How A Local Realtor Turned Green Screen Reels Into Real Leads

What if your next client found you because you explained their future neighborhood better than anyone else? We sit down with Amanda of Richmond Living to unpack how she turned local curiosity into a thriving, search-driven real estate funnel—without chasing empty vanity metrics. From neighborhood tours on YouTube to green screen reels on Instagram, Amanda shows how practical storytelling, sharp titles, and clean audio can outperform glossy fluff and generate real conversations with buyers who are ready to move.

We walk through the system, not just the sizzle: why YouTube is the best place to capture relocation intent, how thumbnails and keywords set the first impression, and where Instagram fits as the fast-twitch discovery engine. Amanda explains her barbell approach to production—raw, human updates for speed and reach, paired with polished listing videos that earn trust and premium outcomes for sellers. She shares what actually moved the needle: consistent posting, simple hooks, curiosity-driven scripts (with a little AI help), and stories that invite direct replies. You’ll hear the pacing, prompts, and posting rhythm that built momentum to 28,000 followers in under a year and $13M in trackable pipeline.

There’s no hero myth here—just field-tested tactics and lessons from a tough early failure that reshaped how she learns and invests. If you want to build a local media flywheel that feeds your business, this conversation maps the route: serve first, master the small details, and connect the dots between platforms so casual scrollers become confident clients. Subscribe to stay ahead of the algorithm, share this with a friend who needs a nudge to start, and leave a review with the one tactic you’ll try this week.

Transcript

Sponsor Message: Enzo Media Firm

SPEAKER_00 0:02

In the fast-paced world of business, your digital marketing strategy shouldn't be a burden. At Enzo Media Firm, we make it effortless. We specialize in empowering medium to large businesses with comprehensive digital marketing solutions, from dynamic video marketing and podcast production to advanced web development and social media strategies. Every client at Enzo Media Firm is paired with a dedicated account manager. Your guide through the digital landscape, ensuring personalized attention and tailored-made strategies. And with monthly meetings with our creative team, we keep your marketing aligned with your vision, even if you're short on time. Discover the ease of digital marketing with us. Visit www.inzoMediaFirm.com to get started. Hey guys, this is Sam Anderson. Thanks for joining us on another episode of the You Can't Afford Me podcast. Now y'all know I'm a social media guy. You guys know I'm obsessed with marketing. And this realm of influencers, like I'm always fascinated by people who can start a page and get a good following. So today we have someone local here whose page I came across probably a few months ago. Her content just kept popping up on my news feed. So I reached out and I was like, I'd love to chat with you and talk about how you built your platform. So uh today we have Amanda on the podcast. Amanda, how are you doing today?

SPEAKER_01 1:24

Hey, good, how are you?

Amanda’s Path And Richmond Living

SPEAKER_00 1:25

Awesome, awesome. So, real quick, give everybody a quick rundown of who you are and what you do.

SPEAKER_01 1:29

Yeah, so um I'm Amanda Seibert. Um, so I started Richmond Living, which is a local page where we kind of uh dig into what's going on around town, what's coming soon. Um we sell real estate, and so our company is Cybert Real Estate. And so we started this page kind of looking to add value to our clients and how can we stay on top of what's coming soon to Richmond? How can we um tell people about how cool Richmond is? We have so many relocation clients, and that's really what got us started, and um yeah, that's why we do what we do.

SPEAKER_00 2:03

Love it. So, first of all, I didn't even know you were in you're a realtor.

SPEAKER_01 2:06

Yes, yeah. So my husband Dave Seibert started Oh, I know, yes, I know that name. Yeah, yeah. So Dave started our team. Um, man, 15 years ago, I think he started in real estate. Um I got my real estate license many, many moons ago, and I've had several different careers since then.

SPEAKER_02 2:25

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 2:26

Um, but marketing is really my jam. I love social media, I love digital marketing, and so um yeah, I really came on with him recently to try to ramp up the digital side of our team and that marketing channel. And yeah, Richmond Living was born.

SPEAKER_00 2:43

Love it. So let's let's talk about the stuff that didn't work before the stuff that started working. Yeah. Um, and do me a favor, pull that mic a little bit closer to you. I'm gonna make sure everybody can hear you right. Absolutely. Um so let's talk about the iterations prior to where you're at today. So, what were you doing before all this?

SPEAKER_01 3:01

Yeah, so I would say I'm more of an entrepreneur than anything. Um I started my entrepreneurial journey when I was like 12. I used to ride horses, and we would buy bad horses essentially, and we would, you know, I would train them up and then sell them. And so I am, you know, I've done several businesses. Um, I've done a frozen yogurt store. Nice. Um, yeah, did that. I started Nest Builders, which is our development company, and so I do kind of bespoke um modern infill construction in the city.

SPEAKER_02 3:35

Nice.

Early Ventures And Lessons Learned

SPEAKER_01 3:36

Um, yeah, and so that was kind of what I was doing for the last seven years.

SPEAKER_00 3:40

Let me let me ask you about the yogurt shop because I have a best friend who super successful financial guy, and he's always come to me and said, Sam, one day when I make it, I'm gonna open up an ice cream shop. And I'm like, why, dude? And he's like, Yeah, you never see anybody walking out with the frown on their face from an ice cream shop. All the customers are happy.

SPEAKER_01 3:57

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:57

What was that like?

SPEAKER_01 3:59

Man, so that was a big learning curve. Um, I would say I learned that I don't like managing teenagers. Um and so, you know, I think learning what you don't like is just as valuable as knowing what you do like.

SPEAKER_00 4:13

Oh, 100%. And being like, I've probably started up the nine businesses at this point, but all of my business have been service-based.

SPEAKER_01 4:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 4:20

Like when you're doing a retail store and you have product and stuff like that, that's a whole different genre of entrepreneurship.

SPEAKER_01 4:27

Oh, yeah, it's a whole thing. So I started that when I was a junior in college. Um, it was in Westbroad Village. I would say our biggest struggle was parking, which I don't know that we could have really changed a lot about our business model to overcome that. The space was a little bit too big, and so we didn't make it. It's a hard industry to make it in. The food business and a restaurant business is tough.

SPEAKER_00 4:47

It's one of the only industries I said I will never be in that business.

SPEAKER_01 4:51

Uh you're either like killing it or you're you're not making it. You're barely scraping by. So we were barely scraping by and it just wasn't worth it. Um, but it was a really great learning experience. I would say, yeah, it's probably the one thing when I think about the advice that I didn't take that someone gave me when I was looking at going into Stony Point Fashion Mall. Um, the guy who was in charge of renting spaces there was like, I think you should really work at a frozen yogurt store before you start one. And you make it. Yeah, and it's great advice. And I'm like, that's the one thing I think if I had worked there, I would have found out quickly just how much. I mean, it's a grind, everything's a grind. If you really want to make it, it's always a grind. Um, you got to pick your hard and what kind of hard works best for your strengths. And so, yeah, I would say that in general it's just a very tough business to make it in. It's a lot of competition.

SPEAKER_00 5:41

Jeez, yeah. So frozen yogurt, then what was the other thing?

SPEAKER_01 5:45

Frozen yogurt, then I did, and I we still do urban infill development. So I build residential homes in the city. Um, we do probably about three a year. Um, so we're getting ready to start one in the West E. Um I think.

College, Grit, And Entrepreneur Mindset

SPEAKER_00 5:59

Oh, wait, hold up. I just gleamed over something. Did you say you started the yogurt shop when you were in college?

SPEAKER_01 6:04

Yeah. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 6:05

All right, let's let's pause there for a second. The balance of being a full-time student and run a bit running a business, walk us through that.

SPEAKER_01 6:13

Yeah, so my boyfriend and I started it together. So I had two people, which I do feel like helps a lot. Um, but yeah, it was a lot. I I ended up being kind of a four and a half year student because you know, I had to take somewhat of a course unload to, you know, be able to fit in the business. But yeah, it was, I mean, 80-hour weeks easily for over a year.

SPEAKER_00 6:37

So I'm I'm intrigued as to so I dropped out of college at the junior level. I went to Longwood University. And I woke up one day in my junior year and I'm like, wait, I want to be an entrepreneur and I'm taking business classes and they're just teaching me how to go work for someone else. So I was like, I'm not going further than that. I'm out. Um, so it's very interesting that like since the age of 12, you've been on this entrepreneurial journey, and even being in college, owning a business, like that's what most people are in college, so they can have a job or own a business or do whatever. What kept you at school?

SPEAKER_01 7:06

I really love learning. I would say that it is the thing that is my one of my greatest strengths is that I am great at learning. So anything that I see where I'm like, oh, that makes sense or that's interesting. How are they making money doing that? And that's how Richmond Living has really been really successful is I'm a great student at figuring out and seeing the trends and what is and what isn't working because you know it's so nuanced with Instagram. What is the algorithm like?

SPEAKER_00 7:31

Um, we're gonna get into that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:34

And so definitely just, I don't know. I think that's what kept me in school is really just I enjoyed the atmosphere.

SPEAKER_00 7:41

That you sound like like again, bringing my best friend up, we can be out with our wives like at a winery or something like that. And we're all sitting there enjoying ourselves having a good time, but like I'll look over him sometimes or look over me, and we can just like see our brains moving. Yeah. And literally both of us are doing the same thing where we're like looking at the average glass of wine, how many people have walked in the last 30 minutes. So I'm doing quick math in my head. So I'm like, all right, every 30 minutes they're making like$20,000 in this place, blah, blah, blah. Yeah. Like, we'll instantly look at each other and be like, Are you doing what I think you're doing? So it's like, it's hard to turn it off as an entrepreneur. You're just constantly thinking of things.

SPEAKER_01 8:14

Constantly. My poor husband has to listen to like 40 ideas a day. I just for fun, I'm like, let's play the market cap out. And I'm like, okay, I saw this girl starting a pumpkin business, delivery business. Do you follow the corner office? This you'll love the corner office. And now he is really cool. So he does basically somewhat of my dream job where he just finds random businesses and he analyzes them. And what is the market cap of, you know, for instance, delivery. All right. So if Richmond has population X and, you know, X percent makes over$150,000 a year, and you got, you know, 10% of that market, what is your market cap? So I just really love, to your point, just seeing businesses like, oh, what is that? And what is the pitfalls?

SPEAKER_00 8:58

And what is it's fun nerding out on this stuff.

SPEAKER_01 9:01

I love it. I could nerd out all day. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:03

Before well, you grew up thinking nerds are a bad thing, and like it's my life goal to continue to be a nerd.

SPEAKER_01 9:08

Like 100%.

unknown 9:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:11

All right. So you got the the construction uh the new home development business. Um when did you did you get your real estate license prior to that? Or like while you were in that business, you were like, hey, it just makes sense to get my real estate license.

SPEAKER_01 9:24

So prior to that, I sold luxury homes. I started out with Pam Demer in the Tuckahoe office of Long and Foster.

SPEAKER_02 9:32

Okay.

Real Estate Start And Marketing Roots

SPEAKER_01 9:32

Um so my degree is actually in strategic advertising. And so back then, this is 2013, you know, you didn't have Canva, you didn't have the ease of making marketing materials. And so I was really fortunate to get linked up with Pam, who was looking for somebody to produce marketing materials for her. And so she took me under her wing and I was able to learn how to sell real estate. I was rookie of the year. Um, I really liked it, but my friends had these fancy pharmaceutical and med device jobs, and I was like, oh, I can make you know 150 a year, I can have weekends off.

SPEAKER_02 10:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:05

And then I hated it. I did that for two years. I was like, I just can't work for somebody else. I'm I'm definitely an entrepreneur, like through and through.

SPEAKER_00 10:12

And so But that I mean, that's a lesson in itself. Like, and you said that a little earlier. Like, um, best advice I got from somebody early on. I remember I was working a I was like working in a factory, like after college. Like I'm talking those factories where it's like 90 degrees, you're wearing this big overall suit and stuff, and I'm like, man, this is just miserable. Um, and I heard a guy say one time, he's like, if you want to figure out what you want to do for the rest of your life, work at a job that you absolutely hate, and you'll spend every waking moment at that job thinking about what you wish you were doing.

SPEAKER_01 10:41

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_00 10:42

And that kind of opened up my eyes, and like I was like, all right, what is it that I really enjoy doing? And blah, blah, blah. And like to figure that out, I think a lot of people are just scared to take those risks. Like, yeah, what's the problem with trying something? Like 100%. If you try it and it doesn't work out, all right, cool. Like, even if you go out and start a business, if it doesn't work, okay, I can always go back and get a job somewhere.

SPEAKER_01 11:00

Like, yeah. You see these 25-year-olds that think it's too late. I'm like, you are a baby.

SPEAKER_00 11:04

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 11:05

Please go try, just try stuff. Try stuff.

SPEAKER_00 11:08

Fail fast as humanly possible.

SPEAKER_01 11:10

Yes, that is the best advice.

SPEAKER_00 11:11

Yeah. All right. So let's get into the the social media piece. So we're here's where we're gonna nerd out a little bit. So, first, talk about how you even came up with the concept for for this page.

SPEAKER_01 11:22

Um, so I would say that this my social media skills really came from Nest Builders, which is our development company. And so I built a big local following with that. Um, and I just set record-setting prices with our homes because we created this demand and this um reputation for doing just higher quality work. And so I would say that I would preface this with I've had a lot of years of experience of understanding the algorithm and Instagram and following the trends. And you know, it's always a moving target of now it's reels, but it used to be this and that.

SPEAKER_00 11:58

And so you gotta add to a storyline and all these different things, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:03

Yes, exactly. So we actually switched over to Real Broker from Long and Foster about a year ago.

SPEAKER_02 12:11

Nice.

SPEAKER_01 12:11

Um, when we switched, we met with Clayton, was kind of our you know, inroad there, and he was telling me about this guy in Orlando named Ken Posick, who is creating these YouTube videos, and he was like, You gotta check them out. He's got this big media company, he's doing 300 million a year in volume. And I'm like 300 million? Yeah, you have money to do it. Absolutely. What do I have to do? Say less. So yeah, I literally just taught myself how to do YouTube. And Instagram is, you know, it kind of all works together. It's um an ecosystem that we have built, and it really starts with YouTube, but then we started Instagram to keep people in our sphere who are following us on YouTube um interested in moving to Richmond. And this is educating them on what's going on in Richmond.

YouTube Strategy For Relocation Leads

SPEAKER_00 13:01

So is it different content on YouTube? Is is what we're seeing on Instagram a shortened version of what you're doing on YouTube?

SPEAKER_01 13:07

It's very different. So YouTube we're doing neighborhood tours. Um, we do some of what's coming soon that's more long format, and so you know, the Diamond District will really dig into that. Where we've also done that on Instagram, but just quicker and faster.

SPEAKER_00 13:21

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 13:21

Um, and yeah, so we're just kind of linking back to both channels.

SPEAKER_00 13:25

Um which one is your larger platform right now?

SPEAKER_01 13:30

Larger and follower count is definitely Instagram, but I've heard I think the stat was for every follower on YouTube, it's basically worth a thousand on Instagram. And so we have a thousand, I think we're almost at twelve hundred followers or subscribers on YouTube.

SPEAKER_00 13:50

Which people don't uh we're we're in the society now where people hear these numbers and it's like, oh, that ain't that much, whatever. But I use the example with people, I I said this at a talk the other day. I was like, if you walked out this door right now and 20 people came up to you and complimented you, like, oh my god, your hair is so beautiful today. Oh my god, I love that shirt, blah, blah, blah. That's gonna make your day, if not your week or your month.

SPEAKER_02 14:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:11

And that's just 20 people. But then we get 20 likes or 20 views on something online, and we're like, oh, this was an absolute flop. Like, no, if the target audience you're trying to reach, if those are the people that are engaging with your content, it was successful. Yeah, you don't need a hundred thousand views on something for it to be successful or make an impact with that.

SPEAKER_01 14:29

Yeah, I've seen the, you know, when they put it people into a room and they're like, if you were speaking to 20 people in a room and they were all listening to you, that would be impressive. So, you know, when you get 20,000 views on a post, 20,000 people saw my face today.

SPEAKER_00 14:44

There you go. Yep, it's huge. Um, and you think about if you had started a business up in the 70s, like how much would you kill to be able to push a button and in seconds reach thousands of people?

SPEAKER_01 14:53

I think about it every day because with our frozen yogurt store, the only thing you could do back then was Groupon to get people in. You didn't have social media in the same way it is today.

SPEAKER_00 15:02

Groupon ate into those profits. Oh my god. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 15:04

Yes. You might as well just throw the money away because worst business decision I ever made in my life. Yes, using Groupon.

SPEAKER_00 15:10

Yes. Yes. We had uh my first business was Richmond Bubble Soccer, you put on the huge bubble suits and play full contact soccer.

SPEAKER_01 15:15

Oh, that's cool.

SPEAKER_00 15:16

So we started when we were first trying to get the word out, we started with Groupon. And it's like, number one, they want you to discount your price, and then they're taking like 50, 60% of what your discount owns. So you're making 25% of what you normally make. Like horrible business model.

SPEAKER_02 15:29

Horrible, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_00 15:30

I don't sorry if anybody from Groupon's listening, but it sucks for a business owner to do it.

SPEAKER_02 15:34

I totally agree.

SPEAKER_00 15:34

So with YouTube, let's talk about because I I tell people all the time, like, number one, I think from a real estate perspective, you're using YouTube exactly the way it should be. Because what people are doing is they're going online. Like if you live in Long Beach, California, and your job is now moving you to Richmond, Virginia, you're trying to figure out what side of town do I want to live on.

SPEAKER_02 15:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:55

And you're going to YouTube to get this information and figure out, okay, this area has this, this has this, or these homes are our style. Um, and a lot of people don't know this. That uh the the Demograph, like if you're trying to reach people over their 60s, YouTube is actually the number one social media channel for that. Yeah. Because they're always going to YouTube for information.

SPEAKER_01 16:14

And it's crazy how many people are watching YouTube on their TV.

SPEAKER_00 16:17

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 16:18

Almost our entire yeah, like all of our viewers are on their TV.

Quality, Gear, And Production Priorities

SPEAKER_00 16:22

So I go home, like, my wife is probably gonna kill me for this. Like, I have a bad habit of falling asleep on the couch sometimes just because I'm like, I don't, she can't sleep with the TV on, and I cannot sleep without a TV on, so I have to wear AirPods in the bed when I'm upstairs. So oftentimes, like I'll be laying on the couch watching TV for extremely long periods of time before I go to bed. But like, it's it's just I'm sitting there for hours just watching YouTube. Like once I finish up my work and I'm watching TV. Yeah, I'm typically not going in Hulu or Netflix, I'm pulling up YouTube.

SPEAKER_01 16:50

It's the new TV. I mean, it's I think in the next 10 years, that's gonna be the platform that people are on.

SPEAKER_00 16:56

Yeah. So 50, 51%. So using this as an example, 51% of people who engage with the podcast are actually watching the video version on YouTube versus listening to the audio.

SPEAKER_01 17:05

I believe it. That's how I like to watch podcasts or listen to podcasts.

SPEAKER_00 17:08

There are certain ones where I have to see the video. Um now, staying on YouTube, like to me, and I don't have the stats to pull out my butt right now, like to say this for certain, but I'm positive. YouTube is the hardest social media channel that you can grow. Yes. So talk about um to even get to 1200. Like somebody listening to this right now is struggling to get to 50 followers.

SPEAKER_02 17:31

Right.

SPEAKER_00 17:31

How did you channel people and get their attention on YouTube and start to grow that subscriber base?

SPEAKER_01 17:36

I would say personally, when I look into doing something, I will mull it over in my head for a very long time. But once I decide to do something, I'm like, well, let me learn from the best.

SPEAKER_02 17:47

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 17:47

And so I go full, you know, full throttle. If you're gonna try something, I don't feel like you give it a fair shot if you kind of sorta look up some stuff on YouTube. And so I bought Oli Abdal's course. I don't know if you're familiar with Ollie, but he is um this big YouTuber who's out of the UK. He uh was a doctor and then started making these YouTube videos. And I mean, he's one of the top YouTubers in the world. So he's he has a course where he teaches you how to do YouTube. Um and so I would say that a lot of the success of YouTube is coming, it comes down to the nuances with the same thing of Instagram with the algorithm and and nailing some of these really key little details. Um, and so we just I fixated on that and I, you know, spent 60 plus hours a week learning how to do it really, really well. Um, and then finding the people that can help me do it really well. And so we've kind of evolved from we've used HD Bros, Chris. I saw on your podcast, which is how we got connected. Um love those guys. They uh they're awesome. They're so awesome. They really helped us start when we were, you know, I think we want to do this, but we don't have people filming us and the budget for that. Um, we've since brought in video and we have an in-house videographer now. Um but yeah, I think really just nailing those details where it's like, you know, if you were to buy a course from Ali Abdal, he'll tell you the number one thing is your audio quality. So we invested in mics and we got the studio set up right, and we got the lighting set up right, and we bought all of the things, and just it's an investment. But I think to really do it well, stand out, be successful, you you have to do the details well.

SPEAKER_00 19:26

Yeah, no, I'm glad you brought that up because I tell people all the time, like, you can give me an iPhone and I can make a bomb ass video from that. But it's I have access to the right lighting. I'm gonna make sure that there's a mic attached to it and I'm having the proper audio.

SPEAKER_02 19:38

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 19:38

You can work off of one of these cameras, have the most beautiful image in the world, but if the lighting sucks and the audio sucks, nobody's watching it.

Thumbnails, Titles, And Posting Cadence

SPEAKER_01 19:45

Right. And so I think our best performing video was I shot it on my iPhone. Our first video, I was like, let me just see if I like doing this.

SPEAKER_02 19:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:52

Um, and it's done great. But it had a mic, and you know, so just there's little nuances that you have to nail that I think really make a difference.

SPEAKER_00 20:01

So let's talk about some of those smaller things on YouTube because I I think YouTube is very unique in that space. Um let's talk about the thumbnail. Yeah. How much thought and effort do you put into a thumbnail for your YouTube videos?

SPEAKER_01 20:13

So we have a team now that does our thumbnails, um, helps with scripting and titling that we brought on. Um, and so I would say when I was doing it, it's a lot. I mean, the thumbnail and the title is everything. And so it's all keyword research. Um, and then just looking at what works. And so, you know, you don't have to reinvent the wheel. You find other realtors' videos in other localities that do well, and what are the things about their thumbnail that make it good? You know, you brighten your teeth, you brighten your eyes, you there's just little editing tricks that you do that make it stick out that just yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:51

People people think I think it's just people being lazy where they think like there's some like magical pill or big secret when it comes to this stuff. I remember when I think it was Will Smith, he had started his when he first make got Instagram, yeah. Like his page like instantly blew up. And I think Will's kind of go off on the deep end since the Chris Rock slap, but um, when he started Instagram, his profile image was a close-up shot of him, and he had a yellow background. And like some guy made this big marketing guy made this like detailed video on like why this was so ingenious to have your profile picture look like this, yeah, and having a splash of color in the back. So I instantly did the same thing. I was like, let me get a professional shot.

SPEAKER_02 21:33

Yeah.

Shorts Debate And Audience Fit

SPEAKER_00 21:33

And I did like turquoise background or something. So if you go to all my profiles, like it's that same image because that makes it pop out. A lot of people like straining to see like what's your image or what's the picture? Or I hate when people, if you're in business for yourself and your profile picture's like Darth Vader or your cats or something like that, I cannot stand that. Like that, that is a an opportune moment that you're missing to market yourself by putting a picture of your cat or or whatever the case is. Totally agree. Um, what is there anything in terms like with YouTube in terms of like the timing? Because we'll get into the algorithm with like YouTube and stuff like that, or with Instagram. Um, but are there certain times of days or certain days that you've seen your stuff post or perform a little bit better than others?

SPEAKER_01 22:13

Fridays, according to the algorithm, are the days to post. And so we post on Friday evenings, and that does well. I don't know how much that really moves the needle. I would love to know. Like, I mean, it's so hard to know because you can't isolate one thing. Is it the title? Is it the thumbnail? Is it the content? Um, but yeah, we're really Friday nights is our bread and butter.

SPEAKER_00 22:33

Okay. And are you doing only long form video on YouTube? Are you doing YouTube Shorts? Because I've seen huge progress. Like I had cobwebs on my YouTube page. Like I was just sitting idle for so long. And I was like, all right, well, this YouTube Shorts thing, let me test this out. And I'm just gonna start repurposing the content that I was putting on Instagram or TikTok or whatever. And my subscriber base grew by like 30% in a month and a half, just from shorts.

SPEAKER_01 22:56

That's what so Nick from HD Bros and I were talking about this too, because he has his page with his dog Riley on YouTube. And I have not done shorts for the only reason I've not done shorts is because what I have heard from other realtors is when you do shorts, it doesn't attract the people that are necessarily looking to buy a house. And so then it kind of confuses the algorithm of well, the person who is interested in watching your short isn't necessarily interested in moving to Richmond, they're just maybe consuming this type of content wherever they live. And so we've not done shorts for that reason. But I have heard that if you're just trying to grow a channel, yeah, that shorts is really where it's at right now.

Raw Vs Polished Content Performance

SPEAKER_00 23:37

Oh, that's insane. And like to your point, and I definitely want to hit on this, we've seen, and obviously, like I've only consumed your content on Instagram, so I see the format that you used. Um, we've started to switch some things up with clients where like instead of coming out with a seven, eight thousand dollar rig, some kind content we're filming needs to be done on iPhones, some content needs to be done on a GoPro. Um, because from what we're seeing, these social media channels are actually limiting the reach if you're using super high quality cameras versus like your everyday ones.

SPEAKER_01 24:08

Like interesting.

SPEAKER_00 24:09

And you think about it, like you look at any food bloggers that you follow here locally, they're all filming on their iPhones and getting two, three, four hundred thousand views on a video.

SPEAKER_02 24:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:17

And my largest viewing video, like I got access to a full studio and all this stuff. Um, my largest viewed video is something I did on golf. I came up with the concept in five minutes, shot everything on my iPhone, 600,000 views.

SPEAKER_01 24:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:29

And anything I professionally produce for myself and put them on page, nowhere close to that.

SPEAKER_01 24:33

It can be so frustrating when you're like, you don't know why one will hit and why one won't, and you put tons of time into one thinking it's gonna just be great and it flops, and other ones that are an afterthought are like, I mean, I think my most one of my most viewed videos on Instagram, uh maybe 20,000 or more, 40,000 views. Um I was honestly an afterthought. I was like, I just gotta post something today, and we've gotten over a hundred leads from it.

SPEAKER_00 24:58

I mean, it's just yeah, and I I tell that's why I tell people all the time, never stop posting. Like you don't know what's gonna hit, like I equate it to like um stepping up in the major leagues to bat. Like if you only step up to bat once a game, the likelihood of you hitting a home run is very low. But if you get to step step up to bat ten times, likelihood that you hit a home run is a hell of a lot better at that point. So like just keep posting. You don't know what can happen. Yeah, um, all right, let's let's switch over to Instagram. So are you and you just said that one video uh you were able to close, well, it sent you a hundred leads um potentially. So talk to us about business conversion from social media because like the one thing I hear people say about social media that I hate to hear is like social media has distanced us so much, and like you know, we're not connecting as much as we were as human beings before. I met my wife on Facebook. So yeah. So don't tell me that like social media is like breaking us up.

SPEAKER_01 25:54

Like Dave and I also met on Facebook. There you go.

SPEAKER_00 25:56

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SPEAKER_01 26:28

There you go. So we're in the same boat.

SPEAKER_00 26:30

Yeah. But like, I think if you're taking on developing online relationships and turning them into real world situations, like once a year, and definitely my biggest platform is Facebook in terms of like conversion and engagement and all those different things. So I have a lot of people that I'm connected to on Facebook that I've never actually met. So at least once a year, and I typically do it after the new year. So around February, I'll put out a post and it's just like, hey, I'm connected with all of you, and I know I haven't met a lot of you. Like, who wants to go get lunch? Like, no strings attached, no nothing. And you wouldn't believe the amount of people that jump in my DM, like, dude, I've been following you for three years. Like, yeah, I've actually been wanting to sit down with you, let's go grab lunch.

SPEAKER_02 27:07

Yeah.

Converting Views Into Real Clients

SPEAKER_00 27:07

And probably 50% of those lunches end up turning into a business transaction, which that's legit not my intention. I'm just like, well, if I've been connected to this person for the last four years and we've never met in person, like this is stupid. Like, let's go break bread together. Yeah. Um, so talk about the conversion you've seen with the content that you're making on Instagram and how that's getting you actually in front of people.

SPEAKER_01 27:27

Um, yeah, I think that you know, adding value is what it comes back to, is just that we serve, serve, serve, serve, serve for free and don't expect anything in return. Um, we are here to help. And so we genuinely love Richmond and I love all the exciting things we have going on in Richmond, and so it's really fun to talk about and share those things, and then that has in turn created a community of people who love Richmond. So it's really cool to have this little family of people that all kind of rally around the same things. Like last night I asked, What's your favorite What is your favorite restaurant in Richmond? And we just have DMs full of just different spots, and I don't know, it feels like well now you gotta answer that question.

SPEAKER_00 28:12

Give me your top three in Richmond.

SPEAKER_01 28:15

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 28:15

Actually, they go four. Your Mountain Rushmore in Richmond.

SPEAKER_01 28:18

Okay, top four Stellas. I feel like you have to, I mean, it's so key.

SPEAKER_00 28:23

For their Philly cheesesteak, they have one of the best Philly cheesesteaks in town.

SPEAKER_01 28:26

Stellas.

SPEAKER_00 28:27

Stellas.

SPEAKER_01 28:27

I've never had this cheese.

SPEAKER_00 28:28

I'm a Philly cheesesteak connoisseur, and I'm telling you they're top three for Philly cheesesteaks.

SPEAKER_01 28:33

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 28:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:34

Okay. Um, beef tartare from Cancan.

SPEAKER_00 28:38

I haven't had I haven't been to Cancan in so long.

SPEAKER_01 28:40

It's so good. Honestly, I mean, I've been to Paris and I think that Cancan's tartar is better.

SPEAKER_00 28:45

You know, you know what it is? When I first uh because you know you hear the term expensive, and expensive is a very relative term. When I first moved to Richmond, I was like early 20s, broke as shit. Yeah. Like I remember going to Can Can with some friends one time and I'm like looking at the menu prices. I'm like, oh my God, like I'm not gonna be able to pay rent next week. But now it's like, oh, this is normal price, like this isn't super expensive. So it's always been that thing in my head that can can is like so expensive. And I went there a couple months ago and I was like, this is normal prices. I need to go back there and check that out.

SPEAKER_01 29:11

One of my best friends was the bartender there in college, so she used to really hook me up. And so I feel like I have a different perspective on that's not based in reality of Cancan and what things cost, but I think they have one of the best Moscow mules in town.

SPEAKER_00 29:24

Their bartenders are really good at making a Moscow mule.

SPEAKER_01 29:27

They have great bartenders, they really do. Um man, third and fourth. It's so hard. There's so many good spots. Um I love the Emerald Lounge.

SPEAKER_00 29:36

I feel like I haven't heard of that.

SPEAKER_01 29:38

Oh, it's so good. It's in uh Churchill. It is new. It's owned by the same guys that own the Jasper. But the interior design is just fantastic. Like I really feel like Richmond needs more places that are thoughtful about the interior design, the theme. It's a tiki bar. They have one of the best pina coladas I've ever had outside of Hawaii. Oh, it's so good.

SPEAKER_00 30:00

Okay. Definitely putting that one on the list.

SPEAKER_01 30:02

Fourth would be Adara. I also feel like their ambiance is great. Their food is fantastic.

Community Building Through Stories

SPEAKER_00 30:08

What's that town name? I haven't heard of that one either.

SPEAKER_01 30:10

They're in Oregon Hill.

SPEAKER_00 30:11

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 30:11

So they're kind of they're newer, but they're they're very cool.

SPEAKER_00 30:14

Alright, I'm gonna put those two on the list. Yeah. I'm gonna get a little ratchet with you. Okay, yeah. A couple places you need to check out. Have you ever had Sleigh Burger before?

SPEAKER_01 30:21

No, but I love are they Smash Burgers? Oh yeah. That's my favorite.

SPEAKER_00 30:25

The best Smash Burger you will ever get in Richmond is that Slayburger. Okay. It is dumb how good their Smash Burgers are. Oh, I'd love to hear that. I will say their sides. Fine. Nothing to write home about. Like I feel like the French fries that go to Walmart and get the frozen fries and just throw them in the D. But they're Smash Burgers. Killer. Killer. And then right across the street from there, shrimps.

SPEAKER_01 30:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 30:51

They have this shrimp po'boy that is to die for. And they have uh, what do they call it? Shrimp aid. That's their own uh curated version of a lemonade.

SPEAKER_02 31:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 31:01

It doesn't it doesn't have shrimp in it, but that would probably forget. That was probably the best lemonade I've ever had in my entire life. Like it was dumb good. So go down the hood in that area, like pop at those two spots, like you're gonna enjoy those spaces.

SPEAKER_01 31:18

And that's on Brooklyn Park Bowl. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:20

Right there, Brooklyn Park. And they're both directly right across the street from each other. Nice. Yeah. That check that two spots you gotta check out. Um, where do you get the I mean, all right? Let's go back to this. How long does it take you to come up with each video? Because I think a lot of people, and this is no hit or anything. I think having more simplistic formed videos is actually what more people want to see. Like, and of course you got the b-roll and everything going, but it seems to me you're just doing the green screen effect on your iPhone and you're selecting your images and doing that. But you're obviously researching these things before you put it out. So, all in, if you're making a 60-second reel on something, how long is that typically taking you?

SPEAKER_01 31:58

It takes me 60 seconds. I mean, well, 60 seconds to film, another five minutes to research, and it's really about curating Richmond News into this, you know, persona that I'm like, what would I want to hear about? What do I care about? What's interesting? What's fun? Um, we try to stay away from the negative stuff. We're not, you know, we're not heavy hitting news, we leave that to the real news people.

SPEAKER_02 32:20

Yeah.

Growth Breakthrough: Green Screen Reels

SPEAKER_01 32:21

Um, and so yeah, it's just researching, um, writing the script. We use AI to write scripts, and then I have an editor that does the editing.

SPEAKER_00 32:29

And so using ChatGPT?

SPEAKER_01 32:31

Yes. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 32:32

Such an amazing tool.

SPEAKER_01 32:33

You have to.

SPEAKER_00 32:34

I tell people if you're not using it, I use it if I'm buying something online. Like I'm a big golfer, so I'm buying like golf polos and shoes all the time. Yeah. I'm going to Nike.com, I'll go to ChatGPT and say, hey, I'm about to buy something from Nike.com. Hit me with any discount codes.

SPEAKER_01 32:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:48

And it always finds something that hits, and I'll just I'll get a discount on literally everything.

SPEAKER_01 32:54

Whoa, I've not used it for that.

SPEAKER_00 32:57

Don't ever buy something online without checking on ChatGPT first.

SPEAKER_01 33:00

That is a great tip. I do a lot of online shopping. My husband is going to be upset that he told me this.

SPEAKER_00 33:05

But now it's a discounted raid. It's basically free. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:07

I need it.

SPEAKER_00 33:08

The girl math, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:09

It's free now.

SPEAKER_00 33:10

So it's taking you know roughly five minutes to put these videos together. What was the moment where you was like your oh shit moment where this thing started to get a little bigger and you're like, holy crap, like this is working. Like, where were you at? Like what level of followers, and you're really like, okay, I really need to focus on this and get dedicated.

SPEAKER_01 33:31

So we started out doing really highly produced videos. So Ken Posick does um Instagram also, and so I'm watching his channel and what he does, and his whole thing is the same, where it's you know, serving up here's what's happening in Orlando, why you should care.

SPEAKER_02 33:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:46

Um, but the editing's just different where he's in his studio, and so we tried that, and it just it wasn't picking up. It we tried meme stuff, and that would get a lot of views, but not a lot of followers. Um and I just really one day was like, I'm gonna try to green screen because I'm seeing people green screen for other things. Um, and that's really where I feel like if you're looking to get into Instagram, like look at all of the different fields. Yeah, style, yeah, just see what is doing well because it really is the algorithm and people are the same thing. What do people want to watch? And the algorithm rewards that because they're entertained by it. Um so I really just came home one day and was like, I'm gonna do this. And again, like the video that took off the most was about an apartment complex that they're building on Boulevard, and people were outraged that I was like, This is great. They were like, What is she talking about? And um it really was the that I do in the beginning of the videos, which I in honesty I think is the most annoying thing ever. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, but the the algorithm loves it.

SPEAKER_00 34:52

And so it just has done well, and I'm trying to figure out a way to get away from it because I don't want to go through my feet and hear myself go, uh you seen those videos where it was like uh we had uh Gen Z or in my office like edit the video, and it's like the like every time right before this.

SPEAKER_01 35:09

100%. Um yeah, so I it was just honestly kind of luck and and just it's not luck as much as it is just perception.

SPEAKER_00 35:19

Yeah, you're trying different things.

SPEAKER_01 35:21

We will try and try and try again until we find the thing that fits. And that's really I mean, when you look at business across the map, that's what it is. It's just trying to find product market fit. What is it that the people want? And that's where you're just tweaking it a little bit until you find that that nugget.

Balancing Professional And Authentic

SPEAKER_00 35:36

Yeah. Because I think one key that you said there, and I've this is just a general practice in business. I've probably got some of the best business advice or ideas from people that were not affiliated with my industry at all. Yeah. Like uh talking about restaurants, like we had the one of the guys from the Cocky Rooster was here meeting with us uh right before you got here. And just talking about their brand and and what they have going on, like uh they have a three and a half uh work week for their employees. Okay, so they have two groups, like one manager and one set of staff, another manager and another set of staff, and they work three and a half days a week. So they're they're on this rotating schedule where you have four days off every week. Wow. Um, and they've gotten some high-level people from different companies to come work for them just simply because of that schedule. And I'm like racking my brain, like, how in the world can I get my team only having to work like three and a half days a week and they can go off and do X, Y, and Z? Yeah, but he's like it's literally been the best thing for the business. Um, but you know, I I wouldn't get ideas like that from somebody in my industry. Right. It's industries outside of this. Um, so it's good to always be looking at different types of content um that has absolutely nothing to do with your field because if it's not associated to it, you may be the first in your industry in your area that's bringing that type of content, that flavor for your industry.

SPEAKER_01 36:53

Yeah, and that's what we're always studying, you know, to that point. Just what are the other people doing in other industries that you could apply to this and and yeah, make it work.

Why Many Agents Skimp On Marketing

SPEAKER_00 37:02

Have you done any um I'm my following is on a much lower scale than yours, but I have been able to finesse some deals with with my followers. So, like this company right here, 021 Originals. I saw this t-shirt brand on Instagram one day, and I'm like, because it's got especially when you're dad and you're getting older, I'm like, I want I want the sleeves hugged tight, I want to loosen the front, I don't want a bunch of logos and everything on my shirt. And like I ordered this shirt and I was like, this is literally the best fitting t-shirt I've ever worn in my life. So I hit up the uh Instagram page and I'm just like, look, man, you guys are missing the mark because every model on their page was like some 22-year-old dude in California with like 2% body fat. Right. So I was like, whatever they put on, they're gonna look good in. Like you're meant, I'm your target audience, and like you're not showing me what I would look like in the shirt. Like, I need to see somebody who looks like me. And I hit him up and I was just like, hey man, I'd be interested. I own a media firm. Like, if you send me some clothes, me and my team will make some content. Yeah, and he's been sending me free clothes for the last year. Oh, nice. Yeah, so much lower scale than where you're at, but like, have you gotten into that space where you're incorporating band deal, brand deals, or you've done any paid partnerships at that level?

SPEAKER_01 38:07

We've done paid partnerships. So anything I will say we try to just do organic news. That's really for us, this is about real estate um providing a service to our clients more than it is about, you know, doing deals with random restaurants to um do whatever their opening is. And I want it to be authentic, and so that's where I don't want people to feel like I'm getting paid to say something. Um so we've done a couple where it's like an apartment building or whatever that I think is on brand, but not something that I would cover normally.

SPEAKER_02 38:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:40

Um but yeah, we that's kind of where we've left it at is like, hey, if you want us to feature you and it's on brand and all that, we'll do that for a price. But um, yeah, we try to keep it organic.

SPEAKER_00 38:50

Nice. What was that? You skated the question I asked earlier, and I won't get the answer out of you. What was that mark when it was like you're at 2,000 followers or 5,000 followers or 10,000 followers? What was that moment for you where it was like, holy crap, like this is real?

SPEAKER_01 39:05

I really think it was that first video with the apartment that went viral.

SPEAKER_00 39:09

It, you know, I how many followers did you have at the time?

SPEAKER_01 39:12

That was probably around 3,000 followers, if I had to guess. Um, so we started the page, it's August now. We started the page really, I want to say, back in September of last year.

SPEAKER_00 39:25

You've only had this going for a year?

SPEAKER_01 39:26

Mm-hmm. We're at 28,000 followers. So it's really the projections of like how many followers are we getting per post.

SPEAKER_02 39:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:34

Um, and that's where in that very first one, we got over, I want to say probably over 5,000 followers now from that one post. And so seeing that was like, oh, okay, this this works and this makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 39:45

Have you have you uh made the train excuse me, made the transition over to TikTok? Are you there yet?

SPEAKER_01 39:50

We are on TikTok, less so. We've um recently scaled into having somebody post and do the captions and all that for us. And so now that we have somebody else doing that, that is what has allowed us to break into TikTok because you know it's just there's so many, there's only so many hours. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 40:08

Um so first let me because I know somebody just heard what you said, so let me clarify this. All right, it is not normal to start a social media page and grow to 28,000 followers within 12 months. It's not the norm, people. So don't don't listen to this episode and think like, don't get pissed off if in the next 12 months you don't have 30,000 followers on your page. Um, if you're listening to the details, like all the specifics that you're talking about, you're doing your homework, you're doing your research, you're trying different things, like that's ultimately what's helped you uh excel to that level.

SPEAKER_02 40:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:39

But having said that, 12 months is stupid fast to get to a following like that.

SPEAKER_01 40:44

It's been really fast.

SPEAKER_00 40:45

What do you accredit that to the most?

SPEAKER_01 40:48

Green screening. Green screening, hands down. If you were trying to grow a page right now, green screen. Whatever reason. I really think that this came about when TikTok was almost banned.

SPEAKER_02 40:57

Yeah.

Consistency, Frequency, And Format Mix

SPEAKER_01 40:58

And I think Instagram was trying to pick up these people who are green screening and wanted to really compete there. Um and I've seen it with all the things transitioning from you know, static posts to reels. The people that picked up on reels fast exploded for no reason.

SPEAKER_00 41:14

I went hard at reels.

SPEAKER_01 41:15

Yeah, yeah. I mean you had to. And I feel like I was a slow adopter on reels, and that's like the one thing that I've recognized is like recognize the trend fast and get on board fast. Because if you're eventually gonna do it, do it quick and then benefit from it.

SPEAKER_02 41:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:30

And so I just caught on to the fact that all these people were green screening and having a bunch of success green screening and was like, okay, maybe that's it. So Ken Posig is who I got the original idea from, but within that, you know, there's a group of realtors that he has on Facebook where it's really just a nice free page where people are sharing advice. And so there was a guy out of Detroit who was green screening, and that's where I got the idea to green screen versus do more of the highly produced videos like Ken was doing. And I will, yeah, I mean, I just believe wholeheartedly it's the algorithm right now, the flavor of the month is green screening.

SPEAKER_00 42:05

Okay, you heard it here first, guys.

SPEAKER_01 42:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:08

Um, how do you feel about because I tell people I think you with the brand, I think it's finding that balance between super highly produced content and more raw and organic type stuff because I feel like the stuff that you're pushing out, I I feel one reason for your success is because you're coming all across very real. Like it's not like you're inherent makeup for five hours and doing X, Y, and Z and like all this stuff is perfect. Like it's not. Like it's just you being real, putting out information, boom, go about your day. Um how do you feel about um geez, this is what happens when you get over 40. You like start losing track of what you were saying. Oh no, I feel you. No, just with the with the growth you're oh, with the balance of professional versus organic stuff. Are you doing anything on the professional end? Like I'm sure with like your real estate business and things like that, do you see that being a benefit to you where you have a combination of both and people are able to see like the more polished version and the more authentic version?

SPEAKER_01 43:08

Yeah, I think again, we're always kind of trying to see what does well and performs well, and we're trying to do a mix of both and and really cater to what the people want to see. But when it comes to producing real estate videos, we use um yeah, professional help to kind of create these higher produced level videos. We just did one where it's like, hey Siri, find me a a condo or a townhouse in the fam, and then I disappear, and then I come into another spot. And so um, yeah, I think that that's really what I like to see and what I want to consume and what I want people to think of when it comes to hiring us to sell your house. We are professionals, we're not showing up with an iPhone. We are going to spend money and really market your property well.

SPEAKER_00 43:53

And so this is a public service announcement for all the realtors out there. Stop showing homes with your iPhone.

SPEAKER_01 43:59

Yes.

Goals: Scaling Volume With Media

SPEAKER_00 43:59

All right, it's not how it's done. Hire a professional.

SPEAKER_01 44:02

Hire a professional. You cannot do it that well. It is, yeah, it's worth it.

SPEAKER_00 44:05

So all right, all right. I I beat up on realtors a lot, but now I got one sitting here in front of me. Let me let me ask you straight up. Obviously, you don't go this route. Why do so many realtors try to cheap out on the marketing end? Like you're selling a home for$800,000, but you won't commit three, four hundred dollars like to get it professionally done.

SPEAKER_01 44:22

Yeah, I I think realtors the barrier to entry to be a realtor, number one, is very low. You don't have to have gone to business school or understand any of that. And so the why in people getting into real estate, I think matters. So what is their background? What are they like doing? A lot of realtors are just really extroverted and love people. Yeah. They want to help. Um, and so I think depending on your age too, like if they don't use social media, they're they don't understand it, they don't know why, they're not understanding where would these photos go and what would this video be for. And so I think there's an element of that that we see frequently in just age, and um yeah, the older agents are definitely not using social media. But then some of the younger ones, I think, just don't even know how to do it well, where there's nuance to it again of like you can hire a professional to come and shoot the video, but if you're not captivating and you don't know what the script is and you don't know what you're selling, then it's not gonna turn out that well.

SPEAKER_00 45:23

So I've always we've had because when I started in Zo, we did probably 60 to 80 percent of our business was working with realtors. When I started the business, I was like, who can spread the word about what we do the quickest? Realtors, they know everybody. Um, and then we've since kind of changed the model, and it's still a a portion of uh the clients that we work with. Um but that piece of like just understanding, like I've always thought like 60 to 70 percent of being a realtor is marketing. Yeah, like it is, and you can you can pay somebody to put the signs up or like finish the paperwork and all these other you gotta market.

Worst Moment And Core Takeaway

SPEAKER_01 45:57

Yeah, you have to market, and I think that's really what sets us apart is that you know, I have a degree in advertising, I deeply understand marketing, I love marketing. Um, and yeah, that's kind of what helps us stand out amongst the sea of realtors. We already have a big team and we sell a lot of real estate regardless of the marketing, but um, yeah, it's my favorite part of it. I think that it's fun to sell houses that way.

SPEAKER_00 46:18

On the on the consistency piece of things, like you know, you hear all these different things, you should be posting every day, you should be posting every other day. Oh, only post two times on your timeline, but do a storyline, three storyline videos every day. What's been your formula where you saw things kind of uptick? Like what kind of pace are you on with content?

SPEAKER_01 46:36

Consistency. I would definitely say I see a slump in our follower growth when I'm not consistent. Um, and so I would say if you when you start out, I think everybody from Alex Earl to Dave Portnoy would tell you that they are posting every single day, sometimes twice a day, and that's been their formula for success when they're starting. I think that it matters a little bit less. Um, depending on what content you're making. You know, it's all relative to what you're trying to do. If you look at food bloggers, I doubt that most of them are putting out something every single day.

SPEAKER_00 47:09

Some of them are, but which I don't know how they're maintaining that lifestyle. I'm like, bro, how can you eat all these triple cheeseburgers and still be living like literally?

SPEAKER_01 47:16

I'm like, I my mind is blown by how much cooking they're doing after every cook. So um yeah, so I would say quality over quantity, but if everything was the same, I would post every day.

SPEAKER_00 47:30

Okay. So how how all how often do you stick to that? Like you are you on a track where it's like your average week you're posting at least five times?

SPEAKER_01 47:38

Yeah, average week we're posting five times a week, but we have little you know stents where things get busy.

SPEAKER_00 47:44

I I tell people all the time on my, especially on Facebook, I'm like, when you see me not posting as often, you should be scared because that means I'm cooking in the kitchen. Like I got I got something going. Because if I don't have time, if I can't make time to post something, yeah, that means I got my hands full with something else and there's there's something big coming. What about the the storyline on Instagram? I found I typically get more engagement by what I'm putting on my storyline, and that drives people to my posts. Um, so what's your theory and and how do you guys work the storyline?

SPEAKER_01 48:13

Yeah, so um I would say posting is to get followers, stories are to have conversations. And so that's what we're seeing is really in stories is where we're gaining the traction of, hey, are you looking to buy or sell this year? Um the restaurant conversations. And so I think building community really starts in stories. Yeah. And serving up, I mean, you can ask the same question two different ways. One will get you people actually engaged with what you're asking, and the other is just a statement. And so we're always trying to ask a question, and that I think is what really sparks conversation and then leads to leads.

SPEAKER_00 48:50

Love it. Love it. What's your what's your ultimate goal with this? Like five years from now, this keeps growing. What's your end game for this?

How To Follow And Closing

SPEAKER_01 48:59

So this year we have 13 million in volume and what we have, you know, from leads that we have gathered just from YouTube. We haven't calculated out from Instagram also. So I would say for me, the goal is really cumulative in that I would like to get to 60 million a year in volume just from Instagram and YouTube. Nice um, we do about 70 million right now with our team without any of that. And so, yeah, basically doubling our volume.

SPEAKER_00 49:30

And what's what's the typical like if somebody comes to you from Instagram because they've seen your content, typically what's the first thing you hear? Like, oh, like we're looking by house, but like I just kept coming to see your content. So like I knew we had to hire you. Like, what's the response you typically get? Why are people hiring you after they see your content?

SPEAKER_01 49:46

Yeah, I consistently hear we love the content that you're putting out. We follow you on YouTube. Um, we're thinking about moving to Richmond. I love your content. This has been so helpful, this is so informative. Um, so yeah, it's really just coming back to the serving and being here to help.

SPEAKER_00 50:03

Love it, love it. The last question as we wrap up, I like to ask everyone this on the show. Describe to us your worst moment as an entrepreneur and how you overcame that.

SPEAKER_01 50:17

I would say my worst moment as an entrepreneur was going out of business with my frozen yogurt store. Um I lost probably$150,000, um, which my mom had very generously given to me. Um and I just felt really lost and was like, you know, I know I want to be an entrepreneur, but at that time I was just so tired. I was so worn down. And, you know, I just figured out.

SPEAKER_00 50:43

You're sleeping like two hours a day.

SPEAKER_01 50:45

Yeah, yes, understandably worn down. Um yeah, that was my worst moment.

SPEAKER_00 50:50

But I would say what was the lesson that you got from that.

SPEAKER_01 50:54

The lesson that I got from that was definitely work for somebody who is doing what you want to do and learn from them before doing that thing. I nobody told me that. And that's what I think as a kid, if I was 18 years old again, or for our kids, I would say, hey, if you want to go be a contractor, a goat farmer, whatever it is, go learn how to do it really well from someone and then go work for yourself.

SPEAKER_00 51:20

Yeah, get a paid education. Somebody's gonna pay you to learn how to do this.

SPEAKER_01 51:24

Yes, learn from someone else.

SPEAKER_00 51:25

Yeah, that's ultimately like going out and buying a hundred and fifty thousand dollar car and like never test driving it.

SPEAKER_01 51:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 51:29

And then you're driving it for 24 hours. Oh man, I hate this car. Yeah, too late now.

SPEAKER_01 51:33

Right, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 51:34

So I love it, love it. Awesome. This has been a great interview. So if people want to follow you, they want to get in contact with you, throw out your social media channel so they can follow you.

SPEAKER_01 51:42

Yeah, Richmond Living on Instagram would be where to follow us. And then if you're on YouTube, it is Living in Richmond, Virginia. And if you just search that, we'll come up.

SPEAKER_00 51:51

Beautiful. Appreciate you being here today.

SPEAKER_01 51:53

Yeah, thanks for having me.

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SPEAKER_00 51:54

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