Story of tears and joy of estate agent building up branch read by 1.5 million
Gulshan Mangat's story of his difficult journey acquiring and re-launching a Northwood branch goes viral on LinkedIn.
An estate agent has become an unexpected social media star after posting his thoughts about mental health on LinkedIn.
Gulshan Mangat, who runs the Cambridge branch of estate agency Northwood, has attracted 1.5 million views after posting about his struggle to get his recently-acquired estate agency business off the ground, along with over 2,000 comments of support.
In the post, which features a picture of the agent in tears, Mangat details the stress of leaving a paid job as an auditor in 2019 and his sleepless nights as he worked unpaid to find the right business opportunities.
Mangat and his wife Kam are not property novices – the duo own several investment properties and also recently set up an inventories firm too.
“I looked at many different businesses before the Northwood Cambridge resale came to my attention about a year ago,” he says.
“At that time the franchise was being run remotely, and not reaching its potential, but Kam and I recognised it had huge potential and we began looking at how we could finance it.
Estate agent
“This was not easy, as in 2020 the banks were not loaning money due to the pandemic, so we withdrew all of our savings as well as borrowing money from family,” he adds.
“We have now opened new office premises in Cambridge, fitted it out, taken on the management of all the properties and Kam gave up her job in the NHS to work with me part time.”
Mangat says he was able to pay himself a small salary this month and was so overjoyed he shared a picture of himself and told the story on LinkedIn, which then went viral.
Northwood MD Phil Gee (pictured) says: “Mental health is a topic that is dear to all our hearts at Northwood, and we know from research what a toll the pandemic took on everyone – particularly people who felt isolated working from home during lockdown.”
