Should I give up?

Question

Okay, dramatic title - but I'd genuinely like some perspective from people who have built businesses through the stage I'm in now.

I opened an independent brokerage and deliberately built it around a lot of the things I disliked about traditional brokerage models: very competitive agent splits, no unnecessary brokerage/admin/processing fees, and a pretty straightforward philosophy of letting agents keep more of what they earn.

On the consumer side, I've tried to be equally competitive. I'm active in my community, consistently creating social media content, sponsoring/participating in local events, publishing educational content, and trying to differentiate the company around transparency rather than the usual “I'm your neighborhood expert!” marketing.

And yet.... crickets.

Recruiting agents has been surprisingly difficult. Generating listings has been even harder. I'm getting visibility, but it isn't translating into enough people actually raising their hands.

I'm starting to wonder whether I'm focusing too much on making the offer competitive when the real problem is somewhere else entirely.

For those of you who have built a brokerage, investment business, or other real-estate company from scratch: what was the point where things finally started converting for you?

Was it simply time and repetition? Better follow-up? SEO? Paid advertising? Referrals? Narrowing your niche? Changing your message? Or did you eventually discover that something you thought was a huge competitive advantage really didn't matter much to the people you were trying to attract?

I'm especially interested in hearing about that awkward stage where you're doing a ton of work, people seem to know you exist, but the actual business hasn't caught up with the visibility yet.

What would you diagnose first?

Joseph Cacciapaglia · Answer

I haven't started my own brokerage, but I did build my own team inside of a small brokerage. My business model is very different from the norm, as my team only works with investors. I was a successful solo agent first, and basically created a team with the intention of training other agents to do the same thing. I had a ton of business already, and lots of clients to hand over to new agents. Despite that, recruiting was hard.

Now I have a few agents working for me, and I'm only looking for a couple more. My splits are higher, but my agents do very well if they follow my system. They're getting a smaller percent of a larger pie. The whole 70% of a watermelon is worth more than 100% of a grape thing. It sounds like you're trying to do the opposite, so you'll need a ton of agents to make it work.

Was your solo agent business doing well before you opened your own brokerage? If so, what were you doing differently that you're not doing now? If not, were you hoping the changes you made in the business model would be the difference? I've seen a ton of new brokerage models come and go over the years. I think it takes a lot more time and money than people expect to educate the public about what makes your deal different.

I only had to go through a few agents before I found one who worked well for my business model, but then it took a while to find another. If you're trying to do something different, then your recruiting will also have to look different. For me, I realized training brand new agents was the way to go.

I'm curious what differentiating around transparency looks like to potential customers. It's hard to imagine how you're working that into your marketing in a way that feels like a significant benefit to a typical homeowner. I think most people are simply choosing someone the like and trust.

Nathaniel B. · Answer

Dramatic title, but you're asking exactly the right question, and no, don't give up. The fact that you already suspect the problem is deeper than the offer tells me you're closer to breaking through than you think. Most people get stuck here and blame the market. You're looking in the right place.

Here's my honest diagnosis. You built your whole business around rational, feature-level advantages: better splits, no junk fees, transparency. Those are all real, but they're closing arguments, not opening hooks. They matter after someone already wants to join or list with you. They don't create the wanting. That's the gap.

On recruiting: every agent says they want better splits, but almost nobody actually switches brokerages for them, because the switching cost is high and the split math feels abstract until they sit down and run it. Agents move for two things, leads they can't get elsewhere, and belonging/mentorship, do they trust you to make them better. Better splits is a "why eventually," not a "why now." And recruiting is a contact sport, one-on-one, relationship by relationship over months. You're likely trying to recruit through broadcast (content, visibility) when it's really won in direct conversations.

On the consumer side, same pattern. Nobody wakes up shopping for a transparent agent. They want to sell for more, sell faster, or buy without getting burned. Transparency is a value you care about, it's not the outcome they're buying. Your marketing is building awareness but not proof, and attention without proof doesn't convert.

So what I'd fix first, in order:

Flip the message from what you are to what they get. "No junk fees, transparency" is about your business. Lead with the client's outcome instead.

Build a proof engine. Closed deals, real numbers, specific case studies. "Just got my client $40K over ask in 9 days" converts. Educational and philosophical content builds visibility but rarely closes.

Narrow hard. "Better brokerage for agents, transparent agent for consumers" aims at everyone and lands on no one. Pick one agent type, one neighborhood, one client profile, and own it.

Do direct outreach to fill the top of the funnel while your content warms people up. Visibility alone won't do it.

For most people who pushed through this stage, it wasn't a channel that flipped it, not SEO, not ads. It was the moment they stopped talking about themselves and started demonstrating outcomes for a specific person, backed by enough one-on-one outreach to actually fill the pipeline. You've done the hard part already, you built something real. Now point the message at their wants, not your values, and go have the conversations. You're not failing, you're one reframe away.

Dan Handford · Answer

Jennifer, I would diagnose the funnel before changing the offer. Separate awareness, inquiry, appointment, signed client, and closed transaction, then measure where people stop moving forward. Competitive splits and low fees matter only after the right agents understand why the brokerage is relevant to them. A few direct interviews with agents who considered joining but did not, and consumers who engaged with the content but did not contact you, may reveal more than another broad marketing campaign. I would also test one narrowly defined audience and message at a time. Which stage is weakest today: inquiries, appointments, or conversion after the appointment?

Joseph Cacciapaglia · Answer

I'm pretty happy with them so far, but I'm very new to the lending side of the business. I've been an agent and investor for years, and wanted to add mortgage brokerage because many of my investor clients have had terrible lending experiences. Morty is one of the only brokerages who actively recruits real estate agents with the idea of doing both. Most mortgage brokers I talked to wanted me to go all in, and that's not my goal.

Nathaniel B. · Answer

Wow Joseph, you are the first person I have actually seen using Morty. I spoke with them several times and see their marketing from time to time. How do you like the experience?

Should I give up?

Should I give up?

Okay, dramatic title - but I'd genuinely like some perspective from people who have built businesses through the stage I'm in now.

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