Real Estate Thought Leaders

About Real Estate Thought Leaders

What's working for residential real estate coaches, speakers and authors? Find out from your fellow experts and thought leaders...in their own words. Through industry interviews and analysis, you get an inside look at how they're tackling challenges like: How to reach and engage agents How to build a sense of community and shared mission among agents How to deliver razor-sharp messaging and cut through the noise How to deal with marketing platforms getting more expensive and less effective You’ll hear from thought leaders who are in the trenches talking to agents and creating content for them every day. Brought to you by MicroFamous, a video marketing agency with 10 years experience launching video shows for experts and thought leaders. Our story started with the launch of Real Estate Uncensored in 2015, which went on to get 3.5 million views across multiple platforms. Since then we've worked with many your fellow coaches, speakers and authors. From Michael Maher (7 Levels of Communication) and Marki Lemons Ryhal to launching the first video shows for team leaders like The Team Building Podcast with Jeff Cohn, Club Wealth TV with Michael Hellickson, and Real Estate Business Builders with Lars Hedenborg. To launch or take over production of your video show, visit GetMicroFamous.com to learn more. rethoughtleaders.substack.com (https://rethoughtleaders.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast)

Publisher

Matt Johnson

Category

business · business

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

27 Jul 2025

Latest episode

13 Aug 2026

Latest episodes

51 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   13 Aug 2026

   Agent Insights Hiding Inside YouTube Auto-Complete

   Last week Aaron Hendon (https://aaronhendon.com/) shared how he puts his content in front of agents who aren’t looking for it, and don’t even think they need it. This week I want to piggyback on that with some concrete examples. YouTube Auto-Complete & Search Results Tools Required: None Start with a word or phrase you think agents are searching for. For an easy example, we’ll use some industry jargon, ‘seller leads’ Let’s see what YouTube offers to auto-complete for us. (Done Sat, Aug 8th, Incognito Chrome browser, fresh instance of YouTube, no account signed in) A quick skim and you’ll see this is a mix of: * searches from different people (agents and investors) * looking for different things (leads to buy, leads they can generate themselves) * for different reasons (easy, motivated, best, etc.) Each variation of the keyword ‘seller leads’ has a different intention behind it. The good news is, YouTube already knows exactly what that intention is. YouTube has a history of videos that perform well for each variation. Click on that variation and you get to see those videos, too. The kinds of videos YouTube offers high in the results reveals a lot about the intent of the people searching and what satisfies that search. Only see Shorts and 1-3 minute videos? People want fast answers. Maybe they’re filtering to see if this is even worth their time before diving any deeper. ‘Seller leads for real estate’ is the opposite. Not counting sponsored videos and the Shorts carousel at the top (pretty standard if you’re not logged into YouTube Premium), the top 3 videos YouTube serves up are 26, 16 and 19 minutes long. If you make long form YouTube videos, this is great news. But it’s not just about what works on YouTube. To me, this signals that agents expect complexity in this topic. That’s why they’re prepared for longer videos, which YouTube is happy to serve them. The more complex a topic is, the more agents seek out detailed content. That’s your opportunity to teach, train and lead. Now you don’t want to draw conclusions too early, so effort counts in research. Take the time to look up those other variations. Some variations will pull up shorter content, content aimed at investors rather than agents, content that over-promises (fast, easy, etc). All of that matters…even if you never shoot a single YouTube video. Because it reveals the intent of the agent using those exact words. Sidenote: You can simplify auto-complete research with a tool like Airtable and a simple formula. Airtable can take all the variations of a keyword you paste in and turn each keyword phrase into a clickable YouTube search link. So you just click each link, take note of the results, and move on. Keyword Research + AI Tools Tools Required: Google Ads Keyword Planner and Google Trends (minimum) SEMrush (https://www.semrush.com/)is a good option if you want more robust data and easier documentation. You can get a lot out of a 14-day trial. I also hooked up Claude to DataForSEO (https://dataforseo.com/), which gives you the ability to ask for keyword data in a chat. Whatever tool you use, for this purpose you don’t want low competition keywords. By definition, those are the keywords fewer agents are using. The first thing you want to know is the dominant keyword. Then you want to get a feel for the intent behind that keyword. ‘Seller leads’ is a tricky keyword because there’s so much crossover with investors. So here’s an example from SEMrush for the keyword phrase: ‘real estate agent marketing’ In this screenshot I’m using the Questions filter. Those are the actual questions agents type in, which reveals interesting patterns in phrasing. These results are sorted by ‘Volume’ on the left, which shows that the top words that appear along with ‘real estate agent marketing’ are ‘new’ (as in new agents), and ‘automation.’ This would indicate that when agents look for content about marketing, a high percentage are either new agents, or they’re looking for marketing automation. Same keyword phrase at the core, but the full phrase reveals different agents with very different intent. Once you have results like that, you can compare different keyword phrases by volume to determine the dominant keyword agents use. Then take a look at the search results (manually or within tools like SEMrush) and see if the sites that get served up are a good match for the agents you want to serve and their intent. Sidenote: With DataForSEO connector in Claude, you can approximate that SEMrush Question filter by asking for keyword results to be limited to only those including what/where/when/how/why/best/fastest/easiest, etc. The DataForSEO connector for Claude is promising but I haven’t extensively tested it yet. Scrape Actual Agent Words & Analyze with AI Tools Tools Required: AI tool + scraper app or virtual assistant (VA) If you run a Facebook Group, those posts and comments are a goldmine.Same if you have reviews for a book or podcast or YouTube channel. But you can also find real estate books on Amazon and look up the reviews…Find real estate podcasts and YouTube channels with reviews and comments… Scrape everything you can (ethically) get your hands on, all the comments, reviews and feedback. A few years ago you’d pay a VA to scrape results manually, copy/pasting into a doc/spreadsheet. Still works. If you’re more tech savvy, tools like Apify can automate this, and also connect directly with AI tools like Claude. Once you have a bunch of scraped data, throw it into an AI tool. Ask for help parsing the data and uncovering the real words being used. Not just the problems, fears, frustrations, etc. But the actual words agents use. Sidenote: Ask AI to confirm counts, give real examples, and show how it arrived at totals. If you have a ton of data, split the analysis into multiple stages like input, formatting, pruning, then analysis. If you throw a bunch of data into an AI model and give it a single-shot prompt, it might generate a report that’s confidently wrong. Understand the Marketing Game You’re In Right Now I don’t share these things because we all need to become algorithm engineers. I mainly want to encourage you to sharpen your understanding of the words agents use and the intent behind their words. So your marketing becomes sharper and more effective. When you use the exact words agents think and speak, that alone is powerful. If you choose one keyword to dominate…even more powerful. As I was using YouTube auto-complete, it hit me one day. Why does no one FOCUS on one of these keywords? Imagine if every time an agent searched YouTube for ‘listing presentation,’ half the videos in the search results were ONE coach? That coach would have instant authority before a single video is watched. Authority with an agent already looking for content on a complex topic that’s perfect for teaching, role-play and an ongoing coaching relationship. My bet is that there’s room in the industry for coaches, speakers, leaders and experts who specialize in every major keyword that shows up in YouTube auto-complete. But instead, everyone does a little content about this, a little content about that, until everyone’s content covers all the same topics. And what’s left are the content creators who make it their full-time job to figure out the algorithms. And once they figure it out, they split 90% of the views, and everyone else fights over what’s left. That’s the game right now. The deeper we get into this era of AI and algorithms, the more convinced I am that the attention, the visibility, the authority, is right there for the taking…for the few who are willing to focus. Want to go deeper? Click on the audio file for the full chat, or search Real Estate Thought Leaders on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or Hit Reply and tell me what you’re seeing Quick Links & Resources DataForSEO (https://dataforseo.com/) SEMrush (https://www.semrush.com/) Appreciate you reading or listening! Send me any feedback, pushback or places where I’m missing it. I’m a damn good analyst, but the better the information I have, the better the analysis. -Matt Agency Founder & Author of MicroFamous PS Here’s how we can help… Done-for-You Content Production & Strategy (https://getmicrofamous.com/) - We turn raw video into professional YouTube videos, podcasts and email newsletters. All with zero overwhelm, guaranteed. From Michael Maher and Lars Hedenborg to Jeff Cohn and Marki Lemons Ryhal, we’ve been the content team behind many of your fellow real estate coaches, speakers and authors. We start every client engagement by developing your message - So you’re excited to create content, and you have a ‘signature talk’ you can take to stages and guest interviews. Then we launch your flagship video show - supported by podcast and email newsletter, delivered with pro-quality and relentless consistency. We promote with short video clips and social posts on any platform where you’re active. Each month we give you research-based video title and topic ideas, scripts, outlines, even slides. Plus all the support you need to stay consistent, from email updates to strategy calls. So if you’re not putting out the quality of content…consistently…to become the thought leader you’re meant to be, let’s talk. Click here to learn more and schedule a Free Brainstorm Call. (https://getmicrofamous.com/). 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 (https://rethoughtleaders.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

2. 

   6 Aug 2026

   Get Your Content Discovered w/Aaron Hendon

   Mindfulness. Agents don’t know they need it, they aren’t looking for it, and when they’re made aware of it, they don’t immediately see its potential. Aaron Hendon sells mindfulness training.(on top of running his brokerage, speaking, podcasting and Substack-ing.) Here’s how Aaron puts his content in front of agents who aren’t looking for it. Non-Obvious Insights from our Conversation: Meet Agents Where They Are “So how do I position this so that it’s in their way? So it’s where they are, right? That’s our job as marketers is to put our product where the people already are looking, right? Not to get people to change how they look at it. We have to change our thing so that it looks like what they want. As long as it also delivers the promise, it can look like whatever you want it to look like. It’s not a bait and switch if you actually deliver on the thing in the first place, right?” - Aaron Hendon Aaron creates content that starts with an urgent problem agents relate to…and ties it to mindfulness. That’s something any expert or coach or speaker can do. Start with where agents are, offer a solution to an urgent problem they’re dealing with, but the solution is a small, tactical piece of your full methodology. When that tactic works, it proves that your content is worth coming back to, and starts that slippery slide we all hope for - where the right people binge our content. Want support to create your best content…consistently? Check out our (https://getmicrofamous.com/)Done-for-You Content Production & Strategy (https://getmicrofamous.com/). From Michael Maher and Lars Hedenborg to Jeff Cohn and Marki Lemons Ryhal, we’ve been the content team behind many of your fellow real estate coaches, speakers and authors. We turn raw footage into professional YouTube videos, podcasts and email newsletters. All with zero overwhelm, guaranteed. Visit GetMicroFamous.com (https://getmicrofamous.com/) to learn more and schedule your Free Brainstorm Call. Put Your Content in a Different, More Urgent Category AH: “So the way I’ve started to position this is it is a performance enhancer. And that is what they’re looking for. They’re looking for a way to perform better…And the metaphor I use to demonstrate that mindfulness and meditation…increases performance in a way that people can hear it is…Phil Jackson, AKA the Zen master….There is no human being on the planet more competitive than Michael Jordan. But Phil Jackson had him meditating. Phil Jackson has 11 rings. You wanna think meditation is soft and woo-woo, knock yourself out. But it is a performance enhancer. There’s not a professional sports team in the world now that doesn’t have a mindfulness coach, doesn’t have someone to handle mindset. So I have to reposition what I do to get it out of the wellness space and into that.” For the right agents, that puts mindfulness into a category they already care about, a category they probably already spend money on. So instead of trying to create new demand and new spending from scratch, he can tap into existing demand and redirect existing spending. And how do you find those categories that agents already care about and spend money on? Use AI, YouTube and Keyword Research to Uncover Insights into Agent Language AH: “There’s AI tools for this. What are the keywords, all that stuff. And you can run this through Claude or Perplexity or anything you want. This is what I think AI is great at. Not so much creative stuff, but analytical stuff. Say [to the AI], ‘Here’s my offer. What are the components of this that people are looking for? How do they speak about it?’ If you have reviews of your product, which I do, I took all my Google reviews of my class and I put it through, added it to AI.” I’ll dive into some specifics next week. For now just note that there are a bunch of ways to do this kind of research, but effort definitely matters. I’ve come across research lately showing that AI queries perceived as low-effort or low-cognition (read: lazy), get allocated less computer power by the AI tools. In other words, Ask AI lazy questions, AI gives you lazy answers. One of the quirks of the AI models we have right now is they can confidently deliver accurate-looking reports, analysis and recommendations…based on inaccurate data. AI sometimes skims, takes shortcuts and makes stuff up. Never assume AI has done the work properly unless you spot check at every stage. Want to go deeper? Click on the audio file for the full chat, or search Real Estate Thought Leaders on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or Hit Reply and tell me what you’re seeing Steal This: Aaron has been on 50 podcasts in 4 months thanks to a tool called PodPitch. It’s an AI-powered podcast pitching system, Aaron says it’s about $300/mo but was well worth it and their customer support and AI learning have both been excellent. Couple caveats to keep in mind: Aaron’s targeting podcasts in AND outside real estate, so if you’re just looking to get on real estate podcasts, those numbers would be tough to match. Also time is of the essence, as AI tools have no moat, everyone can send the same kind of pitch emails. When everyone sends the same pitch emails, they lose their effectiveness. Quick Links & Resources Aaron’s website (https://aaronhendon.com/) Aaron’s story (https://aaronhendon.com/about) Mindful CEO Podcast (https://www.themindfulceo.com/podcasts/the-mindful-ceo) Mindful CEO on Substack (https://aaronhendonthemindfulceo.substack.com/) It was so cool to have Aaron on after meeting years ago through Real Estate Uncensored! He took on a big challenge of selling mindfulness to agents, but he’s got the strategy right. Now the challenge is to keep meeting agents where they are and offering mindfulness as the performance enhancer it is. If you’re looking for a great guest to share that perspective, reach out and I’ll make an intro! Talk soon, -Matt Agency Founder & Author of MicroFamous PS Here’s how we can help… Done-for-You Content Production & Strategy (https://getmicrofamous.com/) - We turn raw video into professional YouTube videos, podcasts and email newsletters. All with zero overwhelm, guaranteed. From Michael Maher and Lars Hedenborg to Jeff Cohn and Marki Lemons Ryhal, we’ve been the content team behind many of your fellow real estate coaches, speakers and authors. We start every client engagement by developing your message - So you’re excited to create content, and you have a ‘signature talk’ you can take to stages and guest interviews. Then we launch your flagship video show - supported by podcast and email newsletter, delivered with pro-quality and relentless consistency. We promote with short video clips and social posts on any platform where you’re active. Each month we give you research-based video title and topic ideas, scripts, outlines, even slides. Plus all the support you need to stay consistent, from email updates to strategy calls. So if you’re not putting out the quality of content…consistently…to become the thought leader you’re meant to be, let’s talk. Click here to learn more and schedule a Free Brainstorm Call. (https://getmicrofamous.com/) 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 (https://rethoughtleaders.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

3. 

   30 Jul 2026

   Marketing to Prospects Who Are Wired Differently From You

   Humans are empathetic, so we assume other people are like us. Feel like we feel. Think like we think. It’s probably the most human assumption to make. When we market our business, everything we do and say is built on that assumption. The conversation with Angela shined a giant spotlight on that assumption. So much of what she shared may sound counterintuitive to leaders. But when she’s on stage at a real estate event or speaking to a brokerage, I guarantee you a huge percentage of those agents are thinking, “FINALLY, a leader who understands me!” Lately I’ve been doing some work on better understanding my personality and behavior, from Enneagram to Human Design. Super interesting, and in some ways, scary accurate. And that work uncovered some fundamental mismatches in my wiring, and the wiring of the coaches, speakers and authors I serve. Mismatches that create friction. Which led to this takeaway: Great marketing starts when we step outside ourselves. When we market and sell to people who are wired differently, we’re going to have some massive blind spots. I have them, so I’m documenting this for myself as much as for other leaders. Here are three practical ways we can step outside ourselves and market to people who are wired differently. Set Aside Our Own Ego…Temporarily Ego is part of the drive to teach, train and lead. Without it, no one would speak on stage or do a podcast interview. I’d be running a different business. So I’m all in on having a healthy ego. Just not when we’re crafting our marketing strategy. Prospects have their own ego…their own story about their identity, their successes and failures, their strengths and weaknesses. If we don’t understand that story, what’s the foundation of our marketing? Our own story. I hear it when I speak to coaches and leaders. Agents need…Agents should…Agents have to… It all starts from their own story. Agents have their own story…what they need, what they should be doing, and what they have to do. Especially when it comes to the things they buy, the leaders they follow, the brokerages they gravitate towards. By setting aside our own ego, we open ourselves up to their story. Want support to create your best content…consistently? Check out our (https://getmicrofamous.com/)Done-for-You Content Production & Strategy (https://getmicrofamous.com/). We turn raw footage into professional YouTube videos, podcasts and email newsletters. So you get visibility and authority, without more complexity, guaranteed. Visit GetMicroFamous.com (https://getmicrofamous.com/) to learn more and schedule your Free Brainstorm Call. Question Our Assumptions When we craft our marketing, we do it from a set of assumptions. What if many of those assumptions are wrong? Angela pointed out that leaders and agents all use the word support… but mean completely different things. When it comes to assumptions, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. A couple months ago I stumbled onto a fascinating book on ‘power phrases for selling to entrepreneurs.’ [show screenshot] The book pointed out that most marketing to entrepreneurs is around ‘growth.’ But in actual research with entrepreneurs, the word ‘growth’ didn’t resonate. Growth has connotations of busy-ness, higher risk, higher demands on time and energy. All clashing with the drive for freedom…the real reason they became entrepreneurs. When we question our assumptions, we open ourselves up to a deeper, more accurate understanding. We give ourselves a chance to see our prospects as they really are, not how we want them to be. And that allows us to… Meet People Where They Are I grew up in church, my dad was a youth pastor when I was young, he planted two churches before I was age 10, and I helped him plant another at age 21. He’s a deep thinker, and he wanted to share that deep thinking from the pulpit. That drew in people who were starving for that. It worked for him, as he drew in people who wanted the exact thing he was wired to give them. But he never figured out how to draw in people who are wired differently. So his churches grew organically, mostly by word of mouth. When it comes to marketing, meeting people where they are can take different forms * Marketing on the platforms they’re actually on…so they don’t have to go somewhere else to find us * Changing our phrasing to be more supportive and positive…so they don’t feel shamed or preached at * Catering to their actual buyer journeys…so they don’t have to change their decision-making process to buy from us It’s all about dealing with reality on reality’s terms. Meeting people where they are and inviting them to take steps toward us, rather than trying to get them to come to us on our terms. And if we really commit to meeting people where they are, that approach doesn’t stop there. We might even build products and services around their actual behavior and decisions…so they don’t have to change to get results. Hope that sparks some new ideas. Appreciate you taking the time to read or listen, and talk soon! -Matt Agency Founder & Author of MicroFamous PS Here’s how we can help… Done-for-You Content Production & Strategy (https://getmicrofamous.com/) - We turn raw video into professional YouTube videos, podcasts and email newsletters. All with zero overwhelm, guaranteed. From Michael Maher and Lars Hedenborg to Jeff Cohn and Marki Lemons Ryhal, we’ve been the content team behind many of your fellow real estate coaches, speakers and authors. We start every client engagement by developing your message - So you’re excited to create content, and you have a ‘signature talk’ you can take to stages and guest interviews. Then we launch your flagship video show - supported by podcast and email newsletter, delivered with pro-quality and relentless consistency. We promote with short video clips and social posts on any platform where you’re active. Each month we give you research-based video title and topic ideas, scripts, outlines, even slides. Plus all the support you need to stay consistent, from email updates to strategy calls. So if you’re not putting out the quality of content…consistently…to become the thought leader you’re meant to be, let’s talk. Click here to learn more and schedule a Free Brainstorm Call. (https://getmicrofamous.com/) 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 (https://rethoughtleaders.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

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