Seeking Guidance on Transitioning from Real Estate to Scalable Ventures

[business224]

I’m looking for some guidance as I’m in the process of shifting away from my 10 years of experience as a realtor and real estate team leader into a more scalable and productized business model. I’m trying to figure out the best way to balance immediate income with long-term thinking. Below are the 3 options I’m currently considering, and I’d love to hear any thoughts or advice based on your experience:

Option 1: New Agent Training Company (Selling Info Products + Group Coaching)​

• Current Resources: I already have 10k followers on YouTube and an email list of 2,500 real estate professionals.
• Pros: I can leverage my expertise to help new agents and create scalable info products and group coaching.
• Challenges: My concern is that new agents may not have the funds to invest in a low-ticket offer, and my current traffic might not be enough to scale a low ticket product.

Option 2: Template Marketing Membership for Real Estate Agents ​

• Concept: A membership model where agents can access a library of pre-designed marketing templates (social media posts, flyers, etc.) created in Canva.
• Pros: Recurring revenue with a low-overhead, automated model. There’s clear demand for easy-to-use marketing tools.
• Challenges: I worry about AI tools that are advancing quicky and disrupting the market and agents potentially using these tools to create their own content. My Fear is investing a ton more time, energy and resources building this business only to have AI come in and kill it. (I already have taken action and have over 400 products but low ticket between $5-$20)

Option 3: Go Back to Selling Real Estate to Generate Cash Flow, Then Move Into Investment (Fix & Flip + Larger Complexes)​

• Phase 1: Return to selling real estate (I can make good money this way but I do not want to stay stuck here. It is a hamster wheel I need to get off) to generate cash flow in the short-term.
• Phase 2: Transition into fix-and-flip and larger investment projects like multifamily units and commercial real estate, using Other People’s Money (OPM) to scale.
• Pros: This path offers both immediate cash flow (through selling) and long-term wealth creation (through investments). I can scale by leveraging investor capital and building equity in real estate.
• Challenges: At the start this will feel transactional like being a real estate agent. Chasing deal to deal and creating no reoccurring income until I can graduate to a find level.

Option 4: Continue Leading My Real Estate Team (High Overhead, Low Profit Margin)​

• Current Setup: I’ve built a real estate team of 10 agents, but I do not think this business model is great after living it.
• Pros: This model is scalable (to an extent) and can offer consistent revenue as I expand my team.
• Challenges: It has high overhead (with commissions, expenses, and support), it's hard to find dedicated, high-performing agents, and the profit margins are low. It also feels like I’m still trading time for money by managing the team which is fine but there is also no asset value being built. The majority of all team leader or brokers I have met are not killing it financially and it seems like a race to the bottom at times.

My friend thinks I should totally shut down the team and focus on something else as it only makes 8k in revenue and about 4k in profit after expenses. It is a ton of work for a little money at this stage.

@MJ DeMarco - I hope to get some insight from you on this! I have spent the last few weeks trying to figure out my direction. The template business seems like the no brainer project to build considering the reoccurring revenue, exit potential and scalability but I do not know if AI is going to make this model obsolete quickly with how fast it is advancing. Especially considering this business is heavy on graphic design and that is what AI seems to be advancing in next.

 

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