Fear of failure becomes a fear of success for those who never try anything new.  You will pay a price for success but success is the goal.

Topic – get your head right and your career follows

Mentor – Mat Steinwede

See Mat at RESE on 26th and 27th July.

• The price to pay for high level success
• What is your version of success?
• Take the risk – put it on the line

Transcript:

Kevin Turner: It has been said that your ability to handle failure and rejection is going to be in direct proportion to your success in this industry. I wonder how Mat Steinwede feels about that? Can anyone be successful, Mat? If so, what does it take?

Mat Steinwede: I think that anyone can be successful. The people who are willing to pay the price to be successful is a different story.

Kevin Turner: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Mat Steinwede: It’s not easy. You’ve got to pretty much dedicate your life to something. I think that high level of success in any industry, not just real estate. There is a big price to pay, I think, mentally, physically, emotionally. Also with time. It takes a long time. That’s why when we talk about million dollar earners and all these sorts of things in the industry, that might not be someone’s version of success. Someone’s version of success might be to have a steady income, a nice healthy profit in what they do, work as a standalone agent, but have more time off. It’s really a funny thing.

Mat Steinwede: My business partner always … Well not always, sometimes, says to me, “Mate, not everyone wants to be you. Not everyone wants to be Mat Steinwede. So don’t expect them to be.” It’s true. I paid a massive price to achieve what I’ve wanted to achieve in this business. I think anyone can do that, for sure. But the application is that part that I’m not sure about.

Kevin Turner: Yeah, let’s talk about the application. Because I’m a great believer in the fact that the fear of failure sometimes becomes a fear of success for those who don’t want to try anything. You get to a stage where I don’t want to fail, so I’m not going to try that. Sometimes you’ve got to take the risk, Mat, haven’t you?

Mat Steinwede: You do. That’s exactly right. You’ve got to put it all on the line, back yourself, off you go. You talked about rejection before. I know it’s a bit of a cliché. You’ve got to get used to rejection, but it hurts. It does. But I look at really successful people and one thing I’ve learned from successful people is they put a line under it and move on. Put a line under it and move on.

Mat Steinwede: So when something happens, there’s always something that you’re going to take away from it. It might lead you to the next opportunity, it might teach you something. Whatever it may be. But when things happen now and the answer is like, “Sorry, not you.” I put a line under it, move on, and I think to myself, “It’s okay. It’s leading me somewhere where I need to go.”

Kevin Turner: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Mat Steinwede: Because most of the reason that I’ve sort of achieved what I’ve achieved in this business is because of the bumps. Like … being on Australia’s Most Wanted led me to becoming … To wanting, gave me the hunger. All those years ago I said to myself, “I’m going to become Australia’s number one agent.” So even when things don’t work out right and they’re horrendously painful at the time, they divert your path. So that’s sort of why I put a line under it, and I wait for the universe to show me the next thing.

Kevin Turner: I’ve heard you speak on several occasions, and I saw it in a recent video too where you talked about being … You just described it then, the most successful agent in Australia, is that right? Or the best agent in Australia?

Mat Steinwede: Yeah, that’s what I wanted to be.

Kevin Turner: Yeah. Is that still your passion?

Mat Steinwede: Hmm … No.

Kevin Turner: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Mat Steinwede: I’ve probably achieved what I want to achieve. Like in terms of number one in McGrath. I don’t know how you measure the rest.

Kevin Turner: Exactly.

Mat Steinwede: Yeah, yeah. Some agents sell a lot, some agents sell less. It’s all dollar value. It’s a bit of smoke and mirrors half the time, anyway.

Kevin Turner: This comes down to the whole question about success; how do you define success? You’ve defined it already, you said, “I’m happy with where I am. So therefore I am successful.”

Mat Steinwede: Yeah, I think success for me now in real estate is to have a model that consistently works. Provides great service, consistent listings and sales. Like the model that every month … It runs more methodically and streamlined than with the angst of trying to get somewhere. So that’s probably what I look for now. We’re always … Every month 15, 15 is the number that we work towards. 15, 16, $500,000 a month, $6 million year. That’s pretty much where we like to operate.

Kevin Turner: You talked earlier about failure and how you analyze. If you don’t take it personally, in other words any rejection you just say well you draw a line under it and move on. But you’ve learned from those experiences. You talked earlier in the week about if you don’t get a listing, you can analyze it and know that it had something to do with your energy. So you treat those obstacles as learning opportunities?

Mat Steinwede: Yeah, it still hurts.

Kevin Turner: Yeah, that’s right.

Mat Steinwede: But I almost let it bounce a bit now, as to where I used to dwell on it so badly. It used to just almost … I don’t know, buckle me in a way. It would really penetrate me, where as now I go, “Bugger. Okay, next one. Let’s keep going. Let’s keep going.” Even when the guys, my team my personal team, something happens I’m like, “Just park it. Let’s go. Just park it, let’s go.” So I try and emotionally move away from it as quickly as I can.”

Kevin Turner: Yeah, great stuff.

Kevin Turner: Mat, talk to you again tomorrow morning, mate. I want to talk to you about a book that Wayne Dwyer wrote which I’ve heard you quote. But we’ll talk about that in the morning. Mat Steinwede is my guest, we’ll talk to you then, mate.

Mat Steinwede: Thanks, mate.