Thanks for tuning in today to The Real Deep Dive Podcast Episode 003! Today we are diving deep into running your real estate business like an actual business with Karen W. Cooper of Platinum Group Real Estate. Join us!

Karen has worked in real estate for 16 years. She has spanned almost every possible position in the industry. She’s been a listing specialist working on a team; she’s been a managing broker and now she leads a team of her own.

Working on a team is a fantastic way to develop professionally as a real estate agent. Karen worked on a rainmaker style team for several years. She noticed that working on a team is not sustainable for most agents for long term because the splits tend to be low.

As an agent starts making their own contacts, they’ll go off on their own. Teams become a revolving door. Karen designed her team, Platinum Group Real Estate so that agents would want to stay. She structured a team that provided all of the benefits of a team with centralized marketing, centralized systems and support. It let agents advance within the team.

Kara and Karen share amazing practical tips for running your real estate business like an actual business:

First – remember that your team is your second family.

Second – have an LLC and consult with an accountant. Invest in this as soon as you can.

Third – keep your budgeting clean. Karen uses a debit card instead of a credit card. All of her incomes and commissions go into that account. Then, she pays herself from that account. She pays her expenses from that account as well. Taxes are pretty simple because everything is from this one account. If she does put an expense on a personal credit card she’ll reimburse herself.

When budgeting ask yourself what can afford to outsource so that you can focus on the part of your job that inspires you? The health of your business will be better overall. In the beginning you may be wearing many hats, but as soon as you can afford to outsource a few of your more draining tasks – do it.

Fourth – Income varies, expenses generally stay the same. Kara and Karen share specific tips on how to manage this dilemma!

Thanks for listening to our show today brought to you by Pruitt Title, licensed in Maryland, DC and Virginia to handle Real Estate Settlements.

Kara Macdonald is Your Favorite Title Lady and you can reach Kara via e-mail at: kara@yourfavoritetitlelady.com or by phone at: 571.432.9382. She’s also on SnapChat as: favtitlelady. Look for her video blogs and amazing goal setting content.

You can reach Karen W. Cooper at Platinum Group Real Estate or via phone at 703- 999-3601 for the Northern Virginia Real Estate Market. She’s also on Facebook at Empowering Women in Real Estate.

Have a great day and we’ll see you again in Episode 004!