Key Takeaways
- Authenticity and consistency matter more than perfection in building a meaningful business and life.
- Courage to start, without waiting for ideal conditions, is the foundation of every success story.
- Honest storytelling builds deeper connections than any marketing strategy ever could.
The REI Agent with Will Friedner
Value-rich, The REI Agent podcast takes a holistic approach to life through real estate.
Hosted by Mattias Clymer, an agent and investor, alongside his wife Erica Clymer, a licensed therapist, the show features guests who strive to live bold and fulfilled lives through business and real estate investing.
You are personally invited to witness inspiring conversations with agents and investors who share their journeys, strategies, and wisdom.
Ready to level up and build the life you truly want?
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The Montana Mindset: Introduction to a Life Less Ordinary
In this week’s episode of The REI Agent Podcast, Mattias sits down with Will Friedner, a top-producing Montana agent, digital marketing pioneer, and YouTube creator behind the massively popular “Living in Montana” channel.
With a rugged mountain backdrop and a story forged through adversity, Will opens up about how he built not just a career, but a lifestyle grounded in authenticity, resilience, and service.
From surviving the 2008 real estate crash to becoming one of the top online voices for Montana living, Will’s story proves that courage and consistency can turn obstacles into opportunities.
His journey is a reminder that your voice, your story, and your timing matter more than perfection.
From Foreclosures to Freedom: A Beginning in the Storm
When Will and his wife entered the real estate world in 2008, they were immediately met with chaos.
The housing crash devastated markets nationwide, yet it gave them a rare opportunity.
“We didn’t know what was coming, and that was a blessing,” Will recalls.
They dove headfirst into the wave of foreclosures, learning to adapt in real time as the market shifted under their feet.
Within months, the Friedners were handling multiple listings a week, building momentum through sheer determination and grit.
Those early lessons in adaptability became the foundation for everything Will would later achieve.
The YouTube Leap: Turning a Pandemic into Purpose
Years later, when the pandemic hit, Will faced another moment of uncertainty.
But instead of retreating, he hit record.
“I told myself I’d make videos for one year. One every week, no matter what,” he said.
Six months later, one of his videos exploded, gaining over four million views and changing his business forever.
Will’s secret? He wasn’t selling houses; he was telling stories. He invited viewers into the beauty and reality of life in Montana.
He didn’t romanticize it; he revealed it. That honesty became his competitive edge.
“If you think you want to move here, you need to know what it’s really like,” Will shared, reflecting on how many newcomers underestimated Montana’s winters and isolation.
The Viral Video That Spoke the Truth
Will’s breakout moment came with a video titled “Why You Shouldn’t Move to Montana.”
It struck a cultural nerve. Released during the height of political tension and the Yellowstone TV craze, his video was a raw, unfiltered look at what life in Big Sky Country is truly like.
“There’s a reason you’re moving here,” he warned viewers. “Don’t come here and try to change it into where you came from.”
That video didn’t just go viral; it connected with millions who longed for authenticity. It positioned Will as a trusted voice, not just another agent looking for clicks.
Living Honestly in a World of Highlights
Will’s philosophy is simple: authenticity always wins.
While many chase trends and algorithms, he’s focused on consistency and truth. He produces weekly videos without fancy equipment or viral gimmicks.
“My first viral video was filmed on an iPhone with a $20 mic,” he laughs.
“You don’t need Hollywood production. You just need heart.”
Even as his channel grew, Will resisted pressure to conform.
“I try to do whatever the gurus aren’t doing,” he said.
That contrarian mindset—paired with humility—keeps his content relatable and his audience loyal.
The Harsh Beauty of Montana: What the Camera Doesn’t Show
Behind the breathtaking scenery of Montana lies a truth few understand. Long winters, isolation, and darkness test even the most adventurous spirits.
“It gets dark at 4:30 in the winter and doesn’t get light until after eight,” Will explained.
The lack of sun, snowed-in roads, and solitude drive many newcomers back to their city lives within two years.
But for those who stay, it’s magic.
“It’s quiet. It’s honest. You find out who you really are,” he said.
That authenticity isn’t just his message—it’s his lifestyle.
Lessons in Courage for Agents and Entrepreneurs
For agents, creators, and dreamers alike, Will’s advice is timeless.
“Don’t get hung up on equipment. Just start,” he insists.
Too many people wait for the perfect camera, the perfect plan, or the perfect moment. But the truth?
“Perfection is fear in disguise.”
Will reminds us that progress always beats paralysis.
Whether you’re starting a YouTube channel, investing in property, or chasing your next dream, consistency and honesty will take you farther than any marketing trend.
The Power of Storytelling in a Noisy World
Will’s success underscores a deeper truth about the modern world: people crave connection over content.
He doesn’t sell; he serves. He doesn’t pitch; he shares. That shift from “agent” to “authentic guide” is what transformed his business.
And for agents everywhere, it’s a roadmap to relevance in a saturated digital age.
Books That Built the Mindset
When asked about books that shaped his approach, Will named two that every entrepreneur should know:
Influence and Pre-Suasion by Robert Cialdini
Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss
These works shaped his understanding of persuasion, negotiation, and the psychology of connection—skills that serve him on camera and in every client relationship.
The Living in Montana Legacy
Today, Will’s Living in Montana channel continues to grow, not because of algorithms, but because of authenticity.
He’s become a voice for the dreamers who want to live with purpose, not just profit. His story is proof that when you lead with truth, the world listens.
“I just tell it like it is. Not everyone should move to Montana, and that’s okay.”
That honesty has built not only a business, but a legacy.
Building Your Own Authentic Path
In an age of filters, fast fame, and false perfection, Will Friedner stands for something simple and rare—truth.
His journey from foreclosure agent to viral YouTube creator is a masterclass in consistency, courage, and character.
“Just start,” he says. “You’ll get better over time. But you’ll never grow if you never begin.”
For every listener dreaming of freedom, whether through real estate, storytelling, or a new venture, Will’s message is clear: The world doesn’t need another copy. It needs your truth.
Stay tuned for more inspiring stories on The REI Agent podcast, your go-to source for insights, inspiration, and strategies from top agents and investors who are living their best lives through real estate.
For more content and episodes, visit reiagent.com.
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Contact Will Friedner
Mentioned References
Transcript
[Mattias]
Welcome back to the REI Agent. We are here with Will Friedner. Will, thanks so much for joining us from the beautiful Montana.
Look at that view. If you’re not watching, he’s got a beautiful mountain range in the background. Yeah, thanks for having me.
It’s good to be here. Now, Will, why don’t you give our listeners kind of a bird’s eye view about what you do and what kind of is unique about what you do?
[Will Friedner]
Well, I am a real estate agent up here in Northwest Montana and I’ve been doing it since about, I think we started in 2008. And I, you know, like everybody, that was right when the last crash happened. So, you know, it was good and bad that we got into real estate at that time.
Learned a lot. And now, right before the pandemic or right when the pandemic started, I started doing YouTube for my real estate and that’s kind of been the greatest thing ever. Had I, I tell everybody, had I started that 10 years ago, I’d probably be retired by now.
[Mattias]
Will definitely have to get into the YouTube aspect. What area, like in that area of Montana, is that like, I don’t know, what would people know about that area?
[Will Friedner]
Glacier National Park.
[Mattias]
Okay.
[Will Friedner]
We’re right, we’re, I live in a little town called Whitefish, which we have a ski resort here and we’re about 30 minutes from the entrance to Glacier. And we’re, you know, beautiful part of the world. We’re south of Banff if you go up to Canada.
So yeah, it’s nice up here.
[Mattias]
So when you’re doing YouTube videos, you’re attracting people that are coming from outside of the area. They’re coming from other states, et cetera. I would imagine, is that right?
Yes, yeah. And are they looking for a second home then? Are they looking for a relocation?
What’s that look like typically?
[Will Friedner]
You know, I get kind of the whole spectrum. I get people looking to retire. I get second home people.
I get, you know, people that wanna move up here for work. So I get everything. And the thing about YouTube, the only downfall I could say about it or downside is that 90, probably 95% of my business that I get from YouTube are buyers.
So if you think about it, when you’re looking to move to a different area, you get on YouTube and see what it looks like. When you’re looking to sell a house, you already know that either call an agent or do a FISBO. So you don’t get on YouTube and say, how do I sell a house?
But you get on YouTube and say, what does Montana look like?
[Mattias]
Right, that makes sense, especially, yeah, with that whole relocation aspect of it. Yeah, tell us a little bit about getting into the market in 2008. I mean, I see a lot of people getting in.
I wasn’t in the market then, I started in 2014. But I see a lot of people getting into the market, through the recent boom. And, you know, I think it’s a lot harder now that things have slowed down a little bit.
I don’t know about your markets like, but I see the benefit of starting when it’s slower. So you said there was pluses and minuses to it. So can you explain that a little bit more?
[Will Friedner]
Yeah, I mean, we went in, my wife and I worked together and we both got our license at the same time. And we went in not having a clue, like most people do. And we didn’t realize what was coming, which I guess is the pluses, because we didn’t know how to act, or, you know, we just needed to make money.
And so we dug into, well, that was right before the big foreclosure thing back then. And luckily for us, my wife, one of the first clients she had, they wanted to see this one house, well, it was a foreclosure. And it was some weird bank that wasn’t even from Montana, we’d never heard of it.
And so we were trying to figure out how the other agent got that listing. And again, it was right before the huge, you know, flush of foreclosures, whatever you want to call it. And so we spent the next two weeks just signing up online with every bank, everything we could think of to try and get those kind of listings.
And because we were so far ahead of the game, that when the big, you know, bunch of foreclosures hit the market, we were one of the top, you know, some of the top agents. We were getting two or three listings a week there for a while, it was crazy. Wow.
[Mattias]
And the foreclosures are a different animal together. I mean, were you having to get people out of houses, cleaning things up at all in the process, or were they already ready to go when you’re listing them?
[Will Friedner]
No, I was, you know, and it was sad. And I, you know, you feel bad for some of the people. And then there were some people that, you know, they were doing it on purpose.
And so you kind of saw all aspects of humanity during that time. And, but yeah, on a normal one, you’d just get an email, hey, you know, you guys just got the listing at 123 Elm Street. So then you’d have to go over there and see if the people were still living there.
And if they were, then they offered cash for keys that they would get out in a reasonable time and not trash the place. So you had to supervise all of that. And, you know, then you had to put all the utilities in your name until it sold.
And it was a lot of work, but. You know, that was the only thing that was selling at the time. So it kind of worked out good.
[Mattias]
Yeah, I mean, that’s great timing for you all. I mean, that’s, you know, I’ve talked to a number of people that have, you know, other aspects like short sales, like people that’s, you know, focused on short sales through that time and really understanding what the opportunity is in the market when everybody else might be seeing just the doom and gloom of it. So yeah, that’s great.
And was there a, what made you get into YouTube then? What made you get, like go all in with the YouTube channel and start putting videos out?
[Will Friedner]
Well, I’ve never been the cold call guy. I’ve never been the, you know, doorknock guy. I hate that.
And, you know, some people are good at it. I’m not one of them. So I’ve always looked for different ways to market myself.
And I did and still do. I have big Facebook groups and I had a podcast for a while. And I’d always thought about starting a YouTube channel.
And then if you guys remember that first, probably two weeks of COVID when everybody was just sitting in their basement trying to figure out what to do, I was like, well, I mean, I might as well start doing videos now. There’s nothing else to do. And it gets me out of the house and outside.
And so I told myself I would do that. I would do it for one year because YouTube, you know, in order to get monetized, I wanted to see if I could get monetized. And so I said, or I should say, YouTube gives you one year to monetize.
You have to get a thousand subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time. And I believe that’s still the rule, but I’m not positive. But anyway, so I thought, all right, I’ll do this for one year.
And so that’s what I did. I just started making videos and I did one every week and I was religious about doing one every week. And about six months in, I had one hit that just went stupidly viral.
It has over four and a half million views now at this point, but it got about a million views in a month. And that, you know, from that point on, that, you know, blew up my channel. And, you know, I obviously got monetized right then.
And I just haven’t stopped since.
[Erica]
Were you surprised when that video took off?
[Will Friedner]
Oh, yeah. Like I tell everybody, had I known that so many people were going to watch that video, I probably would have dressed better.
[Erica]
What was the topic of the video?
[Will Friedner]
Well, I had, you know, I started, so COVID, what was that, March of 2020. So by the time I put out my first video, it was like May, the 1st of May of 2020. And that video came out about the 1st of September.
So I started getting phone calls in July and I was like, wow, people are actually watching these videos. And I had maybe 600 subscribers at the time. And I thought, oh, I’ll probably get to a thousand by the end of the year.
But anyway, these people called me from LA and they had never been out of LA. They lived there their whole life, but they were just sick of the lockdowns and what was going on in LA at the time. And they said, we want to move to Montana.
And then the other thing I should say is that also coincided with the show Yellowstone. So I don’t know if you guys watched that, but it became very popular right then. So we had like, everything was, you know, it was the perfect storm.
And so these people come up and before they got up here, they were like, oh, we want to live way out and we don’t want to be around any people. And I said, have you ever been up here? And they said, no.
I said, well, you need to come up here and see what you’re getting into because I don’t think you understand what you’re getting into. And they’re like, okay. Like two days later, they’re actually in my office.
I was stunned that, you know, they drove all the way up there from LA and they had picked out this house that was way like hour and a half out of town, way up in the mountains. And I’m like, all right. And so we, you know, they were following me in their car and we drive up there and we get about 10 minutes away.
We’re 10 miles up this forest service road and I pulled over and walked back to their car. And I, you know, I said, what do you think? And they’re like, oh my God, this is so far out.
Why didn’t you say something? And I did say something. They’re like, we don’t even want to see the house.
We’d never buy something this far out. And yeah, I said, it’s August right now. What are you going to do in January?
And they’re like, yeah, yeah, yeah. I wish you would have said something. And again, I was like, okay.
So on the hour drive back home, I’m thinking I should really do a video kind of warning people about, you know, what it’s really like here. And, you know, maybe some reasons why you shouldn’t move here. And so that’s what I did.
And it just, and again, it’s all about timing. And that was right before the election in 2020. And so everybody was very political.
And I made a little blurb at the end of it, that again, when I going into making this video, I had no idea it would do so well. And it was not meant to be political whatsoever. But at the end, I just made the comment.
I said, hey, if you’re going to move up here from some of these bigger cities, there’s a reason you’re moving up here. So don’t come up here and change it to, you know, where you’re coming from. And you’ll get along just fine.
Well, that turned into, you know, Democrats this, Republicans that, and, you know, go away. And it just, it generated so many comments and that’s what pushes videos out, so.
[Erica]
Oh, interesting. Okay. Yeah.
So there’s this romanticized idea of what Montana is.
[Will Friedner]
Yeah.
[Mattias]
Now, see, I would have thought that your video would have been you doing a trending TikTok dance. That’s what I would have taken off. No, you will never see me in one of those.
[Erica]
You would like the intro to one of his videos. It might actually be that one where, you know, you’re standing on top of a mountain and you’re like, look, I hiked all this way up here just to have you. So you better subscribe to my channel, please, too.
[Mattias]
Yeah.
[Erica]
Putting all this work to get here.
[Mattias]
Oh, that’s great.
[Erica]
I liked that. It was a little cheeky.
[Mattias]
Yeah. That was fun. What about, what a great vein you hit.
I mean, like, again, like, you know, right before, like, the foreclosure flood, like, you tapped into that. And then here, like, I’m sure, Me, Yellowstone aside, like, the people in big cities that were just feeling so cooped up, they wanted to get out. They wanted to get to nature.
They wanted to be able to, like, kind of walk outside and breathe freely. So, I mean, what impeccable timing. And so I’m sure, I heard from somebody else, too, that, like, you know, just there is, you know, there was this exodus to, you know, places like that.
I think there’s some other, maybe some other states as well that experienced it. And this, yeah, romanticized vision of kind of homesteading or being out in the nature. And many of the people then resold their houses after realizing what it meant or what it looked like, you know, in the winter or, you know, what wildlife might be around.
Have you had anybody do that? Have you had anybody that has had to, has come back to you, like, look, this is not what I expected.
[Will Friedner]
I need to put my house in the market. Well, a thousand percent. And we had that even before COVID.
And we always joke, as me and all the other agents in the area, it’s a two-year cycle up here. Because right now, this time of year, from basically the middle of June until, I always say October 15th is the drop dead date where all bets are off after that. But between the middle of June and then, it is the most beautiful place on the planet.
It’s perfect weather. It doesn’t rain, you know, which unfortunately causes forest fires some years that are worse than others. But it’s just spectacular.
And, you know, everybody visits at this time of year. And so they come up here and it’s, you know, 75, 80 degrees every day, not a cloud in the sky. And, you know, you have the view like you have behind me of Glacier Park.
And they’re like, oh my God, I want to live here. And so they buy a house and then they go through the first winter. And in the middle of that winter, like, what the hell, what am I doing?
Why are we here? But then it gets nice again. So like, oh, okay, this is why we moved here.
But then the second winter, they’re like, all right, I’m out. And so the spring of the second year, they’re all listing their houses.
[Erica]
I want to hear a little bit more about the winter because it sounds like the winter is really what does it for people? What does it mean? And so the locals, how would you all, how would people talk about the winter and how to get through it?
And how did they live through it? Or how do they enjoy it? Is it enjoyable for people?
[Will Friedner]
I mean, if you’re into skiing and outdoor stuff and you’re from, the problem we see is most of these people that come up here are from the Southern part of the US. They’re from Dallas, they’re from LA, they’re from Phoenix, wherever. And so they’re not used to what I, I grew up in Minnesota.
So I think the winters here are a piece of cake on this side of the state. On the East side of the state, they’re just like Minnesota. They’re brutal, it’s cold, windy.
You get the bitter, bitter, cold wind chills. Whereas over here in the mountains, we’re kind of, we get the Seattle flow. So it’s almost too warm.
We get a ton of snow, but it gets probably mid thirties during the day and everything kind of melts and the streets get wet. And then it gets down into the teens at night. And so then the streets freeze up in the morning and the roads are slick.
And then the biggest downfall of this side of the state, the reason it’s warm is because it seems to be always cloudy. And we just kind of get socked in and which keeps the heat in, but you never see the sun. So it can get a bit depressing here in the winter.
[Erica]
Yeah, I was wondering, for people who move in, who want to live pretty far out, do you ever talk to them too? Or do they mention, how do you form any kind of community around? Is there kind of like a neighbors helping neighbors kind of sense?
Because in the video that I watched, you were also talking about how the cities don’t come out and plow those roads that go way back. And so you have to either work together with your neighbors or you’re responsible for plowing those roads. Do they talk about that or do you at all?
[Will Friedner]
Yeah, and that’s the hard part too. And I think that probably drives people away as well as they think they want to be off out on their own. But there’s a lot of people that actually like that.
They don’t want to be around other people. They don’t talk to other people and they do their own thing and that’s fine. But if you’re social at all, you’re not going to like it because it sounds romantic and it looks cool on TV until you actually do it.
And it can get pretty quiet out there.
[Erica]
So it’s like you really need to know yourself when you make this move. It can’t be a reactionary decision.
[Mattias]
There’s a community that I showed or I had a listing in a while back and it was just kind of a pretty remote like ridge cabins on each side kind of thing. And it had its kind of own little HOA but it was very remote. Yeah, that people are there mostly like all the time but there were some definitely coming out of the city as a second home kind of thing.
But one time when I was there showing the land, somebody came up to me and was like, there’s a reason people are here. Like kind of like almost like, you need to kind of warn people that are looking to buy here. There’s a reason people are here.
They want to be, they found their home here kind of away from everybody. And I don’t know if that translates well to some of the buyers that do find that appealing.
[Will Friedner]
Yeah, I mean, again, as you know, people get stuff in their head and they’ve made the decision they want to move here and I can only do so much. I’m not going to, sorry, I’m not going to represent you to buy a house because I think you’re wrong. I warn them and I tell them but if they’ve made up their mind, then that’s on them.
And I think that’s why my channel has done well also is that I do just kind of tell it like it is. And this is what it’s like here and this is what you’re in for. And I think people like the honesty and that I’m not just sugarcoating it and say, oh, everyone should move to Montana because they shouldn’t.
[Mattias]
What do you think? Do you have any advice for somebody that would be considering making a channel of their own in a different area? Like, is there any things that you think you should really pay attention to as to what to create content on?
[Will Friedner]
Well, it’s just the advice I give people all the time about YouTube is, and yeah, it could be here, it could be anywhere. Think about what you would want to know if you were moving somewhere and then just do content on that. And that’s like, if you look at my channel, I’ve been doing it five years and I don’t do house tours.
I don’t do the normal realtor videos that nobody watches. I just show the area. And again, it’s not, if you’ve watched any of them, they’re not big Hollywood productions and you don’t need all the fancy equipment.
People just wanna know what it’s like and they wanna know what they need to know if they’re moving to your area. So yeah, my biggest thing that I can’t stress enough is you just gotta go do it.
[Mattias]
And being consistent with it, I imagine, right? You said six months before you saw something really take off.
[Will Friedner]
Yeah.
[Erica]
What’s your feedback on how to deal with comments? Do you read them? Do you respond to them?
[Will Friedner]
You know, it’s funny. When I had that one video go viral, I used to, there’s a little switch that you can switch off or you can switch it. So I have to approve the comments.
And when that one, that one was generating so many and some of them were pretty nasty. And there’s always the freak sitting in his mom’s basement making nasty comments about people. And so because I was getting so many at once, I couldn’t get to them in time.
I switched that switch and I’ve had it on ever since where I have to approve the comments. And so, yeah, and this is a little evil on my part, but you know some people spent an hour writing this nasty comment and all I have to do is hit one button and it’s gone and it never even saw the light of day. And it just, you know, makes me feel good that I can do that.
[Mattias]
That’s great. They’re fuming. I do want to, I’m curious about your process.
You mentioned, you know, not having to do all the fancy Hollywood editing kind of things. Have you been editing yourself? Do you just film on your phone?
Do you do voiceovers? What does that all look like?
[Will Friedner]
Yeah, I do everything myself. I’ve kind of gotten into the editing. I enjoy it.
I just bought Final Cut Pro, which at the time I think was $300 and it was a one-time fee. And I bought that because I’m kind of cheap and I didn’t want to pay a monthly fee to, why can’t I think of the name? Anyway, Adobe.
And that one’s a little better, but Final Cut is great. And at first, yeah, that video that went viral, it was my iPhone. It was a $20 lapel mic with a wire on it plugged into my phone.
And it was a $20 tripod from Amazon. And that was it.
[Mattias]
Yeah. Yeah, I love it. I mean, it’s really, it can be something, sometimes people will get too in the weeds as to like, you know what, and, you know, you’re looking at me, like you, Mattias, what all you might need to get to kind of put together a big production.
But as you’re saying, like, you know, really if you’re hitting a vein as to content people are searching for, are interested in, it doesn’t really matter as much. Like, you know, do you have drones flying around and doing all these like panoramic shots and that kind of stuff now? Or I’m assuming that one you didn’t have to make a viral hit?
[Will Friedner]
Yeah, no. Once I got monetized and I started actually making money from my channel, I’ve been putting it all back in. And now I buy all the different toys.
And now I have all kinds of cameras and, you know, things that I probably don’t need. But yeah, but even still to this day, you know, I just, the video that came out, I do them every Tuesday. And the video that came out two days ago is doing great.
It has 30,000 views already. And it, again, nothing special. I was just standing out in the field in front of the mountains talking for the most part.
And so again, nothing too fancy.
[Erica]
I mean, honestly, it matches the aesthetic because what you’re trying to get across is the rugged simplicity of Montana. And you probably don’t want to romanticize, like further the romanticized idea of Montana, which drone footage would probably. And just showing how gorgeous it can be and how amazing it might be to live there.
But the nature of your videos give that, you know, this is what it is. This is what it looks like. It’s simple.
It can be hard. It’s also gorgeous here. You know, don’t be fooled.
[Mattias]
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I love it. When you’re editing these videos as well, are you producing shorts?
Are you like taking that content and pushing it into other platforms like Instagram, et cetera?
[Will Friedner]
You know, so you guys don’t know me, but I’ve always been kind of the, I can’t think of the word right now, contrarian, I guess is the word that, when I, before I started doing videos, I had thought about it for a while. Like I said, I had the podcast and so I’ve been watching all these gurus and here’s what you have to do. And, you know, so I took little bits and pieces from all of them, but kind of then did my own thing.
And funny enough, like the video that went viral, I guarantee had I sent that thumbnail and basically sent the video into these gurus, they would have just ripped it apart and said, this is trash. And, you know, you have to be on the thumbnail looking stupid with a stupid look on your face. And I don’t, I hate that.
And so I’ve never done that. And so basically at this point, I still watch all the gurus, but I try and do whatever they’re not doing. And it’s worked for me.
So I’m just gonna keep doing that. That’s awesome.
[Erica]
That’s great.
[Mattias]
Well, does that mean that then you have like a reoccurring, like watching, like people that watch your videos, like, so like you have X amount of subscribers and they’re watching every of your videos or is it all like organic search kind of finding they’re looking into Wyoming and wanna know more?
[Will Friedner]
You know, it varies on each video, but there’s probably, it’s probably 70, 30, you know, 30% recurring. And I have guys I know that they watch it every single week because they message on every single video just saying, you know, it is kind of weird. But yeah, definitely more new people every week than subscribers.
[Mattias]
Okay. That’s really cool. Yeah, that’s fascinating.
What kind of, you mentioned the cloud coverage. Question I had earlier was, what’s like the daylight hours? Like, is it stay dark a lot longer in the winter?
[Will Friedner]
Yeah, in the winter time it does because we’re basically 60 miles south of the Canadian border right here. So it gets dark at, you know, 4.30, quarter to five during the winter and it doesn’t get light until after eight. So it’s pretty short light, but then on the flip side in the summer, it’s light until after 11 o’clock at night here.
So it’s crazy.
[Erica]
So what are some of the, if you have heard of them, some of the unique mental health challenges in Montana or even substance use, especially during the winter?
[Will Friedner]
Again, I think it’s more of the loneliness thing and just the, you know, the lack of sunlight. You know, I’m no expert, but I can tell you from personal experience, it gets pretty depressing and I don’t ski. I grew up playing hockey and so I don’t go up to the mountain much, but a lot of people go up there and ski because we get this inversion where the clouds are very low, but when you go up to the top of the mountain, you bust out of the cloud so you can actually see the sun.
So that’s one of the draws of skiing too is they get to see the sun more often than we do. But like I said, over on the east side of the state, they get a lot more sunshine, but with it, they get a lot colder. Mm-hmm, yeah.
[Erica]
And a long winter makes it hard. When spring comes around, around what month is it that you start to feel that lift of sunshine and warmer weather?
[Will Friedner]
Um, probably towards the end of April, it starts getting nice enough to go out. And again, it varies some years that, you know, it can get nice much earlier. And I said earlier, October 15th is kind of the drop-dead date.
You know, it can get terrible right after that. Our daughter, back when she was a kid, she had some Halloweens where they were trick-or-treating in snowsuits. So we had snow on the ground already.
But then, you know, like last year, it was nice pretty much all the way till Thanksgiving. So you just, you never know. Our weather on the mountains is weird.
[Erica]
Sure. Hard to tell.
[Will Friedner]
Yeah.
[Mattias]
Yeah, well, I’m curious if you have any golden nuggets for agents or aspiring YouTubers that you’d like to share?
[Will Friedner]
Yeah, I think the big thing is, you know, don’t get hung up in your equipment and just start. I’ve seen so many people, oh, I’m gonna do YouTube. And then they start, you know, I’ll call them a few weeks later.
I said, how’s it going? Well, I’m, you know, looking into this camera and that camera. And I’m like, don’t you have an iPhone?
I mean, that’s all you need. And I think it’s fear more than anything. And I find that interesting.
You know, like my wife, she wants nothing to do with being on camera. And if you think about it, you know, somebody can walk into her office off the street, total stranger, and she’ll sit and chat with them for an hour about the area and everything. But you stick a camera in her face and, you know, she hates it and she can’t talk and she’s stumbling around.
And I don’t know, for me, obviously, I’ve gotten used to it now. But it was never super hard. I just didn’t think of, I just think I’m talking to the camera.
I don’t think about, especially I’m the one that I’m talking to 4 million people.
[Mattias]
Right. Yeah, there is definitely like the whole going through the process of hearing your own voice as well when you’re in the editing process. Right.
I’m sure that was something you had to get used to. I think nobody likes to sound their own voice when they start recording themselves and hearing themselves back.
[Will Friedner]
For sure. And then the other beauty of the editing process is you can cut out all the ahs and ahms and, you know, where you sound stupid.
[Mattias]
That’s kind of handy. Well, I wouldn’t have much content. So we keep this pretty unedited.
No, that’s great. I couldn’t agree more. I think it’s kind of a lot like anything.
I think if you just get started, you know, when we talk about investing, and there’s a lot of analysis paralysis and a lot of like, you know, well, I can read this new interesting venture, this type of investing. I’m going to deep dive into that because maybe that’s the route I want to go. But I think really, at the end of the day, like just getting started is really what’s the most important.
And then sticking it through, being consistent about it. If you don’t see your first video get overnight success, you know, that’s, you know, you haven’t given enough time.
[Will Friedner]
Well, and it’s not going to. I’ll tell you that. I mean, the odds of your very first video taking off or, you know, you have a better chance of winning the Powerball, I think, because, you know, my first and everybody says this, but you go back and look at my first videos.
They’re just trash. I mean, I don’t know why anybody watched them. So, yeah.
[Mattias]
Yeah. I mean, it’s true. You get better with repetition, right?
Yeah. And then do you have any favorite books that you think everybody should read, like a fundamental book or maybe just one that you’re currently really enjoying?
[Will Friedner]
You know, I always go back to there’s a there’s kind of a tie. I’ve always been interested in the like when I long before YouTube and just, again, trying to find different ways to market. I was always curious about the copywriting end of things and persuasion.
And so both of the Robert Cialdini books are some of my favorites. And then for real estate, the Never Split the Difference. I love that book.
I’ve read it probably three times. And that’s probably of all of them. That’s my favorite.
That’s great.
[Mattias]
I haven’t heard of the first one. So that’s really interesting. And then where can people find you?
So what’s your YouTube channel called? And what other places could they find you?
[Will Friedner]
It’s called Living in Montana, YouTube. And yeah, if you just type in, again, I got lucky because I was basically the first one in the whole state doing it. So if you just type Montana into Google, my videos pop up.
So that definitely helps. That’s great. And then all the other social medias, I focus so much on YouTube that I don’t want to say waste my time on them, but I just don’t do much on them.
But I have Instagram (@willfriedner) and Facebook and all of that.
[Mattias]
Awesome. Great. This has been really fascinating.
Will, thank you so much for being on the show. Thanks for having me.
[Erica]
Thanks for listening to the REI Agent.
[Mattias]
If you enjoyed this episode, hit subscribe to catch new shows every week.
[Erica]
Visit REIAgent.com for more content.
[Mattias]
Until next time, keep building the life you want.
[Erica]
All content in the show is not investment advice or mental health therapy. It is intended for entertainment purposes only.














5 Responses
Its interesting, but how authentic can Friedners freedom be when its built on the back of foreclosures? Just food for thought! 🤔
Freedom is subjective. Friedners might be built on foreclosures, but isnt yours built on judgement? 🧐
Not buying it. How do Friedners Montana Mindset and REI Agent role translate into authentic living? Seems opportunistic, not purposeful. #JustSaying
Interesting read, but dont you think authentic freedom is a myth? Isnt Will Friedners Montana Mindset just a repackaged version of escapism? Just a thought.
Has anyone ever questioned Will Friedners authenticity? After all, he seems to have turned a pandemic into a monetization opportunity. Just a thought…