Donna Glassberg has been an entrepreneur for over 25 years, and the owner of Orange Housing. ⁣

She's seen it all when it comes to technological advances in the real estate industry, and she's adapted to it amazingly. ⁣

Her ability to see problems, come to solutions, and adapt how she does business is absolutely incredible. ⁣ ⁣

It's the reason she's been a front runner in her industry after all these years. ⁣

Her story is sure to encourage you to tackle any hurdle you may come across.

If you would like to learn more about Donna and her business please visit her website here: https://orangehousing.com/index.php/welcome 

Watch The Full Interview! 

Full Transcript: 

Jen: Hi, everyone, welcome to today's interview. Now, you know that I love talking to entrepreneurs and today I'm talking to Donna Glassberg she is the founder of Orange Housing. 

The thing I want you to know about entrepreneurs, which you probably already know is they solve problems. They have creative solutions for problems that they see and then it's their job to figure out how to put their solutions into the marketplace and make them real now. This trait of creative problem solving is what has kept Donna Glassberg at the forefront of real estate entrepreneurship for more than 25 years. And I want you to think about that. Over 25 years. What has happened in the domain of real estate, the Internet was in its infancy 25 years ago. So she's been through dial-up Internet. Desktops versus laptops versus smartphones.WiFi apps video and in every iteration, every time has come down the path.

Donna has had to be resilient and bounce back and that's the reason I wanted to talk to her today because her business has been forced to change so many times with the times. And you would think that just renting a house is just renting a house, but it isn't there's so much more to it. She has built resiliency into her business. And during these times of COVID-19, there's nothing we need more than resiliency and so that's why I wanted her here today to tell us about the struggles that COVID-19 brought upon her and how she used her creative problem-solving skills to keep her business going, which is what we're all trying to do right now.

So, Donna, I hope I did you justice there with that introduction, but thank you so much for being here today.

Donna: Well, thanks for having me it's kind of fun. And even though I've been in business 25 years, this is my first interview. So it's kind of fun to be doing something different. And, yes, I agree with you 100% that...See a problem, solve that problem and that's what makes a good business. And to keep doing that throughout the whole life of your business.

Jen: And that's why I wanted to really talk to you, because over and over again... it's kind of like a pinball. You're like ping. Okay, now we got to do this. We got to do this now. We got to do this.

So can you share with us a brief history of the problem that you saw in the marketplace all those many years ago?

Donna: Well, first, when I moved here to Syracuse, I wanted to rent a place, and finding out which neighborhood would work for me because we have so many unique neighborhoods in Syracuse to choose from, was a challenge. And then finding apartments in the neighborhood to rent that were within my budget was challenging. And I did find something but it was hard work and it wasn't what I expected. And then I moved again and moved again and again like a ping pong.

I felt, you know, I loved Syracuse, but I didn't know how to navigate being new to the area there weren't as many resources out there as there are now. So I got into the real estate field as a business and I worked and played and lived in the University neighborhood. And I would see students driving around writing down numbers on homes that were for rent.

And first, I thought, "Wow, they have to be here to do that." And second, I knew a lot of landlords would keep their sign up all the time. Even if it was already rented. So that's discouraging to take the time, drive around, write down numbers and then find out the places are rented. Or maybe call on them and they're out of your budget or they're a three-bedroom when you want a one-bedroom.

Jen: When are we talking here? 96, 97?

Donna: So that was 85, 86, 87? When I saw that problem. But then in 96 my son was 10 years old and he got a computer and he was playing around and he called me into his room after he had been in there for hours. And he shows me a picture on the computer of himself. And it says, "I'm Josh and I like the color blue."

I'm thinking that took you six-hour? But it kept him busy, so I was happy.

But then he said to me, "Mom, all my friends can see it on their computer" and it blew my mind because I didn't understand the Internet fully. This was 1996 and there were only about 200,000 websites out there now there's something close to 2,000,000,000 so it really has grown.

And just a year later when I finally did launch my business that 200,000 like had doubled, I believe, or maybe even more. It was like exploding in 96, 97 and it was the old dial-up. I don't know if you had that one would actually get that noise.

Jen: Yes.

Donna: And it took a long time for things to download to get online to download and not everybody was able or capable to see it on the go like now with mobile phones. So SU saw the value in it and they actually gave us a spot in the Schine Student Center without any charge. They called my office, which was my home, and they said "Would you be willing to have a kiosk in a Schine Student Center?" Which that just blew me away and I knew I had solved a huge problem for their students at that time.

And because it was mainly students that had computers back in 96 and 97, they were the ones with the desktops, we catered more towards the people who were able to access it on the computer. But no, the international students loved it because they didn't have to be here to see what their cost would be and what was available for them. Of course, we suggested strongly that they wait till they get here to rent something. Don't rent sight unseen. But it was beneficial to them to have access before they got here.

Jen: You saw this need. You filled the need. You fill the need so well that actually the University brought you on, kind of into a collaboration, which is such a big statement. I'm curious, how do you always been entrepreneurial or are you just a creative problem solver in your everyday life?

Donna: I actually I've always been both and my mother used to call me a trail place her because I never wanted to go down the path that everybody else went down. "The groomed path," she would say. She would say. "Why do you always have to go through the tall weeds and make your own path?" And I'm like...

But, yeah, I always loved entrepreneurship. My brothers... I'm trying to think what year it was. I was probably 10, so 69 maybe? 70? my brothers had newspaper routes for the neighborhoods with a wagon and back in the day, a female was not allowed to be a newspaper carrier.

So they kept it in their name after they had aged out and I became the newspaper carrier, but in their name, I couldn't have that little business. My first business in my name.

Jen: That's amazing.

Donna: Yeah.

Jen: So now we're talking we're online and you just keep moving ahead. Dial-up is gone. People get laptops people get smartphones and you just keep iterating your business, right? It just keeps shifting and shifting and shifting to meet with the times.

And I think that you're such a great example of somebody who does not stick her heels in and say "No, I'm not going to do this." This is like, you're somebody who sees something changing and you hop on.

And so I'd love to talk... I'd love to fast forward through all of that text stuff and all of your creative problem solving I'd love to fast forward to COVID-19 hits. Students are sent home, we don't know when they're coming back.

How do you keep your business going during this time? Tell me some of the weight. Some of the struggles that you guys experienced during this COVID-19 times.

Donna: Well, in some ways, we were lucky because I work from home. So I'm used to working from home. My Businesses online which a lot of businesses that weren't online were forced to go online. So in some respects, I had an upper hand also being an established business for so many years.

But to be honest with you, and there are some businesses that have really made COVID work for their business where they have like outdoor furniture or any indoor furniture. You know, people are staying home more. So in some respects COVID kind of helped us because people needed orange housing more they needed something that was more than a platform for rentals.

Like all the competition that I have that came after me. Like apartments.com and Craigslist and all of those, there's nobody you could call with an 800 number. Well there's,  800 number but there's nobody you could really reach that knows the areas.

What I meant to say, there's nobody on with you to get on the phone with a human someone who's experienced in real estate. Someone who lives in the area knows the area. I mean, those really...people were emotional and anxious and didn't know where to turn and our hand-holding so to say. And I stepped up my hours for phone and email, we answer the phones on weekends, nights because a lot of people were working hopefully during the day or busy doing other stuff. And then after five, they wanted to deal with these problems. Which you know SU's offices are closed after five. You can't get a hold of people.

So it was in a sense beneficial to our nonpaying customers. We have two customers. The non-paying customers are the renters. And then our paid customers are the landlords. And the landlords and property managers are cutting back on their ads because they don't know what to do. And if they want people in their apartments and how to deal with the COVID. So, we're working harder for less money. Like most people, right?

Jen: Right. It sounds like I've been talking all months to my clients about differentiating themselves and all my content has been about your unique value proposition. And what I keep hearing from you is not only your responsiveness in answering the phone, but also your responsiveness to say, "Oh, I see a problem. Let me shift the problem."

So that's how you seem to differentiate yourself is that you are a human being living in the area and knowing it so well that people can come to develop trust with you. You really become like a guide to them, right?

Donna: I try to be very compassionate and understanding. Renters and landlords are totally opposite and have totally opposite goals and thoughts. And I try to understand both angles and put myself in both of their shoes.

I mean I've been a renter and I've been a landlord. So that comes easy to me and it's challenging to try to help people at times but I feel if I could help one person it's worth it.

Jen: Did you mention... somewhere in our back and forth emails I feel like I read about you buying some video equipment to help your renters. Can you talk a little bit about that as a solution?

Donna: Yeah, so renters, first of all, we were stay in place for a while. So we were told not to go out to either show a property or look at properties and people didn't want strangers in their home to look at their properties. And landlords and leasing agents didn't want to meet people. So video and pictures meant that much more.

I mean, they always said pictures are worth a thousand words, but now it was really helpful and meaningful. And I did buy a 360 camera. I have to say, I don't know if I got the results that I wanted I'm not sure if the learning curve was too much. I felt like it didn't really show what I wanted. But we did change and tweak a bunch of stuff on the site where before we used to not show one picture with the ad, you had to click on the listing and you'd see like 10 pictures. Now with each listing, we have one picture that they could see right away. So what I purchased and I've been trying not to purchase too much, everybody is looking to cut back on spending, but what I purchased works. But I don't know if it works as well as I'd like it to. So that's still in development.

But it was a 360 camera and we're still using it. And we're still also using just regular photos.

Jen: You've seen how visually simulated people are and how responsive they are. So you've incorporated that into your business.

Donna: Right.  Yeah, pictures are key right now.

Jen: Yes I'm wondering I want to talk a little bit about your mindset because as a business development coach mindset is something that comes up for every client. And as you watched COVID-9 roll in and you watch the students leave campus and we're all watching like,  "What's going to happen next?"

Tell me a little bit about some of the mindsets stuff that you had to deal with in your mind about this.

Donna: Yeah, well, obviously it's extremely sad, the people dying. It blows me away when you think about...from a virus, so many people are dying and how contagious and how little we know even to this day. But as a business person, I find it infuriating that people are still using COVID as an excuse for poor customer service.

I don't know if you've called the bank lately or an airline or your credit card but they put you on hold forever if you could get through. I don't know people don't seem to care it's like, "well, due to COVID..." I'm like, yeah, this is the life we have now don't give me that excuse anymore.

Jen: I love that. Don't use COVID as an excuse. In fact, you did the opposite COVID came in andyou ramped up your customer service.

Donna: Well, COVID is a problem. It gets back to what we said in the beginning. COVID is a problem. How do you solve that problem? See a problem, solve the problem.

You know whoever figures out a vaccine or some kind of treatment once you have it. I mean that's really solving a problem. My problem that I'm solving is minor and small every problem.

Jen: Well, it's imporant to you. 

Donna: Yeah, well, when you have 10 problems, small problems a day, you get grumpy. You know, I mean I get great compliments that someone's father called me the other day because he only wanted to sign a lease for 30 days and most landlords don't want to do that, so I gave him some suggestions.

How to go about maybe asked for a lease that expires in December. Instead of like compromised. You know,  see it from the landlords perspective.

Jen: Again, differentiating yourself in the marketplace by being a human who can see both sides, has so much experience.

Donna: Exactly.

Jen: I think you're just such a great example of somebody who has longevity in entrepreneurship and sees every challenge as a opportunity for growth. The other thing I'm guessing is, you know, by you talking to these to this dad, that you were talking to I'm not sure that that's going to make you money immediately. But it's an investment in your reputation right?

Donna: Exactly

Jen: It's an investment. And I think that that's something important that entrepreneurs need to remember that how we show up during this pandemic. People are going to remember that.

Donna: Rght. Yeah, I mean I've been through two other crises in this area. One was right when we started and it was back in 1998 when storm came through, yeah.And it hit the University area hard and people were trying to call their kids before cell phones. And all the land lines were down in 98 after that. Trees had knocked down and parents were panicking because they were living X amount of miles away. They know we had some kind of storm. Was their child, okay? Was the question.

And that's how Syracuse University started and off campus housing up on campus. They never had it before, but they figured in crisis, we have 10,000 people living off-campus up at SU and they needed to figure out how they could keep an eye on the off-campus students. Even though they're not making money on the housing part obviously they're making money on the tuition.

Jen: It's an investment sure, in the kids. And then what was the second? That was the 1998 Labor Day Storm and then what was the second? 

Donna:  Then it wasn't in our area. But Tulane University when they had their weather, they had to shut down Tulane and Syracuse University called me up and asked if I would tweak my website and get people to list what would be available for Tulane students.

SU offered Tulane students to come here, Tulane University, in order to not miss out on the college year. So we tweaked our business and reached out to the community and people were amazing. You know it's the beauty again, I didn't make money on it, but it was rewarding to see people in the community open their homes for free. Some of them would offer Tulane students come live with me for the semester for free.

So it was nice to be able to be there in a crisis for others.

Jen: Over and over I hear you basically saying "My business is built on relationships. The relationships I have with landlords. The relationship I have with the University. The relationships I have with parents who probably refer me to other parents in the future, right?" I always say to my clients if you're not building relationships you're not building a business it's very important.

And so I think you are a great example of somebody who's done that for a very long time. So thank you for being that in our community.

Donna: Yeah, the problem with one of my customers, the non paid renters is they change every year. At least every two or 3 years because they graduate and age out unless they go on to master's and doctorate. So that's a challenge because the landlords, most of them have used me since 1997, you know?  So that's easy and a no brainer. And I'm very cost effective for them my ads are so reasonable.

In fact, they're the same price that, when I started in 1997 that's the same price 23-4 years later, I haven't raised my price. And people used to send me back then landlords that it was a bargain back then. But I I feel strongly about keeping the prices down because I did start the site to save money on my own advertising because I was a landlord and I didn't want to pay exorbitant fees for advertising.

Jen: One last question I have, what lessons would you share with other entrepreneurs who maybe haven't been like pinged around as much as you have. Who are feeling a little beat up right now. Help them who are struggling to stay resilient. Do you have any advice or lessons you want to share?

Donna: Yeah, I would say truthfully that obviously see what problems your customers are having. Not just what you are having. But what what problems are your customers having? Talk to them and try to solve it for them. Even if there's not a financial reward behind each problem you solve.

But again, see a problem, solve a problem.

Obviously, the best one is spend less money in your business. I mean, we think that we need to throw a lot of money at things. And that for me is easy to throw money at. The hard part is stepping up and being there truthfully. That's free to put your time in.

Network more on LinkedIn. I found that so many people were home and on LinkedIn that I used to ask someone to, you know...you don't call a friend, but join the network on LinkedIn and I used to find people would take a week to connect. Now it's almost instantly.

I mean, some people and LinkedIn is a wonderful thing tool for businesses. I think it's better than Facebook and Instagram. But all of them together are important. But right now, the results I'm getting on LinkedIn are fabulous and fast. Fast is nice when you put time in to see a result right away. It makes you feel better.

I am even though I said, I'm trying to spend less I'm considering... here's a shout out to syracuse.com. They're matching advertising. I don't know if you saw that. So if you spend, I don't know $350 a month on advertising they say, they'll match it. They're doing a grant for a million or two million and a half million or I forget what it is and they're asking people to sign up for it. And I'm trying to figure out...

Because it's basically 50% off, basically, if it's worth spending money on. But I do believe in spending less money and putting yourself out there. But for businesses that do have money and don't have time it might be a local avenue to try any other.

Yeah, the last thing I was going to say is aside from there's no excuse for bad customer service there's no COVID excuse for poor service or step it up. See COVID as a silver lining. Almost that it's a problem and try to make that problem better. A little better in everybody's day. Don't worry about the money behind it. That I believe will come. And just keep tweaking your business. Listen to your customers

Jen: You are the queen of that,

Donna: Thank you.

Jen: How can people find you if they are interested in learning more about Orange Housing? Where do they go?

Donna: So it's https://orangehousing.com/ , pretty simple. Our Instagram is @orangehousingny because someone in Korea or Japan had orange housing. So it's https://orangehousing.com/  and I'm always willing and available to email and talk to local entrepreneurs. And I love seeing people succeed our website.

One thing we're doing also, if you have another minute, is I started doing Team Syracuse. Which is to strengthen local businesses and it doesn't matter if you're small or large. If you're local and in this community and matter to the community...I mean we're stronger together. So, in my opinion, I believe in promoting local businesses, even if they're my competition, I believe in promoting local businesses and I'm doing a barter basically. It's free. So if someone posts out insignia team Syracuse on the bottom of their website, we linked back to them if they linked to us and the insignia came out great. It was a local resident who designed our Team Syracuse insignia and it's different build things in Syracuse. One of them is the downtown Syracuse...it's City Hall. We have buildings up at Syracuse, but it came out great, I was really impressed. And it's again, something I'm not going to make money on but it should give the people were partnering in. We're. hoping it raises them in the Google search because one of the things Google says helps raise where you are in the Google search.

So if you're on page 10 nobody ever gets to page 10 when they Google a business. But if you could get closer to page one which luckily because we've been in business for 23 years and have the domain a lot of times will show up on the first or second page when people Google off-campus housing for Syracuse University. We show up right on top and that's not a paid.

Jen: Yeah, of course. So this is another way that your longevity and you're iterating and your relationship building has paid off in your business, right?

Donna: And we've networked with for that I think almost 15 different businesses. And we just recently launched it we're not really pushing it. But I should promote it more because it's free for everybody and it's a great thing, but it's hard to myself. Yeah we'd love to have you join that'd be great it's just a cute little Instagram logo.

And then you go in our directory. And we link back to your website. We have a directory for businesses and for Team Syracuse. So you'd be listed in both.

Jen: So how do you get to it? Is it Team Syracuse.com?

Donna: it's actually on my website right now . It's https://orangehousing.com/  and you click on on the bottom. It says support local businesses,. And you could also see it in our directory on top. It's Team Syracuse directory and we're having fun with it. I'm just trying to have fun. Make everybody's day a little bit easier if possible I'm trying to do our small part.

Jen: Well, you are definitely doing that. Thank you so much.

Donna: It was fun chatting with you.

Jen: It was fun to chat with you too. I appreciate your time. I appreciate your insight and I love having another connection to a local business woman who's been in business for such a long time.

Donna: It was great chatting with you and any way we could help I'd love to help you and partner with you. And I loved listening to your not podcast., but Facebook

Jen: Oh Facebook, my interviews?

Donna: And I just signed up for a few of your free giveaways. We love what you're doing You and Digital Hive and Good Monster are the three... there's so much free info out there right now I have to drill down. Yeah you're one of the three and the only female entrepreneur that I like to follow.

Jen: Well, thank you. That means a lot. Thank you so much

Donna: It's cool and I've learned a lot from you. And I know you're giving away freebies, and I do appreciate it,

Jen: My pleasure. I appreciate that, Donna.

Donna: Okay, well it's nice to chatting.

Jen: Nice to chat with you too, everyone. Thank you for joining this interview, I hope that you've learned that there's more to running your business than thinking about your solution.

You really have to focus on your clients. Your customers and build relationships and Donna has embodied that example so much for us. So again, thanks, Donna I'll talk to you soon.

Donna: Alright, thanks talk to you. Thanks for inviting me, bye.

Jen: Yes, my pleasure. Bye.