A Healthier Way

Submitted by Heidi Marsh of El Dorado Hills, CA

What does a healthy business look like? 

When I started in real estate, one of the core lessons I built my career on is the understanding that being a Realtor is a business. Simple, right? I was trained to look at net not gross, to track all expenditures, to have a formula for what percentage of GCI should be allocated to any given area of our business, etc. It was priceless training.  (Unfortunately, that training became the compelling reason I left my original brokerage because running the numbers I was a trained opportunist and I knew Connect was something I could not pass up. But that is a story for another day.)

So what does “health” look like in this industry?  Health, particularly in this climate, is about keeping costs low while still implementing the right tools. Health is maintaining your quality of life while still serving your clients. It’s about beginning with the end in mind.

Do you have an exit strategy or will you be pushing contracts not daisies when the time comes? 

I say this with some humor, but really—this is a new market in America. Lives have been turned on their ear and we must, as Realtors and business people, develop a strategy that allows us to thrive and not just survive in the next decade.

Many years (don’t ask… won’t tell) in the title and escrow industry gave me a unique perspective into a broad range of brokerages. Without a doubt, I knew I needed a brokerage model that created leverage and retirement. I made the best decision, at the time, to go with Keller Williams. So… what has changed in the last 6 years? Umm… everything!!!

In one amazing green and orange swoosh, Connect has created a true future for all of us. It’s a new day and a new way to do real estate that not only promotes health in your own business but allows you to give your fellow agents and peers in the industry the same opportunity. 

Another significant lesson I was taught in my early days was “win-win or no deal”. This is why I am at Connect: because we are positioned to continue to make the “win-win” real. It’s not for lack of desire that the win-win became weak in some of the other models, rather, it’s because the model shifted. Brick and mortar deplete resources and revenue and make it a numerical impossibility for the brokerage to provide abundance. The Connect model is built and designed to embrace the future of real estate.

Most brokerages today compete with one another on the same playing field. They fight over a limited amount of business to their collective detriment. Connect is playing on a totally different field. The technology, cost savings, compensation, and retirement plans are not even offered by the other brokers in the market. They have created a “value innovation”  strategy that no one else has.

I am more excited today than I was at the first Connect vision meeting in October of 2007… we have far surpassed our offering to our agents and the future is bright indeed! 

Now go help somebody learn a healthier way to be in business in Real Estate!

Click here to learn more about joining Connect.

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Heidi Marsh is a Connect Realty Agent in El Dorado Hills, CA.
Connect with Heidi:
Website
Office Phone: (916) 240-8035
Cell Phone: (916) 240-8035
Heidi@ConnectRealty.com