Power Women: Sarah Richardson of Tru Realty On How To Successfully Navigate Work, Love and Life As A Powerful Woman

An Interview With Ming Zhao

Confidence — I’m confident because I’m knowledgeable. This allows me to think on my feet and get the results I want, whether in meetings, presentations, or negotiating with a vendor.

How does a successful, strong, and powerful woman navigate work, employee relationships, love, and life in a world that still feels uncomfortable with strong women? In this interview series, called “Power Women” we are talking to accomplished women leaders who share their stories and experiences navigating work, love and life as a powerful woman.

As a part of this series I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Sarah Richardson, CEO & founder of Tru Realty.

Sarah Richardson is one of the preeminent leaders of residential real estate in the country. In 2018, she was the first realtor in the U.S. to execute an investor cash transaction on the Blockchain (using the Ethereum protocol) in partnership with Propy, one of the brokerage’s key tech partners. Sarah is a member of the National Association of Realtors, the Women’s Council of Realtors, and an Inman Contributing Author.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood “backstory”?

I grew up with a verbally and physically abusive mother who was also very neglectful. In my 20’s, honestly, I was a mess. But, as I began to better understand why my mother was the way she was, I found the courage to get help through therapy. This, along with having children of my own, allowed me to find a way to not be who my mother was and to ensure my children never knew abuse or neglect. In my 30’s, I found I had the courage to be strong. I think I’m the woman I am today because I was able to handle the adversity, and this made me stronger.

Can you tell us the story about what led you to this particular career path?

Initially, I was a wedding planner… yes, that’s true. In one of the weddings that I coordinated, a guest at the event was wowed by my work, and even thought that it was amazing that I was able to “sell” the bride on everything that the wedding entailed. They suggested that, because of my skill set, I should become a real estate agent. While I knew nothing about this industry, I knew that I no longer wanted to work nights and weekends doing this kind of work. So, I made the move into real estate!

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

My most interesting (or crazy) story revolves around a camel! One of our agents was showing a property, which had camels on it, and the agent’s client was bitten by one of them! You can’t make this up!! : ) The client ended up being ok, but what a crazy story!

You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?

1. Tenacious: I never give up. I’m like a velvet hammer, meaning, I’m smooth but I will come down on you! A great example is when my son was born — I had 64 closings happening at the same time and I was handling all of them.
2. Enthusiastic: I’m always excited about the real estate industry, how it is changing for the better, and I pass that down to my team every day.
3. Charismatic: I believe this is one of the main reasons people are drawn to my company.

Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. The premise of this series assumes that our society still feels uncomfortable with strong women. Why do you think this is so?

I believe it is like this because, if you look back in time, and how society got started, it used to be that women were also out hunting and gathering with the men. But, with the invention of the plow, women lacked the physical strength to handle this machinery. Therefore, women were cornered into cooking, cleaning, and raising children. My point is, for over 3,000 years, women have been trying to change a societal norm where they are viewed as the “weaker” gender. Yes, physically, in most cases… not mentally. So, today, women still carry that stigma — that we are weak and therefore the inferior gender. This just isn’t true.

Without saying any names, can you share a story from your own experiences that illustrates this idea?

3 years ago, I was re-vamping my backyard landscaping. I put out 3 bids. All came back incredibly high. I know this because I flipped houses for 6 years and have been through the entire process in multiple properties. So, I know what costs should be. I literally had to have my ex-husband negotiate for me to get pricing down because the 3 contractors didn’t believe what I had to say. What’s worse is that my ex-husband didn’t have a clue… he was getting all his info from me!

What should a powerful woman do in a context where she feels that people are uneasy around her?

The best way to lighten the mood or relieve the tension is tell a joke or tease something about me. Essentially, I’m trying to bring down any walls that someone might have by making them feel at ease and that I am relatable.

What do we need to do as a society to change the unease around powerful women?

Have a drink! In all seriousness, I think we need to change the narrative so the world views powerful women as commonplace — from movies to the boardroom — so this is no longer the exception but rather the norm. There is a shift happening now, but Rome wasn’t built in a day… it is going to take time.

In my own experience, I have observed that often women have to endure ridiculous or uncomfortable situations to achieve success that men don’t have to endure. Do you have a story like this from your own experience? Can you share it with us?

Currently, we are growing the business through strategic partnerships. It has been incredibly difficult getting potential partners to call, email, or LinkedIn message me back. BUT, when our CTO reaches out to the same potential partners, he gets immediate callbacks. This is very frustrating to me. What’s uncomfortable for me is that these people do not take me seriously, nor even bother to reply, and when we are finally in a meeting with them due to my CTO getting that callback, I feel frustrated, to be honest.

In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by women leaders that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts?

• Women are regarded as objects whereas men are not.
• Women are not viewed as being intelligent, whereas men are.

Let’s now shift our discussion to a slightly different direction. This is a question that nearly everyone with a job has to contend with. Was it difficult to fit your personal and family life into your business and career? For the benefit of our readers, can you articulate precisely what the struggle was?

My struggle has always centered around trying to balance life between my kids, my marriage, and my work. The struggle is that each one of them is like a fulltime job. To remedy this, I had to set boundaries… important ones. For me, I only work 9am-5pm. I always have a hard stop at 5pm. This allows me to have the time — in the mornings and in the evenings — with my family. I do not take any work calls nor do I answer any work emails during these times.

What was a tipping point that helped you achieve a greater balance or greater equilibrium between your work life and personal life? What did you do to reach this equilibrium?

Essentially, it is time blocking. Every time I went against that, it ended up causing issues. I stick to my 9am-5pm work routine, and it is the key to my success. I’m super focused on work during that time. This has allowed me to reach my equilibrium.

I work in the beauty tech industry, so I am very interested to hear your philosophy or perspective about beauty. In your role as a powerful woman and leader, how much of an emphasis do you place on your appearance? Do you see beauty as something that is superficial, or is it something that has inherent value for a leader in a public context? Can you explain what you mean?

As much as I possibly can. Honestly, I’m not bragging, but, in my opinion, it’s what draws people to me and to my business.

How is this similar or different for men?

Men don’t have to do anything. The older they get, the more handsome they are perceived.

Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. Based on your opinion and experience, what are the “Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Powerful Woman?” (Please share a story or example for each.)

1. Confidence — I’m confident because I’m knowledgeable. This allows me to think on my feet and get the results I want, whether in meetings, presentations, or negotiating with a vendor.
2. Consistency — I show up 100% each day, which means my team knows they can always count on me.
3. Balance — If I don’t have this, I have nothing. I always strive for a perfect balance in all aspects of my life. I start the day with a 5am workout, which energizes me for the entire day.
4. Tenacity — When I see something that I want, I do what it takes to get it. I have a long-term vision for the growth of my company and every day I work on making it happen.
5. Enthusiasm — I love what I do! So, it’s easy for me to come into work each day with a smile on my face, which, in turn, motivates my team to perform at their utmost.

We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.

Barbara Corcoran. She is one of the few women that has done what I am trying to achieve.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.