I’ve now been doing this for six months. Six months at Compass, six months of betting on myself and committing, running my own real estate business, “branding,” six months of commission-only income. 90% of agents in NY quit within their first year, and based on how well this is going, I’m happy to say I think I’m in the 10% that stay.
I’d like to give a huge shoutout to Joe & Kelly, my senior brokers who took a massive chance on me and helped me reach a point that would have taken years without their guidance. A shoutout to my fellow junior broker, Jane, who lets me ask her a million stupid questions a day, my whole 4th floor row for being so kind and helpful and informative.
It hasn’t been perfect, but I’ve always learned from my mistakes and avoided making the same one twice. These past six months have held more victories than failings, although the latter can be found in healthy doses. I can pay my rent with my income (for now); I have hit my CGI benchmarks; I have made a website and continued to write and feed my creative side. So the next logical step has to be taken, and I need to work harder, smarter, and level up my business.
So maybe there will be fewer pictures of me in front of garbage?
There are some things that have been hard for me in this first half a year. Fake it ’til you make it has never been my strong suit, since I overthink everything and have anxiety, but now I have gone through most of my first summer rental market, gotten a buyer most of the way through the home buying process, launched a building, brought in a seller, and overall just tried to absorb as much information as I could from every corner of the office and real estate world. I would still never call myself an expert by any means, but I’m going to take a page out of the white-boy book of confidence and say I can at least be enough of an advisor to know what I know, and what I need to outsource to someone more learned than myself.
It was hard to feel like an advisor when I had only done this for a few weeks, but now I feel comfortable fielding random questions from friends and strangers alike.
It was hard to justify purchasing a work wardrobe and dressing up when I wasn’t sure I’d last and was spending most of my time sweating my ass off showing walk-ups, but now it seems like a reasonable expense and aesthetic.
It was hard to justify writing as more than self-serving, but I am getting better at figuring out my voice and content that is actually useful to people.
JK I won't change that much.
So it’s not really a rebrand, just a glow up. I still very much believe in #trashless, and am doubling-down on my commitment to client services. That’s a large portion of my background — working for exceptionally demanding bosses and customers — and it feels incredibly natural to me to answer texts or calls from stressed-out buyers in the middle of the night. I still believe in and want to retain my enthusiasm and approachability, just need to elevate my brand to the point where you’d refer me your boss instead of just your bestie. I won’t lose my voice, but I’ll commit to more helpful content on top of the complaints about the train and exhaustion.
I have so much love for all of you who read this. I hope you enjoy whatever amount of my journey you follow along with, and just know I wouldn’t be able to do it without you.
Yeah, this is sappy, but it’s honest. So cheers to another amazing six months.
xoxo
Anna