People come in all shapes, sizes and personalities. Real estate agents are no different. Donna Wade is a Boise, Idaho real estate agent and a real character. She shared with us the importance of always being yourself and how to make that part of your brand - no matter what you’re selling.
Donna Wade has been a friend of the Spade and Archer family for years. She first met Justin Riordan, owner and founder, when they were teenagers on the dance floor in a Boise gay bar. Justin saw this tall drink of water from across the room and ignored all the guys there just to get a chance to talk to her. Their eccentric personalities blended and they have been friends ever since.
While Justin has been in the real estate biz for more than 20 years, Donna is a recent convert to the game. That doesn’t make her any less successful or have any less drive for it, though. Four years ago she started her own business as a real estate agent and has been going like gangbusters ever since.
Donna had always dreamed of being a teacher. She worked as a college adjunct instructor after getting her undergraduate in communications. After college, she got involved in non-profit work and spent the next 14 years in different non-profits from hospice to social justice. She picked up an MBA along the way and juggled those two careers for a long time.
“I realized there was only so far I could go,” she says about her years of teaching, executive directing at non-profits and grant writing. She was looking for something else. “I hit my forties and my son got a little older. I was approached by a long-time friend who had helped me buy my house and he had an opportunity to join a team. There was an opportunity to become the assistant director of operations for the team and with my business background, it seemed like it could be a fit. So, I interviewed and I did get hired for that job.”
It was a complete change from where she was, but she decided to give it a shot. That position never materialized, but she was put in a transaction coordination chair as part of the team. The paperwork was mind-numbing and was sucking the lifeblood out of her because she’s a total people person. She went to the team owner and said, “I gotta be an agent. I gotta be with the people. I belong there.”
Everyone agreed and that’s how Donna got started selling houses herself. About this new venture, she ruminates: “It's all very interesting, but I am more motivated by the people and their goals and their objectives and the relationships that I form. That's what keeps me inspired to be in real estate. And that's why I know I'm going to do it forever because you're always meeting different people. You're always in different situations and everybody has a different story.”
Donna is an admitted goofball. In her social media posts she could be dancing in a silly skirt, doing Stevie Nicks impressions, vacuuming or impersonating Anne Bennett. It didn’t start out that way though. At first her posts were highly informative but bone dry. She was imitating the things other agents where doing. There is an unspoken model of what a “professional” looks like and she was doing her best to mimic that. “So, who do I want to attract?” she asked herself. “Well, I want to attract people that get it. I'm dorky and fun and goofy, and also have an MBA and also have business savvy and also will advocate for you.”
That’s what motivated Donna to make her personality her brand. “If I put myself out there and someone encounters that and they think to themselves, ‘She's not professional. She's not polished enough. She's not slick enough.’ I'm thinking, well, that's probably good. That's not the kind of person that is going to be attracted to me. And that's okay. I don't have to appeal to everyone.”
When new agents see her posts, they ask for advice: “Have savvy about how you're doing it and do it often, but be real. You can be professional and be real at the same time.”
The reason people want to work with Donna, and keep coming back, is her authenticity. Someone spending their money on a home has to trust the person they’re working with. If she put on airs – wearing pearls and driving the Land Rover - to act like other agents do, it would be phony and it would come across that way. People wouldn’t trust her or want to work with her if she was obviously being fake and not true to herself. There are so many types of people out there and that’s why there are so many different agents. You have to find the right one that clicks because nobody fits only one mold.
Is it hard to be so vulnerable all time? “When I realized that I could meld being me and doing this and helping people reach their goals, that meant a lot to me. I'm looking at the business as a relationship business. So, I'm here to advocate for my clients, help them meet their goals and do that in a way that helps them feel as calm as possible, relieve as much stress as possible, and is an intelligent streamlined process for them. That's what I'm focused on.”
She can only be the best for her clients when she is being her best self. Real estate is a business of personality. You are the face and heart of your own business so it only makes sense to promote yourself in the most authentic way possible. “I think you can put your best foot forward and be an excellent professional and be fun all at the same time.”
