Mike Sherrard Says This Video Attracted the Most Agents from YouTube
Release Date: 09/18/2025
Selling AI to Agents Part 2 with Scott Richard
Real Estate Thought Leaders
Scott Richard isn’t selling AI like the rest of the industry. The broker-turned-tech-founder is allergic to hype. And after scratching his own itch, he’s built tools that are so useful, agents and brokers sell themselves. Scott’s playbook is all about authenticity, live demos, and getting insanely specific about who he’s talking to. Here’s how he’s actually getting agents’ attention in a market where everyone’s been pitched to death. Stop Trying to Convince Agents of Anything. Let your tool do the talking…and literally, the showing. Scott’s AI product came from...
info_outline
Selling AI to Agents Part 1 with Ray Wood
Real Estate Thought Leaders
Ray Wood has been around long enough to know what doesn't work with agents. The Aussie-Canadian direct response veteran behind has tried every outreach tactic in the book. Cold calls, one-on-one calls, high-end sales presentations. But he's finding that sometimes, agents want less personal attention. Here's what Ray's learned about reaching agents in 2025, plus the testing strategy that's letting him run 100+ ad variations simultaneously. Here are the Non-Obvious Insights from our Conversation… Group-First, Low-Pressure Offers are Beating 1:1 Calls Right Now. "I reach out [to agents]...
info_outline
How To Sell Something NEW to Agents w/Mike Simonsen of Altos Research
Real Estate Thought Leaders
Facing critical decisions on your marketing and content strategy? Click below to learn about working with me in a 90-Day Strategy Sprint. Mike’s a self-admitted data guy. Not a sales or marketing guy. But he did 3 really smart things. And he ended up building a category king business and getting acquired by HousingWire. Here are the… Non-Obvious Insights from our Conversation: Behavior Signals Mindset. “Those are our customers, you know, they’re investing in their business. They’re paying for a CRM, they’re buying digital ads, they’re farming. If they’re investing in their...
info_outline
Is Jess Lenouvel the Next Model of Real Estate Coaching?
Real Estate Thought Leaders
This platform is about the non-obvious, the subversive, the counterintuitive stuff. That’s where Jess really stands out. We’re talking… * screenshotting troll comments and sharing them openly * posting on IG for years without selling anything * breaking the model of “accountability” coaching She also runs from a small Caribbean island. Is she the Bond villain of real estate coaching? Too generous and fun to be a villain… But she just might be the next model of real estate coaching. She sells systems and permission. Not butt-kicking accountability. She’s raw, irreverent, and...
info_outline
Video SMS & Other Tactics to Reach Agents w/DJ Paris
Real Estate Thought Leaders
This week shares some tactics you can test in the next 30 days with zero change of strategy. The inspiration is a chat with DJ Paris about how he’s using to reach and attract agents to the Chicago-based brokerage he serves. Now let’s get into the tactics… Video SMS for Cold Outreach “I now do video SMS... I think it’s actually less invasive than a text message... they can visually see that I have this set up. They may know that I have a podcast…And here I am reaching out to them individually.“ DJ Paris Sending video texts with his podcast branding behind him is a nice twist,...
info_outline
Mike Sherrard Says This Video Attracted the Most Agents from YouTube
Real Estate Thought Leaders
Mike’s most effective video wasn’t what I expected. But when YouTube comes up in my conversations with leaders, I hear a much bigger, unspoken question. “What does it cost to WIN on YouTube…In time, energy, money…and my SOUL?” That’s what I want to dig into in this edition. So here are the non-obvious insights from the chat with Mike and my analysis. Plan on $100k & 2 years minimum to “prime the system.” “Well for 3 years, I was putting out 2, 3 videos a week. And after 3 years, I had like 1500 subscribers. Nobody knew who I was, not much engagement on my content until...
info_outline
Jay Papasan Just Broke All the Rules in his New Book Launch
Real Estate Thought Leaders
Here’s a short list of things Jay is NOT doing to promote his * speaking all over the country * shouting about how he hit #1 on Amazon * staying up til 2am giving his 10th podcast interview of the day But he’s also not coasting on the success of Millionaire Real Estate Agent and The ONE Thing. Jay is playing a different game. Here are the Non-Obvious Insights from our Conversation… Category Killers Own Bookshelves for Decades "I want a long bestselling book in the sense that it's best in category...I call them category killers and I don't think you should write anything else." If an...
info_outline
Here’s Why Lars Hedenborg Shut Down his Profitable High Ticket Funnel
Real Estate Thought Leaders
Lars had a massive ad budget, a “closer” team, all the tech tools to max out ROAS.Still couldn’t get the conversion numbers he wanted. So he started taking sales calls with agents again.Over 150 this year. And what is he hearing from agents? Exhaustion.Not because agents are doing the fundamentals and it’s not working. They don’t even want to hear that fundamentals are the answer. So I asked Lars if there’s a sweet spot between what agents want to hear…and what they need to hear from industry leaders? Lars’ hilarious response was, “Oh my Lord…Oh my Lord…” There’s a...
info_outline
Verl Workman's High-Risk Bet on AI
Real Estate Thought Leaders
Reminder: The content is not for agents, this is a mastermind-style newsletter for real estate leaders, insiders and content creators. A place where we can openly discuss the challenges of reaching and engaging agents, building brands and dominating niches. You won’t find this content all over social media, so if it’s valuable, forward it to a friend. This week is a little detour into the world of real estate coaching and AI. But the insights apply to anyone scaling a business around expertise (which is many of my friends and clients). In coaching, there’s a huge bottleneck to scaling....
info_outline
Tristan Ahumada on Organic Content that Builds Agent Communities & Brands
Real Estate Thought Leaders
For Tristan, community isn’t a tactic you bolt onto your marketing strategy. Everything starts with community. When you spend more than a decade immersed in building communities, can you blame him? He’s definitely had a lot of time to break down what works. Going from Lab Coat Agents to… * Masterminding community strategy for Follow Up Boss (pre-acquisition) * Consulting with bigger brands on community strategy * Running his own community, Communities can be inspirational…aspirational…plus you have the lure of getting a free boost from social platforms. Years ago, friends in 2...
info_outlineMike’s most effective video wasn’t what I expected.
But when YouTube comes up in my conversations with leaders, I hear a much bigger, unspoken question.
“What does it cost to WIN on YouTube…In time, energy, money…and my SOUL?”
That’s what I want to dig into in this edition. So here are the non-obvious insights from the chat with Mike and my analysis.
Plan on $100k & 2 years minimum to “prime the system.”
“Well for 3 years, I was putting out 2, 3 videos a week. And after 3 years, I had like 1500 subscribers. Nobody knew who I was, not much engagement on my content until the right vehicle aligned with the content. When I joined [eXp], that's when I had 30 agents every 30 days for my first six months. And it just blew up because I primed the system ahead of time.”
Priming the system means mastering content creation and building social capital with an audience. That social capital is what you’re drawing on when you make an offer.
I’m making a few assumptions that you will…
* Take the same amount of time (you’re probably not better than Mike)
* Release 300-500 videos total - (2-3/wk for 3 years)
* Hire out the creative work (you’re not editing vids at 2am)
A little napkin math gets you to 6 figures pretty fast.
Think you’ll get a great editor for cheap overseas? Good luck.You’re probably doing what my agency does, hiring freelance pros in North America.
So let’s assume $100 per video on editing. That’s on the low end. So that’s $30-50k in video editing costs.
At the highest levels, thumbnails require a specialized graphic designer. I’d be ready to spend $200+ per thumbnail (not counting split testing variations). At one point, the agency behind Mel Robbins’ YT channel was charging $1500/mo just for thumbnail design and split testing.
If you can hire a great young thumbnail designer for $100 each, consider yourself blessed by the gods. That's another $30-50k for thumbnails.
Then we have everything else.
Codie Sanchez reportedly dropped $200k on strategy, branding and groundwork for her channel launch.
Competing at the highest level is serious business.
Either give the audience what they want, or stay invisible.
“I did really well in the beginning with [videos about] Instagram, Facebook ads and door knocking. Well, everyone wanted the se.xier topics, Instagram and Facebook ads, not door knocking. So I went down that kind of avenue."
To grow a channel from scratch today, you have to throw enough content out there to see what works…and then double down on it.
Even if the audience pulls you away from topics you want to cover.
YouTube draws a high percentage of beginners overall. Industry turnover creates lots of beginner agents. So if creating beginner-level content feels totally authentic, you're set up pretty well.
To compete with the best Youtubers, you’ll have to go beyond that and find the sweet spot where your content speaks to beginners, intermediate and pros.
If you can’t find that sweet spot, or beginner-level content feels inauthentic, you’ll have a hard time competing at the highest level on YouTube.
Your ego will die a 1,000 deaths
From the content you put out, or the guests you have on, to the feast-or-famine nature of the algorithm. Every aspect of the journey will kill your ego.
"So where I see a lot of people on YouTube go wrong is…they all get infatuated by the vanity metrics. I want to feature this major influencer, this person that was on TV or this big coach, all of that stuff…
…Every person I've featured on my YouTube channel [success stories] is in my revenue share organization, but it goes deeper than that…Those interviews truthfully have been the secret sauce of scaling. It's pretty much a 30-50 minute success case study."
Those videos have no big name guests and don’t get the most views. They are simply the most effective videos for hitting his goal of attracting agents.
Having a ton of overlap is a nice bonus. The content you love to make…gets big views…and is super effective.
But when there isn't a ton of overlap, and you want to compete at the highest level, you’ll be faced with a choice.
Lean into what’s most effective…Or what gets the most views?
Mike also shared the spotlight, and it paid off in a big way.
"I said, well, We're all partners on this journey. How can I put out a different message that allows somebody to connect with the [guest] based on who they are?
I have people from every age, race, ethnicity, gender, language, personality type, and geographic location. So if you're not interested in me, it's almost impossible to go on my channel and not find somebody you see yourself in."
By sharing the spotlight, he gives the audience more options. More people they can connect with. And then he sends viewers to the guest, so they get the sponsorship, even when it dilutes the direct benefit Mike gets.
You'll learn a lot about your relationship with ego in those choices.
Ultimately, the cost of competing on YouTube at the highest level is obsession.
Mike took his engineering background and obsessed over an algorithm built by engineers. He changed his consumption habits and cut relaxation time to spend more time on YouTube. He obsessed over what grabbed attention and what didn’t. If you share that obsession, you’ve got a good head start.
Want to go deeper? Click on the audio file above to listen to the full chat, also available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Or Hit Reply and tell me what you’re thinking.
Are you already on YouTube? Looking at it?
Ask This:
Where can you share the spotlight?
Where can you let your agents, clients or users tell their own story?
Quick Links & Resources
Massive thanks to Mike for sharing what it takes to compete and win on YouTube! Connect with him (if you haven’t already) and if you’re going down the same path, pick apart his channel. You’ll come away with some killer tactics!
Talk soon,
Matt
Matt Johnson
CEO & Author - MicroFamous
PS Want a platform like this?
Click here to check out our Done-for-You Content service
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rethoughtleaders.substack.com