Right after college, Matt moved to Los Angeles. He felt the lure as many do. His first jobs were in the mailrooms of talent agencies. Soon he rose to become an agent with one of the world’s top talent agencies: Creative Artists Agency, or CAA. He was making deals for famous actors, actresses, directors, and screenwriters, and he had just graduated from college. Mom and Dad were proud. I had to beat him … or at least join him. When I graduated and joined him out West, he got me a job … in a music management mailroom.

Now, in Los Angeles, Matt and I were again a team. We scraped $5,000 each together invested in a condo in West LA. It wasn’t a great neighborhood then; we bought in before the influx of young movie stars who lamented about not being in walking distance of the bars, like they were back in New York. Months later, we flipped our first condo and I felt my first taste of the real estate market in the form of a paycheck. We had turned an actual profit.

From that point on, real estate had me for the rest of my life. I went from making $6.50 an hour in the mailroom to a $200,000 profit. We loved houses and we loved people. It was a natural transition. My hustle began. Only, it was working in a mortgage brokerage, with other people’s money. Instantly I was successful. The struggle wasn’t the business aspect; it was the set-up and follow through. But my family plus football had given me that strength in spades. Within a few years, by age 27, I was on my way to my second million. I was killing it.

Then the market crashed. If you don’t remember 2007, you were either too young or you had nothing to lose. I did, and I lost it all. Everything. I was in a dark place, a real nightmare for a year and a half.

It was during that nightmare that a new dream formed. I’d sell real estate. I studied like a maniac what my mortgage business had already taught a lot of. But how would I get that first client? Where was the gap? Where was my in? What was I willing to do that no one else would? How would I open? The word buzzed through me: “open.”

Negotiating Is All

Immediately I began to sit open houses for other agent’s listings. I became an expert at picking up clients; I even showed properties I didn’t have. Still, nothing was popping off, but I knew never to quit. Six months and not one deal. I was sitting an open house near where I live now when Mitch and Mike walked in. I noticed them at once. They wanted a forever house in LA. I convinced them to give me a crack at finding it. After a relentless search, they settled on a piece of land I helped them buy for $1.6 million. They built their dream and the value today is off the charts, around $25 million, satisfying the greatest drivers of any real estate deal, emotion and money.

That’s when I truly became the Shark. I was all-in. I was like the Matt Damon character in the movie Rounders – three stacks of “high society” against the Russian mobster Teddy, and on my way to Vegas. My Vegas. Hollywood.

From that point on, everything I saw became a negotiation. A friend wants sushi; I want a burger. Make the deal – raw fish it is, but I pick the movie. Matt wanted to watch the game downtown, but I was feeling a sports bar in Santa Monica. Make the deal, downtown it is, but he buys the beer. I knew what I was prepared to offer even before the exchange.

If you’re like me, it doesn’t matter if you’re closing a huge deal or negotiating with your spouse for lunch, the same skills are in play: careful listening, strategic thinking, research, planning, presentation, points and counterpoints, possible outcomes, desired outcomes, acceptance or rejection. My shark’s skin was thick and it only hardened after Mitch and Mike. I learned compromise and I swam straight for it, always on the hunt, memorizing every phase of every property as I passed by on the streets, in my car, no one or nothing off limits, a closer.

Let’s get this straight; real estate is the close. Everything I do day in and day out is pointed toward that end. If you don’t close, nothing happened. You’ve just moved a lot of paper around, made a bunch of calls, sent out emails, wasted gas, posted online, and walked a bunch of people through a house with nothing to show for it. Sure, you may have made some leads for the future, but you never want to be the agent that didn’t close. You lose money. It sucks, plain and simple.

We’re in a town that is one giant table covered in cash. I’m not about to leave it there for someone else to take. My brother Matt understood this even before I did. It was only a natural play for us to open up our real estate company, The Altman Brothers. We hit the ground running. Luxury real estate. No one could touch us and everyone noticed. Even BRAVO.

Going Hollywood, TV Time

Matt and I were killing it. I was killing it. But in a city of transplants from all over the nation, with all due respect to the locals, it seemed like everyone around me was on chill-mode. When you’re an East Coast hustler with a fast mouth on a mission, running circles around these beach boys only made us stand out even more. If slinging multimillion-dollar properties was like waiting tables in a restaurant, the staff would have yelled at me to stop making them look bad. The management would have offered a promotion.

No one knew how to handle me when I’d walk into an open house, my fin above the water. Their muscles tensed, veins ran cold as they held on for dear life to their listings. All clients wanted a piece. The smart agents would flock to join me in sharing the feast. That’s when the phone rang.

BRAVO heard about us and called, asking me to come in and audition for Million Dollar Listing: Los Angeles. This was to be the most important non-real estate close of my real estate career, kind of like me getting my dad to agree to football camp. This was national television. This was BRAVO. Matt and I knew what this meant for the business; this was the close of a lifetime. I was pumped.

As entrepreneurs we were well aware this could be a huge ongoing infomercial for our business. We went about building the close. Every move I made would be pointed at that BRAVO producer’s final call, offering me the gig.

Because of our work at the talent agency, we had learned how television producers and executives think about TV. Matt and I dove into deep research, bingeing and analyzing every aspect of the show. We watched every second of the first three seasons, talking about character types and dissecting how they played off each other. The leads were a trust fund baby named Josh Flagg and the laid-back Malibu beach guy Madison. What this show needed was obvious to us; part East Coast street swagger, part business baller. I piss both elements, daily.

When I walked into the waiting room for that audition, there were what seemed in my head a hundred real estate agents sitting there. I waited and I waited and I waited. I never let nerves set in. Instead, I started channeling all my heroes – the biggest closers of all time who had changed the world for the better.

I know we’re talking about a TV show here, but it mattered that much to me, and why couldn’t this stepping-stone help me lead to changing the world – one property at a time? If you want to be the best you have to think like the best, believe you’re the best, know you’re the best. In that moment, I knew what I know every morning, what Babe Ruth knew stepping to the plate, Muhammad Ali in the ring, what Michael Jordan knew, the ball was going in. Seconds before walking into that audition room, in the forefront of my mind was Cosimo di Giovanni de’ Medici. I’m serious and you should be too.

Let’s look back at a pivotal moment in the history of modern banking: In the early 1400s, Cosimo de’ Medici (son of Giovanni) convinced the leaders of Florence to adopt the financial system of maritime Italy, a monetary standard gaining momentum for commerce. The House of Medici soon became bankers to the world, or at least to the outer bounds of that empire, and patrons of the arts.

With an instinctive eye for beauty, Cosimo and the Medicis commissioned public art and architecture, some of the greatest of the Renaissance. Four hundred years later, millions still travel to see it. Florence and modern banking were built on Cosimo’s close. In that moment, I was the big man himself, “The Elder” (Il Vecchio) as he was called, and these TV producers were about to know it.

When I finally heard my name, I took a double shot of espresso and felt the caffeine rush through my heart. A voice inside me screamed out as if from a spirit guide – the historic Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne, the GOAT of coaching – “Blow this and you lose money. Kill ’em! Score! Win! Close!” It was Game Time.

I strutted into that office like it was mine, as if they were auditioning for me. I was on. “I’m Josh Altman,” I said, “and I rule the Platinum Triangle.” Eyes perked, jaws dropped. “I don’t sell real estate, I wage war. My job is to get the best possible deal for my clients and I do it every time, for every one of them.” I could see them lean back in their seats, already impressed with my confidence.

Unlike when I’m dealing with a buyer/seller, I gave them no room to talk: “One guy you have on the show,” I said, “the guy up in Malibu, you call that negotiating? While he talks green smoothies, I’ve sold two multimillion- dollar houses and I’m showing a third. I eat guys like him before lunch.”

Words just kept flowing. I actually insulted a few of their previous casting choices, another usual no-no in real estate. I was on autopilot until I ran out of breath. They knew I was done when I stopped spitting game. They thanked me, and I rolled right out of there on my Medici gondola like I had another important meeting to run to.

I called Matt. I told him I nailed it. Though to this day it wasn’t me speaking. It was the spirit of Knute Rockne. I was the GOAT coach. I was Gordon Gecko in Wall Street. I was Cosimo de’ Medici.

A week or so later, I was asked back. This time there were a lot less real estate agents sitting there. I kept with the strategy, this time with Steve Jobs and Los Angeles native Mike Markkula in the forefront of my mind.

For those of you who don’t know, Markkula was the angel investor Steve Jobs got to put up the funds to build his first machines. Jobs found the guy – not always the easiest task and a huge part of the closer’s job – who understood the idea of technology connecting the world, all the time, no matter where we were. It was Markkula’s money, his management, and his marketing vision that laid the groundwork for Apple.

Again, my name was called. Again, I threw back two shots of espresso. My vision was nothing but end-zone as I stepped in front of the producers and launched my pitch, selling myself hard, stats and all, to make sure they knew I was the man for the job, to make sure they knew how I would benefit the show.

“I am the guy to bring edge to this show. I am the guy with the focus, the business experience and the sheer guts to bring this show to the next level. I am the guy to bring balance, balls, and no bullshit to Million Dollar Listing: LA.”.

That’s right. My closing strategy, the way I pointed the entire effort, was to explain, aggressively, how I could help them realize their dreams, a more successful show than it already was. In my work as a real estate agent, though always confident, I tend to be less cocky and egocentric, as you see on TV. Each close is different and requires an agent to adjust, adapt, and overcome. But for this my angle was straight on point – all Shark.

A few days later, they called me back. Then they called again. And again. Each time I stepped up with the auras around me – Einstein, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and the ever-present Knute “The GOAT” – I was building to close.

The process dragged out over a few months. I kept selling real estate and living my life until we neared an end, the final negotiation. I went back in and only a few agents were left. I was going to do everything in my power to make sure it would be me. I was all baller talk and real estate passion. Ultimately, they offered me the gig.

The call came shortly after the final audition. All the research, all the hero channeling, all the bravado had paid off. To say Matt and I were stoked was an understatement. We were out of our minds, floating.

This wasn’t about being on TV. That was never my dream. This was about a strategic business maneuver for the Altman Brothers. We’d put into place an extraordinary piece of marketing that would propel us to even greater success. We didn’t realize at the time how much greater that success would become. We just knew we were on our way.

All of this happened because I knew how to close in real estate. I knew my product. I knew my market, and I knew the kind of clients I was selling to. Even though I walked into that room and talked about myself, I was really talking about the show’s needs. I was closing.

I had what it took to make that show rock. I took what’s inherent to my personality – the love of engagement, service, risk, competition, and hustle – and blew it up big. I watched my counterparts’ body language, facial expressions, and eyes. As they reacted, I adjusted. They were easy Southern California, so I was hard East Coast. I didn’t have a trust fund; I had street smarts. I don’t do smoothies; I do caffeine. I had already lost and remade a fortune on my own terms. I showed them what they needed for a successful TV show continuing long into the future.

Start reading from the beginning if you haven’t realized this yet: I’m not playing a real estate agent on television; I’m a real estate agent being trailed by cameras. Cameras are there because I’m a closer. As I’ve said, I closed 189 deals last year; 10 were on the show. I’m not looking to win the lottery, I want to out-earn it. I want to open, work, and close.

I joined the cast of Million Dollar Listing: Los Angeles in the show’s fourth year. Season 11 just aired. The mix of energies I saw when I watched those episodes all those years ago worked. The audience grew and grew. Week in and week out, my cutthroat, aggressive style, beat other agents to the bank over and over. And week in and week out, the audience shows up to watch the hustle.

Million Dollar Listing: Los Angeles was a life-altering close for the Altman Brothers. I will forever be grateful to the producers of the show and the BRAVO network. This business is full of closers. These guys – de Medici and Jobs – are obvious examples. They were just guys with big ideas. Their ability to convince that first person, the second, then the next and the next, was an essential skill. Nothing would have happened without it.

These closers left massive legacies that changed the world. I’m going to be like them. I’m going to be remembered. I’m going to change the world. You don’t believe me? It’s already happening. Take a drive around Los Angeles. See any construction? I did that. I made that happen. Einstein, Ford, Edison, Rockne, the greatest of all time? I’m going to be like them. Who are you going to be?