Interview With Sean

Throughout constant changes in a turbulent industry, Geneva Financial Area Manager Sean Uyehara has maintained his social media presence through a determination and drive to create more business in a way that breaks the typical mold. This change started in 2017 when Sean saw other Loan Officers and Realtors using online platforms to garner business. Before this observation, Sean used the traditional model of cold-calling leads and trying to build a customer relationship over the phone. When he realized that most leads only wanted information and didn’t produce much business, Sean decided to take more control of the situation.

Sean started filming quick 10-15-second videos for Facebook ads, later expanding to Instagram, LinkedIn, and TikTok. Taking inspiration from popular reality shows like Million Dollar Listing, Sean began filming vlog-style video content, showing viewers the mortgage world from a lender's perspective. He took his entire budget for gathering leads and used it to hire a videographer to film and edit videos. Focusing on his home in Las Vegas, the team around him, and the company he worked for, believing the all-encompassing team around him was what made the videos special, not the product he was selling. This genuineness has increased his business and generated more genuine leads.

As view counts and followers began racking up, Sean became more comfortable on screen. Choosing to be himself, Sean stopped wearing a suit in his videos and decided to go for a more casual attire, saying, “People don’t care about what you dress or look like, sometimes you need to, but the world is changing. No more suit and tie, once you get to the point where the content is working, nobody cares.” This change made his content appear more relatable and authentic, showing Sean’s true personality. If your clients are expecting the same person they saw on video and are met with someone completely different, a disconnect can happen. 

In his videos, he sits down, does screen shares, and “gets to the point”. You won’t see Sean dancing or doing silly skits, that’s not him. 

Sean looks at market trends and current mortgage news, sharing his honest opinions on the industry and what he believes people should do. He looks at Google search trends to see what people are trying to learn and turns that into his content. 

It’s also important to know what’s trending on each platform and to use it in your content. Spending just a few minutes on each platform daily will give you a good idea of what others are doing. Sean suggests following other influencers from similar industries, dissecting what they talk about to decide if it’s a topic he’s interested in making content for.

Sean goes to creator conferences to learn more about the process of content creation and mingles with other influencers. This has helped him “think bigger” and introduced him to a new world he never knew existed. Covering all topics, some are more interesting than others. Understanding that the mortgage isn’t the most glamorous subject, Sean emphasizes the importance of trying to make your videos interesting.

Finding inspiration in other fields helps to stay on top of what you talk about and gets the creative juices flowing. As you produce more content, you’ll find your voice and the videos you prefer to make. It’s a tough road for many at first but once you find your niche and know what you like to make, it becomes much easier.

To stay on top of his shooting schedule, Sean films content first thing in the morning before daily distractions get in the way. If you have errands to run, need to pick up the kids, or have a meeting to attend, Sean states “You will always choose the path of least resistance” and push it aside. Don’t focus on making high-production videos, shooting on your phone in the car does the trick. Platforms like TikTok and Instagram even push “lower quality” videos, which often get more traction than ones shot with professional equipment.

Prioritizing a platform is a challenging feat. Sean has had the most success on YouTube and prefers the flexibility of shooting long-form content, often cutting clips from his longer videos that he then uploads as shorts on other platforms. This is fluid from one creator to the next and largely depends on who watches your videos. For Sean, he found that his target demographic prefers to watch videos on YouTube and he tailored what he makes just for the platform.

Measuring the success of videos can often be difficult for content creators. Sean tries to avoid looking at metrics, instead focusing on how it affects his audience. Knowing that his work can have an impact on someone's life is what Sean cares about. Whether that means more business for him or simply teaching someone something new about the industry, there is value in information.

Sean noticed that his profiles popped off when COVID hit with “a little bit of dumb luck” as more people moved to the Las Vegas market. He would create videos on life in the city, talking about what people would ask him in the comments of other videos. 

As parting words for anyone looking to begin their endeavor in the content creation world, Sean recommends sticking with it and having a genuine belief in what you are doing. This process isn’t easy but if you give it your best effort you will be rewarded.

At the time of the interview, Sean has no immediate plans to change what kind of content he produces, but ramping his YouTube channel back up is at the top of his list. We know that Sean will put his best foot forward in whatever he decides to, and we can’t wait to watch it.