Whether you have your own brokerage or you are starting out as a commercial broker, it’s important to know how to do well in the commercial real estate industry. With real estate prices climbing higher and higher, commercial real estate is highly competitive and difficult to succeed in.
Success in the commercial real estate industry does not happen overnight and will require a lot of continuous work and dedication to your craft. Bide your time, plan your moves, and get as educated as possible. Good luck! In order to help you get started and do well in the industry, we researched the top seven ways to succeed in commercial real estate.
1. Be Passionate About Commercial Real Estate
This sounds like a no brainer, but it is an essential first step to succeeding in commercial real estate. In order to do well in the industry, you have to make sure that you are passionate about what you are doing.
If you are not passionate about your vocation, other individuals who are far more committed will go above and beyond and surpass you. Therefore, you need to make sure that you are on the top of your game, and that you truly love your career.
Once you have passion, much of the rest comes naturally. Your charisma, dedication to the craft, happiness and confidence will radiate to your clients. You will also easily go above and beyond every single day, simply because you love it!
2. Get Educated
With any vocation, you need to ensure that you stay on top of the industry through taking courses and consistently improving your skills. This ensures that you can perfect your skills when dealing with difficult situations, or potentially anticipate the relevant moves in the market.
Education will also help you become more confident in the industry, which is extremely important. Your confidence will shine through to your clients and colleagues.
3. Find Yourself a Mentor
There is a lot that you can learn from someone who has been in the industry for a long time, particularly if you are just starting out. A mentor who has experience in the business can share their advice with you, which can help you avoid poor business decisions, pitfalls of the industry, and also allow you to hone in on what’s truly important.
In other words, a mentor can help you zero in on what exactly you need to do in order to succeed. This “shortcut” is far more effective than you taking a longer time to figure this out on your own.
4. Have a Long-Term Game Plan
Before you go into any career, you need to figure out the long-term game plan. Ask yourself “where do I see myself in five years?”, because you need to consider what you are hoping to get out of your career.
Although we all went fancy cars and millions of dollars in a very short timeframe, it is important to be realistic. If you know that you won’t be able to achieve a certain overly ambitious goal, then you should adjust your plan accordingly.
It is better to be realistic and act accordingly, then make goals that are completely unattainable and will cause you to fail. Don’t expect to be making lots of money when you start working in commercial real estate. In fact, there might be months where you could struggle to meet certain financial goals. In these instances, you should seek assistance through commission advances and plan your finances accordingly.
5. Know Your Weak Spots
Everyone has a hard time seeing where their weaknesses lie. However, in order to succeed in commercial real estate, you need to get comfortable with your weaknesses. This is because your weaknesses will elicit true growth.
Without acknowledging your weaknesses, you are being ignorant of your faults which will set you up to fail. However, once you know what you need to work on, you can slowly start working on it. Being honest with yourself will go a long way!
6. Network, Network, Network
The commercial real estate industry is a small one, where everyone knows everyone. As such, it is important to be friendly with your colleagues and get to know your key contacts.
If you want to get ahead in the industry, you have to know who you can rely on, who you work well with, and who can provide you with certain services and/or support. The climb to success is often one that is done with others by your side, whether you like it or not. As such, it is important to establish a connection with others and maintain it over the long run.
7. Reflect
Many business decisions in the commercial real estate realm happen fast. However, in order to succeed over the long run, you need to reflect on how and why certain things happened.
Being more thoughtful will allow you to make wiser decisions in the future, will encourage you to align with a stronger team, and it will also provide you with key industry experience to grow in this career path.