Central Valley-area REALTOR® Ashlee Prudhel maintains she didn’t really pick real estate as a career — a door was opened, and she realized it was meant to be. She needed to take some electives while finishing up her Associate Degree in early childhood education and decided to sign up for some real estate courses. Later that day, she saw a job opening as an assistant a local brokerage and decided to pursue it. Not too long after starting the job, she got her license, and within six months of that, she had already closed 17 transactions.

We caught up with Prudhel, who shared how she was able to able to build a business from the ground up and her advice for new REALTORS® just getting into the game.

Take Risks — Even When the Stakes Are High

“When I first got licensed, I knew I would have to risk leaving the security of the assistant job and strike out on my own,” says Prudhel. “But working with other agents, I’d seen the potential; I knew I could do this job.”

Prudhel says the fear of failure (and what it would mean for her family financially) spurred her into action. “I worked myself to the bone — I had to! I had a utility bill to pay!”

Be Persistent

“When I first got started,” says Prudhel, “I would drop my daughter off at Kindergarten and then immediately go to the office. I was texting everybody in my phone, following up on Realtor.com leads, talking to everyone I could find.”

Prudhel credits securing her first few clients to sheer persistence — she would follow up relentlessly and insert herself into all corners of her community. “If you had an event at a farmer’s market, I had my booth there. I plugged myself into all these little events I thought were going to give me all these leads. Looking back, I probably only picked up one or two, but before you build up a referral business, those first one or two transactions are so important.”

Build Up Trust on Social Media

“When I was starting out, any time I was sending out an offer or had an offer accepted, I would post myself doing a stupid little high kick on Facebook,” says Prudhel. “And everyone got a kick out of that, which was kind of cool. I was the ‘high-kicking real estate agent’ in our area.”

Prudhel made a point of flooding her channels with real estate content so she could spread the word about her new career. “Now if you look at my social, it has more personal content than real estate content. But at the beginning, I wanted you to know I was in real estate.” By building up social content centered on her real estate business, Prudhel was able to build up name recognition in her market.

Consider Joining a Team

Prudhel always knew she wanted to work as a solo agent, but she advises rookie REALTORS® to set their egos aside and find a team to join. “This market will beat you up,” says Prudhel. “You need backup. You need to align yourself with someone who already has systems in place. And spending time around the big fish will really help you.”

Focus on the People, Not the Money

“The relationship is more valuable than the money,” says Prudhel. “I know if you’re new, it can be really, really hard to focus on your client’s best interest instead of the paycheck, but that relationship will pay itself forward in referrals later. If your client feels uneasy about a transaction, don’t try to convince them when you know their heart’s not in it. You’ve got to truly love on people and show up as the best version of yourself every single day."