The fence being the glass ceilings on progression and earnings, the office politics, the lack of autonomy, the presenteeism, the having to ask to take holiday, and all the same old, same old that comes with being an employee - need we say more?
Of course it’s not for everyone, but becoming self-employed is becoming a more and more popular choice for experienced estate agents.
So if you’re considering becoming a self employed ‘broker’ now could be the time. But first let’s have a look at what it entails, and see if it’s for you:
As a self employed broker, you’re not going to have a monthly basic wage coming in, and you won’t beholden to anyone either. Which means that you're going to become the master of your time, you won’t be selling any of it to your employer. You'll be responsible for making your own money.
In order to make a move to becoming broker you will need to have some money saved up to invest in your business and to pay your bills. Probably about six months worth to cover you before you have your first completion.
The cost of setting up your business on a platform such as Moveli is low. That is one of the major benefits of joining a brokerage over starting your own complete business (more on that later).
Rule 1: Make sure you have financial stability before becoming self-employed.
If you have worked locally in and around where you live for many years then you are a prime candidate and more likely to succeed as a broker. You will have a network locally and many homeowners will have bought and sold through you already. Your track record in the area means you’ll be much more likely to win listings. Simply put - you know what you’re talking about and have done lots of business locally.
Rule 2: Know your market and have a network.
In this Instagram day and age of 'side-hustles’ and the endless procession of easy successes, it’s easy to think that you are going to have the ambition and drive to succeed like anyone else. But unfortunately this is just not true.
It is going to be extremely tough, you will need a rugged determination and a will to succeed above anything else.
You’re also going to have to be clever and make the most of the little you have in the beginning and be able to take set-back after set-back when it comes. Over the years I have become convinced that this is the universe's way of testing you, to see if you really deserve to make it (don’t worry it doesn't last forever).
The good news is that joining a brokerage such as Moveli makes the whole thing much, much easier, and the chance of success far greater, quicker. You will be able to focus your energy and time into your strengths, winning, listing and selling or letting property… rather than the running of the systems, employees, marketing or bearing the financial burden of all the things required to operate an agency today.
Rule 3: Be entrepreneurial
Do you do it all yourself, or join a brokerage platform like Moveli? In short there is little to no advantage these days to build your own traditional agency business. That route has been superseded by the brokerage or ‘platform', but if that’s what you’re keen to build, then by all means go for it.
On the other hand if you want to build a successful agency then you can do it all on a brokerage ‘platform’ for a fraction of the cost and with a much higher profit margin.
You can often use your own brand (if that’s what you want), build teams and have the major outlays and business overhead covered by the platform.
Then you’ll find you’re either somebody who recognises the power of brand in estate agency, or not.
If not then it’s likely you will want to join more of an operating system platform, where the cost of the platform is the lowest possible, and you aren’t worried about what potential vendors will think about it.
Of course on many platforms it is possible to build your own brand, often referred to as ‘powered by’. But for the purposes of this conversation and the fact that it will likely be only you or at most a few of you under that brand (beautiful or not), we can consider this to have very little to no brand equity or power (only with the additional costs associated). Or certainly what a potential vendor would consider comforting during their consideration process, unless it is ‘powered by' a brand of note.
Why you should align with a brand
On the other hand if, like us, you believe brand to be very important when pitching for business - then join Moveli! In all seriousness, having the backing of an up-market brand is extremely important, it’s why agencies spend so much money and time investing in them. And why you should consider carefully your choice of which brokerage brand to align yourself with, should that be the route you take.
A good brand will allow you to consistently win better listings at higher fees.
A potential seller will always check out the brand you are associated with when selling, and the comfort this affords (or not) will be the difference between their choice, no matter how good you are as agent even if you are the world’s best salesperson.
The fact is, even if you win the instruction with a poor brand, that brand has not helped, but hindered you, made it more difficult and your job harder - even if this massages your ego in the meantime, it makes no sense. Aligned with a better brand you would win more and better instructions and make more money.
Costs of brokerages vary, but simply put, those with a ‘better brand' (and of course this is subjective) often cost only marginally more to be a part of. They offer more services and far superior marketing products (an important accessory of any quality brand) as well as a ‘better’ - read more experienced - network of brokers to associate with.
In short they deliver higher value, which leads us to our final rule of the day:
Rule 4: Let brand work for you rather than against you
So there you have it. Do you know what you're doing, have you got money to do it and are you motivated enough?
If so then our advice would be to talk with at least three brokerages, get a feel for what they offer, their brand, their network and ultimately their vision… it’s going to be the start of an exciting journey and you’ll want to be sure you set off in the right direction, if at all.
“The biggest risk of all, is not taking any risk.” Mark Zuckerberg
More info about becoming a broker here.
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Email: joinus@moveli.co.uk
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