Happy Thursday!

I’m seeing an interesting trend in real estate future business models…

While most agents were doubling down on traditional marketing in 2022, Kyle in Kansas City took a completely different path.

Instead of pushing real estate content, he became the city's unofficial storyteller - covering everything from breaking news to development updates.

The result? A $40M empire built almost entirely through social media.

But what’s crazy is he’s launching his media company this year like The Orlando Real. That’s the future of marketing in real estate.

In today's newsletter:

• How a former roofing salesman built a $40M real estate business by barely talking about real estate & his future media strategy

• The 2-hour weekly system behind a thriving local newsletter with 4,000 subscribers

• Proven YouTube title formulas that are working right now

• Rapid fire insights: From speaking on camera like a pro to the future of AI from Sam Altman

Fun fact: Kyle closes 85% of his business through social media, but he waited 9 months before seeing his first YouTube deal. Talk about playing the long game.

Let's dive in.

— Andrew

Playbook

In late 2022, Kyle was a former roofing salesman with 600 Instagram followers, wondering how he'd stand out in Kansas City's crowded real estate market.

Today, he's built a $40M real estate empire with:

• 76.1K Instagram followers

• 9.7K YouTube subscribers

• 41 closed transactions

• 85% of business from social media

• Became “The Official Kansas City Hype Man” by the Mayor

The plot twist? He barely talks about real estate.

THE BREAKTHROUGH

After years of door-to-door sales and call centers, Kyle noticed something: While KC had plenty of nightlife and foodie accounts, no one was covering development news, neighborhood guides, and suburban life.

THE INSTAGRAM PLAYBOOK

Kyle built his following through six core content pillars:

1. Local Breaking News

2. Sports & Culture

3. Development News & Updates

4. Things To Do & Events

5. Food & Drink

6. Real Estate & Market

His content creation formula:

"I do just enough real estate content to remind people I'm an agent," Kyle says. "A small percentage are actively buying/selling, but that doesn't mean they won't in the future. Everyone else will need an agent eventually."

But he didn’t stop with Instagram.

THE YOUTUBE EXPANSION

After gaining traction on Instagram, Kyle launched a YouTube channel in January 2023.

His strategy? These types of videos that consistently drive leads:

1. Development & Future Growth

2. Area, Suburb & Neighborhood Overviews

3. Specific Area Deep Dives

4. Broad City Topics

THE REALITY CHECK

"I put out my first YouTube video in January 2023 and didn't close my first transaction until September," Kyle reveals. "Most people can't afford to wait nine months to start actually closing business."

But Kyle kept pushing:

• Posted 2 videos per week for first 2 months

• Studied analytics obsessively

• Focused on hyper-local content

• Refined scripts and delivery

• Tested different formats until finding what worked

Then something clicked.

THE LEAD GENERATION MACHINE

By focusing on valuable local content first and real estate second, the leads began pouring in:

• 25 deals from YouTube

• 10 deals from Instagram

But Kyle knew individual DMs and emails weren't scalable.

BUILDING THE LIST

Kyle built a three-pronged system:

1. Strategic Newsletter

2. ManyChat Automation:

3. Giveaway Campaigns

The results? Over 400 new leads from just 5 giveaways in two months.

THE SYSTEM

Kyle isn't doing this alone. He studied major media companies and built a three-person content machine:

• Kyle (Content Creator)

• Virtual Assistant

• Director of Operations

Every morning starts with a content huddle to review metrics and plan content.

THE RESULTS

His biggest win? A $1.7M listing from Instagram. "They reached out saying 'We love what you're doing for Kansas City.'"

2024 breakdown:

• 41 total transactions

• $40M total volume

THE LESSON

The key? Playing the long game.

THE BIGGER VISION 

Kyle's building more than a real estate business - he's creating Kansas City's next media empire:

• Multiple content channels

• Newsletter growth

• Community events

• In-house content team

• Launching a brand new hyper-local media brand this year

The hyper-local brand has lots of risk, legal, brand, business model benefits. Too much to get into now.

"At the end of the day, it's a numbers game," Kyle says. "If I could have 10% of the market in our Metro, that's 200,000 followers. That's a huge market share."

Want the full playbook? Watch our complete conversation with Kyle here.