1. Pay Your Future Self First
This doesn’t mean buying material items. Instead, it means putting your money into a savings plan.
You need to think of saving as paying yourself. Most people tend to spend their money every month, and then they don’t have anything left over to save. You have to watch the flow of your money. Otherwise, you’re going to lose it.
Start saving now, and save as much as possible. Start out by putting 10% of your income into a long-term savings plan. Every bit you save goes towards paying yourself in the future.
2. Increase How Much You Save
Even as a real estate agent you should calculate your dollar-per-hour wage. Take how much you earned last year or plan to earn this year, and divide it by 2000 (the average amount of hours one works in a given year). Or, if you know how many hours you work a day, then do the math with that number.
If you’re currently saving 10% of that amount, try to get it up to 20%. You can increase your savings rate in two ways. You can either earn more money, or spend less.
As a realtor, this is challenging because you’re not on a fixed income. As a result, you will have to be more disciplined with your income and how much you spend. Symba can help with this by automatically calculating your P&L and categorizing your expenses.
3. Don’t get into too much debt
One of the most common financial independence tips you might hear is to be careful with your debt. There is an argument for taking out debt for an asset; however, it’s not the same when it comes to depreciating assets that do not resell. For example, going into debt to purchase a car. When you do this, you’re stealing money from your future self and will pay the price in the long term.
If you currently have debt for liabilities, prioritize paying that debt off as quickly as possible.
4. Invest in education
This can be specific education related to your job, or just general financial or business education. Investing in your education is important because we get paid for what we contribute through our knowledge. Think of it as investing in yourself for the sake of your clients.
Utilize resources such as classes, conferences, training courses, podcasts, and books that can help you build on your current skills. You’ll be more confident, competent, and you’ll make more money as a result.
5. Don’t have a victim mentality
The quicker you realize you are in control of your business and the problems that come your way, the better. Learning to solve problems rather than complain about how hard something is doesn’t do you any good. All it does is delay deals, tarnish your reputation, and lose you money in the future. The more problems you push through and solve the easier your job will be in the future.
6. Leverage the resources around you
At a certain point, it becomes hard to progress your business when you’re the only one running the show. This is why you should leverage other people to help you. For example, you could leverage the resources your brokerage provides you, you could hire a virtual assistant, or you could hire a transaction manager.
Additionally, you should use software to make yourself more efficient and get better control of your business. Doing these things and leveraging what you have around you will help you make more money today and in the future. Time is a precious resource and the more you leverage people and technology the more time you save.
7. Take Risks
Calculated risk means taking risks that you believe have a high probability of paying off. For example, start a video blog or podcast. The risk is you waste your time or look foolish. The upside is you will establish yourself as an expert and get more leads.
You are an entrepreneur and that carries a certain amount of risk. Think back to when you made the decision to become an agent. I bet you viewed that as a huge risk. Don’t stop taking those risks! It’s better to take calculated risks and learn all the necessary skills to be an entrepreneur. That way, no matter what happens in your financial future you’ll be prepared.
