Colin Cameron
In this weekly column, real estate agents across the nation share stories of the lessons they’ve learned during their time in the industry.
A third generation agent, with eXp Realty, Colin Cameron’s effective use of video and social media has made him a familiar face in his area of South Central Pennsylvania. In 2018, his videos garnered 400,000 organic local views of his properties and content.
A co-founder of RETV, along with his friend Tim Macy, Colin helps other agents grow and improve their video content through their Facebook community, RETV. He is also the co-founder of Small Town Agents (STA), a media company that focuses on real estate and the development of local content and community engagement.
How long have you been in the business?
I am entering my fifth year in real estate. I got started in the industry because I was laid off, broke, recently separated with a 1-year-old daughter and my mom said it was time! (Not a joke.)
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
Hopefully in a position to be able to focus on producing media to get my homes noticed rather than focusing on day-to-day real estate operations.
What’s one big lesson you’ve learned in real estate?
If the majority of your peers think what you are doing is a bad idea, there is a strong chance that you are ahead of the curve and doing the right thing.
How did you learn it?
One of the things that put me on the map in my market is my open house videos. I typically stand in the driveway and say something funny, talk about the house, say something funny, back and forth. I shot a video where I shoved a donut in my face while I was talking.
When I was editing, one of my partners said “Should you really put that out there?”
That video got 10,000 organic views and 100 people attended the open house in a ZIP code with 4,400 people. We got eight offers on the house that weekend and sold for over asking. We served donuts at the open house just to reinforce the theme and the connection to the video.
When you can figure out how to turn off [caring what people think], you’ll have true freedom, and people will resonate with who you really are.
When I was first licensed, I was asked how I would generate business. I said Facebook. I was laughed at.
To this day, I do not cold call or door-knock, not because it doesn’t work, but because it isn’t my personality or part of my belief system.
Over the years, I started making videos, and, again, I was laughed at and told I was unprofessional and that it wouldn’t work. Today, all of my business is word-of-mouth, social media and video. STA and our three partners are on track to sell 100 homes this year.
What advice would you give to new agents?
The lesson I keep hammering home is “stop caring what other agents think.” As long as your target audience is resonating with your message, ignore what everyone else says. They’re not writing your paycheck; your clients are.
Are you an agent with a story everyone can learn something from? Reach out to us (contributors@Inman.com). We look forward to featuring more of our best agents and brokers in a future edition of “Lesson learned.”
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Christy Murdock Edgar is a Realtor, freelance writer, coach and consultant with Writing Real Estate in Alexandria, Virginia. Follow Writing Real Estate on Facebook or Twitter.
