Hi all - I'm currently wrestling with where I want to go for my next role. I started out of school with a national developer (spent 3 years there), but ultimately left to change cities (be closer to family), and take higher comp on the brokerage side (I know dev. to brokerage is abnormal). The dev. business was obviously slowing down and it felt nearly impossible to move vertical, so I switched to the equity & debt space for a national brokerage shop (CBRE, JLL, C/W, etc.).
Ideally, I'd move to the principal side or back to development - but given the current environment and the market I sit in - it feels nearly impossible. I also have an offer to join a one-man EDSF brokerage shop with a person I think highly of. He's a couple years older than me and has recently produced a pipeline that exceeds his capacity. He approached me to join him as a partner with some favorable splits (not 50/50) that would increase my pay to the 200-300k range, which would be bump from where I am currently. I don't hate brokerage, and candidly enjoy the flexibility it offers. I can't stand my current boss, and while he's been able to drive some business, I don't think he has much interest in working or growing the team I currently sit on and feels complacent.
Question - Is is worth it to make this jump? I'm young and can afford some flexibility, and given my dislike for my current boss, feels like a move worth making. Working with a successful guy thats close in age to me is appealing, along with the idea of being part of basically a start-up.
I am in a small market and would almost certainly be burning this bridge so worth keeping that in mind. Has anybody done something similar?
Thanks in advance to anybody willing to offer help.
You already know the right answer and are just asking us for permission. No one can give it to you though. The safe answer is always more appealing “on paper” but that doesn’t make it correct.
About a year and a half ago I joined a guy I thought I knew well who was about 10-15 years my senior as a partner to scale his business. He had delivered a unique product type successfully for someone else and then developed one on his own, so it wasn’t that far-fetched. Plus, I had know him for years.
Turns out he was a liar, a bit of a scumbag, and he must have lucked into whatever success he once found because it certainly wasn’t as a result of his intellect or efforts. Our professional and personal relationships crashed and burned and I am grateful every day I did not put my name on any financial documents. I imagine he spends his time these days avoiding creditors and dealing with legal dispositions, but maybe he weaseled out of those too. The projects we worked on definitely haven’t closed yet.
So that’s the risk you take. CBRE isn’t going to go under. JLL has enough corporate bureaucracy and people invested in the company name to avoid most of the fuckery you can experience at real estate start ups.
But would I take the risk again? You bet. Had it worked out, I would have made an absolute fortune. It just didn’t. Sometimes things don’t work out and you have to be ok with that as a possibility.
Only you can know if you’re at peace with the risk. From how you wrote your post, I’m willing to bet that you are. But stop asking for permission. The average, normal person is never going to tell you to take the riskier path.
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