I started selling in April of '09, after being laid off at a 9-5 job. I posted here asking for help, and got lots of great advice:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/off-topic-discussions/458322-starting-real-estate-tips.html
Rob's advice was especially helpful, although to be honest I am just doing a lot of the branding & advertising stuff now. I think it's fine to kick off in a BIG WAY, but in my case I really wanted to get a feel for the business, figure out my approach and THEN build my branding etc around that.
You'll get lots and lots of advice on how to advertise, how to brand yourself. Even more advice on how to handle buyers and sellers. That's what most people will talk about and advise on, and that's the fun stuff they show on TV. In reality, the biggest obstacle is GETTING CLIENTS. If you want to make a reasonable living at selling real estate, you need to bust you balls to get clients, and that is very very challenging and time consuming.
Every market is different, but you should be getting advice on how many deals a year you need to make a reasonable living, and then work your goals back from there. Around here, you need to around 24 "ends' (deals on either the selling or buying of a home) per year in order to make a decent living. For you, that will vary depending on average sale prices, average commissions, and what you need for a salary.
Starting out, I'd shoot for 60% buying ends, and 40% listings ends. You want to move towards listings, but it takes time to get a decent (self-sustaining) listing inventory. Everyone is different, but I did a lot of research on starting from scratch and this is how I did it:
Buyers: open houses. Do open houses on listings for other agents in your brokerage. Try to get in the good books of a high producer in your brokerage, and do consistent open house on WELL PRICED listings. Do at least two a weekend, maybe even three. (I often do one on saturday, and two on sunday). you are looking for buyers who aren't already working with an agents. It's a complicated dance, picking them up as clients, but once you figure it out you should be able to get 1-2 good buyers from any decent open house. I can go into detail if you need more info, but the real trick is to have useful info that makes them WANT you to show them more homes. You need to be able to demonstrate your value without being pushy
Listings: My first year, I knocked on doors 15+ hours a week. I targeted neighborhoods with decent turnover, and with homes that were ideal for first-time buyers. Again, there are tricks to doing this effectively without being pushy or obnoxious (I swear, it's true!). Biggest things is getting THEM talking, and telling you about which of their neighbors will be selling. Once you get good at it, you should be able to get 2-3 decent leads every time you go out for 2-3 hours. Some of the leads will be for a year or two down the road, but some will be for next week. I knocked on thousands of door in 2009, and that accounted for more than half of my listings that years. I haven't door-knocked since, but by following up with those leads, they accounted for half of my listings in 2010 too. In 2011, those leads still accounted for a quarter of my listings.
I got laid off with my wife 7mths pregnant, so I didn't have 2-3 years to get up and going. I had to match a professional salary, right away. It's tough, tough, tough to build momentum, and I had to work like an animal my first year... we're talking 80+ hours a week. I did 19 ends my first year, and *just* matched my old salary. 2010 I worked more like 60-70 (no door knocking), and did 27 ends.
This year I am doing around 50-60hrs, have someone doing admin work part time. It's still a LOT of work, but I am much more focused on LISTINGS ( I carry about 20-25 listings at any given time) and that gets me a steady supply of qualified buyers. I gradually becoming able to filter out time-wasters and unpleasant people. I have 34 ends closed so far, 5 more on the books, and should get another 5 or so that close before the year end, so 44 ends. I'm making decent money, and for the first time in my life I am not worried about finances. By christmas the only debt we'll have is our small mortage.
I still work like a lunatic, but this year I am really enjoying it. I work like an %$#@* animal in the peak periods in spring & fall, but I had a pretty relaxed summer. We had a second baby this sept, and I am spending a bit more time at home. It's all working out really, really well. To be frank, this has been the best year of my life.
I closed a couple big deals last week, and tonight I bought my wife a 2003 c320 wagon, and paid off her student loan. She has no idea, and is gonna $hit herself tomorrow. She deserves it... the last couple years were real, real hard on her. Funny I read this on my blackberry while waiting for the guy to show up with the car.