I Convinced My Brother to Quit His Job and Become an Agent

Luke Acree

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Quit your job. Become a Real Estate Agent.

That’s basically the summarized version of what I encouraged my younger brother to do a little over 2 years ago.

It was pretty nerve-wracking.

Everything I believed about what it took to be successful in real estate was on the line—not to mention my brother’s livelihood.

Here’s the story. (Bear with me, as it takes a tiny bit of setup.)

"Quit your job. Become a real estate agent." - Luke Acree

As many of you may know, I run a 40 million-dollar company that helps agents with their marketing.

Our premier product is a high-end lifestyle publication that agents can brand to themselves and have automatically mailed out to their sphere and past clients on their behalf.

Our belief is that to really capitalize on referrals, your marketing needs to accomplish 3 things for you:

1. It needs to keep you top of mind. Consistently.
2. It needs to impress and create advocacy, NOT annoyance.
3. It needs to have your brand and contact info readily available so, when the moment to refer arrives, it’s convenient and easy to refer you.

The magazine delivers all three.

It WORKS.

We have hundreds of reviews and testimonials attesting to it.

But, here’s the thing…

I’m not a real estate agent. I have never been a real estate agent.

Even with all of the years of data and testimonials, what I lacked was first-hand knowledge and experience. I started to ask myself this question:

If I was an agent starting from scratch, would I actually use my own product?

Does this really make sense for newer agents, or are there better ways to accomplish the same thing?

At around this same time, my brother Stephen was working a job in a call center at a college. He wasn’t really happy with it.

"If I was an agent starting from scratch, would I actually use my own product?" - Luke Acree

He wasn’t making very much money (I think less than $40,000 per year). But, more important, he wasn’t finding very much enjoyment or fulfillment in the work he was doing.

One day after work, I was on a call with him, and he mentioned to me that he was considering getting his real estate license.

That was all it took! I was all in.

"I'm considering getting my real estate license." - Stephen Acree

Over the next few weeks—up until he finished the test to get his real estate license—I was his number one motivator.

This was going to be the perfect opportunity to test not only our product, but our entire approach to success in real estate.

So, where is Stephen today?

I’m proud to say that, in his first year, he closed 38 deals. In his second year, he closed 78, and he was in the top 10% of agents in his area.

And, now, in 2019, he has a growing team, and is well on his way to his goal of 120 transactions for the year. His team also just recently qualified for “The Thousand”—a ranking of the top agents in the nation!

First Year: Closed 38 Deals. 2nd Year: Closed 78 Deals.

2019: Growing His Own Team

It’s a pretty awesome success story so far, and he is just getting started!

Also, to my extreme satisfaction, American Lifestyle (along with my coaching) was a big piece of the puzzle.

I can still confidently say there is no better tool on the market for connecting with and generating referrals from your sphere and past clients than our magazine. (We also found it was a great way to stand out and build trust before he had an extensive resume of previous listings.)

But…

THERE IS NO ‘ONE SECRET’ TO SUCCESS IN REAL ESTATE!

I believe, and will continue to preach, that focusing on core relationships and building a referral network is the most important piece of long-term success in real estate. The data from NAR backs this up year after year.

But what I’ve learned so far with my brother is something else.The biggest component of success is TAKING ACTION!

You need to try things. You need to be OK with failing. A lot. Because that’s how you will find what works for you and win in the long run.

Life is too short to settle for just getting by, no matter what your occupation is.

A life of freedom and success in real estate is obtainable.

You just need to take action today!

P.S. If you want to see a sample of Stephen’s magazine, you can get one emailed to you here.

Continued success,

Luke Acree

Written by Luke Acree

Luke Acree, President of ReminderMedia, is a sales fanatic, a marketing evangelist, and an expert team builder. Luke has worked with tens of thousands of agents over the years, helping them understand how to connect with their client database in a way that generates leads, secures repeat clients, and captures referrals.