Video not loading? Click here to watch it on YouTube!

Five referrals in one week. Two listing appointments from automated emails. Closings happening while I’m focused on strategy instead of scrambling for my next deal.

That’s not luck. That’s leverage.

But let me tell you what happened to one of my coaching clients that’ll make you rethink everything you know about scaling your business. She built what I’m about to teach you – properly, in the right order – and had a $200,000 month. Not year. Month.

Most agents would kill for that kind of success, but when I ask them about their systems, I get blank stares. When I mention building structure before hiring help, they tell me they don’t have time. When the market shifts and their income drops to zero, they blame everything except the one thing they can control: how they built their business.

The reality check you need to hear? Frustrated that leads are taking longer to convert? Feeling like business is scarce and the market’s to blame? The market conditions change. They fluctuate. This is part of being in business, part of the entrepreneur’s journey.

But what we’re seeing now is a revelation that agents never took the time to actually build a business. When the market was hot, everybody was closing deals not because they were skilled at business, but because it was just easy to convert leads. Now that things have slowed down, it’s exposing gaps in our businesses.

We can’t keep blaming the market. We have to take responsibility and start looking at the backend systems of our business and build so that when the next slow market comes (and it will come because that’s part of business – it ebbs and flows), we’re prepared.

The Fatal Mistake: Activity Over Strategy

Walk into any real estate office and you’ll see the same scene playing out. Agents hunched over their phones, making calls. Frantically posting on social media. Running from showing to showing. They mistake being busy for being productive.

They choose activity over strategy.

They’re too busy chasing closings – focused on the activities that bring closings – that they don’t think long-term strategy. How do I build something I can walk away from and still have closings coming in?

This mindset is what keeps agents trapped in the hustle cycle. One month they make $10,000, the next month they make zero. Unfortunately, my bills don’t fluctuate with market conditions. These people still want to get paid on the first and fifteenth every month. They come like clockwork.

When I built my referral system, I built it knowing that once it was in place, I could walk away from it. I could focus on immediate business while having that lever working long-term to grow my business. That’s the difference between building your “right now” business and your “later” business.

The dual career agents I work with understand this better than anyone. They have no choice but to operate with strategy. A full-time agent can hustle and find their way because they’ll work 60, 70, 80 hours a week (which I think is pointless), but they can find their way because they have the opportunity to extend more time.

When you’re a dual career agent, you’ve got about two to three hours a day to run your business, and you better have strategy or it’s going to show.

The Knowledge Gap That’s Killing Your Growth

Most agents don’t realize what building actually means. They think hiring someone is building. They think posting more on Instagram is building. They think working harder is building.

Let me break down what building actually looks like, starting with the foundation of everything: systems.

The Lead Generation System Reality Check

When you’re starting a business, especially real estate, you’ve got to figure out what leads you need to meet your goals. How many people you need to talk to. What the conversations need to look like. This needs to be systematized. Parts of it need to be automated.

I use email marketing because it allows me to be consistent and show up with people without having to physically be present. I use tech services. I use voicemail drops. All these things are automated as part of my processes to help me grow my business.

When the market slowed down, all I did was double up on those systems. Instead of sending one email a week, I started sending two. Instead of sending two texts a week, I started sending four. I took the system I already had in place and just scaled it. That’s the thing about systems – they’re scalable.

The Database That Actually Works

This week, I got five referrals from my referral system. I ended up taking two listings from systematized emails that went out to clients, and they replied back: “Hey, give me a call. I want to list my house.” “Hey, give me a call. I want to have a coworker that’s interested in buying a house.”

These systems you build – the solid database and referral network – are evergreen systems that can continue to grow your business even if you’re working full-time and have to spend the day at another job.

Most agents treat their database like a contact list. I treat mine like a goldmine. Every person in there has a systematic way they’re being nurtured. They’re getting emails. They’re getting texts. They’re getting voicemail drops. They’re getting market updates. They’re getting value.

But the magic isn’t in the frequency – it’s in the system that makes it all happen without me having to remember or manually do any of it.

The Boom Time Trap That Destroys Businesses

The third reason agents don’t build systems connects to something biblical that most people ignore. They think the fast market, the boom, will last forever. They ride these waves and totally ignore the importance of stability.

The Bible says there’s a season for everything under the sun. You’re going to have good times in business, but you’re going to have some not-so-good times. Wouldn’t it be good when you have the not-so-good times to have something prepared?

Let me give you the example from Genesis. Joseph was given a dream interpretation. A king asked Joseph to interpret his dream, and Joseph said, “You’re going to have seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine.” That was a word from the Lord – the same word that tells us there’s a season for everything.

When Joseph interpreted this dream, he was able to help the king prepare for the seven seasons of famine. What happened? In the season of plenty, they put some aside and started preparing. We call that preparing for a rainy day.

That same concept works for us as entrepreneurs because I have bills. Unfortunately, as the market fluctuates, my bills can’t do that.

My Personal System for Financial Stability

The systems help me maintain consistency so my income can be as consistent as possible. I don’t get commission for my business. I am a W-2 employee of my business. Why? Because I can budget for my salary, but also when I bring in a lot of money, I can start to prepare for my salary in the down times. It’s the same concept Joseph used in Genesis.

You don’t build a safety net when you need it. You build it before you need it.

The Leverage Triangle: Systems, Tools, People (In That Exact Order)

Most agents think about leverage backwards. They start with people, then wonder why everything falls apart. The leverage triangle has three parts in a very specific order: systems, tools, people.

Systems: The Structure of Scale

You don’t build a business off vibe. You don’t build a business off hustle. You don’t build a business because you got the gift of gab and know how to talk to people. Systems are your SOPs – standard operating procedures. They remove decision fatigue from your business and create consistency.

Your business is going to grow and you’ll make more money if there’s less confusion, more consistency.

Systems are the step-by-step processes for how things get done. Your business would grow and change exponentially if you just looked at everything you did and had a step-by-step process of how to do it so that it was duplicatable and you did it the same way every time.

When a lead registers, what happens? What happens when a buyer makes an offer? What happens when they go under contract? What happens when a closing is scheduled? What checklist do you follow?

These checklists are your systems.

The Six-Month to Three-Year Reality

Building systems takes time. I’d say it’s going to take you at least six months to three years to get foolproof systems in your business. You can execute in six months. Then you’re going to tweak them probably every 90 days until you get it solid. By two years, really a year depending on how you’re executing, you should have that thing laid out and then you amplify it.

Think about the New England Patriots (and yes, I’m a Patriots fan forever – don’t debate me on this). The players need a playbook to be successful. Imagine hiring a quarterback and saying, “Hey, go be a quarterback.” Even though they have experience being a quarterback, they have never played for this organization. What is our value system? What are our rules? What are our plays?

That’s why you have to give them a playbook. That’s why you can’t hire somebody to create something that you need to be creating.

Don’t hire help to fix chaos. Build systems and then hire help to help you build the business.

Tools: The Gasoline for Your Systems

Once you have the systems in place – and only then – tools help you execute a system more effectively. They help you amplify, automate, execute.

Most agents chase tools like they’re chasing shiny objects. They keep changing tools because they don’t like the current one. Well, you don’t have a system. That’s why you don’t like that tool. You don’t know what you need until you have a system.

Until I have a system, I don’t know which tools I need.

Tools are things like software, apps, templates, automation. It’s the tech side of your business that helps you run the play.

The Automation Reality Most Agents Miss

Most people are wasting money on people when you don’t really even need a person. I know agents who run their whole business on automation and leverage without employees. GoGo Beth Key comes to mind – she’s a social media influencer and realtor who runs her whole business on automation and leverage without people. Why? Because the system can be so tight that if you take the time to build it, you don’t really need a person.

That’s what I’m saying. A person is often just a quick fix because you don’t want to deal with the chaos and you’re trying to hire it away. That’s not how you build a business.

For example, I send daily emails. I don’t need anybody for that. I can do that all on my own within one hour a week. So if I wanted to build a business that just focused on that and wasn’t people-focused, I don’t need to hire anybody.

Tools don’t replace you – they replace repetition. They replace the things that you’re doing consistently. If you find yourself doing the same task over and over again (which you won’t really know unless you’re documenting and building checklists and SOPs), that’s a sign that a system exists and can be automated with a tool.

The purpose of leverage is to multiply output without multiplying effort. If I have an email automation, I can send that automation to 10,000 people at once. I’ve multiplied and increased my output, but the effort of pressing the button – whether it was five people or 50,000 people – didn’t change.

People: The Power Players (When You Give Them a Play to Run)

People are the third part of the leverage triangle – and sometimes you don’t even need this part. But what we do is start with people, thinking that if we’re struggling in our business, we need to hire a person.

You need a system. You need a tool. People are last because they execute the play.

You hire people after your systems are built and the tools are in place. They are your power players, but only when you give them a play to run. People should optimize and enhance, not create from scratch. You should be creating every system in your business.

Why Most Hires Fail

The number one reason people quit or get fired is lack of clarity. Systems give you clarity. Systems clear up chaos.

Give people a role, not a rescue mission. We’re hiring people to come in and be MacGyver to our business and duct tape all the bad things that we failed to implement on our own. That’s not how people work. And that’s why people hate their jobs – because they’re constantly having to fix things that somebody should have given them a system for.

If you’ve been in corporate America, you probably agree with this. It creates overwhelm in them. It burns them out and then they want to leave.

If you can give them a play to run, then they can optimize it and enhance it. They’ll do things with it that you never thought possible.

Your VA should be following your SOPs, not creating them. They should be following your SOP for lead generation, not figuring it out on their own.

People leverage isn’t micromanaging. It’s not babysitting. You only micromanage if you don’t have systems. If you have systems, you have predictable outcomes. You know whether people are doing the job because the system will show you.

When you hire people, they should be stepping into clearly defined systems, supported by the right tools, and focusing only on executing those things.

The Two-Pillar Foundation That Actually Works

In building my referral system, I focused on two things that every successful real estate business is built on: nurturing relationships and touch points.

Real estate is nothing more than relationships and conversations.

If you know how to have conversations that convert – meaning you’re skilled at that, you practice that, it’s something you’re learning daily to get better at – and you know how to build relationships, you will be successful in business.

But the reality is that success in building relationships for realtors is in the follow-up. That’s why your funnels have to be in place. That’s why your email campaigns have to be in place. Your touch points have to be in place so you can systematically build relationships that convert over time.

The Faith Element in Business Building

When I developed the referral system, those are seeds that I planted. When I called people, I prayed over them, and God was faithful to bring the harvest.

I want you to understand I’m building a business by faith. This is my opportunity to show God’s grace and mercy to the world and that He’s a keeper regardless of what the market is doing. But I still have to participate in my own rescue. The Bible says we have to work out our own salvation. Think about that in business terms – I still have to participate in the long-term growth of my business.

Long Money vs. Right Now Money

My brain always thinks long-term strategy. I very seldom focus on short-term activity because short-term activity gets you paid now, but I’m interested in long money. Long money.

I had an agent on my team who built a referral system for her clients. Her clients refer most of her business. She made $200,000 in one month. People are still doing this. I was so proud because everything I told her to do for her business, she did it. She did it her own way and took her own route, but when I said build a referral system, get in front of your clients, send follow-up emails, create these systems to automate for you – she did all that, and it works.

I’m not talking to you about something I’ve read or studied in a book. I’ve lived this. I’ve done this not just in real estate, but in health insurance when I was doing that, and in other industries. This works across businesses, any form of sales. I don’t care if you’re selling Mary Kay or real estate – you need to have these levers in place for your business to be successful.

Your Building Season Starts NOW!!!

When the market is slow, this is your time to build. Why? You don’t have a hundred thousand showings and a hundred thousand clients.

This is the time to build. Use that time wisely. Don’t just sit in fear. Take action. Insulate yourself. Prepare for the market ahead because what’s going to happen is the market is going to be great again. I believe it because real estate goes up and down. But when it gets great, you’re going to be too busy to build.

Then you’re going to keep going through this cycle – one month you make $10,000, the next month you make zero. My bills just can’t do that.

Your Immediate Action Plan

Don’t just sit in fear. Take action:

1. Audit your current “systems” (or lack thereof) – Document everything you do repeatedly

2. Build your lead generation system with automation levels – Start with one method and systematize it completely before adding another

3. Create your follow-up system – Map out every touchpoint from lead to closing and beyond

4. Implement email marketing – One email per week to your database is better than sporadic posting on social media

5. Develop a referral strategy – Your past clients should be your biggest source of new business

6. Organize your database – If you can’t systematically nurture your relationships, you don’t have a business

The Investment Reality

Sometimes building means you need consultation. If I was building a house right now, I would call an architect. I’m not going to try to lay out the blueprint for my house myself.

Even if you don’t know where to begin, invest in yourself. The cost of not having systems is always higher than the cost of building them. Every month you delay building proper systems is another month you’re leaving money on the table and burning yourself out.

The Triangle That Changes Everything

Let me recap because this will shift how you think about growth forever:

Systems give you structure. Tools help you scale. People allow you to step away.

That is the purpose of leverage.

But too many agents are hiring people to fix a problem when they really need to engage in this triangle. Real leverage isn’t about delegation – it’s about multiplication. And it starts with building it in the right order.

I’m talking to people who want to build something bigger than themselves. People who want to make more money in a month than they’ve ever made before in their life. People who want to build something that when they leave this earth, it’s still here, still functioning, still running.

Most agents skip this foundation because building systems takes time. They’re stuck in PTSD from being poor, so all they’re thinking about is money. But there are certain things you have to sit down and build. You can’t fly this plane blindly ever.

The chaos exists in you until it doesn’t. The systems help remove the chaos. The business being chaotic is just a reflection of what’s going on with you.

If you will take the time to build the system, you won’t be confused in your business. You won’t get up every day not knowing what you’re doing. You’ll have a systematic way that you’re making money, a systematic way that you’re doing things. Why? So that you are able to grow it.

Stop winging it. It’s time to build the leverage triangle that will transform your business from a hustle into an empire.

This is exactly what I teach in my Blueprint program – how to build these systems from the ground up. Because building systems is the key to your leverage. It’s the foundation that everything else is built on.

Systems. Tools. People. In that order. That’s how you build a business that works without you.

That’s how you win, friend!