Why 8 out of 10 commercial real estate brokers don’t make it

Commercial real estate work has a quiet but brutal statistic attached to it.

Roughly 80% of new commercial real estate agents will leave the business within two years. Eight out of ten will not make it. The number surprises newcomers, but it should not. When compared with new business startups, the attrition rate is nearly identical.

And that comparison is appropriate because a commercial real estate brokerage is akin to a startup. Every new agent is essentially launching a small business without a guaranteed salary...