 or send your queries to estatemagnates@gmail.com! I love to connect with like-minded individuals!
The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author, and not necessarily to the author’s employer, organization, committee, or other group or individual. The author does not accept any responsibility whatsoever for any harm or loss arising from accessing or relying on information contained in this blog post.