WS456: Scaling Your Business Through Branding with Whitney Sewell

[INTRODUCTION]

[00:00:00] ANNOUNCER: Welcome to The Real Estate Syndication Show. Whether you are a seasoned investor or building a new real estate business, this is the show for you. Whitney Sewell talks to top experts in the business. Our goal is to help you master real estate syndication.

And now your host, Whitney Sewell.

[EPISODE]

[00:00:24] WS: This is your daily real estate syndication show. I’m your host, Whitney Sewell. Today, I want to share a presentation with you that I gave at a conference recently and had some really good feedbacks, so I thought that it would be worth sharing with you, the listener. I thought you could gain some value from it as well.

The title of this presentation was ‘Scaling Your Business Through Branding,’ and we were asked to present at this conference because of the way we’ve gained the following and the presence online. I just do branding and gained a following of investors, along with just people that are learning from us very quickly. That interest and just how we’ve scaled, how we branded, and sharing with others in that group just some techniques and things that we’ve done to make that happen.

I know, if you are listening, you are also interested in branding most likely. Unless you’re one of our investors or somebody else’s passive investor, you may not be concerned about branding. However, I guarantee there will still be some things in the show that you will gain that’s valuable to you and specifically things about myself and how we’ve branded and gotten where we’re at now. I hope this is valuable content to you, and we’d love your feedback.

You can email info@lifebridgecapital. If you have feedback, we would love to hear it. If you have ideas for ways that we could improve the show, I encourage you to email us at [email protected]. We would love to have your feedback. If there’s a potential guest that you would love to hear me interview on the show, I would love to know who they are or send me an introduction. Introduce us, and so that way we can get them on the show. Or if you have questions that you would like me to ask, email them to info@lifebridgecapital. We would love to know those questions that you have, so we can help you improve your business in a great way.

Right now, I’m going to share my screen. You can go to YouTube and watch this as well and you’ll be able to see it there. That way, you can actually see the actual presentation that I gave at this conference. It’s pretty sure, pretty simple. However, even if you’re just listening, you’re just gain probably the same benefit. But if you like going to YouTube, you can subscribe to us there as well and you can actually see this presentation itself.

But, initially, it’s scaling your business through branding. Obviously, you know who I am. I started this presentation with talking about your ‘why,’ and our why has defined so much about our business and really given us that push and that desire to keep going in times when it’s tough. If you don’t have that strong why, you’re not going to be as committed. You’re not going to have what it takes to make it through some of those valleys – Especially becoming an entrepreneur but just the entrepreneurial journey, you’re going to need that strong line.

On my PowerPoint, I used a picture of some kids in Africa that, obviously, are dirty feet and are barefoot mostly or old clothes. It just – They’re as happy as they can be, but our why is helping families adopt children. If you’ve been listening to the show, you know that our why is helping fund adoptions and helping other families to be able to adopt. We’ve been through the process three times, and it’s horrible. It’s a horrible process, but I tell everybody it’s so worthwhile. It’s so worthwhile.

But the cost of an adoption process could be 40 to 60,000 dollars. Most people have no idea. I asked everybody in this room when I was speaking how many know the cost to adopt a child. Nobody knew. When I said 40 to 60,000, obviously, their jaws just hit the floor. If you’re not around anybody that’s adopted, you have no way to know. It’s such a shame. It’s a horrible business that’s been created, this adoption process. However, it’s still well worth it and it’s not the children’s fault. We’re very passionate about helping other families, and I want to say if you have considered adopting and you would like some direction, you would like to ask questions about that, often I would love to schedule a time to talk to you and your spouse and answer any questions from our experience. We are happy to do that.

But one big thing I’d like to share about our why, and a couple ways that I didn’t expect it to be so helpful is that my better half, my wife, is not into real estate. That’s not her passion. That’s not something she’s working hard at. I mean, she is working much harder than me, I like to say. No doubt about it. I mean, she is working so hard every day, caring for our family and our kids and myself. Real estate is not her passion. However, this why is part of her passion. Therefore, she is wholeheartedly behind me and behind this business and a lot because of our why and because of our mission. Think about the bigger picture there.

I want to tell you another way that our why has helped us and can help you in a way that I did not expect happening. Starting this business – A big thing you have to do is talk to people, right? You have to learn to talk to potential investors. You have to learn how to carry on those conversations and be a good listener. You got to be able to stand out in some way. One way that we have done that or that I did that is through our why. And so, talking about our why – Like I said, I did not plan it this way but talking about something other than business, other than in our next multifamily deal or just business in general.

If you’re at a conference and people are talking to the speakers, everybody’s talking to everyone about their next deal or their business or their company or different things like that. I started realizing when I could talk to people about our why they could immediately hear the passion in my voice. They could hear it, and they could tell that I was passionate about helping families adopt and that we had adopted and that we had been through that and it’s something that it just means a lot to us. They remembered that. When I would go to call them, following up with them after our conference, guess what? They would remember me.

If you’re talking somebody just about multifamily and this person has talked to 50 people in just a couple days over a conference, they’re probably not going to remember you. But it allows me to share a personal side that they get to look into a little bit and then ask questions as well. It’s a game changer. I encourage you to think about your why, your mission behind what you’re doing and bring that out while you are talking to potential investors or at a conference. It’s going to change things for you, not just mentally, internally, personally, but also for your family and also for investors that are you’re speaking with or potential investors. Think about your why and really hung down on that.

Next, we talked about the commitment level it takes to get through this business or just to get started in the syndication business. It takes such a high level of commitment. Most of the people who are ultra-successful in the syndication business, they had to make big sacrifices, including myself. We’ll do shows about that as well to explain more about how I got started personally and just the sacrifices that my family ultimately made. But there has to be a large level commitment on the screen shows, some Navy SEALs most likely. But some Navy SEALs jumping out, parachuting out of the back of an airplane. You see these guys jumping. They’re falling and they have their, I don’t know what you call them, things on their feet to make them swim better.

But these guys are jumping from an airplane. I mean, this guy is leaping out of the back this plane. He is so committed to this mission. They are given a mission and they can’t hesitate. When it is time to jump out of that perfectly good airplane with a parachute on their back, freefalling down to this large body of water, I mean, they have to be so committed. In that moment, if they are not committed, it could cost other people their lives.

I want you to think about that in your business. Do you have that level of commitment like this guy jumping out of the back of this airplane? That’s what it’s taken for me. It has taken that level of commitment to get started in the syndication business and ultimately be successful in making this business happen. I just cannot stress enough from my military experience, spending a year in Iraq. If I wasn’t committed to the mission, it could potentially cost other soldiers their lives and myself obviously. So, are you committed to the business? If you’re not, it’s just not going to work, and that’s a decision that you have to make. The quicker you make that, the quicker it’s going to happen for you.

There are so many other stories from boot camp and different things I could share that’s helped me into military but obviously boot camp and then police academy that’s helped me to shape my mindset and commitment and things like that. That’s help me ultimately in this business.

Next on the screen, you would see a clip about thought leadership and developing your niche in your platform and why it’s important. We’ve completed over 450 interviews. We’ve done that in the last year and a half or less. Even today, as I’m speaking, as I’m recording this interview, I had 13 shows scheduled, back to back to back. By doing that, obviously it takes a large level of commitment to do that many shows, to stay focused, to ask good questions, to be involved and so I’m bringing the most value to you as the listener.

Through having a thought leadership platform, it has helped me to brand quickly and to help people to know who I am, to get to know me through speaking on a mic. Obviously, more than a dozen times a day, I’ll record interviews and meet, obviously, lots of people in the industry. Having a thought leadership platform is so important. But remember, if you don’t have a strong why, if you’re not committed, the thought leadership platform is not going to matter. People are going to see your level of commitment. They’re going to understand more about you and learn about your why through your thought leadership platform. So those things – You have to make those decisions first.

But moving into thought leadership, thought leadership platform, that term is used a lot now. But it could be a meetup. It could be a blog. It could be just a YouTube channel. There’s different avenues of creating a thought leadership platform. It doesn’t have to be a podcast. Some people were terrified at having a podcast and speaking in front of people, but it could just be a blog. It doesn’t have to be something like a podcast or even a meetup. There’s just a lot of work involved in that as well. But I cannot tell you how important it is to develop your niche before you develop your thought leadership platform. Who is your audience? Who are you going to be speaking to and really narrow that down? It’s so important.

People say, “Wait a minute, Whitney. I don’t want to narrow it down too much, because then I’m not going to be able to have a large enough audience.” Well, guess what? You don’t want. I mean, you want a large audience, yes. However, 2,000 true followers are so much more valuable than having 10,000 followers that don’t even know who you are. Those downloads may look nice. It may be great to say you’ve got however many downloads a month, 100,000 downloads a month. But if a hundred of those people are the only ones that really know who you are or really following you, it doesn’t matter.

You want those 2,000 or the few thousand people or ultimately – That’s going to grow, but they’re going to know you and they’re going to follow you. They’re going to watch everything you’re doing. They’re going to listen to every podcast episode. They’re going to buy your books as soon as you put it out. They’re going to be at your event. All of these things because they know and trust and like you, right? Ultimately, those could be your investors as well. You’re a syndicator. You’re getting into this business. You’re growing your brand. Those are going to be the people that ultimately end up investing with you.

I get calls every week about developing a podcast or questions from people wanting to start a podcast. Yes, you can schedule call. I’m happy to help. We’re also helping a few select people brand themselves and grow their platform like we have. If you’re interested in that, we’re happy to talk to you. You can email info@lifebridgecapital and reach out, and we’ll schedule a call to see if you’re a good fit for us. But it takes so much work. It takes so much time. I get questions every week about how do I get started in developing a podcast.

Most people, the problem though is they never get started, and there are so many things to get started. There’s something about your equipment, and maybe we’ll do some shows about that specifically later on. But ultimately, if you never get started, you’re never going to improve. You have to get started, so you can improve. You want to get started and you want to do it the best you can from the beginning. But I can tell you my first 20 shows, they weren’t near as good as they are now, and I still have a long ways to go, even though I’ve done hundreds and hundreds of interviews now.

But I had to get started before I got to the 20th episode. I had to get started. I had to get that first one done and then I was a little more comfortable. After 50, guess what? I’m a lot more comfortable than I was during the first 5 or 20. Then after 100, and now after 400, almost 500, I’m so much more comfortable now. The questions come easier. I can think better through the shows. I can ask better questions. It just flows better. But it took practice, and I had to get started.

When I was first getting started, I had a mentor, which I cannot recommend enough having a mentor. I was so worried about my sound quality. I’ve got two young boys. At the time, they were probably four and five when I started the podcast, and they loved training their stick horses up and down the hallway. They would run up and down the hallway, ‘dum-dum-dum-dum.’ I mean, just as hard as they could go. Guess what? My mic would pick every bit of that up. I was so worried about that sound quality.

I told my mentors that I’m thinking about get a hotel room like whatever days I’m recording, so I can go there and so the sound quality is better. It was just through email, and he wrote back. This is all he said in his email. He said, “Whitney, I recorded an interview with Robert Kiyosaki while sitting in my Toyota Camry.” That’s all he said and that’s all it took. I needed to hear that. I needed to hear that like, “Let’s get it started. Let’s stop making excuses. Let’s stop procrastinating. Let’s get it started. It’s going to improve.” It did, it has, and it’s still improving.

I’m going to have to move on before. The next slide just says, “Don’t overcomplicate it.” That’s it. Don’t overcomplicate it. There are some ways to make it better and educate yourself in understanding some techniques that I’ve learned the hard way to help you. But ultimately, you got to get started. If you sit back, before you know it, three months have gone by, six months have gone by, and you haven’t done anything. You haven’t gotten started your thought leadership platform. It’s still just sitting back there, mounting up dust. Lay it out, get it started, and it’s going to improve.

It’s all about the team. When we started knowing that I was going to do a daily show, I had to build a team. I knew from the beginning that I could not produce a daily show by myself, and it was really a blessing that we built the team. What happened was just like these people that are calling me now, every week numerous calls. How do I start a podcast? How do I brand myself? How have you done this? But I was doing the same thing.

When I was getting the podcast started and branding, I was calling other people who already have podcast and have been doing this a long time. I would say, “Tell me about what’s the hardest part. What’s the hardest part for you keeping this podcast going?” Every one of them would say it’s so much work. It is so much work. Every week, I am struggling to get the show notes done or I’m struggling to get the next guest scheduled and on and on and on about how much work it was, and there was a problem. The big difference here is that they were doing a weekly show. They were doing a weekly show. At this point, I’m thinking, “Wait a minute. Maybe I should rethink this. Maybe I should not do a daily show, because all these people were saying it’s so much work.”

I went back to my mentor and I was talking about that. He’s saying, “No. You can do it. You got to build system. You got to build a team,” and that’s what we did. We built a team. I had four VAs that were doing something every day for the podcast when we first started. We have a different team now because, obviously, we’ve improved. We’ve grown. I have different people that are helping me.

But initially, it was all about building that team before we ever launched. We had 60 shows recorded before we ever launched, which was so important. That way, when somebody on the team had a problem or we got behind, we didn’t miss a day. I created time for our team to improve, knowing that there’s going to be problems. We had to build a team, so I could find experts to do all these things that have to happen for our podcast or thought leadership platform of any kind to happen, especially at this scale.

Moving on, credibility. The thought leadership platform has created so much credibility. Ultimately, it’s just helped me to be more known. You’re listening now. You know me because of the podcast most likely. It’s opened so many doors, because now I have increased my network by 450 to 500 people that ultimately I wouldn’t have had and really more than that, because it’s opened doors to meet people at masterminds, to get in the masterminds and other groups of extremely qualified investors and people who are way ahead of me in the space. But now, I have all these people that I can reach out to you. I’m providing value to them by allowing them to be on my show and them to speak to you, you to get to know them.

But then also, when I have a question, now I have hundreds of people that I can reach out to and ask questions of or get to know them better or even potential partners through the show. I cannot tell you how many doors the podcast has opened. People say all the time, “Was it worth it or has it been worth it, especially to do a daily show?” They want to know has it been worth that much work. I can’t tell you if it has been worth it. Has it been a ton of work? I cannot stress it enough how much work it is and has been, but it has been well worth it. You just have to be consistent. You have to jump in and make it happen. We’ve done that through building a team.

One other aspect of that is through – When you’re having that investor conversation, which I’ve been having, obviously, many times through the week with potential investors who sign up on my website. If you haven’t, I encourage you to go sign up on the website, so we can speak and we can hopefully partner on a future deal. But a thing about that conversation is that investors feel like they already know me, and they do. They know so much about me already because they’ve been involved in my thought leadership platform, which has been a podcast. Yours could be a meetup. Yours could be some other form. But they get to listen to me every day. I get this all the time.

We get close to the end of our call, and I say, “I might have to go. I’ve got another call but I’m happy to schedule another call with you.” They say, “Well, Whitney, you didn’t even get to talk. I didn’t get to – I wanted to ask you some more questions.” So, we’ll schedule another call for them to do that, but then they also would say, “But you know what? I just feel like I already know you.” Then they’ll say, “Because I listen to you every morning while I’m at the gym or while I’m walking the dog or on my way to work.” I cannot stress the thought leadership platform enough. I get it too. “Whitney, there are so many podcasts. There are so many meetups about multifamily or whatever, and it’s irrelevant.”

This thought leadership platform is more about branding and getting your voice out there for people to know who you are. Remember, it’s about those 2,000 fans as opposed to this 100,000 or whatever that barely even know you are. There’s not enough multifamily podcasts or meetups to take everybody. If you’re creating value, if you’re creating content that people are going to learn from and grow from, then they’re going to come. They’re going to tell their friends about it. So, get started.

All right. Having a mentor is going to help you to avoid the naysayers. I like to tell the story when I was getting started. I was going, obviously, into numerous conferences, just like I am now in. There was two different conferences where I had dinner with two people who are extremely well-known in this business. They are so well-known. I mean, everybody listening has most likely heard of both of these people. I’m having dinner with just me and this person. Two different conferences, two different people that’s very well-known and I’m telling them about the podcast. This is before we launched. I’m saying, “I’m going to do a daily podcast about the syndication business.” Both of them say, “Whitney, are you crazy? That’s going to be so much work. Don’t do it. You’re not going to be able to keep it up. You’re not going to be able to keep it up.”

Most of the time, I would have listened to what they said and I would have said, “No. You know, I’m going to do it.” But given who these people were, their names in the industry, their experience, their track record, it really made me question doing a daily show. Rightfully so, it has been a ton of work. I was talking to my mentor and I’m sharing that story with him and who these people are, and he just quickly says, “Whitney, that’s exactly why you have to do it, because nobody else is going to do it.” That gave me that other really kick in the pants to get my mind back in gear and motivated to say, “No, I can do it. I’ll figure out a way to make it happen,” which we have. We did.

Now, looking back, obviously, we’re rolling. The podcast thought leadership is rolling now. It’s kind of its own machine but it’s because we’ve implemented quality team members. But having that mentor was so important, so I encourage you to have a mentor. I encourage you to find somebody that can help you, whether specifically on thought leadership, specifically in the syndication business. Either way, it’s going to put you so much further ahead. So instead of procrastinating for six months and then brushing the dust off and pulling the thought leadership back out and saying, “I needed to get this done,” you could talk to that mentor right then and then just give you another kick in the pants or some more motivation and just push you along. It’s so valuable. You’re going to get there faster if you have a mentor. No doubt about it.

I just like to say no excuses. If it’s important, you’ll find a way. If not, you’ll find an excuse. I don’t know whose quote that is, but it’s not mine. But I love that. If it’s important, you’ll find a way. If not, you’ll find an excuse. If watching the TV is important to you, that’s what you’re going to do. You’re going to find a way to do that and then you’re going to have excuses why you haven’t started that thought leadership platform or started branding yourself. Stop making excuses. Let’s get out there and let’s launch your brand and your platform to help you get started in this business.

I hope you’ve gone to therealestatesyndicationshow.com or you can go to Life Bridge Capital where you can find the podcast. You can connect with me there. You can email info@lifebridgecapital if you’re interested in getting some help in branding and thought leadership platform. Then also, go to The Real Estate Syndication Show on Facebook. You can join the group there. You can engage with guests there and ask questions of them and myself. I love to get on there and help you. Reach out to us. We look forward to working with you in the future. Reach out. We’ll talk to you soon. Have a blessed day.

[END OF EPISODE]

[00:24:29] WS: Don’t go yet. Thank you for listening to today’s episode. I would love it if you would go to iTunes right now and leave a rating and written review. I want to hear your feedback. It makes a big difference in getting the podcast out there. You can also go to the Real Estate Syndication Show on Facebook, so you can connect with me and we can also receive feedback and your questions there that you want me to answer on the show. Subscribe too, so you can get the latest episodes. Lastly, I want to keep you updated. So head over to lifebridgecapital.com and sign up for the newsletter. If you’re interested in partnering with me, sign up on the contact us page, so you can talk to me directly. Have a blessed day, and I will talk to you tomorrow.

[OUTRO]

[00:25:09] ANNOUNCER: Thank you for listening to The Real Estate Syndication Show, brought to you by Life Bridge Capital. Life Bridge Capital works with investors nationwide to invest in real estate while also donating 50% of its profits to assist parents who are committing to adoption. Life Bridge Capital, making a difference one investor and one child at a time. Connect online at www.LifeBridgeCapital.com for free material and videos to further your success.

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