When Jim Buus asked Alyssa Lakosky how she handled adversity, she had four years of experience to draw on. She was interviewing to join his commercial real estate team. Her background was in emergency nursing.
“Well Jim, I worked in the emergency room for four years,” she recalled telling him.
The answer made him laugh. It also revealed something about the experience she would bring to the job. Lakosky had spent the beginning of her professional life helping people through frightening, unfamiliar situations. She knew how to communicate when emotions were high, explain what was happening, and remain composed when the people around her needed reassurance.
Two years into her career with JBC Commercial Real Estate, those skills remain central to her work. Today, she helps business owners navigate decisions about where to operate, how much space they need, and whether a property fits their plans. The circumstances have changed considerably. Her attention to the person making the decision has carried over.
From the ER to commercial real estate
Lakosky graduated in May 2020, entering nursing during the COVID-19 pandemic. She and her husband moved to North Carolina, where they lived for two years before returning to Fargo. She then worked at Sanford. Across a little more than four years in nursing, her work was in emergency departments.
She remembers the strain of hospitals that had run out of room. Patients who needed inpatient care remained in the ER because beds elsewhere were occupied. Emergency rooms filled. Waiting rooms filled. New patients kept arriving.
The pace left little room to recover during a shift.
“You just hit the floor running,” she said. “There’s like no downtime.”
Twelve-hour shifts, changing day and night schedules, and incentives to pick up additional work compounded the exhaustion. She could see the effects after she went home, too. She was tired, stressed, and less happy outside of work.
She also found meaning in caring for people during some of their worst moments. That made the decision to leave more complicated than simply disliking a job. She respected the nurses who had stayed in emergency medicine for a decade or longer and continued to love the work.
For her, however, the experience was becoming difficult to sustain.
Finding a new direction
Commercial real estate offered a direction that connected with an interest she already had.
Lakosky said both of her parents had business backgrounds. Her father had owned commercial properties, and she and her husband had helped him manage some of them. That experience gave her an introduction to property ownership and management before she considered becoming an agent.
