The Real Reason Your Income Is Inconsistent and What to Do About It
Your income isn’t inconsistent because you’re bad at real estate. It’s inconsistent because your business is built on bursts of effort instead of steady, predictable systems.
For agents with 1 to 7 years in the business, this is incredibly common—and completely fixable.
The Real Causes of Income Swings
Inconsistent income usually comes down to a few core issues working together.
Pipeline gaps: You have great months when deals close, then nothing because you didn’t have enough opportunities lined up behind them.
Weak follow up: Leads show interest, then drift away because you didn’t have a clear plan to stay in touch.
Lack of time blocking: You “intend” to prospect, but your day gets taken over by fires, showings, and admin.
No niche focus: You’re trying to be everything to everyone, so your message is generic and forgettable.
No tracking of key numbers: You don’t really know your conversion rates, so you can’t predict income—you just hope.
The result: a roller coaster where one month you feel on top of the world and the next month you’re stressed and questioning your career.
Cause 1: Pipeline Gaps
Most agents are only 60–90 days away from an income dip based on what they’re doing (or not doing) right now.
If you’re not consistently:
Adding new people to your pipeline
Nurturing relationships already in your database
Moving leads toward actual appointment
…then you will always have stretches where nothing is closing.
Think of your pipeline as levels:
New leads
Engaged leads (talking, interested)
Appointments
Active buyers/sellers
Pending deals
If any layer is thin, your future closings will be thin too.
Cause 2: Weak Follow Up
Most agents don’t actually have a lead problem—they have a follow up problem
Common signs:
You forget to call back when people say, “Follow up in a few months.”
You rely on your memory instead of a CRM or clear system.
You’re nervous to “bother” people, so you under-communicate.
The truth: serious buyers and sellers often move slowly at first. The agent who stays in consistent, value-driven contact wins. Not the one who had the best first conversation.
Cause 3: No Real Time Blocking
If your prospecting and pipeline-building time isn’t on your calendar, it’s not truly part of your business.
Without time blocking:
You start your day in your inbox or on social media.
You react to whatever is loudest instead of what builds income.
Prospecting becomes “something I’ll squeeze in later,” which rarely happens.
Income stability doesn’t come from working more hours. It comes from consistently protecting the right hours.
Cause 4: No Niche Focus
When you’re 1–7 years in, it’s normal to say, “I’ll work with anyone.” But if your marketing and conversations are for “everyone,” no one feels like you’re specifically for them.
A niche could be:
First-time buyers in specific neighborhoods
Move-up sellers in your local school district
Downsizers, relocation clients, or investors in a certain price range
Niche focus doesn’t limit you; it gives your business a backbone. It makes your messaging clearer, your lead gen more efficient, and your referrals more targeted.
Cause 5: Not Tracking Key Numbers
What you don’t measure, you can’t predict.
At minimum, you should know:
How many new conversations you start each week
How many appointments you set from those conversations
How many appointments turn into active clients
How many clients turn into closed deals
Once you see the numbers, you can reverse engineer your income. If you know your average commission and closing rate, you can figure out exactly how many conversations you need weekly to hit your goals.
Without this clarity, each month feels random—and so does your income.
A 90-Day Framework to Stabilize Your Income
You don’t have to fix everything overnight. You just need a simple structure to follow for the next 90 days.
Step 1: Build a Minimum Viable Pipeline
Set a clear, non-negotiable target for your pipeline over the next 90 days.
For example:
30–50 people in your “active nurture” group (likely to buy or sell in the next 12 months)
10–15 serious prospects (likely to act in the next 90 days)
3–5 signed buyers or listings at any given time
Your goal is to:
Add new names weekly (from open houses, social media, referrals, community, networking).
Move people up levels: from cold to warm, warm to hot, hot to signed.
Keep your minimums steady—if a client closes, you replace them with another active opportunity.
This minimum viable pipeline becomes your safety net. When it’s full, you already know deals are coming.
Step 2: Set Non-Negotiable Prospecting Time
Choose your prospecting windows and guard them like a listing appointment.
For example:
90–120 minutes every weekday, ideally in the morning
Focused activities: calls, DMs, texts, personalized emails, video messages
One core question guiding your effort: “Who can I move one step forward today?”
This time is not for:
Scroll-and-like sessions on social
Reorganizing your CRM instead of actually contacting people
Responding to every random email the second it comes in
If you truly commit to even 60–90 minutes of real, focused prospecting daily, your pipeline will change—and so will your income.
Step 3: Improve Conversion at Each Stage
You don’t just need more leads; you need better outcomes from the leads you already have.
Look at each stage:
Lead to conversation
Conversation to appointment
Appointment to client
Client to closed deal
Then ask:
Do I have clear scripts and questions at each stage?
Do I pre-frame my value before a consult (buyer or seller guides, market data, testimonials)?
Do I have a consistent process once someone becomes a client?
Small improvements add up. If you increase each conversion step even a little, your overall results can improve dramatically without adding more hours.
Step 4: Get Honest With Your Numbers
For the next 90 days, track:
Daily outreach (calls, texts, DMs, emails)
New leads added to your database
Appointments set
Agreements signed
Closings
You can do this on a simple spreadsheet, in a CRM, or even on paper—as long as you’re consistent.
This does three things:
Shows you what’s actually working.
Makes your business feel less emotional and more practical.
Gives you evidence that your income is becoming more predictable.
How Shaina McAndrews Helps You Create Predictable Results
You don’t have to do all of this in isolation.
The Shaina McAndrews Team is built around helping agents grow real, sustainable businesses with systems and structure, not just hustle. Shaina has years of experience mentoring agents, serving on local REALTOR boards, and leading a team that thrives in Greater Philadelphia and beyond.
With Shaina, agents get:
Support to define a clear niche and lead generation plan that fits their market.
Practical help setting up follow up systems, time blocking, and tracking tools they’ll actually stick to.
Accountability to stay consistent long enough to see predictable, repeatable results—not just a lucky month here and there.
The goal isn’t to turn you into a robot. The goal is to help you build a business that doesn’t fall apart every time a few deals close or the market shifts.
Your Next Step
If you’re tired of feeling like your income is out of your control and you’re ready to build a business with fewer surprises and more stability, this is your moment to change it.
Book a free 15-minute business clarity call with Shaina to map out your next 90 days and start moving toward consistent, predictable income:
https://calendly.com/agentshainamc/quick-callfacebook+3
