‘Playmakers’: KW ‘bought a machine’ with JMG acquisition 

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In the 16 years since he began building the business that became his teamerage-style brokerage, Jason Mitchell has focused on scaling strategically with real estate professionals who share his belief that communication and professionalism are paramount.

Stepping back from production to focus on collaborating with lenders, search platforms and other partners was tough at first, Mitchell acknowledged during a recent appearance on the Playmakers podcast, but ultimately worth the effort and risk.

With its July acquisition by Keller Williams, Mitchell's Jason Mitchell Group (JMG) is poised for more growth ahead — and he's determined to maintain his firm's reputation as one that does "the right thing."

"What I've always tried to do is, I've tried to fulfill my commitment that if I commit something to you, it will happen — no matter what."

Creating 'a machine': "The platform of accountability, the platform of technology, the distribution, the follow-up cadences — that's what we built," Mitchell said of JMG.

"I think there's a lot that Keller Williams acquired, and I have a really good team," he added. "They bought a machine that really knows what they're doing."

For JMG, it was KW's focus on the "typical" American consumer that stood out. "That was important to me," Mitchell said.

Building through partnerships: A decade ago, Mitchell began noticing that "consumers were going online or to the lender first" — an observation that ignited an idea. "Instead of me having to go spend a bunch of money to try to get leads in or get referrals in, what if I just partner with people?"

In the years since, that approach has become the cornerstone of JMG's business model. "What I knew is that I had to build a model and a platform, if my end in mind was to sell something," he explained. "I was very, very conscious of that."

Using resources wisely: JMG doesn't rely on just one primary lead source — "it's very risky to potentially get turned off and not have that engine behind you anymore," Mitchell explained — but the firm does weigh which partners will bring the most value.

"Over the years, we were just adding partners to add partners. But that takes time, and you'd rather focus on the ones that are meaningful than the ones that aren't that meaningful," he said.

This year alone, Mitchell said he's turned down dozens of partnership opportunities "because I knew that we couldn't dedicate our time to this."

"We'd rather focus our energies on the big partnerships and scale with them, and to improve internally to help conversion," he added.

If an agent wants to grow, they must go all in: Many agents "struggle" with investing in their business, Mitchell noted. "They make a paycheck and they want to go spend it," he explained, or they don't invest simply "because they're scared."

But those who don't take the leap are risking something else. "If you can't invest in your business, or you're scared to invest in your business, you're never going to grow one."