OK, I got my license in January. I wanted to start a taxidermy business first so I would have control over my schedule, I now have completed that. I don't make a lot so I can't spend much on advertising, I got all of my fees paid so now it is just a matter of getting out there and getting business! This is my plan for the next 6 months.
First I have picked a farm area that is 300 houses and is pretty active for the area.
I am going to put a monthly flyer out that shows total active homes, solds, avg. price etc..
second I am going to mail 20 FSBO every week with some info to keep in touch with them.
Third I am going to go talk to any expired listings that come up and try to set up a listing presentation.

Any suggestion or changes that I should make please let me know!! Also, if you have any advise on what to send FSBO that would really help. I don't want to call because of the Do not call reg. what kind of responces have you all gotten from door knocking on a fsbo?

If I really stay consistant with all of the above plans, how long should it take to get some business. My farm area sold 17 homes last year and has 3 active right now, average DOM is 33 days.
I really need to get started, I have put it off long enough and I just want to put my time where it will be most productive..
Thanks so much for any tips!!

How do you go from taxidermy to a real estate career? lol. Seriously, I'm not sure if a 6% yearly turnover rate would be considered "active", but it may just be your market. Do you see any reason that this farm area might begin to start moving more? You have to consider all your efforts may only bring you 20% of your farm's turnover-- 3-4 houses/year. Your plan sounds good though, just have to stick with it...you'll find many useful posts for beginners on here as well. I'd stay away from offer taxidermy services to your clients or stuffed squirrels as a closing gift though!

Funny jhbmw007!!lol...
Well, let me see. I used to be a grocery manager for Albertson's from age 19-21, they closed and I didn't want to stay in that line of work, after looking around for a while I decided that I would go into real estate, I have always been interested in it. I went to school, got my license and all the rest of it. I was going to work part time and found that I wouldn't really have time to do both. So, I have always loved to hunt and do taxidermy for myself, so I started doing it for money so I'd have a flexible schedule and be able to pay the bills until I got some business from real estate. Now I am ready to start drumming up business.

Maybe the farm area is not what it should be. I haven't started putting out flyers yet, how did you figure the turnover %? The formula I was given is...___homes currently on the market divided by the number of homes sold last year= sales ratio. Is this right??

How do you select your farm area?

Take the number of homes sold in a year's period and divide by the total number of homes in the farm. That number, as a percentage, reflects the "movement" your farm has had, and gives a pretty good idea of what it will do in the future. So your farm would have more like a 5.67% turnover. I would take a look over several past years and see if the turnover has fluxuated much. I would try to find a farm with maybe a 10% turnover, 20% would be excellent, but this varies by market. The farm I've selected has about a 10% turnover, so I hope it will suffice. I'm starting a newsletter campaign there next month, so I can't say whether it will bring much business yet as I haven't started "farming" it yet.

Ok, I had it reversed, thanks that makes it a lot less atractive of an area to farm!!
Do you think putting a flyer out every month with the areas monthly activity and year to date activity is a good idea?

I suggest more marketing and prospecting.

How did your taxidermy business go? I laugh because I practiced taxidermy for many years when I was young.

So through that, you have some contacts, right? Your interested in hunting and fishing and hiking and wildlife photography and etc., right?

So when you say farming, you really mean working your segment, right? It sounds like you have a well defined segment.

Just last week I emailed all the hunters on my list to remind them that the draw deadline was upon us. I email fishing closures and other tidbits of information that are of interest to the sporting community.

The nice thing about segmenting your potential market in this manner, is that you'll be passionate about your common ground

Well, I was talking about farming a small neighborhood, now that I have gotten the responces from this site I am reconsidering that plan!! My taxidermy business is going as planned, it is not local, I sell my mounts on Ebay so I don't build local connections from it. I am looking into your advice about the hunting fishing etc..
Thanks for all of the posts, they have really saved me from a few mistakes already!! That guys and gals!!