Film Great Real Estate Content Every Day & Grow Your Brand | Tom Ferry Podcast Experience

So here's the thing. Entrepreneurs, leaders, salespeople, we all want to create consistent, repeatable, and scalable ways to grow our business and our income. And we want to do it better, faster, and more seamlessly. Why? So we can actually enjoy our lives, take vacations, and spend the quality time we want with the people that we love. How do we do all this without spending a fortune or running ourselves ragged? That's the big question. And this show is dedicated to the answer.

If I challenged you to shoot a video every single day, would you follow through? Think about that question. If I challenge you to build your brand, the only thing I know that actually creates a moat in a residential real estate agent's business that becomes unpenetrable, would you actually take action on it? Well, this guy did. Tim, welcome to the show.

Thank you. Thank you.

So. So, Tim, give the. Give the listener a little context, whether they're watching or listening, how long they've been in the business. Where do you sell houses? Give us a context for what your business looks like before we talk about all this Instagram stuff you've been doing.

So I've been in the business for 20 years. 2004 was when I got into it.

Yeah.

It was kind of a necessity for me to, like, I wanted to get my family to the Des Moines, Iowa, metro.

Yep.

I was living in a small town. It just wasn't where I wanted to raise my kids. So I'm like, okay, I jumped all in. I think I was like, 27 or something like that, but two decades ago. Yeah. So Des Moines, Iowa. Love the area. It's a really actively growing community as well. So that. That's really good.

Doesn't it also have a booming kind of tech vibe now?

Like, it's starting to.

Yes.

I mean, we're starting to get more and more. I mean, Microsoft has a big place there. Facebook has a massive community that they've been building there. So, yeah, it's starting to really grow.

Right on. So 27, 20 years ago, you get in the business. How many homes will you sell this year? And then let's get into all this insta stuff.

Yeah. So, like, going back to how many homes I sell, I've got this. This thing that I do on a weekly basis.

Yeah.

And I've been doing it 20. All of 22, 23, 24, and now 25, where I want to sell 100 homes in a year. And I track it.

Yeah.

Three years ago, I sold 92. Last year, I sold, I think, 69. Yeah. And then another 69. Two years in a row. The down years were. Sure. 69.

Sure.

And then this year, I've got, I think at 23 so far this year. It's been pretty slow. Been pretty slow.

Yeah. So. So you say that with kind of a solemn look on your face, and yet you're at 23 transactions for the year when a lot of people would love to be in that position. You've done, but I get it. Yeah, I get it. I, you know, nobody likes to go backwards.

Y.

So. So I challenged you. Why don't you unpack the challenge so people get contacts and then let's talk about this. This whole sort of incredible experience you've had.

Yeah. So the challenge on that video a day. So the video a day came up, and I think you had either a podcast or someone on. It was like October of 22.

Yes.

And I was like, man, I can do that. And I just started thinking more about it, and then there's a guy named Todd Collins. He's a social media marketing guy out in Maryland. Somehow we got on the Tik Tok thing and, you know, I started watching him and he was doing a live an hour every day that year, and I'm like, if he can do a live every day, I sure as hell can do a video every day.

Yes.

And so I started that January 1st of 2023.

Okay.

And I have not missed a single day. It's 870 days in a row.

Congratulations. Now, you seem like a pretty disciplined guy. So is adding a new routine like that something easy for you?

I like to challenge myself. I mean, I. Everything I do in my life are challenges. Like, and I know if I can stick to that challenge, that I'm going to be successful. Yes. So, like, I just mentioned where I have that 100 house goal. Every Friday since the 20th of January 1st of 2022, I do a video that says, here's how many houses I sold. Here's how many I didn't sell. Like, yeah, the wins and losses. And that's.

How are you tracking the losses?

Well, the losses, if I don't have a closing that week.

Got it.

Okay, then.

So it's.

Yeah.

So it's not like I had a listing that expired or correct. A deal fell apart.

So each update that I do, I also try and mix in a story.

Right.

So it's like, hey, this week I sold zero houses. But hey, here's. And like I said, it's been a tough week. You know, there's been some losses. Had a couple of Listings expire. But yeah, you know, we're going to continue pushing and pushing and next week, you know, make sure you come back and see if we get one done next week.

So I got that. So let's go back to that, that first day, January 1st. Let's assume the person listening right now is like, okay, I get it now, by the way, is there a correlation to shooting content and doing less transactions? Because someone's gonna say the guy's got a goal of 100. He went as high as 92, but he did 92 in what I refer to as the champagne and cocaine of real estate. Right. Like when every money was next to nothing, everybody was moving for no apparent reason. We did 6.9 million individual unit transactions and then, you know, SL 23 less. You know, 23 less, 24 less. This year looks like we are at the bottom and now we're starting to come out of it. But again, that's market by market. Right, Right. Every market is different. Right. So I actually celebrate the fact that you continue to sell so many darn houses. But I don't want the listener to be like, he started doing all this content and he sold less homes. That there's not how it works.

Yeah. There's not a correlation there at all. Yeah, it, I feel like right now, if you look at my board of, of the people that I'm. That I have, that I'm harvesting.

Right.

That I've got, it's bigger than it's ever been.

Yeah.

Like I'm telling you, like I probably have 30 or 40 people that are in the works that have been in the works for a year.

Right. We've DMed about this.

And so there's going to be a time when they all hit. And so like part of me is like stressed and worried and nervous because I am down. Like I am down. I've got two full time employees, you know, and I want, I care about their families. Like. Right. I care about my family. So I need to keep producing to provide.

Yes.

And I get worried, of course, but at the end of the day, I know that my hard work and the things that I'm doing, it's going to pop off and things are going to change. Be just fine.

You're so lucky to be doing this today. Even though, you know, again, we're on a flat to declining market on transactions right across the country. Us, Canada, most of Europe. Europe seems to be picking up pretty aggressively right now. But at the end of the day, you decided to do something radically different. So. So you go back to that day, January 1st. I've got so many questions I want to unpack. But let's start with when you first said, I'm going to do this, did you have, like, some inspiration around what, what content you had put out? So what were you thinking in the early days? If I went back, you know, 880 days ago, what am I going to see in that content?

I've been doing videos for, like, since 2012. I mean, I didn't like, my first videos were the slideshows.

Yeah.

And I always use Blake Shelton's Home, the song. And I'm like, this is really good now. It's totally st. Oh, yeah. So I've never really stuck to, like one thing. And I've had times throughout. Throughout the period where I'm like, okay, we're going to have, you know, throwback Thursday. You know, the common things. And I just never got comfortable with that. Yeah. And I feel like when I'm talking to clients and when I'm experiencing my day, I'm always aware of that. Right. And so, like, content just pops up.

Yeah.

Like, I'll have a conversation with my videographer, I'll have a conversation with a client, and it's like, that's a good topic.

Yeah.

I get done with conversation, I immediately record it. So, like, as far as a plan, this is the type of stuff I'm going to do.

Yeah.

I never had a plan like that. Yeah. My content is all over the board.

Yeah. So. So there's something to going with the flow. And I appreciate that because I do a lot of that as well. And there is this sort of thematic, hey, once a month I'm going to give you a market update, or once a month we're going to talk about home prices or whatever it may be. So it sounds like you kind of do that and way more because looking at your channel, it could be, hey, you know What? The number one question that I get from first time homebuyers. Right. Is like 427,000 views on it.

Yeah. Right.

And then the next one might have like 5 or 8,000. So when you first got started in the early days, did you ever feel like quitting?

I don't. I'm not a quitter. Like that. That's not really in my blood.

Yeah.

But where there's some hard times, 100% talk about that. Yeah. So, like, there was one time I pretty sure I probably had Covid. Right. Yeah. And it was funny because that day I challenged myself, or that month I challenged Myself, I'm gonna do 100 push ups and I'm gonna do that run a mile a day.

Yeah.

Like, I had this challenge to myself and I was like, dying at 103 temperature, and I went and ran my mile and I did my push ups and I laid in bed and I felt like death. And all I posted that day was, I don't know about you, but I feel like crap.

Yeah.

And. But it was a video and I got for like, weeks after. Days after that, people were like, hey, you feeling better? Hope you're feeling better. You know, it's like, so it doesn't really matter. I met my have daughters that play club volleyball.

Y.

And there's days where you're like, oh, you know, I don't know if you've ever been in that world, but those tournaments are exhausting. And you're in these buildings with no wi fi. You can't do anything. So I posted a video of my daughter playing volleyball on my real estate page.

Sure.

So I think the more videos that you do, the more authentic they are, the more clients get to know you. That way, when they call you to work with you, they already know who they're calling.

So. So if you were to advise somebody, do you think this is a pure brand play or. Or is it a. I want to transfer my insight, my ip. Like, I think about one of my friends, one of my closest friends on the planet, a guy named Kurt Kessel. He and his partner Dwayne, number one or number two team for Compass in this entire state of Florida. And I think nationally, they're probably top four or five. I challenge them. My goodness. Probably in 2015, 2016. Fellas, between the two of you, you've been selling real estate for 60 years. Why don't you do like, 60 lessons in 60 years? And so that was a long time ago, almost a decade ago. And they're still trading on. Oh, my God, I've watched all those videos. You gave us all the insights, you gave us all the lessons. So is it. Is it just get to know me and what I'm all about? So when you. When you show up in the appointment, they're like, I know you like you and trust your cause. I've watched everything. Or is there an element of. I also want to educate people, and I want people to be informed. Like, there's got to be some method. There's a lot of madness.

Yeah, there's a lot of it. So, like, when you have to do a video every single day. Yeah. Like, the content is tough to continue to come up with while you're still trying to work and you're still trying to sell homes. Yeah. The numbers that we talk about are mine. They're not my team numbers. They're just 100.

Correct.

I want my team to have their own success.

Yes.

So I don't take theirs. Right.

Yes.

But like, it is hard to come up with content. But I always. The, the ones that do better are the more personal ones.

Interesting.

The, the educational ones typically will fall more flat.

Well, yeah. I mean, hey, here's three things you need to know if you're buying a house. Well, that's good for, you know, call it. I don't even know three out of 100 people. Right. That might be in. And if you get four or five.

You get three likes on 100 views. Yeah. The algorithm isn't picking it up 100%. So that's, that's like the hardest thing for me is I want to do a lot more real estate content.

Yeah.

I want to do a lot more education.

Yeah.

But I also know that I need to get followers. I need engagement and all of that. And, you know, part of me for a long time struggle, like, why do I need so many followers?

Yeah, you have a lot. 24,000.

Yeah. On Instagram, big number. Yeah. And then on TikTok, I've got like 50,000.

Yeah.

TikTok has been a lot more fun, but, yeah, getting the followers. I came to the conclusion, like, you got. I got three reasons why I want to grow my following. First is it's my job to get as many eyeballs as possible on my listings. Yes. So if I have this meme over here that I posted that has nothing to do with real estate, but it gives me followers and it gives me attention. Right. My listings will get more eyeballs and you just never know.

Right.

The other one is it might get me a referral. So, like, if my followers are all over the country, it might get me a referral in some way.

Right.

And I play that card. Like I, I say, no matter where you are in the country, if you're looking to buy or sell a home, give me a call. Yeah, I can help you.

Yeah.

And I talk about how I interview agents and how I can make sure I can take that pain in the butt off your shoulders and get you the right agent that's going to take care of you.

Yeah.

And the last one is, like, the more, the more followers I have, when someone locally sees my stuff, are they more likely to follow me? Because I Have a bunch of followers.

100%.

Yeah. So, like, they follow the crowd, and then that might turn into a client lead at some point.

So. So you look at it from a very analytical perspective, which I do appreciate, because I do the same. Do you go deep and look at your content and ask yourself, like, why did that perform? Why did that get shared? You know what. What metrics are you paying attention to?

So analytical. I am, but not. I'm not real good with, like, studying the details and pulling up the analytics. And like, I. I hear people on your podcast that go through all that stuff, and I'm just like, man, am I just dumb or something? Because I don't. I can't. I can't do that.

I don't want those dumb as a fox guys. Yeah. I don't.

I don't understand that stuff. But what I do is I test a lot.

Yes.

And like, for example, and, you know, I work with Todd and we talk on a weekly basis. He's like, man, try some memes. Make some memes.

Yeah.

So I made a meme and it was like this skater, this gal walks out of a building skating, and she slips and falls and she grabs the pole, and I put on up above it. I said, I saw it. How's your 23? It has 100 million views.

Yeah.

100 million views.

Yes.

And it wasn't real estate related, but it was relatable, right? Yes. Especially in the real estate world because that's. That was when. So October was when those rates jumped for sure. And then that thing hit her in the head.

She's like, yeah, so look at a buy a house in 2023 bong.

Yeah. So everything just kind of like I test everything.

Yeah.

And some things will hit. So, like, you have like, the speed tour guy. Right. Like, that stuff will hit and it's like, it's fantastic. I love it. But for how long?

Right.

And you always have to have those tests out there. So, like, if something catches, I might do it three or four times, but I'll have stuff in between them because I know that that's probably going to dry up. And then we just got to keep going.

Sure. So. So there's so many different approaches to creating content. Do you think about hooks? Do you think about calls to action? Do you think about stories? Do you think about. No, no. Three things? Like what. What have you found to be effective when you're putting out a piece of content?

So you have to listen. So, like, if you go on a listing appointment, the number one thing you could do is listen to your clients.

Yep.

Because then you know where to go from there.

Yeah.

If they're ready to just sign the papers and I heard you saying the other day, you just, I don't want to hear all this crap, then you close the deal. Right. It's the same when you're taking in content. Yes. You got to pay attention to what you're doing. So you're watching the content and you might say, well, why did I watch this full video? Was it the hook? Was it the content? Was it the way they, they held the camera? Because all of it matters.

Yes.

And so I just pay attention to what I pay attention to and it's turned into like, when I first was on TikTok, my wife was like, you're on that all the time. And I'm like, I'm not on it for any other reason other to better my videos and better my content.

Sure, sure.

And so I just, that's what I do. I listen. And hooks are very big. I realize very quickly if someone says hi, I just jumped on here to swipe.

Yeah.

Like, I never say hi, I just jumped on here. I just.

Hey, hey.

I just wanted. My name is this. My name is like, I never even say my name in my videos because if they want to know my name, it's right there in my bio. Bingo. So, like I do a quick hook.

What's your source of inspiration for hooks ideas? Like, do you follow other people? Do you look at other content? Do you read other, you know, do you go to other websites? Like, what do you use to sort of find inspiration? Because you're 880N. I know when I was like, I don't know, 1200 YouTube videos, long form content in. I'm like, oh my God, like, how many more times can I talk about open houses?

Oh man.

Right. So, so, you know, you, you need to find other sources of inspiration. Where do you go?

I just, like, I say, I like, I'll, I'll even, I'll even do my entire video and then pull the hook from the video.

Yeah.

Like, wait a minute, this is boring. I gotta like, let's pull this section out and even though they'll hear it again in the thing, but that, that is the catch. Right? So like, you just gotta analyze and try and figure out what, what is it that would catch your attention. Yeah. To make you watch it.

Yeah.

But I'm in a mastermind. I, I think masterminds are super important for sure. Just being able to like, I'm in a Mastermind with non real estate agents. There might be one other agent that pops in once in a while. But I mean, you've got, I've got someone from a Broadway, someone from, he's a dj. You know, they're all across the country.

And it's like content creators.

Yeah, yeah.

And smart.

The main thing is like, you just have to adapt other things that you see into your business or into your content.

Yeah.

And so like it may be a video about life insurance, right?

Yeah.

But then you're like, oh wait, I can pull that and do that 100. Yeah.

Okay. So you're, you're watching other content creators. You're kind of grabbing inspiration from them. Reimagining yourself. Knowing what you know now though, if you look back over the 880 some odd videos you shot, would you have done anything differently?

Oh man, there's so many videos.

I know, but I mean, I mean, sometimes, like we're all going to have unicorns every now and then we're going to have a lot more donkeys. Right. Like they just don't produce well. But like, I'm always looking back and going, okay, why did that perform? Well, like anytime I put my wife in the photos, it just does better. Right. Carousels are hot right now. They used to not be hot.

Right.

Green screens, super hot anytime. But like I'm, I'm, I'm just personally not all that obsessed with the news. Do you know what I mean? And that's what, that's what gets people fired up.

It's funny you said that because that's the one thing that like, I wish there, there are times I get fired up by it. Right. And I, and I, I, I don't get super political in it, but I mean, if you watch my content, you know where I stand.

Sure.

But I don't like call anything out and I always try and keep it neutral.

Yeah.

But that, that is like. So there's two things that I know. If I want to make a viral video, if I'm struggling, I need to get the algorithm back. I hit a news story.

Yep. Or I talk green screen.

Or you talk about construction.

Yep, construction for sure.

You go into a house. I got a video right now that just went over a million views. And it's like I just went into a house and I talked about like there was a gap between the sheeting and I'm like, this is not okay.

Yeah.

And it was a half inch gap. But everybody and their dog wanted to tell me how I was wrong. And that's Normal, and it should be there. And I'm like, no, no. And like, I got to the point where I'm done replying.

Sure, sure.

And I mean, I said, there's a lumber company that has plans on a tube. So a house had 24 inch on center studs, and I'm used to 16 on center. And the builder that did that said, well, it's because the lumber company sells you the plans. Yeah. And they want to sell more lumber. And I said that in the video. That's what they told me. I didn't say that was. I said, that's what the builder told me. And of course, I'm the idiot.

Right.

But the lumber company in our market sells the plans and everybody's telling me lumber companies don't sell. Actually, I was just sitting before this. I got one of those comments. I'm like, google, search this. You'll find out that they actually do in our market. Yes, yes. So it's just constant. Like people who want to tell you you're wrong, they inspire you and you got to be okay to just brush it off your shoulder and just keep moving on.

Okay. So, but let's, let's keep pulling that thread. Knowing what you know now, what would you have done differently?

Nothing.

Was there a time that you didn't answer all the comments?

I answer a lot of them until it gets to. I mean, once you get to that point where it's too much.

Yeah. How much is too much?

I. If you've got 300 comments, it's.

Sure.

If I've got stuff going on in my business, I've got five kids, I've got a busy business. Like, I did it as much as I could.

Yeah.

Right. Like, yeah, I would probably. If there's one thing I would do more of is do video replies.

Tell me more about that.

The doing the video replies. It does a couple things. It will get the one that's there more traction.

Yep.

And then that video alone is usually pretty good content. Right. So someone might ask a question and they want to know the answer. Answer. Well, there's probably other people that want to know those answers too. So it gives you the opportunity. Like, if anybody out there is struggling with content and they don't go to someone else's video with a lot of questions. Screenshot the question, put it up there. Answer that question if you know the answer.

Yeah.

Because it's the easiest content there is.

All right, so give me feedback on this. I've been talking with a lot of our clients, and as much as I travel. Doesn't matter where I am. I say go to answerthepublic.com, type in keywords des Moines real estate. See how many questions are being asked by people in your market or outside of your market that are curious about. And then you could take every one of those questions. There might be 880 questions, right? Just with some variation. Short form, long form, search query, essentially across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Amazon, Google. I mean, like it's a smattering of different places they pull all the content from. Then you could take that and I could put it right into your favorite AI tool and say, Write me a 300 to 400 word blog essentially on this. Have it write the blog and then read it. Make sure that it's appropriate. And then I could send that out to my database in an email. I can put it on LinkedIn, I can put it on Facebook, I can put it on, you know, anywhere, my own website, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. But then the next step of that is do I record a video of that or do I have, hey, Gen, my new AI avatar, record a video or have we all seen, like, have you seen the new baby videos that everyone's doing?

I did, I did a home tour in that.

Oh, I think I saw yours. Yes.

Baby Timmy.

Right. So, you know, now you got the baby doing like, there's so many, there's so many other ways you can take that one piece of content. And essentially, like I say that, like, content is like marketing. It's. It's best in layers, you know what I mean? Like a lasagna. I don't want to. I don't want to. You know, just a noodle and some sauce and whatever, some cheese you want. Like the 19 layer lasagna. Well, branding and content is the same. So now that you've got this content strategy going, have you created more layers with it? Like, is every one of the videos also on YouTube shorts? Is every one of the videos also on TikTok? Is every one of the videos transcribed and converted to a blog. What else have you done with it?

That's funny you asked that. Can I say the name of a company that I use?

Sure.

So there's this company called Repurpose IO.

Yes.

And everything that I put on TikTok it goes into. So I kept. We all know how these social media apps act differently. And so like tick tock. I'm a little more risky, I have a little more fun. So all my TikToks go on YouTube. They go on YouTube shorts.

Good.

They go into a Google Drive.

Good.

And if you put like a hashtag, you can separate it into different areas. So I go back back to 2022. I believe every one of my videos is saved with the captions and the hashtags. Smart. Which I know hashtags don't really do as much anymore, but they're there, Right. So, like, if I want to search it, I can find it. And I also had to go into Pinterest for quite a while because I'm like, why not? And then I also had him go into LinkedIn.

Yep.

Because I'm like, so LinkedIn was a funny one for me because I don't use it a whole lot. And it's, it's more like trying to get you a job, you know, like, or people like, Happy Book University.

But hey, but like, hey, I'm moving to Des Moines. Who do I know?

Yep.

Right. And then all of a sudden all your content shows up. That's a good move.

But what I. It had my riskier stuff. Right. So my tick tock stuff was going to LinkedIn. I was like, I'm just going to try this for a while to see if, like, there's a breakthrough.

Yeah.

Because, you know, you don't see unprofessional stuff as much on LinkedIn.

Yeah. Okay. For the record, you seem very subdued. So what is your version of risky content?

Like maybe with a little political touch or.

Okay.

Yeah. Like, I don't, I don't like, swear and get crazy or anything like that.

Yeah.

You know, like, I'll do just screwing around.

Yeah.

Like my fit, like, check out my fit, you know, and just be stupid. Yeah. So, like, sometimes I like to let.

My true personality show trends and.

Okay.

So I was going to ask you because, like, I watch you and like, you're super relaxed and chill doing this show, but I see some of your content, like, and it's like you're a little more outgoing. So is it, like, which Tim is real?

They both are.

Okay.

They both are. I mean, I'm. I'm super relaxed. Like, this is comfortable for me.

Yeah.

So we're relaxed as we're just two people. Have a conversation. Yeah. I've been on camera for a long time. Yeah. And this comes natural. There's really no preparation. It's just back and forth. But like, on camera, if I have a purpose or I have, like, if you put me on stage, I might like, have more of a jazzed up attitude because my wife will ask me, like, it's not the same person on camera as it is here. And I'm like, It's because the adrenaline hits. Sure. Like when the camera flips on to me, even if I feel like crap, it's go like all of a sudden I'm hyped. I do my video and then I might drop back down. Right. So, like, I don't know.

So, you know, you, you put on like. Like my buddy Chase Hughes says we all wear masks. Right. Like, or Todd Herman would say the alter ego. Right. As. So there's definitely a mask, I think, to content creation, but I think there's this, like, I don't know when you become the mask and then that's just you 24 hours a day. There's some magic in that because I think some people would be let down, like, if they were like, ran into one of us walking down the street and we were like slouchy, angry, depressed. They'd be like, what? Like what? Right. Like, you know, all those normal human experiences that, you know, some of us, we just, we just, we got all that stuff out of our system. So. So looking back over 880, you'd say no changes. But what if I said to you the next 880, if you were going to really move the needle in your business, what would you do differently? And are you open to having a little discussion about that?

No, I'm open to it for sure.

Man, that's a tough one. Maybe that's something I should think about because, like, for me, moving the needle in my business is. Is more about personal contact. Like one of the things that I'm going to start. I'm just going to start this because I'm trying to figure out, you know, I talk with my coach, he wants me to do expires, call expires, call expires. And I'm like, you know, that's not. Like, I'm not that guy. Yeah, I'm not. I did it when I started in the business of cold calling, but the world's different today for sure. And I'm in the business enough now where I have relationships with all the agents and I don't want to make anybody mad and I kind of try and tread lightly to that. But one of the things I'm going to do and I'll tell everybody and I. I'm okay telling people what I'm good, but I'm going to pick four or five a week luxury listings, go knock on their door.

Yeah.

And offer up assistance.

Love it. You know, have you seen the, the seven letter campaign that Jimmy Mackin put together inside of listing leads.

Yep.

Like, I think that understanding their emotional state, like the survey that was done was what is the number one emotion that expired listing is experiencing after their home doesn't sell? And everybody's like, frustration, anger. No, it's actually embarrassment.

Yeah.

That. Oh, Catherine, I are moving and suddenly your home didn't sell and everybody's like, tim, what happened?

Yeah.

Right. And now you have to rehash the experience of it not selling and the transition didn't work. Yeah, we decided not to. That really. Like I think I said you guys were moving to New York. Right. Like, so it's embarrassment. And I like the letter strategy. So if you're going to go to their door, what strategy are you thinking about?

So the strategy would just be like, go to the door, knock on the door.

Yeah.

And if they're not there, have a nice piece of documentation that can show them what we do. I'll have QR codes that go to each one of my social sites.

Yeah.

Maybe a blurp about why that's important. Yeah. You know the one thing that is.

It kind of the, hey, homes don't sell for one of three reasons. Probably priced incorrectly, didn't get the exposure, you know, needed. Needed to be, you know, something had to be addressed with the property. So it showed. Well, something as simple as that.

And honesty, like that's one thing that for me, I tell people in the very first meeting, I might tell you things you don't like, but I want to help you. And the only way to help you is to be honest with you.

So I'm gonna, I'm gonna give you a challenge. Here's another challenge.

I like it.

And I would say the same thing for my listener here. I did this back in like 2010, 1112, where I would say to people, I want you to create one video that sits on your website. And today I would say, I want you to create a series of videos that sit on your website. That if I was a home seller, it would be the single most important commercial video I would see. If I was a first time home buyer, if I was moving to Des Moines, if I was moving to Des Moines on this side versus that side versus this side versus outside, like each one of those, like hyper focused video specifically for someone that is in search of luxury investing. Moving to the west side, moving to the east side.

Right.

Selling my home for the first time. A senior. Selling my home for the first time in 40 years. I would challenge you to Create very specific answers to their questions. And I think you're going to find like intermixing that, you know, and you could say, because you go on a lot of listing appointments, you know, I just walked out of a meeting with a client. They're 92 years old. Right. They're 87 years old, they're whatever, they're 65 years old. And they're like, Tim, we're not even sure if we should sell. So how do you help somebody make that? You know what I mean? And you talk through the process of maybe telling them they shouldn't sell. Right. Like there's, I think there's content that is so, so important for those of us that are looking for the information. Right. It's why I love AI vs Google search. I know my Google haters out there don't, don't go Google hating. I do believe that Google's gonna figure it out and it's gonna be pretty monstrous. But when I go to Perplexity and I type in a question, I get the answer. Yep. When I go to Google I gotta really search to find what I'm looking for. But if I, if your video pops up and it's on YouTube as an example and you're asking for the exact question. Yep. Like my level of intent goes up higher, my insight goes up higher. That's why I go back to answer the public. I think the, the great opportunity for you as for everyone watching is go to answer the public, mess around with the search query like TikTok and Instagram and all these different places and start creating content, answering the questions that are on the minds of customers in your marketplace. And when you do intermix, I think with all your personal stuff and your fun stuff and your memes and everything else, I think you'll see a nice lift over time. Otherwise, keep catch, you know, keep kicking ass. Right?

Yeah. I mean like you got to keep pivoting I think. I love that. I love answering questions. I feel like when someone asks a question I typically, especially you know, real estate related, I have the answers.

Right.

So it's not hard to do.

Yes.

You just got to find the right question. Yeah, that's going to be, you know, touching to the person who's trying to find it.

Well, instead of the right question, I would tell you it's, it's don't be self serving. Do you know what I mean? Like the only thing that matters is what's on their mind. Yeah. It's like, it's like I got over watching like how Many view counts I had a long time ago because I'm like, hey, you know how hard it is to talk to 300 people?

Yeah.

You know how hard it is to talk to a thousand people?

That's right.

How about like 10,000 people? It's hard. So if I get one piece of content, it gets two thousand, five thousand, ten thousand, a hundred thousand, a million views, whatever. I think, well, this was. This was meaningful to a larger group or a smaller group, but either way it was meaningful.

Where else can you get in a room of 500 people on a daily basis?

Right, Right.

That. That's a lot of people.

Yeah, I love it.

And there's. There's a lot of people that get worked up because, oh, I'm only getting 2, 300 views.

Right. That's like. That's like two small auditoriums for sure. You know? And you did it twice in a day.

Yeah.

Shut the front door. Congratulations. So what do you say to the person that is on the fence? And just as we get near wrapping this up, like, I think I've hit every one of my questions. If you were to say to someone that's like, but, Tim, I'm just so afraid to be on camera and my hair is not right and my, you know, my glasses are always kind of screwed up and I don't know what to do. What do you say to that person?

It doesn't matter. So are you sure? Yeah, because there's. There's a lot of. Like you just said, there's a lot.

Of insecure people in the world. And I'm not busting your chops.

You just said, hey, Jen. You talked about, hey, Jen. So memes. My face wasn't on a meme. Yes. Like, there's so many different things you can do. Yeah, you can, you can just. And I've seen people do it. Like, if someone doesn't like their voice, I don't like my voice. Not many people like to hear their own voice. AI's got voices.

Yes.

Like 11 labs or whatever that is. Or TikTok or not. Tick tock. Well, TikTok has it cap cut. Like, they all have voices that you can type it. So take a video of something and type what you want to say. Like, you don't have to be on camera to make a good video.

True.

And after doing 100 videos in 100 days, I got pretty darn comfortable with the camera.

Yeah.

And like, I do videos, I wake up with bedhead. Right. I go work out. I'll do videos with bedhead.

And Right after my workout. Perform really well.

Yeah, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. And that's actually one of the tactics that we talked about in our mastermind was like, do something to keep people looking.

Yeah.

Like there was a gal that had a lazy eye in a video and one of the people in there is like, I watch her whole videos because I'm trying to figure out where her eyes going.

Right. So I have a friend who has the same thing. I'm always like, I mean, which one am I looking at here?

If the hair is messed up. But it doesn't matter.

Like it's better when they make the joke.

Right.

You know, I mean, fairness, right?

I'm like, yes, I agree. But like I've had videos where, where I mess up something or you know, you got something on your face and everybody talks about something on your face. But a lot of people see it for sure.

I had a video where like a fly landed on me and I was like, you know, like, you, you just. I'm like, don't edit. It just, it doesn't matter. Right. Back in the day when I had no editors. Right. And all the videos were like me in a flip video camera by myself sitting in Chicago. Hit the record button and then the wind picks up. People like, I can't hear you in the comments. Please buy a microphone.

Yeah, sometimes the over edited videos don't do as well. It's like, you know, I look at the home tours today, they're so overly edited and I, I'm just starting to do videos on. Hey, if you have a property that you want people to see.

Yeah.

Do you like this video or this video? This video. You can't really see what's going on because it's dropping here and it's flashing here and it's like, like.

Yeah.

Or do you just want a classic nice video of your home?

Yeah.

Or both.

Yeah. I think it's, you know, my note up here plays at work. I think you have to just continually look at what's trending, what's hot and is that relevant to your space? That's the key. Is it relevant. No one needs to see another real estate agent doing tick tock dances. Just saying.

Right.

But if it's relevant and it's trend worthy, then I say you jump on it. Otherwise you're exactly right. Give the people what they want.

Yep.

People love looking at houses. If there's. If they didn't, they wouldn't be on Realtor and Redfin and Zillow all day. Long. With hundreds of millions of views. So the more properties you show, I think the better the way you show them stylistically, the better. I love. Like, who's the young gal we had on our podcast who whispers into her phone everything, you know, like. Like, there's so many different ways you can do it, and you can do it always. So, like, Ryan, punch me for forgetting your name. Thank you. Caitlin. Shout out. Sorry. Caitlin.

Ryan. He edits my videos long form. Right. So, like, we have really good long form videos that get 50 views on YouTube.

Right.

But they're still important.

50 views on long form. YouTube is great. And it's important 100.

And then we do both videos. So. Yes, then you take the other video and you do another video. You don't have to just do one or the other. Yeah, do them all.

Exactly.

That's what we're getting paid for.

Yep.

So, yeah, that's kind of my. My theory on that.

All right, so the next 880 days, I will be watching.

You know, you get so far into one of these trends, or not trends, but these challenges, streaks like, like 100. Why would you quit?

I promise you, when I look back at 2007, meeting my buddy David, who was at the time working at Google, they had acquired YouTube, and he was like, you should stop doing those audio things because they're stupid. I was like, thanks. Right, thanks. I had done it for three years, started doing YouTube videos, and nobody was watching it. In 2007, when I started, I would say nobody was watching in 2008, 9, 10, 11, 12. And then around, like, 2013, I started getting phone calls of like, hi, we'd like to hire you to come speak. Could you do episode 14, 27, 56, and 53 in that order? And I'm like, I don't even know what they're talking about. Yeah, right. I got a very show like, okay, what content was that? It's happening so much faster now for real estate agents, for loan officers, for title execs, for entrepreneurs, for, you know, people. People that will do the work over and over again and build that audience. Yeah. So for that, I applaud you, my friend.

Well, thank you.

Congratulations.

I got a question for you. Fire away. So, like, I like to stay ahead of the trends. Right. And I thought I was early at 2012 on YouTube.

Sure.

You said two, 2007. So, like, what's the next trend? What's something that, like, that isn't taken off yet that we need to look at?

You know, I think the stuff that's Going to transform the world, whether we like it or not is how we could be so on the pulse with exactly what matters to people using AI. It's going to be interesting to see how fast, like, I've already digitized myself and my voice. So I have this. It's not available for commercial use yet, but literally you can go on there and go, hey, Tom, I'm a real estate agent at Des moines. I'm at 25 transactions. My goal is 100. Could you help me break down the map? And like, literally the best of my IP is going to answer every question for you in detail. I think when that becomes available in the form of video and because audio is easy video, it's, it's there, but it's not there yet. I think when that's available, I think the world of content creation is just going to explode. I think it's. It literally is going to change the face of how we operate as humans. Like, you know, I want to do all my research before I buy that duplex or that a plex or buy that car or whatever it may be. And I'm going to go have a conversation with somebody and without ever talking to somebody.

So it sounds like if you're not going all in on AI, you're making a mistake.

I mean, I think it's the one thing that keeps just about every CEO I know up at night. And the great news is we're so early in it. But I would say the bridge is if you're putting out content that is so obviously written by AI, like, everyone knows. Do you know what I mean? Like, when you see all the emojis around on Instagram and stuff, I'm just like, okay, you didn't write that. Like, that's. You know what I mean? Like, we want humanity. I want the best possible information, but I also want humanity. Yeah. Does that make sense?

Yeah.

So I would say it's the use of AI, but then unleashing your personality, your style, your creativity, your hooks, your messaging, your consistency. Being empowered by AI is the short form. And then the stuff that, My God, like Gary Vane and I, we talked about it like, how many times a million years ago, one piece of content needs to be multiplied to many. And I think what most people are missing today is actually long form, blogging content posted on all those sites, Google Business page, your site, LinkedIn, et cetera. And then doing the video version and then it gets emailed. And then if it's really good, it's a QR code, direct mail piece Back to your website to read that blog to get more information. I think that content. Flywheel, I think that is. That's always going to be the case. I'm an investor in an underwear company, and that's what they do. You know what I mean? Like, and they text me and say, here's the latest print that I look on social. And there it is. And there's a cute. You know, like, I think that's the game. So it doesn't matter what your personality is. You can have no personality. You can still find your tribe.

Y.

Right. But I think today with. With the amount of people now creating content in real estate. Right. It's got to be different. It's got to be super consistent, and it's got to be different and special to really stand out.

Yeah. I started taking my. I do, like a monthly, like a market update.

Yeah.

And, well, all I do with that, I do the video because I'm better at just doing video. I'm not a writer.

Yep.

I give it to my assistant. I say take this video, transcribe it, and. And write a blog. Yeah. Send that out to all our clients, put on our website.

100, man. Yeah.

Super easy. It takes me five minutes.

Yeah.

I mean, all the research that I have to do, but I do that anyway. Yeah. Five minutes on the camera, all of a sudden, I got a blog.

I love it. I love it. So I'm proud of you, man. I'm proud of you. So between now and the Summit, T minus 11 weeks, I want to challenge you to create one piece of content that in a year will look back and say that was good for 10 transactions.

Okay.

One piece of content. 10 transactions.

That series that we were talking about.

Up. Love it. Right on, man. Tim, super proud of you, buddy. Thank you. Thanks for making the trip.

Absolutely.

Thank you so much. Hey, make sure you follow this guy on Instagram on his journey on his story. Shout out to you, Ryan, for helping out and making sure he does this super stuff consistently. And we will see you on the next show. Take care.

If you want more information about this episode, including my show, notes, mentions, links, and everything else, make sure you visit tomferry.com podcast. That's tomferry.com podcast. Thanks again and talk to you soon.