BIG VS. SMALL

The playing field has gone flat. This has happened so fast, it is affecting how business is conducted today.

The dynamics are different now than they were just a few years ago, when giant firms dominated the business scene. Solo practitioners working out of home offices are carving out a growing piece of the business pie by offering professional-grade services with a personal touch...for less! Small upstarts are giving the big boys a run for their money. New technology and software empowers independents by allowing them to undercut heftier competitors saddled with high overhead. The era of nimble free-lancers offering full-service at a fraction of their larger competitors’ fixed cost is here. In a shrinking business world, being lean and light on your feet is key to survival!

As you consider migrating into the world of Independence, you are probably torn with self-doubt and skepticism. After all, leaving the familiarity of a well-known name brand company for a smaller organization can be scary and intimidating. Change, even when it is for the better, can be stressful.

Here are a few general pointers to help you make what may be the best decision you’ll ever make in your entire career.

Franchised brokerages pay royalties to their parent company. It’s a fact of corporate life. And those pesky fees are extracted from agents like you. Your friendly broker-manager collects the fees and sends them to the parent company. Notorious franchises shamelessly advertise 100% commission payouts in CAR And NAR magazines. This is misleading at best. Such bogus claims omit royalty fees, office fees and “advertising pool” fees affiliates must pay. By the way, it’s the agents who pay for those costly ads, as well as those clever corporate image-building campaigns we see from time to time on network television. Yep.

The agent pays for it all, either directly or in other roundabout ways. What a deal. The recruiting and image-building ads benefit the corporation. The affiliate agents pay for them.

At Independence Realty, there are no such mandatory "contributions" for agents to make. We are not a big corporate-owned operation. We are not part of a franchise. There are no office fees. Any advertisement Independence Realty places in the media is paid from our nominal 5% (or $595) transactional fee. There are no additional expenses to consider or hidden costs. Think about this: our nominal broker fee is less than the royalty charged by franchised brokerages BEFORE office rent, broker fees and whatever other fees they can dream up.

Many agents believe they owe their success to the name of the brokerage they work for. The “bigger” the name-brand, the better, they think. In fact, it’s been shown time and again that successful agents usually owe their success...to themselves! It’s the agent’s resourcefulness, initiative, fortitude and self-reliance that ultimately makes things happen, not who one works for. Many successful agents have joined Independence Realty over the years. All continue to do very well. Why? Because agents who work hard, exude success in their everyday demeanor, are enthusiastic about what they do and feel confident in their ability

tend to be winners. They don’t need to be coached about what to do. They already have experience and vision. They know what to do and what to look for. They certainly don’t want to spend valuable time on wasteful office activities. They don’t want to be micro-managed. They shun social chatter and office gossip to prioritize their daily life with business-generating actions. This is what Independence is all about. We let you build your business. We also let you keep most of the money you generate. You decide how much should be spent on your advertising, you target your own audience, you build your individual name-brand in your community instead of squandering precious resources on abstract corporate endeavors. You ultimately get a better handle on your career by taking control of your life.

As in everything in life, doing it yourself costs less than having someone else do it for you. However, self-reliance will require a bit more input and initiative on your part.

So what will it be? Keep paying top dollar for someone else’s idea of how your business should be run? Continue following the herd? Or take charge and get ahead of the pack?

- It’s your call.