How to Build a Real Estate Business That Doesn't Run Your Life
- 5 days ago
- 5 min read
One of the biggest challenges REALTORS® face isn't finding business—it's creating a business that remains sustainable as it grows.
In this week's Every Move Collective Monday Mastermind, Eva and Colby Casoria sat down with veteran real estate leader and coach Will Penney, who shared the systems, staffing strategies, and mindset shifts that allowed him to build a highly productive business without sacrificing his personal life.
Before diving into the mastermind, Tony Cruz from Apex Agent kicked things off with a powerful AI segment, showing agents how to create AI-powered assistants that can automate repetitive tasks, improve communication, and create more efficiency in their businesses.
If you don't have an hour to watch the replay, here are the biggest takeaways.
AI Corner: Building AI Agents to Save Time
Tony Cruz demonstrated how agents can use Claude Desktop to build AI agents that handle repetitive business tasks such as:
Email monitoring and responses
Client follow-up
Team accountability check-ins
Social media content creation
Administrative workflows
His biggest takeaway?
You don't need to be technical to build AI agents.
By using Claude's Co-Work feature, agents can simply describe the task they want completed, save it as a skill, and schedule it as a recurring task. Tony shared that what would have cost thousands of dollars in virtual assistant support took him only a few hours to build using AI.
Key Lesson:
Use AI to eliminate repetitive tasks so you can spend more time building relationships.
Why Will Penney Started Building Infrastructure
Will's journey into systems and delegation wasn't driven by growth—it was driven by necessity.
After selling 60–70 homes annually as a solo agent, he found himself working nearly every night and spending very little time with his family. When his first child was born, he realized something had to change.
Rather than working harder, he began building infrastructure inside his business.
His goal was simple:
Create a business that could grow without requiring more hours from him.
That decision became the foundation of everything he teaches today.
The Real Problem Most Agents Face
According to Will, most agents make one critical mistake:
They stop prospecting once they get busy.
As production increases, agents become trapped in:
Showing homes
Running paperwork
Attending inspections
Managing transactions
Handling administrative tasks
The result?
The activities that generated business in the first place disappear.
Will calls these tasks "non-dollar-producing activities" and argues they are the biggest obstacle preventing agents from scaling.
The Three Biggest Time Drains in Real Estate
Will identified three areas where agents lose the most time:
1. Showing Homes
Including:
Property tours
Home inspections
Final walkthroughs
2. Listing Administration
Including:
MLS entry
Measuring rooms
Flyers
Sign installation
Showing setup
Paperwork management
3. Transaction Coordination
Including:
Contract-to-close communication
Vendor coordination
Client updates
Timeline management
His recommendation?
Start delegating these areas as early as possible.
The First Hire Every Agent Should Consider
Will believes the easiest first step is hiring transaction coordination support.
For roughly $300–$350 per transaction, agents can outsource much of the contract-to-close process and immediately free up time for revenue-generating activities.
His second recommendation:
Hire a showing agent.
Even part-time support can help agents reclaim evenings and weekends while maintaining excellent client service.
Why Will Pays Showing Agents Hourly
One of the most practical discussions of the session centered around compensation.
Will shared lessons learned from multiple compensation models and explained why he ultimately abandoned commission-based showing agent structures.
Instead, he recommends:
Hourly compensation
W-2 employment
Clear expectations
Consistent systems
His reasoning?
Commission-based support staff often begin comparing their contribution to the team leader's income, which can create long-term tension and instability.
Today, his showing agent is salaried, supports buyer clients full-time, and even generates additional business independently.
The "Doctor's Office" Team Model
One of the most memorable concepts from the mastermind was Will's "Doctor's Office" analogy.
Think about a doctor's appointment:
The doctor doesn't do everything.
Instead, different team members handle different responsibilities so the doctor can focus on the highest-value activities.
Will built his real estate business the same way.
His role focuses on:
Buyer consultations
Listing presentations
Negotiations
Client strategy
Prospecting
His support team handles:
Showings
Inspections
Administrative work
Transaction management
This model allowed him to participate in 128 transactions while working approximately 15–20 hours per week.
Clients Don't Need More Access to You—They Need Better Service
A common objection agents have to delegation is:
"But clients want me."
Will strongly challenged this belief.
Instead, he teaches clients from the beginning that they are hiring a team structure designed to provide better service and greater availability.
His philosophy:
Clients are paying for your expertise, guidance, negotiation skills, and problem-solving ability—not your ability to open a lockbox.
The Shift:
Stop selling your hands and feet.
Start selling your knowledge and leadership.
Should You Start a Team?
Will offered a perspective that may surprise many agents.
If you're already working 60 hours per week, starting a team may actually create more problems rather than solve them.
Before recruiting agents, he recommends:
Build support infrastructure.
Create systems.
Free up your own schedule.
Protect your personal income.
Only then should you consider adding agents.
In fact, Will built his team by first building support positions and then helping those support staff members become producing agents.
Technology That Actually Matters
While the session began with AI, Will offered a refreshing perspective on technology.
He believes tech should help agents spend more time with people—not replace people.
Some of the tools he currently uses include:
Follow Up Boss
For database management and client follow-up.
Reach
For sending personalized text messages at scale while maintaining authentic communication.
ChatGPT & Claude
For:
Activity tracking
Spreadsheet creation
Listing description drafts
Business planning
But not for replacing authentic communication.
Private Facebook Groups
One of Will's favorite strategies.
His group contains nearly 1,000 past clients and sphere contacts, allowing him to stay visible and relevant every day without fighting social media algorithms.
The Most Important Business Growth Strategy? Conversations.
Near the end of the call, Will boiled success down to one simple principle:
Talk to 10 people every day.
Not cold pitches.
Not referral begging.
Real conversations that provide value.
Examples included:
Sharing local resources
Recommending contractors
Creating community guides
Offering homeowner tips
Sending video texts
Sending handwritten notes
His math is simple:
10 conversations per day
50 conversations per week
2,500 conversations per year
Do that consistently, and your business grows.
Final Takeaway
The biggest lesson from this mastermind wasn't about AI, hiring, or technology.
It was about intentional business design.
Successful agents don't build businesses that require more of them.
They build systems, support, and infrastructure that allow them to focus on what they do best:
Building relationships
Creating trust
Solving problems
Having meaningful conversations
As Will put it, agents who learn to sell from the neck up—not with their hands and feet—will continue to thrive regardless of how technology evolves.
Want to Join the Next EMC Mastermind?
Join us inside Every Move Collective for weekly Mastermind sessions with top-performing agents across the country.
✨ Learn what’s working right now
✨ Build real connections
✨ Walk away with actionable strategies
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