Million Dollar Team Principle #23: It’s Easier to Onboard Eight Agents Than It Is ONE
What’s the Point of Training If They Don’t Stick Around or Sell Anything?
Why group onboarding outperforms the solo path and what the best training models can teach us.
In 2003, I joined one of the most elite civilian aviation programs ever created the CAPT Program at Embry-Riddle in Daytona Beach.
The goal?
Take someone with the right personality and aptitude and transform them from zero flight hours to a commercial airline pilot in just 18 months.
Something that normally takes over a decade.
It was rigorous.
It was intense.
And it was brilliant.
But the magic wasn’t just in the curriculum.
It was in the structure.
Each cohort was made up of eight cadets.
We did everything together: flew, studied, trained, even partied.
We showed up at the flight line together.
We held each other accountable.
We pulled each other forward.
Some days you were the leader, other days you needed help catching up.
But every day, you were never alone.
And that’s why I’ll tell you this:
It’s easier to onboard eight agents than it is one.
The Problem with Solo Onboarding
When you onboard one agent:
- They often feel isolated, insecure, and slow to gain traction.
- They don’t know what “good” looks like.
- They lack benchmarks, accountability, and peer inspiration.
- When they stumble, no one’s there to catch them.
- When they win, no one’s there to celebrate or be challenged by it.
But bring in eight, and everything changes.
- They sharpen each other.
- They create momentum.
- And they outperform the solo path every time.
Michael Watkins, in The First 90 Days, lays out how to create early wins during times of transition.
His research shows that people need more than goals—
They need clarity, cadence, and visible progress.
That’s exactly what a group provides.
You create a culture of friendly competition, mutual support, and rapid skill acceleration.
It’s like onboarding inside a mastermind.
At my real estate company, we embraced this model.
We don’t hire one. We hire classes.
And what we’ve seen is:
- Faster production
- Stronger retention
- Tighter culture
Many of our top producers came through together—
And they’re still growing, still winning, still bonded.
So if you’re frustrated training agents that never make it…
Don’t go one-by-one.
