TL;DR

• We studied the real stories of 8 IQI agents, from a chef to a journalist to a 19-year-old student, and extracted the most common mistakes they made in their first 6 months.
• The top mistakes: waiting too long to prospect, working hard in the wrong direction, ignoring content marketing, trying to succeed alone, and chasing fast money instead of building real skills.
• Every agent who eventually succeeded changed something specific about their approach, not just “worked harder.”
• IQI’s training, mentorship, tech (Atlas), cross-team culture, and 5-day commission payout are built to prevent most of these mistakes from happening in the first place.

Here’s a question nobody asks at a real estate career talk: “What did you do wrong in your first six months?”

Everyone wants to hear about the first big commission. The car upgrade. The team growth. But before all of that, almost every successful property negotiator went through a stretch where nothing worked.

We went directly to the source. We collected first-hand stories from 8 IQI agents at different stages of their careers, from rookies to leaders with teams of over 15,000 people. A chef who thought sales wasn’t for him. A property journalist who was under AKPK. A 19-year-old student who owed RM15,000 to a friend from failed money games.

Their stories are brutally honest. And the mistakes they made in their first months? They’re almost always the same ones new negotiators are making right now.

This article breaks down those mistakes, explains exactly how each agent overcame them, and shows you what to do differently if you’re starting your real estate career in 2026.

Mistake 1: Staying Invisible While Waiting for Leads

AG Sasidar went 18 months without closing a single deal.

No income. No side job. No safety net. He had a wife and two kids depending on him. He sold his household furniture just to stay in the industry.

His turning point? He changed how he showed up.

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Instead of waiting for leads, AG started creating videos. Not to impress anyone, but to help. He shared useful knowledge with his community, even when he was still figuring things out himself.

The money came after that. Not because he chased it, but because he became someone people trusted.

Here’s the proof that this works: AJ Anand, another IQI agent, found AG Sasidar through his TikTok content. AJ’s wife saw AG’s real estate videos and encouraged AJ to reach out. That single piece of content recruited a future Head of Team into IQI.

Content doesn’t just attract buyers. It attracts future colleagues, referral partners, and opportunities you cannot predict.

What should you do instead?

Start publishing before you feel ready. You don’t need a studio or perfect knowledge. A phone camera and one useful fact per post is enough.

Topics you can cover from Week 1: home loan basics, area comparisons, purchase cost breakdowns, first-time buyer mistakes, or just answer the questions your friends keep asking you about property.

You don’t need experience to be useful. You need consistency.

IQI agents get access to marketing training and content frameworks from Day 1. 

See what IQI provides →

Mistake 2: Letting Self-Doubt Kill Your Activity

AJ Anand lost his corporate job during the 2020 pandemic. He spent two years trying to find stable employment. Couldn’t even land a position paying RM3,000. His wife became the sole breadwinner while they raised a one-year-old.

When he finally joined IQI, nine months passed with zero deals. His house and car were listed for auction. Savings exhausted. Jewellery pawned. Debt collectors called relentlessly.

AJ admits his biggest enemy during this period wasn’t the market. It was his own mindset. He approached everything with negativity and doubt.

The shift happened when he stopped seeing obstacles and started seeing opportunities. His thinking changed, then his actions changed, then his results followed.

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His first commission was RM3,500. To others, it seemed modest. To AJ, it was proof that the system works if you refuse to quit. He worked with extreme urgency after that, with just days to prevent his home from being auctioned. The next two years were a focused sprint to clear debt and rebuild.

Today, AJ is a Head of Team at IQI.

What should you do instead?

Separate temporary results from personal ability. A bad month doesn’t mean you’re bad at this. It means your pipeline hasn’t matured yet.

Track your activity weekly: calls made, appointments attended, presentations delivered, follow-ups completed. These are the inputs you control. Results are a lagging indicator.

And stay close to supportive people. AJ credits his wife for believing in him when he couldn’t believe in himself. In IQI, your team leader, training group, and office community serve a similar role.

Mistake 3: Deciding You’re “Not the Sales Type” Before Even Trying

Daniel Nazreen was a full-time Head Chef. Professionally trained. Graduated in Culinary Arts. He loved cooking and believed he’d do it forever.

When his future mentor, Brian Lee, first invited him into real estate, Daniel turned him down. Multiple times. His exact thought: “Sales? That’s not me. I don’t have what it takes.”

Daniel’s biggest mistake wasn’t failing at sales. It was almost never trying.

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Eventually, he did his own research, challenged his assumptions, and decided to take a leap with just one month of savings.

Two weeks later, he closed his first deal. RM23,560 commission.

From there, Daniel retired his parents at 22. Bought his first car at 25. Stepped into property ownership at 26. Gifted his parents a new car at 27. Won a Star Property Award at 28. Bought his dream landed home at 29.

Today, he runs his own team at IQI. His mission: helping people shift the same limiting mindset he once had.

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What should you do instead?

Modern real estate is not about being a natural salesperson. It’s about understanding clients, asking good questions, solving problems, and following a proven process.

If a chef with zero sales experience can build this kind of career, the barrier to entry isn’t talent. It’s the decision to start.

Curious what the path looks like step by step? Read our complete guide to becoming a real estate agent in Malaysia.

Mistake 4: Having Too Many Options and Taking Zero Action

Aaron Siow has been with IQI since 2013. He now leads a team of over 15,000 people. But in his early years, he doubted himself constantly. Every year felt like a reset.

His story, shared in Chinese, paints a vivid picture of how different real estate was a decade ago. No Zoom. No ChatGPT for copywriting. Everyone just copied each other’s newspaper ads. The only platforms were newspapers, iProperty, and PropertyGuru. He had to buy a dedicated camera because phone photos were unusable. Appointments ran until 9 or 10pm, and every one was face-to-face.

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Despite all of that, Aaron kept going. He treated every inconvenience as part of the job.

His message to today’s new agents: the era of too many resources can be just as paralysing as the era of too few.

When you have social media, AI tools, CRM systems, online listings, digital ads, and free training all available, the danger isn’t having nothing. It’s standing on the sideline and being afraid to pick something and act.

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What should you do instead?

Pick one market or project. Choose one main lead generation method. Set daily contact targets. Attend appointments consistently. Review results after enough activity to judge fairly.

Don’t keep asking whether real estate “can work” before giving the process a proper attempt. Time and results will answer that question for you.

Mistake 5: Working Hard in the Wrong Direction (and Never Reviewing)

Aurora Low registered with IQI in 2019 but only became active in 2023. That’s four years of being technically registered but not actually building a career.

Her backstory matters. Aurora was earning RM3,500+ with only a 5 to 10% annual increment. As the youngest in her family, she wanted to provide for her parents before they got too old. She worked at Sunway Property Management before joining IQI, inspired by a mentor who had a real estate business background in Australia.

When she finally committed, she admits she wasn’t giving her all in Year 1. She didn’t invest in ads. Her leader at the time wasn’t regularly coming to the office, leaving her without direct guidance. She faced cultural and environmental differences. Her leader’s only advice was simply, “Just try everything.”

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Her first signed deal came after 12 months of zero commission.

The mistake Aurora identifies most clearly: she worked very hard, but sometimes in the wrong direction. She repeated the same actions and kept getting the same results.

How did she fix it?

Aurora changed her environment. She started showing up at the office daily, like a 9-to-5 job. She mixed with agents from other teams. She discovered different working cultures. She learned what she didn’t know.

In her own words, she is grateful for how big IQI is, because in such a large company, there are always people you can learn from.

What should you do instead?

Hard work without a review process is not consistency. It’s stagnation.

Every week, ask yourself: Which activity produced appointments? Which leads were actually qualified? Why did prospects say no? Where did deals stop progressing? What should I change next week?

And if your immediate team environment isn’t pushing you forward, go find one that will. At IQI, cross-team collaboration isn’t just allowed. It’s encouraged.

Mistake 6: Not Preparing for the Commission Delay

Izzey‘s story, shared entirely in Bahasa Malaysia, is one of the most powerful in this collection.

She was a single mother with a high-flying corporate career. Branding, marketing, market research. She’d been selected for a Fast Track Program designed to train future C-suite leaders. On paper, everything looked right.

But the reality was late-night meetings, consecutive deadlines, and sometimes staying up all night. She started missing meaningful moments with her child. She kept telling her kid, “Nanti ya, mummy tengah kerja” (Later, mummy’s working).

Then life delivered a wake-up call. A teammate, only 28 years old, died suddenly from a blood clot in the brain. Around the same time, Izzey lost two other people close to her.

She asked herself one question: “Am I working to live, or living to work?”

She resigned abruptly. The company tried to retain her. She took six months off to reflect, even received a senior position offer with an attractive package from a reputable company. But something held her back.

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Real estate came to her through a friend doing it part-time. She started from zero: no real estate background, no sales experience, no industry network.

Her first sale came after more than two months. But the commission didn’t arrive until around month four, entering Q4 2024.

That gap between closing the deal and actually receiving money is something most new agents don’t plan for. You celebrate the booking, then wait weeks or months before the commission lands in your account.

Despite starting active work only in the last quarter, Izzey became one of IQI’s Top Rookies of 2024. Within 1.5 years, she earned incentive trips to Bali, Hong Kong, and Seoul. She was recently promoted to Leader.

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What should you do instead?

Before going full-time, prepare a cash-flow plan that accounts for the delay. Have several months of essential living expenses. Set weekly prospecting targets. And understand that your first commission may arrive 3 to 4 months after you start, not on your first payday.

Want to understand the full commission structure before you start? Read our breakdown of how property agents earn in Malaysia.

Mistake 7: Entering Real Estate Only for “Fast Money”

Two stories illustrate this mistake from opposite angles.

Mark Lai started at 19. No sales background. Not from a wealthy family. Even RM10,000 felt like a big goal. Before real estate, he tried MLM, Forex, money games, and every “fast money” scheme that promised the lifestyle he wanted. Instead, he ended up owing a friend RM15,000.

He found IQI through his girlfriend’s brother during COVID. But even after joining, he admits he wasn’t fully focused. He was still looking for shortcuts.

The turning point came when he accepted there is no shortcut.

He focused. Called 200 leads when others called 100. Stayed until 10pm when others left at 8pm. Three months of grinding with zero income.

His first deal: RM20,000 commission. He still remembers the client, an uncle who trusted a 19-year-old kid. He used that money to clear his debt.

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On the other end, Natasha Gideon had been a property journalist earning RM3,500. She first entered real estate in 2016 doing subsale at another agency. When she joined IQI through a BOP by Elite Legacy, it was a few days into the MCO lockdown. Both she and her husband were under AKPK. Banks called every day. Her property was on default interest.

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Natasha didn’t chase fast money. Instead, she chose a specific audience (first-time homebuyers), a repeatable content format (Instagram videos), and started organic marketing when almost nobody else was doing it.

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Six years later, she leads a successful and ethical team. Her real estate income funded fertility treatments and an 18-month sabbatical for pregnancy and caring for her son.

What should you do instead?

Don’t join real estate with the vague goal of “getting rich.” Choose a specific audience you want to serve. Pick a clear area of expertise. Create a repeatable format for sharing value. And give the process a fair timeline before judging the results.

Focus produces compounding results. Constantly chasing the next opportunity resets your progress every time.

Mistake 8: Trying to Succeed Completely Alone

This is the thread that runs through every single story.

AG Sasidar’s content community became his support system. AJ Anand’s wife found his path through TikTok. Daniel Nazreen’s mentor Brian Lee persisted in inviting him. Aurora learned more from other IQI teams than from working in isolation. Izzey’s friend introduced her to real estate. Natasha’s husband stood by her through AKPK. Mark’s girlfriend’s brother brought him to IQI.

Not a single breakthrough happened in isolation.

Mentors, spouses, leaders, colleagues, and cross-team connections played major roles in every success story here. The agents who struggled longest were almost always the ones who tried to figure everything out on their own.

What should you do instead?

Choose an environment where you can receive product training, sales scripts, appointment support, case reviews, role-playing practice, emotional encouragement, and access to agents who’ve already been where you are.

This is not a soft recommendation. It’s the single biggest differentiator between agents who survive their first six months and agents who don’t.

The Real Pattern Behind Every Successful Agent

After studying all 8 stories, the lesson is not simply “never give up.”

A more accurate takeaway: stay long enough to learn, but be willing to change how you work.

Their breakthroughs happened after one or more of these specific changes: they adjusted their mindset, increased their activity volume, found a mentor, entered a stronger team environment, learned from other teams, improved their marketing, began creating useful content, stopped looking for shortcuts, or focused on providing client value instead of chasing commissions.

Persistence kept them in the industry. Adaptation is what changed their results.

Key Takeaway

• The agents who failed longest shared one trait: they repeated the same approach without reviewing what wasn’t working.
• The agents who broke through fastest all made a specific change: new environment, new mentor, new marketing method, or new mindset.
• Content creation is no longer optional. AG Sasidar’s TikTok literally recruited AJ Anand into IQI. Your next client or teammate could come from a single post.
• Prepare for the commission delay. Budget 3 to 6 months of living expenses before going full-time.
• You don’t need a sales background. You need a structured system, a supportive team, and enough discipline to outlast the learning curve.

Quick Reference: The 8 Agents and Their First Deals

FAQ

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Continue reading:

• How Much Do Property Agents Earn in Malaysia?
• How To Be a Property Agent in Malaysia in Just 5 Steps
• Thinking of Becoming a Real Estate Agent in Malaysia? What Natasha Gideon’s 10-Year Journey Can Teach You

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