Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur | Start and Grow Your Own Business 1065: TRANSFORMING the student housing dilemma (and the financial burden of it!) w/ Nancy Schwartz
What if you could transform the student housing experience for families worldwide? Join us as we sit down with Nancy Schwartz, a trailblazing entrepreneur who has shifted from a successful advertising career to launching Semester Sublet, a platform revolutionizing short-term student housing. Inspired by her own challenges as a parent of study-abroad students, Nancy created a space where students and families can seamlessly connect for subletting opportunities. Her journey is a captivating tale of identifying market gaps and using creative problem-solving to make a tangible difference in students' lives.
Nancy shares her vision of making Semester Sublet accessible to both tech-savvy students and their parents, who may not be as comfortable with technology. We explore how the platform eases the subletting process with user-friendly features like drop-down menus and simple postings. Nancy sheds light on the targeted approach of reaching parents as primary customers and discusses potential university partnerships. By addressing housing and financial issues, she resonates with families who face these challenges, offering them a much-needed solution during study-abroad semesters.
Discover the strategic measures Nancy employs to expand Semester Sublet's reach, including engaging with college dance marathons and forming community partnerships. Nancy's emphasis on organic growth has led to heartwarming success stories of students who sublet their apartments to pursue invaluable opportunities abroad. As she continues to focus on short-term objectives and strategic growth, Nancy empowers students and their families, alleviating the financial burdens of education. Her story is a testament to how even short-term goals can lead to remarkable achievements, transforming the landscape of student housing one sublet at a time.
ABOUT NANCY
After a successful career as Director of Advertising for a Fortune 50 firm in NYC, Nancy Schwartz and her husband moved to Boston where they have raised their family which includes graduates from the University of Maryland, Indiana University, the University of Pennsylvania and the State University of New York at Albany. Nancy founded The JJA Group, a rental housing business providing off campus housing for students in Albany, New York. However, as the mother of 3 study abroad alums, solving the "One Semester Housing Dilemma" was a mission. The idea for Semester Sublet percolated for over 8 years and 1 year ago Semester Sublet was created.
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