growth as a commercial real estate broker

BY joey valenti

When you get your first job you expect to learn and grow… to be promoted, to gather experience under your belt, to become a subject matter expert. These things do not end when you hit a certain work milestone. These are things that all GREAT humans do to become better at what they do. They ask questions, they try something new and work to find solutions where it seems there are none.

One might think that in commercial real estate – there is a process, a procedure for that. Once you have closed several transactions you know all you need to know to become successful in this business. You could not be more wrong with that line of thinking.

Why it is important to grow as a Broker

As a broker you should, yes should, always be growing and learning in this business. When you start you will take any business you can get. You start with small deals but in order to take the bigger deals you have to be constantly learning. Along with that you have to be studying the market. Determining your specialization – tenant rep, buyer, investor, office, industrial, or retail.  Make those decisions early and strive to be the best in that.

Why it is important to have mentors

Learning from books, podcasts, or videos is ideal with many careers but learning from people with experience doing what you would like to be doing is priceless! I was lucky to join Arthur Perlen, CCIM at the start of my career. He has been my mentor since day one!  I am also very lucky as I also have Barry Hardwick, CCIM too!

When you have strong mentors, you are never afraid to ask questions. You get real world answers, and transactional experience near you. Surround yourself with people you want to be like. Whether it’s the same kind of job, or how much money. They can teach you how to get there. It is hard to do that without having a helping hand.

Why it is important to mentor others in the business

It’s a pay it forward situation. Joey relishes the ability to help others grow in the business. Spending time with others in the business creates a better broker. If you’re able to mentor someone else it creates business for you. Partnerships are key for brokers new to commercial real estate. New brokers will be going out and finding business that they will be needing help with.  Smart young people in this business will search you out.  He has had several younger brokers reach out and ask how to grow. Joey LOVES those calls and LOVES to help whenever he can.

Why it is important to be involved in your Community/Giving back

Relationships. The more people you meet, the bigger chance you have to do a deal.  When you do good things, good things happen to you and if you need help you have a bigger network of people that could be a resource for you or someone else within your network. Plus, helping in your community leads to a better overall life experience. People under estimate the intangible benefits of helping. You do a better job when you are happy and fulfilled.

Growth can help your Business Relationships

Someone’s growth in the business allows them to communicate better with more established people in the business. That is where your larger transactions come from. You have to be able to talk to sophisticated owners and investors, not just smaller companies. Constantly learning and constantly improving allows you to communicate effectively. 

It comes full circle. Having a mentor rolls into being a mentor for others. As you get more established you do not want to do the small stuff and need to find someone to give it to.

I mentor others but I am still in Arthur’s office asking questions!

There’s never a time where you don’t stop growing.  Asking questions is crucial.  Your career can’t go the way you think if you don’t ask questions. The mentality may be different depending where you are but strategically investing in growth of yourself and others helps to grow your business. Lastly, it is important to find the right “home”.

Mentoring and growing go together in this business. If you would like to talk more about mentoring or commercial real estate, I can be reached at [email protected].

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