MINDSET BOSS

5 Success Secrets I Learned From

Million Dollar Listing New York

PLUS 5 BONUS SECRETS!

MINDSETBOSS.COM
One of the most important things when learning In celebration, here are 14 success secrets that I’ve
ANYTHING is the ability to see examples of what you’re learned while watching and observing Million Dollar
trying to learn in action. Listing New York:

Oddly enough, a great source of such examples can be 1 . TA K E L E A P S O F FA I T H . D O

reality TV.
T H I N G S B E F O R E YO U ’ R E
But not just any reality TV. Most of it is pure crap (unless R E A DY, A N D B E F O R E YO U
you want to learn how to be a nightmare of a housewife). T H I N K YO U CA N .  
One TV show that actually DOES contain extremely
This was a big shift for me, and I felt so much freer when
useful examples of success in action is Million Dollar
I really noticed this and internalized it after watching
Listing New York.  (Sure, it has it’s fair share of focus on
season 2 of this show (although it shows up in every
drama and confrontations, but overlook that. Unless
season -- probably every episode, actually).
you’re into that sort of thing, that is.)

This is something that is very easy to logically understand

Their newest season (Season 5) is actually about to start
(I think we all “get” this) but actually doing it is much
airing in the US this Thursday (April 21, 2016) at 9/8c on
harder. That’s why it’s so valuable to see it in action!
Bravo. So check it out!

Being able to throw caution to the wind, disregard our

Now, I’ve been a fan of this show for the very reason I
natural tendency to think “That’s impossible because I’ve
mentioned above, and I’ve learned a TON from it. All
never done that before...or no one’s ever done that
three of the stars have created their success from
scratch, so I think we can all learn something from them!

10 SUCCESS SECRETS FROM MILLION DOLLAR LISTING NEW YORK © MINDSETBOSS.COM 2016
before...or that goal seems too lofty”, and simply say “I
can 100% do this!” is really important.
That’s what we call a leap of faith. You don’t truly know
that the goal you have in mind is possible. You have no
“evidence” or “proof”... but that doesn’t matter.
What does matter is taking this leap, believing you can
anyway (even though you don’t have “proof”), and
working super hard to achieve it. The best time to start is
NOW. You’ll never be “ready”.
And there are so many examples of this on Million Dollar
Listing New York, which is one reason that I love this
show.
Season 2 is chock-full of fantastic examples, such as...
1. Luis finding the “impossible” property.
In episode 1 of season 2, Luis meets with a potential
client and learns that he’s looking for a property to
renovate for an almost impossibly low price. Not only that,
but the client had already been working with other
brokers who were looking for the same thing.
10 SUCCESS SECRETS FROM MILLION DOLLAR LISTING NEW YORK
But he doesn’t admit defeat before giving it his best shot.
Instead, he takes a leap of faith and tells his client with
confidence that he will find something perfect for him.
“I love impossible. It’s more exciting.”

- Luis D. Ortiz
Here’s the important part in this exercise…think about
how you would feel in this situation. You’re agreeing to do
something while a big part of you is screaming “it’s
impossible!!” inside your head. Not only that, but you’re
actually saying you can do it with full confidence to a
client...it isn’t just inner dialogue. That’s scary!
And that’s the point...scary is good. Scary doesn’t mean
you can’t do something. It just means that it’s a bit of a
stretch for you right now.
Key point: when you really stretch yourself, you won’t be
successful 100% of the time. But it’s REALLY important
to accept that (it’s part of the game) and not let it defeat
you. Which brings me to #2...
© MINDSETBOSS.COM 2016
2 . B E A B L E T O Q U I C K LY
BOUNCE BACK FROM
FA I L U R E
Why is this important? Well, it’s super important because
if you’re truly going after big goals (by big, I mean they’re
at least a bit of a stretch...which they should be) you
WILL run into failure.
It’s just part of the game of being successful at anything.
There are a couple really good examples of this in action
all throughout this show. Here are some of the most
impactful:
Luis working on 46 Lispenard
In season 2, Luis gets a really challenging listing as a test
in order to win the whole building. He puts his entire heart
and soul into the listing but isn’t able to sell it. After that,
you can see on the show how devastated he was...as
anyone would be.

But this is the key takeaway: you don’t let it completely

What separates the people that achieve their goals is
defeat you. You get back up, and you find other
whether or not they let failure defeat them. Think about
opportunities.
it… what’s the only thing that can stop you from
accomplishing your next big goal? As long as you’re
And that’s what he did.
taking action, it’s failure.

(His experience with the Lincoln Plaza condo in season 3

And with failure, all you have to do is keep going. No
is another great example of bouncing back from a
matter how down and out you feel.
misstep fast.)

Barbara Corcoran, investor on Shark Tank and founder of

a real estate firm that she sold for $66 million in 2001, “You have to actually enjoy being rejected” - Luis
has said that being able to quickly bounce back from D. Ortiz (Season 3 “uncensored”)
rejection is the number one biggest success factor she
has seen over the years. (link)

10 SUCCESS SECRETS FROM MILLION DOLLAR LISTING NEW YORK © MINDSETBOSS.COM 2016
If you’re feeling bad because of a failure right now
(actually I recommend this in any situation), go back and
watch season 2. You’ll see this example in action, plus
the next one...
Fredrik after not being able to sell the marble
house
Also in season 2, we get a great example of bouncing
back from failure when Fredrik ends up not selling the big
marble house.
The key here (and you can also see this in the previous
example) is that it’s completely fine to feel bad about
whatever happened. That’s not the issue...we are not
robots with no emotions.
But, the BIG learning here that you MUST take away from
this is that you have to bounce back as fast as possible.
Remember, this is much easier said than done. But just
think of these examples the next time you stumble and
that should help you bounce right back up!
Ryan after almost losing the SoHo
townhouse.
I thought the last two episodes in season 4 where Ryan
lost the offer on the SoHo townhouse because the buyer
10 SUCCESS SECRETS FROM MILLION DOLLAR LISTING NEW YORK
was going to jail was another great example of handling
failure like a boss.
Ryan was devastated, as you can see on the show,  and
the verbal abuse from his seller didn’t help either.
However…
He didn’t admit defeat. He fought back and figured out a
way to get another chance with the seller and ended up
closing a deal on the last episode of the season.
“I think I was a lot more ready for rejection than
most real estate agents, and it really is an
emotional roller coaster.” - Ryan Serhant (link)
3. PERSISTENCE
Persistence is a big key to success, and it goes along
with the lesson in #2 above. If you really want something,
never give up!
There are so many examples on the show of how
persistence has opened doors for all 3 of the stars, but
here are a couple of my favorites:
© MINDSETBOSS.COM 2016
Ryan’s SoHo townhome example from above is Fredrik and Derek’s search for an egg donor
actually another great example of being persistent.
I like this because it’s not a business related example. It
Actually, he revealed on a Bravo blog that the ending on
shows how successful traits carry over to all aspects of
the show wasn’t even the final ending to the story of that
life, which is investing in your personal development is so
listing. He had to persevere for another couple months
important!
before the property was finally sold.

Throughout the season 4, Fredrik’s struggle to find a

That’s so tough to deal with emotionally but he lesson
suitable egg donor is documented. I’m sure that journey
is...never give up!
will continue to be documented in season 5 as we are
updated on the progress of that story.
Also, I think the story of how Ryan was able to shut down
Times Square to propose to Emilia is another example of
But one of the important things to notice as you follow
persistence. Would you have gone through all of those
that story is the persistence that Fredrik has. How many
phone calls and talking to different offices that he did just
of us would give up after a couple “no’s” and think
to get the opportunity to do it?
something like “I guess it just isn’t meant for me to have
kids”?
Luis finally making a connection with Gerard Longo
is a classic example of persistence paying off.
And then give up.
In season 4, Luis connects with a big developer after
being persistent. In fact, the developer said his Seriously, put yourself in his shoes. He has gone through
secretaries were tired of hearing his name, so he agreed gut-wrenching rejection while trying to find and egg
to meet with him. donor, but he is NOT going to give up. That’s the power of
persistence.
Think about it -- the new, valuable relationship that he
created wouldn’t have happened without simple I think this is a great illustration of how…
persistence. It’s easy to overlook, but don’t. It can be the
difference between success and failure.

10 SUCCESS SECRETS FROM MILLION DOLLAR LISTING NEW YORK © MINDSETBOSS.COM 2016
 Persistence = success
Lack of persistence = failure
Sometimes, it really can be that simple.
4. HUSTLE (INTENSITY)
When you’re doing anything, and especially when it’s
something that you’re just starting (a new business, new
job/career, etc), you almost ALWAYS have to hustle in
order to get that new thing off the ground. (This is one of
the core mindset components that we teach at Mindset
Academy.)
What is hustle (we call it Intensity) and why is it so
important?
Well, getting anything off the ground takes HUGE effort
because you have no momentum. So that effort has to
come from somewhere...YOU!
It’s like pedaling a bike...you have to pedal harder to get
going than you do once you’re already going as fast as
you want to go.
So lucky for us, we get a glimpse at the pure hustle that it
takes to win at the highest level throughout MLDNY. (And
10 SUCCESS SECRETS FROM MILLION DOLLAR LISTING NEW YORK
I’m sure a lot of it is cut out, so multiply what you see by
10!)
Here are my favorite examples:
Fredrik launching sales at 11 N Moore
In season 3 episode 4, we’re lucky to get an inside look at
exactly how Fredrik sells out buildings as soon as they’re
available.
Does he do it by putting some flyers out, maybe doing an
ad or two, and hoping the buyers come in?
Nope, not a chance.
Instead, we’re treated to a view of exactly how he does it.
He brings his entire team into their makeshift “sales
gallery” and has them all call their list of potential buyers
together. Plus, he sets a goal that they continuously
measure as they go.
This team environment, all with a common goal, drives
intensity through the roof. It’s the same effect that
happens when you work out in a group versus by yourself
-- you simply work harder and it helps you get into flow.
© MINDSETBOSS.COM 2016
(And don’t forget the amount of hustle that went into
generating interest, building a buzz, and creating a list of
potential buyers beforehand!)
Luis cold calling
There are a ton of examples of how Luis has been able to
make things happen by using pure hustle, but one of my
favorites is his introduction to the show in season 2.
In the first episode, he mentions that his strategy to
generate business is to call everybody that has ever
come to his open houses. That’s pure hustle...and that’s
how you create results out of thin air.
Then in the first episode season 3, Luis still shows how
hustling via cold calling generates results with the Central
Park listing he did with Todd.
Ryan calling all those people on the crazy
seller’s list
Going back to the example that I’ve talked about twice
already, in #2 and #3 (it’s a great example!), Ryan’s
strategy to sell the SoHo townhouse (the second time) is
a great example of pure hustle creating big results.
(again, last episode of season 4)
10 SUCCESS SECRETS FROM MILLION DOLLAR LISTING NEW YORK
Remember, the strategy was to call all 22,000 (was it
really that many?) of the seller’s personal contacts to find
a buyer from that list.
And they did.
If that’s not hustle...nothing is. Just watch, appreciate the
hustle, and make sure you’re hustling just as hard for
your goals!
5 . T H E I M P O R TA N C E O F
APPEARANCE.
This is a big factor that you see throughout the entire
show in many different forms.
Personal style and hygiene is one of the most obvious
one, as all 3 stars have great fashion sense and look
fantastic every day as they meet with clients. They’ve all
mentioned at some point how important it is to present
yourself as well as you possibly can.
(Need a reminder? Go back to Season 3, Episode 1 and
watch Luis giving Todd a makeover)
© MINDSETBOSS.COM 2016
Taking this one from another angle, you also see how
important this is when listing a property and commanding
top dollar. If you wanted to sell your home, would you
take photos of it and bring potential buyers through with
all of your clutter everywhere?
Or would you clean it up and have a professional stager
make it look amazing?
Obviously, in an ideal scenario I think we would all have a
professional make your home look great before trying to
sell it, because that’s going to lead directly to more
money!
Do you not do business face to face every
day like they do? Or do you not sell real
estate?
You might be thinking that appearance isn’t really
important for you. Here are some things that might apply
to you that also need to have a good appearance in order
for you to get the best results:
• Your website
• Your business cards
10 SUCCESS SECRETS FROM MILLION DOLLAR LISTING NEW YORK
• Your work attire (this applies for anyone...think
about when you go for an interview for your dream
job, especially!)
• Your products


It’s basically anything that people that you interact with
that matter see (clients, potential clients, customers, your
boss, etc)
6 . T H E I M P O R TA N C E O F
SKILLS
One of the things we overlook when trying to accomplish
something is the true importance of developing the skills
we need to be able to be successful in that endeavor.
And we put too much stock in “talent”.
For example, far too often we’ll try something new and
when we don’t get the results we want right away, we’ll
give up. And we’ll say things like “I don’t have the talent”
or “It just isn’t meant to be for me” as the reason why we
failed.
In this situation, you need to be able to recover from
failure (#2 above) and persistence to keep you in the
© MINDSETBOSS.COM 2016
game (#3 above), but how do you actually go about 7 . TA K E T H I N G S O N E S T E P
turning that initial failure into success?
AT A T I M E
Well, when you break down why you weren’t able to
achieve the results you wanted, usually one of the
biggest reasons is usually that you simply didn’t possess One of the biggest traps that we fall into when
the skills necessary to create those results. approaching our goals is to focus on trying to make your
goal a single-step event.
Bringing this to MLDNY, obviously the game they’re
playing is real estate. So, think about WHY all three stars But few things in life happen in a single step. There is
are actually successful? almost ALWAYS a process involved in order to achieve
any result.
One very big reason (perhaps the biggest) is the
Let’s take selling a real estate property as an example
simple fact that they have the skills necessary for
(since we are talking about Million Dollar Listing New
success in selling properties. This includes things like
York here). One of the things that you can observe in the
sales, negotiation, marketing, team building, networking,
show is how all three stars approach selling all of their
basic design sense, and more. (Plus some of the “inner
properties as a process.
game” skills that we already talked about!)

So it’ll look something like this at a high level (I’m

So if you try something new, keep in mind that your
simplifying this to keep the discussion around the main
primary focus needs to be on building the skills that
point here...and because I personally am not
create success in that endeavor.
knowledgeable about real estate):

1. Get a listing
2. Stage the home & take photos
3. Syndicate the listing

10 SUCCESS SECRETS FROM MILLION DOLLAR LISTING NEW YORK © MINDSETBOSS.COM 2016
 4. Hold an open house
5. Follow up with everyone who came to the open
house
6. Try to get offers
7. Take the offer that you get and negotiate for the
best price
8. Agree on an offer and close the deal.
(There are many steps in between each step, and it might
not look exactly like that. For example, maybe you’ll get
an offer at the open house...or maybe you won’t even get
any offers after the open house.)
The point here is that #8 is what you really want -- to
agree on the offer and close the deal. But you can’t jump
straight to trying to close a deal without the steps
beforehand. Each one serves a purpose.
Want another example?
I’ll use online marketing as another example since I’m
guessing this is something many of you guys have an
interest in, or at least some interest in learning. (And this
point was a really important example for me in the
learning process).
10 SUCCESS SECRETS FROM MILLION DOLLAR LISTING NEW YORK
When you’re trying to sell something online, especially
something higher priced like software or courses or
consulting, you have to take the buyer through steps that
lead to buying rather than trying to sell something in one
shot.
Intuitively, I think most of us think that selling something
online consists of two steps:
1. Put up a website where someone can buy your
product or service.
2. Tell people to go there to buy it (run ads, etc).
And that’s just not how it works in most cases, especially
with higher priced products like I noted earlier and if you
don’t have a brand yet. Rather, you need to break the
process down into smaller chunks…
1. Put up a website where someone can fill out a
form to learn more about your product or service.
2. Send people to your website.
3. When they fill out the form, contact them with more
information.
4. Many won’t buy immediately, but keep emailing
them with more compelling content.
You can also apply this on a bigger level.
© MINDSETBOSS.COM 2016

This applies to your goals too. Let’s say your goal is to
make $1 million dollars.
That’s a fantastic goal, but in order to actually achieve it,
you need to break it down into steps.
Let’s just say for the sake of example here (and without
making this 10 times longer, because there is a lot more
to talk about here...we’ll save that for a future post on
MindsetBoss.com) that you are a luxury real estate
broker in NYC (like our three MLDNY stars).
If you want to make $1 million, the steps are simple. By
simple I mean that you know EXACTLY what the steps
are. (While they are simply, they’re definitely not easy!)
They’re simple because I can easily list them out:
1. Go out and get listings worth at least
$33,333,333.33. (3% of this is $1m)
2. Sell all of the listings.
3. You’ve made $1m (well, kind of simplified, but it’s
close enough for this example).
Now, there are a ton of different things that we could go
into detail on, but to stay focused on this example, notice
10 SUCCESS SECRETS FROM MILLION DOLLAR LISTING NEW YORK
how there are 3 steps above (and this is a simple
example in concept).
So you don’t focus on the “making $1m” part, you focus
on each step at a time. Go out and get those
listings...then focus on selling them.
Like I said, this is a simplified example, but you
should get the point.
Actually, screw it. Let’s take this example and show how it
can get even longer with even more steps.
Let’s say you have never sold any real estate, but you
want to get into it and your goal is the same as above.
The 3 steps remain the same, but now you have a bunch
more steps that have to come before then. So it might
look like this instead:
1. Get your real estate license.
2. Get your first listing.
3. Sell your first listing.
4. Sell more listings, and go for higher price points
(this step would really be expanded quite a bit into
smaller steps).
© MINDSETBOSS.COM 2016
 5. Go out and get listings worth at least emotional wellbeing. It’s so important that we see that as
$33,333,333.33. a foundation for success.
6. Sell all of the listings.
7. You’ve made $1m. That means that if you’re lacking in this area, you don’t
have a foundation to build on. You’re not just swimming
See? upstream, you’re swimming upstream with a hook in your
mouth reeling you in.
But here’s the point:
We see this happen in episodes 9 and 10 of season 4
You need to focus on taking one step at a time. Don’t when Luis almost had a heart attack.
worry about the next step until the one you’re working on
now has been completed. Then, he learns the importance of taking care of himself
out of pure necessity.
If you go out and run around thinking “I want to make
$1m”, you’ll never get anywhere. You need to have these Now, the obvious lesson here is that taking care of
steps in place. ourselves is super important, and that we should never
let it get to the point where we have a meltdown and have
8 . TA K I N G C A R E O F to be taken to the hospital.

Y O U R S E L F I S ( V I T A L LY ) But there’s another lesson.

I M P O R TA N T.
This lesson is that looking after yourself so you feel better
In Mindset Academy, one of what we call our every day is actually something that HELPS you become
Foundational Factors is health. more successful.

You must look after yourself and care for yourself in all When we feel better, we have more energy, we’re more
areas of your health: nutrition, rest/sleep, mental and creative, and we’re much more positive.

10 SUCCESS SECRETS FROM MILLION DOLLAR LISTING NEW YORK © MINDSETBOSS.COM 2016

That’s why it’s so vital to get enough sleep, eat proper
nutrition, and take care of your emotional wellbeing.
“Being healthy” isn’t the only thing that those things
accomplish. Many people don’t really value health all that
much (until something happens -- remember the Luis
episode I mentioned above!).
So even if you don’t value health above other things,
remember that staying healthy also helps you become
more successful in the things you DO value.
Now, the topic of HOW to take care of your health is
obviously an enormous topic of its own, so I can’t dive
into that right now in detail otherwise this would be 100s
of pages.
However, just remember this:
Looking after and prioritizing your own health
isn’t just a “health” thing. It’s a success thing.
9 . T H E I M P O R TA N C E O F
B U I L D I N G YO U R AU D I E N C E .
10 SUCCESS SECRETS FROM MILLION DOLLAR LISTING NEW YORK
This is more of a marketing-related tip here, but I’m
guessing most of you guys have at least some interest in
marketing...or you will in the future. (Marketing is a very
important skill to have!)
You actually don’t see a ton of evidence of this point on
the actual TV show, but I see this example very distinctly
in at least two areas that they all share:
1. Their list of clients
Have you ever heard the old marketing saying, “the
money’s in the list”?
It’s true!
As a real estate broker, I’m sure one of the most
important assets each of the three MLDNY stars has is
their list of clients. The people that they have either
helped buy or sell a property are the most important
piece of their entire business.
(And, don’t forget about their list of other brokers that
they’ve done deals with, not to mention developers that
they’ve worked with as well)
© MINDSETBOSS.COM 2016
Your list of prospects and customers that you can market
to without having to go through paid advertising is one of
your most valuable assets in ANY business because (a)
they already know you (b) many have already purchased
from you and (c) you can contact them at no or low cost
via phone, email, regular mail, etc.
2. Their online followings (especially social
media)
Check out each of their Instagram profiles and you’ll see
that they all have a lot of followers. This isn’t just a vanity
metric, it’s a way for them to connect directly with their
fans and followers.
You can see just how powerful this is in episodes 5 and 6
of season 3 when Fredrik sold the 101 Warren unit to his
top developer after he saw Fredrik post a picture of it on
Instagram. This is why it’s crucial to build your following
and communicate with it.
Also, if you’ve read Fredrik’s book, The Sell, he not only
has some tips about how to manage your social media
following, but he tells the story of how the book became a
bestseller from nothing other than using social media to
post messages about the book launch.
10 SUCCESS SECRETS FROM MILLION DOLLAR LISTING NEW YORK
(If you haven’t read it, get it! I have the audiobook version
and it’s fantastic.)
Luis is also using his social followers to generate email
subscribers (an even more powerful type of follower than
social media) and donations for charity. Ryan has used
his social media following to sell t-shirts and other
apparel that benefit charity (I don’t remember exactly
which one).
So that’s the power of building a following, with some
concrete examples.
Now, if you haven’t yet, follow them on Instagram:
Luis | Ryan | Fredrik
And make sure to join Luis’s newsletter and get Fredrik’s
book!
(Note: I do not get anything if you purchase Fredrik’s
book. I’m simply recommending it because I bought it and
really liked it.)
© MINDSETBOSS.COM 2016
10. THRIVING IN AN
ENVIRONMENT OF
U N C E R TA I N T Y.
This is related to #1 -- take leaps of faith and do things
before you think you’re ready.
I want you to think about how each of our three stars got
their start. Really think back and put yourself in their
shoes.
No connections, no experience, and starting from
scratch.
Nothing guaranteed. No salary, no benefits, no nothing.
 Getting paid only on commission, so if you don’t sell
something, you don’t get paid.
That’s quite an uncertain environment, isn’t it?
But…
They thrived. I don’t think any of them were overnight
successes, and it took a LOT of hard work along the way,
but the key point here is that the success that we see on
the show is the end result of being thrown into that
10 SUCCESS SECRETS FROM MILLION DOLLAR LISTING NEW YORK
environment of uncertainty and thriving. Figuring it out
along the way.
And that’s exactly how it is for just about ALL of us when
we go into things like a new business or a new career.
It’s very uncertain, but we have to use that uncertainty as
fuel and motivation to keep going and figure it out. And
you can really only do this when you thrust yourself out
there and take action.
You can’t really do it while sitting on the sidelines and
“making plans”.
It’s the classic Mike Tyson quote…”Everybody has a plan
until they get punched in the face.”
And life punches all of us in the face every single day.
It’s about how we handle that. How we react to it. How we
manage ourselves emotionally.
That determines whether we sink or swim.
So I want to end this by leaving that point for you to think
about.
© MINDSETBOSS.COM 2016
What we see when we watch Million Dollar Listing New
York looks relatively easy because each of the three stars
have already built established businesses. We don’t see
most of the pure hustle that went into creating them.
Not only that, but it STILL isn’t easy for any of them.
We’ve seen them all fail in one way or another on the
show. That’s part of the game, even at that level. (Not to
mention all the stuff that they cut out of the show!)
I leave you with this:


Uncertainty is scary, sure. But what’s scarier
is looking back and regretting NOT taking
that shot and going after what you really
want.
10 SUCCESS SECRETS FROM MILLION DOLLAR LISTING NEW YORK
Thanks for reading!
I hope you got a ton of value out of reading this :)
Let me know what you think-
Email me (peter@mindsetboss.com) or Tweet at me
(@Mindset_Boss) and let me know how you liked it…and
if there is anything that I missed!
(Actually there are a number of other factors I could have
included but didn’t have room for. Want to get them all?
Email me!)
Cheers and have a wonderful day!
— Peter from Mindset Boss
© MINDSETBOSS.COM 2016