The Best and Worst Things About Owning Your Own Estate Agency

What Building Lennon James Property Has Taught Me About Business, Property and Myself

By Jon Brierley, Founder & Managing Director of Lennon James Property

If you'd asked me ten years ago whether I would eventually own my own estate agency, I'm not sure what I would have said.

I'd spent most of my working life in property.

I started my career in estate agency before joining Rightmove in 2006. I went on to spend more than 12 years there, working with estate agents and housebuilders across the country and eventually becoming Sales Director within the New Homes and Estate Agency business.

It gave me an incredible education.

I saw brilliant estate agencies.

I saw average ones.

I saw businesses embracing technology and businesses resisting it.

I watched the industry move from newspaper advertising and shop windows towards property portals, smartphones, video and social media.

And I spent years talking to other people about their businesses.

But there's a considerable difference between understanding a business and putting your own name above the door.

Or, in my case, my son's name.

In 2019, I launched Lennon James Property.

And since then I've discovered that owning an estate agency can be incredibly rewarding, occasionally brutal, exciting, frustrating, exhausting and addictive, sometimes all in the same day.

Would I do it again?

Without question.

Would I do everything the same way?

Absolutely not.

So, seven years into the Lennon James journey, these are probably the things I've enjoyed most and the things nobody really prepares you for.

The Best Thing? Building Something That's Actually Yours

This is difficult to explain until you've done it.

When you work for somebody else, even in a senior position, you're ultimately helping to build somebody else's business.

There's nothing wrong with that. I was incredibly proud of my career at Rightmove and it gave me opportunities and experiences that have shaped much of what Lennon James is today.

But building something yourself feels different.

Every review.

Every board.

Every property photograph.

Every social media post.

Every recommendation.

Every new client.

Every sale.

Every person who tells somebody else:

“You should speak to Lennon James.”

It means something.

Because seven years ago, none of it existed.

Today we've built a recognised property business, an audience of more than 10,000 people across Facebook and Instagram and published more than 5000 pieces of content.

We've sold everything from family homes to individual properties and new developments.

That's incredibly satisfying.

But the numbers aren't actually the part I'm most proud of.

It's what the name now represents.

Lennon James Was Never Just a Business Name

This is probably what makes the whole journey particularly personal for me.

Lennon-James is my son.

He was born in 2016 and becoming a dad changed my perspective on quite a lot of things.

By the time I created the business in 2019, I didn't want to build something anonymous.

I wanted it to mean something.

Something I could be proud of.

Something my family could be proud of.

Something that might ultimately become a legacy.

That's where Lennon James came from.

So when people ask why we're so particular about the way the brand looks, how properties are presented or how clients are treated, there's probably part of the answer.

My son's name is on it.

That's quite a powerful quality control mechanism.

The Freedom to Do Things Differently

This is probably one of my favourite things about owning the business.

If I think we should do something differently, we can.

There's no committee.

No national policy.

No head office telling us:

“That's not how estate agents normally do it.”

And I've never been particularly interested in doing something simply because that's how it's always been done.

If we think every property should have professional photography, we can invest in it.

If we think video will improve the marketing, we can do it.

Drone photography?

360-degree tours?

Social-media advertising?

Digital brochures?

Area marketing?

Enhanced portal listings?

We decide.

That freedom has allowed us to build Lennon James around what I believe modern estate agency should actually look like.

We Didn't Have to Copy the Traditional Estate Agency Model

One of the biggest decisions we made was not to build Lennon James around multiple High Street branches.

That wasn't because I don't believe in local expertise.

I absolutely do.

It was because I questioned whether opening office after office was where our clients would see the greatest return on our investment.

Years ago, buyers needed estate agency windows.

They walked into branches to discover what was available.

Today, the shop window is increasingly the screen in somebody's hand.

So we made a deliberate decision to operate from a central marketing office and put resources into the things we believe actually help sell property:

people,

marketing,

technology,

photography,

video,

social media,

property portals,

data,

and reaching buyers.

Owning the business gave us the freedom to make that choice.

And I love that.

Seeing an Idea Actually Work Is Hard to Beat

There are moments in business when something you've believed for years gets proven in the real world.

Those are special.

Our approach to The How in St Ives is probably one of the best examples.

We worked alongside the developer for more than three years.

Every property was sold off-plan.

The eventual result was around £200,000 above the anticipated GDV.

But it wasn't simply about putting houses on Rightmove.

It was positioning.

Marketing.

Understanding the development.

Understanding buyers.

Communication.

Problem solving.

Staying involved.

That's when the years of experience before Lennon James and the freedom of running Lennon James came together.

Those moments are hugely rewarding.

Helping Someone Move Home Still Matters

This can sound sentimental, but it's true.

Property is a strange industry because what is a normal working Tuesday for us can be one of the biggest days in somebody else's life.

A first home.

A dream house.

A downsizing move after 30 years.

A relocation.

A divorce.

A probate sale.

A growing family needing more space.

Some transactions are joyful.

Others are incredibly emotional.

You get invited into people's lives at important moments.

When somebody finally collects the keys after a difficult transaction and you know how much work happened behind the scenes to get them there, it's difficult not to feel proud.

That's one part of estate agency I hope technology never removes.

Then There Are the Messages You Don't Expect

Some of the most rewarding moments aren't actually completions.

They're emails and reviews.

A client telling us they felt supported.

Someone saying we achieved more than they expected.

A homeowner who had struggled with another agent telling us:

“What a difference finding the right agent makes.”

A seller telling us they were apprehensive about our valuation and then seeing the property sell within a week at the full asking price.

Those things stick with you.

Because ultimately, anybody can tell you their business is good.

It's what other people say about it that matters.

I've Loved Building the Team

This is something I probably underestimated before owning a business.

Initially, you think about clients, revenue, marketing and growth.

Over time, people become one of the most important parts.

Watching somebody become more confident.

Seeing them build relationships with clients.

Watching them handle difficult conversations brilliantly.

Seeing somebody take ownership of something you used to do yourself.

That's incredibly rewarding.

But people also lead neatly into one of the harder lessons of owning a business.

You Can't Do Everything Yourself

I tried.

Most business owners probably do.

When your name and reputation are attached to something, there's a temptation to be involved in everything.

Every valuation.

Every photograph.

Every listing.

Every negotiation.

Every problem.

Every marketing decision.

Every email.

Every completion.

But eventually you realise something:

If the business only works when you're personally doing everything, you haven't really built a business. You've built yourself a very demanding job.

Learning to trust people has been one of the most important parts of the journey.

And probably one of the hardest.

Now for the Less Glamorous Part

Social media has created a slightly strange view of owning a business.

You see launches.

Awards.

New offices.

Record months.

Champagne.

Celebrations.

Nobody posts:

“Spent three hours dealing with something completely outside my control today.”

But that's business too.

And estate agency provides plenty of opportunities for it.

The Business Is Never Really Off

This is probably one of the hardest things.

When you work for somebody else, however senior you are, there is usually some separation between you and the business.

When you own it, that separation becomes much harder.

You can leave the office.

But the business comes with you.

You think about tomorrow's valuations.

A sale that's wobbling.

A client who's unhappy.

A marketing campaign.

Cash flow.

Staff.

A difficult conversation.

Something you should have done.

Something you want to improve.

An idea you suddenly have at 11:30 at night.

The physical office closes.

Your brain doesn't always follow.

The Emotional Highs and Lows Are Bigger

One morning you agree a fantastic sale.

An hour later another transaction collapses.

Then you win a brilliant instruction.

Then somebody withdraws from a purchase.

Then you receive an amazing review.

Then a client chooses another agent.

Running an estate agency can feel like living inside a graph.

Up.

Down.

Up.

Down.

Eventually you become better at managing it.

You learn not to celebrate something too early.

And you learn not to treat every setback as a catastrophe.

But I'm not sure you ever become completely immune to it.

And perhaps that's a good thing.

Caring is part of the job.

You Can Do Everything Right and Still Lose

This is a difficult lesson for anyone who likes control.

Sometimes you can do everything properly.

The marketing is excellent.

The buyer is good.

The seller is committed.

The offer is agreed.

Everyone is excited.

And then something outside your control happens.

A survey.

A mortgage problem.

A chain collapses.

A legal issue.

A change in somebody's circumstances.

A relationship breakdown.

A job loss.

And the sale disappears.

Months of work can vanish overnight.

And unlike many businesses, estate agency often means you don't get paid for any of it.

That's tough.

Estate Agency Is an Unusual Business Model

Think about what an estate agent can invest before receiving a penny.

Staff time.

Photography.

Video.

Drone.

Portal advertising.

Social-media advertising.

Brochures.

Technology.

Viewings.

Negotiation.

Sales progression.

Weeks, sometimes months of work.

And if the property doesn't complete?

Often the agent receives nothing.

That's the commercial reality behind the no sale, no fee model.

It's one reason I sometimes find conversations focused solely on the cheapest agency percentage slightly frustrating.

The right question isn't just:

“What do you charge?”

It's:

“What are you going to do to achieve the best result?”

The Legal Process Can Be Infuriating

I've just written separately about this because I think it deserves an article of its own.

We can find a buyer incredibly quickly.

Then the transaction can take months to legally complete.

That frustrates clients.

It frustrates buyers.

It frustrates us.

And quite often we're stuck in the middle trying to keep everybody informed and motivated.

It's why we put so much emphasis on sales progression and why our relationship with excellent professionals such as Larrington & Co matters.

Getting an offer isn't the finish line.

Getting somebody moved is.

You Have to Make Decisions Without Knowing Whether They're Right

This is another reality of owning a business.

Should we spend more on marketing?

Should we recruit?

Should we invest in this technology?

Should we change something on the website?

Should we enter another market?

Should we say no to this instruction?

Should we try something nobody else locally appears to be doing?

Nobody gives you the answer sheet.

You look at the information.

Use your experience.

Make the decision.

And live with it.

Sometimes you're right.

Sometimes you're wrong.

The important thing is learning quickly enough to know the difference.

I've Made Mistakes

Plenty.

Some things I've spent money on haven't worked.

Some ideas haven't landed.

I've trusted things I probably shouldn't have.

I've probably held onto certain ideas for too long.

I've occasionally tried to do too much myself.

There are decisions I'd make differently today.

But I don't view that as a negative anymore.

Because there's no realistic version of building a business where every decision is correct.

If you're genuinely trying new things, occasionally you're going to get them wrong.

The mistake is making the same mistake repeatedly.

One of the Hardest Things Is Saying No

When you start a business, you want every instruction.

Of course you do.

Over time I've learned that sometimes the right business decision is to walk away.

If somebody wants us to market a property at a price I fundamentally don't believe is achievable, there's a point where we need to be honest.

If somebody wants exceptional marketing but isn't prepared to allow us to do the job properly, perhaps we're not the right agent.

If the relationship doesn't feel right from the beginning, experience tells you to listen to that instinct.

Revenue matters.

But reputation matters more.

Not every instruction is a good instruction.

That took me time to learn.

Competition Makes You Better

Cambridgeshire has plenty of estate agents.

Some very good ones.

And I think competition is healthy.

It forces us to keep asking:

Can the photography be better?

Can the video be better?

Can the website be better?

Can our communication be better?

Can we reach more buyers?

Can we provide more useful information?

Can we make the experience better?

I don't want Lennon James to do something because that's what we did last year.

I want us constantly asking whether there's a better way.

Building the Brand Has Been One of My Favourite Parts

I love the marketing side of the business.

Probably unsurprisingly given my background.

But building Lennon James has allowed us to create a brand rather than simply an estate agency.

The photography.

The gold logo.

The videos.

The social content.

The website.

The boards.

The tone of voice.

The way we present homes.

The way we talk about Cambridgeshire.

It all needs to feel connected.

And I'm probably far more particular about that than anybody around me would ideally like me to be.

But I make no apology for it.

Details become reputation.

Social Media Has Been a Huge Part of Our Journey

One thing I felt strongly about from the beginning was that property marketing couldn't simply mean uploading homes to Rightmove and waiting.

Portals are incredibly important.

I spent more than 12 years at Rightmove. I'm hardly going to argue otherwise.

But portals predominantly serve people already looking for property.

Social media gives us an opportunity to reach people before they've necessarily searched for that exact house in that exact village.

We've built an audience of more than 10,000 followers across Facebook and Instagram and published more than 5,000 pieces of content.

That didn't happen overnight.

It's years of consistency.

And it's one of the parts of Lennon James I'm particularly proud of.

You Discover What You Actually Believe

This may be the most interesting thing about running your own business.

It's easy to have opinions when somebody else is making the decisions.

Owning the business forces you to turn those opinions into actions.

I believed properties should be marketed better.

So we had to market them better.

I believed social media should play a bigger role.

So we had to build an audience.

I believed estate agency should feel more personal.

So we had to create that experience.

I believed clients shouldn't be trapped by lengthy agency contracts.

So Lennon James operates on a rolling agreement rather than relying on a lengthy minimum tie-in.

I believed local expertise shouldn't be defined solely by the location of a shop.

So we built a central marketing office and invested differently.

Your business eventually becomes a collection of the things you're prepared to stand behind.

The Pressure Is Different When Your Own Name Is Attached

Technically, of course, it isn't my name.

It's Lennon's.

Which might actually make the pressure greater.

If something goes wrong, I feel it.

If somebody isn't happy, I want to know why.

If a piece of marketing doesn't look right, it bothers me.

If we could have communicated better, I want us to learn from it.

You can't build a business around the word personal and then behave as though criticism isn't personal.

That doesn't mean every client will always agree with every decision.

That's impossible.

But it does mean taking responsibility.

The Biggest Reward Isn't Financial

Every business has to make money.

Otherwise it isn't a business.

But if money were the only motivation, I don't think the difficult days would be worth it.

For me, the bigger reward is looking at something that didn't exist in 2019 and knowing we created it.

Seeing our boards around Cambridgeshire.

Watching somebody discover us through social media.

Seeing developers trust us with projects.

Having clients return.

Having families recommend us to friends.

Watching the team grow.

And occasionally seeing Lennon look at the logo that carries his name.

That's difficult to put on a spreadsheet.

Has Owning an Estate Agency Been What I Expected?

Not remotely.

It's been harder in ways I didn't expect.

And easier in others.

Some things I thought would matter enormously don't.

Some things I barely considered at the beginning now matter every day.

I've learned that culture matters.

Cash flow matters.

Reputation matters.

Consistency matters.

People matter.

Communication matters.

And being able to sleep at night knowing you've treated somebody properly matters.

I've also learned that business growth rarely happens in a straight line.

There are brilliant months.

Difficult months.

Periods where everything seems to work.

And periods where you wonder why everything has decided to go wrong simultaneously.

That's business.

Would I Do It Again?

Yes.

Without hesitation.

Not because every day is enjoyable.

It isn't.

Not because owning your own business gives you more free time.

That one makes me laugh.

And not because everything has worked perfectly.

It certainly hasn't.

I'd do it again because of the freedom to create something based on what I genuinely believe.

To take everything I'd learned from traditional estate agency, Rightmove, New Homes, technology, data and marketing and build something of our own.

Something personal.

Something with a name that means more to me than simply a brand.

What Comes Next for Lennon James?

I don't think of Lennon James as finished.

Far from it.

There are still things I want us to improve.

Technology we can use better.

Content we can create.

Areas where we can grow.

Ways we can improve the customer experience.

More opportunities within Land & New Homes.

And plenty about the wider property industry that I think needs modernising.

But I don't want growth simply for the sake of saying we're bigger.

I'd rather Lennon James becomes better.

Better marketing.

Better advice.

Better communication.

Better technology.

Better results.

And a better experience for the people who trust us with their homes.

If becoming bigger follows from doing those things well, great.

The Best and Worst Thing About Owning Your Own Business Is Probably the Same Thing

Ultimately:

It's yours.

When something goes brilliantly, it's yours.

When something goes wrong, it's yours.

When the phone rings at the wrong time, it's yours.

When somebody leaves an incredible review, it's yours.

When you make a mistake, it's yours.

When the business grows, it's yours.

When it keeps you awake, it's yours.

There is nowhere to hide.

But there's also nothing quite like looking at something you've created from nothing and thinking:

We built that.

For me, that's the best part of all of it.

Lennon James started with an idea, years of experience and a name that was already incredibly personal to me.

Seven years later, the business has changed enormously.

I'm sure it will change enormously again.

But the principle behind it hasn't.

Your property is personal to you.

Our business is personal to us.

And perhaps that's why, despite all the difficult bits, I wouldn't want it any other way.

Jon Brierley
Founder & Managing Director
Lennon James Property