Episode 222: Drew Cheetwood
On this episode of The Brad and Taylor Show, we sat down with Drew Cheetwood!
To watch the full episode, check it out on YouTube below. In the meantime, here’s a transcript of the conversation…
Here’s what you missed from Drew Chestwood…
00:00:00:14 –> 00:00:03:15
Taylor: Welcome to The Brad and Taylor Show, Today, we have Drew Cheetwood.
00:00:04:10 –> 00:00:14:14
Brad: You’re listening to The Brad and Taylor Show, a podcast that inspires entrepreneurs to pursue their passions. We’re sitting down with some of the best to learn how they got started and some lessons they learned along the way.
00:00:15:28 –> 00:00:20:13
Drew: Hey guys, Taylor, I’m very well. Thank you for having me here.
00:00:20:26 –> 00:00:24:13
Brad: Yeah, for sure. Well, let’s get this show started. Tell us a little bit about you and what do you do?
00:00:25:23 –> 00:01:07:05
Drew: So my name’s Drew Cheekwood, I’m a realtor. I live downriver here. I live in South Gate, Michigan. I have a family of four, well, I’m on the fifth. But there are four others besides me. My wife, Jenna, uh, and I have three girls, grace, Joey, and, uh, Emily. Uh, I sell real estate year downriver, make videos, funny cookie kind of videos. I’ve actually made a video, uh, with your guy, your crew, uh, Sam, uh, grandma Grima. Yep. I, yeah. So yeah, that’s of an, in a quick nutshell, uh, where I’m at currently, what I do,
00:01:08:22 –> 00:01:11:02
Brad: I like it. I like it. So how did you get into real estate?
00:01:12:10 –> 00:02:04:20
Drew: So let’s see here. Uh, we’ll take you back all the way to 2004, but check this out. We’re gonna do some flash cuts, uh, 2004 originally from Ohio bowling green, moved out to LA and, uh, 2003, uh, moved out there to pursue acting, stayed out there until about 2015. Started a family. I, my wife, and my wife were from downriver, Michigan. Uh, so we had our first daughter and, we were just like, man, California is moving pretty quick, uh, cost of living and just, uh, the speed of everything I knew that had been raised in the Midwest. I would definitely appreciate, uh, raising my family here. I just never knew what that ultimately looked like. It was either acting, performing, it was a personal trainer out there for 15 years. I was kind of like my side hustle, like my waiter job.
00:02:04:21 –> 00:02:48:13
A lot of my friends had you know, bartending or personal training. And then ultimately, yeah, it just was like, Hey, California is moving pretty quick and, uh, I don’t see myself here a long haul, but I didn’t know what that looked like. And then, uh, I think God worked on my heart over the years to be like, whatever it is you gotta get outta here and get your roots back into, uh, the Midwest and a happened to be where my wife was from. And, uh, so yeah, we came back here about six years ago from LA and it was just a complete reset on my life, my business life, and who I was my whole identity on the west coast. I was out there since I was a teen. And then I came back here and was like, all right, what do I do now? But I just knew I had to get back here to figure that out.
00:02:50:14 –> 00:02:59:09
Brad: That’s awesome. So when you came back here, did you draw like, I guess when you started, did you join a team or were you solo or how did you like how’d that all?
00:02:59:09 –> 00:02:59:18
Taylor: Go?
00:03:00:18 –> 00:03:40:12
Drew: So, okay. Yeah, I was like, I didn’t really explain to you, you asked about real estate, how I got into it. So I came from a performance background. I came back here and a good friend of mine, actually, a family friend of ours, uh, hired me to be a brand ambassador for a local nutrition shop. It was just a great start for me and my family just to get my foot in here and to kinda just make a star or something. I could just go to work and kind of figure things out. At 33 I was just kinda looking around like I was, you know, 15 back here just like, didn’t know what I was doing. So I got a great start here and I was able to get in touch with the local community and, uh, make videos for the store.
00:03:40:12 –> 00:04:26:02
The store is an XN sub it’s, uh, located in Brownstown Michigan, also great deals on all kinds of supplements, great store, great people. So they gave me a start here and along the way, my mom and brother had told me for years, you should look into real estate. I was like, I don’t get it, it’s not acting, it’s not personal training. It’s not fitness. I don’t get it. I don’t even know what that means. I don’t even know what real estate barely is. I know it involves houses and I didn’t really, uh, I didn’t know what I didn’t know. But you know, I started looking into it just, uh, kinda kind of, I dunno, opened my eyes one night to, uh, something else, something I could do to expand in the local community and, uh, provide, uh, you know, more for my family.
00:04:26:05 –> 00:05:06:29
So yeah, I did start on a team. I actually got connected with, uh, Keller Williams and Northville, and a team of about eight of us started with a net compo. And, uh, Jamie was the Jamie number, compo home. I know that so well because I made like 600 cold calls. Uh, I think within my first, you know, two weeks or something, I was just like, and didn’t even know I walked in, you know, basically day one. It was just like, you know, get on your headset, go on your phone. And here’s a script. And you know, you’re just making golf. Yeah. And I was just like, cool. I was like, so we get paid per hour. Right. They’re like, you don’t, you don’t get paid until like you gotta close at home. Or I didn’t, I didn’t know so much about it.
00:05:06:29 –> 00:05:40:28
I was just kind of wide-eyed and bushy-tailed with it all. But it was great, I look back now and I’m like, what a great way to start is like, here, like get uncomfortable, you know, like get out there and make calls, door knocks, circle, prospect, get on uncomfortable. This can be a very comfortable business once you go through a lot of uncomfortableness. And I wouldn’t change that. Start in the kind of roots in the real estate business, from where I did. I wouldn’t probably change the thing as far as that starts concerned. Nice.
00:05:40:29 –> 00:05:46:20
Taylor: So from, I know you mentioned you were doing a lot of those cold calls right off the bat. Did you get your first lead from a cold call?
00:05:47:22 –> 00:06:41:00
Drew: Yeah. I actually met a few gosh probably about, I would say 11 listing appointments when I was there for over about maybe a month. In my first month, I got 11 listing appointments and I was able to get my first sale with a buyer connection from the actual team leader. So I had some success and I was there three months. And again, it’s just, you know, I think dads are 85% of realtors drop out right after about two years I think, or the metrics. It might be more. I see how that’s very easy to do. I mean, I’d be remiss if I didn’t tell you that I was considering dropping out a hundred times in the first couple of months in this business looking for other things. And I may do with a lot of different, uh, I mean, during my building, my real estate career, I delivered groceries.
00:06:41:00 –> 00:07:31:08
I was personal training. I still personal training, some online, uh, personal training in person, uh, just odd, odd and odd kind of jobs just to kind of fill in what it is. I mean, sometimes because I ended up quitting that, nutrition shop, ambassador job, just to kind of jump all into real estate. I was like, this is what I got to, I just jump in. It was like, well, it’s commission-based so I got my first commission and I was just like, that only lasts so long. And then ultimately I had to fill in the gaps and a lot of respects and I, I was a delivery guy for Shipt. You know, for two years, just trying to, I mean, probably the first year in real estate, I was really delivering a lot. And then I’ll never forget my last showing, about three years ago.
00:07:31:21 –> 00:08:21:20
I did my last delivery, went to my next listing appointment. I’m sorry, my showing appointment sold that house and you know, God blessed me. I haven’t been able to go back to deliver groceries because I’ve been busy enough in real estate, but yeah, no, no harm, no foul on it. We all just have to, it’s not as easy as sometimes it looks like people get into this and they’re selling a lot of homes and, and, uh, they’re doing a lot of things and it’s like, I definitely come from a place where I have been through like the muddle and real estate and I’ve, and most people have, I don’t know too many people that just jump into it and they’re like, I’m just, I’m crushing it. There’s a lot to pay a lot to earn. And you know, I did a lot of jobs just to kind of make ends meet and that’s what a lot of us do, right. To get to where we want to be.
00:08:21:29 –> 00:08:35:05
Taylor: Yeah, for sure. It’s different for everyone starting out. Most people I have heard of are like, the same boat you were in their leads don’t come in right off the bat. It takes time and they have to just keep pushing through, don’t give up and then eventually you get to where you are now.
00:08:36:26 –> 00:09:22:17
Drew: Right. Right. And so I am going into year six and, uh, I still, man, I don’t, I don’t take anything for granted or, you know, I still like to go out and earn it. I still, you know, cold call, I still Dornoch to a much more specific, a more specific way. It’s not as blind as kind of, it was before just kind of like a mass calling. And now I definitely targeted more so for sale by owners in the area or door knocking in specific neighborhoods with kind of a real goal in mind. So yeah, it’s, you know, we paid our dues, but I definitely remember what it was to just be in infancy and so unsure. And so, you know, you got to provide for your family and that’s number one. So it’s like either a, I go out and make these calls, knock on these doors.
00:09:22:20 –> 00:10:01:27
Or like, if I, if I’m not doing that, what that was all I knew how to do in the beginning to provide for my family. And I knew that long-term success in this was doing those things that make you uncomfortable. It’s so hard to do though. Cause I’m such like a, you know, I like to think I’m outgoing and personable, but I’m like, gosh, sales, like, am I, I don’t like that. Sales-y feeling. So I learned that kinda just to sell, uh, you know, who I am, here’s a service that I do offer and it became fewer sales-y. And just more like I’m here. If you need me, I’m gonna bust my ass for you along the way to, to get you, you know, the house you want or sell you your house for as much money as the market will allow.
00:10:03:02 –> 00:10:13:27
Taylor: Nice. And I know you mentioned you were in acting before and you do videos now you have kind of a unique way to market yourself. Can we chat about that a little bit? Yeah. For sure. What kind of videos do you do?
00:10:15:09 –> 00:11:01:21
Drew: Well, uh, they’re kind of kooky and kind of silly. A very early piece of advice in this business was to find my niche, right? Everyone has, there are so many unique realtors around, right. When I got into this, it was so I had in my own mind, the perception of like the old school kind of more antiquated realtor, uh, nothing wrong with that, just a different time. And it wasn’t who I was. So I was trying to do like a suit where, and like hair slicked back. And like, I was like, what am I looking at in the mirror? I was like, what character? And what am I doing? I didn’t, I didn’t feel like myself. So someone, a mentor in this business told me, just like, find your niche, be who you are and this, that way, if you, if you do fail, you should fail beating yourself.
00:11:01:29 –> 00:11:42:22
Right. And you can take that on to whatever it is you’re going to do. So about three months, four months in, I was like, all right, for better or worse, I’m just going to, I’m going to do this thing and what do I know how to do? What’s my skill set. You know, what do I know I’m going to work hard for my clients? Where are they? You know? So I just started producing, uh, shooting content that was a takes on, you know, pop culture, uh, original content that I would just write and shoot. And a lot of times, you know, it used to be still is to this day, if I don’t have the anecdote, I just hit me playing different characters and just kind of, mostly comedic. I think 98% of my stuff is meant to have you laugh somewhere in there.
00:11:42:22 –> 00:12:29:20
And, and if nothing else, if, if, if you don’t think of me to go by herself, you never have to, at least maybe it brightens up your day and I’m bringing some sort of like love and light and laughter into this world. Ultimately. So it doesn’t always click with everyone, but I’m not after every month, you know, like I’m, after the people that, you know, you’re going to attract who you are. And I’ve had some of my best friends be like, I didn’t get that last video at all. And then I’ll make something two weeks later. And like, that was the funniest video I’ve ever seen. You make. Like, that was amazing. So it’s like, you know, not everything’s going to pop, but I’m just definitely after what I think is funny and going to lift someone’s day up. And then I cite in my listings and you know, what I do and how I can, you know, market my clients basically.
00:12:30:06 –> 00:12:41:00
Taylor: Did you notice when you, I know you mentioned that you were kind of in like the suit and tie hair slicked back at first, did you notice that transition period from when you started being yourself with creating those videos that your client base raised?
00:12:42:19 –> 00:13:27:26
Drew: Yes. And it’s always a people that are, uh, you would never suspect that you know, watch them. I had a guy, a pastor at my church, Kirby church, I would not hear on township, would never, in a million years think that guy, you know, watches any of my content. And a couple of weeks ago, he was just like, like saw me going into church with my family. And he just like shook my hand. He’s like, drew your videos. Hilarious. He’s like we had my family or, you know, around the computer on Friday night. And we just went through like, you know, just the the Rolodex of them. And you know, they’re not like you go back to my first videos. You can’t, the audio is so bad audio still not amazing. But, um, you know, it’s like, I look back at a lot of this stuff and it’s like, sometimes you can’t hear it.
00:13:27:26 –> 00:14:15:06
Doesn’t make sense. And it’s like, so it’s not like, I’m not Spielberg here. I know that. But like, I’m definitely trying to bond with what it is to be human. And I’m just trying to do my job efficiently. That’s what we’re, we’re master marketers. That’s who we are. Let’s not get it twisted. Right. So I am trying to do it the way that I see. And if it makes sense to people then all the better and it has. So, yeah, basically once I started being authentic to who I was, then everything just felt better. And then I came off clear and I came off, you know, more authentic to people, you know? Cause I feel like when I got into this, I came from my acting background was on general hospital for 16 years. I felt like that was kind of like my end. Right. It’s like, oh, this guy, you know, coming back from general hospital, people that watch me on the show will be like, oh, that’s this with that guy,
00:14:15:23 –> 00:14:20:17
Taylor: The worst property you’ve been to or we’re showing, give us your stuff.
00:14:21:20 –> 00:14:57:12
Drew: Well the worst show, I mean, oh, it’s uncomfortable, I guess would be most times when the seller’s there, you know, uh, those are always a little, a little awkward. You kind of feel like, you know, rushed or you gotta kind of house a lot of a room. But I will say, the uncomfortable weirdest was a house down river year that my buyers and I went into and there was like in every room, there was like a couple like holes and there’d be like a dirty sock hanging out.
00:14:59:12 –> 00:15:00:11
Brad: Like in the logs?
00:15:00:29 –> 00:15:48:08
Drew: Like, there’d be, yeah, there’ll be like I don’t know. It was a joke or what, but it was like, there’d be like a whole like someone punched a hole in the wall, and then there’d be like a dirty sock hanging out. And we’re like, oh, like I remember we like saw it in one room, like, oh, that’s weird. Okay. That’s different. And another room was like, wait, is that the, like, we’re in the same room? Like what happened? Looked like the same hole punch, you know, different wall, a different sock, dirty. And it was like literally like three or four rooms with like a hole in it. And then like the same dirty sock. It was just like, it was just the weirdest, uh, thing. And it was just wasn’t the cleanest. It was a, it was a, yeah, it was a definitely a different experience we didn’t offer on it. We never, no, we didn’t write on it, but it was just an odd kind of like what’s up with the dirty socks. I think I Googled it afterward. It doesn’t mean anything.
00:15:49:18 –> 00:15:53:01
Brad: Like what are we, what is this? What is this
00:15:54:10 –> 00:15:56:00
Drew: Very bizarre? Let’s put
00:15:56:00 –> 00:16:07:07
Brad: It’s that way. That’s crazy. So how have you changed your marketing over the years since you’ve been doing videos and since the beginning, what is the biggest thing that has changed from the beginning to now?
00:16:08:07 –> 00:16:59:02
Drew: I would say just like social media as a whole, I would kind of just make a video and put it on my personal feed. My personal, my real estate, uh, Facebook page and just kinda, you know, you’re hoping you can build an organic audience and that has definitely taken me so far. And now it’s just like, there’s so much, uh, more ways, you know, boosted target marketing with Facebook and really just kinda like really directing traffic to what it is. You’re marketing, how you’re marketing it. You know, different price points in homes and just various things I would say. I’m just exploring how to better do my job for my clients in the best way possible. And it’s just social media is just kind of always changing. I’m looking like tick talks a huge thing.
00:16:59:02 –> 00:18:08:13
I was listening to a Gary V uh, keynote the other day and he’s just like really, really pushing it for you know, realtors to get with a TikTok. And I’m like, I don’t, I don’t get it. I thought it was literally just teenagers dancing, uh, was the last thing I knew about it, but he really spoke like, that’s the way you gotta go. So like, I got a TikTok and I’m trying to learn it just so that I can always be on the cutting edge for providing the best service for my clients. So, I just kind of feel like an old dog sometimes like, I felt like I was just brand new and fresh in this thing. And now I’m like TikTok and I’m like, look, I’m asking my oldest daughter, like, how does this, she doesn’t have it, but she, you know, she had it for a minute around last Christmas and it was like doing the dances. And so like, I just literally was like, what do you know anything about this? That’s like, you’re trying to like learn I’m YouTube in it. So I would say just like, it’s still producing the content that I have always and just, uh, finding out better ways to get it to the people that, you know, need to see it for a listing or you know, need to know more about what it is that I’m doing and what service I can provide
00:18:09:08 –> 00:18:10:18
Taylor: Posted to TikTok yet?
00:18:12:18 –> 00:19:08:13
Drew: I tried. And then I somehow attached the music. Like they want you, they need you to attach the music through their umbrella. And I attached it before, so they kept erasing it, but now I gotta like, get it, it’s a whole thing, but, uh, they keep basically taking my sound out. And so it just looks weird cause it’s me and my wife doing, we took, uh, the, to take a pulp fiction, the dance scene with whom Thurman and John Travolta. And I was trying to just do a quick clip of that highlighting this for telos restaurant I have for sale and Trenton, just trying to really highlight that. And yeah, they just keep taking it out and it doesn’t make sense without the sound. So I’m still working on my first, but it’s coming and yeah, they, they say that, uh, definitely the way just how much organic traffic you can get for what it is that you’re doing. So that just is going to be who’s my clients. So trying to learn it, I’ll get it. Yeah.
00:19:08:14 –> 00:19:10:07
Taylor: I think your videos would do really good on there.
00:19:12:11 –> 00:20:01:05
Drew: Yeah. Thank you. I don’t, I don’t know who, I guess it’s because it’s what people, uh, it’s not like social, it’s what people want to watch. I like to watch. It’s not like the who you’re friends with and then they’ll see it. It’s just like you could have five followers and go viral. Right. So it’s like, however, I would love to do that for like really, really learn Tik doc. And then my next listing, really being able to like draw half a million views on it. I don’t know if that’s overzealous, but you know, any way you can drive that traffic to what it is you’re selling or doing in my profession, it’s selling homes, obviously all the better. So yeah I’m definitely, I’m going down a rabbit hole with it and yeah, that’s where I’m might start putting, you know, in addition to Instagram and Facebook, you know, TikTok’s the next wave for the common market. Do you have any tips?
00:20:01:06 –> 00:20:44:11
Brad: And let me know. I like it. Well, just keep posting. Yeah. Just be posted. But I see do at Cisco follow the agents on there cause you’re like, I see some of them on their donor really well. And realistically, like, it’s like the nice houses you could just see if you go show a nice house, as I’ve ever watched one person, like literally just take the camera and pan, just walk in the house and go to the kitchen and open the fridge. And they got like, they got like a couple of million views and they gained like 50,000 followers just by walking from the literally opening the opening, the app or the fridge. And that’s all they did. Yeah. They just use the ones that are out there. Just added it to one of the ones that were going viral at the time. So yeah.
00:20:44:17 –> 00:20:47:11
Drew: Julio gangster’s paradise or something like
00:20:49:08 –> 00:20:56:20
Brad: Yeah, whatever the one is for that week. He just like, he just literally just watched him walk in the house, walk around the kitchen and open the fridge. And that was it. Yeah.
00:20:57:15 –> 00:21:05:02
Drew: All right. That’s a, then that’s pretty simple formula nowadays. They should be able to like crack that code. Yeah.
00:21:05:04 –> 00:21:19:00
Brad: We just want to see a nice thing. So if like, if you just want to be showing a nice house or something, just do something literally it’s just walking the house. Maybe not the sock. I don’t know. Maybe that one would probably actually do really well.
00:21:20:24 –> 00:21:32:28
Drew: Am I in my work for sure. I don’t want to explain any, they wouldn’t know where I was. They probably it’s sold and I’m sure there are no socks in there anymore, but I get, I get your drift. Yeah.
00:21:33:11 –> 00:21:40:03
Brad: But that’s crazy. Well, awesome. Well, before we go, how can people follow your videos and, and work in to check out your stuff?
00:21:41:05 –> 00:22:54:11
Drew: So I got my Instagrams that move withdrew. You can contact me. My emails [email protected]? My telephone number is (248) 828-5640. And then my Facebook, real estate pages, I think to move it through as well. I don’t know. I don’t feel like there’s the main handle. I think it’s just Drew Cheetwood, Realtor. True. Cheatwood realtor is what I got here. Yeah. I think that’s it just, yeah. Google, this, this guy. There’s I always say don’t Google me. Just go to these specific, you know, social media sites because you know, there’s a Google that if you do Google me, you’re going to be like the same I guy, because some of the first videos are me, like taking my shirt off and doing like crazy. Like my alter ego is magic, Milo. So it’s like, people Google me and they’re like, Hey, I think I looked you up, but it doesn’t look like you start real estate. It looks like you’re just like a stripper. Oh yeah. That’s kind of like, that was a while ago. It’s still me. I do sell houses and I’ll provide the best service possible. So yeah, go to, try to stick to the social media that I gave you.
00:22:54:15 –> 00:22:57:29
Brad: Sweet. Sounds good. Well, awesome. Hey, thanks for coming on and sharing your story with us today.
00:22:58:15 –> 00:23:04:26
Drew: Okay. Thank you for, uh, for having me guys really appreciate it. And a Merry Christmas. You too. Thank you.
00:23:07:17 –> 00:23:25:21
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Check out Drew Cheetwood:
Facebook: @RealtybyDrew
Instagram: @move_with_drew
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