This virtual real estate broker hereby declares freedom. Freedom from the traditional bricks-and-mortar business models that worship the institutions of the real estate industry. I have always been an iconoclast who is bored by the weekly office manager giving his inane speech about “get out there and get those listings.” I have always been sensitive to lies being clothed with smiles and the we’re-here-to-help-you pep talks by brokers who fully intend to get rich off all the ignorant agents they are using.
The very institutions in the real estate industry that claimed to take our membership money to help us . . . have become behemoths intent on supporting their own executive salaries and bonuses. Associations created to protect consumers have become massive organizations that manipulate and deceive the very people they claim to protect.
Like the saying, “Trick me once, shame on you, trick me twice, shame on me,” agents all across the United States seem to refuse to take responsibility for their own futures. As if they had no discernment at all, behaving like lambs to the slaughter, they glibly obey their traditional brokers and their associations, going to the office everyday like automatons, attending unproductive meetings, standing around the water cooler, chit chatting about some property that another broker sold, making a couple of cold calls, looking at the MLS online and surfing the Internet for hours under the guise of working.
Of course, they would defensively deny all this, but it is far too common today in the big offices. Not just big offices, but many offices around the country, even small ones. Greg Swan is quite right (talk about an iconoclast) when he wrote, “What we teach is independence, the recognition that you alone are the source and the sink, the alpha and the omega of your knowledge, of your business and of your success or failure.” See The Unchained Epiphany. Greg goes on to claim that he is “a rude, crude and vulgar man,” but I find his views refreshing, and of course his views (and mine) will be despised by the traditionalists.
I am a man who loves freedom. I love freedom in how I do business and who I work with. I love the way technology and the Internet has facilitated my freedom, but it’s not about the tools: It’s about freedom.
Free from working for idiots (come on, who hasn’t work for an idiot?). Free from blunt business models that no longer work. Free to earn my commissions without giving so much away to a broker who does nothing for me. Free from boring conversations while standing around in a beautiful building (that is probably going into foreclosure). Free from mandatory floor time (OMG!). Free from holding open houses that don’t sell the houses (while lying to listing clients).
Free to develop my own unique business model that suits my work habits and my gifts. Free to work whatever hours I want. Free to be creative. Free to write and format and publish my own eBook to my unique niche, like the one shown here. Free to do things no one else in the building is doing. Free to succeed or fail on my own. Free to enjoy my success and financial rewards, because I created and built the business without interference from brokers trying to get into my wallet every time I turn around.
Free to use technology and Internet marketing systems I create and therefore own. No one can take my business from me. I love that kind of freedom. I love being a virtual real estate broker. What a contrast to the traditional brokerage models that slowly suck the life out of their agents and then expect their agents to thank them for letting them live.
As Dennis Miller often says, “I don’t want to get on a rant here,” but far too many agents in the country are watching the train go by and wondering why their business isn’t thriving. “It’s the real estate recession!” Oh, right. That’s a good excuse. There are a thousand excuses, but how about just taking personal responsibility? How about doing something to make your future bright? How about finding a business model that really works today and working it hard? One would not think this is such a novel concept, but apparently it is.
In my business, part of my time is spent recruiting agents, and in this process I’ve learned a few things along the way. Agents all around the country are whining but unwilling to make the hard changes necessary. Some have suggested that real estate agents are just plain lazy. There’s some truth to that. But many are not lazy. Still they are more than ready to “poo poo” any new idea, all the while wallowing in the pigsty that they complain is no longer producing for them. What, the phone isn’t ringing off the wall anymore? What, people with bags of money aren’t walking into the office anymore? Surprise! The entire industry has morphed, and it’s not just that some agents didn’t see it coming–they still don’t get it even though it is here.
I love the real estate business. I love the new ways to market myself and my business and connect with buyers. The old way of writing a newspaper man a check and telling him to get me clients was soooo boring. And stupid. Now I have to take personal responsibility to build my business. I love my freedom as a virtual real estate broker.
April says:
Actually I just heard about virtual real estate broker and seems you pointed out a lot of advantages to be one. Sounds great! Good Luck!
July 11, 2011 — 12:06 am
Dylan Darling says:
I think you’ve hit the nail on the head. I’m still in a brick and mortar office, (well not there much anymore, but still hang my license there). But the company is ahead of the curve on the technology side of things. The problem is, most of the agents don’t touch the technology supplied by the real estate company. They still rely on what worked before the year 2000. Things have changed folks! I see it daily… the talk of doing all of the old habits. People ask in our office meetings, “why doesn’t the company advertise in the paper”. Why??? Because the paper doesn’t get results like it used to. Thats why!
Great post Chuck. I think the same thoughts.
July 20, 2011 — 8:25 am
Wayne says:
No doubt the system has changed and the old models are going away… It will be interesting to see what models actually win out in the long run. Will it be totally virtual…. or brick and mortar … or some combination.
One thing is for sure….. Change!!
August 30, 2011 — 5:13 am