Many know my story of joining the industry in my late 20’s, while living in a basement of a strangers town home and feeding my two kids on food stamps. Well, through an insane amount of networking and marketing, to go along with referrals and always making sure I have the best terms, I broke $1 million in commission in 3.5 years.
Nobody in my family comes from money, so this is huge for me, and I can sleep at night knowing I did it honorably and did right by my clients, while charging a 1.5% broker fee while the industry average is 2%.
I’m incredibly grateful to everyone who’s trusted in me with their financing for rental properties and referred me to other investors. I’ll continue to pay out referral fees of $500 or more for every transaction that closes to show my appreciation.
It took 277 closings and 3.5 years, but I did it.
Here’s what I contribute it to and what I encourage other entrepreneurs to focus on:
- Don’t work harder, work smarter. Find a way to do 10 hours of work in 5, while it still being great quality.
- Don’t be afraid to spend money to grow your brand/business.
- Don’t be a cheapskate with your employees. If you pay your employees based on the companies growth and performance, they’ll feel excited to work more efficiently, which will grow the business more.
- Always be adding more deals. I usually have 20-30 files going at once. When I had 35, I was still marketing like a madman. At any moment, you can lose half your business, so stay hungry.
- Get a good CPA. It’s hard to grow your business when half your net profit goes to taxes.