If you are running a real estate team, you’ve probably realized that the hardest challenge isn’t selling real estate — it’s managing the business. I’ve spoken with brokers, team leaders and group leaders, and they all agree that managing people is the most difficult aspect of their profession.
The struggle for time management is a close second — conferences and training, while enjoyable and invaluable, are difficult to attend when time is so limited every day. So where do these professionals turn when they need to fill in the gaps between training, conferences and seminars? Blogs.
Here’s a list of must-read blogs that’ll keep you and your team ahead of the curve.
1. BiggerPockets
“Without a doubt, the BiggerPockets blog is one of the most valuable resources out there for Realtors and investors alike. While most of the blogs are written about the investment space, the principles shared can be easily translated to traditional single-family real estate,” says Jason Reed, a team owner with Re/Max Results.
BiggerPockets was a common mention from team leaders, and although it was one of the most common recommendations, most of the agents that suggested it felt it was a secret.
2. Tom Ferry
Javier Nuñez, director of operations for the Hopkins Team with Coldwell Banker in Plantation Florida, says, “Tom Ferry’s blog provides great insight on work ethic, time management, proven scripts to follow in order to close leads and convert them into clients, ideas for marketing and sales, etc.”
3. Seth Godin
This marketing guru has an entertaining blog that seems to focus more on delivering unique customer experiences rather than outright marketing tactics.
“Seth is almost required reading. He stretches your thinking,” Michael Perna, team leader of the Perna Team with Keller Williams in Novi, Michigan says. “His stuff is so big picture that you can apply it to your thinking around your business.”
4. Gary Vaynerchuk
After releasing multiple books at no. 1, Gary is almost synonymous with social media marketing. Like Seth Godin, I failed to find directly actionable content, but his thoughts on an overall strategy are worth reading.
“I just love the fire,” Pam Ahern, with Atlanta Area Intown Team at Keller Williams said. “It’s like … be unique, be you and go hard or go home.”
5. Chris Smith
Chris is an Inman Contributor and has written extensively about converting online leads. His company’s blog is more tactical than many we read. Which means agents can usually implement several of his ideas immediately.
6. Equip/John Maxwell
You can’t talk teams without talking leadership and John Maxwell. In fact, John Maxwell was mentioned by many team leaders.
The challenge is that John doesn’t really have a blog. However, Equip offers a daily devotional that many subscribe to that offers great leadership insights.
7. LinkedIn Blog
Many of the tech savvy agents we talked to on social media referenced the LinkedIn Blog. It routinely has marketing or success stories that they implement into team meetings.
8. Dan Rockwell
The easy-to-digest Leadership Freak blog offers insights that make for great team meeting discussions.
“I’ll just check out what he’s written and it will either hit me personally or be something I can bring to the team,” said Ed Huck, of the Huck Team in Cleveland, Ohio with Keller Williams.
9. Michael Hyatt
Michael Hyatt used to write a blog that was pretty amazing. Now the content is hidden behind his products, although he has a magazine (or something) now.
I’m not really sure what he’s doing now, but a few agents mentioned him when asked about what blogs they read. I’m guessing they listen to his podcast and found that to be synonymous with reading his blog, so we’re including him (and a few others here with podcasts/blog formats).
10. LeaderTribe
This blog and podcast takes research from Harvard Business Review and others and breaks it into easy-to-use chunks. Several team leaders said it makes a great start to a team meeting or motivational email.
Many of the team leaders that mentioned John Maxwell also mentioned LeaderTribe. It’s no surprise then to find out that the content writer for LeaderTribe is a former employee of John’s.
11. Tim Ferriss
Lisa Archer of Live Love Homes at Keller Williams runs multiple teams in different states and recommended Tim Ferriss as a good read. “Tim is pretty zany and a bit over-the-top, but that’s why I like him — he challenges my thinking and entertains me at the same time,” she said.
12. Storybrand
A person favorite, this blog offers information that is applicable, informative and entertaining. With all the noise out there, real estate agents could use a clarifying message.
13. EntreLeadership
EntreLeadership’s blog and podcasts focus on interviewing authors and giving you Dave Ramsey’s own personal flavor of leading a team. Really hard to argue with his level of success!
While so many team leaders look to blogs for tips, advice and inspiration, few take to the keyboard to produce their own consistent blog content. If you have ideas you’d like to share, blogging is a great way to do it — it’s never too late to get started!
Joshua Jarvis is a digital marketer with 4rd Marketing in Atlanta, Georgia. Connect with him on LinkedIn or Facebook.
