What 25 Years in Real Estate Actually Teaches You About Building a Team

Most new agents start the same way: saying yes to everything, chasing every lead, hoping something sticks. Eileen McKeon, who has run a team out of Cleveland for 25 years, spent her early career the same way. It took her 17 years to find the approach that actually worked.

Eileen sat down with Meredith Fogle on the "So You Want to Be a Real Estate Agent" podcast to talk through what changed, and what she'd tell an agent just starting out.

The shift from volume to relationships

Eileen's early business ran on the classic shotgun approach: answer every call, take every client, figure out the rest later. It wasn't until she discovered a relationship-based selling framework, nearly two decades into her career, that something clicked. The core idea was simple but foreign to her at the time: you don't need everybody. Stay focused, be intentional, and build depth with the people already in your orbit rather than constantly chasing new ones.

That shift gave her permission to say no to work that didn't fit, and to build a team instead of just a bigger book of business.

Professionalism is a full-time job, not a switch

One theme Eileen returned to repeatedly: agents are public figures whether they realize it or not. Neighbors notice when a sign goes up. Clients remember how an agent showed up, dressed, and carried themselves, long after the transaction closes. She described staying professionally dressed even on days she wasn't showing homes, simply because it kept her in the right mindset and shaped how people in her community perceived her.

That reputation compounds. Eileen shared a story about a small act of kindness toward a stranger in a parking lot that led to a listing two decades later, purely because the person remembered how she'd treated her.

Time blocking: personal first, business second

Eileen's team is built around working mothers, and her scheduling philosophy reflects that. Self-care, family time, and personal commitments go on the calendar first. Business gets built around those blocks, not the other way around.

"When you start to lead with the things that matter most first, you've got the energy to do the business at a really high level," Fogle noted during the conversation.

Eileen pointed out that this approach also builds trust with clients. Being clear about availability, rather than pretending to be endlessly on call, signals structure and professionalism rather than unavailability.

The hardest lesson: scaling too fast

Eileen didn't shy away from talking about a rough stretch a few years into building her team, when she went from two agents to six almost overnight with no systems, no admin support, and no training plan in place. The result was burnout and a business that suffered rather than grew. Her takeaway: hire based on a clear plan for what the business actually needs, not simply because talented people show interest.

Why coaching changed the trajectory

Eileen credits ongoing coaching with giving her access to a network of agents facing similar challenges, along with an outside perspective on decisions she was too close to see clearly. She described it as one of the few consistent touchpoints in her week where she could step back and evaluate whether her strategy actually made sense.

Twenty-five years in, her advice to newer agents remains simple: stay curious, build real relationships instead of chasing transactions, and don't be afraid to say no to opportunities that pull you away from the business you're actually trying to build.

If you're building your own real estate career and want that kind of structure, mentorship, and team support, reach out to The List Realty to learn what it looks like to build a business the right way from the start.

Watch the original episode

Watch: 25 Years at the Top — Eileen McKeon on Sustainable Real Estate Success