Something I learnt very early on is that if you are good enough, you are old enough. I’m by no means advocating that years of sales experience under the belt is not valued in today’s marketplace, I’m simply proposing that a young salesperson with the right intentions in this industry has just as much opportunity to positively impact their given market, provided the passion to help people is there.

Real estate agents have two choices at the beginning of their career: either sink fast, or swim upstream for an extended period of time. Let’s talk about the latter. There is no such thing as momentum when you get started in this industry, particularly if you are young. You have no runs on the board and better yet, the public won’t grant you runs, without having runs on the board.

Real estate is not an industry for the faint hearted. It takes true grit and determination to succeed. One thing that is promising amidst all of this however, is being a part of the ‘new breed’ coming through and understanding this concept first hand.

So what do I think about being a young person in what was once labelled an old person’s game? I think it is an absolute advantage. Having much higher energy levels and no intensive family commitments (speaking for myself) at this age opens up a big window of productivity.

In addition, nowadays there are no excuses when it comes to learning more; we can capitalize on the unlimited access to education and training resources online. I can guarantee that my product knowledge and sheer enthusiasm would outshine competing agents' if granted the opportunity to sit down in a vendor's dining room when it comes time to sell. But you don’t get called in at the start because, and I repeat, you have no runs on the board.

So what does one do? Stick at it and learn faster. I’m not saying go to university and commit to a tertiary degree in property economics like I did, I’m simply suggesting that you consider researching everything there is to know about the hyper local marketplace. Your competitors have experience on their side and that provides them with a great degree of leverage, but you can match them with product knowledge every day of the week.

I'd love to put an end to conversations around the dinner table about real estate agents being compared to used car salesmen (trust me I've been on the receiving end of my fair share). It's unfair on agents in the industry with the right intentions, and those that continually go out of their way for people, day in day out. Time has proven that the ones who succeed in this industry play the long game, and do everything with integrity.

See also:

Agent 2020: How to remain relevant in the age of digital disruption

How the real estate agent has changed for the better

How one young homebuyer made it into the housing market