Last week, I was hosting a Virtual Career Night session where I was showing potential agents how to get into real estate and becoming successful with Keller Williams. One of the attendees asked a great question. “What is the path to move from being a Part Time Agent to a Full Time Agent?”
Switching from part time to full time as an agent can be one of the most difficult undertakings for agents getting into the real estate business. Fortunately, Keller Williams has a culture of agents helping agents and training that provide a glimmer of hope for agents looking to make the transition.
To become a full-time agent, you need to be focused, determined, and ready to make some sacrifices.
In this article, I am going to tell you why you should change from part-time to full-time real estate agent. Then, I will discuss some points to understand what you can do to make the transition. Also, if you are new to the real estate business and thinking about whether you should be a part-time agent or full-time agent, this article can help you too.
One of the biggest challenges for a part-time agent is to become a full-time agent. Becoming a full-time agent means spending more time in business and giving more effort. A Keller Williams Part Time Agent or any other part-time agent, you need to make some plans to make the change.
The Difference Between a Part-time Agent and A Full-time Agent
People may want to know about the biggest difference between being a part-time agent and a full-time agent. The answer is time. Both part-time agents and full-time agents deal with selling real estate properties, and they get a commission. The difference is a full-time agent spends more time doing business and a part-timer spends less time.
A full-time real estate agent works 35 to 50 hours per week. On the other hand, a part-time agent spends 10 to 22 hours in the business. No doubt, a full-time agent will make more money than a part-time agent. Moreover, he spends his entire time and focuses on selling real estate. It is not the same for a part-time agent. The real estate business is a side business for him or her.
Most of the time a part-time agent has a full-time job or business, which is his or her main occupation. Therefore, he or she has to pay more attention to the full-time job than the part-time job. This is another reason why part-time agents make less money than full-time agents.
Other than these issues, a part-time agent at Keller Williams has the same benefits as a full-time agent. He or she also joins the Keller Williams Program, which offers various benefits to the agents like a gym membership or the use of different tools.
However, there are many disadvantages a part-time agent has to face. These disadvantages may either lead an agent to take the leap of faith and become a full-time agent or leave the real estate business to focus on the other job.
The Disadvantages of Being a Part-time Agent
There are several reasons why being a part-time agent is a difficult task. Some of the reasons are discussed briefly for your understanding:
Time Management
One of the main disadvantages of being a part-time agent is not being able to manage time. A part-time agent has to fulfill his duties of the primary job and then find clients for real estate. A part-time agent can get a lot of clients. However, the problem arises when clients want to meet with the agent at an incontinent time for the agent.
So, the agents have to work on hours which are only flexible for them and not for clients. As a result, they may not get many clients. A real estate agent has to keep struggling between maintaining his main job and getting clients in his or her convenient time.
Unstable Income
Part-time agents can indeed earn a lot of commissions by working strategically. But it is also true that their income is not steady or the same every month. A part-time agent already has a limited schedule to maintain, and sometimes he can lose clients too. Although this kind of incident can be an experience for a new agent, it is not good for the income.
Recession
Another unwanted problem for part-time agents is the impact of the recession on the real estate business. During recessions, the prices of real estate properties decrease. This means fewer buyers and sellers of real estate. Consequently, agents do not get many clients.
Unfortunately, many external factors can challenge the business of a part-time agent.
Certainly, a full-time agent may face some of these problems too. But he can make up the losses by working more hours than the part-timer. Moreover, he or she just needs to focus on real estate and nothing else.
The Benefits of Becoming a Full-time Agent at Keller Williams
Everyone knows Keller Williams gives the best offers to its agents. This is the reason so many agents join the company every year. Here are some of the benefits agents enjoy at Keller Williams.
Status for Hard Working Agents
The success of an agent does not always depend on whether he is a part-time or full-time agent, it also depends on the broker or the company the agent is working for.
Many real estate brokers or companies take away a lot from the agents than they give. Furthermore, sometimes clients consider not only the skills of the agent but also the company he comes from.
Fortunately, at Keller Williams agents are rewarded for their hard work and get comparatively more clients representing the company. So, part-time or full-time, both types of agents get this benefit. But a full-time agent gets more clients than part-timers.
Best Commission Split
As a full-time agent gets more clients than the part-time agents, he earns more commissions. At Keller Williams, the commission split is 70/30. The agent keeps 70% of the commissions he makes from a business deal and gives 30% to the market center. Therefore, he gets more money from his clients than the part-timer gets from his clients.
Again, there is a cap for every agent. The agent can fulfill his or her yearly cap money and enjoy full commission for the rest of that year. The more an agent manages to get clients, the more he or she is closer to reaching the cap.
However, it is difficult for a part-timer. He or she does not work full-time, which means fewer clients. Fewer clients mean less commission. As a result, he or she may not be able to reach the cap money decided by the market center.
Programs to Assist Agents
The full-time agents can also enjoy extra benefits. Since they are regular employees for KW, they can attend every program and seminars arranged by the company. These programs help them to get potential clients.
Job Security and Passive Income
A full-time agent has only one job, which is to be a dynamic real estate agent. Hence, he has his full focus on the business. He or she does not need to think about other jobs other than getting more clients.
As you can see in the previous point, the company often gives the opportunities to meet new clients. For this, the agents are not scared of not having clients for a long time. Besides, Keller Williams has a profit-share system. Through this system agents get a share of the company’s profits.
When should you shift from being a part-time agent to a full-time agent?
An agent should start thinking about becoming a full-time agent when he or she realizes she has more passion for the real estate business than his or her current main occupation.
The shift may not be easy, but it can be great for the agent’s career in the future. There are some factors the agent needs to consider before he or she replace his full-time job with being a full-time real estate agent,
First, an agent should find out their genuine passion. Is he satisfied with the current situation where he does his full-time job and does real estate in extra time? Or is he more interested in real estate?
Secondly, he should calculate how much he is making from his full-time job. If he thinks he can make more money from being a full-time agent, he should change his profession.
For example, Lesley Peter used to be an elementary school teacher. At one point she started to work as a part-time real estate agent. She is a very talented agent and managed to continue both of her jobs well. However, at the end of a year, she realized that she was making more money from her part-time job as a real estate agent than her full-time job.
So, eventually, she became a full-time agent at Keller Williams and later convinced her husband to join as well. Both husband and wife worked as a team. In 2008, they started Peters Company. It was declared as one of the best companies by Keller Williams in 2018.
So, Lesley Peters took the risk to leave her job and become an agent at Keller Williams. She knew what she was doing and became one of the successful agents at KW.
Steps to Become Full-time Real Estate Agents
There are some professional steps to become a full-time agent and getting a job at Keller Williams, like having a license which a part-time agent must already have. Then, you have to sit for an interview and prove that you are ready to become a full-time agent.
Apart from these steps, you also need to take some steps on a personal level to fully prepare yourself as a full-time agent. The steps can be:
Assessing Yourself
The first step to becoming a full-time agent is to find out if you are eligible to become a full-time agent or not. Find out if the current job is more promising for you or not. Many people work in different fields for years after years, but suddenly leave the job to become real estate agents.
If you assess that you can make more from becoming an agent then go for. But if your current position in a job is important, consider your decisions again.
Then find a reliable and reputed brokerage or real estate company where you like to become an agent. If you choose Keller Williams find out what you will get from the company.
Deciding on a Date
Decide when you are leaving your full-time job and become a full-time agent. Mentally prepare yourself. Make a plan and try to execute the plan in maybe 3, 6, or 12 months. Then, stick to your planned date. The part-time agents who delay their decision can hardly take the jump at the right time.
The more you delay, the more you will become scared or confused. So, you have to take a risk and let go of your job to join real estate according to your plan soon.
Saving Some Money
Once you decide on a date, start saving some money. When you may become a full-time agent and be ready to work for more hours. But it does not mean you will get clients right away. So, it is wise to save money so that you can sustain yourself for a few months.
Moreover, you also have to start promoting yourself as a full-time agent to attract clients, maintaining an office, transport cost, and so on. This also requires a good amount of money. So, without savings in hand, it will be impossible to work as an agent.
Part-time agents have experience, and they know how to handle the business. So, it is not supposed to take much time to get clients. However, taking precautions is important.
Setting a Goal
Do not just change your career because you are making more money from real estate. You need to have a clear vision of your future. Think about what you want, what you want to do, and where you want to see yourself in the future.
When you try to be a full-time agent without a plan or vision in mind, you will face the consequences. So, plan how much you want to earn in a month or a year from selling real estate properties. Then, get clients to make that goal come true.
Sacrifice
You have to work relentlessly to become a successful full-time agent of at least a year. During this time you may have to sacrifice your time, and forget about personal events. Keep in mind that success not only depends on hard work but also sacrifice.
So, tell yourself that becoming a real estate agent may not be that easy, but you are willing to make some sacrifices. However, it does not mean you will work like this with no benefits. When you start getting clients and make links, things will get easier day by day.
Getting an Assistant or Partner
When you are financially in a comfortable situation, get an assistant. It does not matter whether you are a part-time agent or a full-time agent. An assistant can help you manage a lot of work and time.
As your business progresses, you are going to get listings, or opportunities to get listings, buyers and sellers will start calling you. Besides, a part-time agent also has a full-time job.
Therefore, you need to find someone who can help you. He or she has to be trustworthy. So, someone you know like your spouse, friends, or relatives who have an interest in real estate can be your partner or assistant.
However, if you cannot find someone, your brokerage or company can help you. Fortunately, at Keller Williams, there are a lot of agents who are willing to assist each other and work as a team. So, find people who can actually help you.
After that, you can make an agreement with them. Assign them some duties like managing social media, handling calls, and keeping a track of clients. Besides, when you are busy with other jobs or work, your assistant and partner can handle your clients in your absence.
Find a Mentor
To fully dedicate yourself to the business of real estate, you have to understand the details of the business. Find someone who can help you and guide you. It can be an experienced agent or a group of people. In Real Estate Companies like Keller Williams, agents are eager to help each other. The company often assigns other successful agents to help new agents.
You can also find someone if you need more guidance and ask them to share their experience or advice. You can learn a lot from this mentorship that will make your professional life easier.
Get Professional Training
A part-time agent should use every opportunity he or she gets to learn more about being an agent. Professional training and courses can help to understand the real estate world. As a part-time agent, you may get the motivation and courage to take the chance of becoming a full-time agent.
Training and courses can be offline or online. Read books related to real estate, attend seminars, or do research on real estate industries to become more confident about yourself. You can also enroll in real estate schools to become a successful agent.
The good news is Keller Williams provides training to its agents. The company provides many courses and training so that its agents know what they are going to deal with. This opportunity is not just for the full-time agents of the company, the part-time agents can also take part in training.
Conclusion
The transition from a part-time real estate agent to a full-time real estate agent is a risky move. Many agents do not dare to switch to full-time agents for the lack of confidence in their brokerage or company.
However, A Keller Williams Part Time Agent may not feel this way because the company already provided them with training and job security, which makes the transition easier.