Should You Join a Real Estate Team? Sure, as Long as You Do This!

At some point in their career, almost every agent either considers joining a team, or is asked to join one. It’s not the right move for every agent, but it can be a great decision for you, for a number of reasons.

Perhaps it makes sense because you want to focus on only one thing you like and are good at, like showing houses, and don’t want to deal with sellers. Or, maybe you have trouble generating leads, and would benefit from a team that generates lots of them. Maybe being part of a team will get you a better commission split than if you were working solo. It could simply be that you want other agents you work with who can cover you on a (*gasp*) day off, or (*gasp louder*) take a vacation. The reasons will differ from agent to agent obviously, so make a list of your own reasons why joining a team would make sense.

But none of that’s really the point of this article. What this article is really about is thinking ahead to the day you leave the team. It happens… a lot.

Sometimes it’s because it just wasn’t a good fit. Sometimes it’s because the team doesn’t improve your life or income on any level. Sometimes it’s because the team is poorly organized or run by the team leader. And sometimes it’s because you develop enough of your own business, and just want to go solo.

Whatever your reason for eventually leaving a team, the one thing you’ll wish you had done is continue (or even start) to market yourself while you were part of a team.

One of the main reasons many agents join a team is because the team is good at marketing and generates a lot of leads. But that isn’t always the case. And even if they are, it’s usually marketing centered around the team or team leader. The individual agent on the team isn’t front and center. As they say, “there’s no I in Team”…

This isn’t to say you should go rogue and not include the team branding in any marketing you do, or market yourself as a solo agent when you’re part of a team. The reality is you probably have to include that in your marketing for compliance and (at least usually) your team leader will expect you to do so.

But you should invest in marketing of your own while you’re part of a team. Marketing that your friends, family, sphere of influence and social media audience will attach to you and your name, even while including your team branding on it. Stay top-of-mind by marketing yourself even when you’re part of a real estate team, because there’s a good chance that you won’t always be a part of a team. (Oh, by the way, it’s not a bad idea to negotiate a better split for any business you generate for the team!)

A huge reason many agents even join a team to begin with is because they don’t have much money to invest in marketing, or the time to devote to marketing and branding themselves as an agent. It’s no joke; real estate marketing can be costly, and there’s so many different types of marketing to choose from, and so many companies specializing in one type or another. It literally takes more time than an agent has to figure out where to spend their limited amount of time and money…so, most agents just avoid dealing with it, and join a team hoping it’ll be the answer to their problems. But it more or less just pushes it down the road a little ways.

Eventually, whether you stay solo, join a team and stick with it, or join one and go back to being solo, you need to make sure you market and brand yourself as an agent. So, start today. Do a little bit of marketing for yourself each and every day.

Let’s get you started…

One easy (and free!) way is to simply share funny real estate memes on Facebook, Instagram, or any other place you spend time. It’ll remind people you’re in the business, while entertaining them. Just check out our Lighter Side of Real Estate Facebook page and you can pick one (or two) a day and share them! Doing that alone will go a long way in terms of marketing yourself as an agent and staying top of mind, whether you join a team or not!

There’s a ton of memes we’ve shared on that page, but if you’re looking for more, or just want ones most other agents never see, let alone have access to share, check out our Inner Circle membership. We’re constantly coming up with new, exclusive memes for our members to share. And, for less than the price of a cup of coffee per day, you have access to a lot of other types of marketing content, like articles, email and letter templates, postcards, and “Branded Booklets”! Kind of a one-stop shop for all your marketing needs, at a ridiculously low cost, and it’s all easy to share without taking much time out of your day.

Whether you join a real estate team or not, good luck, and just remember to market yourself as an agent no matter what you decide to do!