After being an agent for a while, owning your own brokerage might not seem like that much of a leap from what you’re doing. How hard could it be?

No matter if you buy a franchise or found a start-up, several challenges abound. Connie Antoniou, who graces our cover, dealt with several when she bought her Sotheby’s franchise, including recruitment challenges, delegation issues and establishing herself and her new brand. But managers who adapt and tackle challenges – like Antoniou – succeed. “Not only have we survived the worst real estate market since the Great Depression, but we have just opened our second office, and have already done the same volume this year to date as we did all of last year,” she says in our feature article.

You could also start a company from the ground up. Tamara O’Connor founded Premier Living Properties and quickly learned to be ready for just about anything – including possibly using your own cash to keep your company afloat during hard times, like she did. But it turned out okay – when Premier Living Properties opened in 2004, the company’s sales volume was just over $3 million. In 2012, the company expects to reach $35 million in sales.

If you’re ready to branch out on your own but not sure about all the financials involved in owning your own brokerage, you might want to think about starting your own group or team within a brokerage, as Tricia Fox did. She sells along with her agents, recruits if necessary and still receives marketing and admin support from @properties.

Read our cover story and find out if you’re ready for any of these big steps.