Josh Flagg - The Deal: Secrets for Mastering the Art of Negotiation

2022 Josh Flagg

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ISBN 978-1-4002-3044-0 (eBook)

ISBN 978-1-4002-3043-3 (HC)

Epub Edition AUGUST 2022 9781400230440

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To Andrew.

You put the biggest smile on my face every day.

I love you more than words.

Its not every day that your former enemy and competitor for the last decade asks you to write the foreword to his book. Its also not often that you become best friends with the person you previously spent years trying to destroy. I did it allstole his clients, took over his listings, and capitalized on every opportunity I had to make him look bad on television. With that being said, the world of real estate is strange and so is my dear friend Josh Flagg.

When I first met Flagg, I thought he was another spoiled, silver-spoon, Beverly Hills born-and-raised rich kid. Someone who was handed huge business without ever having to work for it. From working against him to now working with him, Ive come to the realization that I was wrong and that his success is truly derived from his impressive work ethic, charisma, and industry expertise.

Through watching Flaggs approach in listing appointments, showings and negotiations, I have gotten a glimpse into the way his eccentric mind works and have come to understand his massive success. The Beverly Hills born-and-raised spoiled trust fund kid persona is actually just an act. In reality, Flagg is a confident and calculated real estate historian of Beverly Hills.

The best part of being friends with Flagg is seeing the way he runs his business. First, he will become best friends with an eighty-five-year-old woman through negotiations on her home. Right after, he will go to the Polo Lounge at the Beverly Hills Hotel to have a power lunch with a Hollywood music executive. Once he wraps up there, hes off to Spago for dinner with a tech billionaire. And, yes, he still finds enough time to get his hair done in his backyard while drinking white wine. A true businessman.

Josh Flagg may make the business look easy but dont think for a second that he is not trying. Theres no question as to how he is a top-producing real estate agent. He will disarm you, charm you, become your best friend, and before you know it, youve accepted his offer. Believe it or not, Ive learned a lot from Flagg and so can you. Competition is imperative for success as very few of us can motivate ourselves alone. Id like to think part of my success is due to Flagg, my competition, for whom I will always be forever grateful.

JOSH ALTMAN

star of Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles

D o you want to become a million-dollar dealmaker?

If your answer is an emphatic Hell, yes! then this is the book for you.

(If your answer is Not really! then why are you even in a bookstore? Shouldnt you be at a monster truck rally or something?)

For those of you who dont hate money or success, Ive been closing multimillion-dollar deals since I was old enough to drive. Ive sold $2.5 billion worth of luxury property, and Im among the top three real estate agents in all Los Angeles and eighteenth in the nation.

What does this mean? It means that if I cared about sportsand I do notI could get front row seats at the Lakers.

My client list includes all the other folks youd see on the sidelines at the Staples Center. Im talking about A-list celebrities like Shonda Rhimes, Adam Levine, Katy Perry, and Steve Aoki, and high-profile families like the Gettys, Bloomingdales, and DeBartolos. My sales have been recognized by the Wall Street Journal, and Ive appeared on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list of the most influential people in their industry.

My prowess also landed me a starring role on Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles, and I built all this by myself, starting at age sixteen, without a college degree. (Well, I did come from a rich family, but that doesnt sound as good.)

Cool rsum, Flagg, you may say. But how does this help me get those seats at the game?

The good news is, you dont need to be a realtor to benefit from the secrets of my success in negotiating multimillion-dollar deals. Whatever you sell, and regardless of what your negotiations may entail, applying my advice will up your game.

Do you want LeBron to sweat on your courtside seat? Because this can be yours with some effort.

Thats why Im going to walk you through what I do, how I do it, and why I do it. Spoiler alert: its always about the money, but theres more to it as well. Anyone who tells you differently is a damn liar.

Follow me and Ill help uncover the strategies to cultivate your own powerful million-dollar dealmaker mindset. Whether youre looking for advice on negotiating a seven-plus-figure deal, hoping to demonstrate your worth to get that raise, or trying to woo that hot person at the club, Im here to guide you.

Lets get ready to werk.

F or every good listing, product, idea, you name it, there are ten crappy projects begging to be sold. Weve all heard the mantra beggars cant be choosers; I stand by that 100 percent. So dont be a beggar... its not chic.

Treat every sale like your reputation is on the line and that one lousy project will make it or break it.

I m successful beyond my wildest dreams because of my million-dollar mindset.

Sounds great, Flagg, you might say. But can you skip to the part where you tell us how to make more money?

Truth is, we cant accomplish anything without the proper mindset. If you want more out of life than SpaghettiOs and time spent on the couch, lets dig into the concept of a mindset.

So... whats a mindset and why does it matter?

The best way to describe a mindset is that its how we think about ourselves. Per Brett Steenbarger in Forbes: Mindsets are an important means through which we process and reprocess the events of our lives. That matters, because our processing ultimately shapes our emotional experience. Limits become challenges, and challenges become sources of opportunity and growth.

Translation: proper mindset = more earning potential.

Our mindsets comprise the beliefs and attitudes that guide us in making sense of the world and our relationship to it. A mindset is dynamic and ever changing, so if you currently have, say, a losing or defeatist mindset, my goal is to help you alter it. Because SpaghettiOs can be okay in a pinch, but have you ever tasted La Scalas spaghetti Bolognese?

Carol Dweck, a researcher at Stanford University, studied the habits of extraordinarily successful people and discovered that we can transform our mindsets through effort, learning, and persistence. You want to trade up? Because this is how you trade up.