Passion, Authenticity and Success
Tisha Greene revealed her motivational speaking skills in an eloquent entrepreneur lecture for the School of Business on February 24. A dynamic real estate broker, entrepreneur, attorney, mother, mentor and local leader, Tisha spoke about her passion about promoting the virtues of “community” in both her professional and personal life.
Tisha has over 20 years of real estate experience as a commercial real estate and finance attorney, real estate investor, area planning commissioner, community planning and land use advocate, mortgage broker, and her primary role as a real estate broker. Her diverse background in real estate gives her a great depth of skills, topical knowledge and professional contacts to provide a high level of service and added value for her clients. Tisha is also skilled at representing sellers and buyers in probate and trust transactions, short sales, bankruptcy, REOs & investment deals. In addition to the breadth of Tisha’s expertise, it is her passion to be in service that truly distinguishes her from other agents.
In her presentation to the Woodbury community, Tisha reflected on a fascinating journey that consisted of a strong educational foundation, and a successful career. She graduated from Howard University with a B.A. and a J.D., and started a very lucrative career as an attorney. However, while the financial remuneration was great, Tisha’s heart was not in the context of working for a major entity. She realized it was time to explore avenues that were more authentic to her true self. When someone asked her what she would do for free, she first did not know the answer, but gradually came to the conclusion that real estate was her calling!
Tisha quickly learned that her strength was in establishing connections, and not just making a lot of money. In fact, she found out that money becomes a consequence of doing in an authentic and legitimate way what you enjoy. By bringing people together, she discovered gratification, but also how to become comfortable with being uncomfortable. Being an entrepreneur, Tisha explained, is a path beset with both lean and abundant times. One of the times that this became clear was during the 2007/2008 crash. Yet, even though she has experienced the ups and downs of the field, she attests that there is a special type of gratification in being your own boss, as it triggers your creativity in ways you might not have thought to be possible before. Tisha shared a series of valuable insights during her lecture:
- Pay your bills forward. Because you never know when your next paycheck will arrive, it might be wise to pay your utility and other important bills in advance when the money is there, so that you can relax in the leaner times.
- Manage others wisely. Understand the importance, but also the pitfalls of managing others. When she ran her business with multiple sales agents, she learned that managing them took more valuable time than reducing the size of her business and working with a smaller but more effective and efficient team. It is important to find the balance between managing others and maintaining a gratifying level in your work.
- Attract complementary skills. Your team may be small, but should consist of people that can do the things you are not so strong at, to optimize performance output.
- Be cautious about code switching. Especially minority business owners and employees may recognize this phenomenon. It happens when you find that you are presenting yourself in another way than you really are, because you think that your professional environment expects that. Engaging in code switching makes you increasingly insecure and increases your doubt about being good enough. It often leads to excessive performance, making you your own biggest challenge.
- Self-knowledge is salvation. Once you discover what it is that you are passionate about, you will start attracting the right people, because “your vibe is your tribe.”
Tisha further shared a series of important lessons learned:
- Be frugal rather than fancy
- Invest in property early
- Get organized and systematize
- Plan, track and measure
- Don’t be a control freak – seek help
- Get comfortable being uncomfortable (take responsible risks and grow).
Last Updated on February 25, 2021.