We recently connected with Nicole Riggins and have shared our conversation below.

Nicole, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. One of the most important things small businesses can do, in our view, is to serve underserved communities that are ignored by giant corporations who often are just creating mass-market, one-size-fits-all solutions. Talk to us about how you serve an underserved community.

I started working with families of children with disabilities and special healthcare needs as an advocate almost 10 years ago. The more families I worked with, the more I found that housing was the biggest stressor for these families. These families are certainly underserved across the board and finding that housing was a common issue was shocking. Families with children with special health care needs or cognitive, emotional, or physical disabilities require stable homes as they are particularly vulnerable to the harmful health effects of material hardships.

I found that there are four issues facing many people with disabilities related to housing:

Extremely high poverty rates
Desire to live in normal housing rather than in segregated and restrictive settings
Need for long-term support and services to live as independently as possible
Desire for personal control, autonomy, and choice in one’s living situation

My best way to help the families I was working with and others like them was to become a real resource for them, by becoming a Realtor. For the last four years, I have been working with families that are looking to buy a home and providing special assistance for those families that have a family member with some sort of disability, first-time homeowners, veterans, and young buyers.

The reason that I am so passionate about this community is because I am a part of this community. I have two children who are neurodivergent and stable housing through Home Ownership was the game change for them. One of my children is about to graduate from Morehouse College as an Honors Student and is headed to a Ph.D. / Masters program immediately after graduation. I saw firsthand that moving at the end of a lease was extremely difficult for my children. Once I bought my home they excelled in a way that I didn’t think was possible.

This is why I wanted to help the underserved community that my family is a member of because I didn’t see many Realtors that were dedicated to helping families that had specific needs. Essentially, I decided to be the change I wanted to see.

Nicole, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I was not born into a real estate family. My paternal grandfather was a veteran and a chemist. He was one of the chemists responsible for the flavoring of the original Pop Tarts and MREs for the military. My paternal grandmother was a teacher. My maternal grandfather was a truck driver and my maternal grandmother was a domestic worker. My mother is a teacher and a minister, and my father was a doctor and a minister. However, my parents and all of my grandparents instilled that real estate was the quickest way to establish generational wealth.

I, an Alumna of Clark Atlanta University, I found myself as a divorced mother of 4 incredible children needing to make a career change. I decided to make real estate my profession after seeing how housing stability would be beneficial to my own children. After buying my own home and seeing that not only was renting was a trap that I would not want my children to fall into, but also that many families who care for someone with a disability do not have realtors that understand their unique needs.

Being an entrepreneur of a few other businesses, I enjoy being able to teach my clients how to build their real estate portfolio by starting with their own homes. When I got my realtor’s license, I saw it not only as a way to make a living but as a charter to match people and families with their perfect properties. It’s a commitment I rededicate myself to every day, and it’s my commitment to this ideal that gives me the confidence to say: I want to be your next realtor.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I know this is going to seem to be shocking when I say this. A lesson that I had to unlearn was that I needed to be a strong independent woman that acts more masculine to be successful. I know, I know, I know – It seems odd for me to say that, but it is the one lesson that I had to unlearn. Let me explain before someone thinks I am saying that women should be weak. That is the furthest thing from the truth.

I already told you that I was a divoreced mom of 4 incredible children. When I had my last divorce I found myself surviving by being independent and being the strong one. I could and did run with the men because often men are a lot more direct and to the point if you know how to read the room. I was surviving with that mentality, but I wasn’t living. I wasn’t thriving. Living a life of survivval is exhausting. It is a different type of exhaustion, one that rest alone can not fix. So I had to unlearn what I knew to live the life that I wanted to live.

My first lesson was that there was a huge difference in being strong and being powerful. “Strong” typically refers to the ability to exert force or resistance to force, such as having strong muscles or a strong grip. “Powerful” typically refers to the ability to exert influence or control, such as having powerful position or a powerful personality. My goal in thriving is to be powerful, not strong. Exerting force or resisting force is exhausting. Having the ability to exert influence is almost effortless. That is a different type of freedom. The next part of learning to be powerful, instead of strong is understanding the power that comes in interdependence and not solely being independent. This is helpful in business for me because no realtor makes the real estate transaction alone. We need the listing agents to do their job exceptionally well, so we can help sell the home to our buying client. We need the inspector, the appraiser, the lender, the closing attorney and even our brokers to have a smooth transaction. We need the Georgia Real Estate Commission to write and revise forms to make sure that our transactions are legal. To be successful in Real Estate you must lean on your strengths, but also lean on the interdependce by working with others that are strong in other areas that are needed for the real estate transaction.

And to fully answer the question – the why? This is a very personal situation. Someone that I am very close with came to me and said I see you, but I am concerned because you are not leaning on your strengths. Your power comes from your feminine energy and your softness. You don’t have to fight and try to force anything. I see you stressing yourself out and working way too hard, when you could have so much more and excert less energy. This is someone that had known me for more than 30 years and I knew that he wasn’t trying to harm me. He honestly was concerned because I was getting sick becasue of the stress. Having friends that are your friends even when they have to tell you some hard truths is important.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I had to make a pivot in life because I wanted to thrive and not just survive. I wanted to enjoy life, not just look at the next goal or task or problem. I wanted to be able to take a vacation and actually enjoy the trip. The process of survivial is not something that is designed to be enjoyed. However, thriving requires enjoyment and fulfillment and that was the life that I wanted so I had to make the pivot for my entire way of doing things in both business and my personal life. I had to remember that when being my authentic self that I couldn’t be like anyone else, I had to embrace my authentic self. I would be doing myself a disservice if I allowed myself to fall into an imposter syndrome. No one knows how to be me but me!

So often I would quickly list off goals as actions by a certain deadline, but now my goal is to enjoy where I am now and take it step by step to achieve how I want to feel, not just what I want to do. Learning how to embrace the power of feeling and enjoying to moment was a major part of my pivot. I had packed my feelings away when I was operating in survival mode and trying to be more masculine to compete with the men in my industries. Did I have some success, yes. Was I able to enjoy the success? No, I wasn’t and being able to enjoy the success was the key to motivating myself to pivot in every area of my life.

I don’t wait for tomorrow to spend time with those that I care about. I created a flexible work day, so I am not bound by a 9 to 5 schedule. I even learned to pivot in my personal relationships and focused on what I enjoy and who I enjoy and ultimately who pushes me to be the greater version of myself. I lean closer to my friends that encourage me to be free in who I am, verses trying to fit into the mold that others may have for me.

Was the pivot easy to do – ABSOLUTELY NOT!!! Was it necessary for me to learn the art of thriving in any environment – YES!!!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.leasebuyorsellwithnicole.com
• Instagram: @nicoleriggins_realtor@nikki_riggins
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/nicolerigginsrealitychecks
• Youtube: @homebuyingwithnicoleriggins
• Other: https://linktr.ee/nicoleriggins

Image Credits
Donald Burrell of B Candid Photography MUA: Gift of Gab