Fighting to Stay Small: The Successful Team Model You’ve Never Heard Of w/ Melissa Ricks

The conventional real estate model is built on a “grow or die” mentality. If you’re not scaling fast, recruiting a ton of agents, and running a massive team, you’re falling behind…or so the industry says.

But what if growth is the very thing that burns you out?

Melissa Ricks saw the pressure to build a mega team, start a brokerage, and grow at all costs, and walked the other way.

While most team leaders were chasing volume and headcount, Melissa was doing something radical: fighting to stay small.

And it worked. She built a wildly efficient, deeply intentional team, and in her highest-producing year, sold 210 homes as the only agent on her team.

No revolving door of recruits. No burnout. Just a business rooted in service, systems, and sanity.

In this episode, Melissa shares what she saw in the traditional model that made her reject it, and how she built a business that supports her life, not the other way around.

Things You’ll Learn In This Episode

-The turnover trap

Team leaders are constantly working hard to reduce agent turnover. Is the model (not the agents) the real problem? 

-The burnout-proof model you’ve never heard of

What does it look like to close 200+ deals and still protect your peace, your family, and your joy?

-Pour into people

The problem with real estate’s obsession with numbers and scale is that people often get lost in the shuffle. Why does Melissa focus more on the people than the production?

-Stop outsourcing your happiness to your volume

So many team leaders are miserable because they are chasing numbers. How do we determine if this model aligns with us? How do we redefine success for ourselves?