That solo agents can have a thriving and successful business is an absolute truth. Case in point, Paulina Najbar of Springfield, Missouri. Currently in her fifth year in real estate, Paulina is on track to do 50-60 units this year as a solo agent. She relishes her solo agent status because she’s able to stay in control of every aspect of the transaction. For her, being the point of contact every step of the way for her clients is something she loves. Her secret? Building leverage into her business through systems and people while still remaining an individual agent.

Finding success through leveraging systems

Email Templates

As Paulina’s business grew, she found herself doing the same tedious tasks over and over again. And they were taking her away from other important activities, like lead generating. Her fix was to create email templates. Making them forced her to slow down and take a step back initially. However, now anytime she has to send an email she uses a template that she has already created and saved in her emails. While they require a small amount of personalization, they are mostly “plug and play,” so they are a large timesaver on the backend.

Open House Follow-up System

Paulina has found open houses to be a great lead generation tool, but the most important part of them is the follow-up afterward. After all, you may have met and connected with someone at the open house, but chances are they are not going to call you. That’s on you. She’s designed a plan that enables her to stay consistent and know exactly what’s expected of her on any given day after holding an open house. For instance, right after the open house, she follows up with a thank you to every attendee. She doesn’t wait until the start of the week, rather her goal is to immediately hit attendees’ in-boxes, before other agents do. On Monday, she follows back up with a phone call or a voicemail. Tuesday, she leaves a text message. Finally, on Friday, she follows up again with a list of open houses in the area and asks the previous attendees if they have any other houses they want to see. This plan takes any questions out of what she does – she knows the type of touch she expects to make with every reach out.

Time Blocking

Paulina makes appointments with herself and then keeps these appointments to ensure she completes her necessary tasks. Whether it’s lead generation or a follow-up call to a client, she marks time out on her calendar and accomplishes what she’s blocked her time out to do during that time.

Finding success through leveraging people

Transaction Coordinator

After closing 80 transactions on her own, Paulina decided to work smarter and not harder. In other words, she added a transaction coordinator to her repertoire of leverage. She pays a flat fee per file, which enables her to still be actively involved in the process without getting bogged down in paperwork. By leveraging a transaction coordinator, she was able to free up more time to focus on both lead

generation and investing in the relationships with her current and past clients. Her only regret? Not utilizing a transaction coordinator sooner.

Home Showing Backup

No surprise that as a solo agent, Paulina is busy. Sometimes she’s pulled in multiple directions and as we all know, we can’t be in two places at the same time. To alleviate this pressure, she will sometimes employ the use of one of the two or three new agents who she knows and trusts to show houses to her clients. She believes the key to doing this successfully is to set expectations among everyone on the front end. When her clients sign the buyer agreement, they know that there may be times when a different agent will show them a home. And because this process has been discussed with the agents she uses, the agents only expect to only be paid for showing the homes, so there isn’t an issue around referral fees. Paulina will facilitate the entire interaction, starting with a group text introducing her client to the agent who is helping her, to the follow-up after the showing with the client to find out if they want to make an offer. This leverage enables her to have some freedom while running her business and avoid the impossibility of having to be two places at the same time. She handles the negotiations and facilitates the transactions. And the agents who help her can benefit, not only by getting paid, but by gaining valuable learning experiences from the process.

There is no doubt that being a solo agent can be extremely hard work. However, when you slow down to establish the people and systems leverage that will help your business in the long-term, the success will come.