*Creating a great brokerage career

One of KJF Partners’ Core Values is:

“ We are driven by our personal commitment to create value for our investors, teammates and brokers.”

To serve our broker partners, we send occasional emails that focus on things that I have learned through my brokerage history or that I notice from my current role on the principal side of the business. A couple of conversations with young, struggling brokers recently has been the impetus for sharing my experience on this topic.

Brokerage is a very challenging business and, almost everyone that I know, has considered quitting at some point in the early part of their career. My personal point of challenge came when I was at about nine months in the business. I was working 12 to 15 hours per day, hadn’t made a dime, and just didn’t know if I “had what it took” to be successful. It was a very difficult time for me and I really felt like quitting and going back my old job in the medical business. Luckily, in a moment of objective honesty, I admitted that, while I was very busy, I was not productive. I was not consistently doing the one thing that would truly launch my career; I was not on the phone enough to generate the appointments necessary to have a consistent deal flow. Although I felt beat up, I knew I was not giving brokerage my best shot. The best deal I ever made was the one I made with myself following that realization. For the next six months, I was “all-in.” My primary goal became setting at least one principal meeting every day before leaving the office. By taking that one, simple action, my business improved dramatically over the next few months. It still took me several additional months to cash my first check but, since then, I have been lucky enough to have had a great brokerage career, start a brokerage company that was a dominant player in our market and have gone on to a rewarding business as an investor. Committing to and taking action every day on one basic business development action helped me turn a very tough start into a great career experience.

In my experience, a successful commercial real estate brokerage career involves consistent, proactive business development activities with being on the phone as the #1 differentiator amongst those who succeed and those that do not. If you are falling short in this area, adjust now and create daily habits that will lead to a great brokerage career for yourself.

Happy Hunting!

Joe

Joe Faris
KJF Partners, Inc.
Cell Phone: 949-275-5038