Coaching for Real Estate Agents Leaving a Team to Go Solo

Last updated: November 2026

Dustin sponsors agents at eXp Realty. Coaching is open to agents at any brokerage.

Leaving a team is a business decision with a dozen moving parts, and a lot of agents make it in a hurry, right after a slow month or a hard conversation. Coaching slows the decision down long enough to put a plan on paper you will actually follow. Dustin is a fifth generation real estate professional and a triple certified business coach with 700+ transactions, residential and commercial, and 20-plus years in sales, investing, and multifamily operations.

Plan the move before you talk to your team leader

Settle these quietly, before anyone knows you are going.

• What date do you want to be on your own, and what has to be true by then?
• Which deals are under contract right now, and how will each one close?
• What does your team agreement say about notice, pending deals, and leads? Read it, then take it to an attorney.
• Where will your license hang the day after you leave?
• Which tools disappear when you go: the CRM, the transaction coordinator, the marketing, the website, the phone number?

In coaching, those answers turn into a dated checklist, and the calls every other week keep it moving.

Build your money runway

On a team, someone else often pays for leads, the CRM, signs, and transaction help. When you go solo, those bills land on you, and your first solo closing can be months away. Add up what the business costs to run each month, add your personal expenses, and work out how many months you can cover before that first closing. Tax and financial planning questions go to your CPA or financial advisor.

Know which part of your database is yours

The friends, family, and past clients you knew before the team are where most solo databases start. Which contacts you can legally take with you is a question for your team agreement and your attorney, so get that answer in writing first. Then the coaching work is practical: pull every contact into one place, clean and tag it, and set a touchpoint calendar you will keep. The database and sphere of influence coaching page covers how that system is built.

Set up a Google Business Profile in your own name

Plenty of team agents have never had a Google Business Profile of their own. The reviews they earned live on the team’s profile, and those reviews stay with that profile when the agent leaves. A profile in your own name, with your own phone, website, and service areas, is one of the first pieces to put in place. Dustin’s PAWN+™ framework keeps your phone, address strategy, website, and name consistent everywhere Google and AI tools look. Whether you qualify for a profile depends on Google’s current guidelines and how you serve clients, so the setup gets checked against those rules first. See Google Business Profile optimization for what the full build includes.

Generate leads without team leads

If the team handed you leads, your phone can go quiet the week you leave. Pick your lead sources before you go: your sphere, past clients, open houses, your Google profile, and referrals from other agents. Coaching narrows that list to the two or three sources that fit how you work, then builds a weekly routine around them. The lead generation and conversion coaching page goes deeper on choosing sources.

Who answers which question

Question	Who answers it	What Coach DO does
Can I take my leads and contacts?	A real estate attorney, using your team agreement	Organizes the contacts you are cleared to keep
Does my non-compete or team agreement apply?	A real estate attorney	Builds your timeline around the attorney’s answer
How many months of expenses can I cover?	You, with your CPA or financial advisor	Builds the business budget and the tracking habit with you
Where will my license hang?	You and your managing broker	Helps you list the questions to ask before you decide
Do I need my own Google Business Profile?	Google’s guidelines and how you serve clients	Checks your setup and plans the profile
Where will my next clients come from?	You, with a written lead plan	Coaches the plan and holds you to it every call

How the coaching works

You work with Dustin one on one by video, built around your strengths and your market. It is month to month with no long-term contract, and coaching pricing shows what is included and what it costs today. The broader program is on the real estate coaching page.

Frequently asked questions

Is this coaching only for agents at eXp Realty?

No. Coaching for agents leaving a team is open to agents at any brokerage. Dustin sponsors agents at eXp Realty, and you do not need to change brokerages to be coached by him.

Can I take my clients and leads when I leave a team?

It depends on your team agreement, and a real estate attorney is the right person to answer it. Coach DO does not give legal advice. Once you know what you can keep, coaching helps you organize it and start working it.

Should I start coaching before or after I leave?

Before, if you can. Setting the date, the budget, and the lead plan ahead of time gives you choices, and starting after you leave works too if you have already gone.

Do I need a new Google Business Profile after leaving a team?

Often, yes, because many team agents have no profile in their own name. The team’s reviews stay on the team’s profile, so your own profile starts fresh, and the setup is checked against Google’s guidelines first.

Talk it through first

Book a free 30-minute call with Dustin to walk through your timing, your plan, and whether coaching fits.