Do not pay for leads. 

Live your life and let everyone you meet know what you can do for them.  Involve yourself in your community and when helping others, your light will shine.

Make a point of previewing all the listings in your preferred area.  Learn everything about what has sold, expired and been renewed.  Become the expert in that specific area.  You have time to visit these homes where seasoned Realtors may not.

Good luck to you in this new adventure Taya Paysse Macon 

Taya,
Skip the paid stuff to get people to contact you. That is what the 90% of agents who get out of the business do. It “may” work once you are established but not to start.

# 1 Are you competent, really competent? If not, get so as fast as you can.

# 2 Do you have a support team, stager, professional photographer, inspectors, great handy man, painter, HVAC, etc. If not build that team.

# 3 This is a people business with a “side” of property. Attend every free event you can. Become a networking pro.

Email me and at no charge I’ll set up a phone call to share with you info on expired listings and another easy source of new business that has little if any competition.

Best to get in the habit of dialing your SOI.

Taya Paysse Macon I agree with Gabe Sanders , you need to be mentored or join a team. Mainly bc I'm not sure you know what to do with a lead if got one.

When I first got into real estate 18 years ago, I immediately went to the areas Top Producer  and asked him about joining his team. He gave me a lot of advise. I trusted what he told me to do and I took some of his advise and some I tweaked. His name was everywhere then and it still is now. 

Here's what I learned from him. You MUST get your name out there. There are plenty of ways to do that but you MUST do it. I chose to advertise.

As technology changed, I changed. I use a wide variety of marketing from personal website, to calling expireds & fsbos, to paying for ads on Zillow, Trulia, Realtor.com and Others. This works for me.

If are on a tight budget then you should try the following: 

for listings - call expireds, fsbos and door know around recent sold or just listed properties

for buyers - open houses, floor time, craigslist, facebook posts, home buyer seminar. 

You can join all kinds of community organizations, give back, volunteer and whatever else for you own generosity but don't expect business from it. At least not immediately.

I believe that you must take action. Do SOMETHING, Do it CONSISTENTLY and Do it BETTER than everyone else. 

I have met a few agents who apend 5k month for leads. They close about 10 deals per month, or so they say.

Give FB business a shot. Boost your ads and generate some activity.

If you are new you should not buy leads, Taya. Even after years in the business it may be a waste of money but at the beginning it certainly is. Work your sphere of influence and do face-to-face networking. Word of mouth will always be your best source of leads.

Cold calling, door-knocking, reaching out to your network connections, friends and family cost nothing. 

All the best!

Don't pay for leads.  Many people do not get good ROI and spend a lot of money.  Learn how to generate your own leads.  This will help you over your entire career.

Hi Taya every answer on here is don't pay for leads.  I personally broke into the luxury market and began my real estate career paying for leads and do very well. There are many systems out there and every system or lead source is not a good fit for every agent.  

Learn to prospect.  It's the most important part of a good agent's job.

Definitely don't purchase leads.  This is a waste of money. Open houses, walking neighborhoods and networking.  

Read the Millionaire Real Estate Agent ! 

I do my own marketing because it lasts for years and costs a lot less.  It may be a bit more work but it sure has been worth it.

there is no one size fits all

I have never thought paying for leads is worth it.  If you get anything out of it you will be the exception.

DO NOT PAY FOR LEADS!! I REPEAT DO NOT PAY FOR LEADS!

Blog and FB. It is the best ROI. FB is free and I would like to suggest that you start with a business FB.

I would focus on your sphere of influence (and continue to grow that) and doing open houses for agents in your office. 

Taya,

Start with free, your sphere of influence.  Get involved in the community.  Get to know your market area by walking it, understanding it, etc.  We are not fans of buying leads.  A

Host open house often.  If you don't have your own listings, ask colleagues if you can host open house at their listings.

Open house is the most cost effective ways to meet prospective clients.

Beware of high cost/low value programs that claim to revolutnize your business, especially if it's pitched by your brokerage.  It's about the brokerage making more money off of you.  Don't fall for it. 

Taya Paysse Macon start with a smart phone and used it as often as possible.