We were lucky to catch up with Sasha Valdes recently and have shared our conversation below.
Sasha, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s jump into the story of starting your own firm – what should we know?
From an early beginning I’ve always been a leader and always stood up for the underdogs of the room. The empathy and awareness from a young age always set me apart in rooms and my mannerisms and demeanor always stood out amongst the crowd growing up. As a young child I was rebellious often calling out unfairness and poor treatment especially in those with authority and for the longest time I believed I would be a defense attorney and that was a dream I held close that through the years would fuel my same insight and drive but would take form in different career moves and lifestyle decisions. From a young age I’ve had the power to read a room and be able to command it without ever feeling nervous or shy and this made it easy to publicly speak and be asked to lead assemblies, later lead presentations and later be sent to meet larger audiences through conventions to establish rapport and gain the trust and business of a Forbes top 50 company like Walmart at the age of 28, a feat that the company with over a decade in experience at the time hadn’t achieved. It was through data sales and analytics and the deeper understanding that the paper trail left behind tells a story, and through data sets and multiple layers of lifestyle data overlooked, the perfect client can be reached and the perfect advertising message culminates results. My method proved to be successful and caught the ears of many and although the time in that industry came to an end, its lessons stood firm. People in general want to be seen and heard and FEEL appreciated and respected for their uniqueness. They will trust you with everything and can be guided through anything as long as you SHOW them you SEE them and this approach has been the biggest factor for my success in real estate as a newer real estate agent which brings my story to today.
In my first full year of real estate I closed over $9M in business and in my career I have been involved with a little over $24M worth of transaction sales and acquisitions all while raising two under 4. The journey has been nothing less than eventful but it’s my constant measure of how my clients and prospecting clients feel that has made all the difference in how I have gained such momentum. With every person I meet I evaluate what matters to them, what they’ve been th0ujrgh, what they’re looking for and ultimately what their end goal is. When you take this approach it makes you have a temperature of not only the inner workings of a transaction but the heartbeat of the life you’re changing as well. This has made multiple terrible transactions through no one’s fault still feeling seen and the entire time respected, I have yet to close with a client that will not willingly speak highly of my work ethic and demeanor as their agent and ultimately a human being also on their life journey. Through growth and structure and natural progression my work has made it hard not to lead myself and after being mentored by a dear friend in the beginning it was only natural that I took the chance and continued this journey of expansion on my own, creating my own company and working for myself here at Airos Homes. The name in itself is a play on both my boys names that I manifested through meditation during those surreal moments of chaos and calm in postpartum and it was then I thought this is the name for the future. Little did I know years later when reviewing the name before making it public that its meaning was much deeper than a wordplay on their names, it actually stands for something and that is in Greek “to lift, take up, raise, or remove”. This made perfect sense since my purpose in life is to lift those around me, elevating the very lives of anyone I meet simply through actions and care. As a realtor its our sole purpose to not only navigate through the transaction and carry the weight on behalf of our client as their trusted advisor but were in essence hired to remove the obstacles and present solutions and ultimately results. This year I established Airos Homes so were just beginning but I full heartedly know my souls capabilities and have faith in our bright future here in South Florida as a premiere firm for anyone looking for a strong skilled professional that leads equally with their heart just as much as their tactful mind.
If anyone is looking into working for themselves I would suggest mentorship and skillset learning as the main foundational piece to construct their business from. Without a deep set foundation its easy to crumble, so figure out what it is that you incline towards and have a natural passion about, what can your skills or passion do to the world and those around you, what makes you ultimately happy and what brings you peace Build on that and you will never feel like youre working a day in your life, just extending your gifts on a higher level to the people around you.
Sasha, 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?
As a yoga practitioner since the age of 20, most of my life (just as becoming a yoga student) has been on whims and impulse decisions. I have always had a quick response to things and because of this nature can be seen as too fast and a for some a bit unpredictable, so through my practice I have been able to slow down not just my actions but my mind which ultimately grants me a space to decide how to react and how to deliver whether its a message or an action or even allow the delivery of someone else’s message to infiltrate my own mind. My practice has shown up in ways unexpected through mindfulness and detachment. When you’re not attached the goal but rather the journey itself, it keeps you present and aware of what’s right in front of you. Many people barely can keep their sanity or cool and its not helpful when you add to their chaos or beliefs. Leading through example and always carrying a calm mind has proven detrimental in the business world and on the negotiation table. Through discernment I can also detach from the emotional turbulence that comes in when things go sideways especially when clients/agents express emotional highs and lows which can make people react erratically.
Through this practice, in my workspace, clients have expressed deep gratitude of having of peace of mind by simply offering a better service they can depend on and navigate through no matter what the circumstances are. In one memorable moment I remember a family who was 35 weeks pregnant with their second and a two year old in tow acquire and secure a home in as little as a few weeks. Not just any weeks but the ones where stress needs to be at a minimum and I earned their trust and was able to provide them such an experience that they almost didn’t understand HOW there wasn’t stress involved on such a momentous deed. When the day came to close, we did, and later on that evening the seller’s wife went into labor peacefully, all while becoming homeowners in the same day. I believe the text sent to me late night was “Thank you so much, I want to drink more coffee so I don’t have to end this magical day”
I believe being a mom of two under 4, I know how important it is to remain calm and open no matter what twists and turns come about my day, and this is what I give my clients and their families. The same way I do not carry stress back into my own home from work, I make it a priority that the home buying/selling experience works the same way for anyone I work with. My clients tend to be high achievers (bosses, CEO, C-level managers, executives) , first time home buyers, relocating into Florida as an unknown) and many are families with children under 18. Although they are vastly different lifestyles and demographics they all carry the same expectations when they hire me, MAKE THIS AS SIMPLE AND STRESS FREE AS POSSIBLE. All of them, from the time they meet with me, through the consultation, and all the way through the close, know what to expect, what’s coming, where we stand and can say they feel empowered in their decision as I’m the tool not the driver to their goals.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
A major pivot happened when I had found myself in Colorado trying to manage life with two babies and the career I was in wasn’t giving me the results I was needing between the financial responsibility of living in the outskirts of Denver and managing to keep my head up through post partum all while balancing two babies 53 weeks apart. It was a major moment of truth for me when on one of my visits back home to South Florida I ran into an old friend and through a brief conversation decided I would ultimately up root my entire family out of what we thought would be our forever home and bring everyone back to Fl my home state. I was told if you want to be a realtor .. get your license.. get to Florida and call me.. So I enrolled in Gold Coast’s online program and while balancing two littles did exactly that. Shortly after attending a massive real estate conference and meeting thousands of attendees I was buzzing with excitement over meeting so many women that were successes in this industry and it gave me the hope i was desperately looking for. I returned to Colorado on a Tuesday, packed my bags and home up and Saturday took off with two babies in tow. I arrived and settled in those next few weeks and in turn took the exam, set yup my license and hit the ground running. I remember the days of bringing my 6 month old on inspections and showings. Missing valuable moments that other moms just get to take in calmly but having had two babies in covid it wasn’t the option I was granted and I was determined to succeed, and now here we are a few years down the line and again taking another turn upwards on the journey. I started on a team and although my mentorship is priceless and the lessons were so valuable I felt constrained and in my heart knew that the time had come to lead myself and grow my business the way that resonated with me..so this year Airos Homes was born.
What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?
As a newer agent of only a few years in business, especially after the Covid boom and having taken multiple years off of social media platforms for privacy and personal reasons, it has been a true started from the bottom moment.
As someone who deleted everything and has yet to share her children online.. growing my family/mom/client sphere has been quite fun since we really started at ground zero. I saw the opportunity in growing my business through the means of open houses and constantly being the public face knowledgeable in what’s going on in he market, or neighb9orgood and simply being a resource for those just like myself in the troughs of parenthood and the housing market. Since I always came from a place of curiosity and strong work ethic I made myself available for hosting every open house that was given to me, this means setting up and learning more of the homes/market data/ and clients than the average agent. I was in and out of various priced neighborhoods, cities, communities and over all south florida that by the time i hosted my 20th open house, my practice on asking questions, how to depend the connections and how to become someone others could depend on was just second nature. In my career I have hosted by now over 100 open houses which has helped my business flourish by being tactful on both the buy and sell side depending on my clients needs.
Another successful tactic that helped facilitate clientele growth for me is that of agent and client referrals sent to me. Since my strengths and practice in the field came from getting to know the inner workings of buyers during a sellers market by learning winning strategies during the hardest market for buyers, this made my reputation undismissable as a robust agent. The experienced gained and my success record has shown to be of use to all those clients whether it be on the buy or sell side so that reputation grew and continues to grow with time.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://airoshomes.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/itssashav/
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/sasha.valdes.399
- Linkedin: https://(us.)linkedin.com/in/sashavaldes/
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@SashaValdesRealtor
Image Credits
Eric & Brittny
Content Creators, Soflo Inspire Inc.
E [email protected] W www.sofloinspire.com