The #1 Best Way to Stand Out in Commercial Real Estate Today

Aviva (00:23)
This week's listener of the week is Sarah Morris ATL. Sarah, thank you so much for leaving us a five-star review. And for those of you listening, if you leave us a five-star review below, you might be next week's listener of the week, week, week. This week on Commercial Real Estate Secrets, we have Fly Jamerson Fly is the Content Marketing Coordinator at Elifin Realty.

Thank you so much for being on the show today.

Fly Jamerson (00:55)
Thanks for having me.

Aviva (00:57)
Fly and I met, I don't know, maybe a month or two ago, no, three or four months ago. Yeah, that would make sense because she cold called me out of the blue to ask my advice about commercial real estate and.

Fly Jamerson (01:03)
It was two and a half. It was about two and a half months ago.

Aviva (01:16)
At the time, I was about to go into labor and I was just walking trying to induce labor and I was having contractions and having a hard time answering the questions, but we still had a great conversation and it's just a funny way to connect. So Fly, thank you for being on the show today.

Fly Jamerson (01:36)
Well, and let's just acknowledge how much of a goat move that was, that you picked up the phone. And then that was the advice that you gave me, the question that I ask in those videos that I make. The main question has been so far, what's the best advice that you got when you were just starting out? And you were down to clown, and you were like, pick up the phone.

Aviva (01:40)
Hahaha

Fly Jamerson (02:02)
and stay in touch with people. And so in hindsight, looking back to that conversation and actually what that conversation did for me, like what happened after that, it was really an incredible moment and an incredible moment to experience and to witness also. So.

Aviva (02:03)
You

I appreciate the roses and I will throw the roses back at you. But before we do that, I'd love to give the guests some context into who you are because you, for all intents and purposes, popped out of the internet in commercial real estate and made a huge splash, which is why I was like, get you on the podcast ASAP. Who are you? Where do you come from? And how did we get here today?

Fly Jamerson (02:55)
Somebody shared with me at the CREI summit, a couple people have said this, that Fly, you gotta understand, you came out of nowhere. And the response I have to that is, no, y'all have to understand, you came out of nowhere. Talk about commercial real estate secrets.

If you're not in this industry, people have no idea this is here. They don't know what's going on. They don't know how amazing the people are. It is a secret. Commercial real estate itself is a secret from the rest of the world. And the shortest version of the story so far is that I have...

I have a background in arts and entertainment. I was a writer and producer in film, theater, and television for 15 years, and I thought I was going to be a college professor. That's not what happened.

in the story so far. And so I wandered around for a while really trying to define my values and define my purpose and still am working all of those things out. But I accidentally found commercial real estate with Elifin. I applied for a job I didn't really want because I thought it was worth getting my foot in the door to have a conversation with them because I resonated so much with their values as a brand.

And for me, it became more about the people. And it's always been about the people, because at the end of the day, the thing I care about most in the world is conversation. And commercial real estate is incredible as a practice. What brokers do is incredible as a practice, because even though they're slinging buildings, the engine of the vehicle is conversation and dialogue.

and engineering situations in which remarkable conversations can occur. And that's what I did my whole life, except I was doing it in fiction, and y'all are over here building worlds in reality. And so I was like, what is going on? And so my job as a social media person, as a content creator, there's kind of a way that it's done in the industry that...

Aviva (04:58)
Yeah

Fly Jamerson (05:15)
you know, we could talk about. But I was really struck by these conversations and trying, and so when I began creating content for Elifin, I was trying to capture that method of conversation. And so I started cold calling Elifin agents to ask them questions, to make videos and put on the internet. And then,

So we're big fans, and we have learned so much, as everyone has learned so much, from Bob Knakal. And so Chase Weatherly, the marketing director, my very dear friend and colleague, dared me to start cold calling Bob Knakal to get a Knakal nugget, which I eventually got. But the thing is, it's actually the missing part of the story that I want to highlight too is.

So I have this thing called the fear list. I keep a list of all of my fears and I force myself every week to face and cross off one of those fears. And talking on the phone and being on camera.

Aviva (06:18)
Meow.

Fly Jamerson (06:29)
which are the two things that now have made my success so far. I'm just terrified. I'm terrified right now. Really, truly. You can't really tell in the video that we did, but I'm shit, I'm on my phone, I'm like, my gosh, It feels that way. So I'm sort of wandering around now, but the reason that we're having this conversation is

Aviva (06:38)
okay.

Fly Jamerson (06:57)
a remarkable sequence of events of me being in the right place at the right time and deciding that I was going to take a really big risk instead of waiting around for things to happen. And what better place than in commercial real estate?

Aviva (07:12)
Well, you the thing about commercial real estate and marketing, which I'm not, this is not news to you because you've leveraged this and that's why we're here today, is everybody does the exact same thing and it's lame. It's really boring. And you hit the scene with this content series, cold calling. Okay, they were first Elifin Brokers, then it was just any broker.

and asking the best advice that they could give for commercial real estate. What is the best advice you've gotten from a broker so far?

Fly Jamerson (07:53)
The best advice that I got.

which was the best advice I got when I really was just starting out was from the CEO and president and founder of Elifin, Matthew LaBorde. I called him to make a video and what I had to say to him was that I was scared of him. And I don't mean scared of him, like fearful, like I thought that, like he's not, he's one of the most generous people

on the planet. So it wasn't scared like that. It was scared like, like how you might hold somebody who's formidable, like in awe and like feel less than or like feel intimidated, right? Like how I felt when I was calling you or how I felt every single time I called Bob Knakal, which took me three weeks to get that call.

Aviva (08:36)
Sure.

Fly Jamerson (08:50)
You know what, what he said to me was that he experienced incredible social anxiety early on in his career and he did everything that he could possibly do to face that and not be afraid anymore. And that at the end of the day, we're all just people. And that really in the beginning was what unlocked this whole thing for me.

Aviva (09:08)
Yeah, absolutely.

Fly Jamerson (09:21)
It's really allowed me to create very genuine connections, even if it's packaged as a gimmick.

Aviva (09:31)
It's not a gimmick. I always say everybody thinks it's cringe until you're crushing it. Then they think it's cool. That's what gimmicks are, right? I don't, is Elifin where are y'all based? Because I, this is what I wanna do. I wanna throw roses at you because I have never heard of Elifin Realty before in my life. And you came on the scene, started making your calls and now.

Everybody knows it, which is okay. Definitely part of your job, but you crush that. where is Elifin located?

Fly Jamerson (10:06)
Elifin has offices in Louisiana and also in Ohio. We're in Columbus, we're in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, New Orleans, and Lafayette, which I'm not originally from the South, so I get made fun of a lot for my pronunciation of things.

Aviva (10:22)
Okay, well, you understood the assignment and crushed it, so tell your bosses. Send your bosses this podcast when it comes out.

Fly Jamerson (10:33)
They know, they're very excited for me and for everyone. what is really unique about Elifin also is just that there's so much positivity and so much collaboration and so much teamwork. And it's interesting for me, because I'm only five months in to the industry, to my position, to all of this. And...

Aviva (10:54)
Yeah.

Fly Jamerson (10:59)
So, and everyone I have spoken with and connected with has been so generous and kind. And I am only really recently starting to come to understand that that's actually not really the majority of what it's like in this industry, which is surprising to me, but.

Aviva (11:20)
I could write a book.

Fly Jamerson (11:22)
You should.

Aviva (11:24)
Ohh I got some other things to do. I'll put that on the list. So you were recently at the CREI summit.

As a content creator in commercial real estate who just attended the premier content creation event in commercial real estate, what do you think the next 12 to 24 months looks like for marketing in our industry?

Fly Jamerson (11:46)
What I think the next 12 to 24 months looks like is people who have been early adopters of...

content that is entertaining, content that is vulnerable, content that is fearless, which means a lot of things. But the people who are doing that now and who are doing that with rapidity and high frequency, those people in 12 to 24 months are going to be

Aviva (12:22)
Sure. Sure.

Fly Jamerson (12:30)
Absolutely. Wait, I want to use your word. Savage.

They're going to crush it. And it's a trend that has been in the mix for the last 12 months, the last 24 months. We're seeing it. We're already seeing it. I think that what we're, again, from, I didn't know Bob Knakal existed six months ago. I had no idea. Now my daughter carries around his baseball card and she's like, mommy, you went to that party at the baseball player's house.

Aviva (13:06)
You're like, sort of. That's cute.

Fly Jamerson (13:08)
Not quite, but okay, you're four. But I do, feel when I look at some of the content that we're talking about, whether it's boring or...

whatever, the content that doesn't hit, the content that does not hit is just like the plainest way to say it. That's what I mean when I see a lot of fear. That's what I mean when I say I see a lot of restraint. And people are so hungry for unbridled, unhinged, delightful, positive content because look at everything else that's happening in the world. And I...

Aviva (13:48)
That's a point.

Fly Jamerson (13:51)
I mentioned that I wanted to talk about this. There's a conversation that I see happen a lot, especially on LinkedIn, where it's kind of business chat slash personal chat. sometimes people experience dissonance with their, like, I just posted a random picture of my cat, and it got a million views, or whatever. That must be a really cool cat for a million views. Or, and then they're like, but then what?

posted my niche value-add educational post, I got crickets. And then they say things like, it doesn't perform as well. And I don't want to dismiss that, because that is a real frustration that I also have. But I think that,

the trend or the direction that I hope that we're going is that people start to understand that general, universal, non-niche, entertaining content has incredible value in a way that I feel like is historical and proven, but we don't understand. So what I taught when I was a college professor was popular culture and entertainment.

I taught about video games, like video games streaming, like Doctor Disrespect, like Twitch, like all this stuff, like if you know what I'm talking about there. And I taught about reality television. My favorite project that I gave was a group project where they had to come up with their own reality television show, and man, like Gen Z, like, mwah, like they should have been there at the beginning of reality TV, right? But through all of history,

Aviva (15:28)
Ha ha.

Fly Jamerson (15:37)
entertainment has been the major piece of culture and it has been sponsored by the people who are driving the most successful businesses. Like at the dawn of television, Remington Rand produced What's My Line, like one of the original game shows. like my husband shaved with a Remington razor this morning.

Aviva (15:52)
Hmph.

Yeah.

Fly Jamerson (16:07)
You know what I mean? It has a lot of value. It's at the top of the funnel. And so I think that I want people to give themselves permission, because I'm actually a really serious person, but I value laughter more than anything else in the world, because laughter, feel like, is universal language and is recognition of another person as a human.

And so I really want the next 12 to 24 months in social media in this industry to be people relaxing into themselves and creating connections that are not about real estate. Because when I started in this industry and I was observing calls and I was shadowing agents.

75 % of the conversations they were having had nothing to do with deals. Nothing, nothing to do with deals. So I feel like maybe that's how I built my whole model. Maybe 75 % of the content that we put out should have nothing to do with deals. Maybe, I don't know. It's working so far.

Aviva (17:13)
Heh.

It's so interesting. think, no, no. I think your edge is aside from your tenure in the entertainment industry, education industry. Your edge is actually the short amount of time that you've been in the industry because you weren't damaged like every other broker by the horrible content all the other brokers are putting out.

if they're even putting out content, but that's a whole other story. I think there's so much value to not having those bumpers and creating what you're saying, authentic, good, valuable, funny, unique content.

that is outside of the confines of the industry because that is what is success. You know, that's what hits. If you want to talk about what hits socially, but, and you've done that effortlessly. So.

Fly Jamerson (18:26)
I've cried a lot also.

Aviva (18:27)
Okay, well.

Fly Jamerson (18:29)
There was so much swearing when I decided that I was going to call you. I was in this room, I was shaking. was swearing. was like, this is absolutely insane that I'm about to do this. And the only reason I ended up pressing send on the dial was because I was like, she's not going to pick up. And you picked up right away. And I was like.

Aviva (18:41)
Nuh-uh.

Hahaha

that's funny. I never would have known you were so nervous. I'm flattered.

Fly Jamerson (19:03)
now I feel like how I imagine you must have felt which you when you talk to Gary Vee right like I hope that you know I really hope and I'm not when I say things like that I it might be a nice thing to say but I mean it on an incredibly objective incredibly objective level like you

have become a role model to so many people, myself included, especially in an industry that is dominated by people who don't value social media and dominated by people who are not women and who are not mothers, right? And so when you circle back and...

told me, gave me the context of what was happening to you when I called you. I mean, it shook me because becoming a mother was one of the hardest things that I have done and continues to be. It doesn't stop being challenging. And so that's actually the end of the thought.

But I just, want you to know that, and I mean that. If you don't, and you're probably not hearing it enough because you're about three months in, to having now a human that you're caring for. I saw your post today about, this is the hardest thing, I'm doing this and I have to do this. I mean, it just changes everything. And for as difficult as it is, it is so rewarding, but you will never ever hear it enough.

Aviva (20:39)
Hehehehe

Fly Jamerson (20:47)
So like, I'm, like, you won't. So I'm telling you, I'm gonna be that person today and tell you like, you got it, you're amazing.

Aviva (20:57)
very very nice of you. I could just keep you in my back pocket all day. So what are you working on now? Now that you've had your feet wet for five months, you've seen success, you've met BK and all the fun, the fun CREI faces. What's your next few months or moves look like?

Fly Jamerson (21:26)
I asked myself, what on earth do you do once you finally have everybody's attention? And the only logical answer to that is more of whatever it is that you did to get there.

Aviva (21:34)
Hmm.

Fly Jamerson (21:45)
And when I tell people what I do, I actually don't talk very much about social media. I start conversations in support of Elifin's Mission, which is to help businesses, investors, and our community flourish. And our communities are in Louisiana and Ohio for now. But I also view our community as the national community that social media has created between brokers and brokerages and all of the adjacent experts.

in financing, titling, and insurance in industries that I still cannot articulate because I'm still learning. So I have a call list for the next cold calls that I'm going to do. I am currently an ICSE creator.

creating content in partnership with them leading up to ICSC in New York, which is going to be awesome. I mean, New York is intoxicating, right? And I'm...

Aviva (22:46)
Yeah

Yeah.

Fly Jamerson (22:53)
doing everything that I possibly can, also in addition to those kind of big threads, to take what I am learning through creating content that I'm sort of the center of and supporting agents on their own journeys. Because you know,

If you're with a brokerage and you're getting the support of the brokerage, whether that's in marketing, admin and processing or whatever, all of the things that brokerages provide to their agents, I don't think that it is commonplace for...

And you can correct me if I'm wrong, but for a brokerage to provide individual social media support to agents as a part of that. really, that has been from the beginning what I have wanted to do is build a content program that supports agents on everything, on everything. And I guess that's kind of radical, but that's what I'm here for.

Aviva (23:48)
Wow.

Wow.

It's impressive. It's an overhaul. if you're not, if you're a commercial real estate broker or just a residential, not or just, if you're a broker in 2024 and you aren't able to create your own content, you're in trouble, period, point blank. But obviously having support is plus plus plus. So fly.

Fly Jamerson (24:03)
Thank you.

Aviva (24:30)
What's the exact question you ask when you call people? And what's your answer for it?

Fly Jamerson (24:36)
we already did it though. What is the best advice that you got when you were just starting out?

Aviva (24:41)
What's the best advice you got when you just starting out?

Fly Jamerson (24:43)
Yeah, and that was from, and that was what, yeah, yeah, yeah. But I, let's see. Another question that I've started asking is, what's the most creative way you've solved a problem on a deal, which wouldn't apply to me. I guess you could say, like,

Aviva (24:46)
Okay, okay.

Fly Jamerson (25:08)
The most creative problem that I've solved is how do I create content from my desk without leaving it, without taking up a lot of time. And I figured that one out with the cold calling series. I actually have some questions for you. Okay, so because you were not at the CREI summit in which I devised,

Aviva (25:17)
Mm-hmm.

Let's go.

Fly Jamerson (25:37)
the CREI Guess Who game and then big thank you to Allison Weiss who was like, you should put them in a bracket. So we did this whole Guess Who tournament. But you were on the board, but you wouldn't be a part of it. And so I thought, what can I devise for Aviva? So I have devised three questions of a CRE, would you rather?

Aviva (26:02)
my gosh.

Amazing. Let's do it.

Fly Jamerson (26:10)
Okay, first question. Would you rather spill coffee on Bob Knackle's most expensive suit or

the table on which the map lies in the Knakal's Map room.

Aviva (26:30)
Well, you get arrested for the second one. No, I'm just kidding. The first one, I would rather spill coffee on Bob Knackle's most expensive shirt because then we would laugh because Bob is cool as a cucumber. And then I would make him make a content piece with me. But I mean, spilling on the map, that just hurt my heart. So I'm going for the shirt, BK.

Fly Jamerson (26:56)
Okay, next question. Would you rather only be able to post AI-generated content or only be able to send print materials out?

Aviva (27:14)
Holy smokes. Only be able to post AI content.

Fly Jamerson (27:20)
That is not the answer I was expecting. Can you unpack that a little bit more? Why?

Aviva (27:22)
Hahaha

There's just so much more reach for free online. Like market, there's a huge place for mailers. And I think that's more of a localized thing. But the reach that we can achieve online, even though AI content is boring, in my opinion is more valuable.

Fly Jamerson (27:53)
Yeah, and there's a lot, I mean AI is happening so fast, who knows what it's gonna look like in 12 to 24 months, so that's good call. All right, okay, final question. Would you rather start your TikTok over from scratch or delete all the data in your CRM?

Aviva (28:07)
Yes?

I think I'd rather saw my tongue off with a rusty scissors, start TikTok over from, I would, no, I would rather start my TikTok over from day one because that's CRM is my bread, butter and everything in between.

Fly Jamerson (28:47)
I think that's smart. think that it would be an interesting experiment to start all over from scratch. the leg, because you would still have all of the knowledge that you have and all of the production ability that you have, but going back to find that data.

Aviva (29:04)
Yeah, that's good. Those are good.

Fly Jamerson (29:06)
Thanks, I worked on it all day.

Aviva (29:08)
my gosh. I think there's something big. mean, clearly, you know this. There's something significant to series on when it comes to content. And so maybe that's your next series.

Fly Jamerson (29:22)
Yeah, I think so. I was actually, I was texting Mo Regalado about it today to prepare and she was like, yeah, I think that might be your next series. I, see, great minds, great minds, right? So, shout out Mo.

Aviva (29:31)
Well, there you go.

Shout out Mo. Fly. What makes you happy with what you do every day in commercial real estate?

Fly Jamerson (29:47)
I, first of all, I prepared for this question. I experienced, there's this word called Sonder, S-O-N-D-E-R, which is the awareness that every other person around you has a life that is as intensely rich and painful and joyous as the life that you have. And when I,

engage someone in something like what I just did.

I recognize that, I can see that, and I can sort of take us back to a moment, like when we were all, is kind of a woo-woo, but I can imagine all of us as kids, you know what I mean? And when it used to be so easy to just go up to somebody that you didn't know, because you didn't have any shame, and just like, hey, do wanna play with me?

Aviva (30:36)
Hmph.

Yeah.

Fly Jamerson (30:47)
I see this in my four-year-old all the time, random, like she's best friends with everybody in Baton Rouge. Like, hey, do you want to play with me? Like, yes, I do. Let's go. What are we going to play? I don't know. We'll figure it out. And so the thing that is making me the happiest right now in this community, whether that's our community at Elifin or the national community that you have had such a huge part in making, is the...

the genuine connection that people can have when they're in a situation that is playful and spontaneous and it's just so lovely. So that's what's really making, that's what's giving me a lot of life and it's what's saving my life.

Aviva (31:33)
Yeah, it's very interesting. Like you said, it's like a very, very serious industry. But if you boil it down, maybe we could all just chill out a little bit and have a little fun. And we do sometimes, but I think there's a lot to that and a big lesson to learn there. So thank you.

Fly Jamerson (31:53)
Thank you.

Aviva (31:55)
Fly. Where can the listeners find you, follow you, whatever you want, plug it away.

Fly Jamerson (32:02)
For sure, I am on every single social media platform. So you can search for me by searching for hey _ it's fly. And the other way that you can find me and Elifin is by going to elifinrealty.com.

Aviva (32:23)
Amazing, Fly, thank you for being on the show today. Everybody go follower and for, if you like exciting commercial real estate content, which if you're here at this point, you definitely do, go follow Fly. And for everybody listening, we'll see you next week.