Last summer we took a family trip out west and one of our stops was in Bend, Oregon.
While we were there we visited the only Blockbuster left in the world.
It was a weird feeling.
In the 90’s and early 2000’s they were everywhere. Over 9,000 Blockbuster stores existed at the peak. In 2002, the market cap value of Blockbuster was over $5 billion.
A couple years earlier, Blockbuster had the chance to buy Netflix for $50 million. The CEO struggled not to laugh them out of the room.
“Neither RedBox nor Netflix are even on the radar screen in terms of competition,” said Blockbuster CEO Jim Keyes in 2008.
Then something happened. The Netflix DVD by mail business grew and then later their streaming service grew even faster.
All of the sudden it became inefficient and unnecessary to go into a physical brick and mortar shop to get your movies.
The Blockbuster CEO said Netflix was not “even on the radar screen” for one big reason. Netflix owned very little real estate. They didn’t have a single store. On the flip side, Blockbuster had tens of thousands of employees nationwide and even in some other countries. In this sense, Netflix was not on the radar screen.
But they were about to be on every other screen in America – through the power of technology. No brick and mortar stores were needed.
Two years after its CEO made that statement, Blockbuster went bankrupt.
A decade after being valued at $5 billion and having the chance to buy Netflix for $50 million, Blockbuster was sold for $300 million and a few years later disappeared, except for the lone store in Bend, Oregon.
Netflix went on to build a market cap value of over $150 billion.
Now it feels weird to see a brick and mortar movie store. When my wife Keri and I saw the last Blockbuster in person, it was like we took a time machine to the past.
The same thing is happening to real estate brokerages.
With the rise of cloud brokerages (where eXp is the clear leader), real estate agents no longer need a brick and mortar office to run their businesses.
The agents that have made the move are now enjoying massive benefits:
- lower costs and commission caps
- collaboration and coaching with larger communities of successful agents
- massive rewards for growing the company (instead of paid recruiters or franchise owners reaping the benefits of growth the company rewards the agents that grow the company).
If you are stuck at a Blockbuster brokerage here is some good news.
Keri Shull and I are building a fast growing group of agents at eXp. By plugging you in to the leading platform in cloud brokerage you get:
- low caps for you and your team
- access to the eXp referral network and lead sources
- the ability to earn stock awards and build recurring income through revenue share
As a member of our group you also get:
- coaching and training programs that we used to build a multi-billion sales team
- done for you agent attraction sites
- training on how to recruit
- access to HyperFast Agent events
If you want to learn more about how we can help you take the next logical step in your real estate career send me a text at 703-638-4393 or click here to book a call
