Growth creates a difficult tension for real estate professionals. The more clients and transactions you earn, the less time you have to keep generating new business. In this episode, Lauren and Karlton explain how solo agents and team leaders can identify the work that truly requires their attention, delegate the rest, and build support without sacrificing the client experience. They walk through the four hats every agent wears, share a simple 30 minute time audit, and explain why a transaction coordinator, virtual assistant, marketing partner, or buyer’s agent may be the right next hire. You will also learn how to evaluate every investment by the time and revenue it can create, why delegation does not mean giving up control, and how consistent time blocking can help you grow even before you are ready to hire. If you want to scale your production while creating more freedom in your business and life, this conversation offers a practical place to start.
Chapters
- (00:00:00) The transaction trap that can stall your growth
- (00:02:20) Knowing when you have outgrown doing everything alone
- (00:04:35) The four hats every real estate agent wears
- (00:06:30) Using a 30 minute audit to find work you can delegate
- (00:09:00) Choosing support based on return on investment
- (00:12:10) Reinvesting a portion of every closing
- (00:15:10) Why a transaction coordinator can be the best first hire
- (00:17:00) Letting someone own the 70 percent so you can excel at the 30 percent
- (00:20:15) Protecting the client relationship while handing off paperwork
- (00:24:20) Using time blocking to grow before you hire
Episode breakdown: deciding what to hand off first
Lauren Rathgeb-Holland and Karlton Utter of Reside take on a problem solo agents and team leaders raise constantly. They know they need help, but they’ve done every task themselves for years. The conversation covers how to find the work to delegate, how to judge what a hire is worth, and why a transaction coordinator is often the first support role.
Find out which of the four hats takes your hours
Karlton teaches the four hats on the first day of Amplify. Every agent is the salesperson, the marketing person, research and development, and the administrative or operations side of the business. The question is how many hours go to each. If research, admin and offer writing are crowding out time in front of clients, that’s the work to hand off. Karlton says many agents need support at around 15 or more transactions a year, whether they’re solo or on a team.
Lauren shares a method she picked up from Suneet. Buy a couple of cheap kitchen timers that can’t be snoozed and set them to go off every 30 minutes. Each time one rings, write down what you were doing. Then compare the list to your target income and hourly rate, and ask whether you’re doing $20-an-hour tasks when you should be doing $250 or $500 tasks.
She also suggests a not-to-do list. Write down what drains you, like entering listings in the MLS, and what gives you energy, like prospecting.
Judge every hire by the time and revenue it creates
Karlton’s test for any spend, whether it’s a VA, a marketing company or a CRM setup, is the return. He separates tasks you simply dislike from tasks that, once handed off, give you more time to generate clients and income. Freed-up time only pays off if it goes to prospecting, follow-up and generating business.
For agents worried about budget, he suggests setting aside a fixed amount from every closing. At $300 per closing, a month with three closings produces $900 to reinvest. With an average commission in his area of about five grand, he’d take that trade any time.
I would spend $900 all day long to make 5,000.
Karlton Utter
Why a transaction coordinator often comes first
With three or four transactions open at once, coordination eats the week. A transaction coordinator keeps dates on track, keeps the agent’s calendar current, and can deal with the client on the agent’s behalf. Karlton recalls a year when he passed 20 transactions as a solo agent. Even with an office marketing team and admin support, transaction management was what wore him down. The risk he describes is a pipeline that dries up while the agent is busy closing deals.
I’m out of business because I spent all that time closing those deals and I stopped meeting new people. I stopped following up with my database.
Karlton Utter
Lauren addresses the fear that handing off the file means handing off the client. A good TC protects the relationship, pays attention to detail, and helps keep the deal in compliance.
You’re gonna stay the face of the deal and someone else is going to own that paperwork.
Lauren Rathgeb-Holland
She describes the right hire as someone excellent at the 70 percent, so the agent can be exceptional at the 30 percent. In her view, the best VA is rarely brand new to the industry. It may be a burned-out agent who still loves real estate, already speaks the language, and is licensed to help with showings and addendums. Suneet maps out the order he recommends for these hires in his guide to real estate team structure.
Keep what you do best and hand off the rest
Karlton’s advice is to keep what you love and are best at, and hand off everything else. Many agents bring on a buyer’s agent first because they prefer listings, which create marketing and long-term opportunities. Others prefer working with buyers. He also says delegation is optional. Some agents succeed without handing anything off, and that’s fine, but he suggests at least talking to people who do.
Time block until you can afford help
For agents who aren’t ready to hire, both hosts point to time blocking and the timer method. Karlton recommends doing marketing, follow-up, prospecting and operations work in the morning, which is usually quiet, so the rest of the day stays open for calls and showings. Lauren’s rule is that if it isn’t on your calendar, it doesn’t exist.
Key takeaways for team leaders
- Run a 30-minute timer audit for a week to see which of the four hats is taking your hours.
- Price your time, and hand off tasks worth far less than your target hourly rate.
- Measure every hire or tool by the time and revenue it frees up, then spend that time on lead generation.
- Set aside a fixed amount from each closing to reinvest in the business.
- Consider a transaction coordinator first if open files are pulling you away from prospecting.
- Time block your mornings for the hard work until you’re ready to hire.
Links and Resources:
- Karlton Utter on LinkedIn
- Team Leader Secrets by Suneet Agarwal
- Reside Platform
- Reside Platform Website
Thanks so much for joining us this week. Want to subscribe to the Reside Platform Podcast? Have some feedback you’d like to share? Connect with us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube to leave us a review!

KEY QUESTIONS ANSWERED —
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Q: When do you actually need to start leveraging?
A: Karlton’s marker is around 15-plus transactions as a solo practitioner, or whenever a growing team starts hitting growing pains. That’s when you start asking how much more you can take on and still have a work-life balance, and the answer is that you need some kind of support system. He also points to income: in his Rise and Amplify classes, nearly every agent says they want to earn over $100,000, which typically means 15-plus transactions a year — exactly the point where help becomes necessary.
Q: What are the four hats every agent wears?
A: Day one of Karlton’s Amplify program teaches that every agent wears four hats: salesperson, marketing person, research and development, and admin/operations. The question isn’t whether you wear them — it’s how much time you dedicate to each. If you’re burning hours on research, admin, and writing offers while spending too little time in front of clients, that’s the signal to hand the low-value work off. You’re strongest face-to-face, shaking hands and putting deals together.
Q: How do you figure out what to delegate?
A: Lauren shares the timer method she learned from Suneet: buy two obnoxious $10 kitchen timers from Amazon that can’t be snoozed, and every 30 minutes ask yourself what you were actually doing. Then price your time — if you’re doing $20-an-hour tasks when you should be doing $250 or $500-an-hour work, delegate it. She also recommends building a not-to-do list: write down what fuels you and gives you energy, and hand off what drains you, whether that’s MLS entry, data entry, or the back-and-forth with title companies, attorneys, and lenders.
Q: Why is a transaction coordinator usually the best first investment?
A: Karlton calls it one of the strongest ROIs because of the trap it prevents: agents land three or four deals, spend all their time on transaction management, and when those close, they’re out of business because they stopped meeting new people and following up with their database. A TC keeps the deals coordinated, puts deadlines on your calendar, and can even interact with clients on your behalf. You stay the face of the deal while someone else owns the paperwork — Lauren stresses those aren’t in conflict, it’s the same goal from two different seats.
Q: Isn’t handing off the transaction like handing off the client relationship?
A: Lauren says that fear is common but misplaced, because a good TC protects the relationship. They get paid when the deal closes, they want to do a good job, and they’re the detail-oriented ones making sure nothing falls through the cracks or creates a compliance blow-up. You stay the face of the deal and someone else owns the paperwork — and that’s exactly how it should work.
Q: How do you fund leverage when money is tight?
A: Karlton gets it — he remembers counting commission checks to cover his mortgage and diapers, and it’s hard to pull $600 and reinvest it. But you have to bet on yourself, and you can start small: take a set amount from every closing, say $300, and put it back into the business. Three closings in a month is $900, and he’d happily spend $900 to earn a $5,000 commission. The same math applies to a VA: figure out what time it frees up, then commit to spending that time prospecting and generating business, not just enjoying the break.
Q: Won’t whoever I hire just need to be a clone of me?
A: Lauren wants to kill that myth, because no one will ever care about your business more than you — and expecting a clone is why team leaders end up calling their agents lazy. Her framing: hire someone excellent at the 70% so you can be exceptional at the 30%, and recognize you might not be the best person for that job anymore. Handing it off also creates an opportunity for someone else to grow their career, which is why she believes operators are the backbone of the business.
Q: Who makes the best first support hire?
A: Lauren says the best VA is almost never someone brand new to the industry — it’s often the burned-out agent who wants their life back but still loves real estate. They’re licensed, they can write addendums, they’re coachable, and they already speak the language, which makes them ideal showing assistants. That said, she was brand new and self-taught when she started a decade ago, so if you find someone passionate, get them into trainings and invest in them — the rooms you’re in matter.
Q: What if I just don’t want to delegate?
A: Karlton is fine with that — some very successful people never off-board anything, especially high-D personalities with trust issues who need to own it all. But he’d urge them to at least look at the options and talk to people who’ve done it. His own wake-up call was passing 20 transactions in a year as a solo agent, even with marketing and admin support: wearing all four hats at that volume starts to become a real challenge.
Q: What if I’m not ready to hire anyone yet?
A: Then time block, especially your mornings, which Karlton says are the quietest part of a realtor’s day. Get the hard stuff done early — marketing, follow-up, prospecting, the operational work — so the rest of the day is free for calls, showings, and previews. Lauren adds that if it’s not on your calendar, it doesn’t exist, and notes that part-time agents are starting to outsell full-time agents purely because they’re so efficient with their time blocks. Do the money-making activities first, and the business to justify leverage will follow.
THE TRANSCRIPT —
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Karlton: [00:00:00] what you don’t wanna do is, “I got four deals. I’m spending all my time now on transaction management.”
Karlton: They close, and guess what? I’m out of business because I spent all that time closing those deals and I stopped meeting new people. I stopped following up with my database.
Lauren: Hi everybody. Welcome back to the Reside Platform Podcast. I am Lauren Rathgeb Holland, the director of client experience and operations here at Reside, joined with the wonderful Carl, Carlton Utter, our head of development and training over here.
Lauren: most days you’ll find us somewhere in the middle of, client health trainings,and figuring out how to build the infrastructure behind the scenes so that agents and team leaders can solely focus on growing. Carl leads our training division here at Reside, so if you have been through any of our agent training programs or worked with Carl in the past, there is a good [00:01:00] chance that, his fingerprints have touched whatever we’re teaching our agents.
Lauren: So he spent a lot of time thinking about what actually makes training stick versus what just, you know, checks a box, and that’s exactly what we’re gonna get into today. So Carlton, welcome. We’re glad to have you on.
Karlton: Always great to be on with you, Lauren. And saying that Reside Platform Podcast, that’s, that’s a hard one trying to say that a few times quick, huh?
Lauren: It is not easy. It is definitely a tongue twister. so awesome. Carlton, we have had so much going on behind the scenes the past couple of months. I mean, it’s August, I think it’s the last 60 days we’ve been talking about a lot of different things that we’ve been rolling out, and, a lot of just getting in front of, solo practicing agents and team leaders.
Lauren: So, one of the most common ob- objections we’ve heard a lot is, they know they have to leverage and, hand something off in order to scale and run their business at the rate that they wanna grow at. but it’s really hard because they’re the ones that have been doing it this entire [00:02:00] time. So I’d love to get into some leverage best practices today, and just let the conversation go from there.
Karlton: Yeah, that sounds good to me. It’s, it’s an important topic because especially when you start getting into 15 plus transactions as a solo practitioner Or even as a team, when you start elevating and growing, you start to develop these growing pains with your business. And you start to think like, “How much more can I take on and still have a work-life balance?”
Karlton: And this is where that, when you hit that point, that’s when it’s like, “All right. I need some sort of support.” And then where do I start when it comes to that support system, right?
Lauren: Yeah. So I guess let’s dive into the different ty- types of leverage here. Let’s define it, that we’re talking about. So, if we’re looking at a foundational level and talking about the basics of real estate, you know, we have to pick up the phone and call.
Lauren: that can be our sphere, the people that we [00:03:00] know, or maybe leads that are coming in from our website that you’re either, generating organically or referrals or you’re paying for them. we all know that we have to open a door sometimes, right? So, lock boxes, sign installs. once you get something under contract or some kind of agreement signed in, whether that’s DotLoop or SkySlope, who’s the one act- and like getting it to the closing table, who is the one that’s actually doing this?
Lauren: And with the way, rate that you guys all are, is it the best practice for you to be doing that anymore yourself, right?
Karlton: Yeah. And they, they’ve made it so easy to get help. They, they really have. I’m thinking back to when I was an agent, we had, and I was an individual agent, and our company kind of got it and was ahead of the time because we had two in-house marketing reps that helped you build and create and order all of your marketing [00:04:00] pieces.
Karlton: And then we also had In the office, we had two admins, or they called them processing managers. And these were folks that would help get basically transaction management, in the office. They would help put your properties in the MLS for you. They would help manage your files. They would help track the dates that you had to get stuff done and keep you updated with that.
Karlton: And so it, it really made it a lot easier having those pieces in place as an individual agent. Now, that office that I was in, we had 125 agents when I was actively doing sales. So there had to be some sort of level of support to go along with what the manager was doing and everybody else. But today, like anybody can go and hire a transaction coordinator, and I think it kind of starts with that role because that’s that behind the scenes administrative stuff.
Karlton: Where you are going to be strongest and [00:05:00] best is face-to-face, shaking hands, working with clients, putting deals together. And it kind of comes back to one of the things I teach in the first day of Amplify, which is as an agent, you wear four hats. You are the salesperson, you are the marketing person, right, you are research and development, and you are the administrative side or the operations side of your business.
Karlton: Each of us as an agent, whether you’re an individual agent or on a team, you still have to wear those four hats. So it’s a matter of how much time are you dedicating to each of those four aspects of your business. And if you find you’re wasting too much time doing research and development and administrative stuff and writing offers, and not as much time in front of clients, which is what’s gonna make you money and build your business, then leverage that stuff and hand it off to somebody that’s gonna be able to take that on and let you do what you do best, which is [00:06:00] talk to people and put deals together.
Lauren: I think this, this is such an important conversation. I always have the opportunity to be around about 15 or so solo practicing agents and, I hear, we hear this all the time with our team leaders at Reside in terms of leverage, right? And you just hit it on the head. f- you’re four different hats at all, all the time.
Lauren: and it’s the best way, and I, I learned this from Suneet over the last week, it’s how do we determine what we need to delegate? And so I wanna get into a couple of practices so that you can actually internalize what you’re doing during the day. So he suggested to these, amazing agents, “Hey, have a timer.”
Lauren: Like, he- Suneet went out and bought, like, two 10 do- dollar on Amazon, those kitchen timers that are obnoxious, because you can’t hit snooze on those,
Karlton: right? Every
Lauren: 30 minutes, [00:07:00] what were you doing, right? And that’s gonna really hold you accountable and say, “Am I, being productive, proactive?” Or, you know, excuse me, “Am I wasting my time?
Lauren: Am I actually doing money-making ge- activities?” And when you start to look at where you want your volume to be and your hourly rate, are you doing $20 an hour tasks that you could leverage off or delegate to somebody else, where you should be, could be doing $500 tasks or $250 tasks depending on where, do you wanna be at a million dollars grossing each year?
Lauren: a qu- half a million dollars grossing each year, you know? That’s the mindset shift we need to start looking into. And, with that said, it’s okay, now we gotta start learning how to let go and actually delegate those things to somebody else.
Karlton: Yeah. And I mean, you have VAs that you can leverage if you don’t like to do the administrative stuff, or you just need somebody to help keep you on track and on pace and manage your calendar.
Karlton: AI,you could really leverage Claude. I’ve learned a [00:08:00] lot in the past couple of months of being part of Reside and with the growth and emergence of AI and how that helps automate your system. and then, you know, one of the most basic things that can help folks stay on track is just using Follow Up Boss or your CRM, which so many agents don’t leverage that enough, and to the point where when you wake up in the morning, it’s gonna tell you what you need to do to move your business forward.
Karlton: But it takes a little bit of time to put that all together and get it in a place, and you need to put enough people in there for it to really operate the way that you want it to. There is no shortage of opportunities to bring people on. I- if you’re a team, who do you need to add next to support your team that’s gonna make a difference?
Karlton: But, and if you’re a single agent or a solo agent, like it’s the same thing. Like what is going to have the most ROI on your business? [00:09:00] What is going to support you the most? It’s not just what I don’t like to do, it’s what is going to help me spend more time generating clients that will help me make more money.
Karlton: And for some people, i- if you’re not a good marketer, then invest in a marketing company. Invest in somebody that is going to assist you with your social media and handle that and manage it and drive lead flow through, through that avenue. It’s just identifying where those holes are in your business and letting you focus on the things that you like to do that are gonna help you be most successful.
Lauren: Couldn’t agree more. and for anybody listening, a VA, we refer to those virtual assistants. So that, is typically is someone outside of the US, you know, we can hire South America, Philippines, Canada. it really just depends on, the geographic [00:10:00] location that you’re in and the kind of job that you want them to be handling.
Lauren: it’s super easy to post on, different sites, hire out with a third party. you- But there’s just so much that we can do. what I would love to encourage you all is you should always be investing in your business, especially if you don’t have the money for it. Because if you don’t have the money for it, you’re likely trying to do it all, and we can’t be at, at everywhere at the same time.
Lauren: You know what I mean? So, when we’re wearing multiple hats and we’re starting to get to that leverage point or that breaking point of, “Holy crap, how do I do it all?” We all have 24 hours in a day. How do some of these mega agents, solo practicing or team leaders do it? They have leverage. They have leverage behind them.
Karlton: Yeah, you, you gotta spend money to make money in this business. it’s like anything. Like if you were to… You were gonna start a food truck, you still have to go buy the food truck. You gotta [00:11:00] buy all the equipment. You gotta go get everything in order. You have to load up on supplies, and you have to be ready to go.
Karlton: And it’s like anything, you have to put some money out because you don’t wanna be a secret realtor. You need people in your local community, if they’re thinking of buying or selling real estate, are they going to think of you? And it comes down to a couple of different things. And look, I, I get it.
Karlton: I remember getting started, and I was counting that commission check because I had to pay my mortgage, and I had to put diapers on my daughter, and I had to do all those things. And it’s like, it’s real hard to be like, “Oh, I’m gonna take $600 and go put it into my business.” But the reality is like, you have to bet on yourself, right?
Karlton: You own a business. You have to bet on yourself, and you have to be smart about what you’re spending money on and doing. So whether it’s marketing piece, like if you’re looking to invest in doing some additional marketing, like you should be asking questions and [00:12:00] setting expectations on your expected results from spending that money.
Karlton: If it’s putting it into a VA, well, what is that gonna free up for me? Right? How much time is that gonna open up? And then how am I going to best utilize that free time that I now have? It’s not like, “Oh, now I got a VA doing this, so I got all this free time.” It’s, well, you’re putting money into that, so now you can spend your free time prospecting, following up, generating more business.
Karlton: Everything should be hyper-focused on growth. And if you’re worried about a budget, guys, just start off small Think about it this way. What I like to do is I always said, “I’m gonna take a percentage of each closing or a certain dollar amount from each commission and reinvest that back into the business.”
Karlton: So let’s say it’s 300 bucks. I’m gonna take $300 out of every closing and put it back in the business. Well, if I have a month with three closings, that’s [00:13:00] $900. Guys, I’m telling you, I can de- I will definitely get at least one transaction if you gave me $900 to go market myself. And an average commission in my area is gonna be about five grand.
Karlton: I would spend $900 all day long to make 5,000. That’s a pretty fair trade-off for me.
Lauren: Well, and you’re the product of that success, right? You invested in yourself, and now look at where you are from, you know, when you started as a brand new agent to now building some of the top coaching and training,programs across the nation, right?
Lauren: it, this is really just, we’re talking about here the difference between losing yourself in your business and finally having enough space to be yourself in it. Because especially if you’re a solo agent here, practicing, people want you. You want to be the face of your clients. So there’s just, there’s so much, data and success stories on this.
Lauren: so again, we have, just to [00:14:00] recap, how do we decide if you’re new to this or if you’re at a place where you have to start thinking about this again? set that timer for 30 minutes, okay? Put two in your kitchen, like wherever you work. If you’re in an office, wherever you can’t stop it. But really digest what you’ve done, and those are money-making activities.
Lauren: Is that a money-making activity that you can leverage off to or delegate to a virtual assistant or a stateside hire or a third party? Carlton mentioned, marketing company. there are, are amazing third-party TCs if you’re not ready to just go on and put somebody on salary or hourly quite yet. there, also what I like to do is create your not to-do list, right?
Lauren: Like, what fuels you? What gives you energy? Write those things down as you’re, as you’re doing this. if you love being on the phone and, prospecting and, generating your business, that is what you need to be doing, right? If putting in a listing inside of the MLS drains the crap out of you, that might be something that a virtual assistant [00:15:00] or, a listing manager could do for you, right?
Lauren: So there’s just a lot of avenues that, that we can do here, for data entry, going back and forth with title companies, attorneys, lenders, whatever state you’re in. There’s just so much here we could talk about
Karlton: Transaction coordinators free up a lot of your time because, think about when you start putting deals together, right?
Karlton: You got three or four transactions happening at any given time. That is a lot to coordinate, and if you have somebody that you know and you’re paying and you trust them to help keep that coordinated and just putting on your calendar, “Hey, you need to be here at this time. You need to be here. This is what we’re doing to move it forward.”
Karlton: Just having another set of eyes and ears on that piece, and even just interacting with the client on your behalf, it goes a long way and it frees up your time now to continue to prospecting. ‘Cause what you don’t wanna do is, “I got four deals. I’m spending all my [00:16:00] time now on transaction management.”
Karlton: They close, and guess what? I’m out of business because I spent all that time closing those deals and I stopped meeting new people. I stopped following up with my database. So that, that is a, a really, to me, that- that’s one of the strongest ROIs and best opportunities, to invest in to, to keep your business moving forward
Lauren: I couldn’t agree more with you.
Lauren: and, and another avenue that I wanna s- shift into is more mindset around this, because I wanna kill this myth that whoever I hire is just going to be a clone of me. They’re not. No one is going to care about your business that you started more than you. We hear this from team leaders all the time, “Well, this agent’s lazy,” or, “This agent won’t do this.
Lauren: I’ve tried. I’ve done X, Y, Z.” You- Doctors tell you all the time what you need to do to change in order to survive. People do not cut out the bad things that they need [00:17:00] to, or not even bad, but peop- they don’t cut the things out that they’re instructed to, okay? So like, it’s self-motivation and what your priorities are.
Lauren: so your job is, or the third party’s job is someone who’s excellent at the 70%, so you can be exceptional at the 30%. Or if you wanna go the 80/20 rule, whatever it is, you get the point, right? You might not be the best person for that job anymore, and you’re creating an opportunity for somebody else to step in and grow in their career and their life as well, right?
Karlton: Yeah.
Lauren: Yeah. sorry.
Karlton: You said it all right there. I don’t have anything to add. I mean, that, that’s it.
Lauren: I get on a, like a huge… ‘Cause, so we’re really- my, one of my biggest passions is building this. I truly believe that our operators are the backbones of our business, whether we’re solo practicing agents or whether we’re a team leader trying to, take all the market share and build this massive team.
Lauren: No judgment on either. Both are beautiful, and it’s whatever [00:18:00] your, in- definition of success looks like, right? I would say the best VA is almost, excuse me, never someone that is brand new to this industry. it might be the burned-out agent who wants their life back, but still loves real estate.
Lauren: So if you’re looking for a showing assistant, someone that’s actually licensed and can write those addendums for you. You know, they’re coachable. They already speak the language. You don’t have to necessarily b- explain the why behind anything. With that, though, I will say I was brand new when I started 10 year- almost 10 years ago.
Lauren: I knew nothing, and I was self-taught, and now I get to work with the top leaders in the industry, like Carl and Suneet, and so many other people. And it’s just so beautiful, because it’s like if you find someone that’s truly passionate about what they do, this isn’t a plug for Raise My Eyes, just get them into these trainings.
Lauren: Invest in yourself. Be around like-minded people, because what I have learned is the rooms that you’re in matter, and people believe in you more than you believe in yourself, and [00:19:00] you need that. You need that reminder, especially, you know, you might be going through a season of life, right? And you need these kind of people to bring you up, and your admin certainly can do that as well.
Karlton: And I just kinda wanna go back and say, y- you don’t have to do this. There, there’s a lot of folks that are very successful without kinda off-boarding any, any additional activities. Some people just have that high D personality where they got trust issues and they need to own it, and you figure out a way to get that done.
Karlton: And, and that’s okay if, if that’s how you are. but what I would urge you to do is kinda just look into some options and talk to some folks about it that may already be, be off-boarding some of the stuff that they’re doing to get additional help. And, you know, find somebody that you do trust if you need it.
Karlton: Because I will tell you firsthand, like, I remember when I got up over 20 transactions one year, and it was a lot, as a solo agent. And that was even with a marketing team and [00:20:00] a, An admin team, to help support me. But the transaction management piece really kind of got to me, and trying to wear all four of those hats, doing 20-plus transactions, it can be a challenge.
Karlton: it’s not impossible, but it, it could be, it starts to become a challenge where you start kind of thinking about your business approach. and I will tell you, in running Rise and Amplify, one of the things we do in both classes is we look at, you know, where do you wanna be in a year or two with your business?
Karlton: And pretty much every single agent tells me the same thing. They wanna be up over 100,000. And if you’re up over 100,000, it means you’re typically doing 15-plus transactions a year. So you’re, you’re starting to hit that point where you’re gonna need some help.
Lauren: Well, I’m really glad we brought it back to the TCs.
Lauren: One thing where you just said too, if you don’t wanna do this, that’s fine. Everyone has their own definition of what success is going to look like. I wanna also say, because I feel like the, in the past, people won’t [00:21:00] talk about money, whatnot, like you don’t wanna, you tiptoe around certain conversations.
Lauren: It’s okay to wanna make a lot of money. These are the pieces in place to get you there. Because if you wanna make a lot of money, that might actually be for a bigger purpose, to support the people around you, right? Like your family, your community, charity, whatever your big why is, m- money is that freedom to go do that.
Lauren: it’s discipline. a- and so back to the TC piece that Carlton was just talking about, there’s just so much fear sometimes that I wanna work through, that peaks for team leaders and solo agents. and handing off the transaction feels like handing off the client relationship sometimes. Not always.
Lauren: A good TC is going to protect that relationship as well. They know, well, one, they’re gonna get paid when the deal closes, right? And two, they also want to do a good job. People do, what I have found most, is they want to do a good job. they’re gonna be the ones that are super [00:22:00] detail-oriented and making sure that nothing is gonna fall through the cracks that could actually damage or put yourself out of compliance and make a huge blow-up happened, right?
Lauren: So, yeah. You s- you staying the, you’re gonna stay the face of the deal and someone else is going to own that paperwork. That sounds incredible. Those are not in conflict, okay? it’s the same goal, just from two different seats Okay. All right. I know we’ve talked a l- a lot about many different things.
Lauren: if you’re asking yourself, “Who is the first person I should hire?” I think that’s actually a little different depending on where you’re at with your business and who you are.
Karlton: Yeah. You’re, you need to kind of evaluate what your business is, where you need help. And I always say look at the stuff that you love to do and, and the things that are making you most successful in your business.
Karlton: And when you get to that point where, “All right. I’ve [00:23:00] achieved a high level of production. I’m at where I need to be. What do I need to go to the next level?” I, I would say look at the stuff that you love to do and hand off the stuff that you don’t love to do. There’s a reason that usually the first team member that somebody brings on or, or the first partner or somebody that takes on, is usually a buyer’s agent because a lot of realtors, they fall in love with the listing and they understand the listing creates marketing, the listing creates, long-term growth opportunities.
Karlton: They control their own income. it, it, they like the listing side. They don’t like working with buyers. Now, I like the balance. You have some people that rather work with buyers, and they don’t like the listings. So you figure out like, what do you love? Where are you gonna be most successful? And then, who do you bring in to support you?
Karlton: So, you know, in, in kinda growing your support staff, it could go in various different directions depending on your needs, who you are, your personality, your market area [00:24:00] All of that ties into it
Lauren: Totally. Totally. All right. I would close us off, by saying that lever- leverage or delegation, it’s never about doing less of the work that you love.
Lauren: It, it’s about finally doing more and having the space to do more of it. So just because someone else might be holding the parts that you, never actually want- might have enjoyed doing in the first place, that’s exactly where you need to be. And if you feel like you’re in that space right now, and I know a lot of us are, and there’s friction, there’s uncomfortableness, if that’s a word, around it, good.
Lauren: We want that to be your next step because that is telling you it’s t- it’s time to find somebody else.
Karlton: Yeah.
Lauren: Cool. Anything else to add, Carlton?
Karlton: Just, it- for those of you that, that aren’t ready yet, and you’re still building your business, time blocking, [00:25:00] using the, the timer method that Lauren and Suneet talk about.
Karlton: It… Get the stuff done in the morning that you need to. unless you work in corporate America where it starts at 9:00 AM, typically the mornings are pretty quiet. That is your time to get those things done that you need to get done, so the rest of the day you can go handle phone calls and go show houses and go preview homes and-
Lauren: All the fires
Lauren: do fun
Karlton: stuff. Yeah, get all that. Get the s- the hard stuff done in the morning, and have it blocked out to do your marketing, do your follow-up, do your prospecting, do your operational piece, all of that stuff, your R&D, all of it. not enough people are time blocking and working in the mornings and you… I find realtors’ time has gotten a little bit shorter.
Karlton: You’re not quite eight-hour days unless you have to with appointments, but if you put eight hours a day into it and you’re a full-time realtor, you’ll see a big [00:26:00] difference in your business.
Lauren: Yeah. And even, you know, part-time agents too. we’re s- we’re starting to see more part-time agents, outsell the, the full-time agents because they’re so, efficient with their time blocks.
Lauren: And if you don’t like the term time blocks or time management, you… If it’s not on your calendar, it doesn’t exist. And when we have way too much freedom, because our day is not structured, we are not winning because we’re not going to do those money-making activities. And if you’re not doing that, then you don’t have enough b- business to get that leverage.
Lauren: And I- if that is what you want to put food on the table for your family, you wanna go serve your community or whatever your big why is, let’s get these money-making activities in place and then start setting up your org ch- org chart.
Karlton: 100%.
Lauren: Awesome. Okay. Well, Carlton, thanks. It’s always so fun to hop on these with you.
Lauren: Can’t wait for the next one. We’ll talk to y’all later.
Karlton: Bye everyone.
Lauren: Bye.

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August 19, 2026


