If you want to make your future self proud, the first step is to stop letting short-term thinking prevent long-term results.

To achieve this, consider levels one through four of the Millionaire Real Estate Agent Organizational Chart.

A level-one agent is you and you alone. This model was typical up until about the 1990s. However, since then, the team model has grown in popularity, having really begun to blossom after the release of “The Millionaire Real Estate Agent” by Gary Keller.

After level one is, of course, level two. And it’s at levels two and three where I see a lot of agents encounter near-sightedness. Individual agents like to keep as much of their money as possible, but growing success means growing a team.

Many agents who hire someone to help them don’t necessarily want to pay them. Instead of hiring someone who can help them build systems to handle future volume, they hire someone they expect to simply go out and sell homes. This isn’t a sustainable route, though, and won’t lead to growth.

Remember the 80/20 Rule: 80% of the results are generated from the 20% of actions that matter most. As agents, the actions that matter most can be summarized by the acronym SLLAC, which stands for scripts, lead generation, lead follow-up, appointments, and contracts. So, at level two, you should be hiring someone to work administrative tasks like these.

Level three involves hiring another administrator, which many agents will be hesitant to do. They, again, lose sight of the future and focus only on the money they could keep by hiring a buyer agent. However, this will only dampen your long-term success. Hiring a second administrator is what will really bring you the momentum needed to move on into the fourth and fifth levels.

“Don’t let nearsightedness damage the growth of your business and your career. Instead, make your future self proud by focusing on long-term growth.”

The first administrator will typically be involved in transaction, listing, and client care coordination while the second administrator should focus on marketing and customer-oriented systems to streamline your real estate business. 

Finally, after the first three levels, it’s time to hire your first buyer’s agent. This is where you really want to consider your future success. You don’t want to hire just anyone. You’re not just hiring a buyer’s agent, you’re hiring someone who will play a leadership role in your future. 

As you approach the fifth level, you should have a director of operations looking over your administration team. And over your buyer and listings agents, you should have a lead buyer specialist and a lead listing specialist, respectively. Then, at level six, you will need to have someone fill a leadership role overseeing all agents, and also managing all recruiting, training, and accountability systems. You may also have a director of operations working to oversee your entire administrative success team. 

The point you’ve got to realize when considering each of these steps, though, is that it will take you between four to twelve months just to find and hire true talent. And it will take about three years to move those hires into leadership positions.

Also, past level four, recruiting, selecting, and training must become a priority. About 10% to 20% of your time should be devoted at this point to building your team so that you have a bench of talent at the ready. 

As you can see, it takes a long-term vision to achieve real success. Short-term thinking won’t help you grow. If you want to make your future self proud, you need to focus on more than what’s going on right now. 

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