We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Liz Zipperer a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Liz, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Folks often look at a successful business and imagine it was an overnight success, but from what we’ve seen this is often far from the truth. We’d love to hear your scaling up story – walk us through how you grew over time – what were some of the big things you had to do to grow and what was that scaling up journey like?

I believe the only true way to “scale up” is to invest in the people you surround yourself with as well as the infrastructure your business requires. The day-to-day tasks must be able to run on their own without you holding on for dear life. Once I learned to trust others with my business, doors opened for me that I couldn’t have imagined. The “self-made” lie is just that – a lie. Someone held a door open for you, someone spoke your name in a room when you weren’t present, someone heard your need and worked on your behalf to provide opportunities for you. I am honored to have a Business Manager who cares deeply, a Marketing Team (Gradient: https://gradient-creative.com) who keeps me cool and so many other relationships that I truthfully could not survive without. The combination of learning to trust others and being a team player is a fail-safe!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Starting at the beginning: My mom renovated a beautiful, classic (and pink!) 1920s Victorian (1211 Holly Street) in East Nashville where I lived until I was five-years-old. The church across the street, East End United Methodist Church, noted “Welcome Home, Elizabeth Ann!” on their sign to welcome us home from the hospital after delivery – that type of community is so rare! The church took the direct hit in the 2020 tornado and in turn saved so many historical homes. We moved to Bellevue when I was five-years-old and my younger brother was three. My parents still live in the home we grew up in which is super special to me. Our childhood was full of riding bikes, trampolines, carpool and sports. I attended Harpeth Valley for Kindergarten, 1st thru 8th at Saint Henry’s, Father Ryan High School + UT Chattanooga.

I spent a year and a half post-graduation in Chattanooga working for Keller Williams but was home sick and ready to move back home to Nashville. Being close to my parents and brother has always been of utmost importance to me so we packed up and hit the road!

I continued my career in Real Estate first with Village Real Estate and then joined Parks Real Estate in 2013. My fearless leaders, Bob and Marie Parks, created a brand new brokerage earlier this summer named Onward Real Estate and I am honored to have been one of the early agents to join. I would follow them through fire!

Working in the real estate industry for nearly 13 years has taught me so much. Striving to find work-life balance, putting others needs before yours, constantly working to improve your craft and protecting your client’s best interests no matter the cost. The highs are extremely high and the lows are so very low. It takes significant mental fortitude but is truly the best fit for me. I enjoy the daily challenges, problem solving + collaborating with my Realtor community.

The absolute best part of my job is watching the profound joy on my client’s face when they realize they are officially a homeowner. All of their hard work, intentional saving and a little bit of kismet leads them to their very own slice of Heaven. What an incredible life chapter to be a part of + guide them through! Second best part is when they acquire equity and are ready for a new life chapter in a new home which is financed by their very first purchase. Now that is what we call generational wealth!

The quickest way to my heart would be supporting charities which are incredibly near and dear to me. I am a YWCA Re/New Angel and have the honor of furnishing homes for the unbelievably brave women graduating from the domestic violence shelter. Our team consists of medical professionals, renowned interior designers, lawyers, musicians – you name it – whom all come together to support our neighbors in need. I proudly serve on the T-Shaw Strong Board honoring our hero and forever Tennessee Titan, Tim Shaw. Sure we get to have fun hosting golf tournaments but more importantly we work to shine light upon ALS research and technology needs while partnering with our friends at Team Gleason in New Orleans. I have served on the GiGi’s Playhouse Board, volunteered for SaddleUP!, built homes with Habitat for Humanity and served as a Lunch Buddy with Buena Vista Elementary. My mom (and best friend) taught me that our entire existence should be based on “living to serve” so I am trying to make her proud!

I spend as much time as I can with my fur baby, Dottie, who is a 6.5 year old Dalmatian. She is a spotted angel and naturally has more Instagram followers than me @dottiethedallie if you need your social media truly blessed!

A very important element of life to me is travel – I want to see as much of the world as I can! I like to say Italy is my retirement plan :)

You can also catch me working out at Orange Theory or playing sand volleyball with my team through Nashville Sports League. There is no in between with me – either I am go go go OR I am extremely busy becoming one with my couch catching up on my Bravo shows.

Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?

I am a nurturer by nature + I believe that has served me very well in my real estate career.

I thoroughly enjoy getting to know my clients on a friendship level as I wholeheartedly have their backs and want to support them in the best way possible during the high-stress process that is buying and selling real estate.

Selfishly, I receive a massive dopamine hit when gift giving so I tend to over do that :) Call it the Southerner in me maybe but there is no better joy than seeing someone smile! To quote the legendary Maya Angelou, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

I love to catch-up over coffee, attend charity events with clients and consistently plan client appreciation parties and gifts throughout the year to remind them of my gratefulness.

When the goal is fostering brand loyalty, there is no better way than to be your genuine self.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Even though there are well over 5,000 licensed Real Estate Agents in Middle Tennessee, the full-time, career agent pool is much, much smaller. I believe immensely prioritizing professional relationships with my colleagues has allowed me to build a strong reputation within the market. I have the opportunity to work with incredible people and am constantly inspired by them. Supporting them at their Broker Opens, connecting agents with a Buyer / Seller match, following each other on social media etc are all ways to ensure you are known as a tried and true professional with the reputation to back it up.

Negotiations can be intense as both parties want to be properly heard and have their needs respected. Working together as the hired representations to find the mutually beneficial outcome is crucial in maintaining your reputation. Speaking to each other with respect while working towards a positive outcome should always be the goal. However, the reality is that not every contract works out and that is okay but we should all strive to lead with kindness either way.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.lzandco.com
• Instagram: @lzandco
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lzandco
• Other: Google Business Profile: Liz + Co | Nashville Realtors – https://www.google.com/search?q=Liz+%2B+Co+%7C+Nashville+Realtors&stick=H4sIAAAAAAAA_-NgU1I1qLCwMDMxM0wyN08xMTBITEuxMqiwtDRMMjI2SEo1SDJJMTWxWMQq65NZpaCt4JyvUKPgl1icUZaZk5OqEJSamFOSX1QMAFDeZi9JAAAA&hl=en&mat=CZip-TIENF0iElYBEKoLaYf6oa3sJl5YJRF7EOlI_Lqglqdce1Qz73FQpjDxrOFoziru4zp9bmhqPQAVp_KE-TS2uz1dNdXDuHFudU70MCoc9_IG-3o8su1bGGfDG-aexw&authuser=0&client=safari

Image Credits
Emily Ashby: [email protected]