FOMO Driven Disruption: The New Gourmet Range Free Organic Non-GMO Word

Today it’s hard to run into a brokerage, especially a new one that isn’t claiming to be disrupting something.  It is a word of the moment whose intention is to trigger visions of Blockbuster getting crushed  by Netflix or the Taxi industry getting smacked around by UBER.

Is something really getting disrupted by changing a real estate model slightly?  Is offering the most Free stuff a disruption? Is changing how agents get attracted to the company any form of disruption?  Is changing a model by 25% any sort of disruption? Or, are these model differences just today’s Gourmet Free Range Organic Non GMO marketing tactics?

At this point people have seen the success eXp has brought to some agents.  Early adoption can indeed help with that success but it is not even close to the top three reasons for big success.  I believe we are in the FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) era of revenue share models. Everyone is chasing that 2015 to 2016 eXp experience.  I am not claiming eXp to be the best but what eXp has done is shown what can happen if someone takes Revenue Share seriously which has created a massive FOMO culture of “if I was just in a place early enough I could be . . . “.

I am not implying that any of the real estate models today are either good or bad.  What we know is, they are all competing for your clicks, attention, and loyalty.  What I do believe to be true is that it is mostly the Revenue Share based models making constant disruption claims. Every once in a while a funded brokerage or old school brokerage will also dip a toe in the disruption game but for the most part, it’s those pesky, persistent, and usually more lucrative Revenue Share models.

I have been involved in Revenue Share brokerage since 2016.  I know the models that exist and even know about some models in the making.  Everyone is desperately searching to disrupt some stuff, earn buckets of stock, and build an army of a revenue share group (downline for the more network marketing inclined). It is similar to knowing a friend who struck it rich on crypto so you run head first into the industry looking for that silver bullet of crypto.  That one trade that will bring you from multi thousandaire to multi millionaire.

When it comes down to it, it's in our nature to want to “belong” to the next big thing.  We see people succeed at a high level or we see someone rip right past us on the success train and it appears they did nothing different than we did.  What you are experiencing is a snapshot glimpse of their success.  In the Revenue Share sandbox there is no easy button or silver bullet.  I would argue it is a much harder grind than just going out and selling more homes.

To me a disruption isn’t something you see happening.  I also believe it involves changing the environment in which a job or task is done.  The next huge disruption in real estate is going to be two things.  One of them will involve a new model shift that comes from a tech driven company or a shop that is a development company first that iterates into a real estate brokerage.  The other disruption is the quest for the near extinction of the real estate agent.

I promise you, both ideas are being worked on by multiple start ups.  These are not things you can wish away.

So I have some advice after watching people move brokerages chasing the silver bullets.

The first thing is, if you didn’t have huge success in the model you were in, a small model adjustment will not change your success rate.  At the end of the day it is you trying to attract people to you and your company. It may make you happier for a span of time similar to moving homes, getting a raise, or changing your home environment.  At the end of the day you are with you no matter where you go or what you do.  The constant in anything you do or change is that you will be 100% involved again in whatever new thing you do.

The second piece of advice is that instead of picking the model based on it being new or some nuance in the model, focus on the leadership team.  Take some time to understand why the founder is doing what they are doing.  You will learn a lot by peeling back the layers of the executive team and founder(s) to figure out the true “why” to what they are doing.

You will be far more apt to be unhappy if you are not in line with your leadership team than if your model, revenue program, or value adds are different than someone else. The leadership team is the foundation of the culture.  Culture is different for everyone as each of us add our own seasoning to it.  Culture is also the primary reason people will move brokerages second to chasing those silver bullets.

The last thing I want to say is, I believe all the models and all those disruptive brokerages are all headed to the same place.  It’s a function of maturity over time and a couple things each company has baked into their model that will cause them all to have a near similar culture and the same pain points.

Find your people and build like heck.  Changing your brokerage is usually a duct tape fix to a much bigger issue to be resolved.