INTEREST
6 things to think (and be clear about) before buying a real estate business
Jasmine Platt, Founder, Real Estate Leaders
Are you considering buying a real estate business or franchise? Business ownership can be an exciting move – but, given the size of the decision (and the implications of it not going well) - there are six important points to consider before signing on the dotted line!
Who I am and what qualifies me to write this article? I’m the founder of Real Estate Leaders, a business coaching company, specialising in assisting real estate business owners to focus on the right actions and outputs to build and grow their businesses. One of the privileges of my job is having positive relationships with committed business owners and being trusted by our clients to discuss their challenges and share ‘the naked truth’ of their struggles. This article is the product of years of experience working with real estate business owners, hearing those common challenges. I’ve also incorporated feedback from interviews with a number of owners and franchisors to gain their insight, experience and advice for those considering real estate business ownership.
Six important points to consider: 1. Business ownership is hard (probably harder than you think) Business ownership certainly appears
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The Real Estate Institute of New Zealand
to have some alluring benefits to the uninitiated. Many go into ownership thinking it will be easy, or relatively straight forward – and ‘give them their weekends back’. The reality is that business ownership is multifaceted, time-consuming and often challenging. It requires you to understand and attend to many more areas of business than simply sales and customers. On any given day, you will need to deal with admin, compliance, HR, risk managing cashflow, paying wages, completing GST and PAYE returns, sales meeting planning, training, recruitment, business meeting attendance, post-meeting follow-up, and conflict management (think commission splits and salesperson disgruntlement) – among other things. Why are you considering business ownership? If it’s because you think things will be easier, in 99.9% of cases, they won’t be. If it’s because you like a challenge, that might be a good reason. Are you willing to work harder (and stretch yourself and your comfort zone more) than you do now?
