You might have noticed that I've been bringing up teams a lot lately.

I firmly believe that's the best course of action for today's genuinely devoted real estate professionals, and for good reason.

As I've previously stated, being successful doesn't necessarily require you to assemble a huge team, or "mega" team. No of your goals or ambitions, joining a team will enable you to outperform your output as a lone agent. Teams come in different forms and sizes.

The first step in creating a successful team is identifying your biggest areas of need and bringing on your first new team member.

I'll be discussing six potential roles today that you might want to think about for your "first hire." Move along!

Option 1: The 'First Hire' Obviously - Assistant In Real Estate

Getting an assistant who can perform a little bit of everything for your company is the most secure and apparent choice for your very first hire:

• schedule and personal management
• coordination of transactions
• appointment setup and leading follow-u
• business monitoring
• management of marketing, among other things!

Benefits: A broad title enables you to assign a variety of complex duties. By handling all the necessary responsibilities in your firm, a professional assistant can free you up to concentrate on work that produces dollars and is more in line with your strengths.

Cons: Anyone you hire will probably not be an expert in any of their various roles and will need to be very adaptable. will need extensive training to become proficient in all the many fields. Finding the ideal candidate for the position could take some time.

Option 2: Transaction Coordinator To Be More Specific

You might think about hiring a Transaction Coordinator as your first hire if you've ever felt that you spend way too much time on paperwork and phone calls.

When a client contacts you and you need to handle all the transactional details from contract to close, this person becomes your main point of contact. (Getting something off your plate sounds good, doesn't it?)

Pros: Provides you with an expert to handle a lot of "busy work" that prevents you from expanding your clientele and cultivating new companies. Additionally, this position will improve your company's general organization.

Cons: Because this person will engage with your clients frequently, it's critical that they have first-rate customer service abilities and problem-solving prowess. The wrong person in this position could seriously harm your reputation and jeopardize business negotiations.

Option 3: Marketing Director Work Smarter, Not Harder

Ready to fully commit to your brand and a business that relies on marketing? Then you should think about hiring a marketing director as your first employee.

In addition to creating your lead-generating strategy and managing your social media platforms, this person can also implement all of your lead-creation processes.

Positives: A full-time position devoted to developing your brand and setting you apart from your rivals. You can truly take off when this role executes successful marketing methods, with a corresponding rise in business that will come your way naturally. Additionally, being nimbler is a benefit of in-house marketing.

Cons: This position is not inexpensive. To handle all of your marketing initiatives without needing to outsource their creation, you'll want someone with a track record of success and a wide range of skills.

Option 4: Pose As A Dummy Sales Agent

Perhaps another Sales Agent should be your first hire if your lead generation and conversion are running like a well-oiled machine and you simply wish you could duplicate yourself to manage the business.

This "next in line" agent may be in charge of the following duties:

• Opening Doors
• Banging on your farm's door
• Calling FSBOs and expired leads encourages additional showings

Benefits: You can multiply your efforts without much training or a challenging learning curve if you have an experienced, licensed agent at your side.

Cons: Having handled everything yourself up to this point, you are now rapidly thrust into the unfamiliar terrain of managing or supervising another agent. If you're not careful, this extra position could completely negate the goal of hiring an additional agent in the first place—getting more work done.

Option 5: Make Yourself A Star - Videographer

You are aware of my fervent support for all things video.

But here's the catch... Videography and editing take a lot of time and require advanced expertise.

Several incredibly prosperous "video-first" agents The people I know take care of everything. But in order to do that, video editing must be a pastime you enjoy engaging in during your "off" hours. That way, you can work on it while still putting out enough effort and attention into your real estate profession.

Or you may hire a videographer to do everything for you first. Planning, filming, and editing videos, as well as maximizing your YouTube channel, are the topics I'm referring to.

If you choose to take this path, I firmly advise you to produce a variety of programs and other original content to support hiring a full-time videographer.

Regular programs to think about are:

• News & market updates on real estate
• The "How We Did It" stories, tales from inside a meeting, etc. take place behind the scenes.
• The material produced by communities
• Mentioning house tours
• Q&As plus instructional material
• Fun things to do in short-form videos to grow your audience on Reels and TikTok

Pros: By leaving the responsibility for your video's quality to a true expert in the area, you won't need to worry about it again. Free yourself from the tiresome chore of editing videos.

Cons: By employing an in-house videographer, you agree to pay additional expenses including those for professional camera(s), lighting, and other equipment like computers and editing software. If you decide to employ a videographer, you should be prepared for these additional charges, even though they aren't necessarily "cons."

Option 6: Free Yourself From Phone Duty - ISA 

All incoming leads, calls, and inquiries are handled by an ISA, or inbound sales agent.

This person can act as the "face" of your initial contact and customer care while also following up with, screening, and pre-qualifying potential customers.

A cost-effective technique to free up time and guarantee "speed to lead" in responding to potential clients is to hire either a real or "virtual" ISA.

Pros: Effective use of spending money to cut down on time. enables you to focus on your strengths. Possibility of employing a "virtual" ISA.

Cons: Getting your ISA up to speed with script training can take some time. Aside from that, there can be restrictions on what an ISA can talk about according on your region's real estate laws. Make sure you are aware of and follow your rules.

Which role, then, is your top priority? Which one would speed up your growth? Which fits your financial or investment goals for your company? Please share your responses in the comments section below, and make plans to attend my upcoming BluePrint event for even more information, including thorough job descriptions for each of these six professions.