It's Your Move: My Million Dollar Method for Taking Risks with Confidence and Succeeding at Work and Life by Josh Altman

Author:Josh Altman [Altman, Josh]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2015-09-29T07:00:00+00:00

10

Always Have a House to Show

Be prepared.

—Boy Scout motto

One day, at the beginning of my career, I was driving around with a hard-working agent who worked down in the flats of Beverly Hills. We pulled up to an open house and a potential buyer was walking out. The agent knew him and said, “Hi.” They chatted, discussed some listings, and then my agent friend said, “I have the perfect house to show you. You should come by and see it tomorrow.” They set up the appointment and we drove off.

I asked the agent which house he was going to show this buyer. He said, “I don’t know yet. I’ll go back to the office and figure out the best one to show him. Always have a house to show.”

That’s the most basic truth, and nobody understands it. It’s not just a real estate thing. Whatever you do, whatever contacts or opportunities are presented to you, be ready to pursue them now. You meet a cute girl, have a barbecue to take her to. Someone tells you that they like your spec screenplay, have a pitch to show them. If you wait for the perfect house or pitch or barbecue, the contact is going to be forgotten. If you start pursuing it now, at least you’ll be building a relationship. You have to strike while you’re fresh in their mind. If you wait, they’ll move along to something new.

The thing is, I usually have the perfect house for someone. When I meet a person on the street, I may not know exactly which house it is, but if I go through my listings, one of my houses is going to be a pretty spot-on fit for that person. Well, for anybody who’s actually in the market for a house in the Hollywood Hills.

When I meet someone, I may not be able to say where the house is or what it looks like, but I have enough professional respect for myself to know I’ve got a diverse and high-quality portfolio of houses to choose from in any situation. If you’re pursuing a career, you give a lot of yourself to it. Have some respect for the work you’ve done and believe that it’s good. Don’t wait for your album to be perfect; wait until you have the opportunity to share it with your clients, then let them know you have something they will love.

A few months ago, I got a call from a guy who said his boss wanted to look at a place I represented. He said his boss didn’t like using real estate agents, so he would just call the listing agents directly. I was impressed by the balls on this guy, so I set up an appointment. It wasn’t until he showed up that I realized the boss in question was a major film producer, who was married to a very famous model. Let’s call them Mr. Big and Ms. Legs.

Matt and I showed them the house. They loved it, and fifteen days later, we were in escrow on the house.

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