The Exchanges

Q So good. Yeah, you had this video that I saw the other day that I loved. You were having a 16 and a half hour day, and someone asked you, what keeps you motivated on that kind of day? And you said, total bars, you said.

A Pure adrenaline tracing through my bones because that fear of losing hurts a lot worse than the pain of winning. Yes, I do remember saying that. That was a long day because I had to open up our Rhode Island office, and so the day started in New York, helicopter to Rhode Island, appointments back to back to back to back to back to back to back, launch party, helicopter back to New York City, back in the car to do all the work I hadn't done that day. Like, the work doesn't go away just because you're traveling or doing other things, you know, and I, I try to swallow the tired, and I try to appreciate the tired. If I'm not tired, Then I'm probably not pushing hard enough for better or for worse, but I do agree with that. I think, you know, you listen to a lot of CEOs, a lot of major athletes, and I think they all have this disease where they hate losing more than they like winning, and I definitely feel the same way.

AI assessment note: “Pure adrenaline tracing through my bones because that fear of losing hurts a lot worse”

Q about getting steamrolled. What do you do in a negotiation to start positioning yourself, like, in a power position? Somebody's sitting here and they're like, I don't know, they're trying to get a raise. They're trying to interview for the next big job. They're going to the next level of the game, but they don't know how to get in the power position in a negotiation. What do you do?

A Two things. First thing you just have to remember, the best negotiators, they don't talk, they translate. I see salespeople all the time, employees trying to ask for more raises. They don't know what to do. They don't understand their value, and so they just talk. They talk without saying a lot. The number one negotiators out there, they translate value. They repeat what you say back to them, and they mirror how you feel. You can get whatever you want if it's the other person's idea. And you do that by translating the conversation for somebody. So that's one. The second thing to understand to kind of get the control negotiation is you always throw the first punch. A lot of people want to stand back, right? No, I don't want to push. I don't want to persist. You go into prison, you throw the first punch. So you ask the first question, get them talking. People love hearing themselves talk, especially grown men. They just love the sound of their own voice, and they love hearing themselves talk about themselves to talk themselves into decisions. And so you start top of funnel, use the funnel technique, Big quick, big picture questions, right? So where are you from? What brings you here today? How can I help you? What does winning look like to you? That's another great way and a great question to reframe a stalled negotiation, right? As you mirror them, you say, I totally understand …

AI assessment note: “Two things. First thing you just have to remember, the best negotiators, they don't talk, they translate.”

Q Oh, really? It was actually gray, but it was dyeing?

A I started, I started going gray when I was 16. That and acne were my biggest weaknesses, and me trying to be an actor. I moved to New York City to do theater, and one of my first jobs I got was Evan Walsh IV on As the World Turns, until that photo is me during the writer's strike of 2007. I went from being a good doctor To killing everybody, and I took my aunt hostage, and then my grandmother wrestled me, and stabbed me with a syringe, and I died. Which for me in my life, uh, meant that I had no job, and then my, you know, 544 dollars per episode was gone, and I had to figure out another way to, to pay my, my rent, but, like, you can't be a young twenty-something in New York City who has a twenty-something face with a head of gray hair, and so I used to dye it, like, every 10 days, because I couldn't have roots, like, like, like a young dude with, like, gray roots, I looked, anyway, Today, maybe it would pass. Back then, didn't pass. And because I'm so white and so pale, I remember, like, I just had this, like, really dark dyed hair, very white everything else, and I kind of looked like a vampire.

AI assessment note: “I started going gray when I was 16... I used to dye it, like, every 10 days”

Q I was wondering, did anyone ever try to tell you you wouldn't be taken seriously if you joked on the internet?

A Yeah, this morning. What are you talking about? Like, every day. There are three buckets of my audience. One bucket are super fans. They're inspired. They're inspired. They love what we do. Another bucket doesn't care, doesn't know, doesn't affect them. Bucket three hates me. And it's jealousy, right? It's a little bit of the peanut butter and jelly. And it's because we've been able to create a large business on the back of what they talked poorly about. And it's hard to take words back when they're written in permanent ink on the internet. And I think it's okay. I think that when people talk about me, they do it because when they talk about themselves, no one listens.

AI assessment note: “Yeah, this morning. What are you talking about? Like, every day.”

Q real gift to give people like the secrets that you learn over 1015 years of being in, in real estate. And so I guess in that instance, with these real estate agents that, that come in for you, I'm sure you have interviewed thousands and you've probably seen thousands across the years. What did, like, the top one percent do, and that maybe even the 99% would think is unreasonable?

A The top one percent of salespeople just don't quit. It's the only way to be in the top one percent. Hard work trumps luck when luck doesn't work hard. And so they just show up day in and day out. They understand their job is to lose, and slowly but surely, the wins start to outpace the losses. And then you compound and you compound. They're also relentless with follow-up. Right. And they have pretty great memories or systems and processes in place to make sure that they follow up and follow through and follow back with everything they say they're going to do with every person that they meet. And they also understand too, like in negotiations, like they, they understood to do like what I just talked about in Palm Beach. Like the number one negotiation tactic is silence. Silence is violence. There's nothing that drives a wealthy person crazier than not responding. And I see it with me. There is nothing that drives me crazier than when Danny doesn't respond to my text messages. Like I just lose my mind with everybody that works for me that doesn't respond in time. And I know my clients are the same way because when they want something, they want it. How dare you not respond? So you have to respond in real time or don't go get another job.

AI assessment note: “The top one percent of salespeople just don't quit.”

Q Fascinating. And going forward, which one do you think is the biggest, or do you think that they're all so interconnected? That there will be no spin outs.

A I think it's a public company by 20 30. I think it could be spun out. Sure. I mean, I've set it up in such a way where, and we've had people come to us who only care about simple because all people care about is AI. We also have people who really just care about studios and organic lead gen content and the IP that studios has from us doing this for so long. And there's people who only understand brokerage, but we've kind of built real estate brokerage three point O. And our average agent is young, the most diverse and inclusive real estate brokerage in the United States by far, you know, we're doubling in size every year and profitable. So like, I don't know, it's just working.

AI assessment note: “I think it's a public company by 20 30. I think it could be spun out.”