It was mid 2017 and I was assessing my options. At the time, I was mid 50’s (I know, I don’t look it) and was taking a close look at my next 5-10 years, my retirement options, my financial plan with my family.
I was trying to figure out a number of pieces . . . my coaching practice, teaching opportunities, writing the book, how to do a slightly easier version of real estate, creating an accelerated retirement plan, and continuing to make a difference in the world. Questions I was asking myself included:
How can I make more money in less time?
Or how can I help agents make more money in less time?
What is my retirement plan?
Where do I want to be in 5 years? 10 years?
Is kw the right place for me to finish out my career?
I knew I needed more than the slow drip, drip, drip financial progress that was completely reliable on my next real estate sale. I desired a seat on a fast
er train to freedom with multiple sources of income. Millionaires, on average, have seven streams of income, and I sort of had two or three, and those were somewhat inconsistent.
Keyword here: freedom. Money was not my goal … freedom was the goal and money was the tool.
My tech friends seemed to always be assessing the next great opportunity for their career, watching the emerging companies, tech trends, and where IPO, stock, and equity opportunities existed. In the tech world, the big opportunities had a lot to do with equity. It occurred to me I should do the same (and it amazed me – still does - that more Realtors were not assessing their career & financial options from this angle).
My intention was to stay where I was, but I also knew I had to take a serious strategic look at my options to make sure I had the best plan in place. Loyalty had kept me in a place of not even looking – for years – and somehow it occurred to me that I owed it to myself, my family, my career, to take a serious look at my options and make sure I had the best plan possible.
The first step was that I opened my mind to other possibilities. But I was only going to make a move based on three things:
The foundation of great people, great leadership, great culture, great technology, great vibe, had to be solidly in place … without this, not even an option.
It would serve my clients.
It had to represent a significant financial opportunity over my current brokerage choice.
Right at that time, a good friend of mine moved from KW to eXp. And that good friend had been one of the directors of the KW luxury division, a real head-turner. I called her up, said we need to meet, but don’t try to recruit me; I want to know what you know, but don’t try to recruit me. So we had lunch.
Three hours later, my head was spinning. In that short amount of time, I realized there was an option that met the 3 criteria. I saw that I could do the same amount of real estate sales at eXp and make a lot more money in the process. A lot, like this …
$322,456
I love a good spreadsheet and have kept track, month by month for 4+ years, of my financial progress at eXp comparing it to what I would have made had I stayed at kw. On Dec 31, 2021, I was $322,456 ahead of where I would have been had I sold the same amount of real estate at kw during that time. Ahead $322k in 4 years! For me, that's huge! (And I'm not even a top top producer - I have dialed down my sales to focus on helping agents ... if I had been a top top producer like some of you badass friends I have, then the number would be significantly higher. If you qualify as an ICON agent, you get $16k in stock - your cap back - any year you hit that mark ... what?!!! I know, it's amazing!)
What if your number was $100k? or $50k? What would that do for you? What vacation would that fund? What real estate would you invest in? What debt would you pay down? What shoes would you wear? What would your spouse or SO say about an additional [fill in the blank] in the bank?
And my numbers just look better & better because of:
· Lower split
· No royalty
. No franchise fee
· Revenue share
· Stock
So why did I move my business to eXp after 16 good years at my previous brokerage? I moved because I owed it to my family to move our plans forward at a faster pace! We sell real estate because we love the business of helping people. And we run our businesses to fund our lives. What if you could fund it better?
If you are curious and would like to take a closer look, there are tons of resources right here on thenelsonproject.org and/or click here to schedule a chat with Julie: https://calendly.com/thenelsonproject/interested My promise to you … I’ll only recruit you if you want and only if eXp is a good match for you and your family and your situation and your goals.
Love,
Julie
