Feb 10, 2021 | Local Business, Small Business | 

Alexandria Ward is the owner of Forward Realty, a Real Estate Brokerage based out of Chicago. She’s been doing real estate for over six years now, but decided to open up her own business around a year ago – months before a pandemic would start to change everything. 

Starting A Business 101 

Before starting in real estate, Alexandria worked as a server on the weekends and was a full time mom. She knew she wanted to provide for her children like her dad was able to but stay at home like her mom did, and real estate was something that could allow her to do just that. Her career started off by learning from the top real estate companies all over Chicago. In fact, for the first year and a half of her career Alexandria didn’t have a single client. The goal was to learn as much as she could so she could then be the best at what she would do. 

Helping Family Become Homeowners

“When I started with real estate I noticed a lot of my family members didn’t own homes, and they didn’t think they could. I wanted to help them.” Alexandria realized the need for someone to help with purchasing homes in her own community. Many of her family and friends didn’t ever think they could own a home, and she ultimately wanted to change that for them. “In my community, a lot of us didn’t own homes,” she said. The reality was people needed the fundamental knowledge that was needed to start the process of becoming a homeowner, and Alexandria was ready to help them.

It Hasn’t Always Been Easy

No business owner will ever tell you it’s been an easy road to get to success. For Alexandria, real estate school was one of the hardest things she’s ever had to do, besides having three kids that is. Still, it’s her kids who are the ones that have provided her with the push she needed to venture out into starting her real estate business. “For my kids to tell me they are proud of me, that in itself is worth a trillion dollars, it’s all I’ve ever wanted,”  Alexandria told us. “The more you do, the more you feel good about yourself,  and you’ll keep going. It’s contagious”. 

Prepping For A Pandemic

When people ask Alexandria where her office is, she points to her Eddie Bauer bookbag. Being able to have a mobile office was key to getting through some of the challenges of last year. In fact, 60-70% of her work is done from her home anyways, so having the flexibility to work from wherever she wants was what kept her business going. The only difference and as Alexandria pointed out, “We just don’t hug like we used to.”  Alexandria’s business has grown 300-400% since Covid, and she knows the sky is the limit. That’s actually one of the reasons why she started working with FreshLime – Alexandria is putting money back into her business to continue growing it. 

“I hold myself accountable. I only compete with myself” 

Outdoing who she was yesterday is truthfully how Alexandria continues to reach success. “It doesn’t matter how far in the bottom you started. Go forward, don’t go backwards” is the advice she gives. “I’m not motivated by money. The money is going to come when you take good care of each client,” and it shows with how much her business has expanded due to referrals. It hasn’t always been easy, but it’s definitely worth it. 

Go Forward, Don’t Go Backwards

“I’m not scared of failing, I fail on purpose,” Alexandria told us. Getting to this point in Alexandria’s career was not easy for her or her kids, but it’s that type of sacrifice that has allowed her to be where she is today. When you fail, you come out knowing more than you did before, and you end up learning from those experiences. “You have to be brave. You jump out there and see what happens.” The name “Forward Realty” actually comes from Alexandria’s last name “Ward.” Giving up is not an option, life was meant to keep moving forward. Not only is Alexandria building an empire, but she’s leaving behind a legacy for others to follow. 

Forward Realty is a full service Real Estate Brokerage based out of Chicago. Their team of experts are there to educate, and take the guesswork out of buying and selling. Always moving forward.