The Myth of Real Estate Teams: What No One Tells You

Are you feeling the pressure to start a team—even if you're not sure you want one?

You're not alone. In this episode, I’m pulling back the curtain on one of the biggest lies in real estate: the idea that building a team is the only way to grow.

Let’s be real: just because you can build a team doesn’t mean you should. And if you’ve ever found yourself wondering, “Do I need a team to make more money?”—this episode is your permission slip to rethink everything you’ve been told about scaling your business.

We’re digging into:

• Where the pressure to build a team really comes from (and why it's often B.S.)
• The harsh truth about what it’s really like to lead a team
• How building a team too soon can make your business harder, not easier
• Why leverage (not headcount) is your best growth strategy
• The real difference between looking successful and being profitable
• How to know if team leadership is truly aligned with your goals—or if you’re just trying to escape something

Whether you're rocking solo agent life or dreaming of a big, mega team, this episode will help you get honest about what you actually want—and how to scale in a way that supports your life, not steals it.

Bottom line? You don’t need a team to grow—you need clarity, systems, and a business that fits you.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome and Topic Introduction
• 2:29 Where Team-Building Pressure Comes From
• 5:06 Is Leading a Team Right for You?
• 8:10 The Solo Agent Success Path
• 12:34 Testing Team Leadership Waters
• 14:37 Final Thoughts and Encouragement

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:35

Hello friends, and welcome to today's episode of the Happy Agent Co podcast. We are diving into a topic that I deal with coaching clients all the time, which is do you actually need a team to make more money? So if you have ever felt like you have to build a team just to grow your business, grow your income, you're in the right place. I need you to take a breath, maybe grab a snack, a glass of wine, a coffee, and listen to this entire episode, because the truth and by the end of this, I hope that you realize that building a team is not the only way to scale a real estate business, and for some of you, it can be a fast track to being overworked, overwhelmed and wondering why you ever started a team in the first place, why you ever left that solo agent life. So I want to talk about where this pressure actually comes from, what no one tells you about team leadership and how to figure out if starting a team is really the right next move for you. So let's start with where does this pressure come from? I think so much of this is pressure from the industry and social media and marketing, and all of that does not help. Coaching programs love to tell you that a team is the next step. It's your natural evolution. Instagram makes team leaders look like little mini real estate Kardashians, and what you don't realize is that that team of 12 people only two people actually sell real estate, and then brokers like to push it because it helps them scale, it helps them make more money. So, somewhere along the way, building a team became the real estate version of a glow up. It was like look at her, she's got a logo, an assistant, three people in her Instagram bio that she calls quote unquote partners. She must be killing it, and meanwhile, you do not see what's going on behind the scenes. And that is what I'm hoping to give you a little sneak peek on today, which is it is not always what it seems. Looking successful is not the same as being profitable and, honestly, profit is what helps you build a work-life balance, a sustainable business and long-term wealth, long-term stability.

Speaker 1: 3:15

So I have a funny story for you. So about 10 years ago, there was a particular broker or brokerage in our market and they were essentially turning everybody into a team. So there were so many teams of one, which I thought was hilarious. It was like the blank group when it was literally just the agent. They didn't even have an assistant, they didn't have a showing agent, it was just everyone was creating like the Lindsay Dreyer team, when it was literally just Lindsay Dreyer, so and like nothing else. So I really think there's this prestige factor when we do not have to go there Like the general public doesn't really care. They want to work with you and most of the time they're coming to you because they want to work with you.

Speaker 1: 4:08

So many agents are building teams before they actually build the systems, and I just think that that is a huge mistake. The harsh reality is that you don't need a team, you just need leverage, and that is the best place to start and it also helps you get to the path of is a team actually right for me? So let's really dive into that topic, which is is starting a team actually the right move for you? And there are a few things you really need to dig into. The first is do you want to manage people and I'm not talking about client management, I am talking about buyer's agents, showing agents, assistants, maybe even eventually an ops manager, employees, because a lot of times you can have them be independent contractors but once they flip to an employee status. That is overhead, that is a paycheck that you have to keep paying, that is a person that you have to manage and that is something that a lot of real estate agents do not have the skill set for. They do not understand how to manage people, because it requires stability, it also requires people skills and conflict management skills, and it also requires knowing how to get productivity out of people and employees. So it can be really hard for a lot of real estate agents because their personality is such that they are chasing the deal. They're getting to the closing. There's like an end point, but with employees there's no end point. You're managing that relationship for basically all eternity until that person either decides they don't want to work for you anymore or you decide that you don't want them to work for you. So that is the first thing. Take a really hard, raw look at do you want to manage people?

Speaker 1: 6:07

The other tough question is are you trying to escape something or are you trying to build something? If you are trying to escape production, for example, or if you're trying to escape working with buyers, sure, maybe that could be part of wanting to build something, but you really need to figure out do I love this business, do I want to stay in this business, or am I trying to escape this industry, or am I trying to escape a part of the job that is actually essential for me to do? And then the next thing is what is most important to you money or freeing up your time and energy? Because, as a team lead, you are not going to make as much money per deal as you were when you were in production. And there is a tipping point, when you're a team lead and you really have to know your financials and you really have to know is it just about money for you or is it about building something and being a leader? Because I will tell you, if you just want to crush it, make as much money as possible and then retire, starting a team is a hard way to get there because it requires so much of you and it requires such a different skill set than being a real estate agent.

Speaker 1: 7:36

Running a team means that your job truly becomes people management, getting productivity out of people, whether it's your agents, whether it's your employees, and you're really going from it's not a client service role. You're going from opening doors to holding clients' hands and then you go to managing people and really trying to leverage their time and energy to get more productivity out of them. So it is a completely different and oftentimes I find frustrating shift for so many real estate agents, because they are able to make money I'm not going to say quickly, but relatively quickly and it's a fairly big payday for them. And when you're earning money through other people, it can be very frustrating because those people may not have the same work ethic as you. They have bad days because they're human and I find that so many real estate agents get so frustrated by that because they want everyone to be a mini clone of themselves and it is so hard to find that.

Speaker 1: 8:52

So I will tell you, that's probably been the most challenging thing for me in 14 years of running a real estate brokerage, which is I don't have 100% control of what other people do, and so learning how to be a leader, learning how to run a team, learning how to really be a high producing team and getting productivity out of other people is a challenge and is a skill set and, honestly, even after 14 years, I'm still learning it. But there are times where I feel really frustrated because I am busting my ass and I'm not seeing people on my team necessarily doing the same, and whether that's because they have something big going on in their life. I'm not a total monster. I totally understand that people have things going on, but just keep that in mind. If you're the type of person that gets frustrated when people don't work as hard as you do or they don't care as much as you do, I would strongly consider not starting a real estate team.

Speaker 1: 9:54

Which leads me to the next point, which is you can be a very high producing quote unquote solo agent, and here's what you need. You don't need to hire five real estate agents and start a team and all of that. What you really need to do is, I like to start with tracking your time, figuring out where you're spending your time, then figuring out where are the bottlenecks, where could you bring in real support? Like a transaction coordinator, like a virtual assistant Maybe it's outsourcing to a marketing company, but bringing in that support where they aren't employees. They're independent contractors and they have a very specific portion bounded piece of your business, and I think TC is probably the first thing to do. I also love showing agents. They can do showings, go to home inspections, you can come to the tail end of the inspection, get the wrap up, the debrief.

Speaker 1: 11:00

So I really think anything you can do to start leveraging, getting some real support but not necessarily having that constant supervision of people can be a really good call. That will require you to build some systems can be a really good call. That will require you to build some systems. It will require you to build some standard operating procedures. So you don't need a team to make more money, but you do need a system that runs when you are not available and a transaction coordinator can help. A answering service oh my gosh, if you don't have an answering service for your phone calls, that is like one thing that was such a big game changer for me.

Speaker 1: 11:39

So just really figure out, like what are you doing and can you bring in support to give you more time and energy back in your business? Your business should not make you lose your mind and it definitely shouldn't make you lose your entire weekend. And if it does, it's not necessarily a team that you need. It's leverage. You need leverage. So maybe after hearing all of this, you are like I'm in, I still want to build a team. I'm not going to discourage you. Obviously, I did that. I opened a brokerage and I don't regret it. But I would encourage you to not go full CEO mode overnight. Don't go like full team lead. I'm building it out overnight. I'm hiring 12 agents. We're just doing this.

Speaker 1: 12:23

I think it makes sense to start testing the waters. So, like I said previously, maybe it's a part-time assistant, maybe it's a showing agent or one buyer's agent. Maybe you have a referral-based buyer agent set up. So if you have overflow business or people that aren't your ideal fit, you have someone that you can refer them to. The other thing is start tracking your systems and your checklists. Make sure you have standard operating procedures before hiring anyone, because you're going to need to plug people into your system and how you do things and most of the time it's all just in your head. You do not have it anywhere. So start making a checklist, start getting it. It could just be as simple as a Google Doc but start really documenting what your standard operating procedures are before hiring anybody, because onboarding somebody, that experience really sets the tone for how successful they're going to be and how much time and energy they're going to give back to you. So do not skip the step. Make sure you have the systems in place, make sure you have the standard operating procedures in place before you start going crazy and hiring a bunch of people.

Speaker 1: 13:37

I think that testing the waters before you cannonball into team leadership is so important, because once you're in, it's hard to undo it and you are the one that's responsible for keeping the whole thing afloat. You have people relying on you, you have people leaning on you and if you have employees, you have people who are looking to you to get their guaranteed paycheck. So here's the deal. You do not need a team to make more money. What you really need is clarity, support and a business that works for you.

Speaker 1: 14:11

I'm so passionate about this. There is no one size fits all in real estate, and if someone's trying to put you into a box, don't let them. If leading a team lights you up, that's amazing. Go for it. Rock it, girl. But build it because it's aligned with what you want for your life and your business and not because someone told you it's the right or next thing to do. And if you're loving solo agent life, rock it. That's awesome. But you can get more support. You can build more systems and you can get to scale your way Again. This is all about building something that works for you and, at the end of the day, a happy agent is a successful one. And if you're happy, if you're profitable and if you're working with clients that you love, guess what you are winning?