Article by Marty Green

The real estate field provides one of the greatest careers I really could ever imagine. Minimal start-up expenses plus it gives someone an opportunity to run his or her business. It offers freedom of your time to come and go when you please. It lets you escape a 9-5 job with flexibility as well as the ability to earn quite a lucrative income.

Many times I have seen people jump into the industry with unrealistic expectations. Putting themselves behind the 8 ball early, therefore i have developed this short list of items that you ought to know of before investing in a real estate career.

Agents don’t get paid weekly

This will likely come as a surprise for some but real estate agents aren’t paid by the hour but through the sale. This means no weekly paycheck! Helping someone purchase or sell a home allows an agent to get a commission depending on the sale price of the home. Typical commissions range between 3-6% or even more, with the buying and selling agent splitting the commission. Obviously, budgeting your income is extremely important as sales of homes might not be regular all year round.

Lead generation will be your priority

Once you are licensed as a real estate agent, lead generation is the top priority to having an incredible career. Without prospects and opportunities, you won’t work with clients and ultimately make money. Obviously customer service is vital as well, however without the leads coming in, you’ll find yourself waiting a very long time for your next client.

6 months salary saved prior to getting into real estate

Even though you discover a client to work with you and you have an accepted contract signed, it is highly unlikely that you will receive any earnings before the property closes. This may be 30, 60, or even 120 days away. This is the reason that you’ll require a bit of a nest egg saved up to make sure you can keep going until some cash does come in to support you.

Attributes that make up a successful agent

Many attributes make up a successful agent. Do you think you’ve got what it takes?

* Self starter, motivated* Good communicator/listener* Persistence* Able to work from a plan and also have goals* Professionalism and integrity

It costs money to trade in real estate

You’re starting your own business where there are expenses associated with operating monthly. You have fees to pay to the Broker that you are associated with. You have car expenses and cell phone bills. You should also be putting cash back into your company for lead generation purposes too. Advertising, website, flyers etc. The business doesn’t have to cost you lots of money but you will have costs none the less.

Real estate is really a full-time career

There are many people who sell real estate part time which do well. However, the truly successful agents realize that this career takes a full-time commitment. We live in an age where instant response is crucial and working part-time limits your availability for your clients. Sure it is possible, however the more time spent on your business the more you will get from it.

About the Author

Check out http://www.realestatecareermentor.com when thinking about a Real Estate Career.

When it comes to starting your own small business in Canada, you might be at a loss at how to start. But if you have ideas and the right amount of determination, you have just as much of a chance of initiating a successful small business as your competitors. There are several ways in which you can get yourself off to a good start, as well as multiple techniques you can use to get ahead of the game when starting a small business in Canada.

The first thing you will need to do when starting a small business will to have some sort of idea to be the foundation of your plan. What do you want to market? What do you want to bring into the world? If you have already decided on the product or service that you would like to sell, you are still going to have to create a business plan. You should decide if you want to start a business as a side activity, or a hobby, or if you want to make a serious profit from it. Gather your ideas, but do not finalize anything, as even the most successful businesses change their plans along the way.

If you are not terribly wealthy, as few starters of small businesses are, you will need to seek financial help. Most banks will offer financial services and help you get a loan. However, it can be very difficult to get a loan, especially if you do not have a perfect credit history. What you need to do is assure the bank that you are prepared. This is where having a plan comes in. You have to know what you are going to do with the money, and you have to have a plan to pay it back. If you can give the loaner the confidence that you can put the money to good use and make the investment worth their time, you will be able to secure the loan. There are also all sorts of place you can go that specialize in helping small businesses, and more than just financially. These programs and services can help you have a logo designed, help you start up a web site and with advertising.

At this point, you need to start attracting customers, especially repeat customers who will come back to use your service or purchase your product regularly. Internet advertising can be very cheap and effective, if you advertise in the right place. Many services can help you find the advertising you need to kick off your small business. The Internet offers a wealth of information on small business advice and services. A good place to start is Canada Small Business Directory at www.CanadaSmallBiz.com. It is also crucial that you get referrals. Be sure to ask your customers or clients to recommend your product or service to people they know. You can encourage this by having business cards printed for you. This is a very cheap way to increase your number of customers. The more exposure you get and the better your products or services, the more of a chance that you will have that successful, growing small business that you have always been dreaming of!

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I had wanted to write on this for quite sometime now, but all the same, i know it is never late to do so. One thing about being an entrepreneur is that you tend to get all manner of people coming to you either as customers, business associates, employees, family members, friends or investors.

Quite often i do hear this from them “i want to build a big business” or “i want to be rich.” While i am not against tall ambitions since i am also an ambitious person, i am against big dreams without the willingness to pay the necessary price.

Most entrepreneurs dream of being the next Bill Gates, Warren Buffet or Sam Walton but they don’t seem to know the price these men paid to get to the level they are.

This is the main reason i have a column on my website titled “Lessons from successful entrepreneurs.” I purposely introduced the column to enable aspiring entrepreneurs see what it took these entrepreneurs to get to where they are now and to also enable them learn from the mistakes of these successful entrepreneurs.

It is ok to dream big, but the real fact is; are you prepared to pay the price? If you are, then you must be ready to start small. Most young entrepreneurs hate starting a small business. They assemble their business plan, make all necessary arrangements and then wait for an investor that will provide the ,000,000 capital.

The hard truth is that the million dollar investor might never come and even if they do, they will not invest with you because you lack the necessary business skills and confidence to run a business and grow their money.

So what is the way out? My suggestion to young entrepreneurs who come to me with ideas and business opportunities is this; go and start small or get involved with the process of starting a small business.

I usually advice entrepreneurs who are young in the business world to start a small business based on the following reasons:

1.   Most of these young entrepreneurs have no business experience. They have not been confronted by business challenges. But when you start small, you will gain experience and improve your business skills.

2.   If you start a small business, you will faced by the initial start up challenges of finding new customers and managing the business system as a whole. Now the truth is; if you can handle these challenges, then you are preparing yourself to handle the challenges of building a big business.

3.   In business, there are unforeseen challenges. If an entrepreneur should bend low and go through the process of starting a small business, he or she will come to realize that there is more to building a business than just finding customers.

4.  If you are able to start small and grow at a rate of maybe 35 – 45% per annum, investors’ confidence in you will be boosted.  The investors will come to reason that since you have gotten to the level you are, a little support will make a big difference. The truth is if you can confidently handle a small business and grow at a steady rate, then you can handle a big business.

With these few reasons of mine, i believe you are now beginning to realize the magic behind starting a small business.

In conclusion, my final advice is this. Even if you take the risk and go through the process of starting a small business, don’t get infected with the small business syndrome.

I have seen entrepreneurs start and build small successful businesses but they refuse to go beyond the small business level. They have gotten contented with the small business level. So for you who intend starting small, don’t make the same mistake.

At this point, i draw the curtain. God bless you.

As you devour this article, remember that the rest of it contains valuable information related to starting a small business and in some way related to how to make money online, computer consulting, new business financing or practical business advice for your reading pleasure.

Make sure that time spent on the small business partnership is dedicated to the business, and time spent together away from the small business partnership is not a forum to discuss business matters. If you’re going to spend time together away from the small business partnership, really spend time away from the business.

Business people often are in need of smaller monetary support for meeting variety of expenses. Small business loans cater to their smaller financial requirements in hassle free manner. A business person can utilize small business loans amount for starting a new business or even for expending the established business. Buying raw material, paying for salaries or equipments etc., there is variety of purposes that one can put small business loans to.

Keeping in view the larger interests of the nation, SBS wants more people having the desire, skills and opportunity to start a successful business. It also aspires to help everyone with the ambition to grow a business in getting the needed help and support. Building the capability for small business growth and improving access to finance for small businesses are among the strategies on which SBS is working.

If as related to starting a small business as this article is and it still doesn’t answer all your needs, then don’t forget that you can conduct more search on any of the major search engines like Google dot com to get more helpful starting a small business information.

It is a good idea to go through with at least some business plans at hand. Again it is good to research and small business loans online work out before you find the business idea that flourishes into the successful business you want to run.

Other loans include commercial real estate loans, merchant cash advance, international trade loans, equipment loans for professionals and pollution control loans.

The business card should be designed in conformity with the business you are in. An undertaker with comic fonts and cartoon characters on his business cards should not expect many responses. Whereas, a small animation firm can display as many creativity and color as possible on their business cards to make a lasting impact. If corporate clients are the targets, it would be prudent to avoid adding your photo to the business card. Too many words on the business cards confuse people. Similarly, faint fonts do not register well in the minds. All such factors should be considered before ordering business cards, because a well-designed business card can be a ticket to business success.

We discovered that many people who were also searching for information related to starting a small business also searched online for related information such as small business plan, business loan broker, and even starting a small business online.