5 signs you’re ready to become a self-employed estate agent

There’s no doubt that becoming a self-employed agent takes a huge leap of faith, even for the most experienced estate agents. So how do you know when you’re ready, and how can you maximize your chances of success?

I believe there are five key signs that indicate you’re ready and have a very good chance of being successful.

1. You can generate new listings

This is first on the list for a reason. If you can’t go out and find new listings to sell, you won’t be in business for long. 

If you’re currently employed as an estate agent, look at the business you’ve brought to the market over the past six months. How many of those listings are a result of your own prospecting efforts, and how many come from the brand awareness of the firm you work for?

If the majority come from the brand you represent, with sellers calling the office or making inquiries via the website, be cautious.

I’ve seen many agents who are great in the living room and can convert business, fool themselves into thinking they’ll have the same success when they become self-employed. 

The reality is, unless you can generate the opportunities to get into those living rooms, you won’t have the chance to convert leads.

If you’re currently employed and generating a lot of business off your own back, that’s a HUGE positive.

However, if most of your appointments come from your local office putting valuations in your diary, I recommend focusing on generating leads yourself. It’s far easier - and lower risk - to test your ability to generate leads while employed than when you’re no longer receiving a salary. You could start by tracking how many valuations you can convert from buyer leads or from door knocking.

2. You’re financially ready

At Hortons, we’ve found it takes between two to six months for agents to see their first fee payments, with the most common time frame being around five months. This means you need to be financially prepared to go through that period. The good news is that if you’re a capable agent, you’ll be continuously building your pipeline during this time, and you’ll soon recoup the money spent during those first few months. Before long, those early days will feel like a distant memory, and your determination to push through will unlock potentially huge financial rewards.

Being financially ready really just means having a solid plan.

Some agents spend time building up savings so they can ride out the lean period without needing income. Others take out a business loan or take a part-time job to help them through it.

Without a plan, you could easily find yourself in financial distress - so don’t move forward until you’ve meticulously worked out how to manage that period.

3. You have no knowledge or experience black spots

While lacking knowledge in some areas doesn’t necessarily resign you to failure, having gaps in your experience or expertise can increase the risk.

While still in employment, seek opportunities to learn and strengthen your foundation for self-employment. If there are areas of the process you haven’t directly experienced, speak to your manager about training or shadowing others.

Agents with a 360-degree understanding of the industry tend to be more successful as self-employed agents in the long run. Choosing to delay your move until you’ve covered all your bases will pay dividends later.

4. You’ve already started building a personal brand

This ties into point 1 - your ability to generate new listings - because it’s really about people in your local community knowing YOU, not just the brand you represent. 

The earlier you start building your personal brand, the better. It will give you a platform to launch your self-employed journey from.

You can easily start doing this using social media while still employed. You don’t necessarily have to tell your employer that your plan is to become self-employed, but letting them know you’re going to start posting listings on your own social media pages, because you know local people follow you, is difficult for them to discourage.

You’ll be helping your current firm by promoting their properties, and in turn, your followers will begin to associate you with the local property market.

You could also help to establish your brand by creating content about local and national property markets, positioning yourself as an authority.

When you eventually announce that you’re self-employed, your followers will already be primed. Agents with a good following often benefit from the goodwill of their followers, with people recommending them to sellers right away. Without that foundation, you’ll be starting from scratch, which can slow down your progress.

5. You’re mentally prepared

If you’ve ticked the other boxes, the final step is mental preparation.

You can’t underestimate the mindset shift required when moving from employment to self-employment, where you’re suddenly completely self-sufficient. There will be ups and downs and challenges you didn’t anticipate. There WILL be days when you ask yourself is it all worth it.

Like with anything in life, nothing worth having comes easy.

The journey can be made so much easier with the right preparation, to minimise the number of surprises, and so you’re ready for anything - good and bad.

How can you mentally prepare?

Research brokerages - find one whose environment, culture, and brand align with your values, and spend time getting to know them. 

Speak to other self-employed agents about their journeys - ask them to share their bad days as much as their good ones.

Work on your business plan and be clear about what you’re going to do day to day.

Consume content from other self-employed agents and read articles on the topic. Become an expert in the journey you’re about to undertake.

Above all, circling back to my first point, much of the potential stress can be eased by seeing growth in your business. Preparing yourself by researching techniques to find new business is one of the best ways to do that, and ideally, you should be putting those techniques to the test while you’re still employed.

If you’re considering self-employment, I hope this helps. These ideas are the accumulation of all the experience we’ve gained watching agents go self-employed with us at Hortons since 2016. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment or email me.