Rory (00:06): Welcome to the Influential Personal Brand Podcast. This is the place where we help mission-driven messengers, just like you learn how to build and monetize your personal brand. My name is Rory Vaden and I’m the co-founder of Brand Builders Group, a hall of fame speaker, and New York Times bestselling author. And this show is to help experts learn how to become more wealthy and well known. I know you’re gonna love it. Thanks for being here. Let’s get started. Today Rory (00:34): We’re gonna have a really unique conversation about how to build community, and we’re gonna be talking to Remington Ramsey, who is the creative force behind Real Producers Magazine, which started as this sort of regional, uh, media production and has become sort of a nationwide phenomenon. And he is reaching very specific into the real estate industry, despite not having been, uh, been a realtor himself. And yet he has created this entire business. He is fostering this community and he’s doing it through a magazine. And so there are, over the years, there have been people who have done this really, really well. And it’s a very unique model that has some specific intricacies that I, I want to talk about and I want to hear the story because I think this could apply to all of you. Even if you never start a magazine or desire to. Rory (01:32): The, the concepts and the tactics around serving a community and how your personal brand grows as the community grows is super, super relevant. So in addition to that, he is the author of a book called Agent Allies. And Ton was referred to me by one of my dear friends, the late John Ruland. Uh, and that was how we got to know each other. And it was one of the last relationships that John introduced me to, uh, right before he died. And so Remington and I kind of took that and said, Hey, we should get to know each other a little bit if John thought this was good. Mm-hmm . And John was right. And it’s been an amazing, uh, journey to get to know Remington, to see what he’s got going on. He’s also doing live events, and we’re gonna talk about all the ways that he is supporting his community and how you can learn from him to do the same for yours. So Remington, welcome to the show, man. Remington (02:24): Man. Uh, two things, Rory. One, thank you. Uh, so three things. Uh, two, I need to work on my intros ’cause that’s just super powerful. Well done . And a third thing, I just flew back from Phoenix and I was thinking about you. I knew this, uh, show was coming up and I actively a, uh, avoided all escalators and elevators. You’ll be happy to know , uh, took the stairs every single time. So you should be proud of me. Rory (02:48): I am proud of you. I’m proud of you. The, the, the, the Take the Stairs movement lives on and lives strong . So, um, well, tell us a story about, you know, how did you get into this Real Producers magazine because you were not an agent mm-hmm . So how in the world did you start this? What exactly is it? How did it start? And just kind of tell us the story and then, and then after that we can dive into more of the mechanics of how it works and how you’re monetizing it. But like, I, I’m curious about how it all started. Remington (03:23): Well, you, you brought up our, uh, our, our buddy John Ruland, uh, rest in Peace, one of a kind dude. And, um, and Cutco, that’s where we met selling knives. And most people know that, uh, from selling knives to your parents and your grandparents, and then you quit. Mm-hmm . And that’s what most people do. John and I were two people that said, Hey, I think, I think we can make a, a few more dollars and pay for school. So John went the business gift route, and I found the closing gift route. Um, and essentially I was in the specialty division called Cutco Closing Gifts, where I was selling one realtor at a time. Because if you can sell realtor knives, they give out their gifts and, uh, when they run outta gifts, they buy more. So I was pretty pumped about that. Um, the challenge was I was brand new to the real estate world. I didn’t speak the language and I didn’t even own a house when I started. So I was very green and through trial and error over the course of like the first two years, I was just learning about all the different, uh, fastest of real estate and trying to grow my closing gift business at the same time. And what was crazy is I was, I was actually doing really well in terms of sales. I was growing the business. And just to be, just Rory (04:39): To be clear, when you say closing gift, you’re talking about the gift that the agent gives to their client, like in their new home, congratulations for buying a home. Here’s a set of knives, you know? Yeah. Hopefully you Thanks for doing business with me, that kind of thing. Remington (04:53): Exactly. They would engrave their name, uh, you know, Rory Vaden re max Cell phone, here’s your Knife. And the, the point of the whole thing was to brand and with a gift that they would use every single day so that they would remember their realtor. So it’s phenomenal real, uh, Cutco prides themselves as being the largest closing gift company in North America because there’s no one else who’s doing this. A second, second place is like gift bags and, and bottles of wine. So I loved it and I was doing really well and I felt like I was, uh, selling a bunch of knives and breaking records, but at the end of the year, I didn’t have a ton of money to show up for it. And it was because I was spending all of my money back into the business trying to figure out who the realtors were that could afford it, and then spending more money on marketing to gain those relationships. Got it. So that’s where it all started. That’s how I got into real estate. Um, Rory (05:43): So you were trying to figure out who the top realtors were going? If I could build a relationship with them and then they sell a whole bunch of homes, then I sell a bunch of knives, like in the wake. Remington (05:53): Yeah. Well, I mean, not only that, like if you look at Indy, there’s 10,000 realtors in Indianapolis. 1.8 million people, 10,000 of ’em have their real estate license, but half of ’em won’t sell a home this year. Uh, and it’s true across the nation, like that’s kind of real estate’s the largest trade organization in the world, but two outta three that train to be a realtor this year will not be here this next year. So like, essentially it’s a, it is a very high turnover rate. So as a vendor, that’s really frustrating because you spend all your time like taking these guys out to lunch ’cause they love free lunch. ’cause a lot of them can’t afford lunch. So I’d be out there on these free lunches spending my money and they’re not getting any knives ’cause they can’t afford ’em ’cause they’re not doing any closing. So that was an aha moment for me. And that’s really what birthed the idea of real producers. Rory (06:38): Mm-hmm . Um, gotcha. Okay. So, so then what, okay, so then what is the idea behind Real Producers? So that’s, that was your personal need was like, I’m trying to figure out who the top agents are. Yeah. So then what did you, what you start putting together a magazine for them? Remington (07:00): Well, the magazine came second. What came first was the events. So I was essentially going to all of these sales meetings and, uh, lunch and learns, bringing bagels and, uh, donuts and various bread products. ’cause that’s apparently what the realtors want. Mm-hmm . And not getting anywhere because the realtors that showed up to their sales meetings were the new ones that, you know, again, weren’t selling the homes. And then I would go to the bigger events where the awards banquets and the CE were, and I would spend like 500 bucks, a thousand bucks for a booth. And they would give me that card that says, Hey, stamp this so that everyone comes up to your booth. Well, what would happen was I’d be trying to sell to one realtor who wanted my knives and 10 other realtors would interrupt me saying, can you stamp this? Can you stamp this? Remington (07:45): And before you know it, they’re all in their CE and I’m just staring at all these vendors for hours because there’s no realtors at my booth. So frustrated and thinking there’s gotta be a better way. I created my first event, I called it Turkey time. I gave away eight turkeys and a carving set, and I sold more knives in that one event than I had the previous two weeks. I was like, oh, okay. I need to host my own events. And so that’s when I, you talked about the book, like I basically go into the journey of how like I created my own events that took out all the stuff that wasn’t working and sorted out the realtors that hadn’t actually become professionally. What I mean by that is they’re not good at it yet. And so they waste the vendor’s time and frustrate the industry because they might not even be here this time next year. And so the vendors are after the top realtors who have shown that they can do this year in and year out, and they take care of their vendor partners. So that’s what birthed the idea is like, I’m gonna do my own events and then we’re gonna create a magazine to be the face of it. Rory (08:51): Okay. So just to, to to double tap on the events for a second mm-hmm . So the idea was how do I create an event that is so valuable for my target audience that they show up for it and then I get to be the one there hosting the conversation? Like, is that effectively? Is that effectively it? Remington (09:15): Yeah. Instead of attending other people’s events where they don’t really have the same priorities of value that I would, that I would, I need to create my own events. JJ Pap Ison talks about this Build your cathedral concept and instead of going to everyone else’s, you build, uh, something that, uh, creates them wanting to come to you. And this doesn’t just have to be, you know, a salesman selling knives. You could do this with anything if you have the right value. But yeah, I created an event where we brought them to me and then any realtor who was already using me for my services also brought a friend. So now you can duplicate it, which I know is a principle you talk about. Rory (09:54): Mm-hmm . Mm-hmm . So did you, were you selling tickets to this event or was Remington (09:59): It Rory (09:59): Free Remington (09:59): To come to Rory (10:00): No, Remington (10:00): It was free for the realtors and that was the other light bulb. This is kind of what led to us with the concept of the magazine because I got the party paid for by the vendors because they knew I would bring the value and get the right realtors in the room. So when the magazine came about, I, I basically sat down with 50 real estate professionals. Like I said, it was, I know it’s 2015 and print advertising is dead, like everyone says. Yeah. Rory (10:22): That’s what I want to get to is like, why, why in the world would you go into Print magazine? And yet here you are crushing it with this business because Remington (10:30): It would, it is never not gonna be cool to be on the cover of a magazine. Now here’s what’s, here’s what’s interesting. It’s 2025 as we’re recording this and print’s actually back. There’s a lot of, like Gary Vaynerchuk’s talking about how print mediums are back, niche products are back magazines are actually a big deal. I think what happened was social media and internet blew up and got so crowded that these niche products are cutting through the noise and people want to feel it again. They want to feel the paper books, they wanna feel the magazine. So right now, in this moment, magazines are a big deal. But in 10 years, again, when people are saying print is dead and magazines are dead, we’re still gonna thrive because it’s not about what, it’s not about print, it’s about what we’re printing. And we were printing things you could only find in that magazine. It was basically Facebook and print. It’d be like me putting Rory’s face on the cover of a magazine and only sending it to his family and his friends because you would open it because it’s Rory. And so that’s what’s happening with these communities, these real estate communities. The top realtors wanna see where they rank and their friends rank and they wanna see their name and face and print as much as possible. Rory (11:36): Ah, so there’s a ranking element is that there’s a ranking element to the magazine. Can you explain that? Remington (11:42): A hundred percent. So in Indianapolis, I’ll just give you an example. ’cause that was the first one. We only go to the top 500 realtors based on their volume. And they cannot buy it. They have to earn it. So in order to get the magazine, you have to be a top 500 realtor, be on a team of a top 500 realtor, and then it is a free magazine. So every single phone call that a realtor gets, it’s somebody selling them something. Realtors are constantly bomb being bombarded with sales calls, but we’re the ones that call in and say, Hey, we’re doing this all for free. The vendors are paying for this. So the vendors then get access to this group by having an ad in the magazine and access to the events and then shout outs on social media. So it’s a three-prong approach at being in the right room to have an opportunity to earn their business. Rory (12:28): Say that again. Okay. So the vendors, the vendors pay for it because they get ads in the magazine. Mm-hmm . They get sponsorship Remington (12:37): Through online, Rory (12:38): Through the events and on social. We Remington (12:41): You got it. Yep. So really that’s what we, we look at, we look at what creates an environment where someone would go with you. Like if, if you’re, um, if you’re a top realtor and you’ve had your relationship with your mortgage lender for years, but the person you recruit on your team is brand new and they’re still making the relationship. So even the ones at the top, these vendors are making sure that they’re staying in front of, in the right room. I, I say this all the time, it’s better to be in the room than it is to be good at your job to get the initial business. And what I mean by that is, if you just stay in front of someone constantly, when it is time for them to make a change, the first person they think of is you. And it’s not because you’re amazing and you get things done on time because there’s 10 other people that do that too, is because you’re standing in front of them at the time they need you. And so that’s, that’s kind of the, the reason why it works. And so if you’re a vendor and you’re participating with us and real producers, your goal is to stay in front of the ones you’re already working with and then duplicate ’em and get more like them. Rory (13:42): Yeah. So goth, I want to go back and underscore that. So you’re saying effectively that being top of mind is not necessarily about being the best at what you do, it’s about being the one who’s in front of them at the time of need. Remington (14:05): I, I firmly believe that. Now, I’m not saying that that is how you sustain a business, because in order to get repeat business, you gotta be good at the thing. But in order to get the business, the number one thing that matters is top of mind awareness. Rory (14:23): Uh, okay. So and you’re saying that, that the vendor, that that’s your value prop to the vendors because the vendors are in front of all of these top agents every, how often do you produce the magazine? Remington (14:37): Yeah, it’s a monthly magazine. Rory (14:39): Okay. So that’s a lot to produce. How, how many articles, or like how many pages are in this thing every month? Remington (14:45): It depends on the size. So we’re in 130 markets now. I’ll, I’ll flash forward to the end of the story. That was 10 years ago, uh, proved the concept in nd partnered with a national company called Into, uh, publishing at the time. Now it’s called the in two companies. And they’re my, uh, essentially printing this niche magazine in 130 different markets nationwide. So if you fly into any major market or even a minor market, there’s a real producers there. The, the concept is it goes to the top, roughly five to 10% of the realtors in that city. When I first started, people didn’t get that. They, they had only been, you know, told that they need to have as many eyeballs as possible. And I said, is that really what you want though? Because I’ll tell you right now, there’s certain eyeballs. I don’t want seeing my stuff. I don’t want the phone calls of people who can’t afford my stuff or waste my time. And so this is really a, an approach to get in front of the right eyeballs and, uh, if you’re gonna advertise and be a partner with us and real producers, you understand that it’s not a pay-per-click model. Rory (15:51): Yeah, yeah. And not an impression model. I mean, that, that’s what’s interesting is what, what’s really like, one of the things that’s so unique about what you’re doing, which is part of why I wanted to talk to you about this is so much of advertising is literally driven by cost per, you know, impre CPM cost per whatever, thousand impressions. And it’s literally just like the spray and pray model mm-hmm . And you’re railing against that. You’re doing almost like a shehan wall thing where you’re going like, no, I’m going after a smaller audience and serving them in a deeper way. Mm-hmm . Which is everything we believe in at Brand Builders group. Remington (16:27): Yeah. Well, and it’s not, and this is specifically for the people that I’m talking to in this industry, though. I’m not saying this is the only way to do marketing if you’re a part of, so I own a sports bar. It’s not, that’s not the me This magazine is not the best medium for them. You know, cost per impression is great for the sports bar because, you know, we can only make $10 a burger and get you in as many times as we can. And we, we rely on volume. So we’ll do the products where it goes to every household and, you know, clicks on Facebook and everything like that. But when it comes to our vendors, you know, our core four industries, our lenders titles, uh, title companies, builders and home inspectors, because they are at the center of a real estate deal and have the most to gain, uh, money wise from a single real estate deal, those salespeople would do so much better with their marketing dollars to get in front of the right eyeballs instead of all the eyeballs. Mm-hmm . And so that’s what we preach to those guys. Rory (17:28): Well, yeah. And I would say, you know, you’re talking about real estate here, but just like rounding it out for everyone listening, most of the people listening here are in a mode where they’re like, if you’re an expert of any kind, by definition, it’s like you’re, you’re dealing with a higher level, a more narrow niche, like a smaller group where you’re a more targeted audience that you’re going after. And it, the strategy you’re talking about is interesting because it sort of rails against digitally, everybody goes, you know, how do I just get millions and millions of people? Um, same with print, but like mm-hmm . You’re decidedly going against that. And that’s what’s creating traction, which I really believe is the future. I believe that the future is who can serve the smaller audience in a deeper way. Mm-hmm . Um, and uh, I think that’s really cool. Rory (18:18): So, so I see the value add for i the vendors. Okay. So, so thinking about the event. Yeah. So I see the value add for the vendors because you’re curating a list of the top agents. It’s exclusive, which is also unique and cool that you have to be a top agent by production to even get the magazine. Which is funny because the woman who sold our house in Nashville is a top agent. And we walked into her, her office at the closing, your magazine was sitting right, right on her. Like, that’s awesome. Front desk at the reception. I was like, oh my gosh. Like, that’s great. That’s real. I know, I know this magazine. Um, and, and she, she is, uh, shout out to Lacey Newman. Like she, she’s a boss, like she’s in Compass, uh, here in Nashville and like luxury agent and all that stuff. Rory (19:09): So she’s got your magazine. And I go like, whoa, you’re, you’re reaching, you’re reaching the right person if she’s got that, um, out in her desk area, right. Like the reception. So I see the value add as a vendor to go by curating this list. You’re in front of them. What’s the value add to the agents? I mean, I know it’s free and I know you’re saying I’m not trying to sell ’em something, which is good, like a lot of people are selling ’em, but there’s a lot of, there’s also a lot of people giving away a lot of free garbage, uh mm-hmm . As as well. So what’s the value prop? And I’m curious, going back to the events also, and also, and, and then, and then translating it to the magazine. ’cause I’m trying to think about somebody listening, going, you could do this in the insurance business and if financial planning, you could do this if you’re a CPA. Like there, there’s other ways you could do this, but you gotta figure out how to provide value to the, to the community. So how do you do that? Yeah. Remington (20:09): Yeah. And I think community is the right word there, because originally we’re like, okay, are we a magazine or are we an events company? And I think over the last 10 years there’s been like trying to swing one direction or the other. But to be honest, the number one word you come back to is that community. It’s a culture and, uh, movement almost. Because if the events didn’t even exist, would the magazine still matter? And the answer is absolutely yes. See, it’s kind of like, we’ve alluded to Star Wars in the past. This is, we’re gonna geek out for a second here. So Star Wars made it, I think the figure is three times more on the products and memorabilia than they did the box office dollars of the movies. Um, so infinitely more on all the swag, but they never would’ve sold all the dolls and t-shirts had they not had the movies be so cool and successful. And so the magazine is at the center of what we do, like being on the cover of magazines, seeing your friends, seeing where you rank, seeing the stories, that’s always gonna be at the center. But all the other stuff that we do that really reflects that is little bits and pieces that add up to a ton of value that are within this community. So your original, uh, get getting back, you asked like three questions in there. Rory (21:25): Well, that’s, it’s, it’s really going. What are the, how do you be, Remington (21:29): Why does the realtor care? Rory (21:30): Yeah. Like and how do you make, that’s the question yourself, Val, valuable. How do you make the magazine valuable? How do you make the events valuable? The the ranking. The ranking is super interesting. Yeah. So, you know, so Remington (21:42): I’ll, I sat down Rory with 50 people, 50 people that I trusted in the real estate industry here in Indy ahead of time. And I said, I asked them all the questions, this is what I’m thinking and I’m thinking about starting this magazine, what should I put in it? What should I not put in it? What do I care about? And I, I did all those appointments before I did a single sales appointment to create the magazine. And the, the biggest takeaways I got is that exclusivity is a big deal. If you look at why Facebook take took off instead of MySpace. ’cause MySpace was cool. I had MySpace. Did you have MySpace? Rory (22:15): Oh yeah. Mm-hmm . Remington (22:16): Yeah. So Zaa, MySpace, alt Friendster, all these sayings. Facebook is the one that took off. And I think, you know what most people believe is the biggest reason is because of the exclusivity factor when it started. And so if you look at the magazine, it’s a badge of honor to even receive this magazine for starters. Now, as a realtor, the reason they care about it is because, uh, another platform where they can share their story, where someone else is saying they’re good at the thing, instead of them saying, I’m good at this thing, is third party validation for their business. So the first thing they get, you saw that magazine sitting on Lacey, is it Lacey? Lacey? Yeah. You saw it is sitting on her desk. Did she pay for that? No, it was a third party that said, this person is very good at selling real estate so much. Remington (23:02): So we put her on a cover. Whereas most of the other magazines that people were quote unquote, you know, saying were our competition, it was pay to play models. So Rory, hey grit, congrats on selling a ton of homes. We’re going to put you on the cover of this magazine for $2,000 and you can get a couple copies to send to your friends and family. That’s a model that works. And it was around for years before we started Real producer. I’ve, some of my agents have been on those and, and are still on those and that, that works and that’s cool and fine and everything, but if it, it kind of, it would devalue if we ever took the dollars of someone to get on the cover, you’re buying the exposure versus earning it. And so the realtors, just to Rory (23:42): Be clear, is is there a different person on each cover? Like, does yours work like that? Or is it one real? Remington (23:47): Oh yeah, it’s nomination base. So the way it works is anyone in real estate can nominate them. We personally vet them, make sure that they’re, uh, doing at least the numbers and they’re reputable. And then we feature them based on nominations. So they cannot pay to be on the cover. You can’t pay to receive the magazine. It’s all based on merit. And so the community understands that and they know that. So when they’re picking up the magazine, they’re not thinking, well, you know why she’s on the cover? ’cause Keller Williams has an ad on the back cover. Well, no, we don’t take the dollars of any brokerage, so you can’t pay to be on the cover. It’s truly based on merit. And I think that’s one of the central things we decided 10 years ago that has kept us, um, in their, in their thoughts as they think about their own promotional materials. Alright, Rory (24:32): So but then is, is one agent on the cover nationwide every month? No. Or are there different agents in every market, or how granular is the cover? Remington (24:41): It’s granular. As granular as the market is. If you fly into Indy and you don’t know anyone in Indy, you’re not gonna know who’s on the cover. Only the people in Indy care about who’s on the cover because it’s a magazine based for the Indianapolis Realtors, the top 500 realtors in Indy get it, the top 500 in Nashville, get theirs now. That’s how it started. And if, if you look at our 130 markets, it’s a different realtor on the cover of every single one of them. But this event we’re doing here in September, that’s why this event is such a big deal. And I’ll, I’ll sing your praises a little bit, give you some flowers. You’re speaking at this event. It’s the inaugural first event, RP Elevate. Come see, uh, Rory Speak live. And the reason it’s such a big deal is it’s the first time ever we’re joining all those markets and we realize that the networking, ’cause another one of your questions, you, you basically asked without asking, why do realtors care about this? Remington (25:33): Why do they care about a magazine that’s all about them? Well, first of all, I mean, healthy Ego is a real thing in real estate. I think we all know that. So we want to see our name and face and print. But I had a realtor at one of my master classes, say during right after Covid, he said the Indianapolis market was super hard hot. And for the first time ever there was, uh, multiple offers on, on listings. And they had to decide, who am I gonna go with? And this realtor’s name is Alan. He said The reason why I beat other agents on all of these deals was not because I had the, the higher price or even the better offer. It was simply because I have done enough networking with these realtors. They trusted me to get the job done, and they trust me to do it right. And so I won all these deals that everyone else lost. And I think that kind of encompassed our thoughts here. It’s not just realtors showing up to events to get their free prizes and free lunch and go home. They really want to know these other agents so they can improve the industry together. And I think that we’re at the center of that conversation. Yeah, Rory (26:40): It’s interesting. I’m, I’m actually speaking at an investor’s conference, uh, here in a couple months and they were telling me the same thing, especially like when you’re, when you’re like, um, putting deals together that they will win, they will buy properties and they’ll get those properties for a lower price because the seller believes that even though you’re offering less money, they’re more convinced that you’ll get the deal to go through and that it’ll get done Right. It’ll get done fast and that like it will actually happen. Yep. That’s a fascinating part of a personal brand is to go, you don’t even have to have the best offer. They just trust that you’re gonna get it done and get it done. Right. And you win business because of that, even if you don’t have the, like the most money. Remington (27:26): Yeah. And especially if you’re a likable person in the process, people want to go with someone that they know, like, and trust. I think we undervalue that likability factor. We know and trust is a big deal. And but that likability factor is so big when it comes to sales because if you’re gonna be in the trenches with this person, you better enjoy it. Otherwise they might go with the other deal even though it’s not as good of a package. So I totally believe in that. So, Rory (27:51): So then just to be clear, if you have like a hundred plus markets mm-hmm . And the cover only belongs to the people in that market, you really have like 1200 covers a year because it’s like 12 different ones in each market. And that’s why they, that’s part of why they care, is they actually know, they know the people on there. Yes. And then how often do you do the rankings? Remington (28:13): So the rankings, we reset every year. You know, we’re not trying to send the magazine to different realtors every single month based on their last month’s pro Sure. Uh, production. So this, this month for real producers, everyone’s in a tizzy. ’cause we’re redoing the list in January for this calendar year. And it’s really exciting ’cause we send out the badges, we get these little digital badges that says I’m a top 500 realtor. Um, and so this is a, a fun month for us, but yeah, it’s, but for the entire calendar year, based on last year’s production. So to give you an idea, you have to sell about 9 million number. 500 is right around 9 million in Indie. Rory (28:49): Mm-hmm . Remington (28:51): All the way up to 150 million Rory (28:54): Uhhuh for like the number one spot. Mm-hmm . Uhhuh Remington (28:57): . Last year we had someone do 180 million on a hundred and like 79 houses. He’s, it’s never been done before. His name is Mike Deck sold. He averaged a million dollar listing where most people were averaging 300. So it was pretty phenomenal. Rory (29:13): He definitely made it cover the 80 listings. Remington (29:15): Yeah. Rory (29:16): Wow. Yeah. Uh, that’s awesome. So then, um, okay, well, okay, so the ranking comes out once a year. What about the rest of the year? Like what else? Because like, that makes sense to me to go, like, I, I would be like, where did I rank? Where did my friends rank? Where did my team rank? But that only is once a year. The other 11 months, you gotta put something in there to make them pay attention other than the cover. Remington (29:38): Well, the content is all about the realtors. So we have rising stars, we have leaders, we have personal pieces, uh, and we also do stories on our vendors too. And that’s, I the vendors love us and the realtors actually appreciate that too because they’re getting to know these vendors on a deeper level versus just the guy that does my carpet cleaning. Um, so, uh, philanthropy, I mean, there’s so, there’s so much content. Here’s the, here’s the key, the biggest rule with real producers is that we try to have as little content that can be Googled as possible. Less than 10% of the magazine content can you actually Google to find the answers, which means that the majority of content is unique specifically to that issue and the story cannot be found elsewhere. So the cover story, the Rising Star, the leaders, people having an impact within the philanthropy. Like they’re very unique stories within the real estate community. And we do some fun stuff too, like staff, like we do have standings, quarterly standings, monthly standings that that does update. Um, and they, they eat that up as well. Um, but all the content is specific for the realtors of that city. Rory (30:47): Mm-hmm . Which is fascinating. It also seems like a insane amount of work to localize. Remington (30:54): That’s why I’m not doing it all, you know, well, issues. Yeah. That’s why we have franchise owners. Yeah. Rory (30:59): So, uh, and then, okay, so then, uh, in terms of monetizing this mm-hmm . Um, I think this is really cool. So you, you obviously are monetizing through the vendors. That’s how the magazine is paid for. You’re not selling subscriptions, you’re giving them away, the vendors are paying the bill here to get in front of everyone and they’re paying the cost of operations and all that sort of stuff. How else do you monetize events? Is that still the other big thing? Sure, Remington (31:27): Yeah. We make money off of the events. We actually, uh, for the longest time, just to be abundantly clear to the realtor, we didn’t have any ways to make money off of the realtors. We really wanted to establish that you can’t buy your way into the content. Once we established that nationwide, we started creating ways because they, they were asking us, we want extra copies of this. We want just our stories, we want booklets. So at that point we decided, okay, this is an opportunity. And we, we do little promos, little mini magazines of just their story where they can buy a hundred of them and leave behind at open houses and, and things like that. Um, obviously digital marketing has taken a shape differently so that if that’s gonna be part of the geofencing and Google words, like that’s a part of the package as a vendor. Remington (32:14): So there’s lots of other ways. And then obviously RP Elevate coming up is, uh, a national event. That’ll be the first time we’ve done that. But if you look at us, uh, real Producers for 10 years, my dream was to have a seat at the table with trusted real estate brands. When they, when you think of big brands that people look to for whatever, now, you know, Zillow is a very polarizing brand, but everyone knows Zillow. I think we’re finally at that point where, especially within the top realtor community, real Producers is a logo and a brand that everyone knows and trusts. And this last year with NAR really struggling with those lawsuits, they need a trusted voice within real estate. And a lot of ’em are looking towards real producers for that. So there’s a lot of opportunity in the future past, uh, vendors paying for an ad. Rory (33:05): Yeah. Yeah. That’s, that’s really, really cool. Um, do you guys do awards too? Do you do like Oh, yeah, yeah. Remington (33:12): Awards banquets are huge, man. We, we raise a lot of money for, um, for charities. Uh, most recently, the last three years, we focused all of our national efforts, uh, to fight human trafficking. And we’ve got five different organizations through what we call N two Gives, which is our parent company. N two Gives. And, um, in the last I think five years, we’ve raised $29 million, um, to fight human trafficking. Uh, I think 4 million of which came from just the real producers markets. So, um, yeah, the, the awards bank was, are a lot of fun, man. We get all dolled up, we, we donate to a good cause and then they get glass trophies that say they’re good at selling homes. Everyone loves it. Rory (33:57): Uhhuh . Yeah. Um, I, I love that. The, um, this is really, really, really cool. Remington. I, I, I think the, the idea here of going, how can I curate a very specific audience? How can I add value to them? Who is interested in reaching that audience? Let them pay the bill. And, and then you kind of rally this whole community and you’re just like serving this community, uh, and the granularity at which you’re serving them and the granularity at which you’re producing content covers and just content in general that’s like super exclusive content. It’s really, really fascinating And, and, and, and, and really, really cool. And I, I think the big lesson here is, is that, is to going, how can I serve a smaller audience in a deeper way? And even though we’re talking about real estate, you’re even more granular than that because you’re really, every market is pretty much completely different. Yeah. I mean, the content’s different, the cover’s different. All the vendors are probably different because I’m guessing it’s all localized vendors who are trying to reach that group for the most part. Um, really, really cool man. So where do, where do people go if they wanna get in touch with you or see, you know, learn about you or, um, you know, you’ve got, obviously you’ve got your new book out, all that stuff. So Agent Allies, like where do you want people to connect with you? Remington (35:20): Yeah, Remington ramsey.com would be a great place to start. That’s kind of the hub. Um, we converted my Instagram couple years ago to just being a talking head about marketing. So if you, if any of this was fascinating, you had mentioned different niche products that could be created with the same concept. Um, I talk about all that, so just find me on Instagram, Remington Ramsey. But the book Agent Allies is literally just my story, like a deeper look at how as a vendor you can use real estate agents to build your business a lot faster. Like, if you think about any vendor or service provider, like if you were to start a moving company tomorrow, Rory, instead of doing a billboard or a commercial or advertising the masses, my argument is you should advertise to the realtor. ’cause they’re the ones that know who’s at the center of the move and you’re gonna get a hundred people with advertising to one instead of just one. So the book is really an effort to bring vendors and real realtors together to improve the industry and, uh, get better at sales just in general. So it’s, it’s been a lot of fun. Number one new release in, in real estate over the last couple weeks. Rory (36:23): That’s really cool. That’s really cool. Um, well, I, I, I’m noodling and sitting here to go, how would we do this at Brand Builders Group? How would we apply it, you know, to another group? I think there’s a lot of disparate communities out there, even one that real estate that’s so established and has, has nar and like a lot of things. And yet there’s still these pockets of going, you can, you can serve a small group of these people mm-hmm . Um, and do something really, really significant. So thanks for making time to be on the show. Thanks for sharing your model and sharing a little bit about your heart man. And, uh, we look forward to staying in touch and, uh, wish you the best in your journey. Remington (37:03): Thanks for having me on, Rory, I, I told you before the show, but I’m a huge fan. I love your work, your, your books and, uh, strong man of faith, like leading the way, leading the charge on all those reels. Uh, uh, just keep it up, man. Thanks brother.