Janice Bradford | REALTOR®
Keller Williams Home Town Realty
Vandalia, Ohio
As a new agent entering the real estate industry in 2020, Janice Bradford found herself not only discovering her new path, but also accepting and inviting the challenges that were thrown at her. After becoming a licensed agent in January 2020, Bradford began working with Keller Williams Home Town Realty just five months later in June—motivated and ready to take on her Ohio market.
Before diving into a career in real estate, Bradford worked in IT and cyber security for over 30 years. Though her passion for IT led her to a successful career, the time came to think about her new future.
“I’m an entrepreneur by heart,” she says. “I’m a people person and I thought real estate would be a good fit for me, where I could make a direct impact on their lives.”
With a direct connection to buyers and sellers, as well as the tangible impact that agents can make on their clients, Bradford felt that real estate was the perfect fit for her. She emphasizes the joy that comes from helping first-time homebuyers or those trying to sell their home, and is proud of the significant role she plays in the process.
“That’s why I chose real estate, and I’m so happy I did,” she says.
Though she made her way into the industry amid a very unique time, Bradford utilized her experience with technology and a wealth of resources to push through the challenges of the pandemic.
“Being new to the market, the industry, I think I’ve done pretty well,” she says.
“When you have an obstacle, put a plan in place and figure out how you’re going to overcome it,” she continues, illustrating the steps she took to adapt her business strategy and navigate her clients through this unprecedented time. For example, rather than moving forward with in-person showings, closings and other meetings, with the guidance of her brokerage, she switched to a hyper-digital strategy, offering virtual showings.
“For some, this may have come as a challenge, particularly those who are not IT savvy,” she says. “I educate people on IT platforms and IT programs, so for me, it wasn’t necessarily a challenge; it was an opportunity to educate. I looked at that as a win-win.”
Within a three-month period, Bradford was able to close on two properties, even though she was a new agent operating in a global pandemic. She was able to leverage her extensive knowledge of technology to rise to the occasion and provide exceptional service and education to her clients.
“You have to be resourceful,” she says.
Bradford also knew that she needed a strong online presence, especially during this time, to make an impact in her market.
“I have a Facebook page for my business where I post things relevant to the real estate market in addition to posting any listings I have,” she says. “In order to garner additional followers, you have to meet the needs of your followers and provide people with content—that’s where ACESocial comes into play for me.”
Once Bradford joined Keller Williams, she was offered RISMedia’s ACESocial platform. Given her IT experience, she jumped on the opportunity to educate her followers while learning and adapting to a new industry.
“When I find new information that will help me in my real estate profession through ACESocial, I typically try to take advantage of it.”
“ACESocial is easy to use. It provides relevant content, it’s very engaging and I believe that the content answers a lot of questions that consumers and clients might have relative to real estate,” she continues. “My followers love it.”
With a view from the eyes of an IT professional, Bradford appreciates the look, feel and ease of use that the ACESocial platform provides, explaining that other tools or platforms may be cumbersome, or that simply don’t have a clean layout, can be “overwhelming” for users.
“When I think about it from an IT perspective, and if I were designing an app, I would definitely want it to look like ACESocial,” she says. “ACESocial should keep doing what it’s doing and pushing the envelope to provide additional tools for people in the real estate industry.”
For more information, please visit janicebradford.kw.com and rismedia.com/acesocial.
