Thriving in a Shifting Market with AI | Lucy Edwards | The Brainiac Blueprint Podcast

In Episode 9 of The Brainiac Blueprint Podcast by Left Brain AI, we bring you the second part of our 2-episode series with real estate marketing veteran Lucy Edwards. Lucy dives deeper into how AI accelerates your work - without replacing the human touch. She unpacks why authentic video matters more than ever, how to adapt from a seller’s market to a buyer’s market, and the practical tools she’s using right now to stand out.

Lucy demos DeepBrain AI for on-brand avatar videos (great if you’re camera-shy), explains how 3D tours + smart tagging (e.g., Matterport-style tours) help international and investor buyers fall in love with listings online, and shares why rising inventory means you must raise your creativity, value, and marketing budget. She also breaks down her networking playbook, reputation-first decision making, and how podcasting/interviewing builds authority through genuine storytelling.

Full transcript below.

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⏱ In this episode, we discuss:

00:00 – Intro

00:38 – Lucy’s background & relationship-first marketing

06:15 – Shift to a buyer’s market: raise value, creativity, and budget

07:13 – Why short, authentic video beats an outdated headshot

10:00 – Inventory is up ~24–25%: what agents should do now

12:10 – DeepBrain AI demo: create open house videos without being on camera

16:31 – 3D tours + detailed tags for remote/international buyers

19:39 – Stand out with useful tags & humanized marketing

20:10 – Using ChatGPT for stats, emails, and faster learning (why Plus helps)

23:51 – Trust Scout for targeting investors, agents, and opportunities

26:26 – Events that matter: Inman, Women Council of Realtors, Real Deal

32:13 – Lucy’s networking workflow: listen first, then add value

40:15 – Podcasting & interviewing to build reputation and authority

46:53 – Keeping episodes fresh: lead with personal stories, not sales

49:30 – Rapid fire: favorite guest, lessons, drink, travel, death-row meal

54:47 – Final mindset: passion, positivity, and productivity

🔗 Lucy Edwards

 LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/ledwardsny/

📲 Connect with Left Brain AI

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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/left-brain-ai

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Episode Full Transcript:

Kyle: All right. Welcome, everybody, back to another episode of the Brainiac Blueprint, where we discuss the intersection of AI with our esteemed guests. I am Kyle Lambert, your host and founder of Left Brain AI and Action Hero Marketing.

Some of you may have seen our guest in the first part of our two-part series here. We are welcoming back Lucy Edwards to talk about a bunch more stuff. She has some more real estate and tools to share, as well as some marketing and reputation management topics to go over. As I mentioned last time, Lucy has a wealth of knowledge to share with everybody. So, Lucy, welcome back. How are you?

Lucy: Thank you so much. Thank you for such a warm introduction, and I'm happy to be back.

Kyle: Awesome. Great. Well, let's jump right in. If you don't mind, just again, remind everybody who you are, a little bit about your background, and how you think about AI.

Lucy: Well, Lucy Edwards is here, and I started in real estate about 25 years ago. My husband and I built our company in the New York City metropolitan area from ground zero. We were the first ones to discover floor plans outside of Manhattan. We kind of pioneered that whole industry.

It was word of mouth where the word spread that floor plans are needed, and that’s how we started building our reputation. I personally believe that the foundation of any marketing strategy really is trust and relationships. That’s how we built our company - we built relationships first with companies, with agents, with brokers, and with admins, with everybody I could meet in a hallway.

And then, based on that relationship, we grew the business relationship and started offering. It's important to constantly listen to what your client needs - not just what they want, but what they truly need - and you bring value to the table.

That was my foundation. That was the basis. And I built a successful multimillion-dollar company that we sold to VHT Studios. At VHT, we took it to another level. Their slogan was “Image is everything,” but in 2019, it became so much more. We were doing videos, drones, and storytelling, which was so important. You can tell the story with a drone video and then a walkthrough video of the property - and that’s your story.

We put VHT on the map as a company with an intelligent marketing strategy, not just great imagery. Then Matterport bought us, and as a result, I changed my strategy and introduced Matterport as a company that’s a humanized marketing tool - not just a camera that scans, but something that thinks about the final consumer.

Again, it’s about relationships, value, and being proactive. Think about what your client is going to need, because sometimes they don’t even know what they need. You have to suggest and recommend. You have to think for your client - that’s what’s important.

Kyle: Proactivity is key. It’s the best way to build value, establish trust, and build that reputation - everything you just mentioned. One of the great things about you, Lucy, is that you’re so open with your strategies and insights, and you know that everybody can learn and share stories - and you can learn from other people as well.

Last time we spoke, you shared a lot of your tools and strategies. I know you and I have been connecting and talking a couple of times since then, and you have some more things that you wanted to share today before we jump into marketing-specific topics. So I’m going to pass it to you. I know you have some cool things to share.

Lucy: Yeah, I would like to start with AI and what I think of it, and what AI means. Like I like to say, it’s a love-hate relationship. You hate doing it, but you love what the tool brings you and how it elevates you.

I think AI is a powerful accelerator. It’s shaping how we work, how we connect, how we tell stories. What’s important is to remember that you have to be authentic and still be human. That, I think, is the foundation of AI - use it, but don’t forget that it’s you who’s talking. It has to come from your passion and your heart.

Kyle: I think “accelerator” is the perfect word. You use it to do more of what you do well. It’s not replacing anything; it’s just helping you be more proactive, more productive, and get more of what works for you out the door.

Lucy: Exactly. And actually, the word “accelerator” I got from ChatGPT.

Kyle: Nice, nice.

Lucy: But you tweak it to yourself, to your personality. You pick and choose the words that fit your strategy, and then it works out just fine.

Kyle: Exactly. You’ve got this down to a science at this point.

Lucy: So today, we are talking about marketing and reputation. I’d like to start with how, for the last couple of years, we kept saying “the market is shifting.” It’s shifting again in a completely different direction. Right now, it’s going from a seller’s market to a buyer’s market.

The strategy slightly changes, because the shifting market is really an opportunity to shift your thinking - to change how you’re going to sell yourself. You’re not just selling a property; you’re selling yourself.

So elevate your marketing strategy. Elevate what you are about.

I think it’s extremely important to mention three bullet points about video - why video is important in today’s environment.

Number one, your high school photo on your business card is not going to fly anymore. You have to update your portfolio. It’s also important to have a short video about yourself because when someone is looking for a realtor, they’ll find you on your Google Business page or your social media - you have to have a YouTube channel.

That way, you are consistent, and people can feel who they are going to meet and work with. That’s why it’s important to make your video authentic - make it with your whole spirit, your passion, your heart.

Invest everything you’ve got into that 30- or 45-second video so people can feel that you’re going to stand up for them, fight for them, get the best price for the seller, and work hard to make their dream come true. That energy will come through the video if you make it right.

Now, we’ll talk in a minute about situations when you’re shy or uncomfortable on camera, because that’s common.

The second thing I’ll mention about video is - again - be valuable. Don’t just make a video saying, “Don’t forget to paint your kitchen” or “Replace your bright green walls with white ones.” That’s not what people need to hear.

Try to include some kind of statistics - for example, according to some appraisal companies (and you can use ChatGPT to check it), if you have a $500,000 property and you’re sitting on it waiting for rates to go down and prices to go up, you’re actually losing about 1%, about $5,000 a month.

So in ten months, you’ve lost $50,000 of value - not to mention taxes can increase, the house wears down, your air conditioning can break - all these things can happen in those ten months.

That’s the kind of video that brings value to sellers. That’s practical advice.

There are also some statistics I’d like to share.

According to Realtor.com, year over year, inventory growth from July last year to July this year increased by 24.8%. In New York, according to the New York Post, it’s also 24.8%. According to House Canary, it’s 23.9%.

That’s very important to remember because now you have to increase your value by 25%. You have to increase your marketing budget by 25%. Most importantly, you have to increase your creativity.

Invest in education. I personally try to attend at least two or three different webinars on different subjects just to stay up to date on what’s happening.

If fifteen minutes into a webinar I feel like I’ll never use it or it’s over my head, I log off. But you can’t imagine how useful most webinars and podcasts are. I listen to podcasts when I drive - even if it’s just a 20-minute trip, I’ll finish the episode on the way back.

If you take even one hint from each, that’s progress. You might not discover America there, but you’ll confirm what you already know and remember to use it tomorrow.

And what I'm telling you now that inventory is rising, again, that's no use to you. But think about how you're going to elevate your marketing strategies to bring your value by 25%.

I’m going to share something with you right now, and I find it amazing. And you know how I found it? Through networking. I went to Inman, and at Inman I met as many people as I possibly could. I went to every happy hour. Yes, I was drinking, but at the same time, I was able to talk and listen to so many startups and good ideas - and ideas that were just being born and not even invented yet. It really made me understand how rich the real estate industry is and how much we can do for our clients.

But I would love for you to listen to this video. It’s about one minute, so be patient with me.

(Clip plays)

Kyle: That’s so interesting. That’s such an interesting tool. It’s funny watching you talk when it’s not actually you. What is the process like for getting that set up? Do you have to do a couple of videos so that it gets to learn you and your voice and everything?

Lucy: No, no, no, no. Actually, you’re not even… That was the video when I was talking about “do whatever you want to do,” talk about what you have for dinner. That’s all you need to do. And when you don’t have an accent, actually your video and your voice are perfect. With me, they tried to play with that. It was either too British, or too German, or too something. It was never Russian though.

But no, all you have to do is just talk - talk about whatever else you want to talk about. And then you incorporate the Word document that you prepare with the script, and you can - and that’s it. And then the software does it all for you. So it’s really, really cool. The name of the company, just one second, I will… hold on, I will…

Oops. Oops.

Kyle: I think I saw it was DeepBrain.

Lucy: Yeah. DeepBrain AI. It’s at the end of that video and you have the information, so you can share it. Again, you can look at other companies similar to that one. This one is very inexpensive. I think you buy the membership and you can do as many videos as you want. I would suggest for you to create a few videos so you have enough for a whole week to do different posts. All you have to do is change your clothes and change the Word document that you would like to talk about.

So that’s all you’ve got to do. And then you will have a whole series of videos that are very simple. Now, something that I would also like to share with you, speaking of videos - and we spoke about it last time - is Matterport. Talking about reputation and bringing value.

Right now, in Florida, for example - especially in South Florida - 50% of new developments are sold to investors or just international buyers. Fifty percent. That is huge. Now, if you think that someone from Spain or Argentina is going to fly to your open house, that’s not going to happen. So with 24/7 tools like Matterport or any other 3D tour, you can really get things done.

And here you can put tags in, you can describe the property - the more tags you have, the more opportunities the buyer has to spend more time on your property, falling in love. And that’s very important. So I’m just going to show you very quickly - again AI, the same AI:

“Four-story townhome, contemporary style with smart functionality in one of Fort Lauderdale’s most desirable gated communities, Villa Medici. Featuring warm wood flooring throughout, the home offers a cohesive and elegant aesthetic across all levels.”

Kyle: Lucy, so I was curious. I didn’t realize - is this the same tool? You showed a little bit of this last time. I wasn’t sure if this is…

Lucy: It is exactly the same tool.

Kyle: Okay, awesome.

Lucy: Yeah, it’s exactly the same tool. The reason I’m showing it here is how you can be creative and one step ahead of your competition. It is so important to know what’s happening in the world so you can be one step ahead.

Hardly anyone is using tools like this. Commercial real estate - yes, they do. Maybe not as much with video, but with tags. Because in commercial real estate, you put, you know, what kind of stove it is if you have a tenant - if you have a property management company. Then you can, for example, have a tag about the refrigerator, so if the refrigerator breaks, you can have a tag with the name of the model and the code and whatever else, so the mechanic knows what to do and what to bring.

So certain things are very important when you have tags like that. But in residential real estate, it’s rather new, and I can tell you that probably not even 0.0001% of realtors use that tool. So if you want to stand out, think about how you can stand out. And coming back to the statistics of how inventory is rising and how you should raise your thinking - that is one of the directions. I’m not selling Matterport - actually, not at all - but there are plenty of other companies using similar technology. Just investigate.

I would like to talk about ChatGPT - how it can help you and how it can also bring your knowledge to a different level. So, for example, here - that’s where I got my statistics. And here, for example, we have… what did I ask here? I was asking about monthly inventory growth over time - and it’s in New York. So in New York, in March it grew… so it was growing to - that’s how many houses for sale. So from March they had - we had 29,000, and now we have 38,000. So it’s growing consistently.

Read a regional snapshot of New York City Capital Region. So we have here inventory and new listings - both rows - driving search, pending sales, and closed sales. So it’s really… So the pending sales are still at 19% year over year, and closed up only 2%. So overall, the sales inventory is at a nearly three-year high. So it was up 3.9% in just one month.

So here we will be asking about Philadelphia. Philadelphia is actually doing much better. So here we have active inventory dipped slightly. So you see - so you are selling by 2% more. So that is great. And then we can do whatever you like to do. We can look at Dallas. “How is Dallas, Texas inventory growing year over year?” And they are really not that bad, because that is one of the hottest markets right now, so it’s actually pretty good.

So metro-wide inventory - so the Dallas–Fort Worth market has experienced a dramatic 53%… So you see - and that is since I was there in June - 53% increase in inventory from May. That is… So they had to increase - the agents in Dallas have to increase their marketing budget and their thinking head by 53%.

Kyle: There’s a lot of opportunity there they can capitalize on. So you’re right - get your name out there, show why you’re better, really step up your game.

Lucy: Absolutely. That is your opportunity. Market shift equals opportunities. Those are the things that I think are so important right now for you to understand.

But ChatGPT - and I suggest to splurge and pay $20 a month - I have ChatGPT-5, which is much better than 4. For me, $20 is enough. You can buy better plans and bigger plans. But this is really, really… And not to mention how it can write. If you need to write a very quick email and it has to be grammatically correct and you want it to be nice and clean, it can create a really cool email for you quickly. You just tweak it a little bit to your personal needs - to yourself - and here you go. But it will be much better and much faster than you spending 15 minutes creating an email or cover letter or something like that. So please keep this in mind.

Very, very quickly, I would like to use one more marketing tool. Let me see if I can do that. So that one - it’s TrustScout. I was talking about it last time, but I didn’t really study it that well. Not that I studied it that much better this time, but at least I’ll give you an idea. You can go to a map, you can put a zip code - and this one is mine in Fort Lauderdale. You can put filters in. So you can put, for example, how many bedrooms do you want? You want three bedrooms.

You can talk about mortgage and gender - owner or rental. Let’s say we can talk about rent, and we can talk “include unknown.” And then I just want to put more filters so it will be children - we can put three to five… Oh my God.

Okay, I have… I have two. So then we…

Kyle: I have zero.

Lucy: You will be in a different filter. So then we can have “active shopper,” so whatever - new home. So we can put a new home, yes. And then we can filter it and calculate the number - and that will… Oh, it signed me out. But it will filter it, and actually the map will create all the addresses according to your filter. It’s a really cool tool.

Let’s say you have an investor - and with that marketing tool, you can look for investment properties in certain areas. Or here they have a whole - they call it many, many Ds - diaper, death, documents - whatever it is. And you can incorporate all the filters and you will come up with great direction.

If you are a broker and you are looking for agents - according to that map you can find agents. Let’s say you want luxury - ranges between 5 and 10 million dollars - or you want agents who do just flip homes, or whatever else. There are so many categories. With the TrustScout software you can… And I met them again at Inman. I think going to different conferences is very important, and meeting different people is very important as well.

So I would encourage you. Some are very expensive - for example, if you buy the ticket at the last minute, it’s $1,500 - but if you buy it ahead of time it’s half price. You can go to Inman in different areas - for example, Miami Inman is $600, and Dallas Inman is, I think, $600 as well. Those are different networking events that you can join.

I personally think that events - like we met at the event NYC Expo in New York City - that was perfect. So even if you live in Philadelphia or Connecticut, you should be coming to events like that.

Anyway, that is one of the networking directions. Women’s Council of Realtors - I love Women’s Council of Realtors. It costs you nothing. Even if you’re not a member, you pay $25 for your breakfast, and then you get networking. You meet so many people - not just vendors and partners; you meet other agents, you meet other ideas. There are different speakers - speakers are always invited. So many statistics in front of you when you go to events like that. So I strongly encourage you.

Real Deal - I love Real Deal. There is Real Deal in New York and it’s very affordable. There is Real Deal in Miami. I buy the VIP ticket so I get to meet the right people.

Kyle: You are a VIP, Lucy.

Lucy: That’s awesome, yeah. I love events. You know, it’s still such a digital world, but it’s still a human-to-human world too. We connect more - that’s why video is so important. You get to see someone’s face, you get to hear their voice - it’s like, this is an actual person. So I totally agree - getting out there and talking to people is still the best way to grow your reputation, grow your business, increase your contact list - everything. It’s a compounding effect.

You may not get that immediate return - maybe you will - but as you go to more and more, it compounds on itself. And it’s like, “Oh, I’ve seen you multiple times now,” or “Oh, you know this person too,” and it really does build on itself.

Lucy: Yeah, exactly. And then you get referred, you get introduced, and so on. So I think that is very important. And also - build your reputation. When you go to events, when you do networking, when you join webinars, when you listen to podcasts - you learn. Every day you learn something, and you build your reputation as someone who can represent themselves if you have a problem, if you have an issue, or if you need some help, or if you need some good ideas.

“Come to me - I’m your source.” I think even being an agent and helping other agents - that is building reputation. That agent who you just helped - he or she is going to also promote you, saying, “I don’t know how to help you… I know that Mary Jones - she is there, and she will definitely get you an answer on that particular subject.” So that is important.

And that is talking about the reputation. I think “invest in your reputation” is the key. Again, you have to be authentic - that is number one that I would recommend. Think about myself - first of all, be yourself and don’t offer anything you don’t believe in. And just think about the value that you are bringing to the person.

And don’t argue with them if you think that their opinion to them is so important. It’s actually against my Russian religion. In Russia, you will argue to the minute you die. I learned - I lived long enough in America - if it’s something very important and you cannot convince them, don’t waste your time. You explained your point of view, and I think that’s all you can do at that point. But if you see that you’re just banging against the wall, just let it go.

Kyle: What’s that old saying? You can only lead a horse to water, right?

Lucy: Exactly.

Kyle: You can only do so much.

Lucy: You can only do so much. But reputation - that is your reputation. Reputation is your knowledge, is how you share your knowledge with others, is how authentic you are, and what you are offering.

Like, I would never offer - when I had my company - and the agent would insist that they want to have drone video because the seller wanted drone video, and that video will only show how close their property is to another property - they can shake hands on Sunday morning. That is going to ruin the whole marketing strategy. So I would always recommend to think about what’s good for the property, not what the seller wants. And I would even offer to put it in writing as an email saying, “I strongly recommend not to do that.”

So it’s not like I’m trying to save their money; I’m trying to save their reputation because they’re going to ruin their reputation, and the seller is going to hate them because nobody is going to come to the open house. So that’s, I think, again, part of the reputation subject.

Kyle: There’s nothing worse than an empty open house.

Lucy, I want to put some actionable, tangible thoughts behind all this. You’ve talked a lot about different tools you’ve used, building your reputation, using your marketing. You think about storytelling versus selling to these people.

So let’s build a hypothetical situation here: you’re at one of your networking events and you meet somebody that you find interesting or worthwhile building a relationship with. Maybe this is a peer in your space. Maybe it’s an opportunity for a sale or a new project. There’s a lot of different ways that you can slice or dice it.

What is your process? What are your next steps? How do you decide, “Okay, I want to jump into this tool and do this research,” or “build this video,” or “reach out in this way”? What is your thought process when you make these connections and getting the most out of that?

Lucy: Well, I ask questions and I listen. It took me years to learn that. But now I think I conquered the listening tool. I listen. I ask: “What do you do?” - that’s what happened. The reason I keep bringing up Inman is because it was only two weeks ago. So I listen: “What do you do? Okay, you are a startup. How will an agent benefit from it?” And then I’m asking hypothetical questions - like being a devil’s advocate - and then we have a conversation.

And if the person I’m talking to can see that I am interested and I want to learn - at least, you know, in general I want to understand what they’re all about - then I usually try to dig to the very bottom to understand whether we can continue that conversation later. And I would like to invest in our relationship and create that friendship, and so on.

If I feel like I will never use that tool again, or I don’t believe in it, or I think it’s just a waste of time and my clients - my agents - will never use it, I’ll just say that “It sounds great, but it’s just not for my sphere and it’s not for my industry. It’s probably better for property management that I don’t know anything about,” or whatever.

So that’s how I usually approach it. But even if it is about property management, I will also spend time on it just to understand that maybe I know someone and I can recommend them to each other - like with this TrustScout program, I was thinking about investors. I have a lot of agents who have investors or investment properties. I reached out to everyone I could think of, saying that that is the tool you have to use.

I reached out to my colleagues - former competitors as photography companies - “You should use that tool to look for brokerages that will be useful for you to approach and sell them your marketing strategies and your marketing tools.” I also approached some of the brokers and I said, “That is the tool for you to find agents in the category you’re looking for. You don’t have luxury, but the majority of your listings in the territory that you are covering are $500,000, for example - and here is the tool to do that.”

So that’s how I look at it. And I try to… I think what goes around comes around. I always think how I can - what I can bring back and offer to people I’ve worked with in the past, to my friends or my colleagues or someone I have great respect for.

And as a matter of fact, it just came up that someone reached out to me via LinkedIn saying that they have an investment property and they’re trying to raise funds for a multifamily home - I think it’s like 26 units. So I said, “I have no funds. But I have a tool, and you can start looking for investors.” And so hopefully when he finds the investors and he gets the project going, he’ll remember about Lucy and he’ll take me out to dinner.

Kyle: Perfect. I’ll take a good steak dinner any time.

Lucy:  But that’s how… how you utilize your connections. 

Kyle: That’s perfect.

What I’m hearing you say is: even if you’re not a subject matter expert or have a direct solution or service, there’s always value that can be provided that will then make them think of Lucy - or think of me, or whoever it is - in the future. It gives them that warm and fuzzy feeling, and they’ll at least know, “Okay, Lucy went to bat for me. How can I return the favor?” It’s the rule of reciprocity - always in effect.

I’m curious - so I had a similar conversation with my brother the other day talking about building relationships.

He has this one question that he asks everybody. He says that if you have a magic wand and there’s no budget or obstacles, what would you fix? Like, what is your challenge that you’re trying to overcome? I’m curious if you have one question like that that you always ask somebody to try to uncover their challenges or their goals or anything like that.

Lucy: Well, the first person I would ask that question is myself. Like, what would I do? And it’s hard to answer. It really is. And I did ask some of my colleagues, some of my agents, like, “What would you do if you would not do real estate?” The majority of them said, “No - I have no idea.” Some of them said, “I would open my own company.” Some said, “I would love to have a team and maybe not be a team leader, but be part of a strong team.”

Some said, “I would love to move somewhere else and start all over and see how successful I can be, because I already built everything I possibly could over here, and it would be really challenging to just park myself in California” - actually, that’s a true story - “park myself in Los Angeles and see if I can replicate what I just did in Garden City in New York.”

So those are some questions. I can tell you my challenge was… So Matterport, before CoStar bought us, they sent me to Dallas and they said, “You have no clients. You only have one product, which is a 3D tour, and we pull photos from it. You don’t have any connections, and you landed in the middle of nowhere. Can you build the business?”

And basically in three months and one week, I had a full schedule. I had several meetings every single day. I was participating in so many events. I was driving myself crazy. I spent two weeks in Florida, two weeks in Dallas. And I didn’t complete building the business because CoStar decided that they will go a different way with the Homes.com and memberships and such. But I actually proved to myself that I can be placed in the middle of nowhere - I had never been in Dallas ever before - and with nobody around and knowing zero people, build something.

So that can be challenging. That was fun. But you said, “I already tried that.” So now I need to create a different challenge.

Kyle: I’m excited to see what’s next for you, Lucy. I know you’re going to do something really cool. That’s very interesting.

I do want to pivot a little bit here. So I know that you have a podcast, you have several different YouTube channels, you like to do a lot of interviewing - and that’s a tool that you use to get your voice out there, to build your authority. I think there’s a lot of opportunity there.

Podcasts are a dime a dozen today - they’re very popular - and so I think people view it as saturated. But I still think that there is an opportunity for everybody to, again, build their reputation and establish some authority to grow their business. So I’m curious - was that your reason for starting the podcast and starting to interview people? And how did you decide on your style and your brand? There’s honestly a lot more that goes into it than people might realize.

Lucy: Yeah. Well, when I joined VHT, they didn’t want me to be in sales anymore because it was all about “Lucy, Lucy, Lucy.” So they said, “Get out of sales. Do not talk to anyone, and we will have ‘Lunch with Lucy’ podcast.” But I was choosing my own guests, and my goal was to invite someone not because they’re a CEO or whatever - though sometimes there were CEOs - but someone who is valuable.

Like, I had ChatGPT. I had someone talking about cryptocurrency three years ago when it was really, really hot but no one understood what it’s all about.

I had someone about keto diet, because I think it’s so… not that I follow it, but I think it’s important. But I listened to him, and I did take - just like I said, no one discovers America - you have to be healthy and you have to eat healthy. I did take some notes from him, but I did not stop drinking - and that’s one of the things that you have to do.

So I invited a guest on social media, I invited a guest on YouTube channel - those were… And sometimes the company was against my decisions, and they felt like it’s not promoting the company. But it promoted the company indirectly, because people would sign up - we had so many followers, up to five, six hundred people joining live and then watching later, because they knew that something interesting is going to be there.

So even if I didn’t talk about VHT or I didn’t talk about Matterport, I was talking about what’s valuable - and that is important. I believe that you and I today are talking about something that is valuable, and maybe one or two nuggets someone will take home with them.

As far as my interviews - it came accidentally, because someone… I was doing the podcast and I was approached by one of the top agents in Manhattan saying that maybe you can just do a short interview with me, since I was on your “Lunch with Lucy.” And I did that, and it went through the roof.

Then I asked that agent if I can interview another Sotheby’s agent in Florida, and I did that. And then I started interviewing. But my interviews were never about VHT or Matterport or market conditions - it could be one of the questions - but the main direction, the foundation, was about the person I was talking to.

It’s their story - how they got started, how they fell in love with real estate - because they were all real-estate-related more or less. How did they… maybe they’re third generation or fourth generation realtor, and how they built their brand, and what challenges they went through, what challenges they’re still going through - because nothing is easy.

And that’s how I actually opened doors. When I did the interview with Hoby Hanna - Howard Hanna - and we flew to Cleveland, Ohio, and our chief revenue officer came with me. We were there for two days. I felt like a family. You don’t really build business - I didn’t sell Matterport. It just came naturally that we started talking about Matterport on day two and what we can do for the company. We didn’t have coverage there, so we couldn’t do anything. But still, whenever I see Hoby, he’s such a down-to-earth person. I have such great respect for him.

Sometimes I just want to pinch myself - people I met and people who were across from me at this conference table - Gino Blefari, who is also so down to earth and such an interesting history and success. It’s incredible.

But I think, again, if you are authentic, if you are passionate about finding out their success story, then it will be a successful interview. I believe in that.

Kyle: I couldn’t agree more. I think you need to find the intersection of maybe your theme and their passions, right? That’s what people want to listen to - not somebody sitting there selling a business or blandly talking about this and that. When you can see and hear the excitement, that’s when you want to tune in, and that’s what you really remember and want to continue to investigate.

I truly wish that I started this podcast years ago. I’ve been having so much fun talking to different people and hearing their insights and their expertise. And it just leads to my own excitement. And as a marketer, you take a 45-minute conversation on video and it gives me 50, 60, 70 pieces of content because you slice it up and you can share it. So it is helping me grow my business as well in a fun way. I enjoy these conversations very much.

So I think that there is so much value in the art of interviewing and podcasting that a lot of people don’t think about. So I highly recommend people give it a shot and keep trying. That’s incredible.

How do you keep each episode fresh? I know, again, you talked about focusing on their passions and their insights. Is that it? You don’t go in with a scripted episode - you really just want to talk to them and hear their voice?

Lucy: I usually put some questions together. I run it by the person I’m going to interview. Sometimes they tell me right away that they’re not going to talk about it, so I just keep it. For example, when I interviewed Robert Reffkin, I heard before about the story - how he started in real estate. And actually, he was a DJ in high school, and that was his first business. And I asked him, “Can we talk about it?” And he said, “Of course we can.” And it was actually fun.

And then it took off more like a personal conversation versus talking about how great the Compass agents are and how we just kill to be the best and how we invest in our back office - no, it was nothing like that. And obviously he’s very proud of his brand and his success - and he should be. You can like him or you can love him or you can not like him, but he is a genius. So let’s put it this way - I respect him very much.

And that’s how I try to keep it fresh - by just asking questions beyond “How did you get started?” Like when I interviewed Jay Ramley, our chief revenue officer, I said, “Let’s go back to when you were seven years old and let’s see who you wanted to be.” And then it came up to be such a great story - how he wanted to be a pilot instead of chief revenue officer at Matterport. But we were talking about the school years and his adventures, and it was a very personal, very close-to-heart story, you know?

Kyle: I’m picturing you having that DJ conversation with the gentleman you mentioned first and the lights going low and a disco ball coming down and you guys just having a little dance party for the interview. It’s funny how you can go off on these tangents and have it just lead to a great conversation like that. That’s incredible.

Amazing. So, Lucy, we’re getting close to the end here. I have some - I know we did this last time, but I always enjoy these rapid-fire questions. So I’m going to throw five new ones at you and see what kind of good answers we get from you.

Who is your favorite guest or interview that you’ve had so far from your podcast and your videos?

Lucy: Ted Wang. He is @properties and he is also Christie’s International, and now he’s part of Compass. Such an amazing personality. Oh my God. And he started from nothing - he was from a very… I shouldn’t say “very poor family,” but definitely not a fortunate family. And how he built that empire - because he was different. He was such an outside-of-the-box thinker. I just enjoyed his chemistry. I just wanted to be in his office forever, listening to his stories.

Kyle: Very cool. Knowing what you know now, is there anything specific that you would change that you’ve done in the past?

Lucy: Probably, as far as my interviews are concerned, I would probably not just focus on C-level people. I should really - and I’m going to continue doing that - so now I’m building my YouTube channel and my podcast and everything else. I will be talking to more - maybe just agents, and not just agents - agents and also to buyers and sellers and their experiences and what they go through.

I think the final consumer is one of the most important topics right now for everybody - for all you agents. It’s very important to understand the final consumer. And that’s what I’m going to invest my energy in now. And I’m sorry I didn’t start it earlier.

Kyle: Well, you know what they say - the best time to plant a tree is 10 years ago. The second-best time is today. So, yeah.

When you are at the different networking happy hours that you go to, what is your drink of choice?

Lucy: It all depends. It depends how tired I am or how excited I am, but usually it’s scotch. I love my scotch. I learned to drink scotch when I came to America, as a matter of fact.

Kyle: I was going to say, how American of you.

Lucy: And you can put a little soda water there and you can put an ice cube and it will last. If I drink vodka, I usually drink it straight, and then I get really drunk. And because at those events, you drink more than you eat, so I have to be careful - and scotch can take you a long way.

Kyle: There you go. That’s smart. Seasoned vet right there. What is your favorite vacation spot?

Lucy: Oh, that’s a great question. I love scuba diving. So scuba diving, Kyle - scuba diving is like a world of its own. Like, if you can fly to the moon, it’s the same thing if you can scuba dive. So we - Peter, my husband, and I - we love the Caribbean, but our favorite, favorite spot would be the Pacific Ocean.

So our last vacation was in Fakarava, and that is not far from Tahiti. And it’s like… And then also in the Rangiroa - I can never pronounce it right - where we were swimming with wild dolphins. A whole family of eight came to us two days in a row, and we were playing with them. They asked us to scratch them, and they would move around… It’s amazing. So I would say the Pacific Ocean is my most favorite. It’s just unfortunately extremely expensive and a very long, long flight, and you have to…

Kyle: It takes a while to get there.

Lucy: Yeah, it takes time to get there. Exactly, yeah.

Kyle: Last one. What is your death-row meal?

Lucy: Mexican food. I was Mexican in my previous life. I would do anything for enchiladas or for stuffed pepper… No, I just love, love tacos, okay, but I like enchiladas. And actually we make the best - Peter and I - we’ll have to cook. So when we cook, we always accommodate our food with the proper drink. I don’t like margarita - it’s too sweet - but then we drink tequila and we drink Mexican beer or some kind of similar beer. And we have appetizers - Mexican food appetizers. I even have a set of dishes.

Kyle: We love a theme.

Lucy: Yeah, it’s all peppers. And when I had my company and we were in North Bergen, New Jersey, on my birthday every year they would do a surprise birthday party for me decorated in Mexican flags and hot peppers.

Kyle: That’s awesome. Do you like it spicy? Can you handle the heat?

Lucy: I love it spicy, yes.

Kyle: All right, I’ll have to make sure I take my heartburn medicine next time we hang out.

Amazing. Well, Lucy, we are at the open forum section here. Was there anything that maybe we didn’t touch on that you wanted to share - you feel passionate about? Anything like that?

Lucy: My passion is: be passionate, be authentic, be true to yourself. Wake up in the morning and be happy. If you are not happy in the morning, go for a walk, go for a swim in the summertime, or whatever you’ve got to do - but get your attitude together. You have to have a positive attitude.

If you have a negative attitude, you are not productive. And if you are not productive, you will only get more negative. So whatever it takes - read a book, go for a walk - but get your positive energy inside yourself in order for you to have a good day. Otherwise… or just go and watch television all day because it’s going to be wasted regardless.

Kyle: That’s so true. That is a perfect way to end it. I feel energized and ready to handle some business right now.

Lucy, thank you so much for joining for two episodes. You’ve contributed so much of your time and your knowledge. We appreciate it. So if anybody is listening or watching, again, they could find you on LinkedIn - I know you love to connect with people on there. You have your channels on YouTube. And remind me again - you’re starting off with “Get Reads”…

Lucy: Yeah, I’m starting off a new one. It’s youtube.com, and then it’s @lucyedwardsrealestate. But it’s not really… It’s going to be there. My old one that’s going to be alive for another week is youtube.com/lucyedwardsvht. So that’s… And I’m transferring my content slowly.

Kyle: Amazing. Well, we’ll be sure to share all that so everybody can learn even more from you.

So, Lucy, thank you again for joining episode two of the Brainiac Blueprint. I really appreciate it. One more time, if you don’t mind, look at the camera and say, “Stay brilliant, Brainiacs.”

Lucy: Stay brilliant, Brainiacs. Cheers, everybody.

Kyle: Thank you, Lucy.