Business View Magazine | Volume 8, Issue 11

55 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 8, ISSUE 11 two partners had ideas on paper to expand the brokerage and they were ready. Starting with the original staff, they delegated specific roles, with Pfaffe heading up marketing and education, while Rogers would head up the recruiting aspect for the brokerage. In January 2020, they hit the ground running, straight into lockdown. Which presented a new set of problems for recruiting. “After training to recruit individuals, a large number were leaving the industry, and retiring,” says Rogers. “Some predicted that real estate was going to die off as everyone starts to sell online. This being said, there was another demographic looking at getting a license while sitting at home, people who wanted to upskill themselves.” Rogers had to be cautious about hiring new staff members. They were planning on hiring 50 new employees but have so far only hired 33 agents. The main goal for the recruitment drive was to hire the most competent realtors to cause as little drama as possible, as Rogers never wanted to be a broker of people. His focus being first and foremost real estate and satisfied clients. TJ Lewis’s main base of operations is in Austin, with a connection to Dallas, San Antonio, and also Houston. They mostly deal with the residential sector, with some conversations about selling industrial properties. While they are experiencing significant growth, they don’t want to hire more people just for the sake of growing. As Pfaffe explains, “We’re not trying to be all things to everyone. We’re trying to find TJ LEWI S REAL ESTATE LLC people that fit our culture and have the desire to be excellent for our clients. And we’re going to provide them with the training, tools, and resources to become successful in the market.” The company’s policy is an organic approach where agents who want to work in their own neighborhood and groups join the brokerage. This means TJ Lewis gets the right individuals coming into the company. In fact, the best recruiters at the moment are TJ Lewis’s own agents. “The staff love the culture and family ethos of the brokerage,” says Pfaffe. “They’ve been able to syndicate this value with peers in the industry, and their connections, and in turn bring agents to us.” The Austin region has been a seller’s market since 2010. However it does vary, with markets in 2018 leaning close to flipping to a buyer’s market. During COVID most listings disappeared, which meant stock in the real estate market was low. And in turn this has