Let’s get right to it. This book is more than real estate. This book is Hollywood. By that I mean I am Hollywood. YOU have the capability and potential of being Hollywood, too. I use “Hollywood” not in the pretentious, superficial, glitz-and-glamour sense of the phrase – take it from a blue-collar Boston guy who worked in the mailroom – and not as a geographical location. “Hollywood” in Altman-speak is making the biggest deals at the highest levels with the wealthiest and most financially successful entrepreneurs, success not just being measured by bank accounts.

We’ll cover that, but to start, this book is about closing, something I do over 180 times per year at record profits. Check my stats. Hell, check the Wall Street Journal. You’ll find me. Closing is about opening, which together is serving your client with the upmost respect, servicing your community, and yes, making money, lots of it. I don’t care if you’re in London, Dubai, Iowa, or Arkansas. You have the opportunity to make your business, your brand, and yourself “Hollywood.” This is a mentality, a physicality, and a reality. The Altman Brothers don’t dance. We make money moves, and you can dance to that.

From the moment I wake up ready for battle – gym to shower to embroidered suit – I am closing a deal. Whether on the street, in a Beverly Hills mansion, or on the sports field, the ball is in my hands; the clock is counting down, 3-2-1. This is what I have prepared for, the way I’ve set it up from the first play, the way I’ve adapted, overcoming any obstacle thrown my way. It’s all up to me to be a champion. It’s up to me to close, the exact way I’ve planned all along, each path different. If you don’t want the ball in your hands, if the pressure doesn’t excite you, then just put this book down and read my previous literary work, It’s Your Move.

This book goes beyond that one. This is the advanced course. This is the vision-board pinned with a check written to your mother, seven zeros minimum to offer because you and your kids are already covered. I cannot give you the drive, the work ethic, the passion, but I can kick you in the ass as my college football coach did to me. I can be straight A-to-B, no nonsense, and relay to you the tools it takes to be a feared beast – a shark. I’m Josh Altman. What’s going on? Let me tell you how I can help you today. Translation: I know how to help us both. You’ll want this.

I have the respect and the knowledge to give you the necessary respect and knowledge. Only you can be accountable for you and your success. This business is on your shoulders alone. Do you have what it takes to listen, to dig deep, come off the bench and Tom Brady this? Can you be the GOAT (greatest-of-all-time) in this? Do you have the thick skin to win, to lose, and to use that experience to come out on top in the big game, time and time again? If so, turn the page. Step on the field and know that the one goal, no matter what it takes to get there, is to score and score big, with continuous victories, one stacked on top of the other. We don’t have time for anything else. The clock doesn’t wait. I thank you in advance for your precious seconds. Now let’s not waste them. Let me teach you how to thank yourself.

Success: You want this or not? How bad do you want it? Are you willing to sacrifice? Are you willing to be cutthroat? If you think that “cutthroat” means to screw someone over, then please keep reading for your own sake. That is not success. That does not get repeat calls.

In today’s world of misconstrued controversy, success is dignity for yourself and others. Business is business, and for some that can be extremely personal. Closing real estate deals affects people’s lives on many levels. Small fish or big dog, the principle remains the same: You will not make everyone happy all of the time, but if you honor yourself, if you honor your client, if you honor your community, if you honor your competitors no matter your true opinion of them, then you can win for all, time and time again, each victory more in your favor.

Compromise makes a relationship, and cutthroat compromise can be your best friend. It may not always be your ideal outcome, but a friend nonetheless, one that returns, the give-and-take, a friend that honors in value.

We all love a slam dunk, a Hail Mary caught, a grand slam, yet even in this past year, when my second-home team the Los Angeles Dodgers lost the World Series to my beloved Boston Red Sox, the Dodgers took out a full-page ad in the Boston Globe congratulating the Sox on their win. That’s class. That makes a loss a win for them – a form of close in itself.

If you think I just dated this technique of closing by invoking killing for kindness and the Golden Rule, then pause to acknowledge this: We all live in the moment because others lived in the past with a hopeful vision of the future. We are that future. That said: This book is Hollywood. Now let’s get you the gold statue no matter what happened before, as long as you own it, remember it, and learn from it. Let’s get you the win. Let’s get you paid. Let’s close!

Are you ready for what you say you want? Are you prepared to learn? Success: How bad do you need it? How much do you need it for everyone? How much do you need it for yourself? I have built a real estate empire. I have built success by constructing fear in others with my aggressive attitude toward business. They call me “The Shark” for a reason. Now, I open you to the embrace. Let’s begin to be better. Let’s be the best – the GOAT. Let’s all win – with the Altman Close.