Pre launch / Early posts
Instagram reels
Posted early renovation/real estate videos with stiff scripting and no personality. Focused too heavily on what to say rather than being himself. Videos were bland and monotone.
→ Stuck at a few hundred views per video for up to 2 weeks
Style pivot — studying successful creators
Competitor research
Studied creators like Rajin (luxury cabin build) and adopted their content structure: quick cuts between locations, B-roll, background music, captions, and series-style progression. Adapted the format to his own renovation project with his own personality and energy.
→ Identified winning content framework before applying it
Breakout video — first viral post
Instagram reels
Posted a house tour video of the $267K riverside property (filmed before renovation) using the hook format: 'X days ago I bought this property for $267,000.' Rapid cuts through each room, explained what changes were planned, high energy delivery.
→ 1 million views; launched the channel's growth trajectory
Ongoing series — recurring hook formula
Instagram reels series
Every video opens with the same recap hook ('X days ago we bought this house for $267,000'), keeping new viewers informed while building recognition with existing followers. Structured each video as: hook → context/recap → main conflict or update → plan/progress → dry humor → CTA ('follow along as we bring this house back to life').
→ Every video since the first hit 100K+ views; top video at 13.9M views
Users 325k users
Content production system — batching
Content batching
Drove 3.5 hours to the property once a week, filmed 4–5 videos in a single day wearing different outfits to simulate daily posts. Edited each video on CapCut on mobile the day before (or day of) posting. Total editing time: 30–45 min for simple videos, up to 2 hours on average.
→ Enabled daily posting cadence without daily travel
Cross platform repurposing
Tiktok and youtube repurposing
Published every video on TikTok first (adding captions in the TikTok app), then repurposed the same video to Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts/channel with identical captions and format. Used just 2 preset background songs alternated video-to-video to speed up production.
→ 325K Instagram, 92K TikTok, 9K YouTube — Instagram dramatically outperformed
AI assisted scripting
Chatgpt scripting
Used a custom ChatGPT project with a tailored prompt for his Riverside property series to draft scripts following his framework (hook → backstory → problem → plan → CTA). Heavily edited the output to remove robotic tone and inject his own voice. Mentioned switching to Claude for more natural-sounding output.
→ Faster scripting with consistent structure across videos
Monetization — early stage
Tiktok creator fund
Monetized primarily through TikTok's view-based creator program. Declined brand deals to avoid changing audience perception. Considering future paid community (bi-weekly Zoom calls with other creators) and possibly a course once he has more results to show.
→ Some TikTok revenue; no significant Instagram monetization yet