Millennial Real Estate Agent Turned Broker Found her Home in Social Media
Most people wouldn't think of social media as a place to find their home, but for real estate agent turned broker, Jen Bowles, social media was the perfect platform. Read on to learn more about her story and how you can use social media to your advantage in the real and real estate world too.
JBO Home is SOLD on Social Media
Whether tapping into the latest trends on social media or navigating the complexities of buying or selling homes in an ever-changing market, Jen Bowles, Founder and Principal Broker of JBO Home and REALTOR® always keeps her clients' needs front and center.
What truly sets Jen apart in an often-competitive industry is not her strong marketing background, extensive experience in design, construction, and development, or her entrepreneurial spirit. Rather, it is her unique ability to make every person she connects with feel at home.
And one of Jen’s favorite ways to help clients find where to live is by living on social media!
By combining her strategic marketing use of platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok with her hard-won expertise in the field, Jen deeply connects to her community and provides valuable insights on market conditions and more.
So, whether you're a first-time homebuyer, looking to sell your property, or simply interested in learning about a real entrepreneurial success story in real estate harnessing the power of social reels, Jen at JBO Home is the key to your experience.
Interview with Jen Bowles:
Be Helpful:
How did you get into this crazy thing called entrepreneurship?
Jen Bowles:
It has always been with me. It’s one of those things where you know you want to do something for yourself, and you want to do it your way and it just always sticks with you.
I started my career in interior design and I went to school for that. I first started in business and then decided it was so common sense to me that I needed to jump into something that I'm passionate about. So, I switched majors altogether, went into interior design, and went to go work for someone and I was like, ‘I could do this better.’
“So, I opened my own practice, only I wasn't exactly ready at the time and shortly thereafter I decided that I needed to learn a little bit more. So, I took myself back out, gracefully, since I didn't have this whole booming company yet.”
Then, I went to work for a construction company and learned a whole lot about what I was designing and how to execute it. I also learned some things about just regular entrepreneurship because they were a startup company. So, I saw the makings of how they got their clients, how they handled them, and how they organized them.
And then I decided, ‘Okay, I'm ready to jump back out and try this design thing again!’
But again, I wasn't exactly ready for it. I was in the next phase of it, but I got scared and I got in my own way, and you know, that happens. I got imposter syndrome! I was getting deeper and deeper into it, and I was like, ‘Oh, Gosh, do I even know what I'm doing?’
I decided that I needed to get back out there and learn some more.
“My ultimate dream is to be a developer for myself. So, I had to do all the things that led up to what I want to do. I had to start with design, I had to hop into construction, and I had to keep putting myself back out there to find out how developers work so I could go work for them.”
So, I also worked for a big hotel developer that did Marriott’s and Hilton's and all of that, and they were a family-owned company, so again, a smaller company, though huge in our area, but I learned so much from them.
It so happened that COVID came around and it forced me to get out there and start the career in real estate because that's the next step to going into development. You have to know how to buy and sell it and what all the deals are and what they mean and the progress of that.
Yeah, and it's been crazy. There is so much knowledge in this little head and in a small amount of time and there are all these different experiences that came out of it.
So, long story short, that's how I got started.
Be Helpful:
Millennials are arguably the greatest generation just because we've seen the analog world and we’ve seen the transition to the internet and to social media. As a fellow millennial who is comfortable with the digital world and with new tools like TikTok, how has that allowed you to adapt as an entrepreneur?
Jen Bowles:
Yeah, first off, they're super powerful, but my biggest piece of advice is to pick one that you're comfortable with!
“If you're comfortable with Facebook, stay with Facebook. If you're comfortable with Instagram, stay with that. TikTok, YouTube, whatever it is- just pick one. You have to pick one because if you don't, and you don't adapt, you will be left behind.”
There are, you know, old-school ways of doing things and I can see that especially in my industry for real estate, we have a mixed generation. There was a huge amount of realtors coming into the industry right around COVID, and I'm one of them, but then you have the generation that was before- and their version of marketing is mailers and door knocking and it just feels ingenuine to a lot of people. And so being able to talk, like I'm talking to you, people feel like we're having a conversation.
“So, on the platforms, you can give huge amounts of information that is content value. It’s not always about selling or buying or me, me, me and about my business. It’s more about them- how you’re benefiting them, and how you’re solving a problem for your audience. And that is huge.”
And so, you have to adapt to that and be comfortable.
A lot of people will be self-conscious about how they look. I'm sorry, guys, you look how you look and you’re going to look like that in person. People aren’t just meeting you over the phone, they’re meeting you in person and so you are YOU! Be comfortable with it, love it, and be loving of yourself and get over that. They don't care what you look like.
“Can you provide great value and great service, and do you know what you're talking about? Do you offer content to them that they can take with them and then share with whoever will utilize it? That is what is so important in this day and age.”
Plus, it's fun because you get to be silly with it! You get to be yourself. You get to show your other hobbies. You're not just all business, you're human! It’s more about connecting with each other than it is corporate-not to say good corporate businesses are bad. They're not bad, they're great and they serve a purpose, but it's hard to relate to and people don't feel like it's personalized or like somebody actually cares about them on the other end.
At JBO Home we're making that shift to this more personalized way of doing business.
Buying & Selling Homes is Where Jen’s Heart Is
Jen Bowles is the real deal for all things real estate. Your home is where her heart is.
With ever-evolving social media marketing in a market that seems constantly in flux, Jen provides a sense of stability and certainty for her clients, which unlike buying or selling property, is something they can't put a price on!
She's also hilarious and her soul is warmer than a house warming!
So make yourself at home by listening to her full podcast episode and hear her quips for yourself!
