Discovering a gap in the college housing market turned one frustrated parent's experience into a groundbreaking solution that's revolutionizing how students handle their housing needs. In today's Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur Spotlight, we're featuring Nancy Schwartz, the founder of Semester Sublet, who transformed her family's study abroad housing challenges into the #1 college subletting platform. From her innovative approach to marketing through college fundraisers to her dedication to solving the "One Semester Housing Dilemma," you'll discover how this entrepreneur is reshaping the college housing landscape one sublet at a time.
Hi, Nancy! Thanks for joining us today. Tell us about your business. Who do you serve, how do you serve them, and what's the impact that your business and work makes?
We are the #1 site for college subletting. We help parents and students save thousands of dollars on unused housing by providing an easy-to-use platform to list their apartments. Also, there are many students who need to find "One Semester" housing if they are transferring to a new school, moving out of an uncomfortable housing situation, or doing an internship at another university. We help students realize their dream of going abroad by helping solve the "One Semester Housing Dilemma".
Tell us about the moment you finally felt like you went from wantrepreneur to entrepreneur.
As my company is only nearing its 1st year anniversary, every time I hear from a satisfied parent or student, it pushes us toward success a bit more and each little step helps me realize I have officially become an entrepreneur!
Describe the moment or period in your life/career that motivated you to make the entrepreneurial leap.
After our family went through the panic of having to find subletters for our 3 college students (with no help from their respective universities), when they were embarking on their study abroad experiences, the idea for my business went from "How can there be no help whatsoever to find subletters?" to "I've got to do something to solve this problem!"
Describe a tool, service, or software that has been a game-changer for your business. How does it contribute to your success?
Social media, in particular Facebook, has been an incredible vehicle for spreading the word about Semester Sublet. Though we haven't been able to advertise there, the "power of parents" has helped vault us to hit over 50,000 shares!
We know that success is very often a non-linear path. Tell us about a failure, pivot point, or lesson that changed your course or direction and helped to get you where you are today.
We added a section to our site specifically for Summer Internship Housing in 10 major cities. We had little success in getting summer sublet listings and continued to struggle with spreading the word effectively. That realization has driven us to create a marketing plan to get apartment listings well in advance of students leaving for the summer.
What unconventional strategy did you employ that significantly impacted your business?
Without an income stream, some may think it's crazy to make donations to fundraisers which would increase our expenses. I viewed sponsoring activities at colleges as an "essential business" expense and fortunately, those donations have paid off in numerous ways... increased awareness of my site and we have gained good favor amongst students of the organizations we have helped.
What’s something you wish you knew sooner that you’d give as advice for aspiring or newer entrepreneurs?
Get to know apps that are available to create great-looking promotional materials, social media posts, and ads (such as Canva). Take every tutorial there is to learn how to utilize Instagram and TikTok to your advantage.
Want to dive deeper into Nancy's work? Check out the links below!
- Visit Semester Sublet's website semestersublet.com
- Follow Semester Sublet on Instagram @semestersublet1
- Find Semester Sublet on Facebook: Semester Sublet
