We're excited to announce a new panelist for our niche session, Laurel Starks.
Laurel will share how she drove her profit margin to 72% by focusing on her niche and reducing the overall production of her team. You read that right. It's an inspiring story.
With young kids at home, Laurel wanted to get back to more balance in her life while still making the money she desired.
Laurel decided to SHUT DOWN HER TEAM and focus on her niche, divorce real estate.
Laurel has been a real estate professional for 15 years now. So this isn't her first rodeo.
See, in 2012 Laurel thought she needed to build a team. After all, she had a lot of listings and certainly, they could be leveraged to do more, at least that is what all the coaches and experts kept telling her…. Eventually she bought into that idea, all in the hopes that one day she could focus less on production and have more time for other things, like traveling with her family.
So she started down the "team track". She took all the classes on hiring, recruiting, training, leadership etc…etc...etc...
She signed up for all the "stuff." She got the sexy CRM, she was dominating social media, she spent money on Google PPC advertising… she was ALL IN on building a team.
And she grew it… 10 full-time agents, 4 admin, 2 ISAs.
As you might guess her production grew.
From the outside, it looked awesome. 10 agents, 4 staff members, 2 ISAs, it looked like she was living the real estate dream…but it didn't feel right.
And worst of all, when the agents on her team would fail or leave she would take it personally. She felt like it was her fault. She found herself asking if she was training them enough? Was she holding them accountable correctly?
Then Laurel looked up one day and realized her sales team not only hadn't created the freedom she desired but it was, in fact, it was moving her further away from freedom.
Despite her team production continuing to grow (all the way to #2 in her region), her business had become the central figure in her stress. AND on top of that, she had some major personal financial goals including
A remodel of her bathroom
Staying on top of taxes
Investing in real estate
And she realized she was actually getting further and further away from her goals.
Then one day she had a revelation… while sitting in "spreadsheet heaven" as she likes to call it.
She split out her sales team's P&L from her personal "niche business" P&L…
And despite being number one in her office, and one of the top agents in her region, she realized her niche business was funding the existence of her team unprofitable team. While overall she was profitable, her sales team was actually losing money, month in and month out…
Being number one wasn't enough for Laurel. She had important financial goals and if she gave up the "sales team" she could have already met her goals.
While on the phone with her coach, standing in her bedroom overlooking her pool… Laurel had this moment, her coach said to her, "why don't you blow it up"… She said it was the most liberating and scary thing anyone ever said to her.
It was time to get true to her real priorities…
If you are number one in the world, but losing money, who cares?
She decided that a ranking was not more important than her financial goals and being more present with her kids.
She decided to shut her team down and focus exclusively on her niche.
The next day, Laurel did the following…
* She let everyone go except one person.
* She cut her expenses by 85%.
In the past 3 years since she shut down her team, things have gotten so much better for her.
She closed 20M in production in 2019 with an average of 3.41 list side commission (yes really), she operates at 72% net profitability, and more importantly, Laurel has met all 3 of the financial goals that had escaped her for over 5 years.
Her dream home remodel is done.
Her Taxes are paid.
She bought her first investment property.
I shared Laurel's story with you because it is an incredible and significant story. Too often, as real estate professionals, we're told the next step for us is to build or expand our team. The truth of the matter is, that isn't always the case and Laurel is proof. She had the courage and belief in herself to do something that was hard, that could have caused a blow to the ego, but she did it.
We've talked about disruption proofing your business, and I believe no matter what market you're in, no matter what your current model is, having a niche like Laurel will insulate you from market volatility and external forces. Not to mention, she is a leader and example of being true to oneself. How amazing is her story? I want to learn more from her!
Please buy your ticket now to come to Next Level Agents Live 2020.
It's only $299 until (2/29/20) when prices go up. The event is April 23rd-25th in Scottsdale, Arizona. We have a killer line up of speakers here for you, including Mark Willis the former CEO of Keller Williams.
Don't delay. This is going to be THE BEST real estate conference of the year.
See you soon!
P.S. A big topic at our event is reconnecting and working your database to get listings. If you haven't had a chance yet, please check out the video marketing plan on the homepage of Vyral Marketing's website. We're customers, and if you don't have a consistent touch plan in place for your database (ideally with video so people can see and connect with you), you're missing out on business. Frank the CEO is speaking on this topic and he will share what's working for us so you can model and copy it. Please make sure to see what they are up to….
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