Ashley Gallagher

I think the ability to listen to people and bring that back into the sales conversation has always been a really strong talent of mine. Picking up on the small social cues of why something is important to someone, versus just telling them all the reasons they have to buy things, was always something that really helped me along my path of being able to connect with human beings. It was more than a sales pitch - it was, does this make sense for you? I never wanted to sell something I didn't agree with, and I would never tell you to buy something that I didn't truly think you needed. I think that natural ability to really listen and be an empathetic person really helped me stand out in a place of intense real estate transactions where we're talking about millions of dollars. It was sometimes very different to say, hey, why are we even talking about this? Why is this important to you? And if it was just the bottom line, that's okay, but typically almost 98% of the time, there's more than just money - it's always personal.

A girlfriend told me to tell my daughter to carry a Q-tip in her pocket, and Q-tip was 'quit taking it personally.' She said everyone's gonna do weird things, and the world can be a scary place, but it's not ever about you. It's always about someone else and what they're mindful of. So just don't take it personally. I thought, what an amazing piece of advice, because women, especially, I'm incredibly empathetic and I feel for everybody all the time, so it's really hard. It is challenging as a woman - it's our natural instinct to take that on. So I think to say, you know, hey, this isn't about you, and don't take it personally, I thought that was the best piece of advice. And I'll never forget that.

Carry a Q-tip in your pocket - quit taking it personally. Everyone's gonna do weird things, and the world can be a scary place, but it's not ever about you. It's always about someone else and what they're mindful of. So just don't take it personally. Women, especially, are incredibly empathetic and feel for everybody all the time, so it's really hard. It is challenging as a woman - it's our natural instinct to take that on. But this isn't about you, and don't take it personally. Going from being a leasing manager to being a commercial advisor and stepping into what I still call the Wolf of Wall Street - it is very much a male-dominated space - and having to carve out your share of the market as a younger woman is incredibly challenging. You walk around already being doubted just by showing up. You're already the underdog. So I think finding people that doubted me and being able to come up and being over-prepared for everything that came in - you're the unicorns of the market, you gotta be incredibly prepared for that and have some really thick skin.

Even in the financial field, stepping into more of a financial role, I still see it being heavily dominated by men. I do see a slight transition where there are many women that are doing very well, and I will say it's very interesting in the financial advisor realm where I think people almost lean towards they want a female - they feel like they're not being sold. We're financial planners, so it just kind of makes sense for us to be the one to say, hey, let's have a conversation about planning your financial future for your family. That makes more sense for people, versus when I was an agent having to say, look, here's your bottom line, here's your net income, here's your cap rate on the properties that you own - that was a harder space. People almost wanted a man to tell them those numbers. Where in this field, I feel like women naturally do better. And I think that's really interesting to see.