You can work in an office with 300 other Realtors, spend your entire day talking to clients, attending meetings, texting people, networking and being surrounded by people... and still feel completely alone.
That's one of the strange realities of running your own business.
When the deals aren't happening, the pipeline looks thin, money gets tight or your confidence takes a hit, you're the one lying in bed thinking about it. And when tomorrow morning comes, nobody is showing up at your house to tell you what you need to do next.
In Episode 402 of The MindShare Podcast, David Greenspan gets into a side of entrepreneurship and real estate that doesn't get talked about enough: the loneliness that can come with being responsible for your own business.
He explores why being surrounded by people isn't the same as having a genuine business support system, why comparing your full reality to everybody else's highlight reel can make isolation even worse, and why having somebody you can actually tell the truth to matters.
David also breaks down the role of an accountability partner, the difference between accountability and coaching, and how to build what he calls your business bench - people who can challenge you, give you perspective, share experience, hold you accountable and help you figure out what comes next.
And for Realtors considering changing brokerages because their friends work somewhere else, there's an important reminder:
Don't confuse having buddies at the office with having a business strategy.
You may be running your own business.
You don't need to run it alone.
What You'll Learn
00:00 – “This Business Feels Lonely”
A comment during the MindShare Collective sparks a conversation about how somebody can be surrounded by people all day and still feel completely alone running their business.
03:00 – Real Estate Looks Like a Team Sport
Brokerages, managers, training, events and hundreds of agents may create the appearance of a team, but most Realtors are still individually responsible for their own pipeline, clients, income and results.
05:45 – “How's Business?” … “Good! Busy!”
Why people rarely admit they're struggling, and how believing everybody else is crushing it can make an already difficult market feel even lonelier.
07:45 – Social Media Makes It Worse
Just listed. Just sold. Awards. Closings. Giant fucking keys. The danger of comparing the full reality of your business to the tiny piece of somebody else's business they decided to show you.
10:15 – You Need Someone Who Will Tell You the Truth
Support isn't always reassurance. Sometimes you need somebody who understands you well enough to recognize when you're struggling - and when you're simply making excuses.
12:00 – Find an Accountability Partner
What an accountability partner actually does, why they don't need to know more than you, and how a ten-minute check-in can make it much harder to quietly move your own goalposts.
17:30 – Accountability Partner vs. Business Coach
An accountability partner asks whether you did the thing. A good coach should also be asking whether it's the right thing - because you can be incredibly consistent in the wrong direction.
21:00 – Coaching Should Lead to Action
Why a useful coaching conversation shouldn't simply make you feel better; it should help turn fear, frustration, uncertainty and overwhelm into decisions about what you're doing next.
23:00 – Build Your Business Bench
The people you need around you: someone you can be honest with, someone who holds you accountable, people with experience you can learn from, and someone who can help you see your business from the outside.
26:00 – Your Support System Doesn't Have to Cost a Fortune
Managers, other agents, industry groups, mentors and fellow business owners may already provide resources and perspective you aren't using.
28:00 – Don't Switch Brokerages Just Because Your Friends Are There
Culture and environment matter, but your friends aren't prospecting for you, paying your mortgage or magically delivering listings because you moved offices. Make the decision based on what your business actually needs.
31:00 – You Still Have to Lift the Weight
Your support system can help carry the weight, but nobody on your bench can execute your business for you.
33:00 – Who's On Your Business Bench?
The closing exercise: identify who you can tell the truth to, who holds you accountable, who has experience you can learn from, and who helps you make better decisions.
Being responsible for your business doesn't mean you need to carry the entire thing alone.
There's a difference between being around people and having the right people around you.
You need people you can tell the truth to. People who will challenge you. Someone who knows what you said you were going to do and asks whether you actually did it. People with experience you can learn from. And sometimes you need somebody outside the business whose job is to help you simplify the noise, identify the gap and determine what comes next.
None of those people can execute for you.
Your coach isn't going to prospect for you. Your accountability partner isn't walking into the listing appointment. Your manager isn't magically depositing commission into your bank account.
The support system helps you carry the weight. You still have to lift.
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