What are the responsibilities of a real estate professional? These days, the answer isn’t so simple. From designing websites and logos, to blogging and social media, to managing all kinds of software, today’s real estate pros have a wider range of tasks than ever before. Sometimes, with all that extra work, agents lose sight of their most important priority: to grow their business.

But Vija Williams has her eye on the prize. For Vija, the devil isn’t in the details: it’s in the big picture, with every transaction, every interaction, measured against a clear, long-term vision of success. As a real estate coach and leader to an award-winning team, Vija has helped dozens of agents build a more methodical, more thoughtful business.

In this far-reaching interview, Vija Williams offers her tips for building a clear, confident real estate brand, and explains why long-term planning is the best way to achieve short-term success.

When asked why they don’t use content marketing to promote their businesses, real estate agents have all kinds of explanations. They say they’re too busy, or they tried it and it didn’t work, or their market is too competitive. But Katrina Benton is here to debunk all these excuses, and then some.

A lifelong resident of Anchorage, Alaska, Katrina comes from a long line of real estate professionals. But unlike her father and grandfather, Katrina has invested heavily in digital marketing. That investment has helped her build a sustainable year-round practice in a highly seasonal market. Now, Katrina is taking her show on the road, helping agents in Texas, California, and Colorado use her content and tools to grow their own businesses.

In this interview, Katrina Benton describes how agents can turn their content and tools into a full-fledged marketing system, and explains why being busy isn’t the same as being successful.

Real estate agents face a unique challenge in deciding where to hang out their shingle. Do you join a franchise for the brand recognition and resources? Do you opt for an indie brokerage with more flexibility and local authority? Or do you strike out on your own and start a new business? As it happens, Lindsay Reishman has done all three.

Lindsay has worn a lot of hats in the real estate business. After years of working closely with consumers, first as an agent, then as a broker-owner, Lindsay sold his company to Compass, stepping out of day-to-day operations and into a management role. Today, he’s back in the saddle with a new sales team and a renewed focus on helping agents provide better service to their clients.

In this interview, Lindsay Reishman discusses the process of reinventing his brand for a new venture, and offers up some words of caution and advice for brand new agents.

When it comes to advising new or aspiring agents, there are two persistent myths. Some folks say you can start earning right away in real estate. Others tell rookie it’ll be months before they make their first deal. But for Melissa Boucher, the first six months weren’t for making money: they were for learning.

A year ago, Melissa left her first career as an oncology nurse in Seattle to become a full-time real estate agent. Instead of taking on clients right away, Melissa decided to spend time seeking out mentors and learning everything she could about her new trade. Not long ago, that decision paid off in a big way when Melissa landed a sprawling 99-acre listing in the San Juan Islands worth twenty million dollars.

In this interview, first-year agent Melissa Boucher takes us through her journey to 20 million, and explains why open houses can be an untapped resource for connecting with sellers.

Real estate is built on personal branding. Whether you work for a major franchise or an indie brokerage, your first responsibility as an agent is growing your own list of clients and prospects. And with all that branding comes ego. It’s everywhere, from bus stop ads to websites and everywhere in between.

Some would argue that ego is an asset—project confidence, they say, and your audience will take notice. But for Pat Hiban, ego has a way of coming back to haunt you.

Pat should have something of an ego himself: he’s one of a few agents to have sold over a billion dollars worth of homes over the course of his career. But in an industry as speculative as real estate, Pat preaches the value of being conservative, as well as building strong systems behind the scenes to capitalize on every opportunity, no matter how small.

In this interview, Pat Hiban reveals the potential costs of ego in real estate, and explains how an ego-killing decisions like price reductions can actually make your business stronger.

For many real estate agents, the 2008 housing crash was a disaster. Yet even in the darkest days, there were still corners of our industry that found a way to thrive. Distressed sales, for instance, made up almost a third of all real estate transactions in 2009, with real estate owned properties taking the biggest chunk of that market. And that was good news for Steve Jolly.

A former home improvement contractor with a background in selling to businesses, Steve realized in 2005 that the REO market was a strong fit for his experience. Over the next few years, Steve closed hundreds of deals. But as the market recovered, the REO market began to shrink. Today, distressed sales are at a nine-year low nationwide. Yet Steve’s business is still booming, and it’s all thanks to clever marketing.

No fan of traditional outbound marketing methods, Steve developed a direct marketing strategy that’s helped him close dozens of REO sales every year. He’s even written a book: “Kill Cold Calls.” In this interview, Steve Jolly explains his system for using digital marketing tools and content to generate and convert more leads, without resorting to cold calls.

For many real estate agents, the 2008 housing crash was a disaster. Yet even in the darkest days, there were still corners of our industry that found a way to thrive. Distressed sales, for instance, made up almost a third of all real estate transactions in 2009, with real estate owned properties taking the biggest chunk of that market. And that was good news for Steve Jolly.

A former home improvement contractor with a background in selling to businesses, Steve realized in 2005 that the REO market was a strong fit for his experience. Over the next few years, Steve closed hundreds of deals. But as the market recovered, the REO market began to shrink. Today, distressed sales are at a nine-year low nationwide. Yet Steve’s business is still booming, and it’s all thanks to clever marketing.

No fan of traditional outbound marketing methods, Steve developed a direct marketing strategy that’s helped him close dozens of REO sales every year. He’s even written a book: “Kill Cold Calls.” In this interview, Steve Jolly explains his system for using digital marketing tools and content to generate and convert more leads, without resorting to cold calls.

One of the first lessons we learn when entering the working world is what it really means to start at the bottom. Whether it’s writing parking tickets as a police officer, sweeping floors at a hair salon, or processing endless data at a corporate job, working your way up the ladder is an often unpleasant reality of most careers. But real estate is the exception.

Irina Kim Sang has a great analogy for this. Irina started her real estate career by diving right into Miami’s luxury scene, and managed to build a highly successful business. For Irina, the real estate industry is like a high rise apartment building. In most careers, getting to the penthouse means taking the stairs from floor to floor. But in real estate, you can take an elevator straight to the top. The challenge, of course, is adjusting your business to fit a new perspective that’s much different from the ground floor.

In this interview, Irina Kim Sang details how agents can accelerate success by focusing on one perspective, and explains why the best marketers are open to ideas from every industry.

One of the first lessons we learn when entering the working world is what it really means to start at the bottom. Whether it’s writing parking tickets as a police officer, sweeping floors at a hair salon, or processing endless data at a corporate job, working your way up the ladder is an often unpleasant reality of most careers. But real estate is the exception.

Irina Kim Sang has a great analogy for this. Irina started her real estate career by diving right into Miami’s luxury scene, and managed to build a highly successful business. For Irina, the real estate industry is like a high rise apartment building. In most careers, getting to the penthouse means taking the stairs from floor to floor. But in real estate, you can take an elevator straight to the top. The challenge, of course, is adjusting your business to fit a new perspective that’s much different from the ground floor.

In this interview, Irina Kim Sang details how agents can accelerate success by focusing on one perspective, and explains why the best marketers are open to ideas from every industry.

In the age of digital marketing, where there’s so much choice and so many distractions, It’s easy to find a reason why a listing or a lead didn’t go your way. Maybe that buyer wasn’t actually ready. Or maybe that seller decided to list with an old friend. But for Tim and Julie Harris, there’s only one reason why your real estate business isn’t what you want it to be: and that’s you.

Tim and Julie know a thing or two about what it takes to succeed in real estate. In their first year as real estate agents, they managed to sell more than a hundred homes, bringing in over ten million dollars. That success propelled them to a thriving real estate coaching business that’s helped thousands of agents improve their craft by taking ownership of their strengths and weaknesses.

In this interview, Tim and Julie Harris describe the benefits of living a media-free life, and explain why taking responsibility for everything that goes wrong in your business is the key to building a successful real estate practice.