If you are thinking about getting involved as a real estate agent, you need to know what you are up against, and have a little coaching before you get started. Most real estate agents go bust in the first year, and if you want to be one of the few that succeed, you need to focus on one thing, exposure.

Exposure is the fundamental principle that drives any successful business. And make no mistake, if you are a real estate agent, you own a business (unless of course, you get hired on salary/hourly, which most agents don’t).

One of the easiest ways to get exposure is by increasing the size of your personal network. For little or no money you can attend and join the following:

• Local real estate clubs
• Local business clubs
• Local real estate associations
• Chamber of commerce meetings
• Local Realtor Association meetings

Doing some simple searching online, you can hunt down these groups in your local area. Then you need to attend the meetings, preferably regularly, and mingle and pass out business cards while you are there. Try to focus on what you can do to help others in their businesses and ventures, and you will be surprised at how it is reciprocated.

Even if the people you are networking with are not personally interested in what you have to offer, they will know people, and you will be able to get into their network. By doing so, you can setup a large referral network, that can constantly push leads and sales to your business.

And once you do a few deals with clients that you get through these networks, you can begin to expand your reach through local advertising, and more importantly, online. As an agent and with the entire market moving to the internet to find properties, a high powered real estate marketing plan and website is what you are going to need in order to have long term, huge success in your real estate business.