WELCOME LISTENERS

Using Social Media Effectively to Crush the Market with Dan Inman

People are the one element that unites social media with real estate. The real estate industry has a plethora of technologies, yet connections still power the industry. Among other things, business is driven by trust and human connection. Social media is therefore crucial to the sector for this reason.

You shouldn’t see social media as just another marketing tool if you’re a real estate agent. You may meet people there and form relationships. Make some fresh connections. It fosters trust. They can even close agreements for millions of dollars with a planned strategy.

Using Social Media Effectively to Crush the Market with Dan Inman

People are the one element that unites social media with real estate. The real estate industry has a plethora of technologies, yet connections still power the industry. Among other things, business is driven by trust and human connection. Social media is therefore crucial to the sector for this reason.

You shouldn’t see social media as just another marketing tool if you’re a real estate agent. You may meet people there and form relationships. Make some fresh connections. It fosters trust. They can even close agreements for millions of dollars with a planned strategy.

Without a doubt, social media is effective, even for property brokers. Simply learn how to utilize it. That’s all. If you tried leveraging social media before and weren’t successful, It isn’t because social media is ineffective. It could have been because you didn’t give it the time it deserved. With consistent use, every real estate agent can make social media work for them.

Dan Inman, a civil engineer by training, recognized that creating effective systems would be the shortest and most sustainable path to success. That, and the consistent use of social media would give him the opportunity to impact as many people as possible. He wants to provide each homeowner and prospective buyer with an exceptional client experience.

Dan joins The Entrepreneurial Agent to discuss why you should embrace new technologies and platforms, the reason creating content is so worthwhile, how to build trust before your new clients have even met you, and much more.

00:00 Introduction

2:29 How did Dan Inman get into real estate?

5:30 The life of an entrepreneur

8:40 Leverage your time by using social media to get exposure for your business

11:47 Why you should embrace new technologies and platforms

15:23 The market will tell you how good your idea is

19:00 The reason creating content is so worth while

22:45 How the Youtube algorithm works

27:15 Build trust before your new clients have even met you

31:49 How to contact Dan

Connect with Paul

Website: https://vantagepointresidential.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-neal-47b8478/

Connect with Dan Inman

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5vhCVscjxHm85wEizO2Qjg

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/inmanhomeservices/

Website: https://www.inmanhomeservices.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/inmanhomeservices

Full Transcript

[00:00:00] Paul Neal: Hey, welcome listeners. Today I have the special privilege and honor of welcoming onto my. Dan Inman got a, got a very interesting background, five years in the Navy in the spec op world. Went from there to, uh, being a stay at home dad, changing diapers from firing mini guns to changing diapers, to deciding, Hey, I think I wanna do something in my life.

Beyond that, it goes to school, gets a civil engineering degree, decides, hey, uh, that was a great experience. Check the box. Man, I think I want to get into real estate. And so once he got into real estate, he learned that he was gonna do it differently than other people. And is not a guy that wants to make a bunch of cold calls, reach out and be that kind of guy, but wanted to create systems like an engineer and processes like a business owner to bring clients to him.

And so, Dan, welcome to the show. 

[00:00:52] Dan Inman: Uh, pleasure. Thank you for having me. 

[00:00:54] Paul Neal: Yeah. Yeah. So, man, you, we gotta start with your background. It’s such a colorful background. Anybody that’s been in the [00:01:00] special ops world, man, I, I just have a whole nother level of respect for, so I dunno if you can tell us anything 

[00:01:05] Dan Inman: about that.

I was never a Navy Seal, but our squadron was directly detached with them overseas. And so my job was to be the guy that held the fast ROP and, and let them down and then provide what’s called cast close area support. So we were directly d uh, deployed with the Navy seals in other spec spec up world, but it seems like almost, uh, a lifetime ago.

So I went from there, came home the day that I got of the Navy. Basically my daughter was born. And so the joke is that I went from shoot mini guns to changing diapers and in many ways the diapers were more dangerous. , 

[00:01:41] Paul Neal: I had a daughter with diapers. I get, I know what you come from, man. And that’s awesome.

So tell us about how and why you chose real estate. Obviously you’ve had quite the interesting path, not sort of a straight line in, into this 

[00:01:53] Dan Inman: field throughout college. So I went to Old Dominion and started down the sciences path. I was always [00:02:00] interested in math and science and that type of thing. And once you start down the path, you can do medicine, you could do engineering, you could do law engineering is actually the most popular degree prior to going to law school.

And so I was like, well hey, I have a lot of options here. In maybe year three or four, I kind of make a decision on which direction I’m gonna go. Start off. In the pre-med world, uh, had a lot of friends that are doctors, had a very unique honor to know a local doctor here that was ahead of like C H K D, good friend of ours.

And he was like, Hey Dan, unless you’re just passionate about this, medicine is a very hard and long path. Uh, your daughter is very. So unless you’re willing to give up a lot of that time, you may want to consider another path. I chose the civil engineering world. You know, as much as I love being an entrepreneur, one of the things I’ve, I found in the, in the building world, there’s a quote by a guy named John Ruskin, and I’m gonna butcher it to hell here.

When we build, let us not think that we build for present delight or present use alone. Let us build thinking about forever that our sons will look upon the RO [00:03:00] substance of what we built and thank us for it. And again, it’s much more eloquent than that, but it’s the, the idea of building something, it’s not just about you.

It’s not about that first use, it’s it’s about your sons and your sons sons. And I got really fascinated with the world of building and architecture and urban planning. And to be honest, I really wanted to go to Notre Dame for their urban planning, MBA and architecture program. at the time, my, my wife had a really good job and, and it, I thought it was unfair for me to ask her to basically give up her job to, for me to go pursue a masters.

And so I thought to myself, you know, there are three ways to get what I want to do, which is to produce beautiful life giving, socially responsible building and architecture or urban planning. Either one, I can get into politics. Two, I can be an architect or an urban planner that gets hired to design those things.

Or three, I can make a shit ton of money and then dictate what gets. And so, uh, because I’ve always had a little bit of an entrepreneurial spirit, I thought, Well, what should I do? And I started listening to different podcasts and real estate. Always interesting me, cuz [00:04:00] I’ve always been, I understand the ROIs and PNLs and earning a profit and that type of thing.

And so I just rolled Dyson. I, I said, let’s start with real estate. If there’s ever a time in my life, uh, that I have an opportunity to go and fall flat of my face and fail, it’s now, right? I’ve finished up my degree. I can always use my degree. Two or three years later, my wife has a good income. And so, uh, I had a, a wonderful sugar mama that let me, uh, let go and try that out.

And so couple years later here I 

[00:04:26] Paul Neal: am. Nothing like having a sugar mama. I tell you what, , 

[00:04:29] Dan Inman: my wife is an amazing woman and I’m, I’m very fortunate in many ways, but, uh, mostly because she supports me no matter 

[00:04:36] Paul Neal: what. Well, I think that’s, yeah, I mean, you hit it on the head. I mean, I, I’ve been married, gosh, should.

32 years in November, which is hard to believe. Hmm. Um, I know, I, I know I was married really young, but, uh, yeah, it’s because I’ve got a wife that’s, uh, just amazing. It’s totally supportive and in a, in a, a world like this, real estate, lot of emotion, lot of ups and downs in the world of the entrepreneur.

And that’s [00:05:00] really what our podcast is about, because to be successful realtor, you’re building a business, right? So you are building something here. Mm-hmm. , Yes. Talking about wanting to build these lead building and green and, and, you know, and really thoughtful, you know, the environment and the future and integration.

But, but you’re building something and that’s really what the does, right? I mean, you’re not just selling something, you’re, you’re creating 

[00:05:22] Dan Inman: Sure, Yeah. I mean, I think the world’s greatest problems, um, will be so solved mostly by entrepreneurs, not politicians. 

[00:05:30] Paul Neal: Yeah, I think the only word I’d scratch there is mostly I think, I don’t think politicians solve any problems.

I think they just create problems . Sure, 

[00:05:37] Dan Inman: sure. Yeah. I think, I think there’s, there’s an argument to be said, obviously, but I would like to remain at least somewhat optimistic that there are at least some portion, some percentage of them that genuinely care, genuinely wanna make a difference and have good hearts.

Maybe not all of them, but there there’s gotta be at least one or two. So I’m gonna hold onto that. . Well, hey, 

[00:05:57] Paul Neal: I’ll go with you there, Dan, because, uh, I’m, I’m an [00:06:00] optimist by Nature two, and there will be people that go into that field that are true leaders, and they will come along and we’re hoping for that.

Mm-hmm. . But yeah. In the meantime, the entrepreneurs that we’re gonna take the bull by the horns, right. And we’re gonna make our own. 

[00:06:12] Dan Inman: I remember reading a book called The Personal MBA and there’s this thing called the Iron Law of the market, where it’s like the market doesn’t give two shits. What you care or think about it either rewards it or doesn’t reward.

It doesn’t matter how much effort you put in doesn’t have how much you care. You know, maybe more today than ever with social media, but in general, if you have a shit product or service, nobody cares, right? And so there’s a ruthlessness when it comes to entrepreneurship. I’ve had to, there’s so many babies that have, I had this kind of sacrifice metaphorically in my business where I’m like, I wanted it to work.

I put the money in energy or into, and it didn’t, it felt flat. And I’m like, But I care about this. I had a short podcast called the I Love Norfolk Show there for a little while that I loved cuz I would sit there and I would talk for 45 minutes just like I went around a bonfire with some of local business owners just hearing their story and that type of thing.

And I, I’m telling you, I [00:07:00] loved it, but it just had no roi. There was zero benefit really, that came outta it. I have some relationships, but it was just kind of like, When it came to like measuring it and going, All right, can I attribute any business to this? It was like two pieces. And I was like, Man, this for the amount of time and energy I’m putting into this, this is really disheartening.

[00:07:19] Paul Neal: So again, yeah, the truth of the entrepreneur, the truth of the market, at the end of the day, you know, people vote with their dollar bills and at the end of the day, I mean, it’s a measuring stick, right? So we know sort of that feedback immediately is something working or not, you know, if we’re on the right path or not.

And, uh, an entrepreneur is gonna try a lot of things like that. Right, because you, you’re, you’re creating something, you’re turning led into gold in the, in the modern sense, right? As an alchemist. Yeah, 

[00:07:43] Dan Inman: Yeah. Finding value and, and figuring out how to consistently provide that value and then be compensated for.

Consistently 

[00:07:51] Paul Neal: is the key. Not, not a one hit wonder, not an one off or whatever. Absolutely. If you’re building a business at scale, you’ve done something interesting though, this idea that the [00:08:00] traditional sort of real estate approach call all your friends and neighbors, you know, cold call, beating your head against the wall to try to get a few deals and eventually kind of grow that over time.

You didn’t wanna approach this career and this business that way. Two 

[00:08:15] Dan Inman: thoughts. One was I’ve always joked that I have kind of a foot in the curmudgeonly old man category and then, uh, a foot in the millennial category. So part of me is like my grandfather would roll over in his grave, hearing me cry, that my business didn’t make it within like five or six years or whatever, , because it took him a decade.

Right. And, and yeah, he didn’t have social media and he didn’t have access to online courses. You know, it was. The force and work ethic that got him to where he was. And I have access to so much more today than he ever did. And so I’m like, I can’t complain. Right? There’s the old man in me. But the other part is like, I freaking want this.

I want it and I want it Now. The reason I switched from cold calling one is I can only call so many. I can only [00:09:00] door knock so much. And I think social media in particular, whether this is TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, any Facebook, whatever, you have an ability to multiply or your time or leverage your time in a way that you never have before in history.

Our YouTube channel, um, as of this month has about 24,000 views, right? And in 28 days, mostly long form, but there’s some short form in there, about 900 watch hours. Um, I, what the math is off real quick, off the top of my head, but if you divide 900 divided by 28, there are more hours in the day that are watched than there are hours in the day.

That sounds like a really good leverage of time, and when someone watches 12 minutes of a 17 minute video that says, How do you relocate to Virginia Beach? I’d argue. That’s a pretty good roi. 

[00:09:48] Paul Neal: Undoubtedly, I think about it all the time. We talk about scale and that’s always been one of my, since I first went into business in 19 ninety’s, always been a mission is I don’t wanna trade time for dollars.

Right. I don’t wanna be the guy, [00:10:00] little rich 

[00:10:00] Dan Inman: dad port out there. Yeah. 

[00:10:01] Paul Neal: Yeah. Oh yeah. Kiosaki, I, I probably, um, bleed that philosophy. I was smart enough to know, I think at least in that area, that I’m a pretty lazy guy in a sense that, you know, we like to say efficient, efficient, efficient is a good word. Yeah.

Yeah. Ambitiously lazy, I think was the term I used to use. There we go. You know, So it’s like, how can I multiply my efforts? How can I add that value? But in scale? And the thing that’s always intrigued me, you know, I’m not the social media generation. I’m, I’m a little generation probably before that, I’m not the millennials, but I appreciate it.

But when you look back at everything, you look at media and its impact across the board, whether it’s radio or TV, or the movies. And then now obviously the internet, the people that, and I have no interest in fame, but the people that have leveraged that effectively, you look at their lifestyle and what they’re able to do and the influence they have, simply because they have this ability to scale and reach so many people in a consistent and [00:11:00] effective manner.

And it’s like, you know, until you break into that, someone. 

[00:11:04] Dan Inman: Yeah, it seems like you’re capitalizing on now with, with the podcast. I, I think the only thing I would push back on you is that, you know, Paul, you know, I don’t know if you come from a faith background, but there’s an audience, there’s people that are missing out on the message and the love and the capacity and the service and the value that you can give simply because you’re not willing to put yourself out there as much as you want to because you don’t want to be famous because you don’t want to be present on social media.

And I think there are young entrepreneurs that could benefit. You said you’ve been in business for 30 years. Yeah. There’s no way you can scale your knowledge and love and service more than you can today with the, the mediums that maybe you’re avoiding. 

[00:11:42] Paul Neal: You’re speaking to me directly, Dan, and that’s one of the, one of the things that, that I’ve, Sorry, I know this 

[00:11:46] Dan Inman: show is about about me, but I said 

[00:11:48] Paul Neal: that No, it’s, no, it’s about entrepreneur.

It’s, you know, the agent and what you’ve done, but really, entrepreneur is an entrepreneur. You know, one vehicle might be different than a different vehicle. You know, you’re using the real estate vehicle. I’ve used the [00:12:00] finance vehicle, but that’s, that’s a shift that I’ve made myself, that I’m really, you know, working to, how can I leverage that now and be more effective?

Cuz I agree the more success you have, like you, and that’s one of the things I love about entrepreneurship, when you crack the code, And fail a few times along the way, which I’ve got lots of those stories. Then you have infinite wisdom. I’m not infinite wisdom, but you have a lot of wisdom that you can share then with other people coming along.

And yeah, a vehicle like this is just amazing and, and I’m looking yeah, to embrace it now going forward, where I did kind of poo on it for a long time, to be quite honest with you. I’m like, ah, social media, 

[00:12:34] Dan Inman: you know, I think historically, like, uh, if you talk to, uh, you, you talk to our parents, um, that was done mostly through books, right?

You would learn lessons. Whether it was Huckle, you know, Huckle Bear fan, or it was something Dr. Seuss or, or an autobiography, and you would go, Hmm, this person lived this way, made this mistake. Maybe I don’t need to make that same mistake. Or, This person learned this, you know, after 30 years of doing this thing with [00:13:00] crafting or, you know, craftmanship or stone snow smithing, you’d go, Oh, like, this is 30 years of wisdom in a book.

And, and I could read it and I could glean from it. And I go, Man, there’s so much value here. It’s not that I don’t think that there is immense value still in reading books. I, I read myself often, but I think the, you cannot ignore the shift that is happening in the world and where attention like Gary v talk says, like, it’s, follow the eyeballs, whether you like it or not, follow the eyeballs.

And there is, there’s so much time and attention given to social media. Again, YouTube is, tends to be some long form. You look at like Joe Rogan. Joe Rogan has three hour interview. And people would say, No, nobody has the, the attention span for that. No bullshit. Look at the numbers. Yeah, they do. Right?

People would say, Well, how do you get thought out? Not in three hours. It’s like, okay, well TikTok does it in three seconds. Right? And, And it’s the fastest growing medium, whether you like it or not on the planet. Their arguments pro and against being on certain platforms. But the argument still remains. If you want to make an impact today, and [00:14:00] you want that impact to be as big as you possibly can, you cannot ignore 

[00:14:03] Paul Neal: media.

You’re right. I mean, it’s a wake up call. It’s not necessarily, like you said, sacrificing the metaphorical babies is like, you know, the world doesn’t exist as I want it to exist. The world exists as it exists, right? And I need to adjust and shift. Thinking my paradigm to, to, to embrace it and be part of it, and therefore I can add value to it.

But if I’m resisting it the whole time and fighting it, I’m like a two year old throwing a tantrum. Right. And just not, It doesn’t, nobody cares. The world doesn’t care. And that’s what I love about all the people that, you know, are, they’re victimized by everything. It’s like the world really doesn’t care.

at the end of the day. 

[00:14:40] Dan Inman: Sure. And my, you know, my mom, I’m sure your parents, Hey Daniel, sorry. Life’s not fair. It’s like, Okay. You know, talk about, you know, maybe equity or like, uh, equality. The reality is there is oppression that exists in different categories. Absolutely, it does. Sure. Um, but there also is, uh, this idea that, um, you can still start with wherever you are, [00:15:00] right?

Know where you’re, no matter where you are on the mountain, there’s always more that you can be doing. You know, I come from a faith background and one of my favorite philosophers says that God, like a good father, or Jesus like a good father, both meets you where you’re at and always calls you to more.

You have to take that approach when it comes to like, to a degree, the world is brutal and ruthless and doesn’t care how much effort you put in, sort of, kind of, but you have to like, you have to start somewhere and you have to go, okay, well even if the this oppression or this in inequity exists, You can still make some amazing, amazing moves.

There’s still incredible platforms and incredible upside that you can accomplish in the entrepreneurial world, to be honest, is some of the most fair. It’s like, Dude, you have an amazing product. Please bring it to market. Like, man, be something stupid. Like the scrub daddy, the world said, Yes, we see value here.

I want that. Right. Even the 

[00:15:53] Paul Neal: pet rock. Yeah. In the early seventies, . Yeah. But yeah, no, but you’re right. The, the entrepreneurial world is [00:16:00] fair. It doesn’t care about your, your skin color, your religious beliefs, the color of your hair. It doesn’t care any of that. It just cares about are you bringing something of value to the world that somebody else wants and they’ll pay for it.

To me, that’s very beautiful. It’s a great, it’s a great thing. 

[00:16:17] Dan Inman: And, uh, and I, the only thing I think I would argue there is, um, it does sort of, um, like you wouldn’t have to, Tom’s is a really good example of this. Someone said, I see value in you providing an extra set of shoes. You wouldn’t have Google saying veteran owned business, black owned business as a label that you could put onto your Google business if they didn’t see a potential.

And so some people will go, Hey, I wanna support that business because of this category. So there is some benefit there. I think what you’re trying to drive home is that like, hey, to a degree in general, I don’t know who made this. My wife saw it, she thought it was beautiful and she bought it. She doesn’t care whether it’s a lefthanded or right-handed person, a light skinned or a dark hand skirt person.

What she [00:17:00] cared was, this was a product that I wanted that met the valued proposition, paid the dollar, and bought it home. And so I, that is the beauty of the entrepreneur. But the story in general is that it levels the playing field probably better than it ever has. 

[00:17:12] Paul Neal: It does. And um, that’s a very good point.

And you know, the funny thing is you talk about, you talk about your faith, and I’m a very faithful person too. And regardless of where that faith sort of lives, entrepreneurship, Will make you a faithful person, I believe, because you, you, as opposed to going in and working your week and getting a paycheck or having, uh, some kind of a job with a, with a net.

And there’s nothing wrong with that. You sort of know that’s gonna happen as an entrepreneur. You know, there were days when I had 40 employees and, um, a very large payroll due in a week and looking in the operating account, wondering where the money’s gonna come from to make payroll. And you know, and there are other days where it’s like, wow, you know, I feel like, um, I’m very blessed.

I’m rolling in it, you know, So it’s a lot of. You may not know where your next [00:18:00] customer’s gonna come from. You may not know where your next opportunity’s gonna come from, but you still move forward on faith and something that, hey, you can be successful. That’s one thing I think that unites a lot of entrepreneurs that we, you know, it’s, there’s no guarantee, I think is what I’m saying.

And you have to operate without a net in a lot of cases. Absolutely. 

[00:18:16] Dan Inman: Yeah. 

[00:18:17] Paul Neal: Plus’s, talk about how you’re using social media and are your buyers, are they all local? Are they coming in from all over the place? What, what are you, what do you 

[00:18:24] Dan Inman: see? I think it depends on the, the platform. So I have done stuff on Instagram mostly.

Uh, Instagram and Facebook. Prior, I just started doing some TikTok stuff, and we’re already starting to grow there. It depends on the platform in that, like Google owns. Google is the number one search algorithm on the planet. It would be kind of fun to maybe do an experiment here. If you went into Google right now and typed in relocating to coastal Virginia, Google has built up a profile around you and they say, Paul looks for this.

Sometimes he prioritizes, uh, locally on businesses and he wants to see the map view. [00:19:00] Sometimes he clicks this and he wants to see a video, but at some point, usually Google will recommend a video, right? And so I’ve played the game of Google is the largest sur search algorithm on the planet. Google image is number two.

YouTube is number three, all owned by the same people. So if you did type it in relocating to S Virginia, likely my video will pop up and usually on the first page of Google, depending on the person, right? Again, some variability there, but I would argue 85, 90% of the time it’s gonna happen. I didn’t pay a dime for that.

Not a, not a red penny. It’s simply because I produce content that people watch, um, and they click the thumbnail and they watch a certain portion of it. The reason I say that is people will start on Google is sometimes YouTube and they’ll start their search. Like if you’re interested in buying a pellet grill, you might start on Google Pellet Grills Best Pellet Grill for 2002.

Best P Grill for 2023. Most expensive, least expensive, most efficient, biggest, you know, [00:20:00] whatever it is that you’re typing in there. Those are kind of Google searches. And so you can kind of do the same thing with YouTube is because they’re linked. If I type in moving to Coastal Virginia, relocating to Coastal Virginia, and I do that in Google, or if I do that in YouTube, they’re going to recommend some type of content.

So I would say on YouTube, when a client comes in through YouTube, 80, 85% of the time, it’s a relocation. They’re coming from Utah. They’re, you see, we’ve had Utah, Colorado, San Francisco, la um, Arizona, Texas, Tennessee, Colorado, Germany. 75, 85, 90%, you know, depends on, you know, the amount of leads that come through come from somewhere else because they’re looking and trying to learn about the area before they come here.

I’ve had several local clients that have come from YouTube cause we do things like drone tours and area information and neighborhood information, that type thing. Someone moving from Norfolk to Virginia Beach or going down to Chesapeake to get more space or looking at new construction. We do some of that stuff.

Uh, it’s trying to show up [00:21:00] a little bit of everywhere, but at the beginning you have to start somewhere. And so I started with the most broad, which is pros and cons of moving to Virginia Beach, Cost of living, uh, of Virginia Beach, top five luxury neighborhoods in Virginia Beach. Things like that. If you look at Instagram and TikTok, there’s a tendency that you’re building an audience that is a little bit more localized, not always.

Um, the other benefit here is that your sphere of influence, the people that already know, like, and trust you. See you more often. You know, there’s a reason Coca-Cola puts their can in the Transformers movie because they know that familiarity breeds trust. The more often you see a thing, the more likely you are to consume it or use it.

And so as a real estate agent or any type of business owner, you have to think about how often am I showing up? You know, how often is your listing sign in someone’s neighborhood? How is it on the grocery cart? Is it on a billboard? Is it on the radio? Right? The more often you can show up in the person’s life, the more likely it is they’re gonna think about.

When that time comes to need that product or service, 

[00:21:59] Paul Neal: [00:22:00] they’re thinking of you. They remember you. Right. This is fascinating, the whole idea that the world, particularly the, the Google and the YouTube connection, cause of course as you’re, you know, describing my search for the grill, it’s like Yeah, that’s what I do.

And Exactly. And I was thinking of a few other things I’ve just recently searched for. Yeah. The videos do pop up. The maps do pop up, and I didn’t realize that they pulled the videos in from YouTube. And it does make sense that YouTube is really essentially a huge search platform. Very similar to Google itself.

[00:22:33] Dan Inman: There’s a, a book by a guy named Darrell Eves. Um, he’s probably, in my opinion, he is the number one voice when it comes to YouTube and understanding YouTube. Uh, he’s an advisor to like Mr. Beast and Mark Rover. Super cool guy. He has a lot of free information on his YouTube channel, um, and in his book, um, the YouTube formula, um, which I highly recommend, if anybody’s looking at getting into the business of doing YouTube to bring clients in, it might kind of concern you about how [00:23:00] in depth Google and YouTube categorize everything, everything.

The AI within YouTube. If I have a picture of, um, Mark Twain in the background, or, um, Albert Einstein will recognize that photo and assign some value, zero to a hundred. Um, and say, Dan Inman is somehow, at least in some proportion, affiliated to Albert Einstein. And so when someone looks up area information, I know it sounds kind of crazy, but if someone looks like the area information and you, if the one differentiating factor, all things else being equal is that that individual searching for that information happens to, like Albert Einstein.

Versus Mark Twain in another, it might go, You know what? I wanna recommend Dan’s video because every other category is equal except the, the Albert Einstein. And I think they might resonate with his content, or, Wow. 

[00:23:55] Paul Neal: So it’s just so, so deep, the connection. And so this is, again, [00:24:00] back to this whole idea of, of the reality of where we live versus the way we want the world to be.

Mm-hmm. . So they know everything about us. They know everything about we search, and so they’re able to pull that together. And your content then has the ability to reach people anywhere. And they’re, and they’re coming in based on, uh, light characteristics, the content and the value you produce and they watch one of your videos, they watch something else about the area.

Then maybe another videos recommend Pretty soon they watch two or three and they’re really getting served all of your content, maybe even on some of the other platforms, I’m guessing. 

[00:24:34] Dan Inman: Yeah, Yeah. I think if you think about it like this, if the last time you were on YouTube, uh, I don’t know if you ever look at like car reviews again.

Let’s just use the Pellet Grill. If you went and looked up Porsche nine 11 reviews, there’s probably 80, 90 people that have done content on YouTube around the Port. Nine 11 happens to be one of my favorite cars, my favorite sports car. YouTube is looking at basically three things. Did someone [00:25:00] click on the thumbnail and how much did they watch of the content?

And then how many times did they watch that person content over? So saw Mr. Be’s title or thumbnail, clicked on it, watched the entire video, and then went and watched five other of his videos. And so the next time around YouTube goes, You know what? You not only clicked it, you watched it all the way through and rewind it to some key spots, and then you watched five more of its videos.

It’s pretty obvious that you like this guy. The next time you log into YouTube, we’re probably gonna recommend something in there. Now, over time, YouTube develops some type of profile. Hey, you watch Porsche nine 11. Audi’s also a pretty popular brand. Maybe we’ll recommend Audi, right? And so maybe they recommend Audi five times, but you don’t click on it.

Okay? Audi’s, not it. Maybe bmw. Maybe we’re gonna recommend, um, the same car reviewer, but a different model. This other guy did a P nine 11 review. Let’s put that in front of him. Okay, well, he didn’t click on that. What about a girl? Right? And [00:26:00] so at some point, this is just true, is in our area, there probably could be 20, 30, 40 agents that all produce content around our area.

Pros and cons, cost of living, things to do blah, blah, blah. But at some point it doesn’t matter because someone’s gonna look at Dan Inman and go, you know, six foot, one Chevy bearded white dude, don’t like it, not gonna watch it. Right. Versus . It’s just, it’s just a reality of the world we live in. And, and so, um, someone else is gonna go previous military bearded, kind of gruff, cusses occasionally.

That’s my guy. 

[00:26:32] Paul Neal: And they know you. And that, that’s the coolest thing. They’ve watched videos, they’ve consumed your content. So before they even pick up the phone or reach out, however they’re communicating with you to introduce themselves to say, Hey Dan, I’m looking for a move into Virginia Beach or Chesapeake, I, you know, I need some help with a home.

Mm-hmm. , they already know you. 

[00:26:48] Dan Inman: Right. It’s pretty fantastic to be honest. Um, and for any real estate agent or loan officer, honestly, who is looking at doing something similar, you probably have built the business at least partially around [00:27:00] referrals. And referrals have been kind of like the gold standard for a long period of time.

But even referrals in some capacity. Can be a little awkward or you still still have to kind of earn the business. My friend Joe recommended you, but I still wanna make sure we’re a good fit. Sometimes, not always. Uh, sometimes it’s a perfect layup. My friend Paul said, Dan, if I don’t use anybody else but you that I’m a freaking idiot.

So whatever you say goes, man. And so, you know, it’s like, that’s like the softest lo. It’s like cool. I don’t have to argue. I’m on pricing. I don’t have to argue. Like when I say, Hey, you need to write this offer cuz there’s six other offers and if you wanna win it, this is what it’s gonna take. I’m not getting like, well what I wanna do with this, I wanna do it.

That was like, well you just listen. I’ve been doing this much longer than you. I do 60 deals a year. You buy one house every 10 years. Maybe just maybe I know a little more about the process than you do. And sometimes that argument has to happen with clients that don’t trust you. So YouTube, they’ve watched 10, 11, 20 videos and at some point that their brain goes, That’s my.[00:28:00] 

I’ve shown up to like Zoom meetings or in person, and they’re like, Dude, we’ve watched all your content. Or I go out and show a house and I’m like, I’m about to say something. And they’re like, Oh, you’re gonna say this. I’m like, . It’s almost, it’s almost like creepy A little bit. It’s like a little weird.

That is 

[00:28:15] Paul Neal: creepy, but in a good way. But it’s, it’s 

[00:28:17] Dan Inman: fantastic because they’ve already decided that they trust you. And it’s a, it’s a, you start off on a, um, a good foot. Now if you’re the kind of person who loves, uh, fame on, occasionally I’ll show up on a Zoom call and they’re like, Oh my God, it’s Dan in minute.

I’m like, , You know, my, my sister and my wife and my kids in the background are going, Oh my, oh my gosh. He’s gonna walk around the house in the big head now for the next half an hour. Mr. YouTuber, look at me. Um, 

[00:28:41] Paul Neal: yeah, but that’s right. You gotta love 

[00:28:43] Dan Inman: it. There’s a certain sense of that, that it’s like, this is pretty cool that not only because YouTube is you, I can’t reach.

I can’t cold call. It is impossible to do. They reach out and say like, I can, I can probably find in my email right now. Hey Dan, we’re moving to the area. Here’s our [00:29:00] live story. I’ve even had Sam, someone say, I hope you have time for us. Uh, if you too, please, you know, give us a call if we you get a chance.

I’m like, Yes, yes, I have time. Like I got this. Yeah, 

[00:29:12] Paul Neal: that’s just an amazing way. To build a business and there’s a lot of value in that, creating that authority and then that, that trust before they even reach out. And it, you know, honestly, I think it makes a better transaction for everybody because the, even your buyers, they, they, they’ve already crossed this bridge of, Hey, I feel like I know, like, and trust him already.

And so now we can just focus on the transaction versus sort of having the back of their mind, I don’t really know, this guy called me out of the blue or whatever. There’s really no trust there yet, so they gotta overcome that in the whole negotiation process of the house and everything that’s involved in that.

Sure. Or, 

[00:29:51] Dan Inman: or if something comes up, like stuff happens. I mean, you’ve been working, you said mostly in the commercial lending world. Look, deals don’t always go perfectly crazy [00:30:00] enough. The most expensive, most complex thing you’ll ever buy has variables that are involved, has people that are involved, emotions that are involved, , and guess what?

It doesn’t always perfectly go smoothly, but what happens when that something goes. A little bit of Ry and there’s trust. Dan. Dan’s got my best at heart. I know he does. When he says this, it’s because he’s looking out for it, not is he pulling a fast one on us? Is he just trying to push this to the end?

Does he need this paycheck? Like that’s what they call it, salesman. It’s like so much of that is circumvented when trust is involved and, and I think content has some of the highest potential to build trust prior to you even meeting your. Better than any other 

[00:30:40] Paul Neal: medium. I certainly agree with you. I’m an avid consumer of podcast of videos on YouTube and whatnot, and I have my favorites, and it does make a difference.

If you, you do, you make that connection, you know where someone’s coming from and you just feel good about it. And if, you know, if you need something there and that, that they [00:31:00] offer, then you know, it’s, it’s, uh, it’s a phone call away or a, an email away or whatnot. Dan, we’re, we’re out of time, man. Tell, tell everybody, this has been awesome.

I, I’m gonna dig deeper in this with you at some point. Sure. You’ve obviously mastered, and I know you, you’d say you haven’t, but you know, you’re way out there and it’s working for you. Tell everyone how they can, what’s, how they can get up with you if there’s someone that wants, uh, you know, wants to work with you in any, any capacity.

[00:31:23] Dan Inman: Yeah. Um, I mean, the best way, I mean, you can get ahold of us on almost e every platform, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, um, you know, YouTube, uh, we’re basically everywhere. Uh, one platform that I need to do better job is LinkedIn. Um, but we’re, we’re gonna get there. So you can find us on any there living in coastal Virginia.

Um, Dan Inman, um, I’m the team Lead Forman Home Services with Rio Broker. So we have a small team that’s, that’s continuously growing and we’ll probably double the transactions here over the next year. We service all of Hampton Roads, so from as far north as Williamsburg and Gloucester out to as far, you know, West is Franklin, most of our businesses [00:32:00] in Norfolk, Chesapeake, and Virginia Beach.

But hey, you know, one of the biggest things in, in real estate and in the loan world when you’re trying to learn stuff is rip off and duplicate. They call it r and d. And so, go to my channels, go to my content. The reality is, is you can take all of my stuff, repurpose it for you, your audience, your people, your, your, your area.

No one’s gonna know the difference. Just see what’s working and then figure out the voice that works for you. I’m kind of an open book. You and I were talking, I think before you started recording. At the end of the day, it comes down to implementation. I’ll probably share 98, 90 9% of what we’re doing. I might keep a little secret sauce to myself, , but I’ll share most of it because I know that 99% of people are not gonna implement it.

Um, and I’m not worried about you being my competition because I am an implementer. We get shit done. Um, as soon as the idea comes across, I find a way to systemize it and put somebody in charge of it and, and execute on it. So I say that as like, I have such a big heart for generosity. If, if you wanna get ahold of me and pick my brain.

Uh, but more than willing to do that. 

[00:32:58] Paul Neal: Awesome. Dan, this has been [00:33:00] great, man. You’ve added tremendous value. I really appreciate your time today, 

[00:33:03] Dan Inman: man. Yeah, absolutely. Paul. It’s a pleasure speaking with you. Thanks for listening to The Entrepreneurial Agent. If this episode really struck a chord with you, make sure to check out our show notes and contact us and our guests directly and let us know.

You’ll find all our social handles here. Be sure to subscribe to stay on the cutting edge of what’s working now as you advance your real estate career far into the future.