We recently connected with Martha Gaffney and have shared our conversation below.

Martha, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.

I decided to go back to full time residential real estate brokerage a little over a year ago for a couple of main reasons. The number one main reason would be, we had an 8 month old baby at the time and we had just bought a house in the Hudson Valley. Therefore we needed the flexibility between our move and baby and we also had no close by relatives we could use for child care. That forced us to take the plunge and go at our real estate business brokerage full time.

To me that was exciting and scary even though I was more excited than anything. The main reason for my fear was due to a past failure when I had a real estate brokerage.

I will say I look back a year later and it has not been easy as I navigates new markets, new laws changing our industry and also limited time & capability as a full time mom. It has been rewarding as I have opened up three new branches to our business, made a mark in my connections and have successfully figured out how to incorporate my main job as a mom into our real estate business.

More than ever the risk has taught be several things of being a mom, of myself on a personal level, and what’s important and needed for our family.

In Spanish we have a saying, “there is always something good that comes out of the bad. ” I would say my past failures have successfully placed me with the right mentality to navigate hard decisions and push to evolve not only our real estate business but also my husband’s electrical business.

Martha, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I was born in Colombia raised in the states. I am a proud Colombian-American. I started in real estate at the age of 18 when I first bought my first condo. I have been very disciplined since little; which is good and bad. I believe success is combination of discipline and luck. We currently work on residential sales, rentals, property management, brokerage services to other agents and some commercial real estate. Our sister company NGG Electrical services both residential and commercial customers in the Electrical/Construction field.

One of the biggest tools we have is transparency and we do what makes sense and feels right. Meaning we will turn down a job or a business if it doesn’t feel right, We believe in business everyone needs to win; not just us and we like to work with customers we can trust. As two sister companies we are able to solve issues in real estate transactions that may take longer for other brokerages due to the capabilities we both have. Electrical/Constructions and Sales.

I am proud that we have the guts to stand ground when something is not right on either industry and the fact that we can be there to help a client without calling other resources. We are a family business and if you want the right attention and expertise; that’s us!

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I had a real estate brokerage in the past that grew on a larger scale all to come down and leave me with little resources. Years later I got my life back together and learned to accept defeat, mistakes, and not give up. It’s a journey and each day I learn more.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Not every customer is your customer. Some people don’t fit your criteria and you in theirs. You will be most happy as a business owner accepting that and taking the chances you get given instead of beating yourself up over what you didn’t sell or get.

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