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Stages of Building A Real Estate Business

Stage 1: The Foundation – Building Through Your Own Effort

Stage 1 is all about earning income from the fruits of your own labor. At this point, you’re running a one-person operation—no assistants, no team. You are the business. The focus here is on meeting new people, building relationships, and developing the fundamental skills of real estate.


The reality is, many agents never move beyond this stage. They either lack the motivation or resist the personal growth needed to progress further. At this level, one-to-one coaching usually isn’t necessary. What agents in Stage 1 need most is skill development and group coaching—an environment where they can learn proven strategies, see what successful agents are doing, and stay motivated by healthy competition.

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Stage 1 - Building a "Sphere of Influence!"

  • Sphere with 300 relationships; 50 qualified relationships

  • Monthly mailer to your sphere "Letter From The Heart!"

    • Systems oriented​

    • Coordinated with print shop

  • Monthly email to your sphere "Monthly Market Update!"

    • Systems oriented​

  • Weekly activity goals: 20 phone conversations, 20 personal notes, 10 pop-byes; 3 lunches; 2 events (this is the minimum activity level)

    • All activities are tracked ​

  • Weekly open house 24/26 weeks

    • 8 signs​, sign-in sheet mandatory with name & phone number, one-sheet about working with you

    • All visitors followed up with that night or next day

  • Color coded calendar with 21 hours of green and gold time.

    • Green time - cultivating new relationships & listing appointments​

    • Gold time - deepening existing relationships

      • Theme days for calling​

      • Organized and intentional pop-byes

      • Weekly lunches

        • Go with a plan​

      • Weekly personal notes

    • Red time - showing buyers homes, setting up listings, negotiating contracts, transaction management, morning routine (schedule, to-do list, email, voicemail, calling and pop-bye preparation), accounting 

    • Purple time - time with your family, loved ones, friends or time alone

    • Blue time - time dedicated to your health

    • Pink time - flex time that is open to work or family, but it has to be a listing appointment or a buyer appointment.  We don't fill flex time with other activities.

  • Successful habits to start the day!  Your first hour everyday....

    • Printed daily schedule​

    • Filled out to-do list

    • Confirm all daily appointments

    • Record your voicemail greeting

    • Print out your daily calls

    • Print our your daily pop-byes

  • Establishing a "Birthday Program" for your qualified relationships​

  • Setting solid boundaries with clients, family, friends. (They know when you are working and when you aren't)

  • Building skills 1-2 hours per week (this is a maximum because you need to spend the bulk of your time in relationship building mode)

    • Basic listing presentation​

    • Basic buyer presentation

    • Basic open house plan

    • Basic forms instruction and MLS instruction

    • Creating market analysis reports

    • Creating market profiles

  • Hosting 1 special event every 3 months with your sphere (qualified relationships preferred)​

    • Ideas: holiday parties, welcome to summer party, Oscar party, Super Bowl party or another theme of your choice​

      • Goal is to have a minimum of 10 people​

  • Selling a minimum of 1 home per month; 5 referrals per month

  • Consistently closing $15,000 per month

Stage 2: The First Hire – Expanding Your Capacity

Stage 2 begins when you make your first hire, typically an assistant. This step is both exciting and challenging. I personally went through seven assistants before finding the right fit, and I’ve seen how quickly a business can unravel when that first hire leaves unexpectedly.

In this stage, I’ll walk you through how to:

  • Decide when you’re ready to hire

  • Recruit and select the right person

  • Train and delegate effectively

  • Create a pay plan that works

The ultimate goal of Stage 2 is to free up your time so you can focus on high-value activities. By doubling the activities that generate results, you create the opportunity to double your income.

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Stage 2 - Gaining efficiency with systems.  (Everything in Stage 1 continued plus...)

  • Hiring an Assistant, training an Assistant, creating a system that both people understand, paying an Assistant, tracking an Assistant​

    • Advertising for an assistant

    • Organizing applicants & narrowing the field

    • Interviews

    • Screening

    • Pay plan

    • Daily team meeting​

    • Division of labor

  • Assistant duties:

    • Transaction management​

      • Training and checklists​

      • Client reviews

      • Status updates

    • Listing setup​

      • Expectations​

      • Training

    • Personal assistant duties:​

      • Schedule​

      • Confirm all appointments

      • Take care of all red time duties as possible

  • Implement gifting program - run by assistant

  • Social media implementation - run by assistant

    • agent stays out of social media​

  • Schedule is printed out daily by assistant and on your desk

  • To-do list is prepared by assistant and on your desk - delegation is completed

  • Refining and teaching your checklists

    • Buyer preparation checklist​

    • Buyer under contract checklist

    • Pre-listing appointment checklist

    • Listing appointment checklist

    • Listing under contract checklist

    • Daily to-do list for assistant

  • Sphere with 1000 relationships; 100 qualified relationships.  (These are the minimums.  Mailers should be a minimum of 200 which would mean you need 200 qualified relationships)

  • ​Weekly activity goals: 40 phone conversations, 20 personal notes, 10 pop-byes; 4 lunches; 4 events (this is the minimum activity level)

  • Open house 50% of the weekends

  • Add at least one builder to your sphere

    • Know the zoning ordinances where the builder wants to build​

    • Know where and what the builder wants to build

    • Know the resources of the builder

    • Plan monthly and yearly goals for land purchases and listings

    • Understand the projected performance calculations of the builder

    • Set expectations 

    • Finalize the relationship

    • Source the land

    • Source the money

  • Becoming a master of listings (Sphere focused)

    • Getting the listing​

    • Pricing a listing

    • Setting up a listing

    • Getting a price reduction

    • Negotiations

  • Creating 2 listings for each of your listings​ (Advertising with the listings you have)

    • Team oriented approach​

      • Mail pieces​

      • Canvassing

      • Open houses

      • QR codes

      • Directional arrows

  • Polished pre-listing process with video and scripts (holding yourself above the competition)

    • Introduction videos​

    • Listing process videos

    • Listing brochure for presentation

    • Enhanced pricing skills

  • Selling a minimum of 2 home per month; 10 referrals per month minimum

  • Monthly profit and loss statement

  • Monthly personal budget

  • Minimum monthly savings of 10% (20% ideal)

  • Consistently closing $30,000 per month

Stage 3: Market Leadership – Becoming the Expert

Stage 3 is where the years of hard work in Stages 1 and 2 begin to pay off. Now, you’re no longer just an agent—you’re positioning yourself as a market leader.

This stage involves:

  • Building channel accounts

  • Hosting seminars and workshops

  • Farming targeted neighborhoods

  • Adding team members to support your growth

Agents who have laid the proper foundation thrive here, often experiencing exponential growth. On the other hand, agents who skip the earlier stages and jump straight into advanced strategies often struggle. Without the skill, credibility, and confidence developed in Stages 1 and 2, clients can sense inexperience, and money spent on big initiatives often goes to waste.

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Stage 3 - Adding team resources and adding powerful activities.  (Everything in Stage 2 continued plus...)

  • Hiring 1-2 buyer's agents; 1 advertising coordinator; 1 listing coordinator/specialist

    • Team size minimum = 3​

  • Buyer's agent development program​

    • Pay plan

    • Training

    • Goal setting & expectations

    • Daily activity and checklists for buyer's agent

    • Daily, weekly reports due to team leader

    • Weekend expectations and goals

    • Schedule for buyer's agent

    • Client reviews

    • Discipline plan

  • Advertising coordinator development​​

    • Pay plan

    • Monthly, Quarterly and Yearly Goals & Vision​

    • Daily activity and checklists

    • Budgeting

    • Deliverables and completion dates

    • Weekly reports

    • Review dates

    • Schedule

    • Additional training required

    • Discipline plan

  • Listing coordinator​

    • Pay plan

    • Daily activity and checklists​

    • Expectations

    • Client reviews​

  • Monthly and quarterly goals​

  • Enhanced gifting program - run by assistant

  • Daily education for your agents and listing team

  • Sphere with 3000 relationships; 300 qualified relationships.  (These are the minimums.  Mailers should be a minimum of 300 which would mean you need 300 qualified relationships)

  • ​Weekly activity goals: 60 phone conversations, 20 personal notes, 15 pop-byes; 5 lunches; 2 events (this is the minimum activity level)

  • Open house 100% of the weekends - (Team leader does 25% of the open houses and the team does the other 75%)

    • Rock star open houses​

    • Sign-in sheets collected at every open house

  • Hosting and conducting 1 seminar every 60 days

    • Develop a seminar marketing plan​

      • Delivery methods​

        • Internet​

          • Social Media​

          • Youtube

          • Paid advertising​

          • Paid advertising​

          • Google

          • Paid advertising​

          • Website​

        • Print​

          • Newspapers​

        • Included with farm mailers

        • Included at open houses

        • Billboard

  • Channel account focused with a new theme every 180 days

    • Polished channel account process​

      • Targeted​ whales with potential to send minimum $100,000 GCI each year

      • Systems oriented with time management focus

      • Scheduled daily and weekly plan

      • Hiring program manager - key to project

      • Team included with touch points

      • Gifting program integration

  • Farming 500-10,000 rooftops minimum​

    • Mailing 1 piece - 2x per month​

    • 1 Magazine drop annually/ semi-annually

    • Dedicated website in the farm

    • Seminar integration/ advertising

    • All expired listings called/sent advertising plan with CTA

    • Separate Luxury Farm with minimum 500 rooftops

  • Minimum of 10 listings at all times

  • Selling a minimum of 5 homes per month; 25-40 referrals per month

  • Monthly profit and loss statement

  • Monthly personal budget

  • Minimum monthly savings of 10% (20% ideal)

  • Consistently closing $100,000 - $200,000 per month. (minimum)

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