Hey Sean,
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.
Now I sell 100+ homes a year, 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 a copy of my book here.
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
