We were lucky to catch up with Kristen Swiger recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Kristen, thanks for joining us today. Can you share a story about the kindest thing someone has done for you and why it mattered so much or was so meaningful to you?
My story is one that I honestly did not realize everyone knew about until much later. Back in October 2022 a few days before Halloween, I was driving up to Tennessee to spend the weekend camping with a group of my best friends. The last thing I remember was packing for my trip the night before, and I woke up in the ICU days later at Baptist South in Montgomery. Apparently, right at the Greenville exit at Exit 130 under the overpass, I was hit head-on on the interstate by an 87-year-old man who had dementia and was trying to get on the interstate the wrong way. Two other cars had swerved out of the way before he hit me, and I had no chance and never saw him coming. I spent 10 days in the ICU at Baptist South getting pieced back together (quite literally) and was later transferred to UAB in Birmingham. I spent 3 entire months there and had a total of 12 surgeries, a CSF leak in my back, a severe allergic reaction to the antibiotics and went into organ failure all during my journey. I was finally discharged in January and weighed about 80 pounds. I have spent the last 6 months recovering and getting stronger and healing physically, emotionally and mentally. I say all of this to say that the community of Gulf Shores rallied around me during this emotional time, and I have never felt so much love and support and prayers from people who I don’t even know. Businesses hung banners and invited the community to come out and sign it, old and new clients sent me cards and care packages and book s and rosaries. Rival real estate companies in the area put my name and face on their electronic marquees outside of their real estate firms so that anyone who drove by could see the message “Geaux Kristen!” A man I’ve never even met before in Louisiana started a bracelet campaign and gave them out to anyone and everyone who wanted one, free of charge. The ENTIRE city banded together for me and made sure I felt the love and support and prayers and vibes that I needed to heal. My Crossfit gym put on not one, but TWO, fundraisers when I got home to raise money for my hospital bills. They invited the entire city to come and do a workout and participate in a silent auction that raised over $12,000 to help me and my family. Even neighboring gyms in the area came and participated! Doctors and nurses would come into my hospital room and look at my walls full of posters and banners and cards and drawings, and they’d say “Wow, you have a lot of support back home!” I have always loved this city and community, but I have never in my life felt so much love and support from complete strangers. I 100% believe that it had so much to do with my healing and recovery, and the entire city showed up to The Cove for my Welcome Home party shortly after I got home. It was overwhelming but in the best way possible. I knew then that I would make it through and come out stronger and better on the other side, and I could never repay the kindness that was shown to me.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
My family owns our own real estate firm at Swiger & Company Realtors. It is very family-owned, and my mom is the Broker, my dad and I are agents in the office, and my brothers, John-David and Michael Swiger, do all of our photography and videography in addition to owning their own art gallery called Swiger Studio in Gulf Shores. I was in the entertainment industry before real estate, and I was a Country Music Radio Personality for 7 years in Montgomery, AL. For the longest time, it was just my Mom and Dad and I knew they needed help in the office and with their social media presence. I got my license about 3 years ago and moved back to Gulf Shores after being gone for 12 years! We specialize in Residential and Commercial real estate, but we have done all kind of transactions across the board. What sets us apart from other real estate companies is that we are 100% family-owned and a very small business. We are not part of a big corporation or big company name, but we keep up with the “big names” just as well. We don’t just build our clientele, we build relationships and so much of our business comes from past clients and client referrals. We do everything possible to make the client’s experience as seamless as possible, and we leave each transaction feeling as close as family!
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
This answer kind of goes back to my original story of the kindest thing that was ever done for me, but I feel like it’s such a huge part of my life that I have to keep coming back to it sometimes. I just think that a lot of people in my position would have just used it as an excuse to lay on the couch and not do anything and essentially give up. I think when bad things happen to people, they let those negative things defeat them and define them, and for me, I feel like I really had no choice but to bounce back stronger and better than before. Within a week of getting home from the hospital, I was back in the Crossfit gym the next week doing workouts in my wheelchair. Everyone told me to stay home and work from home and rest and not go back into the office too early, but I knew that the only way I’d start to feel back to myself is if I got back into my regular routine that I’m used to. I had to get back into my daily routine and get back into my office. Agents would be so surprised to hear my voice on the other line asking a question about a property they had listed. I truly believe that getting back to it as quickly as possible and getting back to my normal life as best I could played such a huge part in my recovery.
What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?
I’ll be completely honest, about 80% of my clientele comes from referrals and friends! I’ve found that once I do a transaction with someone, I end up working with all of THEIR friends and family. I pride myself on treating my clients like my own family and close friends, and I feel like I leave people feeling like we’ve known each other for years. We laugh, we joke, we talk candidly, but I also feel like I can give sound advice and people trust me when I give an opinion. I’ve often thought about what I need to do get my name more out there to bring in new business, but the truth is that I haven’t had a chance to go down that road, because every time I finish one transaction, that person gives my contact information to their best friend or brother or mom to see if I can help them, as well. Some of my very very best friends started out as real estate clients, and I would never change that.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.swigerandcompany.com
- Instagram: @kswige1
- Facebook: Kristen Swiger
- Linkedin: Kristen Swiger