Think like a CEO: Why the Mindset Will Lead to Success

By Maddie Jostol, Marketing Manager 

Agents have traditionally been thought of as salespeople, which, is understandable since on the surface that’s what they do. They sell houses. But there is so much more to it than that. As a real estate agent, you’re running your own business.

You have to take care of everything from marketing, to selling, to transaction management, and even the nitty-gritty like keeping your financials straight and properly filing taxes. You have to be entrepreneurial in that you need to take responsibilities for your business’ successes as well as its challenges, and you need to get creative when it comes to growing your business.

Here are some tips to growing your real estate business by using a CEO mindset:

Focus on the bottom line:

At the end of the day, you’re working to make a living. Just like any CEO, you have to pay attention to your bottom like and focus on activities that drive revenue growth for your business.

Get a system in place to track your sales and your expenses. If you aren’t tracking the second half of that equation, you’re missing half the story. You should always begin the year with a financial goal and work towards that. It will serve as a benchmark throughout the year to ensure you’re generating the cash you had hoped.

Prioritize:

“The question I ask myself like almost every day is, ‘am I doing the most important thing I could be doing?’… Unless I feel like I’m working on the most important problem that I can help with, then I’m not going to feel good about how I’m spending my time.” – Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook

Many agents struggle with time – there are never enough hours in the day. Because you can’t do everything. Especially as an agent, you constantly have a lot of balls in the air. You need to be able to prioritize each and every day to ensure you’re spending your precious hours on things that will truly have an impact on your business. Technology comes in handy, here. Rely on a task management system that will assist you in keeping track of everything you need (and want) to do and prioritizing them to improve efficiency.

Look forward:

“You have to be very nimble and very open minded. Your success is going to be very dependent on how you adapt.” – Jeremy Stoppelman, CEO of Yelp

Change isn’t easy. However, our industry is changing rapidly, which means you need to set yourself up for success to ensure your business will grow along with the industry and market. Be flexible, embrace change, and make sure you stay ahead of the game by adapting your business as necessary.

Think outside the box:

Get creative and be innovative. It’s ok to follow trends and use proven methods, but take those to the next level. What else could you be doing? Where else could you take your marketing efforts? Drive business by thinking outside the box and delivering service that is a step above what else is out there. In order to stand out in today’s competitive market, your marketing efforts not only need to keep up, but they need to be ahead of the game. Leverage your brokerage brand and your personal brand and think outside the box to build your business.

So, although you already wear tons of hats, it’s time to put your CEO hat on and drive your business into a successful future.