PODCAST LAUNCH PLAN — LIVE DASHBOARD

Lance Martin and Mike Jesse Podcast

Marketing & Business Plan · Show Theme · 18-Month Studio Calendar (Aug 2026–Dec 2027) · Topic Bank · Guest Strategy · Social & YouTube Marketing Plan

Show Theme & Positioning

Two former legacy-brand franchise owners — Lance Martin (23.5 years, Coldwell Banker) and Mike Jesse (RE/MAX, alongside his wife Kathy Jesse) — go on the record about why they left the traditional brokerage model and rebuilt at eXp Realty. Each episode unpacks a piece of that decision: revenue share, equity, the cloud brokerage model, and what the industry's consolidation wave — Real Brokerage's 2026 acquisition of RE/MAX, Compass's debt-funded growth, Anywhere's brand struggles — means for agents deciding what's next.

Positioning: Not a corporate recruiting pitch and not a gripe session — a candid, insider conversation between two people who actually ran legacy offices, carried the overhead, and made the leap. Credibility comes from having been on the inside of both models.

Audience

Working agents evaluating a brokerage change, broker-owners under franchise pressure, and eXp-curious agents who want an unscripted view rather than a recruiting script.

Four Content Pillars

1The Franchise Breakdown Why the legacy model is under strain: franchise debt, M&A consolidation, commission compression, brick-and-mortar overhead.
2The eXp Model, Explained Revenue share, agent equity/stock awards, ICON status, cap structure, eXp World, Regus workspace access.
3Making the Leap Real transition stories — guest broker-owners/agents who left a legacy brand, and Lance's and Mike & Kathy's own stories.
4Building the Brand of You Agent-as-brand, recruiting and team growth, global expansion, conference culture, tech/AI.

Name Options

All materials in this plan are labeled generically as "Lance Martin and Mike Jesse Podcast" per Lance's instruction. Name options below are carried over from the working notes for Lance and Mike to lock in later.

Episodes Already in the Can

Episode 1 (recorded 6/9/26) — The franchise trap, Lance's move to eXp, 98% split vs. revenue share, brick-and-mortar decline, becoming the brand, old CRMs vs. AI, Mike's two-year business story.
Episode 2 (recorded 7/1/26) — Traces the shake-up back to 2009, commission compression, death of the 6,000 sq ft office, Lance's Dana Point/South Coast Metro office story, the Real/Compass/RE-MAX M&A wave, multi-state cloud expansion, revenue share and stock awards, agent-as-brand.
Episode 3 (recorded 7/16/26, shot on location in Paris) — the show's first episode outside the studio, filmed during eXp's international conference swing: going global, the on-the-ground conference experience abroad, and the guests met along the way.

Episodes 1–3 already establish Pillars 1, 3, and 4. The calendar picks up with the next studio sitting and continues cycling through all four pillars.

18-Month Studio Calendar — Aug 2026 to Dec 2027

Cadence: one studio sitting per month, third Wednesday of the month, 2–6 episodes recorded per sitting (batch-recorded, released on a staggered schedule between sittings), with one on-location exception in August 2026 (below). Dates and frequency are placeholders per Lance's note — easy to adjust once studio and guest availability are confirmed.

Special multi-day shoot — Episode 4: Fast Forward Movement (FFM) San Diego/Coronado Retreat, Aug 12–13, 2026. FFM is the San Diego-based eXp growth community founded by Daniel Beer and Kyle Whissel. Plan to set up a pop-up studio in the event lobby for the full two-day run and shoot interviews with FFM leadership, eXp corporate leadership in attendance, and top-producing agents within the FFM community. Guest availability is fluid at a live multi-day event, so this sitting should outproduce a normal studio day — budget for roughly 6–12 short-form interview episodes rather than the usual 2–6.
18
STUDIO SITTINGS
AUG '26–DEC '27
66
NEW EPISODES PLANNED*
69
TOTAL LIBRARY BY END OF 2027*

*FFM special (Session 4) is estimated as a range (6–12 episodes); stats use the low end for a conservative total.

#Studio DatePillarSession ThemeEps

Numbering continues from Episodes 1–3 (already recorded). Studio date, cadence, and episode counts are working placeholders. FFM special episode count (Session 4) is a range estimate; totals above use the low end.

Topic Bank

Pillar 1 — The Franchise Breakdown

  • The 12-month franchise trap and what legacy brands don't disclose
  • Franchise debt loads and what happens when costs get passed down to the agent
  • Case study: Real Brokerage's 2026 acquisition of RE/MAX ($880M deal, ~180,000 combined agents) — what it signals about where legacy models are headed
  • Compass's acquisition-fueled growth and debt load vs. its "boutique" image
  • Anywhere Real Estate (Coldwell Banker's parent) and the pressure on legacy franchise economics
  • Commission compression and rising splits since the 2009 housing crash
  • The death of the 6,000-sq-ft office: from 40-agent bullpens to meeting clients at Starbucks
  • Territorial boundaries and franchise restrictions vs. multi-state, cloud-based expansion

Pillar 2 — The eXp Model, Explained

  • Revenue share 101: seven-tier structure, paid from eXp's company-dollar share (not out of the agent's own commission)
  • Fast Start Bonus and real-time / "Pay Now" payout access
  • Revenue share as a willable, generational-wealth asset
  • Cap structure and cost comparison vs. traditional splits
  • Agent Equity Program and stock awards (first sale, cap, sponsored-agent milestones)
  • ICON Agent Award: production requirements and up to $16K in annual stock awards
  • eXp World: the 3D virtual campus, training, and 24/7 collaboration tools
  • Regus partnership: 3,000+ physical business lounges included in the monthly fee, for agents who still want an in-person option
  • No brick-and-mortar overhead, no office/desk fees — where that saved revenue goes instead (tech, agent support, commissions)

Pillar 3 — Making the Leap

  • Lance's story: 23.5 years at Coldwell Banker, building out Dana Point and South Coast Metro offices, and the decision to move The Martin Group/Cobalt Realty Group (140 agents) to eXp
  • Mike & Kathy's story: The Jesse Group's years at RE/MAX and their transition
  • What actually changes day-to-day for an agent who moves — tech, support, culture
  • The "reluctant agent" story arc — skepticism going in, buy-in after the fact
  • Interviewing other broker-owners and agents mid-transition or newly arrived from a legacy brand
  • Family business dynamics: building (or rebuilding) a business with a spouse or family in real estate

Pillar 4 — Building the Brand of You

  • The agent IS the brand now — why personal connection outperforms the company logo on the sign
  • Recruiting and sponsoring: what it actually looks like to build a revenue-share network the right way (not "MLM-style" pressure)
  • Global growth: eXp's international expansion and what it means for referral business
  • EXPCON and eXp World events (Salt Lake City, Paris, Cape Town, Vancouver, Medellín) as culture and recruiting tools
  • Inside the Fast Forward Movement (FFM): how a San Diego-based agent community became one of eXp's fastest-growing growth groups, from the Aug 12–13 on-location shoot
  • AI and tech adoption: eXp's AI Accelerator Series vs. legacy-brand CRMs
  • Old-school lead gen vs. new tech — where AI is already changing the agent's day-to-day

Guest Strategy

Real-name guest bookings should stay within Lance and Mike's actual network — the profiles below are the types of guests to prioritize each sitting, mapped back to the four content pillars.

eXp Realty corporate or regional leadershiprevenue share policy, international expansion, company strategy
Pillar 2 / 4
ICON Agentsproduction + stock award story, proof of the wealth-building thesis
Pillar 2
Broker-owners who left a legacy franchiseColdwell Banker, RE/MAX, Keller Williams, Sotheby's, Century 21 — a fresh "making the leap" story each sitting
Pillar 3
Agents in year one post-transitionday-to-day reality check, unscripted pros/cons
Pillar 3
Kathy Jesserecurring guest for the RE/MAX-to-eXp story and family-business angle
Pillar 3
Industry press / analyst commentaryon the Real/RE-MAX deal and broader consolidation wave, for outside credibility
Pillar 1
eXp tech/AI team or power usersAI Accelerator Series, virtual office tools
Pillar 2 / 4
Agents actively recruiting/building teams at eXprecruiting playbook, sponsoring done right
Pillar 4

FFM San Diego Shoot — Interview Slate (Session 4, Aug 12–13)

FFM leadershipDaniel Beer & Kyle Whissel, FFM co-founders: how the community started and where it's headed
Pillar 4
eXp corporate leadership in attendancecompany perspective on FFM as a growth/recruiting engine
Pillar 2 / 4
Top-producing agents within FFMon-the-ground production stories and why they're part of the community
Pillar 3 / 4

Open Items for Lance & Mike

Before Aug 12–13 (Session 4, FFM San Diego):
• Confirm pop-up studio logistics with FFM organizers — lobby space, power, sound treatment for a two-day live-event environment.
• Lock the FFM interview slate and rough schedule (leadership, eXp corporate, top agents) against the event's actual programming.
• Lock the show name (decide between "Old School, New Rules" and keeping "The Lance Martin & Mike Jesse Show").
• Confirm Mike's contact/social info for show notes (currently missing from Episode 1 notes).
• Double-check Lance's email on file — Episode 1/2 notes flag a possible typo.
• Write up YouTube title/description for Episode 3 (Paris) — not yet drafted, unlike Episodes 1–2.
• Studio date (3rd Wednesday) and monthly cadence are placeholders for the regular sittings — adjust once studio and guest availability are confirmed.

Social Media & YouTube Marketing Plan

Every studio sitting already produces more than a long-form episode — it's raw material for a full distribution cycle. The plan below builds on what's already working (YouTube descriptions with SEO-minded titles, short-form clips cut from the full recordings) and turns it into a repeatable cadence tied to the 18-month calendar.

Platform Priorities

1YouTube Primary hub: full long-form episodes plus YouTube Shorts cut from each one. Search-friendly titles and descriptions (already the practice for Episodes 1–2).
2Instagram Reels cut from each episode, carousel posts for explainer topics (revenue share, cap structure), Stories for behind-the-scenes at studio sittings and events.
3TikTok Short-form clips mirroring the Reels/Shorts cut — same source clips, native captions per platform.
4LinkedIn & Facebook LinkedIn for the broker-owner/industry-analysis angle (Pillar 1 content performs best here); Facebook for eXp agent community groups and Cobalt Realty Group/Jesse Group pages.

Content Repurposing Workflow

Each studio sitting already generates 2–6 long-form episodes (6–12 for the FFM special). The same clip-and-caption process used for the existing Opus-cut clips extends across the full calendar:

Posting Cadence

1/wk
LONG-FORM EPISODE
RELEASE (STAGGERED)
3–4/wk
SHORT-FORM CLIPS
ACROSS PLATFORMS
1–2/wk
LINKEDIN/FACEBOOK
CAROUSEL OR STATIC POST

Cadence is paced so each month's batch of episodes and clips carries through to the next studio sitting — a placeholder rhythm to adjust once Lance and Mike confirm who's handling scheduling.

Content-to-Pillar Mapping for Social

Distribution & Growth Tactics

Baseline hashtags/SEO: #RealEstatePodcast #eXpRealty #RealEstateAgent #RealEstateIndustry #CobaltRealtyGroup — carried over from the Episode 1–2 YouTube descriptions. Add a show-name hashtag once the name is locked.

KPIs to Track

Open Items for Lance & Mike

• Confirm/create consistent handles across YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, and Facebook once the show name is locked.
• Decide who owns posting and scheduling (Lance, Mike, or a VA/editor) and pick a scheduling tool.
• Decide whether to add an audio-only feed (Spotify/Apple Podcasts) alongside YouTube.
• Confirm the clip-cutting workflow (continuing with Opus or another tool) for the full 18-month run.