Christopher Ashe – ‘A one-man band’
Rich with a sundry assortment of management experience, real estate coach Christopher Ashe of Litchfield-based Learning Unlimited served his country in Vietnam and enjoyed stints in outdoor recreation, performing arts and retail before finding his niche in the real estate industry.
“The thing that drew me to real estate was the freedom to be my own boss and to set my own hours,” said Ashe. “Anything you do has to do with working with people, and real estate is a people business.”
In the winter of 1978, Ashe began his career in real estate as a broker in a small office in Sharon that employed only three other salespeople. After years working in both large and small companies, he transitioned from working primarily as a Realtor to focusing on office management. “I haven’t listed or sold property for a long time. I stopped doing that when I started managing,” he said. “I think that I felt that I could be more productive if I wasn’t in competition with my sales people.”
It was in his role as manager that Ashe discovered he had a knack for teaching the intricacies of the trade. “About 20 years ago, when I first started managing a company, I discovered someone was going to have to train my new agents. And being the manager that person was me,” he said. “At that point, I created a training course for the agents and they gave me a lot of positive feedback.”
Over the course of his career, Ashe has worked as a consultant for numerous real estate companies as well as firms in other industries and the not-for-profit sector. Also, in addition to teaching at Learning Unlimited, he teaches courses for universities, colleges and private education companies.
“Right now I’m operating as a one-man band since I left management because I didn’t want to manage people anymore. I had been teaching and had a real estate school on the side for 20 years or so, but just over three years ago was when I decided to move out of management and start this coaching business,” he said. “My biggest challenge right now is marketing. Not being affiliated with any one firm can make it difficult to get the word out.”
A recipient of the Connecticut Association of Realtors’ Educator of the Year Award in 2001, Ashe has earned designations as an Accredited Buyer Representative; a Certified Residential Broker; Graduate, Realtor Institute; and a Professional Services Certified Specialist.
Ashe has been an active member of different Realtor associations on both the local and state levels for years. In 2003, he was elected president of both the New Milford Board of Realtors and MLS, was a vice president and chairman of member services for CAR, and was president of the Litchfield Board of Realtors. This year he is continuing to serve as vice president of member services on CAR’s Executive Committee.
“I’m probably one of CAR’s more atypical members in that I don’t sell real estate,” said Ashe. “In my current role as VP for member services I basically head up the department of CAR that handles all of the education programs, health insurance, and goods and services that are available to Realtors.
“I’ve been involved with CAR off and on for 10 years. This is my second round of serving on the Executive Committee, but I’ve always been involved with the association one way or another,” he continued. “It’s a good organization and I like to feel like I’m giving back something to the industry.”
In addition to giving back to industry, Ashe is a believer in giving back to the community at large. He and his wife, Rev. Bonny Gilbert Ashe, are national Peace Workers for the Association of Unity Churches and Ashe is trained as a mediator by the National Association of Realtors and the Lombard Mennonite Peace Institute.
Ashe spends a large part of his time traveling around the country to assist businesses and churches in conflict, helping them to resolve and grow from their difficulties. In addition, Ashe and his wife have started a new church in Torrington called Unity in the Foothills and an International Peace Center to provide peace-making services to all organizations that can benefit from it.
“I just go where life leads,” he commented. “I find that I tend to change jobs every once in a while. Right now I’m very happy doing what I’m doing, and I’ll keep doing it until it stops challenging me.”
Ashe provides individual consulting, mentoring, coaching and training for real estate professionals, in addition to salespeople of other professions, start-up companies and experienced firms. His job as described on the Learning Unlimited Web site is “dedicated to helping people make their dreams come true. He is available to work with individuals and businesses as a coach, consultant or mentor to help them clarify their personal and professional goals and to create balance in their personal and business lives. He encourages and guides them to take the actions that are necessary to make it all happen.”
In recent years, Ashe has witnessed many progressive changes within the traditional structure of real estate agencies. “The fact that the model of what a real estate company looks like is changing, exploring new and different ways of business, has really come into being. People are looking at new ways to organize offices, instead of relying on the same old structure,” he said. “It’s exciting working with people who are looking to try innovative new structures that will shape the future of our business.”
