In case you guys missed it, Inman News just published an interesting piece on how the Myers-Briggs personality test can help agents hone in on a viable niche. It’s a different take on a personality test that employers and other organizations have been using for years, but with a real estate twist. Here’s a quick snapshot of the main personality types (you’ll have to take the test to get yours) and how they translate into real estate: 🦋 The Social Butterfly: The networker

Turns out, a lot of people are jumping into the entrepreneurial game this year. Maybe it's the job market, AI anxiety or people wanting to be their own boss. Whatever the reasons, they’re driving up the startup numbers: → Americans filed 531,423 business applications in June alone, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. → Total filings for the first half of 2026 exceeded three million. → We’re on pace to finish the year with more than 6 million new applications, up from about

Realtor.com just released its Housing Forecast Midyear Update and in case you missed it, I picked through and found a few encouraging nuggets for agents, brokers and the industry as a whole. Inventory levels are rising in many markets, sellers are adjusting their expectations and buyers in many markets have more room to negotiate on price, repairs, closing costs and other terms. That’s good news for agents whose clients have been sitting on the fence (pun intended), waiting

A couple of weeks ago, the SBA snuck out an announcement that you may have missed. It seems eligible businesses can now borrow up to $10 million by combining the agency's 7(a) and 504 loan programs. It's been about 16 years since the SBA last adjusted those combined borrowing limits, so this is a pretty big deal. Under the previous policy, using one program reduced the amount available through the other, effectively capping the combined total at $5 million. Qualified busi

It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been in real estate, your income is still going to fluctuate in direct proportion to how consistently you prospect. It’s that simple. If you stop seeking out new clients, following up with leads or staying in touch with your network, your income will reflect it. “Agents need to have consistency about their work habits,” says one real estate coach I interviewed for The Real Estate Agent’s Business Planner. “They can’t back off just because t

NerdWallet is always a good resource when you’re trying to sort through money questions, including how to fund a new business. In How to Fund Your Business Idea, it lays out some of the top small business funding options and who they’re best for. I used the resource as a jumping-off point for this breakdown, then narrowed it to six potential funding paths for founders. The right fit depends on your company's current status, how quickly you need money and how much debt, risk o

Online floor duty works a lot like old-school floor time. You have to be ready, responsive and focused when the inquiry comes in. Here are six ways to make the most of it.

Buying your first home is part math, part timing and part knowing why you want the house in the first place. Have that talk with yourself before you dive into the market.

When you write a business plan, there’s always this temptation to just file it away and get going on your daily task list. Then one day you wake up and it’s five years later, you haven’t looked at your plan since the month you founded your company, and you’re wondering why growth has stagnated. Business plans are working documents that require regular attention, updates and adjustments. You can use yours to guide daily decisions, navigate roadblocks, find new customer segme

Research shows that somewhere around 38% of startups rely on friends and family for funding. But don’t just leave these deals to a verbal agreement or a handshake over the Thanksgiving dinner table. Take the time to structure them right. From The Business Money Blueprint. Find it on Amazon.

Angel investors, venture capital firms, strategic investors and equity crowdfunding investors offer money and connections. Some may also expect faster business growth, more involvement or a larger ownership stake in the company. When someone invests in your business, they usually expect ownership, input, information and a return on their investment. Before you start pitching, know what you need, what you’re offering and how much control you’re willing to share. Ask yourse

If you're looking for the right business to start this year, the choices can get overwhelming fast. Should you launch a coffee cart? Go all-in on e-commerce? Start mobile auto detailing on the weekends? The U.S. Chamber of Commerce just published a list of 50 business ideas, and I went through it to find the ones that skip the "build it and they will come" gamble because customers are already looking for them. Eight made my cut, and I'm sure there are some here you may not

Spring home selling season is off to a slow start this year, but waiting around for it to suddenly pick up isn't a strategy. Here are five things you can do right now to unstick it.

One of the biggest obstacles standing between a viable idea and an operating business is money. A lot of new founders think they need a lot to even get started, that they’ll need more as their companies grow, and that they can’t possibly consider entrepreneurship unless they have ample funds. I dispel some of these myths in my new book The Business Money Blueprint , which explains the full gamut of financing, from shoestring budgets to bartering your services to crowdfundin

The right funding is out there for your business. Let's find the one that works best for you.

A lot of businesses get started with way less money than you’d think. They bootstrap, get resourceful and tap into the people and support systems they already have. About 42% of the roughly 35 million small businesses nationwide started with less than $5,000 in capital, according to SCORE. So yeah, you don’t need a pile of cash, but you have to be willing to work from the ground up. Here’s one way to do it: start with the barest version of your business and your minimum viabl

Last Friday marked the first day of Spring after an extended, cold, eventful winter for much of the nation. This is the time of year when homeowners start thinking about moving and buyers start scouring the web for new listings in their favorite neighborhoods. Even in choppy markets, this is when activity usually picks up. According to the National Association of REALTORS®, home sales pick up in the spring, with activity ramping up in March and running through early summer.

In my last blog I covered some of the traditional ways that solo agents can start extending themselves when business picks up. A few readers asked about automated ways to do the same thing. If you run a solo real estate business, you already know the drill: one minute you’re prospecting, the next you’re showing homes, answering texts, chasing paperwork and trying to keep your marketing running at the same time. Doing it all yourself can get overwhelming fast. So I dug aro