Matt Brown
From the Football Field to the Fairway to FSBOs: Matt Brown Brings His “A-Game”
Halfway into 2018, in his third year of business, his three-person team consisting of his wife, Chelsea, and Madison Ashkinos, will have completed 82 transactions. This includes both land and residential transactions, as well as new construction projects and leases, pushing his career volume to over $20 million.
Mastery is in Matt Brown’s DNA. When he takes on a task, he figures out what it takes to become the best at it. And then he makes it happen:
- In 2017, at the age of 25, he ranked among Coldwell Banker’s prestigious 30 under 30 list – selected from among more than 88,000 independent real estate professionals, from 3,000 offices, across 49 countries.
- The previous year he received the Tomorrow’s Top Producer Horizon Award.
- In both years, D Magazine named him as a Top Producer.
- He’s a member of Coldwell Banker’s International Diamond Society.
- During his first year in real estate, he was named Rookie of the Year for the Coldwell Banker Apex office, which serves the entire Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex.
That’s the short list.
At 26, as head of the Dynamic Estate Team at Coldwell Banker Apex in Allen, Texas, he exudes an endearing combination of humility and a passion for winning – on behalf of clients, or teammates, or whatever task he’s taken on. It’s a skill he sharpened on the football field. As quarterback for the Allen High School Eagles, he helped the team win its first state title. He continued to play football at TCU as a quarterback and wideout.
I caught up with Matt on the golf course, where a conversation about success in real estate – and in life – was punctuated by impeccably executed strokes. A mastery mindset from his football days is still very much with him, as he strategizes a successful career in real estate. “If you think about it the way I do, my volume is my passing yards; my closed deals are my touchdowns,” Matt said.
As far as golf, there’s even more metaphoric wisdom: “You can shoot a double bogey, or a triple bogey, or you could have a bad month, or a bad week, or a bad day, or a bad phone call. But just like in golf, you have another hole, another opportunity, another chance, another way to really stamp your game, or your business, in a different light and a different fashion for your client, or customer, or your game,” he emphasized.
“Football is a very big team sport, but golf is an individual sport. I think that’s the mindset that’s imperative. How to become good at golf depends upon how much time you're willing to work at the driving range: how much you're willing to chip, how much you're willing to putt. It's the same thing with real estate. How much are you willing to get on the phone? How much are you willing to write handwritten note cards? How much are you willing to go out on a limb, knock on doors, talk to people that you don't know, create conversations and dialogue when it feels uncomfortable? It’s a very similar discipline.”
This critical combination of discipline and drive helps to explain why Matt joined forces with Coldwell Banker Apex and why the real estate profession is proving to be the perfect fit for him. “I enjoy playing with people who are better than me, because it pushes me to play harder, along with constant opportunities to learn and grow.” Real estate offers the opportunity to push himself to be the best he can be – and to be compensated for it. “As a real estate agent, I get to choose the life that I want to live. I have freedom and opportunity.”
Fortunately for Matt, hard work and spot-on service to his clients aligns with the life that he’s choosing to live at this point in his career. He knows what it takes and is always on the lookout for the extra mile that can catapult his career to the next level of achievement. “You have to put in your sweat equity. My thing is, if you call me and I don’t answer or get back to you in five minutes via text to let you know that I’m at an event or tied up and will get back to you ASAP, call 9-1-1 or call my wife, because something is wrong. I take a lot of pride in that.”
Matt’s two and a half years in real estate have been more like dog years. Along with his amazing success, he’s experienced setbacks while acquiring a career’s worth of perspective. Building his business with FSBOs, he describes his first year as “very hard” with 35 transactions. Matt describes that first year as “a lot of sleepless nights, a lot of hard deals, and a lot of promises that I knew would be very hard to get to, with clients who were clear that they did not want to pay a commission.” Time and time again, he overcame that objection by demonstrating value—doing the research and connecting with people in an authentic, open, and honest manner.
With all indicators pointing to a brilliant career ahead, Matt describes himself as “passionate about being successful and passionate about helping people any way that I can.” Acknowledging that success has multiple meanings, he describes it as, “exceeding expectations, and exceeding your abilities that God gave you, to provide a service.”