KGCI: Real Estate on Air - Real Estate Media Expert, Craig Sewing

Episode Date: June 24, 2025

another episode of Realtor Hacks, Tips and Tricks. I am one of your host, Hallie Beeler McCrory, based out of Dallas, Texas, also in San Angelo, Texas, so West and North Texas. A two-time icon agent with EXP Realty, also a host, this is going to be relevant for today, for Emmy-nominated TV show, The American Dream TV, and coach for Tarak El-Muse's team at EXP Realty as well. And I've got my co-hosts. on today. Casey Stiers also host for the American Dream, but based out of Raleigh. And she is Miss Downtown Raleigh, all things downtown. You might know her from Good Evening, Glenwood podcast, and she also works the coast of North Carolina as well. Maybe we needed a Wilmington

version of the American Dream. That might be the next one. Hey, I can do every other month. I was like, I can do it. And we're super excited today. We've got someone that is super inspirational to us and got us into the American Dream, the founder and CEO of this media company. It's Craig sewing. So thank you, Craig, for coming on. Super busy guys. So we're sitting. We appreciate your time.

Yes. Thank you. TV hosts doing podcasts. Well, we were already doing this beforehand. We were. That makes you multi-dimensional, your media moguls now. Oh, trying. Yeah.

Working that way. Funny about that is how important that actually plays into real estate. It really, yes. Gary V coined the phrase at the Inman conference years ago that you need to be the digital mayor of your town, be a media company, comma, a realtor. And you guys are truly trailblazing with it, which is cool. So thanks for having me here. Yes, thanks for coming on.

We're super excited. So we always like to start our podcast off kind of with, you know, your background and how you got into what you're doing. And I think your story is really cool getting into media and in real estate as well. So start from the top. Give us all the tea. All right. So there I was, eight years old.

Actually, you know, it really does play in is that I'm like you guys, I'm a serial entrepreneur. So I'm originally from St. Louis, Missouri. Back when I was growing up, I would mow lawns in the summer and shovel snow in the winter. So I've always been to have that entrepreneurial spirit in my DNA, I think. I worked for MTV in New York City when I was 21 years old. I got into real estate at 21 and a half.

I'm now 44. So I've been doing real estate and media things for quite some time. Of course, real estate wasn't at MTV. That's when they used to play music. Remember that? Yes, yeah. Now it's, you know. I know.

I miss those days. I love watching these videos. Yeah. I think they're gone anymore. I mean, you got to get rid of the M. I mean, they got reality TV and all that garbage they have on there now. but I got into real estate at 21 young age, real estate and mortgage, more on the mortgage side. And, you know, it was really interesting about the path to media.

None of it was intentional. In fact, getting into mortgage wasn't intentional. But in 2009, the mortgage company had a very transactional based business. We spent a lot on marketing and refis and things like that. And it wasn't a relationship referral-based business. And so we wanted to change that. And just by happenstance, I ran into a radio show host back in 2009. And somehow I found a way to create a radio show.

Now, I'm introverted, never thought I'd host a radio show. And I hated public speaking, but it pays more to be extroverted sometimes. So I put, you know, I'm kind of, I think if anything I have a skill that I don't, I don't mind failing. You know, you learn in failure. And so I did it. It's seven in the morning. live to tape on like, what was it Sunday? 7 a.m. I don't even remember the station. But the most important point,

nobody was listening to it. Somehow I got people to show up and be my guest, but the guest wasn't so much about the audience as it was the experience and repurposing and having fun and taking behind-the-scenes photos. And it grew up. It went from a Saturday morning show to a Saturday afternoon and then into a daily radio show. And then next thing you know, I was hosting, and I'm in San Diego, a 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. live two-hour radio show every single day and then TV happened in 2013. That's when we conceptualized the American Dream and we were doing it at a studio for the newspaper called the Union Tribune. They went belly up. But we were doing great. The show was doing great. We loved it. And so that's

where I'm sitting actually in the studio that we created in 2016 when I became the CEO of American Dream Media. And what we essentially did is we took what we had done in San Diego. And we said, well, this would work in other markets. So I flew Salt Lake City. I flew to Denver. Next thing you know, here we are in a hundred-something cities with 1,200 of the, I would argue, the best realtors in the world that are all hosting across the country. But it's, you know, back to my original point, it's just been an entrepreneurial journey,

no manual, a lot of failures. But here we are, I guess you'd say eight years later in the TV space. Actually, that's not right. 11 years later, eight years is when we started where I'm sitting. sitting today. But it's just been, you know, putting one foot in front of the other, getting beat up, dusting yourself off, keeping going, put one foot in front of the other. And here you are. Hey, I look at it for you as a lesson, not a failure. I mean, look where you are now. You got to feel forward. I think the thing, when you, look, I've gotten major failures in my life.

I mean, that whole I worked for MTV in 21 years old and I got a mortgage. Well, I didn't tell the part where I'm a college dropout. Like, that was a big failure. And when you go through some of those experiences in life where your failures, when you can reflect back on them, actually taught you a lot of lessons. They motivated you. And would I go back in time and change the things? I wouldn't. So it kind of gives you a confidence when you're in present day moment. Hey, look, if I've learned this much from failures in the past, what am I learning in this challenge right now? When you can replace failure and fear with faith that, hey, there's something to be learned here. Keep moving forward. Keep driving forward. it's really a good code you know it's good hack for podcast here it's good hack you know when you can

replace fear with faith yes yes i love that yeah and that's even we were talking about Lisa Copeland who's one of our mentors and she always just says you know do it scared lean into your faith so yeah something we we strive by for sure especially starting a podcast and you know going on TV it's like those could be easily too scary things but But can't take the island if you don't burn the boats. Yep. Absolutely. Absolutely.

I mean, that's how I looked at it when I started real estate, didn't have any self experience from teaching school. I never thought about it until I met Lisa. He said that whole, do it scared. And I was like, well, that's exactly what I felt. Yeah. Yes, for sure. Well, now you get into it. And now you know, like, you know, you go around and talk to other real estate agents.

there's a lot of people who were teachers that turned real estate agents. And it's all like the education piece. So now you know that people always say teachers make the best real estate agents because they're so good with education because there's so much education that goes into real estate. Sure. But, you know, you didn't know that at the time. And now Casey's writing a book on it. I've written one.

I'm just figuring out what I'm doing with it. Teacher turned realtor. I love it. Yeah. You don't have to be a math. teacher to learn that the math of the income works out a little bit better than teaching as well right I mean it's I know I know you still do with the parents and that was one of my reasons I left was the parents imagine worse they're worse now and I'm like you're a wrong

person but okay I would imagine I would imagine I got kids I really do empathize with teachers me too one of the most important jobs and somehow we can't get them paid enough for people to pick around, but there's something fundamentally wrong with society where the teachers aren't taken care of. Yeah. Yes. Okay, so tell us,

I don't think I've ever heard you talk on this part, but what made you pick and I'm sure it's, you know, has something to do with your mortgage background too, but what made you pick real estate agents and mortgage lenders to be the host of your media company? It's the space I came from.

Right. So I always say that in media, there's a fine line between revenue and content. Content's the fun part, right? Let's go create a show. If I knew how to monetize it, I would create a sport show because I love sports. But I don't. I don't know the media sports world very well. But I did know real estate and I did no mortgage. And so on the other side of the content revenue fine line I'm talking about is the revenue. If you only focus on the revenue, maybe you're just one big infomercial and that's not very good either so the fine line is trying to figure out how am i going to do this thing that i love create the content create the show grow the audience and monetize it without selling out like the mainstream media does with you know half the shows

are commercials reality tv big pharma all that stuff and so what we were able to really figure out was the rubics cube of how we can monetize all the production components and the value prop uh for those involved with the show, but also how to create an entertaining show that people actually liked. You know, look, HGTV got bought by Warner Brothers for $6 billion. Zillow, 2 million people are going to go to Zillow today. So what are those two things tell you, tell you that people actually like real estate content, but most realtors and mortgage professionals have no idea what to do it with it

because they're too used to, you know, work in the transactions, working the deal, mortgage guys are behind their desk, memorizing, underwriting guidelines and interest rates. So we were somehow able to kind of trailblaze our way and to figure out how can we create a medium that can have the funding it needs, but to create shows without selling out. And the reason we did it in real estate and mortgage is, well, that's the space I came from. So I know the industry. I know what's valuable to that realtor. I know it's valuable to that mortgage professional.

And because I speak the language, you know, I think that's just the niche we fell into because it's the niche we knew. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And from my end, I'm like, as a real estate. agent. I don't know. I think of, so I got in 2019 right before COVID. So a lot of people would say I've had it easy. I haven't, but that time was nice. Now looking back, I will say that. But it's, during COVID, I leaned into what Gary V said and being like a digital mayor, but I really took

it a step farther and really tried to be like a source of information, even like not only for real estate, but just like information on our town and what was going on or like in COVID resources that were being given out by, you know, the city or different nonprofits or entities and getting that word out to people so that I could help other people and be that, I don't know, just just really to help people. Exactly. So find out the real estate in the first place, you know? In a different context, right?

So like there's that fine line again. You want to build your real estate business. Right. But you want to do things that are fun and entertaining. So you've found a unique balance between, hey, people actually like lifestyle stuff. That's the thing where I think so many realtors get it wrong is that's the stuff people like. Look, you have something in common with all of your neighbors there in Dallas. You all live there.

You are positioned to be the storyteller as to why. And so it's really the lessons of the American Dream. It's about the lifestyles, the culture, the neighborhoods, the golf courses, the new restaurants opening, the best school districts. So the realtor in our world is the conduit to those stories. Even if you and I had never met, you're doing this without us. You kind of tapped into that. Hey, this is fun. People like this type of content.

I should do it. And that puts you out there more. It grows your following your fan base. And yeah, people will find out that you also are an expert at selling real estate. But where realtors, like, flip that upside down. And it's all about I'm the greatest realtor. And here's my listing photos. It gets pretty nauseating, I think, for the,

It can be in the way. You're doing it the fun way. Yes. It's nauseating for real estate agents or, you know, and mortgage lenders, of course, too. It can sometimes be nauseating, like trying to find the balance of creating authority for yourself and showing people you're busy, but also not feeling like you're bragging and just putting out stuff out there that's

not of value to people, you know? And that's where, I don't know, that's what really drew me to American Dream. one, because I wanted to get into more video and we were doing this podcast and I was really feeling more, you know, comfortable and confident and knew I could do this. But then also, you know, this is a perfect way to help people. I love helping local business owners and showcase that I'm in real estate at the same time without having to make. It's true. In the community, like, and what's going on in your communities. Well, people do business with those that they trust and have a lot in common with,

no matter how good a marketing gimmick is or an advertising thing. It's real estate. People's biggest decisions financially. They're going to be building not just financial stability and have a lot of questions. They're going to be building memories. This is where my parents live in the house I was raised in. So there's a lot to it, right? I think, look, modesty is a great quality.

I just did my parents live in the house I was raising. My dad's a modest guy. It's a compliment. But modesty, unfortunately, can get in the way of your marketing. Right. Like, how do I put myself out there? I know I need to do more video on social, but man, there's so much nauseating stuff out there. What I love about what you guys are doing with this show and what I've seen you do with

the American Dream is, and really what our whole mantra is internally is it's not about you. It's not about me. It's about our neighborhoods. It's about why we love where we live and sharing the stories of those local business owners and the principal of that school district or the head of that charity that you're fond of positive media about our neighborhoods. And so the kind of thing that we try and do with the American dream, which, you know, applicable to those doing video or social media is the easiest way to get out of your own head and into your heart is don't make it about you. Make it about your community.

Make it about the people making an impact. And I think it's very relatable to consumers out there. Again, eventually people figure out that you sell real estate. But if you lead with your heart and you make it not about you and I'm the greatest realtor, rather, this is why we love Dallas. This is the new restaurant that's opening that we love. This is the happy hour spot that we go to. Well, that relates to more people and that really can move the needle on business. Yes. Yeah. And I love that you bring up positive media. I'm someone that is very frustrated with, you know, the average media company. It's like, it's beyond politics at this point, whether it's, you know, what you think of as the left wing or the right wing. Like there's so much false information

going out wherever you look. And it's just, um, It's all very negative. Like, that's what they use as clickbait. And it's just a constant negative cycle. So I just feel so happy to be a part of something that is positive. And I'm making a positive impact on people in the midst of all this negative news that they use to keep people coming back. And we can do the same thing, but with positive stuff.

And we're like, I feel like we're the trailblazers of this industry. And we're someone that these companies can look to that they can still have success. while putting out positivity. Hopefully they follow that. Unfortunately, negativity, fear, and sex, sell. You know, it's with the news, 24-7 news,

sensationalism, sound bites. You could watch the same news story on Fox News and CNN and get a completely different take because of the way that they've framed it and where they're making their money. 80% of advertising comes from big. There's only two countries in the world.

that big pharma is allowed to advertise we are one of them yeah so it's about money it's about their advertisers um and it's you know it's really unfortunate and in the online world it's all click baity as you mentioned i think the space i think there's a lot of people that would agree with us that they're kind of fed up it's almost like the tail wagging the dog's like wait a second there's 300 million americans who said that we like this kind of content you know i mean fear makes you not change a channel don't get me wrong when there's something terrible happens look at covid i mean CNN literally had a death ticker on their news. Like this many people are dying,

this many people are sick. I watched it, why? Cause I was scared, scared of this thing. And that's just how the media works. And when you start to realize that it's all money driven and you realize, well, first of all, I can turn it off. And you guys go, well, I can be a force for good. There is a space for it.

And I think it's a blue ocean strategy. You know, if the media, doing this, well, I'm going to go against the grain of that and do something a little bit different. And I think that's a big reason we've had a lot of success we had because people are attracted to that. Yes. Well, and even more relevant for the real estate agents and mortgage lenders watching this with this, well, I guess the mortgage lenders have already been through this in the past. But with this NAR settlement, we're, you know, now kind of we've got negative media on us. And it's like, I don't know.

I love being in the media world now because I feel confident to. to address that and put my like put my own word out there not like against it but you know I'm out here I'm embracing what's going on I'm all for like look at I watched Ryan Sirhan talk about this and I know that's someone that you know promotes ADTV as well he came out and said I'm for this I'm all for more transparency and communication in our industry I'm not going to try to you know say that this doesn't need to happen or that this is not fair for real estate agent you know, I like that he took a positive spin on it. But it is, it's hard when you go on the Today Show and they're saying that

that real estate agents shouldn't be getting the same commission as they were when there are good real estate agents out there that are providing value. And it's just like this whole, it was like false information. Like they were like, there's not a lot of competition. I'm like, listen, listen, lady, how many real estate agents do? do you know? You probably can count more. You probably can't even use both your hands because there is so much competition. And you're not being paid a base pay. You eat with a pill. You know, the NAR thing is funny because it's like you have these ambulance chasing attorneys

that are suing the industry that are going to make all this commission off of the lawsuit while they're suing people about how they make commission. So that is befuddling to me. And how much of that money is going to get back to the families that they're suing on behalf of? of NADA. So it's just, it's a very sad state that we're still lawsuit happy. But look, 100%. Like people could sue people for anything and everything. I mean, yeah, and you'll settle with them because it's cheaper to settle than to go through the trouble of every proving yourself, right? It's a sad state. And that's what you just said is the reason why these people that are sue happy keep doing because there's some judge or somebody that keeps allowing them and they don't

look at them and say, this is a buffoon case. This is stupid and you shouldn't be doing this. It's kind of like this book, kid. She's in Texas. Try being in California. Don't get me started. We won't even get anywhere else on this podcast. If you want to talk about how upside down California is, we got to be real. The lawsuits are a little personal for me right now. I hear you. No, look, if you're an entrepreneur and you don't get sued, that would be abnal. Somebody told me, they're like, you've officially made it. Yeah, it's really unfortunate. But look, let's be real.

The disruption creates opportunity. For realtors, the ones that are crying in their beer right now, I just don't feel sorry for. We don't have a taxi cab company that doesn't have a car. Airbnb is a number on hotel chain that doesn't have a hotel. Mortgage industry upside down. They used to make three to five points a deal. Now they make one.

But 70% of their business got wiped out in 2008, so there's less competitors. realtors. The jig is up. You know what I mean? Like it's too easy to get the license, too easy to keep the license, six points, double-ending deals. Of course, people are going to attack your commission and try and take your commission. And it's surprising that tech hasn't really got into real estate more as it is other industries. So it's here, it should have been here a long time ago. The question is, is what do you as a professional are going to do about it. That's what I was going to say, North Carolina. We've been doing this for quite some time. We've

negotiated and stuff. And that's how I basically putting my spend on it now. And people are asking me, I'm like, what do you want to sell your house? Because that agent on that house, that seller's willing to give to 2.4. If you're not willing to do it, where do you think that, you know, which direction do you think it's going to go? And he said, most of them are like, okay, I see your point, Casey. Like, we've been negotiating this for years. And we've got to disruption creates opportunity. It does. The world keeps turning. The market keeps changing. As long as you keep your hands 10 and 2, pushing the gas and finding the new, so somebody, look forward and look at the target.

Somebody's going to make it killing. Yes, there's going to be less realtors. Yes, commissions will be compressed. Guess what? Look across the aisle. This already happened in mortgage just for different reasons. So if you come to real estate and let's just say there's 50% less realtors. And let's say you made a little bit less commission than you did before.

All right. Close more. gain market share by innovating, by being on the front edge of the stuff, by being educated, by being motivated. You do that and you will come out ahead on this thing, even though there'll be a lot of bumps and bruises in the process and it's going to be ugly and you're going to have extra conversations and the media crapping on you. So what? Put your head on it. The people that are crying are the people that are always looking for an excuse, the reason why they don't have the other school. They're going to always have an excuse no matter what.

So yeah and I'm I'm okay with them leaving I'll take your business I will help you no I'll be a referral agent for you good for families will be good for consumers to understand have more transparency the true yes exactly the true professionals will grow absolutely absolutely yeah and I mean I'm primarily a listing agent so I'm I'm like, you know, that's kind of what I'm, not that we, we need buyers agents, of course, and that's honestly the easiest way, in my opinion, with like to get into real estate, like, for me, I think it's a little bit easier to pick up buyers than it is sellers. And it, like, going through the buying process really helps you to understand the listing process

even that much more. But, you know, my, my team, you know, listening. listings, listings, listings. And when we do have the buyers, we're just going to communicate as much as possible. We're going to do what we can to develop any relationships and keep any good relationships with other agents. Like, it doesn't matter about what brokerage you're with or what you believe or whatever. Like the relationship is important.

And it's going to be more important now more than ever. So. Well, my company, American Dream Media, we have, I don't know, 40 to 50 employees. thousand plus contractors. You would normally, if you're in my position, you see this impact happening to real estate. How's this going to affect the American Dream TV, the show, the model? It gets back to the very first thing I talked about.

When you can replace fears with faith, all right, what am I going to learn? Okay, someone's going to innovate here. It's going to be me. I don't know what it is yet, but I know that I'll be 10 and 2 with my foot on the gas, figuring this thing out. But the beauty of the American Dream media is like an internal business model with realtors is I believe that the realtors with the strongest brands, relationships, and listing focus are probably going to win really big. Brands super important. What do people say about you and you're not around?

Relationships, referrals, things like that. And obviously listings. Well, with American Dream, yeah, it's a show. But I always say it's a B2B model first before it's a B2C show. B2B, which I know as much of your audience and obviously you gals, business to business, well, our core competence. is it empowers brands, grows relationships, i.e. social media followers, opens doors. It grades listings. So for me, it's kind of like, oh, well, dodged a bullet there that's going to but, you know, it doesn't really matter. Unless people are going to be buying teepees and wigwams,

there's always going to be a need for realtors, there's always going to need to buy homes. They're not going to come in and have some tech solutions. It's going to cost $200 for a transaction. and you're going to need people to question, how are the people going to leverage tech? It's kind of like, I don't even know where I heard this, but I really liked it. Someone said that there's a technological tidal wave, and you're either going to learn how to surf it or drown.

Well, those who grab the surfboard and go surf on it are going to figure out this tech thing and all these changes, and they're going to do really well. Yes, I agree. I agree 100%. Well, and like, speaking of tech, I mean, AI is probably the biggest one right now that if you're not on that wave with real estate, you're going to get left behind big time.

And that's what I love. Another thing that you guys have implemented is this storyboard where you integrate AI and chat GPT to help us create. Because when you're when you're an American dream host, you're also helping to produce it. You're the one going out and picking what we're going to be covering. So in order to do that, you've got to really like dive in and plan how your episode is going to layout and you have to have that for the guest too because otherwise they're like okay well what are we doing like and then you you don't want to look dumb so we've got this new storyboard AI component within dream dash will you tell us a little bit about that as well yeah yeah if you kind of zoom out well well I mean so we help you storyboard we help you script things like that so you develop a segment

but if you zoom out from that and you just look at what I just called the technological tidal wave if you thought this is the internet. Like when I remember when the internet came out, I remember I was a kid and I remember this thing called the internet and the whole world changed. And then things like social media came along and it changed the way commerce worked. AI is the biggest one of them all.

So if you're in real estate and you're not paying attention to it, you're not utilizing it, you're not learning it, I think you're in trouble. Things are going to get very hard. We'll say that. And AI is solving for things in minutes that used to take years. I don't know how it's going to play out in the real estate industry,

but the way it's going to play out in the world, it is a fascinating time to be a human being. It is absolutely going to affect everybody, but certainly entrepreneurs in real estate, it's something to pay very close attention to. Yeah, we've had a few AI entrepreneurs or like consultants on here, and the things that you can do with it, just for business in general and being an entrepreneur are insane.

And now we've got chat GPT just came out with their 4-0 version. Yep. And it's you can upload pictures, documents, videos. Like I have a client who's super into bodybuilding and he said he started to use it. He takes pictures of himself in like a bathing suit. And he has chat GPT to tell him where he needs to start like working out on his body or, you know, I was on a show in the other day. And client asked me what the plant was. And I was like, oh, perfect opportunity.

Took a picture of it, uploaded the tree to chat GPT 40, and it spit it out. I'm like, it's wild. It's wild. The ability to. Like just very. Things that you don't know, learn at scale. Yeah, it's part scary. I like part of me wonders, are the robots going to take over and kill us all?

Part of me doesn't blame them if they want to because we're, as a species, I think we're deteriorating. all the stuff we talked about the news earlier. But it is an exciting time. If you can put fear aside, this can be very good. It can be very good for professionals, can be very good for consumers.

So it should be a wild ride for the next couple of years. Yes. So I want you to tell us a little bit too about where American Dream is going from. So when I got into this about a little under a year ago, and my, you know, my episodes were airing on CW, Fox, and now we're seeing more of a head towards streaming, which I love personally. I got rid of cable so long ago.

I have Hulu Live, and there's like YouTube Live, of course, for sports and I really just have those for like sporting events from my husband. And so I don't know, I want to hear your thoughts on this. Blue is digital, right? So look, at the end of the day, you have content, you want people to consume that content. American Dream originally was on cable. Great. Cable's a dying medium.

My own mother cut the cord on cable for Roku. She's seven eight years old. So I had met with Gary V in New York City years ago, and I said, look, I have this show. We have, I don't know, a thousand something hosts across the country that are all from real estate. And we have the, you know, these shows on cable everywhere. but cable's a dying medium. And so why are we there? There's a there. It wasn't cost effective for how we do things. There's no audience. And I remember this is years ago. And he said, uh, you need to look at your clients and your hosts and say, are you a poser or a business executioner? Because saying as

seen on, just to say, hey, I'm on the CW. That nobody watches is cute, but who cares, right? How can you create a paradigm shift to where you might be going into new territory that might be scary for some people but you can create bigger audiences and so what it's funny because I had that conversation like five six years ago and I hate to say this and it's not trying to pat myself on the back but American dream has always been very cutting edge and sometimes you have to have things catch up to you and so for us we so we did the digital thing years ago but then all of a sudden it's like wait a second now everybody has these digital things now smart TVs have them on there now this thing called social media it we got 46 million views on facebook alone last month not to mention TV that happened here

so years ago that wasn't the case it's almost like the world kind of caught up to us and then we realized hey wait a second this thing we've been talking about for years let's burn the bridge here throw in the canyon and never look back and let's start to advance better strategies to still keep credibility, right? Like the show is on HGTV, travel channel, Amazon Fire, Apple TV, Roku. But it's also on these smart TVs, it's integrated. At the end of the day, 46 million views on Facebook was just our page. That doesn't include the thousands of realtors across the country and the mortgage professionals sharing it to their sphere. Yeah. What happened here? So that in our world, it's like where Gary Vista would be a media company, comma, a realtor, Tom Ferry, big on video

on social. Ryan Serian, big on media. These are leaders of the industry that are saying it. Well, we do it. We do that thing called media. And so it allows realtors to be a media company. So yeah, we're going to do what we do. And we're going to put it on TV and drive views. But at some point in time, we're done doing our part. And then we get to gals like you who then get to repurpose it to that sphere and grow their subscribers and their followers. And that's what makes it a partnership. You're not just a host and we're not just a media company. Strategically, we're aligned to create a great show, to create great content, to win awards for it. And it's working.

I think we've hit like a tipping point where it's so much bigger than I ever envisioned it to ever be. And it's because of people like you who really have figured it out. A lot of the great ideas you hear from us around is really us just repeating what the realtors are doing across the country with the show. Yes. Well, yeah, that's the limits of your mind are great. So we have, when you're a host, we all have masterminds where we get together and talk about what's going well for people, what's not. I'm usually not on those live. I run a team meeting at the same time.

So I always watch the recordings. I promise I do. And I love it because. I say that because I get all in a tizzy. I like when people aren't on a call. I drop something else. I swear, not because I'm off doing something else. I'm very temperamental.

I wear my emotion on my sleeves. Sometimes I wake up in the morning. I am to a fault at times. Me too. I love it because even this last one, we're talking YouTube. Like I'm working on growing my YouTube channel right now. And I love it because with ADTV, I don't think a lot of other, like, you know, hosts or people that are on TV shows get to use their content. Like I know we have Ari Lyondike from The Bachelor.

He's in our organization at EXP. and he doesn't get to a lot of use like a lot of his contact we're right to yeah we get to so you know i'm like putting this on my youtube we get the raw footage and i'm i'm repurposing that i'm making instagram reels um but even you know on this on this last one we were talking youtube and um you know just like talking about like keywords and thumbnails and um it's kind of the stuff that i nerd out on And so I loved that. And it's just, there's so much value that we get out of, out of this. And this is all stuff that real estate agents, I think, should be, you know,

working on and looking to, and this is what I coach my team on. And I'm with the group that is at the forefront of it, masterminding about it. And she really feels. She's taught me about different keywords and quick. And like, you know, tools, like two buddy, um, video. You guys, if your business model in real estate is to meet people at Starbucks and wear your realtor badge, good luck. It's over. If it's buying bus benches, sure, maybe for branding, but I would get real annoyed driving down the street and seeing a Hitler mustache and a sombrero on my head. Right. Yes. Yeah.

It's not good for business anymore. I mean, I had somebody tell me, I mean, being a teacher, I didn't want to be in social media at all because I was a teacher. So I had to go from that transition from nothing to everything. Totally. All social media. But here's the thing. I was talking with somebody I'm mentoring other day. And she said, I'm just not doing social media, Casey.

I'm just not. I'm sorry. And I'm like, oh, that's rough. Good luck. Well, but here's the thing. Here's the thing. I get that. I really do.

We got to stop calling it social media. We got to start calling it the internet. This is where people go for information. I would have said to her, if it wasn't for social media, we wouldn't even be in business. Zillow would have won. Two million people are going to Zillow today. Social media, you've got to draw a line and you've got to compartmentalize the different components of it.

For example, we keep our 15-year-old off of it. I try and stay off of it. I try and unfollow annoying people. I try not to be annoying. I try not to go down the dark hole of like Instagram stories. It happens. And then I come out of it. I'm like cross-eyed.

That's not good stuff. But in real estate, and even if it's not, not real estate, right? It is entrepreneurs, marketers. This is where people go for information. This is where relationships can be created at scale. This can create leads. This can create brand. If you don't recognize that part, so whoever you were sharing that with Casey, it's like, yeah, sure, I get all that too. I hate it too, but like, freaking all that. But I look at the advantages of it and that far outweighs my dislike for it. So yes.

It's tough because I do understand. Like I think in many ways social media has been horrible for the world. But like anything, it's moderation. It's understanding what you like about it. And dinosaurs don't like to be told they're going extinct. You know? You know, like, hey, emails is like a backup to social media. And you know what I mean?

Like sending them and no, I don't like getting 20 million emails from people. but guess what? I remember those people. Well, like, think about this. And if you really get granular in this thing called social media, the back end of social and algorithms and the building your audiences, realtors will spend thousands of dollars on postcards to send into a mailbox that they don't even know if the person gets it, gets thrown in the spam. 17 other realtors are doing it.

You don't even know if it got red. With social media, it's like a scuba diver taking the worm right to the fish's mouth. Like you can see who looked at it, how long they looked at it, you can build look-like audiences. The reason people don't like it is because it takes work, right? And a lot of realtors just aren't willing to put in the work. Like, let's be very real. And those are ones who are going to have a really hard time. The good ones put in the work.

You're going to have to put in more work. And that's what's going to thin out this herd a bit. But it's not that it's, you can't even debate the power of it. I can understand why people don't like it. But again, you've got to compartmentalize those feelings and focus on the things. that are good for business it's getting bigger and you mix in the AI component it's only going to snowball it's all about attracting people to you versus you know i feel like the people like you're talking about crag those people just they want to figure out who do i need to pay for leads zillow realtor

com blah blah blah none of those work trust me i i've i've had people on my team that i've told you know like try to get them on the media route they're like no and they've gone through every single company that offers leads and it's it's just chasing and it's not good leads yeah and it's looking for a short cut versus social media you're you're able to get your it's the next next next thing to talking face to face with someone right like on video you know we we watch these people on tv or like ryan surhan is a great example like i feel like i know brian surhand because i watch videos all the time. And I know, like, not only do I know Ryan Surhan, I like Ryan Surhan. And I stress what Ryan Sirhan says. And that's the same, that's the power of social media on top of

being able to get that to a mass amount of people, or I guess media in general, I should say. You know, we get that put out to mass amount of people in less time than it takes to drive somewhere and go meet and have, like, of course, we still want to have face-to-face interaction, of course as well. But, you know, this is the next next best thing, if not equal, because we can reach all these different people. Yeah. With the same amount of time it takes to go meet with one person.

It's wild. And we, you know, with video, we can really draw people in and let them get to know us and build our personal brand like Ryan Serhan. And, you know, that allows people us to attract people in. And that's way easier. That is so much more fun. And just genuinely and authentic, like all these buzzwords we hear, this is what it's all about. Because it brings people to us, people who already want to work with us.

I don't have to fight with people on, like, oh, I'm going to fight or not fight, but I have to compete with people on listing appointments. Like, that doesn't happen to me anymore because when people come to me, they know selling their house. They want to work with me already. Yeah. You know, I know your podcast is about hacks. So if I gave a hack, because I really do empathize with the person who doesn't like social media and maybe introverted, because I am that person. And I have a lot of empathy for that. I just, it's unfortunately going to work against him in business.

I was years ago speaking at an event in Seattle. And the guy, there was probably 500 people, realtors in the audience. And the guy who put it on, he owned it. a video company. And so he was interviewing me on stage. He's like, look, you got this national TV show. He's like, you got all these hosts. He's like, I don't even understand how you can get them to host shows. I can't even get them to do their first video because they're so scared. They're not going to be any good at it. I go, well, they weren't good at sex either the first time, but they figured it out. And then he said, well, like, how do you advise him? And I said this at

the time, and I didn't even mean to say it, but I did. And I've kind of repeated it where there's, I have three rules. Number one, get out of your head and get into your heart. It's when we're thinking too much about me, what do I look like, what are people, how people are going to judge me. That's your biggest killers. You're self-deprecating. You're punishing yourself. You're judging your own hair when no one else cares. So get out of your head and get into your heart. No one. Right. Right. This is number two is make it about them, not you. Like, I'm the greatest realtor. I'll sell this house, I'll buy it cash, fit, unsell, me, me. No, it's like, here's why we love our community. Today I'm going to show you why I love this particular area, why people go to this grade school,

or this is a charity that we're all fond of. Like, be a brand ambassador for your community. So make it about them, not you. And the number three, not everybody's going to like you. So fuck them. Like, oh, can I say that here? I don't know. Yes, yes. A hundred percent, yes. Everybody's going to be your client. And you're going to get some troll and your comments. who's going to say some things. And then they're going to unfollow you. Who cares?

Were you ever going to sell him a house? You've got to have the ability to not care what everybody thinks. I mean, it just boosts you to the top. So all they're doing is making people notice you more. It's easy to be tough behind your keyboard. We see it all the time. I always say the bigger you get, the more your haters will too. We see it with the American Dream.

Some of the things I see from anonymous, posters and some of these other groups and oh the Facebook groups are so dumb I'm like I'm so room no they'll they'll pull you in um like but it's yeah anyone who's got time to hate on somebody else who's trying to grow you got almost just feel sorry for them and who knows what they're going through but you know that's again we live online world really don't have enough business keeping them busy right so what is the future of American Dream. You guys already are doing like Cabo, right? Cabo? Oh, you mean like a show? Yeah, like it isn't there, aren't their host for for Mexico? You're in Mexico, right?

African Dream? No, I think we had, we have agents are allowed to do their content wherever they want, right? So we had some agents out of Los Angeles that had been with us hosting the show for seven years and they said, look, we got this real estate investment thing going on in Cabo. Can we do it? a segment there. And I was like, yeah. And they're like, really? Yeah, it's good a videographer. It's part of the American dream is being able to travel and invest in places like Cabo. I love Cabo. It's like my favorite place to go. It's two hours flight for me. So yeah, no, we have agents. There's an agent out of Portland that's shooting in Brazil right now. So we love that stuff. Oh my gosh. I didn't realize that. Okay, cool. Oh, yeah, yeah. But I think really the next phase for us is

what I've really fallen in love with is if you look around the country, and there's a football team in that city, we probably have a show there. And what happens over time is you look and you choose agents. Some of them are great. They grow with us. We literally have agents have been doing this with us for over 10 years on a month-to-month agreement. So when we revisit a city, what we're usually doing is top-grading the talent. Okay, these have stuck.

They've grown. They're great. A couple dropped off. Maybe they weren't a good fit. Maybe it's run its course. Okay, let's top-grade the talent. And as you guys own real estate, there's always new talent growing and emerging. So it's been a really fascinating experience for me to go back to a city, to top grade the talent,

to continue with those who are great, but add those who are like new to our world. But the exciting part for me is that it's also opening up in all these small markets. That's the coolest thing ever, if you ask me. Like, we have a show in The Ozarks. Have you seen the show The Ozarks? Yeah. A lot of show there. I can dream TV like the small.

Ozarks, Lake Tahoe, Cordoane, Dayton, Ohio, Columbus, Ohio. I used to look at Florida and think, all right, Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville, Miami, now we're in Fort Lauderdale, Bocereton, Tallahassee, Gainesville. Like, although HGTV and Bravo is not calling those markets to do TV shows, 80p, which creates a real show, not some reality TV, but a real show about real neighborhoods with real professionals, sharing real stories. I love the smaller markets because it allows us to just kind of touch every square inch of this country. So that's what we're really growing. And it's like you're in Dallas, but what about Fort Worth in some of these other areas?

I just, I love the smaller markets, the rural towns. That's really spreading. And to me, it's the coolest thing because it is positive media niche in neighborhoods. It's good to hear from those smaller markets. Are there any smaller big towns or cities that you'd like to see American Dream move into? I don't even know. I shouldn't know that. I think we're growing so fast. I don't know. I think we're just about ever. The thing is, is when COVID happened, it shut everything down. Videographers couldn't get out and shoot. Realtors can get out and sell homes. So we came up with some unique solutions during COVID.

But since that's cleared and that's kind of behind us, we're really kind of on this war path to re-expand across the country. Like we were, we had a great show in New York City. You mentioned Ryan Surnan. He's been on our show. Some of his buyers agents were on our show. We have an agent Long Island. It's on our show. Just launched Orlando. He's growing there. But we haven't done anything in New York City since pre-COVID.

So I can't wait to go back there. Relaunch with the 2.0 version of the show and the model. So it's really more about, it's not so much going into new markets. Sure. We're not in West Virginia. But it's more about like opening up those smaller markets. and then the bigger cities like where you guys are in Raleigh and Dallas, top grading the talent, expanding, you know, what is Dallas?

Like I live in San Diego. Well, no, I don't. I live in Encinitas. It's 30 minutes north of San Diego. Opening up Incenitas, La Jolla Del Mar. That is where it can really, like, grow all across the country. A lot of people are moving post-COVID, too. It's like people are expanding out of the city, too.

So it might be more relatable to our audiences. But very interesting. That gives me some good ideas. I know some agents in New York. So I'm going to be reaching out to them. We love agent-to-agent connections. Because they like the thing about it that I have really fallen in love with beyond some of things I've said is the culture within it. Yes.

There's 1,200 plus top realtors from big cities and small cities. Men, women, young, old, different ethnicities. We don't give a rip what you look like. And it has become a community of masterminding, a Facebook group. Hell, there's 16 women that met in Sedona last week for a green rich. I was talking about that. I'm like, you put that together. How awesome.

Like, I loved it. And so that to me is what's like, wow. Like internally, when you see that this thing has grown into this living, breathing thing. Speaking of trolls, so there was like a post, I won't name the group. but it's a well-known real estate group. There's a troll anonymous poster that said, you know, American Dream. Yeah, I love those.

Oh, yeah, anonymous, right? And they said something about the American Dream is a scam or whatever. And, of course, someone tells me, which is, by the way, if you ever see that, don't tell me. I lose my mind. Like, it's not something that you know. Well, you know, I go over there and I look at it, and this person got lit up with positive confidence.

comments from American Dream hosts. Even people who weren't hosts that are like, hey, I'm not qualified to be a part of that show, but so my broker is and he's awesome and he loves it. And it was like a hundred and something comments of people with, you know, real, rational commentary, but very positive.

And they ended up pulling it down, I think, because I don't know. I think there's something shady happening behind the scenes with that group. But my point is, is that to see a culture of people who are like-minded, who are positive to go and like light, lightness beats darkness and go attack that thing,

which they didn't need to do. Aside from that rabbit trail of a point, it speaks to the community of like-minded professionals that are all trying to do good in their communities that are sharing across the country. It's that old cliche arising tide lifts all boats. That didn't used to be there. It's organically grown over time.

And you want a secret? Yes, of course. So tomorrow, tomorrow, the mastermind that you guys apparently don't go to, we're going to be announcing an American Dream conference in October. So everybody's coming to San Diego. It's not the same weekend as EXPs because there's a lot of EXP agents. When is EXPs, you know? I can look really quick, really quick.

It's in Miami. Shoot. I love that we're having this conversation as if we're not on a podcast. I know, October 27th through 30th. Oh, 27, yeah. Okay, so we would be before that. Okay, good. Perfect.

Yay, I'm so excited. Yeah, very cool. You know, just you guys are always giving us so much value and pouring into us. So that's really exciting. Yes. It's your business. Yes. Okay, well, that answered my question of what's coming with American Dream.

We've got a conference. You're excited about that. Awesome. So exciting. Well, yeah, if anybody, if any agents or sometimes we get mortgage lenders listening to this, too, if you guys are interested in getting involved with American Dream, reach out to me and Casey and we can get you set up with our market managers. Yeah.

Super nice. And if you have that inkling, but don't feel like you're good enough or that you're too scared or that you're not pretty enough or handsome enough for TV. Like that's not what this is about. You've got to get out of your head and getting it. Yes, yes. And I mean, Grand Card owns another one that I see, you know, promotes the American Dream too.

It's like he says, best known beats best. Yep. And that's, this podcast isn't telling you all about what this is. You know, I don't. Not sure what I don't know what to tell you. We look, we welcome introductions from like-minded professionals. But I love that you said, don't let fear get in the way of it or feeling like, well, maybe I'm not qualified. Look, have the conversation.

If this looks fun, have the conversation, there may not even be a spot available for you anyway, but at least you know what the heck we're talking about. And you can see what a lot of your peers who are leaders in the industry are doing. I don't know. I think, look, we talked in this podcast about. about how much the media is crapping on realtors and gnar and all this stuff. Isn't it nice that there's a collective voice on behalf of the real estate industry that is in media that gets millions of views that's positive in nature that kind of breathes oxygen

into what this industry does and the successful people within it? Like, if you weren't a part of it, I think there's something about it that anyone who's a true professional should at least appreciate, right? Because it is a force for good for the industry. Absolutely. Absolutely. 100%. Cool.

Well, any other last hacks, tips or tricks for agents as we wrap up? Hacks, tips, or tricks? I don't know. I'm an old school guy. I'm from Missouri. I think just work hard. You know, it's like I think that, look, there's great things that could be tips or tricks or hacks, but there's nothing that supersedes.

Look, it's hard. This business is hard. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Don't let anyone tell you. You can just go buy leads and make a million dollars. There are no shortcuts. Doing the hard part is what will set you apart in real estate because you're doing the things that a lot in the industry don't want to do.

A lot of people get into it because they want freedom and schedule. They don't want to work hard. And look, it pays a good enough commission where people can replace a teaching job, as we talked about, or whatever other nine to five. And so it attracts a lot of people into it that may not have that work ethic. But if you work hard and you stay in motion, that's really a really important point as well. It's like we've talked about AI and things that nature. Look, everybody's trying to figure it out.

So if you've been in the business for a year or 20, you're at the same starting point right now, figuring out a landscape no one's ever seen before. So stay motivated. Get your mind right. Work hard. Good things will happen. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other. Absolutely.

I love it. Well, if you guys want to connect with Craig, we've got, if you're watching on YouTube or Facebook. We've got his handle rolling at the bottom, but it's Craig, C-R-A-I-G-S-E-W-N-G-Media. That's his handle on Instagram. And also, I mean, you can follow the American Dream and see that page as well.

It's at the American Dream TV. So that's another one that you can follow. And, of course, me and Casey are on there to Hallie B. McCrory and C.B. Stiers. would love to get you set up and, you know, interested in American Dream, of course, or any questions that come up after what we've talked about. So, yeah, thank you, Craig, for coming on. You're awesome.

I love everything you for. Cool. All right, well, thank you. Keep leading. The world needs.