We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Shenandoah Nieuwsma. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Shenandoah below.

Shenandoah, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.

We do a lot of things differently from the industry standard, but one thing (among others) that I think really sets us apart is that we are driven to provide our clients good, solid data so that they can make the most rational decisions at every turn. There is so much bad data out there – in real estate especially – that it would be easy for people to think they have reliable data when they don’t. The risk in real estate of course is that the decisions you make come at a pretty high cost. Bad data can end up costing you hundreds of thousands of dollars. I have a PhD and am classically trained to do research, parse data, and think critically, so I know that our approach makes a huge difference in the value we can deliver.

Shenandoah, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My route to real estate was unexpected, to be sure. I never saw it coming! I got my BA in Philosophy in Indiana, then moved out west to Wyoming with my husband. After two somewhat boring years as an office assistant, I got my MA in American Studies at the University of Wyoming.

There I dabbled in Religious Studies and applied to a Ph.D. program at my first choice school, UNC. I got in! Then another surprise hit me in my first year: I was pregnant. Although it was incredibly alienating to be pregnant and then the mother of a baby in graduate school, I did it. Two years later, I had another baby. It was a long haul, but I graduated from the department with a Ph.D. in hand, the first woman in the history of the department to have had two babies during coursework.

I had experience teaching at Elon, UNC, and Duke, but I wasn’t sure what I was going to do after I graduated. The academic job market was nearly nonexistent, and becoming an academic administrator wasn’t appealing to me. I wanted to be at the bus stop at 3 pm, and a job that allowed some flexibility. I knew I’d have to switch gears. A neighbor had suggested that I try real estate. I laughed hard for about two weeks and then, one September evening, I signed up for my first class. I had no business background at all but had always had an entrepreneurial inkling. The learning curb was very steep. I wove my academic background and research experience into my branding, offering clients great data and sound logic so they could make the best decisions possible.

Fast-forward five years, and I’m growing a team. I have a relationship with the Frank Gallery in Chapel Hill and love to work with local artists to stage homes that I sell. It thrills me to promote local art and artists and make my client’s houses beautiful at the same time! My business experienced over 70% growth from last year, and Shenandoah Realty is becoming a recognized business in the Triangle area! I don’t think I could have ever envisioned that I’d own a growing business, learn from other amazing entrepreneurs, and indulge in passion projects like my work with the Frank Gallery, too.

One last but critical detail: I’ve been building my team for years and hiring admin, but this year I brought on another agent. I hired Stephanie Ross to work with our buyers, and have been so pleased to find someone who is so like-minded. She is very smart and quick and so caring, and it’s an immense relief to me that I can steer our buyers to work with someone who will take great care of them. As a small-business owner, who you work with can make or break your business. If you don’t have confidence in your team, things fall apart. I’m happy to say that I have every confidence in the people on my team, and given the high standards we have as a firm, that’s no small feat.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

It is hard to choose just one lesson, but if I had to, I’d say that the most important lesson I’ve learned (and continue to learn) is that people mirror your energy. If you put out to the world anxiety and a lack of confidence in what you’re doing, people will read you like that.

It sounds simple enough, but especially when you’re doing something new and you don’t have a lot of confidence, you’ve got to find some positive, forward-facing energy and emotion from somewhere. And when you do, people will be behind you, cheering you on.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

I’m not the kind of real estate agent who is on the phone all the time, cold-calling or talking to hundreds of people every day. My priority has always been to do things the right way and to maintain an extremely high quality level, regardless of personal cost to me. I know that that isn’t really typical in the industry (or efficient), but I guess you could say I play the long game. I assume that clients want and need a high degree of care and attention, and I give it to them. And then they tell others about me. My business is 100% referral based. I don’t pay for ads or leads like a lot of other realtors. I let the abnormally high standards speak for themselves.

Contact Info:

• Website: shenrealestate.com
• Instagram: drshenandoah
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100014404572396
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/shenandoah-nieuwsma-47046b159

Image Credits
Chris Cherry, photographer