Why PMRE Matters: Brandon Cooper on Business & Building Community in the Industry

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A lot of people don't know who runs PMRE.
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They don't know.
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You're Canadian.
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You're like the godfather of real estate media and nobody knows it.
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I think PMRE is like in Mario, when you hit the star.
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And then you go like 10 times as fast.
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Exactly.
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I've never set a goal for this conference other than creating as badass of an experience as we can.
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You obviously still own a real estate media company while running the biggest conference in our industry.
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How the heck do you do both?
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Well, it's good now.
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It used to be so much worse.
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I think we're on episode six, Alex, and this is our second interview.
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I thought it was five.
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I think this is episode six.
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I love that.
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But you know what?
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I could be wrong.
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And we're with Brandon Cooper, and you are the founder, organizer, and creator of PMRE, amongst other things.
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But I think for myself and Alex and for people that aren't exactly fully up to date with PMRE, which would have been me two years ago, I'm going to start off with saying a huge thank you because...
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I really feel like you've been this connector and accelerator of me and my career and even the way I think about the real estate media industry.
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And that comes first from PMRE.
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And then I found out that it's you're the man behind the mask.
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And that's sort of what I want to dig into.
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If you don't mind, I know that might not be your favorite subject, but I want to hop in and find out more about who you were pre-PMRE.
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But let's start with just defining what PMRE is for anyone who doesn't know.
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Yeah, sure.
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So it's pretty straightforward.
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It's a conference held annually in Las Vegas.
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It's always in November.
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The dates vary slightly, but it's geared towards anyone that's in the real estate media world who genuinely is serious about this industry, loves the industry and realizes the value of connecting with other people within the industry on an annual basis.
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The goal,
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It's kind of changed over the years.
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It started out as a very technical conference.
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2019, it was PFRE still stemming from the blog that we owned back then, photographyforrealestate.net.
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A lot of the conference was talking about technical stuff, how to take better photos, considering video, all this kind of stuff.
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And over time, it's completely evolved into more of a much more focused on the business side of real estate media and then connecting to your point, connecting.
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different real estate media creators from around the world.
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We end up with people from, I think last year, we had 14 different countries represented.
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So yeah, it's pretty sweet.
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So at the end of the day, we've grown over the years.
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Last year, we had a little over 400 people.
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Like I said, about 14 different countries were represented.
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A lot of the major, most of the major vendors that are in the industry that sort of support creators, whether it's from the software side to some of the hardware side, all that kind of stuff.
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They show up, they're very engaged.
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It's an opportunity to meet all those different companies.
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And then again, over time, it really has evolved into what I believe the most intangible value of PMRE is just bringing 400 plus like-minded people together from around the world.
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They come, they drop their, you know, a lot of us are kind of burned out on the social media side of things.
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There's a lot of cattiness in the chat groups and that kind of thing.
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I can say with a hundred percent conviction, everybody drops their ego at the door.
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Um, everybody is welcome.
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And the coolest thing is you get the opportunity to share best practices, pick the brains of people who are doing exactly what you're doing.
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They know where you're coming from.
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And the cool thing is they're very open to share the most education and the most learning that I've ever gotten from PMRE is from the connections and the relationships that I make.
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I've had opportunities where I sat down for a beer with a guy for an hour and he's literally saved me a year of my life because I had a plan on how I was going to hire some staff.
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And he was like, well, hang on.
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I went down that road.
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You don't want to go down that road.
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And he helped me out.
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So at the end of the day, again, it's a conference geared specifically for real estate media creators happening every November.
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And we're coming up on our eighth year.
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I want to know who owns PMREs.
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I do.
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And the reason I ask that is because there's lots of conferences that are geared and owned kind of by different brands, and they all have their purposes.
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But what I noticed about PMRE when I went is that it doesn't seem like there's like –
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a real agenda for like, there's not, there's no after product for you.
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Like it's just a gathering to community gathering for people.
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It's a massive undertaking.
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So like what motivates someone like you?
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Cause I want to establish two for people listening, where is your business?
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And like you do real estate media.
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So tell us a little bit about your business.
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And then if you can remember, if not, I'll remind you what motivates you to take on such a massive undertaking.
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Yeah, actually, it's probably easiest if I give you a little bit of backstory and some context, because that'll run right into the final answer.
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But I'm up in a place called Fort McMurray, Alberta, far north of northern Canada.
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You know, people here often of Calgary or Vancouver, I'm like eight or nine hours north of Calgary.
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If you were to go directly northeast from Vancouver, I'm like.
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probably a 19 hour drive.
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So I'm up in the sticks, small little oil town, 60,000 people.
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I started my own real estate media business in 2012.
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2014, I hired a photography coach, Tony Colangelo, and we really hit it off.
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He was amazing.
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He's an amazing teacher and I had a pretty quick, I had a good workflow built out early on.
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And so we had been working together and I kept kind of saying to him, like, man, Tony, you really helped me out so much.
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I've got a cool workflow.
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We should consider doing some workshops.
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This was back, you got to remember, 2012, very little on the Internet available for resources for real estate photography.
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It was all photography back then.
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It was very little video or anything else.
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So fast forward, we had talked about the idea a few times.
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2016 Fort McMurray got hit by the biggest natural disaster in Canadian history.
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We got evacuated.
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It was a great big wildfire.
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We were evacuated for three months.
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We didn't know if we were coming home.
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Like the town was on fire.
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We lost, I don't know.
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Wow.
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25,000 people didn't return afterwards or 20,000 people.
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So all of a sudden we're sitting there, neither my wife nor I knew if we were coming back to jobs, we were staying with our in-laws.
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I reached out to Tony and kind of said, Hey man, if there was ever a time to launch this workshop idea now would be it.
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So we decided real quick, built a curriculum, launched our first workshop in Summerlin, BC.
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And we had, I think, 15 or 17 people there from all over North America.
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And there's only a couple of Canadians.
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It was mostly Americans.
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It went really, really well.
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We asked for feedback.
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The feedback was very concise from everybody was, hey, the education was great.
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We're gonna take that home and apply it.
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But the most valuable thing was being in a room with like-minded people where we could finally drop our guard.
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Cause you gotta think back then, it was even more cutthroat than it is now cause it was new real estate.
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If you were a realtor back then using real professional photography, you had a massive edge.
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Fast forward to now, if you're not using a professional media creator as a partner,
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realistically you don't stand a chance in your market.
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So we ended up going forward and doing, I think another eight workshops around North America over the next year and a half, two years.
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I ended up in 2018 buying the photography for real estate blog with the whole goal of just trying to level it up and start providing as much content and educational value to the industry as we possibly could.
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Timing wasn't great because that's when Facebook groups really kicked off and
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the days of people checking your blog every day, kind of, you could, you know, you could post a question to Facebook and get a hundred replies in a few minutes.
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So it kind of, the timing wasn't great, but what we noticed was the, the online overall, and be careful how I say this, but the sort of like the vibe of the community took a bit of a spiral.
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It started to become quite toxic and there wasn't a lot of great conversation.
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There was a lot of blind leading the blind.
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There's a member to like very little barrier of entry into the industry.
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infighting in the groups, there was people would ask a really good question.
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And within a minute, someone else would chime in with a smart ass remark and it would derail it.
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And I just remember thinking, damn, this, you know, we need somewhere where we can connect with people who genuinely want to actually help each other and not just, you know, go and posture up in social media.
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So got to the point where we were doing the workshops and I would actually, I was actually losing money by going to do the workshops because I was very busy at home.
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So it became more of a passion project.
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And he got to the point where I had young kids.
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I was like, I can't be out of market this often forfeiting the opportunity to earn.
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It just wasn't really making sense.
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So I said to Tony, I'm like, what if, what if we just took a big swing at this?
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And, and instead of just doing these smaller workshops, what if we built something that was like one big get together per year?
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Tony was at a time in his life with a young kid as well, that
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He liked the idea, but it wasn't really something that he was in a position to participate in.
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And so long story short, I talked to my wife about it.
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We already had the blog, even though it was starting to kind of decline, we reached out to the audience, asked them their opinions on, Hey, if we did something, where would you want to do it?
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What would the call?
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We got a lot of good answers out of them.
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You know, what would their pricing thresholds be?
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And I can't remember the exact date, but 2019, no, it would have been, yeah.
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Spring in 2019, we just took a chance.
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I secured a property in Vegas.
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It was called Sellpoint Casino at the time.
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It is to this day, but that was our first venue.
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We put up 75 early bird tickets on a Friday afternoon.
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I went out of town that weekend, came home and all 75 of them were sold.
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Amazing.
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So we proved our concept, took some of the financial pressure away.
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And at the end of the day, the whole reason, you asked earlier, coming back to your question, why do I do it?
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I needed it for myself.
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I literally built the conference because I needed it selfishly.
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I needed a place being in such a small town plus being remote to this day, it's a bit of a lonely business.
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Back then it was like, I was out shooting vacant homes, especially because during the rebuild time, when most of the homes I was shooting were new construction, I was just by myself.
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So.
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When we went down, you know, a lot of people were saying to me, you're going to, let's get this straight.
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You're going to build an in-person event for 300 of these psychopaths in the Facebook groups.
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And I was like, yeah.
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I'm like, I have a little more faith in humanity.
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I don't think that's a real estate photography thing.
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I think that's a social media thing.
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I'm pretty confident we get everybody in the same room.
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We will really quickly realize how much we need each other and how much we want to be around each other.
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And sure enough, I can't even explain.
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It'll be interesting to have some people that were there at the very beginning chime in on this.
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But everybody was a little tentative.
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And it was the second we got there, dropped the guard, the eagles were gone.
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And it was one of the best weeks of my life.
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And so from that point forward, I looked at my wife and I'm like, I mean, we're on to this.
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We're on to something.
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And so from there, we unfortunately, we got so aggressive.
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We were so excited to double down on year two and then got hit by COVID.
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We were almost going to skip that year, but we decided to go virtual, which helped us.
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We ended up getting 525 attendees from 26 countries, I think.
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Don't quote me.
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Wow.
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I didn't even know you did that.
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Yeah.
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And I mean, the crazy thing about that was we did two days of like eight hours online.
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And then the end of day two, we did like a discussion panel.
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And we went for almost three hours on the discussion panel.
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I ended up having to like call it because we had rented a vacant space in the skyscraper in Calgary to have a production team to help us with it.
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And they were going to turn the lights off on us.
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But after two full days of sitting at your computer, people stayed on for another three hours.
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And so it was kind of like the goal was to prove to them that no matter what happens, we're going to do what we can to bring the community together every year.
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That was proven by that.
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It helped get our name out a little bit more.
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Year three, we were able to go back to Vegas, but it was a little dicey because people were still unsure about COVID, but it went off fine.
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Went another year, rebranded to PMRE, and then three years ago, we decided to make the jump over to Palms.
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South Point was an amazing venue.
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There's no way we could have gotten this thing off the ground without them and them being reasonable with us, but it didn't really match up with the level of sort of
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creativity and class and I don't know what the word I'm looking for is, but it just didn't match our overall brand.
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So in 2024, we rebranded everything.
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We took a huge swing by moving to the Palms and did a big announcement.
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And that's what brings us to today.
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So now we're coming up here in two months, a little over two months.
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We'll be doing our third event at Palms Las Vegas, S-P-M-R-E.
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Wow, man, that is a journey.
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Now, while you're doing that, are you like goal setting?
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Are you like year one, I want this many people like that if I hit this goal, I feel good.
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Year two, coming up on this new year, like, is that how you do it?
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Are you goal setting?
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Like, how are you accomplishing something so fucking massive?
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We're going to take a break right now and we're going to have a quick hotspot question for Oliver, sponsored by HD Photo Hub.
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HD Photo Hub.
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HD Photo Hub.
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If you got $10,000 to reinvest in the company today, no purchase of gear whatsoever, where are you putting it?
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Oh, that's such a good question.
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I would probably...
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Honestly, I think the cash flow of the business is good.
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Like, you know, agents are coming in, we're grown.
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But I think ultimately, I think we're most businesses.
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And even for myself, the biggest pain is like marketing and growth.
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And I do so much of that on my own.
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And so I would probably take 10K.
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And I've done this recently.
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I hired a salesperson and I'm paying her a monthly stipend as well as commission on sales.
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And so I would just put that aside to keep a salesperson active.
218
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And I would have them do more than even cold calls.
219
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I think it probably also have them do like drop offs at brokerages and stuff like that.
220
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So I'd pay someone to go out there and just kind of do lead generation for me.
221
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That's where I put the money.
222
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That is exactly where I would put it to you.
223
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Okay.
224
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Cause I was going to throw it back to you.
225
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So you would put it into marketing and lead gen.
226
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Absolutely.
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Marketing.
228
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And then yeah, someone cold calling on the ground and then doing those sales.
229
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Sweet.
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We're in agreement.
231
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All right.
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Thank you.
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Thank you.
234
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I swear to God, I've never set a goal for this conference other than creating as bad-ass of an experience as we can.
235
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And also being an industry of creatives,
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I wanted people to show up because even year one, they thought they were showing up to a ballroom with like fold out chairs and a pop-up stage.
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But even then South Point had a showroom with like a 35 foot led wall.
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And we didn't tell anybody about that.
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So when they walked in, we had some speakers come in.
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I won't mention names that were coming in pretty, you know, with some swagger and they walked into the room and I could see them.
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One guy was specifically was like, Oh shit, this is legit.
242
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And I was like, I've been trying to tell you,
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Like, you know, come ready.
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And so, you know, some of them got a little bit of a wake-up call.
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But the goal was to ultimately give, you know, if there was any goals involved, it was give the industry something that they can come to every year and be really proud of where we're treating them first class, but also remembering that they are creatives and we want to kind of keep them excited and entertained.
246
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That was a big part of the move to Palm.
247
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So at the end of the day, for me, it's always been about,
248
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the experience for the end users.
249
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And we kind of have three constituents, right?
250
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We have the speakers, the sponsors and the attendees.
251
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We always wanted to make our stage feel like a coveted space where one day, because, you know, I had to pay board and steal for the first few years to convince people to speak.
252
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I wanted to get to a point where they start calling us because they want to be on our stage.
253
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And then for the sponsors, I wanted them to feel like we care about them as much as we care about anybody else at the event.
254
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And then I wanted the attendees from day one, the goal,
255
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Again, I said there was no goals, but there was no like benchmark goals.
256
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There was more like a spirit point, I guess you could call it.
257
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It was, it was just like, I wanted the attendees from day one to feel undeniable value.
258
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And then as the years went on.
259
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I wanted to make sure that every year people that came back truly believed that we were stewarding their funds and their investment in us properly.
260
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And so that we tried to make it cooler and better and more exciting every time they came back.
261
00:17:18.099 --> 00:17:29.789
And that's where we kind of ran out of runway at South Point because it was sort of the weak link, but at Palms now, as you guys have seen, there's every thing that we do there, whether it's the showroom.
262
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or a green street or a lunch and learn or a workshop or the party.
263
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Every room is unique and special and cool in its own unique way.
264
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So I don't know what question you just asked me.
265
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I just went on a total.
266
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Oh, the goal is just to, just to honestly give people something that they're super pumped about all year.
267
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You know, we tell people, put your cameras down, come hang out unless you're going to a workshop, but come hang out for three or four days.
268
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get inspired, meet some new people, go home with a fire in your ass and feel like you're really part of an industry that's pretty damn legit now.
269
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Because back in the day, you know, the question does not get asked anymore.
270
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You can do that for a living?
271
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Like, yeah, we can do this for a living.
272
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We do.
273
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We are an absolute critical part of the real estate ecosystem now.
274
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And everybody is taking notice.
275
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So that was a byproduct, but I'm happy it happened.
276
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Yeah.
277
00:18:25.025 --> 00:18:34.994
You know, the one thing I do love about you is, and I didn't realize because I kind of met you right away, but a lot of people don't know who runs PMRE.
278
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They don't know you're Canadian.
279
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They know you're like the godfather of real estate media and nobody knows it.
280
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And I think it's so funny.
281
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I do too.
282
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And I want to chime in there because you're very, I think, you know, even your language is we, we, this, we, that, but let's be honest, who is we Brandon?
283
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Cause I think Brandon might be we, and we might be Brandon.
284
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Like, who is this we you speak of when you're talking about decision-making like I, and that's a real question, but also is it really just you?
285
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So in certain ways, I just had this conversation today with somebody cause we've had many offers over the year for, you just said we again.
286
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for investments, you know, to maybe supercharge scaling this thing, stuff like that, real business type stuff.
287
00:19:22.377 --> 00:19:39.781
And I've always turned it down simply for the fact that the foundation and the community is so mission critical that I need to be in a position to be able to make a decision in two seconds or defer a decision for six months, depending on what's best for the event.
288
00:19:40.342 --> 00:19:41.982
And if I had to answer to somebody else,
289
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I wouldn't be able to do that.
290
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I would just be under immense pressure and I am under immense pressure from certain parties throughout the years, right?
291
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Whether, I mean, whoever they are, people that have invested interest in the event just from their own, um, the reason that they participate.
292
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So I get it.
293
00:20:04.801 --> 00:20:08.181
I've heard it in the past that I definitely like to fly below the radar.
294
00:20:08.241 --> 00:20:09.162
There's no question about that.
295
00:20:09.222 --> 00:20:10.562
I'm definitely a behind the scenes guy.
296
00:20:11.522 --> 00:20:11.682
Um,
297
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There's been some criticism in the past where, you know, Brandon just makes all the decisions, yada, yada, yada.
298
00:20:18.320 --> 00:20:36.609
And the truth is I make the final decision, but, well, both of you could attest to this plus our other speakers, other sponsors, my wife, my dad, my parents, other business people that I respect, I consult endlessly.
299
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When I get an idea and I mean, sometimes I'll call somebody at 11 o'clock at night with an idea that I'm so pumped about.
300
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And then the next morning I wake up and I'm like, I'm such an idiot, but I just got stoked on it.
301
00:20:49.277 --> 00:20:55.498
But I, I, I mean, this whole event was designed, was formed by the feedback from the audience.
302
00:20:56.038 --> 00:20:59.599
So when I say we, it's a combination of myself and my team.
303
00:21:00.208 --> 00:21:13.297
whether it's our creative guys or no, we've hired an event team last couple of years that helps, helps a huge amount to take a lot of that pressure off of us, but support from my wife and her, when she's at PMRE, what she brings to the table.
304
00:21:13.317 --> 00:21:24.905
And then again, just being able to reach out to so many people in the industry, whether they're like some of our biggest sponsors, we can have conversations where if I wanted to, I could take advantage of it because they're literally like we,
305
00:21:25.615 --> 00:21:27.976
But we have such a good relationship and a good partnership.
306
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We can share openly knowing that neither one of us are going to walk away and use that information against each other.
307
00:21:33.179 --> 00:21:33.379
Yeah.
308
00:21:33.399 --> 00:21:45.805
So long answer short or however that goes, I make the final call, but no decisions are made without me consulting endless amounts of people, even on the smallest details.
309
00:21:46.226 --> 00:21:47.806
It's just kind of the only way to make sure.
310
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Because again, it's a community.
311
00:21:49.447 --> 00:21:50.028
It's real simple.
312
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We want to help real estate media creators succeed while bringing the community together and elevating the industry.
313
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Yeah.
314
00:21:55.325 --> 00:21:56.826
So we run everything through that filter.
315
00:21:57.186 --> 00:22:02.869
And then, like I said, sometimes I have an idea and I'll bounce it off somebody and for one reason or another, they'll shoot it down.
316
00:22:02.909 --> 00:22:06.610
And sometimes I'll still pursue it if I feel really convicted.
317
00:22:06.650 --> 00:22:08.972
And sometimes I'm like, oh my gosh, you just saved my ass.
318
00:22:09.572 --> 00:22:13.954
So it's very collaborative, even though it doesn't maybe appear that way from the outside looking in.
319
00:22:14.634 --> 00:22:14.814
Mm-hmm.
320
00:22:15.975 --> 00:22:21.277
So you had a, you know, you had your initial push, your initial idea, it worked.
321
00:22:21.478 --> 00:22:23.999
So you got over that first hump of like the startup.
322
00:22:24.992 --> 00:22:27.754
And then you had, you know, your big disruption, which was COVID.
323
00:22:27.774 --> 00:22:28.894
You guys figured it out.
324
00:22:29.294 --> 00:22:31.816
And then, you know, you moved to the Palms.
325
00:22:32.236 --> 00:22:36.979
And you're kind of like, I don't know what you would call it, like in your second semester, maybe your sophomore year, right?
326
00:22:37.339 --> 00:22:42.182
And there's like, either there's a maintenance now, or there's still things you want to achieve.
327
00:22:42.422 --> 00:22:47.044
Like, where is your head at as far as PMRE today and then moving into the future?
328
00:22:48.605 --> 00:22:49.786
It's a really good question.
329
00:22:49.806 --> 00:22:51.347
And it's something I've wrestled with a ton.
330
00:22:51.367 --> 00:22:53.208
I was actually down in Vegas not too long ago.
331
00:22:54.569 --> 00:22:57.430
looking at potential next steps.
332
00:22:58.730 --> 00:23:02.271
We've been under an immense amount of pressure to scale since day one.
333
00:23:04.212 --> 00:23:07.533
I have always had a theory that there's sort of three segments to our industry.
334
00:23:09.514 --> 00:23:20.417
And I've always kind of thought that the ones who are going to be the most successful and keep this industry moving forward are the ones that are kind of a little bit more focused on
335
00:23:21.695 --> 00:23:27.176
Business, but never forgetting, you know, what got into the dance, meaning not sacrifice and creativity.
336
00:23:27.836 --> 00:23:32.117
And more important than anything is relationships and customer service.
337
00:23:32.797 --> 00:23:34.598
So over the years, I've gone back and forth.
338
00:23:34.658 --> 00:23:37.238
There's been days where I'm like, you know what, let's go.
339
00:23:37.478 --> 00:23:41.099
Let's just, we've kept it boutique for a reason.
340
00:23:41.239 --> 00:23:44.219
You know, our barrier of entry, we're not the cheapest conference out there.
341
00:23:45.100 --> 00:23:47.380
It's a huge investment for people to come from around the world.
342
00:23:47.777 --> 00:23:52.560
we do everything we can to help, you know, we negotiate hotel rooms, we provide tons of food.
343
00:23:52.600 --> 00:24:16.875
We try to take some of that, that stuff away, but we've kept the price a little bit higher specifically to use that as our, I guess you can call it almost like a vetting process to make sure that, you know, if there's a goal with our people, it's to make sure that anyone you bump into at PMRE, no matter what, whether it's a sponsor or speaker or attendee, if somebody you could learn for somebody you can provide value to,
344
00:24:18.017 --> 00:24:20.238
And I've always been, I'm a boutique person.
345
00:24:20.338 --> 00:24:21.459
I've always been that way.
346
00:24:21.499 --> 00:24:23.720
I'm very much, I'm a small group guy.
347
00:24:23.980 --> 00:24:26.261
I'm a behind the scenes person.
348
00:24:27.201 --> 00:24:39.966
I just, I've fallen in love with the culture of our community and I've kind of gone back and forth and we need to grow appropriately, you know, with reason and with intent.
349
00:24:40.126 --> 00:24:42.067
I don't want to scale for the sake of scaling.
350
00:24:43.027 --> 00:24:47.249
I want to scale as the community demands it.
351
00:24:47.903 --> 00:24:52.644
And I want to do it in a way that the community is asking for.
352
00:24:53.584 --> 00:25:13.488
So, um, we're getting to a weird part right now, like full disclosure this year, we've booked out every single available unique space at Palms with the exception of the ballroom and we've got everything full and we've got other stuff we could be doing, but we can't cause we don't have space.
353
00:25:14.248 --> 00:25:14.588
Wow.
354
00:25:15.260 --> 00:25:21.962
But do you, can I ask, do you think that's a reflection of the conference itself just coming to full maturity?
355
00:25:22.042 --> 00:25:28.324
Or do you think the real estate media industry has like arrived at a even, like, is there just a bigger appetite overall?
356
00:25:28.344 --> 00:25:29.465
Like, what do you, what do you think it is?
357
00:25:29.485 --> 00:25:32.926
I think it's a bit of both because here's an interesting stat.
358
00:25:33.986 --> 00:25:38.208
Last year we had 430-ish registrations and almost 200 of them were first-timers.
359
00:25:42.874 --> 00:25:45.296
So that kind of freaked me out at first.
360
00:25:45.336 --> 00:25:51.201
I was like, our retention number is a little bit weak, but people just taking a year off.
361
00:25:51.261 --> 00:25:52.322
What's what's going on.
362
00:25:54.443 --> 00:25:56.585
So that was one thing, but I was like, I'm very excited.
363
00:25:56.765 --> 00:25:58.627
You know, of course, everybody loves to have new people.
364
00:25:58.647 --> 00:26:07.134
I was nervous that that amount of new people could potentially put the existing culture in jeopardy.
365
00:26:08.054 --> 00:26:10.216
It's like, you know, if you have a hockey team and, you know,
366
00:26:10.492 --> 00:26:12.394
you've only got six remaining players.
367
00:26:12.915 --> 00:26:13.635
That's a challenge.
368
00:26:14.436 --> 00:26:22.324
So I kind of was looking at it that way, but then the amount of people that approached me last year, new folks that said, man, first of all, they were very thankful.
369
00:26:22.464 --> 00:26:24.887
They were just appreciative and they were so generous.
370
00:26:25.781 --> 00:26:32.104
with their feedback and they said, I can't believe, I've been in this industry nine years and I never knew about PMRE.
371
00:26:32.184 --> 00:26:33.104
I would have been here every year.
372
00:26:33.284 --> 00:26:35.585
And so I'm sitting there being like, how is that?
373
00:26:35.745 --> 00:26:45.610
You know, and this was a wake up call for me because I'm like, sometimes when you're so close to something like this, you can take some of that stuff for granted and sort of miss those details.
374
00:26:47.010 --> 00:26:54.834
But what it did is it really reminded me, or it was a nice encouraging factor that the industry in general is really growing.
375
00:26:55.383 --> 00:27:00.304
And PMRE is perfectly positioned to welcome the new folks in.
376
00:27:01.065 --> 00:27:06.786
So to answer your question, it's kind of like a, in my opinion, it's a little bit of a perfect storm.
377
00:27:07.106 --> 00:27:09.607
I also think there is a definite change.
378
00:27:11.587 --> 00:27:21.370
I don't want to say change in the guard, but we are seeing a big, um, there's a new generation of people coming into this industry who are coming in
379
00:27:22.774 --> 00:27:30.822
very heavily focused on business, but realizing that to survive and thrive, they need to maintain the creative.
380
00:27:31.362 --> 00:27:35.066
So, yeah, I don't know if that answers your question entirely, but it does.
381
00:27:35.086 --> 00:27:35.266
Yeah.
382
00:27:35.326 --> 00:27:36.728
I think it's a combination of both.
383
00:27:38.709 --> 00:27:40.271
There's a good Canadian hockey reference there.
384
00:27:40.291 --> 00:27:40.691
I like that.
385
00:27:40.711 --> 00:27:41.152
Yeah.
386
00:27:44.351 --> 00:27:45.851
Alex, do you have a follow-up question there?
387
00:27:46.171 --> 00:27:48.752
I thought I saw a twinkle in your eye.
388
00:27:49.332 --> 00:27:57.695
I just want to know, like you obviously still own a real estate media company while running the biggest conference in our industry.
389
00:27:58.615 --> 00:27:59.855
How the heck do you do both?
390
00:28:00.555 --> 00:28:01.396
Yeah, that's what I want to know.
391
00:28:02.336 --> 00:28:03.616
Does your wife like it?
392
00:28:05.577 --> 00:28:09.018
Well, it's good now because the beautiful, so yeah, it's kind of funny because
393
00:28:10.435 --> 00:28:11.496
It used to be so much worse.
394
00:28:11.636 --> 00:28:16.778
I used to be shooting a thousand homes a year by myself and delivering the images same day.
395
00:28:18.078 --> 00:28:19.179
And that was not a good life.
396
00:28:20.079 --> 00:28:24.621
And then that was before we could do, you know, outsource our editing and stuff like that.
397
00:28:24.781 --> 00:28:27.002
So over time we start to build some efficiencies in.
398
00:28:27.682 --> 00:28:33.805
And then a few years ago, I finally, you know, it's one interesting thing actually by starting the conference, um,
399
00:28:34.838 --> 00:28:36.939
you know how in our industry it's kind of feast and famine, right?
400
00:28:36.959 --> 00:28:39.160
You have your busy months and then you have your slow months.
401
00:28:39.180 --> 00:28:41.761
And every time you have a slow month, you get all insecure.
402
00:28:41.781 --> 00:28:44.363
And every time you're busy, you're like, I need a break.
403
00:28:44.783 --> 00:28:52.006
You know, having the conference to focus on throughout the year, it totally chilled me out on the slower times.
404
00:28:53.227 --> 00:29:01.011
And then when I was busier with the media stuff, I could just take a little break from the conference stuff, but then they started to converge a bit more.
405
00:29:01.071 --> 00:29:03.152
So long, I ended up hiring people,
406
00:29:05.076 --> 00:29:15.064
just a family friend who had zero experience in any of this, but she's just a gem and started training her up about two and a half years ago, maybe a little longer.
407
00:29:16.165 --> 00:29:24.071
And it didn't take too long before the whole goal was for just to her to be able to like pick up some slack and then be around when I'm out of town.
408
00:29:24.932 --> 00:29:28.455
And before long, the client started calling her instead of calling me.
409
00:29:28.735 --> 00:29:30.036
She caught on to everything.
410
00:29:30.237 --> 00:29:33.119
She basically, I mean, I, I haven't shot a house now,
411
00:29:34.207 --> 00:29:37.088
in probably six weeks and I just shoot them once in a while.
412
00:29:37.108 --> 00:29:40.808
Then I cover her holidays and she's basically running everything.
413
00:29:40.828 --> 00:29:48.169
So my PMR is pretty much, pretty much my baby now, but for a lot of years there, it was, it was rough, but now.
414
00:29:49.350 --> 00:29:51.510
Can I zoom in on that for you, Brandon?
415
00:29:51.570 --> 00:30:02.072
Like a lot of people listening are probably more likely, I think a lot of the industry are solo shooters, maybe tiny teams for it, not PMR related, but related to your business.
416
00:30:03.148 --> 00:30:11.290
having that person hired, which was essential, but then also having to let go of the reins and just be okay, someone else representing your brand.
417
00:30:11.970 --> 00:30:13.930
What was the most difficult part of that?
418
00:30:14.110 --> 00:30:18.591
And when did you feel fully confident that you could really potentially never shoot again?
419
00:30:19.391 --> 00:30:24.152
First of all, we put a ton of effort in the early days to really introduce her to everybody.
420
00:30:24.732 --> 00:30:25.993
So it wasn't just like one day.
421
00:30:26.793 --> 00:30:28.013
Just literally like,
422
00:30:29.746 --> 00:30:33.627
calling them or going and seeing them in person or, and then again, keep you.
423
00:30:33.927 --> 00:30:35.028
So this is a unique scenario.
424
00:30:35.068 --> 00:30:39.709
Actually I should back up because her mom is a realtor in our town.
425
00:30:40.569 --> 00:30:41.770
And again, very small town.
426
00:30:41.850 --> 00:30:44.450
She's been around for doing real estate for 25 years.
427
00:30:45.031 --> 00:30:47.932
And so you say, Oh, this is Kim's daughter.
428
00:30:48.292 --> 00:30:49.012
Like, Oh, cool.
429
00:30:49.032 --> 00:30:49.332
You're in.
430
00:30:49.392 --> 00:30:51.413
I said, yeah, she's coming in on the media side with me.
431
00:30:52.333 --> 00:30:52.953
Very easy.
432
00:30:52.973 --> 00:30:55.714
And then we just kind of, I kind of made it clear to them.
433
00:30:55.794 --> 00:30:59.215
I said, listen, guys, you know, I'm not, I'm not abandoning in any way.
434
00:30:59.962 --> 00:31:01.543
I'm going to be training her.
435
00:31:01.703 --> 00:31:08.926
And once, once we get to a point where you can't tell the difference between her photos and mine, I'm going to start putting her more and more.
436
00:31:09.126 --> 00:31:14.709
And they were all again, communication relationships and trust, right?
437
00:31:14.729 --> 00:31:16.330
It was just kind of over communicating.
438
00:31:17.010 --> 00:31:17.850
Didn't take very long.
439
00:31:17.890 --> 00:31:27.835
And then as soon as my phone kind of like stopped ringing, but the invoices were still going out, I kind of knew we were good to go.
440
00:31:28.653 --> 00:31:31.835
And then there was a couple of times where I had to be gone for two weeks at a time.
441
00:31:31.875 --> 00:31:34.417
So I'd call all the clients and say, hey, Bree's in charge of everything.
442
00:31:34.897 --> 00:31:35.757
Run everything through her.
443
00:31:37.118 --> 00:31:38.179
Never got any complaints.
444
00:31:39.020 --> 00:31:43.182
And so that's when I kind of figured, oh boy, this thing's just kind of trucking.
445
00:31:44.543 --> 00:31:47.005
And then what is your goal for your real estate media company though?
446
00:31:47.165 --> 00:31:51.487
Because obviously the bread and butter for you now is PMRE.
447
00:31:51.647 --> 00:31:54.069
So what is your goal for a street site?
448
00:31:54.089 --> 00:31:55.370
Remember, Alex, I don't have goals.
449
00:31:56.320 --> 00:31:58.402
Oh my God.
450
00:31:58.442 --> 00:31:59.383
What are your spirits?
451
00:31:59.563 --> 00:32:02.685
What did you call it?
452
00:32:03.386 --> 00:32:03.686
No.
453
00:32:06.028 --> 00:32:15.695
Honestly, though, on the media side, my goal right now, if I had to choose one, would be to keep it running nice and smooth, provides my shooter with a really, she's young, right?
454
00:32:15.815 --> 00:32:18.137
25 years old, making a great living.
455
00:32:18.938 --> 00:32:22.901
We have a deal where instead of her having set hours, she shoots all the time.
456
00:32:23.121 --> 00:32:25.623
And then when she wants time off, she just calls me ahead of time and
457
00:32:26.386 --> 00:32:31.009
So she's got, I mean, if I had her job when I was her age, I would be beyond myself.
458
00:32:31.470 --> 00:32:31.630
Oh yeah.
459
00:32:31.670 --> 00:32:39.595
And then I still, I still can rely on my part of the profit out of the company to kind of live off of.
460
00:32:40.456 --> 00:32:43.618
And it's like, it's kind of like passive income that helps me.
461
00:32:44.439 --> 00:32:44.839
That's the thing.
462
00:32:45.279 --> 00:32:47.581
I didn't complete my thought earlier on something.
463
00:32:47.601 --> 00:32:55.947
I can't remember exactly what we were talking about when I was saying how the media, the local media business helped me keep me sane.
464
00:32:59.386 --> 00:33:06.194
when things were slow on the conference side and the conference kept me saying when things were slow on the media side, same thing goes on the income side of things.
465
00:33:06.234 --> 00:33:10.859
So my local business afforded me the opportunity to,
466
00:33:11.824 --> 00:33:17.087
be able to take some extra risks with PMRE that I most likely wouldn't if I didn't have some form of income.
467
00:33:17.607 --> 00:33:21.109
And the fact that they're in the same industry was awesome.
468
00:33:21.149 --> 00:33:23.110
And the other thing too, is I can leverage both of them.
469
00:33:23.410 --> 00:33:28.953
I can leverage, not leverage to the audience, but show to the audience, Hey, I'm the one of you.
470
00:33:29.133 --> 00:33:34.296
I built this for me because I can, I know I can feel your pain and I still feel it.
471
00:33:34.336 --> 00:33:35.576
I can relate to it every single day.
472
00:33:36.477 --> 00:33:40.479
And then on the, on the local side, this is the other thing that,
473
00:33:41.652 --> 00:33:45.756
My wife has given me endless hell for day one.
474
00:33:46.617 --> 00:33:51.020
Very few people even in my market know that I own PMRE.
475
00:33:51.181 --> 00:33:53.302
The realtors have no idea that I run this conference.
476
00:33:54.263 --> 00:33:56.686
She was like, Brandon, why wouldn't you leverage the heck out of that?
477
00:33:56.826 --> 00:33:59.308
That's something that would give you such a competitive edge.
478
00:34:00.209 --> 00:34:09.457
But I kind of prefer the vibe of a starving artist rather than them thinking all of a sudden that maybe we have some advantages.
479
00:34:10.420 --> 00:34:10.900
I don't know.
480
00:34:11.300 --> 00:34:12.301
I struggle with it all the time.
481
00:34:12.741 --> 00:34:20.964
But have you ever had an agent like criticize your work and then have this like internal ego of like, do you know who I am?
482
00:34:20.984 --> 00:34:24.445
I know that's a ridiculous question, but have you ever had something like that happen?
483
00:34:25.085 --> 00:34:38.470
Not really something like that, but I've had a couple where, um, some local competition has tried to introduce a new product that I've already known about for six months.
484
00:34:39.080 --> 00:34:50.202
isn't the right fit for our market or I've had somewhere, uh, an agent will challenge, or I've had some people mentioned something about, Oh, you should go down to this event in Vegas.
485
00:34:50.842 --> 00:35:05.945
And I'm like, no, I should think about that, you know, but it's never, no, I don't, I mean, that's not, I don't really have that in me in terms of getting defensive about, about the quality of things, but that's a funny question though.
486
00:35:06.777 --> 00:35:07.017
Okay.
487
00:35:07.037 --> 00:35:07.277
Okay.
488
00:35:07.377 --> 00:35:09.039
I need to know, cause I actually don't.
489
00:35:09.339 --> 00:35:10.820
What is your media company called?
490
00:35:11.441 --> 00:35:11.881
Oh yeah.
491
00:35:11.901 --> 00:35:13.963
My real, so my media company is called RealPix.
492
00:35:14.623 --> 00:35:17.385
R-E-A-L-P-I-C-S dot C-A.
493
00:35:19.167 --> 00:35:19.687
That's funny.
494
00:35:19.707 --> 00:35:20.248
Dot C-A.
495
00:35:21.769 --> 00:35:22.429
I'm Canadian.
496
00:35:23.070 --> 00:35:26.232
But yeah, buddy of mine doing real estate was shooting for a team.
497
00:35:26.553 --> 00:35:27.493
He was moving out of town.
498
00:35:27.914 --> 00:35:30.696
He knew I was into, you know, creative stuff and photography.
499
00:35:30.716 --> 00:35:33.638
And he said, do you want to come and learn this and you can take over?
500
00:35:33.678 --> 00:35:34.639
And so sure enough, I did.
501
00:35:35.080 --> 00:35:35.640
He trained me up.
502
00:35:36.242 --> 00:35:39.545
Five hours a house it was taking back then to do HDR.
503
00:35:39.625 --> 00:35:46.671
We used to lug a chair around and set it up behind the camera at like chest height and run it through photomatics and all this nonsense.
504
00:35:47.672 --> 00:35:52.295
But actually that team that I started working for, they even financed the gear to me.
505
00:35:52.636 --> 00:35:53.096
I earned it.
506
00:35:53.136 --> 00:35:56.399
I worked it off through the first like two months of photo shoots.
507
00:35:57.812 --> 00:36:05.717
And so, yeah, the only reason I bring that story up is because I've never been a big fan of the name, but I inherited it and it was already kind of recognizable in town.
508
00:36:05.737 --> 00:36:06.458
So I've stuck with it.
509
00:36:08.319 --> 00:36:09.240
You were given the ultimate.
510
00:36:09.880 --> 00:36:10.161
Go ahead.
511
00:36:10.681 --> 00:36:12.542
I was just on your website.
512
00:36:12.802 --> 00:36:14.283
Oh, okay.
513
00:36:14.764 --> 00:36:15.384
Looks pretty good.
514
00:36:15.424 --> 00:36:15.824
Not bad.
515
00:36:15.864 --> 00:36:16.525
Not bad.
516
00:36:17.886 --> 00:36:19.587
Probably requires a little bit of an update.
517
00:36:20.530 --> 00:36:21.491
Ah, whatever.
518
00:36:21.531 --> 00:36:29.663
Well, this is part of when Alex and I, we hung out with Phil Marion last week, who's got a company, you probably know Phil, from Ontario.
519
00:36:31.265 --> 00:36:32.387
Visual Advantage.
520
00:36:32.827 --> 00:36:33.148
Okay.
521
00:36:33.936 --> 00:36:38.039
He attends the conference, but I think he's kind of just attends as more in the background.
522
00:36:38.320 --> 00:36:42.743
I don't think he's ever done anything presenting wise, but he's he arguably in Ontario.
523
00:36:42.763 --> 00:36:44.785
He might be the biggest fish here.
524
00:36:45.686 --> 00:36:49.589
And so we went down to his cottage for the day and we went wakeboarding with him.
525
00:36:49.669 --> 00:36:52.731
And then we did a podcast in his in his cottage.
526
00:36:53.412 --> 00:36:56.654
And but for that, Alex also came up early.
527
00:36:56.835 --> 00:36:58.116
And so she came up to my place.
528
00:36:58.756 --> 00:37:00.558
And so she saw how I was living.
529
00:37:01.445 --> 00:37:02.986
And then we saw how Phil's living.
530
00:37:03.107 --> 00:37:05.149
And then, you know, I've been to Alex's studio.
531
00:37:05.929 --> 00:37:16.259
And that's part of what I want to do on this podcast personally is I, like you, I think this industry is, well, I guess when I entered it, it's already hit a level of professionalism.
532
00:37:16.299 --> 00:37:17.320
Like this is a full time.
533
00:37:17.340 --> 00:37:17.941
This is a job.
534
00:37:17.961 --> 00:37:19.182
Like you can do this as a job.
535
00:37:19.742 --> 00:37:21.764
You can have a house, two cars, a family.
536
00:37:21.784 --> 00:37:22.625
Mm hmm.
537
00:37:22.785 --> 00:37:26.326
You can do that, but everyone's living very different and everyone is approaching.
538
00:37:26.486 --> 00:37:35.468
We all take pictures of houses, but we're all approaching it with a different level of seriousness, a different level of professionalism, and it's supporting all sorts of different lifestyles.
539
00:37:35.909 --> 00:37:51.633
And if there's one thing that I'd love to do on this podcast as we're bringing on guests is really just take a peek in and see how everyone's living, because I think that could be both very encouraging and also kind of like help with that feeling of loneliness or that feeling of like, you know, if Oliver is
540
00:37:52.373 --> 00:37:54.995
living in Muskoka and then doing winters in Costa Rica.
541
00:37:55.336 --> 00:37:57.077
And all he's doing is taking pictures of houses.
542
00:37:57.157 --> 00:38:02.161
And Alex is like running Hamilton and Phil has a wake boat and lives in his cottage in the summer.
543
00:38:02.181 --> 00:38:04.923
You know, like we're all doing, but we're all doing it the same way.
544
00:38:05.463 --> 00:38:07.725
And the premise that I'm working with is then
545
00:38:08.152 --> 00:38:11.453
It really comes down to your vision, your appetite, and your mindset.
546
00:38:11.913 --> 00:38:19.174
Because everything else is essentially equal, other than the level of effort you want to put in and how big you want to dream.
547
00:38:19.634 --> 00:38:25.516
But this business is uniquely positioned to allow you to live all sorts of different lifestyles.
548
00:38:25.556 --> 00:38:27.276
And I think that's a really cool thing to explore.
549
00:38:27.896 --> 00:38:35.398
So that's also why it's really fun to peek in on each other's businesses and our websites and see how we all act professionally because of your conference.
550
00:38:36.318 --> 00:38:41.379
I feel like a lot of people know each other almost better on a personal level, but we don't really see each other's businesses.
551
00:38:42.419 --> 00:38:54.601
And so what do I want to ask you about that is having done PMRE as long as you have, you've seen more than probably anyone, how everyone's living and how everyone's treating the industry.
552
00:38:55.161 --> 00:39:04.103
Is there any person or any one in the industry that you really look to where, where you think like that's a beautiful size business and a great business
553
00:39:04.263 --> 00:39:08.546
Because a lot of people I posted the other day, this is a really long question, but I'm just going to keep rambling.
554
00:39:08.826 --> 00:39:11.448
I posted the other day about some things in my life.
555
00:39:12.749 --> 00:39:13.330
Oh, no, sorry.
556
00:39:13.450 --> 00:39:17.453
Alex and I were talking yesterday to Jamie of Auto Enhance.
557
00:39:17.673 --> 00:39:24.338
And I was saying that I thought real estate media was incredibly relaxing as a business because it was so templated.
558
00:39:24.358 --> 00:39:25.459
Because I came from weddings.
559
00:39:25.939 --> 00:39:29.702
And he's like, you're the first person I ever talked to that said that this industry is relaxing.
560
00:39:31.025 --> 00:39:32.286
But I do find it relaxing.
561
00:39:32.346 --> 00:39:37.310
So have you ever like what business size and what do you see as like the perfect real estate media business?
562
00:39:38.131 --> 00:39:38.732
And the question.
563
00:39:40.093 --> 00:39:41.694
It's a, yeah, it's loaded.
564
00:39:41.734 --> 00:39:45.297
Cause it's, there's, it depends on your, it depends on your goals.
565
00:39:45.537 --> 00:39:47.279
Right, Alex?
566
00:39:47.399 --> 00:39:54.425
You know, I mean, if you're a company, if you are in it for the love of the game, Oliver, I swear to God, this is not set up.
567
00:39:54.905 --> 00:39:56.547
I actually saw some of your posts.
568
00:39:57.266 --> 00:40:07.569
from your lake weekend, and you made a comment that was – I can't remember what you said, but it was something to the effect of, I used to think that – I can't remember.
569
00:40:07.669 --> 00:40:12.590
This is what I wanted, but when in reality, I just wanted to – do you remember what you said?
570
00:40:12.610 --> 00:40:17.312
Something to the effect of relax, have a lifestyle job, and have time to serve.
571
00:40:17.532 --> 00:40:18.272
Something to that effect.
572
00:40:18.672 --> 00:40:19.372
Do you remember that post?
573
00:40:19.392 --> 00:40:20.993
Yeah, that's pretty much it, yeah.
574
00:40:21.633 --> 00:40:34.359
Yeah, and you know, you and I had quite a few conversations over time and in Cancun in person where I was saying to you, like, I'm not trying to build an empire.
575
00:40:34.579 --> 00:40:39.182
I'm trying to build peace and safety, right?
576
00:40:39.342 --> 00:40:42.003
I want to wake up and know that my family is taken care of.
577
00:40:42.578 --> 00:40:44.819
And I don't want to be stressing.
578
00:40:45.119 --> 00:40:55.442
I don't want to overload myself with all these business stresses to the point where I wake up one day and I'm like, what is the fricking point of all of this?
579
00:40:55.542 --> 00:40:55.742
Right.
580
00:40:55.862 --> 00:41:02.084
I really want a lifestyle and all I want from a lifestyle is not cars or, you know,
581
00:41:02.525 --> 00:41:03.726
fancy clothes, that kind of crap.
582
00:41:04.406 --> 00:41:07.067
I love, my whole family loves to travel.
583
00:41:07.948 --> 00:41:10.789
We grew up, my girls have been in competitive dance and cheer their whole life.
584
00:41:10.829 --> 00:41:16.331
So that took up the vast majority of our resources for the last 16, 15 years.
585
00:41:17.952 --> 00:41:20.293
But we always made time to travel.
586
00:41:20.553 --> 00:41:26.496
So I wanted to build a business where time was more valuable than money.
587
00:41:26.956 --> 00:41:28.057
We'd work our butts off.
588
00:41:28.675 --> 00:41:35.840
But when we wanted to take some time off to do something else, take the kids somewhere, go and culture them somewhere, we could, we could do that.
589
00:41:36.220 --> 00:41:43.364
So for me personally, I want to make enough money where I don't have to save up every year for that one vacation.
590
00:41:44.005 --> 00:41:47.147
I want to be able to travel at will.
591
00:41:47.287 --> 00:41:50.029
I want to be able to support some causes that we like to support.
592
00:41:50.069 --> 00:41:52.010
I want to make sure that my, my, you know,
593
00:41:52.752 --> 00:41:56.936
We live a comfortable lifestyle where money is not a stressor.
594
00:41:57.317 --> 00:42:00.140
You know, if anything, I just never want money.
595
00:42:00.240 --> 00:42:02.963
I had an issue when I was a younger kid, when I was in my early 20s.
596
00:42:03.043 --> 00:42:10.510
And it was so brutal, it scarred me for life in terms of I got myself into a hole that I had a heck of a time getting out of and I'll just never go back there.
597
00:42:10.530 --> 00:42:12.773
So for me personally, there's a lifestyle goal.
598
00:42:13.133 --> 00:42:15.015
The thing that's so crazy about this industry is...
599
00:42:16.735 --> 00:42:17.836
I've seen so many guys.
600
00:42:17.856 --> 00:42:19.978
I don't have any perfect example of people.
601
00:42:19.998 --> 00:42:28.224
I can think of lots of guys and gals and teams that I've met along the way, especially ones that I've met early on in their career, to see what they're doing now.
602
00:42:28.905 --> 00:42:33.208
I met them as a single operator, and now they've got a team of eight, and they're doing $2.5 million a year.
603
00:42:33.308 --> 00:42:35.389
And I've seen kids that come in at 19 years old.
604
00:42:36.252 --> 00:42:39.753
And by 21, they're still by themselves, but they're doing a quarter million bucks.
605
00:42:40.694 --> 00:42:44.995
And they just, they live, they have, they snowboard half the year or they surf half the year.
606
00:42:45.935 --> 00:42:54.258
And then there's some people I know that have built crazy teams with the sole purpose of just getting it to a point where it's a well-oiled machine.
607
00:42:54.318 --> 00:42:57.459
And when the right opportunity comes, we'll hit the eject button.
608
00:42:58.179 --> 00:43:00.000
And that's when they'll start to kind of
609
00:43:01.362 --> 00:43:03.903
focus on the lifestyle rather than the work.
610
00:43:03.983 --> 00:43:11.747
So it's hard to say, I don't have the specific, but there's the thing that's so crazy about this business is it can be whatever you want to make it.
611
00:43:12.287 --> 00:43:13.447
Like that's the honest to God truth.
612
00:43:13.467 --> 00:43:25.593
Like your lifestyle, Oliver, to be able to raise your kids the way you're raising them to, I think there's something, some value to be said about growing up in the North and in the cold and makes you a little hardy and a little bit more robust.
613
00:43:26.341 --> 00:43:29.383
And then you really appreciate that beach when you go down there.
614
00:43:29.423 --> 00:43:29.703
Oh, yeah.
615
00:43:30.003 --> 00:43:33.186
And then you come back and you're like, I forgot what it was like here in Canada.
616
00:43:33.306 --> 00:43:38.369
And then you go down there and then you miss certain parts of the other half of your life, right?
617
00:43:38.409 --> 00:43:41.331
So that's the beauty of this business, man.
618
00:43:42.732 --> 00:43:45.794
It's the beauty and the curse or the blessing and the curse.
619
00:43:46.014 --> 00:43:47.655
There's a very low barrier of entry.
620
00:43:49.156 --> 00:43:54.300
But if you come into it and you really are dedicated and focused, man, you can make it whatever the heck you want.
621
00:43:55.308 --> 00:44:03.054
With that low barrier of entry where you're located, do you see competitors come and go?
622
00:44:03.074 --> 00:44:04.875
Do you see people dabbling?
623
00:44:04.896 --> 00:44:14.083
Because the low barrier entry, I feel like there's always this zombie horde of new photographers who want to jump in and they'll undercut everyone.
624
00:44:14.343 --> 00:44:18.386
And then they'll either get wise really quickly or they'll burn out.
625
00:44:18.406 --> 00:44:20.888
At least that's been like what I've witnessed in my market.
626
00:44:22.438 --> 00:44:31.941
But I think it's something that everyone who runs a real estate media business has to contend with, that every year some of your clients are going to take some freebies.
627
00:44:32.721 --> 00:44:39.663
So where do you feel the industry is at now with what I call the zombie horde of newbies?
628
00:44:40.904 --> 00:44:48.206
So I don't know if you remember a couple of questions ago, I talked about there being like segments in our industry.
629
00:44:48.566 --> 00:44:49.686
And I've been kind of talking about it.
630
00:44:49.706 --> 00:44:52.087
We've been going on for probably 10, 12 years.
631
00:44:53.246 --> 00:44:56.448
And when I say bottom and top, I don't mean level of quality.
632
00:44:56.468 --> 00:44:58.309
Like, I don't want that to sound condescending.
633
00:44:58.329 --> 00:45:01.991
It's just how, in my opinion, the market is sort of broken up.
634
00:45:03.111 --> 00:45:08.934
Back in 12 years ago, you say you got the bottom 30% and then the middle 40% and then the top 30%.
635
00:45:09.274 --> 00:45:12.236
The bottom 30 would be the bucket that I'd put in there would be
636
00:45:14.023 --> 00:45:21.634
The guy that has a part-time job and then on the weekend shoots a few homes, makes a few hundred bucks, shoots for his buddies, but doesn't have to really run a legitimate business.
637
00:45:22.035 --> 00:45:23.917
So has no problem charging low prices.
638
00:45:24.518 --> 00:45:27.502
And that eats into someone that I would consider.
639
00:45:27.522 --> 00:45:30.667
If I'm the full-time guy, that eats into my opportunity a little bit.
640
00:45:31.239 --> 00:45:32.300
but it is what it is.
641
00:45:32.400 --> 00:45:35.482
The middle 40 back in the day was the big box company.
642
00:45:35.522 --> 00:45:40.105
So, you know, VHT was the big bad wolf back in the day and some of the other big box companies.
643
00:45:40.405 --> 00:45:46.629
And photographers would always complain that they're commoditizing the industry and there's nothing left for us, yada, yada, yada.
644
00:45:47.450 --> 00:45:53.174
And what I was always kind of like pushing back on was I was saying, guys, that's not real estate, media or photography.
645
00:45:53.194 --> 00:45:54.295
That is business in general.
646
00:45:54.315 --> 00:45:57.977
Just look at the restaurant world or the hospitality world or any other industry.
647
00:45:58.874 --> 00:46:00.235
It depends on kind of what your focus is.
648
00:46:00.515 --> 00:46:05.177
That top 30% to me has always been, I say boutique, but that could be anywhere.
649
00:46:05.197 --> 00:46:09.319
I don't even want to put a number on it, but it could be just, it's more about how your business is run rather than the size of it.
650
00:46:09.359 --> 00:46:15.442
But call it one to 25 or 30 photographers who are dead serious about what they do.
651
00:46:15.942 --> 00:46:17.163
They run it like a business.
652
00:46:17.403 --> 00:46:18.664
They're always on the cutting edge.
653
00:46:18.684 --> 00:46:19.904
They're always in contact.
654
00:46:19.924 --> 00:46:24.146
They focus heavily on their creativity and their customer service and their relationships.
655
00:46:25.167 --> 00:46:26.768
Those are the ones that I've always felt.
656
00:46:27.503 --> 00:46:29.683
will survive anything that happens in the industry.
657
00:46:29.703 --> 00:46:32.244
Because realistically, real estate media shouldn't ever go away.
658
00:46:32.264 --> 00:46:33.104
It's just going to change.
659
00:46:33.804 --> 00:46:41.826
And the guy who's just doing a couple of shoots on the weekend, or the big box store that's got 500 photographers, they can't adapt as quickly.
660
00:46:41.966 --> 00:46:46.547
The ones at the, the guy that's the weekend warrior, he's not going to even attempt to adapt.
661
00:46:46.607 --> 00:46:49.948
He's just going to keep doing his thing and he'll pick up a few shoots here and there, and that's fine.
662
00:46:51.532 --> 00:47:01.298
The ones in the boutique world are going to take these things like the new iPhone dropping or the new AI development or whatever the heck it is.
663
00:47:02.118 --> 00:47:09.642
And they're going to figure out in their business where they can apply it to benefit them rather than worrying about how it's going to cannibalize their opportunities.
664
00:47:10.403 --> 00:47:14.785
So for me, right now, we're dealing with the big one now, you know.
665
00:47:15.607 --> 00:47:28.115
The middle group, like the old box, big box stores that were the big issue back in the day, I think has been replaced now more so with the changes we're seeing in technology and AI.
666
00:47:29.515 --> 00:47:36.400
But I'm also starting to see things coming full circle where an agent is like, oh, I can do these sky replacements by myself for a couple bucks.
667
00:47:36.900 --> 00:47:38.821
And they kind of venture off and get excited about it.
668
00:47:39.421 --> 00:47:43.864
And then two or three months later, they're like, well, Brandon had pretty fair pricing.
669
00:47:44.697 --> 00:47:46.399
They were professional, they delivered on time.
670
00:47:46.419 --> 00:47:47.540
We could always rely on them.
671
00:47:47.800 --> 00:47:51.203
Do I really need to save a few hundred bucks a shoot to do it by myself?
672
00:47:51.684 --> 00:47:59.911
So the top 30% of our industry is gonna be servicing the top 30% of the real estate industry.
673
00:48:00.091 --> 00:48:07.859
And that top 30%, typically, maybe 20%, you know what I was saying, 20% of them do 80% of the business.
674
00:48:08.239 --> 00:48:08.379
So-
675
00:48:09.778 --> 00:48:12.379
I, there's no doubt I'm seeing it in my own market.
676
00:48:12.659 --> 00:48:15.580
There's no, like I, I went years without competition.
677
00:48:16.620 --> 00:48:23.802
There's been a couple in the past few years, I would say in the last year or so, it's probably six different people now, rather than two who are dabbling.
678
00:48:25.062 --> 00:48:33.645
Um, and I'm sure that's being experienced all around, but if I'm trying to be, I don't want to sound like, um, I mean,
679
00:48:34.394 --> 00:48:36.795
This might sound like I have an agenda, but it really isn't.
680
00:48:37.115 --> 00:48:37.895
That's not the case.
681
00:48:38.215 --> 00:48:44.396
What I'm saying is that every so often an industry needs something to happen to make us sharpen our pencils a little bit.
682
00:48:44.416 --> 00:48:46.437
Because I think we've gotten pretty complacent over the years.
683
00:48:46.897 --> 00:48:54.038
We got pretty comfortable making really good money doing stuff that we could do with our eyes closed after years of experience.
684
00:48:54.278 --> 00:48:55.859
And now that's being put to the test.
685
00:48:56.119 --> 00:49:00.319
So it's going to weed out people that aren't serious about being.
686
00:49:00.860 --> 00:49:02.600
The low barrier of entry still remains.
687
00:49:03.341 --> 00:49:08.165
but the opportunity to exist long-term has totally changed.
688
00:49:08.665 --> 00:49:11.748
You can't get by being mediocre anymore.
689
00:49:12.128 --> 00:49:13.309
And I don't think that's a bad thing.
690
00:49:14.009 --> 00:49:27.900
I want to be mindful of your time, obviously, but I do want to talk about before we really get out of this, what I think is the most exciting development of PMRE and something that Alex and I both jumped on last year, and that is the PMRE.
691
00:49:28.241 --> 00:49:29.121
We call it a retreat.
692
00:49:29.201 --> 00:49:29.782
What do you call it?
693
00:49:30.493 --> 00:49:31.554
Yeah, I think we've landed on retreat.
694
00:49:31.574 --> 00:49:32.135
PMRE retreat.
695
00:49:32.756 --> 00:49:38.542
So briefly, you know, last year you had a retreat in Cancun, Mexico.
696
00:49:39.083 --> 00:49:42.166
I think attendance was 15 people, 15 businesses.
697
00:49:43.187 --> 00:49:44.990
Well, we had about 25 people there in total.
698
00:49:45.050 --> 00:49:48.594
Now there was a few couples and a couple sponsor representation.
699
00:49:48.614 --> 00:49:49.735
So I'd say, yeah, there was a.
700
00:49:50.703 --> 00:49:53.725
Probably more like 19 companies, but give or take somewhere in that neighborhood.
701
00:49:53.885 --> 00:49:54.126
Yeah.
702
00:49:54.666 --> 00:49:55.567
And so we were there.
703
00:49:55.647 --> 00:49:58.389
It was very roundtable discussions of businesses.
704
00:49:58.409 --> 00:49:59.970
It was super intimate.
705
00:50:00.771 --> 00:50:13.400
And from my opinion, I mean, massively impactful on my business, on my way of thinking about things as a more boutique, smaller company, but being in a room with some way bigger companies that,
706
00:50:13.580 --> 00:50:17.544
I got to like sit in and hear how they think about things and how they position.
707
00:50:17.564 --> 00:50:18.946
So extremely valuable.
708
00:50:18.966 --> 00:50:29.616
Like I would say for my, I feel like PMRE, the conference was more valuable for my sense of community and just my excitement, just about my life in this industry as a whole.
709
00:50:29.636 --> 00:50:30.457
Yeah.
710
00:50:30.617 --> 00:50:41.726
The retreat, like super, like Alex and I, you said this to me, you're like, we're like one year ahead of everyone just because of the amount of the brain dumps that happened there was immense.
711
00:50:41.766 --> 00:50:49.473
And then also, I think my relationships, one thing that I've always wanted in life, but especially in business is mentorship.
712
00:50:50.362 --> 00:50:54.145
And that can be peer to peer that can, you know, it doesn't have to be someone wise, old and retired.
713
00:50:54.485 --> 00:50:57.788
In fact, in business, mentorship is probably better peer to peer.
714
00:50:58.228 --> 00:51:00.289
And I walked away now in my WhatsApp.
715
00:51:00.409 --> 00:51:04.733
I have like 15 people I can text at any point in time to ask a question.
716
00:51:04.933 --> 00:51:09.116
And that was that that to me was the biggest takeaway from that retreat.
717
00:51:09.556 --> 00:51:17.382
So I want to ask you, how did you feel about it and what will you be doing again?
718
00:51:17.402 --> 00:51:18.683
Yeah.
719
00:51:20.119 --> 00:51:28.364
I mean, without risking sounding dramatic, I had high hopes, but I had no expectations going into it.
720
00:51:30.565 --> 00:51:38.030
And when I got home, it was arguably as impactful on me as the very first ever PMRE conference.
721
00:51:38.550 --> 00:51:39.911
Because it was different, like you said.
722
00:51:40.491 --> 00:51:42.112
The thing about the PMRE conference is...
723
00:51:42.732 --> 00:51:48.516
it's very heavily geared towards the community and giving people a place where they feel like they belong.
724
00:51:48.596 --> 00:51:52.478
And then there's so much going on, which is awesome.
725
00:51:53.619 --> 00:52:00.963
But I'm pulled in a million directions and I struggle to have time to connect with folks, but it's absolutely necessary for the industry.
726
00:52:00.983 --> 00:52:07.828
And it, and it, and it sort of fits its role or does its job.
727
00:52:08.668 --> 00:52:11.630
The difference with the retreat for me was exactly what you said was,
728
00:52:12.732 --> 00:52:19.433
I caught myself a couple of times looking around the room and I'm like, I'm actually probably the smallest company in this room.
729
00:52:20.454 --> 00:52:25.655
And then we had some folks in the room who are pretty big companies.
730
00:52:25.675 --> 00:52:27.495
And then we had some medium sized.
731
00:52:28.455 --> 00:52:33.937
But you wouldn't know it based on the conversations that were had.
732
00:52:34.077 --> 00:52:35.877
And what I really learned from it.
733
00:52:37.693 --> 00:52:46.384
was that we don't want a room necessarily of 30 absolute ringers who are super experienced and are doing crazy volume.
734
00:52:47.185 --> 00:52:48.086
We need a balance.
735
00:52:48.106 --> 00:52:55.515
There were some kids in that room, early 20s, that blew our frigging minds and got me thinking differently.
736
00:52:56.319 --> 00:52:59.420
Then like some stuff that I'm like, I, where did this come from?
737
00:52:59.440 --> 00:53:03.902
Like, I mean, usually I would have come across something like this ahead of time.
738
00:53:04.562 --> 00:53:06.803
And some of these guys are bringing up ideas to us.
739
00:53:07.063 --> 00:53:10.504
And I was just like, and it's because they're a new generation.
740
00:53:10.524 --> 00:53:15.726
They're coming in with a different thought process and a different level of experience, understanding of, of all kinds of things.
741
00:53:15.766 --> 00:53:20.348
And so it was absolutely, I would, I would, I would honestly say.
742
00:53:21.228 --> 00:53:34.051
It was life-changing in the sense that it gave me a renewed excitement for our industry, the relationships that I've been building and fortunate enough to be a part of over the years, and the excitement of where we can take this.
743
00:53:34.132 --> 00:53:37.753
So we're absolutely doing, we're going to continue them.
744
00:53:37.993 --> 00:53:40.373
I'm actually heading to Mexico in three days.
745
00:53:41.153 --> 00:53:42.674
Whoops, cats have a bag of shit.
746
00:53:44.883 --> 00:53:46.764
So we are doing another one here.
747
00:53:47.124 --> 00:53:49.887
It will be in Mexico again, different location.
748
00:53:50.047 --> 00:53:51.488
I'm going to visit eight properties.
749
00:53:52.689 --> 00:53:53.370
We learned a lot.
750
00:53:53.390 --> 00:53:56.192
You said you're going to visit eight properties, eight properties.
751
00:53:56.232 --> 00:53:56.412
Yeah.
752
00:53:56.432 --> 00:53:58.734
We have them all lined up for, for all next week.
753
00:54:00.095 --> 00:54:00.376
Hold on.
754
00:54:00.396 --> 00:54:01.517
Let's just pause.
755
00:54:01.917 --> 00:54:03.278
So you're visiting eight properties.
756
00:54:03.979 --> 00:54:04.659
That's awesome.
757
00:54:05.560 --> 00:54:06.601
What's your criteria?
758
00:54:06.621 --> 00:54:12.426
Like what is your hit list of like, what's the most important thing you're looking for when you're looking at these eight properties?
759
00:54:13.648 --> 00:54:14.469
Oh, great question.
760
00:54:15.269 --> 00:54:19.552
Number one, I mean, it sounds goofy, but the vibe's got to be right.
761
00:54:19.752 --> 00:54:20.553
There's something about it.
762
00:54:20.593 --> 00:54:23.115
Like, we've searched that.
763
00:54:23.295 --> 00:54:28.198
I've been to a lot of properties, and sometimes you walk on there, and you're like, this kind of feels clinical.
764
00:54:28.278 --> 00:54:29.539
And, like, I can't picture.
765
00:54:29.599 --> 00:54:33.902
I need to be able to picture what it's going to feel like to hang out with everybody while we're there.
766
00:54:33.942 --> 00:54:34.102
Right.
767
00:54:34.496 --> 00:54:35.937
And some of them just don't deliver.
768
00:54:35.977 --> 00:54:39.219
Some of them might be just beautiful, but I'm like, I don't know.
769
00:54:39.239 --> 00:54:42.120
I kind of want to light a fire and just have a beer and chill with everybody.
770
00:54:42.601 --> 00:54:42.821
You know?
771
00:54:42.841 --> 00:54:43.101
Yeah.
772
00:54:43.121 --> 00:54:58.150
I would say that because where we were in Cancun being like, I mean, for the men, you know, shirtless drinking margaritas in a pool, talking business, it has to, at the very least, have that level of like relaxation because that to me was like.
773
00:54:59.650 --> 00:55:02.392
There's no question that the, well, I think,
774
00:55:03.015 --> 00:55:03.895
No different than PMRE.
775
00:55:04.195 --> 00:55:13.957
I think the best conversations, I mean, not the best, but you could argue equally good conversations were the ones afternoon time where you're just chilling in the pool, getting real, right?
776
00:55:14.237 --> 00:55:16.677
You're talking life, you're talking business, you're talking India.
777
00:55:16.697 --> 00:55:20.458
And you can't talk business without considering life, right?
778
00:55:20.498 --> 00:55:21.178
And vice versa.
779
00:55:21.778 --> 00:55:23.999
So you kind of walk away with a little bit of a different perspective.
780
00:55:24.019 --> 00:55:25.339
So the vibe's got to be good.
781
00:55:26.279 --> 00:55:28.199
Resort size is another big thing for me.
782
00:55:29.159 --> 00:55:32.260
The nice thing about where we were in Cancun, you know, I'll be honest.
783
00:55:33.376 --> 00:55:37.299
That resort to me, it didn't check all the boxes, but it really, it did its job.
784
00:55:38.199 --> 00:55:39.921
But I learned a lot of where we could improve.
785
00:55:40.841 --> 00:55:55.472
Resort size is important because when we break, you know, as we did this last time where we kind of go hard for the morning and mid-afternoon, everybody's ready to just kind of kick it on the beach or go to the pool and keep the conversation going.
786
00:55:56.833 --> 00:56:00.215
I don't want people to have to walk 20 minutes to their room or 25 minutes to their room.
787
00:56:00.744 --> 00:56:05.608
I want everybody, the other thing too, with it being a smaller, with hopefully, you know, finding a smaller venue.
788
00:56:06.208 --> 00:56:11.512
Now again, part of why Palms is so special for PMRE is you just can't help but bump into people constantly.
789
00:56:11.993 --> 00:56:21.180
And what happened in Cancun is, and I think Alex, I think you probably started this off where you guys picked a spot day one by the pool and that ended up being just to go through.
790
00:56:21.220 --> 00:56:22.921
Everybody kind of just went there every day.
791
00:56:22.961 --> 00:56:23.722
That just happened.
792
00:56:23.762 --> 00:56:25.443
That's exactly what was awesome about it.
793
00:56:25.984 --> 00:56:26.804
So that's a big part.
794
00:56:26.824 --> 00:56:27.365
And then of course,
795
00:56:28.310 --> 00:56:51.085
know we want this to be a special experience so we want nice hotel we want nice rooms we want really good food we don't keep it's a curated experience we don't want people to feel like they need to go off property to get what they're not getting now we also want an opportunity for them to go off property if they want to and keep that not too complicated because that was another thing that was cool about cancun
796
00:56:51.834 --> 00:56:57.516
Every night almost, we ended up going off site and finding some cool little restaurant to go to.
797
00:56:58.016 --> 00:56:59.197
So those are things that we consider.
798
00:56:59.217 --> 00:57:01.898
And then also, of course, logistics, right?
799
00:57:01.938 --> 00:57:09.281
We don't want to have – we want to give, again, going back to earlier, undeniable value.
800
00:57:09.321 --> 00:57:15.663
So the price that we want to charge our attendees should be a price that they couldn't get close to the experience that they're going to pay.
801
00:57:16.479 --> 00:57:17.760
if they were to try to do it on their own.
802
00:57:17.940 --> 00:57:21.803
So that includes transportation, that includes accommodations, all that kind of stuff.
803
00:57:23.043 --> 00:57:24.484
I will request one thing.
804
00:57:25.305 --> 00:57:25.745
What's that?
805
00:57:26.166 --> 00:57:26.666
Surf machine?
806
00:57:28.127 --> 00:57:31.289
That was awesome, but I would love a bar in the pool.
807
00:57:31.990 --> 00:57:33.210
Oh, yes, agreed 100%.
808
00:57:33.230 --> 00:57:37.453
Yeah, that's when I'll have real conversation if there's a bar in the pool.
809
00:57:37.914 --> 00:57:39.194
Well, I'll make you a promise.
810
00:57:39.375 --> 00:57:42.717
If we can't, I do agree with that 100% because that certainly helps.
811
00:57:42.817 --> 00:57:44.258
It's not for everybody, but it doesn't hurt.
812
00:57:45.207 --> 00:57:52.869
I will promise you if we don't get a pool in the bar, we will get some dedicated staff that will serve to the pool.
813
00:57:52.889 --> 00:57:54.469
Because that's the other thing.
814
00:57:55.310 --> 00:57:57.770
In Cancun it got a little busy and people were getting overlooked.
815
00:57:57.870 --> 00:58:00.151
But yeah, we can figure that one out.
816
00:58:00.551 --> 00:58:05.412
So now the scarcity question, because I feel like we're going to get to PMRE in November.
817
00:58:06.653 --> 00:58:07.893
Alex and I are going to have a great time.
818
00:58:08.651 --> 00:58:10.995
Um, everyone else who was in Mexico is going to have a great time.
819
00:58:11.616 --> 00:58:14.319
Everyone's going to ask us like, so you guys went to that Mexico thing.
820
00:58:14.339 --> 00:58:14.840
How was it?
821
00:58:15.040 --> 00:58:18.225
We're going to, you know, sing your praises, sing the experience praise.
822
00:58:18.605 --> 00:58:22.992
And there's going to be, I think you're going to be having a wait list.
823
00:58:23.733 --> 00:58:23.873
Mm hmm.
824
00:58:24.269 --> 00:58:25.350
How is that going to work?
825
00:58:25.450 --> 00:58:26.731
How are you going to choose that?
826
00:58:26.751 --> 00:58:29.373
Like, how is it going to be first come first serve?
827
00:58:29.393 --> 00:58:32.054
Like, how do we get ourselves on that, that hot ticket?
828
00:58:32.175 --> 00:58:42.482
You know, I want the Charlie Brown gold, Charlie Brown, Charlie, Charlie something.
829
00:58:42.682 --> 00:58:43.543
That's a good question.
830
00:58:43.583 --> 00:58:44.943
I've been thinking a lot about too.
831
00:58:45.064 --> 00:58:48.606
I mean, I'm, I've always said, this is something I always say with the sponsors a lot.
832
00:58:48.626 --> 00:58:52.749
Like I will, I'm a super loyal person and I will reward people.
833
00:58:53.422 --> 00:58:59.506
loyalty as much as I can until it has a negative impact on what we're trying to accomplish.
834
00:59:01.934 --> 00:59:06.198
First come, first serve is probably the wisest move.
835
00:59:07.640 --> 00:59:09.161
This is where it gets a bit dicey, man.
836
00:59:09.181 --> 00:59:17.329
This is where I even need to talk it out with some of you guys where I don't want to use the word exclusive because that doesn't feel right to me.
837
00:59:17.589 --> 00:59:25.037
But it does need to be somewhat curated because you guys saw how important the dynamic of the room was.
838
00:59:25.437 --> 00:59:32.104
If you don't have the right mix of people, that entire awesome experience could be a train wreck.
839
00:59:32.585 --> 00:59:38.611
So I think what we're going to probably do is I think we're going to actually just run because a lot of people have no idea that that even exists, right?
840
00:59:38.631 --> 00:59:39.993
Last year was pretty hush-hush.
841
00:59:40.033 --> 00:59:40.994
It was just a pilot program.
842
00:59:41.014 --> 00:59:41.174
Yeah.
843
00:59:41.998 --> 00:59:50.580
I think we're probably going to run a couple of commercials at the event and give people an opportunity to submit sort of like for more information.
844
00:59:50.600 --> 00:59:57.321
Um, but actually give them like a little bit of a questionnaire so that we can get a sense of who is really interested.
845
00:59:57.461 --> 00:59:58.341
And then we go from there.
846
00:59:58.401 --> 01:00:07.663
Now, the one thing that I am considering, and it's really, this is where it gets kind of crazy because from a business and a liability and a exposure perspective.
847
01:00:09.262 --> 01:00:16.367
The thought of doing back to back weeks, because again, I don't think it makes sense to have 50 people at a retreat.
848
01:00:16.667 --> 01:00:21.130
I think, you know, 25 to 30 per retreat is kind of the sweet spot.
849
01:00:23.552 --> 01:00:31.337
If we have that, you know, if we're fortunate enough to have that much interest, then the idea of doing two weeks in Mexico and having two different groups.
850
01:00:32.283 --> 01:00:33.405
is something that we would consider.
851
01:00:33.445 --> 01:00:39.333
But again, you know, part of what's special about it too is the, what word did you use?
852
01:00:39.894 --> 01:00:41.416
You didn't say exclusivity, you said.
853
01:00:42.818 --> 01:00:43.398
Me or Alex?
854
01:00:44.235 --> 01:00:45.196
You did, Oliver.
855
01:00:46.896 --> 01:00:48.537
The, not urgency.
856
01:00:48.557 --> 01:00:50.318
You know what I mean?
857
01:00:50.338 --> 01:00:52.119
The bottom line is there's something to be said about it.
858
01:00:52.139 --> 01:00:52.679
Damn, I'm a goldfish.
859
01:00:53.159 --> 01:00:54.620
I can't remember what I mean.
860
01:00:54.660 --> 01:00:59.882
Something to be said about the kind of just keeping it, because again, we're not trying to do this to go and make a bunch of money.
861
01:00:59.922 --> 01:01:04.925
We're trying to do this to serve a need that we've been asked about for years, right?
862
01:01:05.065 --> 01:01:07.006
And I want to make sure it's done properly.
863
01:01:07.106 --> 01:01:09.447
We want to make sure that people are getting what they're asking for.
864
01:01:10.295 --> 01:01:12.159
Well, I think it's a great way to approach it.
865
01:01:12.199 --> 01:01:17.250
Just, you know, put the information out there, create a wait list, and then you'll see pretty quickly if you have,
866
01:01:18.183 --> 01:01:21.384
400 people on the wait list and yeah, run two events at least.
867
01:01:21.464 --> 01:01:21.704
Right.
868
01:01:21.764 --> 01:01:23.845
Like that's, I think it's a very fair way to do it.
869
01:01:23.905 --> 01:01:30.347
You can see demand first and that way it won't feel as much of a, like a closing door that you have to run and slide underneath.
870
01:01:30.947 --> 01:01:36.128
And then, I mean, ultimately that can only be, you know, good business, I imagine on the PMRE side.
871
01:01:36.648 --> 01:01:39.589
So let me close off unless Alex, you have some, I do.
872
01:01:39.749 --> 01:01:41.410
I have so many things to say now.
873
01:01:41.850 --> 01:01:42.210
Oh shit.
874
01:01:42.290 --> 01:01:43.490
I'm going to, all right, go for it.
875
01:01:43.550 --> 01:01:44.150
No, no, no.
876
01:01:44.471 --> 01:01:45.011
I, um, I,
877
01:01:46.191 --> 01:01:46.733
I'll say this.
878
01:01:47.153 --> 01:01:54.951
Cancun, I felt like one of the luckiest people to even have been invited and included in that small group.
879
01:01:54.971 --> 01:01:55.512
I couldn't.
880
01:01:56.273 --> 01:01:58.194
I thought it, I truly thought it was spam.
881
01:01:58.514 --> 01:02:05.237
I was like, wow, Megan, like I got invited to Cancun with all these other cool media companies.
882
01:02:05.578 --> 01:02:08.899
And I was like, you can also come, you know?
883
01:02:09.379 --> 01:02:12.221
And it was, I went, I had zero expectation.
884
01:02:12.241 --> 01:02:13.562
I had no idea what I was going into.
885
01:02:13.602 --> 01:02:14.622
There was no schedule.
886
01:02:14.782 --> 01:02:18.064
It was just like, I was going, I was trusting all the people that were going.
887
01:02:18.764 --> 01:02:23.146
And I walked away with so much knowledge and joy.
888
01:02:25.410 --> 01:02:31.015
That immediately when I came back, I had a team meeting and started implementing things right away.
889
01:02:32.140 --> 01:02:38.304
And it's not to say that like PMRE is different, but it is, you know, it's, it's massive.
890
01:02:38.324 --> 01:02:41.485
There's so many people you're connecting, like you're making all these conversations.
891
01:02:41.525 --> 01:02:45.408
You forget people's names because 400 people are connecting with you.
892
01:02:47.049 --> 01:02:53.752
If I didn't go to PMRE for the first year, I think two years ago, I don't even think I would be where I am today.
893
01:02:54.533 --> 01:02:58.535
And I think this is why I'm going to circle back and just say like, you are the guru,
894
01:03:03.374 --> 01:03:10.524
You don't know it, but you really have made a lot of people's lives and businesses successful because of what you've put together.
895
01:03:10.725 --> 01:03:13.288
It is bigger than what you're saying it is.
896
01:03:13.789 --> 01:03:15.251
You don't have an ego.
897
01:03:15.291 --> 01:03:17.274
You're an amazing Canadian guy.
898
01:03:17.294 --> 01:03:17.975
And...
899
01:03:18.836 --> 01:03:21.778
Fort McMurray, Fort Mac, and nobody knows that.
900
01:03:22.098 --> 01:03:23.539
And I think that's very humbling.
901
01:03:24.200 --> 01:03:37.409
And I do hope if you've never been to PMRE before, you need to go because it will change your life and it will change your business and it will open up so many opportunities and perspective everywhere.
902
01:03:39.170 --> 01:03:41.692
So yeah, I am just so grateful for it.
903
01:03:42.673 --> 01:03:44.894
I think PMRE, sorry.
904
01:03:45.014 --> 01:03:48.237
I think PMRE is like in Mario Kart when you hit the star.
905
01:03:49.225 --> 01:03:50.925
And then you go like 10 times as fast.
906
01:03:51.266 --> 01:03:53.446
That's what Pia, exactly.
907
01:03:53.506 --> 01:04:07.790
Like it supercharged everything, not just like my business, but for me also like my, my, my ambition went like way, it just grew my community, my love even for our industry.
908
01:04:07.970 --> 01:04:11.211
Like I think before I was like, yeah, this is nice and it's serving me.
909
01:04:11.951 --> 01:04:17.773
But then I, I don't know something about it made me like be passionate and like proud of.
910
01:04:18.505 --> 01:04:19.546
what I do for a living.
911
01:04:19.646 --> 01:04:25.709
I came from film and TV and there was a brief period in the beginning where I was like, I don't even want to tell my friends I'm doing this.
912
01:04:25.729 --> 01:04:33.633
It was almost like, uh, yeah, dating somebody you're trying to like, like, I don't want people to see, which is a horrible thing, but that's what it felt like.
913
01:04:33.693 --> 01:04:41.898
I was like, I don't really want to tell my DOP friends or my DP friends that I'm taking pictures of houses, which is crazy, you know, and, but I, that was a real feeling.
914
01:04:42.598 --> 01:04:53.948
And I think once I was exposed to this larger community and the professionalism that you bring to it, which I think makes people treat it more professionally, it completely changed my perspective.
915
01:04:53.968 --> 01:04:58.231
And I feel like more bought into this industry than ever before.
916
01:04:58.892 --> 01:05:02.875
And that's 1000% because of PMRE.
917
01:05:03.996 --> 01:05:04.757
No doubt in my mind.
918
01:05:04.797 --> 01:05:04.957
So.
919
01:05:05.791 --> 01:05:09.873
I think I also want to thank you because it's a very special thing that you made it.
920
01:05:09.913 --> 01:05:16.075
I think going back to the beginning of the interview, why did you start it and who's behind it?
921
01:05:16.635 --> 01:05:21.977
You say we all the time, like you have a very humble approach to it all, but it's a massive thing that you've done.
922
01:05:22.137 --> 01:05:30.140
I think because you've kept the integrity of it about the community, that's who's benefited the most.
923
01:05:31.235 --> 01:05:32.276
Um, yeah, thanks for that.
924
01:05:32.556 --> 01:05:33.136
Well, thank you.
925
01:05:33.176 --> 01:05:46.621
And on that note that you just said, I wanted to make sure that that was doubled down on because at the end of the day, really what we did was set the stage and it's the community that's taken the lead and built the culture and made it what it is today.
926
01:05:46.641 --> 01:05:57.985
And that's, again, these are the conversations I love because, you know, full disclosure, we're two and a half months out, kind of shit in my pants right now.
927
01:05:58.392 --> 01:06:01.396
Like, this is the scariest time of the year for me every year.
928
01:06:01.996 --> 01:06:07.583
So to have these conversations and to hear what you say, it gives me the shot in the arm that I need.
929
01:06:07.783 --> 01:06:13.029
And I hope that's what other people experience when they come and meet everyone in person.
930
01:06:13.069 --> 01:06:15.812
So at the end of the day, we...
931
01:06:16.620 --> 01:06:28.924
not to get all warm and fuzzy here, but I mean, we, the only way this works is by the support of the community and the support of the community at large, even, you know, being the sponsors and everybody that takes a chance on us every year.
932
01:06:28.964 --> 01:06:32.985
So we'll keep doing it as long as everybody wants it to be done.
933
01:06:33.765 --> 01:06:37.427
And I'm just excited to hear that people love it as much as I do.
934
01:06:39.087 --> 01:06:39.307
Yeah.
935
01:06:40.288 --> 01:06:40.448
Yeah.
936
01:06:41.888 --> 01:06:43.569
Where should people go to find out more?
937
01:06:43.749 --> 01:06:44.629
PMRE.com?
938
01:06:45.503 --> 01:06:45.683
Yeah.
939
01:06:45.863 --> 01:06:47.145
PMREconference.com.
940
01:06:48.105 --> 01:06:50.267
So registration has been live.
941
01:06:50.327 --> 01:06:55.532
We're probably about a little over 70% sold out.
942
01:06:55.592 --> 01:06:58.275
Crazy thing is all of the lunch and learns are already sold out.
943
01:06:58.435 --> 01:07:01.377
So this is the time of year we start seeing things getting crazy.
944
01:07:01.417 --> 01:07:04.580
And by the way, we doubled the size of lunch and learns this year and they're already sold out.
945
01:07:04.620 --> 01:07:06.602
So people are jumping on that.
946
01:07:06.622 --> 01:07:11.466
They're like 110 people per lunch and learn, but we have other cool stuff going on.
947
01:07:11.526 --> 01:07:11.767
There's,
948
01:07:12.754 --> 01:07:16.016
The Kubi Kaba party has been taken to the next level.
949
01:07:16.036 --> 01:07:21.859
We've got a two-story sky villa with a cantilever deck and a pool on like the 40th floor overlooking the strip.
950
01:07:22.780 --> 01:07:30.584
We've got the ghost bar party like we had last year and knocking on wood, doesn't rain so that we can actually enjoy that bad-ass patio.
951
01:07:31.144 --> 01:07:34.926
Arguably, not even arguably, the best strip view in the city.
952
01:07:35.907 --> 01:07:41.570
Not to mention the other stuff that's going on, the theater sessions, the actual sessions in the showroom.
953
01:07:42.204 --> 01:07:44.345
The vendors got some new companies coming this year.
954
01:07:44.405 --> 01:07:47.507
So there is there's a heck of a lot going on.
955
01:07:47.547 --> 01:07:50.589
But I would encourage people to if you're thinking about it, get on it.
956
01:07:50.609 --> 01:07:55.372
Because the other thing that's important, too, is it is we are bumped right up against F1.
957
01:07:56.553 --> 01:07:59.495
So Vegas prices can get quite squirrely.
958
01:07:59.715 --> 01:08:03.277
We've gone out of our way to book twelve hundred and fifty hotel room nights.
959
01:08:04.094 --> 01:08:08.755
to get our hotel room rates down to a hundred and starting at $104 plus fees and taxes.
960
01:08:08.835 --> 01:08:10.876
And I've put a banner right at the top of the website.
961
01:08:10.896 --> 01:08:18.758
So people don't miss it because everybody, not everybody, most people book their ticket and then they procrastinate on their room.
962
01:08:18.898 --> 01:08:24.660
And then they kick themselves in the butt when they try to book their room three weeks out and it's tripled in price or whatever.
963
01:08:25.420 --> 01:08:33.682
So pmreconference.com for more information and to book, get your hotel room rates and then just reach out to us if you have any questions.
964
01:08:34.319 --> 01:08:34.840
Amazing.
965
01:08:34.960 --> 01:08:35.440
Can't wait.
966
01:08:35.460 --> 01:08:36.060
Yeah.
967
01:08:36.461 --> 01:08:36.841
Me too.
968
01:08:36.881 --> 01:08:42.085
Last thing, Alex told me the best way to treat her or bribe her is a day at the spa.
969
01:08:43.526 --> 01:08:47.749
Knowing that the retreat might be super exclusive, what is the best way into your heart?
970
01:08:47.769 --> 01:08:50.130
What do I need to slip in your palm to make sure I get to go?
971
01:08:50.811 --> 01:08:51.171
To what?
972
01:08:51.191 --> 01:08:52.572
To the retreat?
973
01:08:52.632 --> 01:08:53.053
To Mexico.
974
01:08:53.593 --> 01:08:53.773
Yeah.
975
01:08:54.213 --> 01:08:55.414
Well, I think we need you.
976
01:08:55.474 --> 01:08:57.776
Aren't you our official documentarian?
977
01:08:58.780 --> 01:08:59.020
Yes.
978
01:08:59.320 --> 01:08:59.900
Okay, cool.
979
01:08:59.920 --> 01:09:00.421
That's up.
980
01:09:00.481 --> 01:09:03.962
And then for anyone, everyone else listening, what's the, what's the Brandon bribe?
981
01:09:03.982 --> 01:09:05.923
What's your, what's, I just want to know what's your weak spot.
982
01:09:05.983 --> 01:09:07.464
Like, is it a chocolate?
983
01:09:07.484 --> 01:09:08.024
Is it chips?
984
01:09:08.064 --> 01:09:10.845
What do you, what are you just like, I just can't pass that up.
985
01:09:12.325 --> 01:09:13.746
Just tell me you want to register.
986
01:09:15.947 --> 01:09:16.867
Brandon, give me something.
987
01:09:17.247 --> 01:09:18.088
I want to know your advice.
988
01:09:18.128 --> 01:09:18.388
No, no, no.
989
01:09:18.408 --> 01:09:18.928
I'm not playing this.
990
01:09:18.948 --> 01:09:19.748
You have no advice.
991
01:09:19.769 --> 01:09:20.129
No, no, no.
992
01:09:20.229 --> 01:09:21.469
Honest to God.
993
01:09:21.549 --> 01:09:22.109
And I'm kidding.
994
01:09:22.189 --> 01:09:24.971
No one's going to bribe you, but I just, I just want to know what your advice is.
995
01:09:25.771 --> 01:09:28.272
Well, I mean, like I said, we're, we're,
996
01:09:29.248 --> 01:09:35.814
Again, going back to how last year I kept getting people coming up to me that are like never heard of PMRE and we've been in the business eight years.
997
01:09:37.056 --> 01:09:39.298
I'm sitting there being like, wow, spread the word, I guess.
998
01:09:39.358 --> 01:09:39.958
Do me a favor.
999
01:09:39.998 --> 01:09:41.520
I mean, we're marketing hard.
1000
01:09:41.540 --> 01:09:48.226
We want to make sure that we're out there so that anyone who wants to and should be in the room has the opportunity to.
1001
01:09:48.246 --> 01:09:48.306
So.
1002
01:09:49.528 --> 01:09:51.149
Yeah.
1003
01:09:53.343 --> 01:09:54.264
just spread the word.
1004
01:09:54.304 --> 01:10:05.192
And when we do run, you know, a couple ads at the conference with, you know, QR code or a website to go to to sort of express your interest, don't sleep on it because just get it in there.
1005
01:10:05.232 --> 01:10:12.418
And like I said, I'm going to do everything I can to accommodate as many people as we can without jeopardizing the value of the experience.
1006
01:10:13.238 --> 01:10:15.020
So just that's the thing.
1007
01:10:16.421 --> 01:10:18.702
Just if you're serious, get serious.
1008
01:10:19.503 --> 01:10:20.003
Let's go.
1009
01:10:20.083 --> 01:10:20.744
And you know,
1010
01:10:21.676 --> 01:10:23.757
And we'll promise that we're going to deliver something fun.
1011
01:10:24.637 --> 01:10:25.377
That's our commitment.
1012
01:10:25.657 --> 01:10:26.438
Because that's the thing, man.
1013
01:10:26.538 --> 01:10:29.879
Once I pull the trigger next week, there's no going back.
1014
01:10:29.959 --> 01:10:32.680
So if we're going with four people, we're going with four people.
1015
01:10:32.920 --> 01:10:38.622
And if we're going with two different groups over two weeks, then so be it too.
1016
01:10:38.982 --> 01:10:41.083
We will do what we say we'll do.
1017
01:10:41.843 --> 01:10:42.103
Cool.
1018
01:10:42.655 --> 01:10:44.958
Okay, well, thank you again for taking the time with us.
1019
01:10:46.120 --> 01:10:50.486
Like I said, we really love and appreciate you, Brandon, and everything you've done for PMRA.
1020
01:10:50.966 --> 01:10:56.033
Everyone go out there, book your tickets, get your hotel rooms, and we will see you in Vegas.
1021
01:10:57.415 --> 01:10:58.296
Feeling is mutual.
1022
01:10:58.316 --> 01:10:58.817
Thanks, guys.