I Failed at Real Estate for 10 Years. Here's What Changed.

By Emily Marchese

Emily is the CEO & Founder of the Marchese Team and Marchese Real Estate. Throughout her extensive career, Emily has received some of the industry’s highest honors, including KW’s Empire Builder, America’s Top 100 Agents, Real Trends The Thousand, NJ’s Circle of Excellence Platinum Award, and KW Cultural Icon.

Most struggling agents assume what’s holding them back is effort, talent, or maybe just bad timing. I believed all three at different points, and I was wrong every time. I spent thirteen years failing at this business before I understood what was actually broken, and it wasn’t any of those. If you’re an agent who’s grinding hard and still wondering whether you’re cut out for this, my story might save you a decade of guessing.

Effort was never my problem. I started at twenty-five in a luxury market where the average buyer was around fifty, and nobody wanted someone that young handling their biggest purchase. I worked incredibly hard for very little money, mostly low-end, low-volume deals, and then the 2007 crash landed while I had two babies at home. I hit a wall and did something that still amazes me: I mailed my license back to the state and quit outright. Here’s the part worth sitting with. I wasn’t lazy, and I didn’t quit because I couldn’t work. I quit because working harder at the wrong things had stopped paying, and no amount of hustle was going to fix that on its own.

Mindset opened the door only. When I came back, I finally treated real estate like a business instead of a hobby, and that mattered more than I can say. It’s also where most advice stops, as if deciding to be serious is the whole answer. It isn’t. I was serious, disciplined, and still stuck on the same small deals I’d always done. A better attitude got me through the door, but it couldn’t tell me which room to walk into. That gap, between wanting it and knowing what to actually do, is where most agents quietly stall for years.

The right strategy changed everything. What finally moved me was a coach who pointed me at something specific and uncomfortable: expired listings. He told me that’s where powerhouse listing agents are built, so I started showing up at those doors the day a listing lapsed. I learned I was far stronger in person than I’d ever been on the phone, and those visits turned into real listings. When I couldn’t drive to every door, I forced myself to get on the phone too. None of it was magic. It was a specific strategy, someone experienced pointing me at it, and me finally doing the work I’d been avoiding.

Doing it alone cost me years. With the right guidance and systems in place, my numbers changed completely. I went from a few million a year in volume to well over a hundred homes in a single year, with barely any support staff. That’s the version of this business people dream about, and I want to be clear about what stood between me and it. It wasn’t ability. It was thirteen years of figuring everything out alone, with nobody handing me the map. That single realization is why I built my team the way I did. The map exists now, and no agent should have to redraw it from scratch the way I did.

If you’re failing, or floundering, or wondering whether you’re just not built for this, I need you to hear that I was you for over a decade. The difference wasn’t grit or talent; it was finally having guidance, coaching, and systems instead of trying to invent them alone.

My team exists for exactly that reason. If any part of my story sounds like yours, here in the Margate area or anywhere nearby, let’s talk. Call or text me at 609-214-2159, email me at Emily@MarcheseTeam.com, or visit emilymarchese.com. You don’t have to fail for thirteen years to get to the good part. I already did that for both of us.