Simplify Your 2026 Real Estate Business Plan …

Hi, it’s Mike and welcome to Mike Ferry TV. It is the week of November 17th. The end of the month is almost here. We don’t have much time left in 2025, so I’m hoping that some of you that have achieved everything you’ve wanted to achieve are going to take a little time and relax. Don’t take too much time. Don’t relax too much because you have to start over again fast in January. So, what I want to talk about today is the basic business plan. Um, a year ago, well, approximately a year ago, it was October of last year. I received from one of our good customers a copy of this person’s business plan. And it came in an envelope and a half by 11. It was about this thick. And I thought a business plan and it’s what? So, I looked to the end. It was 47 pages, and I called the guy on the phone. I said, is this a business plan or did you write a book about business planning? He said, no, that’s my business plan. Planned. I said, your goal is to do 24 deals. You’re going to do you have 45 pages of planning for 24 deals. I said, I’m going to suggest something different for you.

Well, what I’ve discovered is that two there are two types of people in real estate, those that understand the importance of having a goal, an objective, something that they’re reaching for all the time, and those that don’t accept that policy or procedure. Earl Nightingale says 5% of the people set goals, 95% don’t, which makes competing advantageous to those that are in the 5% group because the competition is very limited.

So last year, I received probably a dozen business plans, ranging from ten pages to 20 to 30 to the 45, which is the most. And this year, a lot of people said, what are you doing about a business plan? And I’ve given it a lot of thought. And I came up with one word that I want to share with you.

And that is the word simplify, simplify, simplify. Make what you’re doing simple so it’s more usable, easier to digest, and much more fun to participate in. What are the odds, really, of you having a 25-page business plan and reviewing 25 pages of your plan every day? The odds are between zero and less. So, what I recommend is we simplify the business plan, and I’ve asked a lot of our customers today to do the following. And it’s simple.

Take a three by five card in a little print across the top. Write 2026 goals or 2026 business plan. And then you’re going to write four things on the face of that three by five card letter A you’re going to write down my production goal for 2026 is how many closed and pending do you want to have in by December of next year? You have to have a target. You have to have a goal. You have to have something out there that you’re reaching for. How many do you want to do?

Well, Mike, I’m new to the business. I’d like to do 5 to 10. Which one? Because five is one hand and ten is two. So, you have to think about the fact that you cannot be general in the number that you pick. You have to be very specific. So, if you take the time to say to yourself, if I do say 18 transactions and my average commission check is $10,000 per transaction, I would make about 180,000. Is that enough for me to enjoy my family, my life, my business as much as I should enjoy it? And if it’s not, you either have to raise the goal or change your lifestyle, which is very difficult to do.

So, letter A is how many transactions do you want to have in 2026? Letter B how many listings are you going to take? Well, Mike, what about buyers? Buyers come to you automatically. Listings are avoiding talking to you automatically. There’s a big difference. I have said for many, many years that we should get two licenses. License A is teaching us how to work with buyers.

License B on how to work with sellers because it’s two different transactions, but we are at The Mike Ferry Organization are a listing-oriented company because without inventory, what do you have to offer? And the answer is limited to almost nothing. But when you have inventory two, three, five, eight, ten listings that you’re maintaining all the time. What happens is the role reversal takes place. Meaning if you’re working with a buyer, you’re searching a for an agent that has a listing for sale that would meet the buyer’s approval. So, you’re working for a lot of people at all times. If you are a listing agent, you control the inventory, and the people have to come to you to find the properties that need to be sold, and you’re going to be the one in charge.

So, we’re going to have to spend a lot of time in the first quarter of next year, making sure we understand the value of taking listings. So let her be. How many listings are you going to take? Let her see what is the gross income. Meaning what? How much will you receive from the checks that you’re going to get? You know, there’s a broker split, there’s broker expense, etc. that has to be paid. The broker takes all the risk to have us work for them. They deserve to get paid. So how much will you. Pretax net. So, let’s say you’re going to get $10,000 per deal. Your goal is 18. As I said you’re going to make 180,000. So, then you have to say to yourself again I have to pay taxes, whether it be state or federal or both, I’m going to have certain expenses. Is that enough? Do I have to adjust my goal up? Do I have to take more listings? And you’re learning all this off a three by five card and then letter D is probably the most important. What is what do I think will go haywire? What will go wrong? You know what is going to be a point of confusion in me achieving this plan? And be honest. Turn the card over to the back and write down.

Here are my challenges. Maybe I need an assistant. Maybe I need to replace the one I have. Maybe I should consider finding a part time buyer’s agent to handle the buyer’s while I’m working on listings. You know, maybe maybe maybe maybe maybe maybe. And write down all those challenges and then start thinking about the fact that we have to create a solution. Or each of the challenges will probably knock your goal down by 10%. So if you have five challenges you’re facing and your goal is 18, you’re down to now like nine transactions, basically because you haven’t adopted the challenges and the solutions that you need.

That’s the business plan that I’m recommending today versus the 2 to 3 pages we’ve always offered you. Now, if you want to do the 2 to 3 pages, bless your soul, do it. But remember that you have to be looking at it all the time. If you have a three by five card, you can tape one to your computer, tape one to your bathroom mirror. You can put one in your pocket, in your wallet, in your purse, put one in your, you know, tape one on the dashboard of your car so you can see it all the time. Buying into what you want to accomplish is part of the hardest part of planning, because you have to accept the fact that your behavior has to match the goals that you’ve set. So, think about this. Watch this a couple times this week.

Next week for our US customers we have the Thanksgiving holiday. So, we’ll be doing a Mike Ferry TV for you on Monday. And hopefully you’ll take a couple days off for our Canadian friends. Hey, the world is now yours at your fingertips because you’ve celebrated Thanksgiving in October, so you’ll work right through the week. In either case, let’s have a great week. Let’s enjoy the time we have together and watch this particular message a couple of times. Thanks for today.