QC, THAT'S WHERE!
QC, THAT'S WHERE!
Engineer turned realtor brings people to the Quad Cities by being brutally honest on YouTube
Ever wonder how an engineer in aeronautics becomes a real estate aficionado? Our guest, Alex Skeen, takes us through his extraordinary journey from rockets to helping people find their dream home in the Quad Cities real estate market. His fascinating story will captivate you, as he shares his unique experiences, including the awe-inspiring sight of a rocket launch in Florida and the rewarding shift to real estate.
It's time to embark on a detailed exploration of life in Iowa with the expert guidance of Alex, a proud local since 2015. He shares the ins and outs of life in the Midwestern state, from bracing winters to the friendly community spirit. And if you think YouTube stardom is reserved only for beauty gurus and gamers, Alex will prove you wrong. His channel, 'Living in the Quad Cities', has become a major influence in people’s decisions to relocate--and sometimes even leads to unexpected fan encounters!
The journey concludes with an engaging review of the Quad Cities’ real estate market, where Alex seamlessly navigates between Illinois and Iowa. Discover the area's unique attractions, the cost of living, and why it's the perfect blend of metropolitan vibrancy and small-town charm. Listen in as we reveal how Alex utilizes YouTube to build trust with potential clients and how his videos impact the local community. So, whether you're a Midwest local, a potential mover, or a real estate enthusiast, this episode offers an engaging deep-dive into Midwestern life and its thriving real estate market.
#VisitQuadCities #RealEstate #YouTube #Podcast #Influencer
QC, That's Where is a podcast powered by Visit Quad Cities. Through the people, partnerships, and personalities woven throughout the Quad Cities region, you'll meet real Quad Citizens and hear the untold stories of the region.
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And I was walking through Walmart with my fiancee and I see this couple. They come past me and I don't think too much of it. I noticed they were kind of looking over at us and we turn into aisle and they turn around and follow me like, oh man, you know, I don't know what's going on here, but they ended up, you know, tapping me on the shoulder like, hey, are you, alex, am I? Yeah, I'll be watching YouTube channel. And the the crazy part to me was they're like we watch a YouTube channel and we moved here because of the YouTube channel all the way from Alaska. Wow, that's Crazy for me to think about. My videos were enough value to them, they made a decision to move from Alaska to.
Intro:Iowa, illinois area. Where do you find a family of communities connected by the storied Mississippi River, where young explorers and dreamers, investors and entrepreneurs thrive? Where can you connect with real people living and creating in a place that's as genuine as it is quirky QC. That's where.
Katrina Keuning:Welcome to QC, That's Where I'm your host, Katrina, and I'm so excited to be talking with Alex Skeen today. Real estate agent YouTube Extraordinaire. What have you, Alex. I'm gonna throw it over to you and let's talk about living in the Quad Cities and being in the real estate game.
Alex Skeen:Absolutely Well. First off, thank you so much for having me here. Pretty cool to be on the podcast. I listen to you guys all the time. So awesome to be invited and be a part of this so awesome. Thank you so much.
Katrina Keuning:Thank you for coming on. I know that it's a busy world in the industry that you're in, so the time you're spending with me is much appreciated.
Alex Skeen:No problem at all. So, yes, my name is Alex Skeen. I've Been in the Quad Cities since about 2015, have a YouTube channel that Basically goes over what the Quad Cities is like and you know my origin story and why I have the YouTube channel is kind of an interesting path. Now I moved here, like I said, in 2015. I was just out of school, living in Ames, went to school at Iowa State, so go cyclones.
Alex Skeen:I got my mechanical engineering degree and I started working here as an intern for Alcoa which, as you probably know, is Arconic now and Got a full-time job offer there and started working for them was a mechanical engineer and Really cool job. You know, if you don't know much about our conic, they have some super cool products there. I mean they supply, like I want to say is like 98% of the aluminum for all commercial aircraft. They have stuff supplied for SpaceX, rockets, tesla, ford, f-150s. They have really cool stuff there and I did enjoy my my time there.
Alex Skeen:I worked on those big giant reversing mills as my primary focus, but at some point I was just kind of, you know, feel like every day was just monotonous and wasn't getting the joy out of it like I did when I first got there.
Alex Skeen:So that's where I started to look at different opportunities and my different opportunity actually became real estate. So I came a licensed realtor and when I got it I had never planned on becoming a full-time realtor, even when I was doing my engineering job, because engineering you get paid pretty well and to go to real estate where it's very unknown how you're gonna get paid, it was a big, big jumps. I never planned on it. But the funny thing about Making that transition is my buddy. He lives in Florida and he's a in the Air Force and he predicts the weather for NASA and SpaceX in order to launch rockets, which I went down and visited him and I had a part in helping build those rockets because of our conic and I watched these rocket launch, which was awesome and I don't know, could you have you ever watched the rockets launch down there?
Katrina Keuning:Only on TV.
Alex Skeen:Yeah, well, highly recommend getting down there and watching it because it's just amazing. We watched a night one and I swear when they lit it it literally looked like the Sun was turned back on. It was so bright, like is this really amazing?
Alex Skeen:But when I watched the rocket launch, you know, the thing that stood out to me is that Nobody's gonna ever know that I had a part in that and at this time I was doing both real estate and the engineering job, and the thing that I noted about real estate is people appreciated what I did and got thank yous, which sounds kind of cheesy, but I just really liked that aspect and that was actually the moment I decided I was gonna leave my engineering job and go into on this for real estate thing for full time.
Alex Skeen:But how does this all kind of accumulate which is what we're here to talk about into YouTube? Well, the thing that I noticed when I was coming here I was coming here, you know, just out of college 2015 was there wasn't a lot of great resources to find out what it's actually like to live in the Quad Cities and, as part of the real estate job, you know that's part of our Duties is to let people know what it's like to live here, and nobody was making videos about it. So, branched out, saw some other markets, some other realtors in different markets like Colorado, new York, and a lot of people were having channels that are doing this sort of stuff, so started learning from them and really just started making content for our local area. I mean, you guys over there, visit Quad Cities, do a fabulous job, but you're more geared, and I may be wrong, but it seems like you're more geared towards like touristy type stuff and events versus the actual living. Is that pretty accurate?
Katrina Keuning:So it can be like that we definitely have like a staked claim in the tourism assets and kind of highlighting the beauty and the what to do on a weekend. But that's why I was really excited to talk to you, alex, because we love to partner with people who can get more in the nitty gritty of like what the neighborhood's gonna be like. I mean, the Quad Cities is so large and vast that there's just no way for one entity to see it all. So partnering with someone like you where we can cover like here's what's happening this weekend and you can cover like here's what your morning walk is gonna be like, that's the beauty of the Quad Cities and partnerships like this.
Katrina Keuning:And I gotta touch really quick on your switch from engineering to real estate. It may sound surprising, but the times you and I have talked recently, you're a people person, so it actually totally makes sense to me that you kind of fell into that, as opposed to the engineering sphere, and you are a literal rocket scientist I just learned. So that's awesome, but please continue.
Alex Skeen:Well, I wouldn't go that far. I helped build the aluminum to make the rockets. I never had to do the projections on how the rocket would go function, so clarify, I'm not a rocket scientist.
Katrina Keuning:Details, details.
Alex Skeen:Exactly exactly. But you know, what's funny about that is I don't feel like I was your typical engineer the whole time I was in school. Now I graduated with honors and all that, but I always say it's because I was working harder than most. I'm not the most technical, not the smartest, especially when you get around some of these engineers that are technical, it's like, okay, I can see my weakness here and I did enjoy getting around people and the plan from even from school was to not be an engineer the rest of my life.
Alex Skeen:It was more to get into management, but when I got to our conic I saw what management did and just wasn't what I had in my mind of what it was gonna look like. So that's kind of where I did start reaching out and figuring out what did I like about the people side of things and how could I apply that elsewhere. So yeah, I mean retrospectively, it does probably make sense that I'm in real estate versus engineering, but it's not a typical jump for sure. I don't know of any other engineers that are also realtors, at least locally, unless they haven't told me, which is quite possible.
Katrina Keuning:Yeah, so your YouTube channel is focused on. You know the things that we're missing. Basically, when you moved here and so in one of your YouTube videos you mentioned how you've lived all over the state of Iowa. Go ahead and drill into that a little bit. Where have you lived in Iowa and, like in your experience, how does it compare now to being on the Iowa side of the Quad Cities?
Alex Skeen:Yeah, so I have lived everywhere. I grew up in Western Iowa, right on the border of the Missouri River, about 20 to 30 minutes away, I guess, and then I moved to Ames, which is central Iowa, did a stint in Des Moines for a little bit and then also did a stint in Marshalltown, so kind of that central Iowa area, and then, like I said, in 2015, made the jump over here to Eastern Iowa, so all along I-80. Can't say I've lived too much in the Northern and Southern parts, but all the central parts, you know, the middle of the state. But yeah, that video you know, ironically enough, it's kind of a negative video on the surface. The title, I think, it's like seven reasons you should avoid moving to Iowa, or something like that. Yeah, I pulled it up.
Katrina Keuning:Avoid. Okay, here's the kind of cool thing, and if you're not familiar with Alex's YouTube channel, so Alex has a YouTube channel called Living in the Quad Cities and this video we're talking about All Caps Avoid Moving to Iowa Unless you can handle these seven things is the title, and I'll let you get into it. I just have to say I love, I love the like anti-advice kind of like vibe it has, because once you click in and you start listening, it's genuine information, but it's it's just truths that are like this may not be for everyone, but it's not necessarily bad stuff.
Alex Skeen:Yeah, and that's why I say you know, on the surface it looks terrible. You know, void moving to Iowa, but the way I look at it is, I don't know about you, but I shop on Amazon all the time, right, and you see those negative reviews and usually those are the ones that are the most helpful on if you're going to purchase or not, totally. And when you look at the channels, like I want to let people know what it's like to live in Iowa, in Davenport, beton Dorf, moline, all those because you don't want somebody to get here and then be disappointed and then leave the community. And that's the crazy part about the channel is people reach out to me and usually the negative videos are the ones they're most thankful for.
Katrina Keuning:Yeah.
Alex Skeen:I didn't know. You got, you know, 10 inches of snow a year or whatever it is. It's like I'm glad to hear that and they're excited about it. I live in Phoenix and I don't get snow here. I just want to see snow when I move there, when us live. Here we might complain, you know, ah, snow cold, it's awful. But somebody that hasn't seen it and they want to, they're going to be really appreciative of that.
Katrina Keuning:Right, yeah, now you're still right about those, you know, negative reviews, because what might be a big deal breaker to somebody might not be to somebody else or might be a positive thing. I like to think it was in that video. You also said you know, if you're moving here, particularly from the South, be prepared to answer the question. Oh, like, how much snow have you seen before here? And I have, I'm like guilty of that. We. I used to have a coworker at my previous job who was from Texas and I would. Every time it was snowed I'm like, ah, is this the most snow you've seen now? Like, how you liking it? You know, it's just kind of like in our blood to to flaunt the extreme winter weather that we get just for fun.
Katrina Keuning:Yeah. It is something that you need to know if you're coming here.
Alex Skeen:Exactly Now it's. It's fun to see that. And then, you know, when I get to meet some of these people that are coming here, it's fun for me to see their perspective on things. You know, my fiance is a good example. She's she was born in the Philippines but she grew up in Saudi Arabia and then she moved to Rock Island, which are not the same at all. So some things that I take for granted she's, you know, just mesmerized by, like the snow, for one example, but she also loves fireflies in the summer. To me, growing up in Iowa, that's a pretty common thing. You know, I don't even really think about it, but she sees them, she runs out there and she's like, oh, this is awesome. And when you think about it they are pretty cool. I mean, what other animal produces a light like that? It's not a common thing.
Katrina Keuning:And it's not toxic. You can grab it in your hand and actually like up close and personal.
Alex Skeen:Yeah, exactly so it's uh, it's fun to do those because that's what I keep in mind is, like, the things I find common may not be common for somebody else, and I want to share those sorts of things, and that's the big goal with the channel is just share the commonalities that somebody may not know or like.
Katrina Keuning:And your videos have gotten a worldwide audience. Yeah, you know we were talking before. You mentioned some countries that you've reached and actually gotten like notes from. Can you dive into that a little?
Alex Skeen:Yeah, I mean the thing with the Quad Cities. I think it's it's known but it's not really known, especially on the world stage. And Thing with the videos is it's one of the biggest stages that you could have out there and I'm getting people reaching out. I've had people from Malaysia, south Africa, brazil. Brazil is actually a pretty common one. I think a lot of them are coming for John Deere I think they have a plant down there, so I get people from Brazil, mexico, all sorts of places, and no, it's just really cool to show the world what it's like here, not just the United States, but outside the world, and people do come here much more often than you might think and it's just really cool to be able to share that information with them as well.
Katrina Keuning:Yeah, you know what, like you mentioned, you know people coming for like a John Deere job or you know we have some pretty major like corporate hubs here and so you know someone like you providing that inside. Look from a local On an easy access platform like YouTube how valuable of a service is that that you're giving people for free? I I gotta have you talk about your Walmart experience.
Alex Skeen:Yeah, yeah, we talked about that beforehand. You know, it always amazes me how much people Trust me and, you know, think of me as this like quote-unquote celebrity. And I was walking through Walmart with my fiancee and I see this couple. They come past me and I don't think too much of it. I noticed they were kind of looking over at us and we turn into aisle and they turn around and follow me. Normally that's probably a little bit alarming Like, oh man, you know well, I don't know what's going on here, but they ended up, you know, tapping me on the shoulder like hey, are you Alex, am I?
Alex Skeen:Yeah, I'll be watching YouTube channel and the the crazy part to me was they're like we watch a YouTube channel and we Moved here because of the YouTube channel all the way from Alaska. Wow, that's Crazy for me to think about. My videos were enough value to them. They made a decision to move from Alaska to Iowa, illinois area. Like that's a big change and that was just a real world change and I get people calling me all the time, but to have it in in real terms was just a really cool experience.
Katrina Keuning:Yeah, and it makes sense. Like you know, they probably had seen enough of your videos where they could get kind of a sense of who you were and what you were about and could Tell that you were being real about you know, about living here, because you're not just trying to paint it all flowers and rainbows and, you know, happy stuff, but the real, the real life living in the Quad Cities, which can be beautiful and wonderful and it can also come with, you know, 12 inches of snow, you just never know. But I think that's it really, really shows that Quad citizens, like as part of our Kind of brand here at visit Quad Cities, we strive to be, you know, genuine and we like to show our quirky side and I think that that's all encompassed in those videos that you're putting out.
Katrina Keuning:So I'm gonna visit Quad Cities. Thanks for doing that service for the community and beyond. It's just really, really, really valuable. I wanted to list a couple, so just to List a couple of the more popular videos on your channel to illustrate what we're talking about. So there's a Avoid moving to Iowa one. There's seven reasons not to move to Davenport, iowa. Living in Davenport, iowa, the dark side of moving to Davenport. And then seven reasons not to move to Moline, Illinois.
Katrina Keuning:And I know in at least a couple of these you mentioned the Iowa nice or like Midwest nice kind of vibe that people put off. And Although I'm a Midwesterner I'm originally from Michigan. It's kind of always been part of my life is that you're gonna just say hey to someone walking down the street. But you know you're so right in those videos you mentioned, like maybe you're coming from a community or a state or something that's. You know you kind of keep to yourself and you're not accustomed to like Chatting people up on the subway and that's okay, but just know that it's, it's gonna happen here, yeah yeah, it's, it's interesting, I mean hearing you read those titles off.
Alex Skeen:I mean I made a lot of those videos year and a half ago, two years ago. But it's interesting for me to hear those because those are all negative titles. Negative titles and it's kind of the nature of YouTube as well. You know, if they're not clicking and they're not gonna watch. So a lot of these negative titles are the ones that get clicked the most and then obviously that's the views. But then they watch it and they realize that it is genuine and it's not necessarily negative.
Alex Skeen:But the thing I find interesting about these negative videos is I have locals will watch it too and they're the ones that get the most upset about it because they don't actually watch the video. They just see the title and the thumbnail and they're like, oh, how could you talk bad about it? I'm like, well, did you watch the video? I didn't really talk bad about it. It was just, if it snows, it snows here. If you don't like snow, don't move here, like it's not necessarily a huge negative. So it's always fun and interesting to see those comments from local people because they don't actually watch the whole video.
Katrina Keuning:I mean it's it's a great tactic and it's not clickbait, because genuinely what you're saying is real stuff You'll encounter. Maybe you'll like it, maybe not, and lay it all out and let people decide for themselves. Yeah, I really like the tactic. I thought it was really interesting. So talk to me a little bit about Real estate. Like the real estate game, I mean your full-time in it. Your licensed on Illinois and Iowa side of the river. What kind of what kind of interest do you get from people who are coming from outside the area? Are they more interested on the Iowa side? The Illinois side is a kind of a mixed bag. What are you seeing?
Alex Skeen:Yeah, so I, like I said, people contact me. I mean, if you watch the videos that my phone number is literally on the video, my emails on the video for people to actually reach out, and you know what I find is it's a really mixed bag. As far as where people want to land, it depends on what their job is here, where they want to live, if they care about taxes or if they Just have a preference, one or the other. It just it really is a mixed bag and it comes down to a lot of factors. You know, obviously the people coming here are usually the buyers. As far as the actual real estate market, it's an interesting market right now when our interest rates are up but our prices are also up.
Alex Skeen:But the thing I'll say about that is People that are coming through the videos are coming usually from states that are a lot more costly, like California, texas. The price point is a lot higher. So they see these prices and they're like oh, that's, that's nothing, and a lot times they're pre-approved, ready go, and it's just an interesting dynamic to see, because I work with local buyers in Salish too, and the Dynamic shift between where they're coming from and if you're just local, is just interesting dynamic there, so yeah, when you're guiding people through the Quad Cities, you know, based on their preferences, whether they're looking on that Illinois or the Iowa side, do you find that there is, you know, one or two major selling points to convince somebody to?
Katrina Keuning:You know, live in the Quad Cities, whether it be the Illinois or Iowa side. We're all. We're all in it together. It's easy to get from one side to the other, but is there something major that you're like? Oh, you should consider this.
Alex Skeen:Yeah, I'd say the Quad Cities overall is kind of homogeneous. Yes, we have the Iowa Illinois side, but there's really not one thing On either side. That is, like you know, this, the North Star that people look towards.
Alex Skeen:Yeah, I think that attracts this area, tracks a lot of people to the area, is the cost of living in the prices of homes and Just getting away from people. A lot of these Individuals that are coming here are in big cities where it's crowded and just congested all the time. And I don't know about you, but we complain about the traffic once in a while. But if you actually go to a real big city it's a whole nother level and if you're coming from that, this is awesome, like there's no stop traffic anytime and you might get a little bit busy and we got rid of the old I74 bridge so we don't have those big backups anymore. But no, it is Interesting seeing their perspective because it is the cost of living, is the getting away from the amount of people. You know the Quad Cities. Obviously it's a pretty big metro area but nothing compared to like a Chicago or an LA In any means.
Katrina Keuning:Yeah, it's, I think it's easy. The longer you're here that you know, the more you're kind of like oh, it does feel like a Big city, it does feel like there's people everywhere all the time, but like that's one thing like. So I came here from I'm from, like the Ann Arbor, michigan area and I used to work in Detroit. So like when I first came here I was like whoa, I can get to work in six minutes. There is literally no commute, and it still holds true. You know, through the years that I've been here, there's no commute time and that's a huge selling point for me.
Katrina Keuning:I love to tell people that my friends who are still back in Michigan, I'm like can you drive to work in under a half hour? No, most people you know. And then another thing I think just the novelty of like being able to Get between two states in just a matter of minutes is very cool and it's something that people hear, you know, not in a bad way, but like take for granted. It's just like ah, I like you know North Park Mall and then I'm gonna go hop over the river and do some shopping in watermark corners Downtown Lillean or something you know. It's just, it's very easy to get whatever you need. It's like that small town feel with big city amenities. I like to say but yeah, that's, those are kind of my like highlight points of the QC.
Alex Skeen:So I Even a better point is we're gonna get you gasoline, you know which side, to one side or the other, depending on what they want to get.
Katrina Keuning:That's so yes, the prices fluctuate, yeah, and the two states Okay, do you find this to be, you know, a point of contention for buyers that, like Iowa and Illinois, politically are very different and, you know, tax wise, like you said, are very different, gas prices very different. Is that ever something that people are like? I have to live on X side because of this.
Alex Skeen:Yeah, I do get people that do have a strong opinion about that. Yeah, because it is a big dynamic. I do touch on those things a little bit in some of my videos. I try to stay a little bit away from politics Just because it's so Dividing. I don't don't like to talk about it too much. But you know, I definitely do get people that are like, nope, can't, can't live in Illinois, nope, can't live in Iowa, and these are the reasons why. So then we just take them and we show them the side, whatever side they prefer, and you definitely definitely see that for sure on those things.
Katrina Keuning:What's been your favorite in the videos that you've made. What's been your favorite video or your favorite like piece of advice or nugget that you've shared?
Alex Skeen:That's a hard one. I mean I think I'm approaching 100 videos on there, so it's hard to remember all of them. But I think I don't know if it's my favorite. But the thing that I talk about probably the most is the weather. For whatever reason, I think it's the most common one because everybody talks about the weather. They want to know what's like, they want to know the natural disasters, so like tornadoes how much of a risk is that or hail, so it's definitely the one I talk about the most.
Alex Skeen:Whether it's my favorite and probably not, I repeated a lot and I don't stray away from talking about it because a lot of times it's going to be new viewers for the newer videos and they still want to hear that sort of stuff. But that is definitely the most common. I can't think of my favorite. I go to Vanderveer Park a lot and I like making videos there. So I guess in the recording process is probably my favorite thing to do is be outside, go to these parks that maybe I don't go. And, by the way, about that you know, baking these videos. I've learned so much more about the Quad Cities because I have to think of a video twice a week.
Alex Skeen:I'm going to talk about and definitely have learned a lot about the Quad Cities that I never would have learned otherwise. So it's really kind of a cool byproduct of making these videos, so that's something I do really like about it.
Katrina Keuning:So if you don't have an answer for this, that's fine, we will bypass it, but do you have a highlight moment from your real estate career? Since you've switched over from engineering, what stands out to you?
Alex Skeen:The highlight moment is probably just being able to help people manage the buying or selling process. One in particular moment was probably my first YouTube client. They came from, I don't know, texas. I can't remember where they came from. I need to look at it. It was the first time they is a first call I ever got and I was like whoa, somebody actually watched this video and decided to call me, like that was amazing.
Alex Skeen:And then when I first met them and this happens all the time, but it was more impactful, but very first time I did it is they felt like they knew me already because they've been watching my videos for months. They had no idea what they even look like. But when they saw me, like, oh hey, alex, how's it going? I'm so glad that you fit us in. People call me. They think I don't have time for them because they see me on YouTube or their TV, and I definitely have time for people. The mentality is almost a pseudo celebrity where, because they see you on the phone or on their TV or however they watch it, they do feel like, oh my gosh, this is the guy To me. I'm just a normal dude. Yeah, I'm on the YouTube, but I don't feel like a celebrity, but having that interaction with my very first client off of YouTube was just pretty fun to see.
Katrina Keuning:It was amazing that you were able to see results from the hard work you were putting in and I don't know. I would say like 30,000 views is nothing to shake a finger at and you're encroaching upon 100 videos. You said like that is you're definitely climbing to celebrity status in my book. So what are your like long range goals for your channel or for your you know, real estate career at all?
Alex Skeen:So the channel is my favorite clients. I can't Can I say that, not it. They're awesome, all my clients are awesome. But as far as you know getting clients, you know sometimes we do other methods of getting clients. You can have Facebook ads or whatever there's not that trust there right away. So I like YouTube clients because they do come to me and they do feel like they trust me and it's just a better interaction all together for everybody involved. It's not like I have to sell them on X, y and Z, but long term goal is to have my YouTube be the main source of people coming to me and being able to have other agents have the benefit of that interaction with people. So that just making more videos, getting more views I mean the channel has over a million impressions now. I think it's like 1.2 million impressions and then views is over 100,000. We just hit the 100,000 mark, I think, last week.
Katrina Keuning:Congratulations. That's a huge deal.
Alex Skeen:Thank you, yeah, it's. It's crazy to me that people have watched me 100,000 times, right, I think it's like 8,000 watch time hours, which blows my mind that people are walking me for that long. But now that's. That's the real goal Helping people, providing them enough value to where they want to reach out to me and then eventually to where I can hand these people off and they have the same trust and loyalty to the team because we're providing them so much value up front and then throughout the process of buying or selling their home.
Katrina Keuning:Yeah, I just I wish you all the best in your YouTube climbing. I just I think those videos are so valuable and I wonder I mean maybe you do or don't know, I wonder if anybody out there in your same industry has seen them and gone. Oh hey, cool idea for my community. You know, I've maybe probably no way to know but so there's nobody locally that I know of.
Alex Skeen:But there's definitely other areas. Like I said I, I just mimicked other markets like Colorado, might. My mentor is actually in Denver and I learned from them all the time on different things that they're doing and same type of information just applied locally. So, yeah, I definitely get people talking to me about the videos. They see it and it's just kind of a cool dynamic. In fact, I'm going to be hosting a class Next week or two weeks from now for realtors in Des Moines and me and a lender local lender in Des Moines are going to talk about it and maybe we get somebody started up in Des Moines to do the same thing, because I think it's one of the best things I've ever done. It does take a little time to get going, but once you do, you do gain that trust, you provide value to people and they just really like it.
Katrina Keuning:And you highlighted, like I want to say, Urbantique in Walcott. Is that one that you did like a walkthrough?
Alex Skeen:Yep, yep, that was actually one of the first videos that I made, okay great. I don't know if you know Diana, but she's awesome.
Katrina Keuning:Yeah, I've been out there was able to meet her and her business and, yeah, I agree, it's a very it's really cool, truly unique, and it was really like I watched your video. I can probably back when you launched it, because it was very helpful to be able to see oh, you know, when you get out of the outside of the immediate Quad cities, what else there is.
Alex Skeen:Yeah, yeah, I remember that one Because you guys picked it up, I think, for like Women's Month or something A small business for women and I remember thinking like I think I got like 300 views on that video right away. And when you start a YouTube channel for folks that don't know, if you get 10 views on a video, that's impressive when you first start. So to have 300 views from you guys coming with awesome and you know, looking back, 300 views to me is a great number but it's not as monumental as I thought it was back then. So it's cool to see that and how you guys picked it up. But, yeah, it was cool to make that video and, like I said, diana is an awesome person. Definitely should check her place out.
Katrina Keuning:Shout out to Diana.
Alex Skeen:That's right. Urbantique out there.
Katrina Keuning:Well, alex, I think it is time for me to ask you to fill in the blank QC. That's where.
Alex Skeen:Well, I'm glad you told me about this before I had to think about it, but I think I think I have a good one. So you know, qc, that's where Home is. I think that kind of sums up my goal with the channel and having people reach out to me, and I think that's a pretty simple one, right.
Katrina Keuning:I really like that. I never know what the answer is going to be. It can be something like related to the topic we've been talking about. It can be something totally unrelated. It's always a fun surprise. I really like that. It's simple and it's sweet and it totally is Quad Cities. That's where Home is. So, alex, where can people find you on social media before I let you go?
Alex Skeen:Yeah, so a couple different areas. I run a Facebook group called Living in the Quad Cities. It's a very simple group. I share articles, events that are going on. A lot of times I share your guys's stuff. You can join that group to find me personally. You can find me on Instagram, alex at AlexkeenReal, and then if I'm gonna be my friend on Facebook and she's Alexander Skeen, you can hit me up there. And then, obviously, the YouTube channel.
Katrina Keuning:Perfect. Well, alex, keep doing what you're doing. We love it here and we are here to partner and support any extra information that people can get about the Quad Cities. So thank you so much for being on.
Alex Skeen:Awesome.
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