When people enter the workforce, they dream of flexible hours, incredible benefits, and of course, large salaries. Today, these dreams are becoming a reality, largely in part because they are now more than wishes or requests, but they are demands. While some companies are attempting to fulfill these demands, and even less have succeeded, there is no better way to ensure such fantastic working conditions than being self-employed. 

Entrepreneurs come in various forms and have various specialities, and those that are getting the majority of attention today are technology-based. But these firms are also paving the way for all of the business hopefuls of today, thus increasing the amount of entrepreneurship in other areas, such as home-based businesses and the more traditional work-for-yourself jobs, such as owning a restaurant, a store, or being a realtor.

Real estate agents set their own hours, enjoy the many benefits of self-employment, and have the potential to make a generous salary. The real estate industry currently employs over 430,000 brokers and agents, all people who saw their opportunity to have their “dream job” and they quickly capitalized on it. Realtors are extremely driven, hardworking, and ultimately very successful people. Fortunately, becoming a realtor is easier than ever. Within a matter of months, you can enjoy your dream career. 

Training for your real estate license is simple, and with the right attitude and the right amount of focus, it is absolutely worth the time and effort. As a realtor, your income is determined by both the amount of time and effort you put into your work and by your own personal success. This is why being your own boss goes hand-in-hand with the money a realtor has the capacity to make. Because as a realtor you are your own boss, you decide how much effort to put in, which risks to take and how much you wish to make. If you are hardworking and passionate about real estate, you will be successful and you, by yourself, will earn every dollar you make. 

Being in real estate, you also have a fantastic potential for growth. Becoming a broker is a short step away, and even if this is not the path you wish to take, you can largely increase the size of your own personal brand by hiring assistants or widening your market. Just like how as a realtor, you are your own boss, as a broker, you are again in control of all major decisions and you make the rules. A broker has the luxury of answering only to their customers and many people find satisfaction in this. Brokers can branch out to start their own firms, and eventually add more agents to their agency. Becoming an agent has the potential for promotion, and the best part of this is that the promotion is determined by the agent, and the agent alone. As the agent, you make the decision to obtain a broker’s license and decide to create your own real estate agency. It is simply a matter of building a personal brand and reputation that will follow you in your career pursuits.

While the real estate industry, and the life of an agent or broker specifically can be fairly demanding, it can only demand of you what you allow it to. It is the opportunity for reward that pushes both great real estate agents and brokers to push forward and obtain their own personal goals.  Realtors can make their own schedules and therefore determine where leisure, family and personal relationships will fit in. In fact, a study was completed in 2013 that revealed that most realtors do work a normal, 40-hour week. Regardless, determining your own hours allows for the kind of flexibility that is only found in very few careers. This kind of freedom is invaluable. Perhaps most important is remembering that the more you put into your career as a real estate agent, the more you will get out of it.

Purchasing a house is a momentous occasion in any person’s life, and realtors are fortunate enough to be a major factor in this experience, both on the buying and selling ends. This is one of the less anticipated, yet more rewarding parts of the job. The buying of a house is the largest transaction most people will ever take part in within their lifetime. Helping a person, couple, or family choose a home and seeing them so proud of and happy with their purchase gives realtors a feeling of accomplishment unlike any other. In this way, a realtor will receive “double the compensation” for all property sold. Once to their bank account in the form of money and once to themselves in the form of satisfaction of a job well done.

As of mid-2014, there were approximately 133,026,000 housing units totaling $25.7 trillion on the market. This is greater than the GDP of the entire European Union. In addition, the price of homes is expected to increase by 4% and mortgage rates remain low, far lower than the 23.5% of a family’s income it consumed in 2006. That figure has since dropped down to a spectacular 15.6%. Because of this, many more homes, old and new, are being sold and the housing market is taking a major upturn. With all of this in mind, it is obvious that now is the perfect time to complete the simple training, obtain a realtor’s license and begin a fantastic new career in the real estate industry.