By Melanie Robitaille, Sr. Staff Writer & Graphic Designer
Many in the workforce come to realize success in business is only skin deep without contentment. Individuals who report some of the highest feelings of job fulfillment are those who mentor, and it’s no coincidence this component is built into the foundation of EXIT Realty’s business model.
Franchisee, John Johnson III, found his mentor before he found EXIT, and ironically, it was his mentor’s belief in EXIT that brought John to the company’s door. In 2001, John was fresh out of real estate licensing school and working as a sales representative at a small office when he watched his mentor leave to become a broker under what was a relatively new real estate brand to him. They stayed in touch, and finally through EXIT’s process of Sponsoring, John followed suit in 2007.
“My initial thoughts of [EXIT] were not as significant as knowing my mentor left to switch to this new company,” he admitted of a perspective that has changed over the years. “I’m now a broker/owner understanding the 10/7/5 compensation model, which helps me now while I’m conducting transactions and recruiting agents as well as later when I decide to slow down in my involvement with running a brokerage and retire.”
A year after joining, John stepped up as manager at EXIT Platinum Realty, taking on the role of trainer and trusted resource in developing the brokerage’s level-up strategy, which would ultimately lead to his as successive owner with the support of his career-long mentor and staff.
“I started thinking about ownership after obtaining my broker’s license and going to my first Broker/Owner Training session. It introduced the bigger system and picture that was in place and opened my eyes to the opportunity such as direct access to the executive team, Resource Center, and training,” he said. “I always took the initiative to learn the business, implement it and teach it to others. The underlying motivator, however, was the support and confidence my office always gave me day in and day out.”
John is part of a growing number of professionals who believe there’s room for all business models at the table, but fostering togetherness in a time of distracted separation means affording agents ample opportunities to engage. He does this through wellness checks, inviting business partners to conduct in-person and virtual training sessions, hosting in-person agent gatherings, and offering free in-person continuing education training classes in the office.
Providing the best experiences and service for clients is what brought John into the business, but it’s the environment at his office that has kept him here. He’s become a mentor in his own right with 13 active sponsors, and cites aspects such as leading by example, teaching and coaching, as well as changing lives as some of the most rewarding parts of being an owner. The biggest benefit, he says, is the residual component.
“It can really enhance the way you live your life,” he explained of witnessing his agents paying for living expenses, enjoying vacations, and purchasing long sought after bucket list items. “It also creates a culture in which people feel invested in each other’s success to contribute to their own success…The traditional way of broker to agent recruiting is now shared with agent to agent recruiting, empowering agents to not only create an additional stream of income but to also lead teams and collaborate more amongst their peers.”
Looking to the future through the wild landscape of today’s real estate business, John continues to lean on his 25 years of experience as both a short sale team leader and foreclosure and Real Estate Owned (REO) Specialist. He knows those on either side of the sector are facing both affordability and navigability challenges during this unpredictable time. His advice: the importance of education, leveraging collaboration with business partners, and having a plan that encompasses these pieces.
“Yesterday’s price is not today’s price, and it definitely won’t be tomorrow’s,” he said of his Montclair, NJ market. But he also reminds us all that it’s about how we approach these shifts going forward because change is the one constant we can count on. “Technology will continue to alter real estate and how it works today, hence the volatility of it. We must all embrace, learn, understand and implement the changes that’ll be presented and integrate them into our own personal and business plans.”
The doors of his office are open, and John knows its success will come as a result of the pulse of those within it, coupled with the systems of tomorrow.
