Hey agents,
I’ve been reconnecting with a lot of colleagues lately, and I keep hearing the same thing: everyone’s busy… but not always in a good way. Packed schedules, constant interruptions, managing people, and somehow still feeling behind.
I’ve been there too. Funny story: I originally planned to go to medical school. My wife quickly pointed out I was more motivated by money than medicine, so I pivoted into real estate instead.
Early on, I had some wins in new-home sales, got rocked by the 2008 crash, then figured out online lead generation and scaled fast. At one point, I had a team of 13 people. We were closing tons of deals… but after splits and overhead, I was keeping around 15%.
Honestly? I felt more like a full-time babysitter than a business owner. I remember taking client calls at the zoo with my kids, thinking, “This can’t be the goal.”
So I made a big shift: I stopped managing a large team and built a lean, leverage-driven business instead. During COVID, I hired virtual assistants in the Philippines to handle admin, follow-up, and backend operations. I use on-demand showing agents instead of salaried staff. Now, I focus only on consultations and negotiations, the highest-value parts of the transaction. That’s it.
I keep about 96% of the commission, and I’m not chained to my phone.
Here’s what that change has done for me:
🗹 Cut overhead dramatically
🗹 Freed up dozens of hours every week
🗹 Removed the stress of managing a big team
🗹 Increased profit while simplifying the business
🗹 Allowed me to travel without everything falling apart
If you’re looking to simplify your business, reclaim your time, and focus on the high-value work, this will be useful. Over the next few months, I’m going to send a couple of short emails sharing exactly how I hire, train, and manage VAs, nothing complicated, just what’s actually working for me right now.
I wrote a book that breaks down the full business model and how I rebuilt everything step-by-step using international VAs.
Download My Agent VA Guide.
And if you ever want to compare notes or ask questions, just reply. I’m happy to share what I’ve learned.
Talk soon,
Dave Z
