Man That Can with Lachlan Stuart
Welcome to Man That Can with Lachlan Stuart—the podcast dedicated to empowering men to break through barriers and achieve their full potential.
Hosted by Lachlan Stuart, this show dives deep into the challenges men face, offering actionable insights, real-life stories, and expert advice. Whether you're focused on fitness, business, personal growth, or fatherhood, you'll find inspiration and tools here to help you rise above any challenge and become the man that can.
New episodes drop every Monday and Thursday. Tune in, get inspired, and start living the life you’ve always wanted.
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Man That Can with Lachlan Stuart
Finding Your Passion Beyond Traditional Education | Matt Lancashire #615
What happens when your academic performance doesn’t predict your future success? Matty Lancashire's story is a testament to beating the odds, achieving triumph in real estate despite an OP 16 score in school. In our conversation, he shares how surrounding yourself with positivity, and maintaining enthusiasm and hard work can lead to extraordinary results, such as his $200 million in annual sales. Matty also sheds light on the necessity of setting boundaries and finding success outside the traditional schooling system.
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Do Something Today To Be Better For Tomorrow
suppose school wasn't for you. You didn't excel at it, it wasn't too enjoyable and you felt like you were doomed because you didn't succeed in it. That's what I felt and that's what today's guest experienced as well. So Matty Lank joins us today. Or Matty Lancashire joins us today, and he finished school with an OP 16. Now, while not the very bottom, it wasn't at the top either, but Matty always had this belief in himself that he would make it work out. He wasn't quite sure what he was going to do to be successful, but he just believed that he was going to nail it. So now Matty is widely recognized as one of Australia's leading real estate agents and his team consistently sells more than $200 million worth of property annually. That is insane so negotiating many of Queensland's most significant real estate transactions. And he holds Brisbane's house price record with the sale of one Leopard Street kangaroo point for 18.48 million. So he is an expert in his field and he has really learned to excel, build an incredible team lead and do what he loves most.
Speaker 1:In today's episode, we talk about the importance of your association with people, making sure you're spending time around people who lift you up, empower you and really add value to your life. We talk about hard work and enthusiasm and how that trumps a skill nine times out of 10 in his profession, the importance of setting boundaries, why school wasn't for him and why most don't take the necessary actions needed in order to succeed. This is going to be an absolute cracker. So thank you, guys for tuning in. Especially for those who are here for the first time, welcome. Make sure you hit that follow button, whichever platform you're listening on. And for those who are returning, always good to have you back.
Speaker 1:Now we're launching our next intake for the Strong Mentor Value Academy this Monday. So Monday the 30th, seven days away Now. This academy is full of ambitious, like-minded men who are pursuing their potential, and they want to be surrounded by a good community of blokes who are prepared to talk about what it takes to be successful. They're open and honest about the setbacks that they face, but, most importantly, they understand that success is holistic. It's not just about status and fame. There is more to what it takes to be that. It could be from being a great dad, it could be having excellent health, it could be having an incredible lifestyle. All of these things really matter in order for us, as men, to have fulfillment and to be the best version of ourselves, in order for us, as men, to have fulfillment and to be the best version of ourselves. So if you would like to apply for that, head over to themanthatcanprojectcom. Forward, slash strongmenofvalue and hit your application there. I look forward to reading your applications. That's enough for me.
Speaker 1:Now let's dive into today's episode with Maddy Lancashire. The man that Can Project podcast, a podcast empowering career-driven men to live more fulfilling lives. We are here to challenge your beliefs, redefine success and talk about the important stuff in a relatable way. Don't forget to subscribe and leave a review. My name's Lachie Stewart. Let's get into it. Let's get into it, matty. $300 million in sales last year, this year, yeah, or this year, sorry.
Speaker 2:Phenomenal it's been a great year.
Speaker 1:It's been a great year and you look amazing all the time as well. Thanks a lot, mate. This is an exciting episode. I know there is a lot of real estate agents that follow the man that Can project and are very excited to have you on the show to learn all Matty Lancashire's tips and tricks. But before we dive into it, we're not going to talk purely real estate For everyone who's listening. We're going to talk about ambition, work-life balance, how you went from getting an OP16. Now an OP for people who aren't in Queensland is like your score of I guess. How intelligent, how smart you are coming out of school. I beat you, one being the best 25 being the worst.
Speaker 1:I think it's 24. But anyway, yeah, but you were sort of later down the ladder there, I was 16. It's all right, but you weren't interested in that. But then also how you came to be one of Australia's most successful real estate agents. So, mate, OP16, going out of school talk us through what happened next.
Speaker 2:Well, mate, yeah, OP16 is not great. There's people that are worse, obviously, but it's.
Speaker 1:When you came out of school did you think you were fucked?
Speaker 2:I don't know if I think I'd fucked. I always had ambition that I'd always be okay. Yep, I think school. I grew up in Brisbane. I came from quite a smart family actually. My father's a surgeon, my brother's become a surgeon, my sister's a teacher.
Speaker 1:Yeah, right, and I think I had something.
Speaker 2:I was dropped maybe at birth, I'm not sure and interestingly, school just wasn't for me and I think that there's such a lot of pressure on young people to know what they want to do for the rest of their life at that point of time I found it really difficult At that point of time. I finished school in 1998. They didn't really tailor for emotional intelligence. It was more so book smart. I just wasn't what I wanted or what I was good at. I felt there was a lot of pressure on young people to make decisions as to what they want to do for the rest of their life purely based on a small snippet of their life that they've had at that point of time and literally finished school, got the OP16, which was not great, and I was playing a bit of tennis at that time and it got about six months into the next year after I finished school, before my parents actually said so when you were playing tennis, were you competitive at tennis?
Speaker 2:oh, I wasn't going to be professional or anything like that, but I was competitive. I'm always competitive on everything that I do but it's um, it was just a outlet. I didn't know what I wanted to do, like literally. And it got to a point where my parents sat me down and they said look, what do you want to do with your life? And I had zero idea, I had zero ambition, but for some reason I always knew that I'd always just find my way. And my parents said oh look, we've seen in the paper, here's an open day for a company called QBuild, which is a government organisation which does all maintenance, whether it be plumbing, electrical chippies, everything that services the government. And we should go to this day. I think you should get into a trade. And I was like oh, okay, why not?
Speaker 1:Yeah, why not?
Speaker 2:I went and I ended up getting a job as an electrician.
Speaker 1:So you're a qualified.
Speaker 2:Sparky, I am a qualified.
Speaker 1:Well, I, I got my ticket that's why you were giving me advice on the lights this before mate, I just thought you were having a guest there, but no, I know I wasn't great at it, hence I'm not um doing it.
Speaker 2:It's interesting, it's a really good segue into it. It's like you've got to find your passion as to what you wanted to do and like I got. I always like to finish things. I start um and I finished the electrical apprenticeship and I was like this is not for me and I just knew that and it was um. It didn't excite me, I wasn't, you know it was. Look, there was some great benefits from it, which I can go into about what it's been transferable skills into what I do today, but it was was a really interesting phase of my life and I'm really grateful that I did it because I can, you know, probably wouldn't wire up here, but I know what to do and I know how it all works.
Speaker 2:Get you in for a cashie, very expensive to do. I could do a cashie actually, if you want to see.
Speaker 1:See how we go put it on the ramp.
Speaker 2:But at the same time it just wasn't my passion, it wasn't my drive. And so as soon as I finished my apprenticeship I thought do I want to do this for the rest of my life? And it was interesting. There was this very short window where I got an opportunity to go into real estate and it was a very, very short period of time and I decided to work in this business and it was a bit of a false start. It was Remax Central Properties in the city, yep, and interestingly, I met a girl while I was there and then she moved to Sydney.
Speaker 1:I followed her to Sydney and then worked in retail, in retail.
Speaker 2:I know right, fashion Is this where you got it? I worked for Ben Sherman, actually, this is where the style came from. And then, anyway, we broke up and in. You know how old were you at this stage? I was only young.
Speaker 1:I was 23, 24 years old can I just backtrack one, because where do you feel your curiosity came from? Because it's very rare for, like, say, 22 or 23 year old blokes to be on. Is this what I want to do for the rest of my life? I think when we get in? You know I did a trade and I know you might want to do it, but to actually then go let's try something different is a big step. So where did that come from for you?
Speaker 2:I'm a big believer in. You should never settle, and if it's something that you think, well, there was a pivotal moment, actually, and it was. I was sitting in a lunchroom and I was in Brisbane City and there was a gentleman it's a great question. There was a gentleman that was in there. He must have been late 60s or maybe even mid-60s, and he looked really upset and I walked into the lunchroom I was like what's wrong? Blah, blah, blah. And he's like, oh, I've just had this unforeseen bill, let's just come and I've had to cancel my family's trip camping down in northern New South Wales. And I was like this guy's mid-60s cancelling his trip at that age because he had an unforeseen bill. And I was like, bugger, that that's not me, no way in the world, that I want that to be me. And you, you know what? I wasn't passionate and look, if I wanted to go and be successful in that, I'm sure I could have come up with it, because there's so many trades that people are just absolutely nailing it in.
Speaker 2:So it's like not saying that that was the reason why I got out because of him, like because of the trade, it just wasn't my passion. I thought you know what I don't want to be that guy when I'm 60 years old sitting in this lunchroom saying it to some young 18-year-old that you know, I've got an unforeseen build come and I can't go out and do what I want.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it was that moment when I went nah, this is not my jam, I don't think. And then, anyway, turn of events ended updney and then moved over. I broke up and, in huge breakup fashion, I ended up in london a week later you don't waste time, so it was um have a grieving period and then went overseas and did two years um in london and traveled around um the world.
Speaker 2:Actually it was so it was some of the best times of my life. It was um. It was a two-year sabbatical, effectively, and I went over there. I didn't have a job at that point of time and I ended up. I actually sold a house, so I had a bit of money behind me and I bought a house at a young age and we renovated it, flipped it and then went overseas and, interestingly, I didn't know anyone. So I decided to get a job and I worked in a in a vodka bar in Clapham and vodka bar.
Speaker 2:Vodka bar and um and it was awesome, and then met the most amazing people, moved in with them, then traveled the world and did all these things and, um, two years later sort of ran out of money, partied probably a little bit too hard, uh, and decided, okay, now I'm 25. What the hell am I going to do with my life? And so it was. And then you get to 25 years old. All of your friends are doing, they've finished their degrees, working as either doctors or lawyers or whatever.
Speaker 1:All in their trades.
Speaker 2:They've finished yeah, trades, and it was. I came home with some great stories and it was really interesting because I came back with all the stories and I'd sit around and a lot changed and I think I changed a lot myself. In what ways do you feel you changed? Well, I felt like at school I was very close with all of our friends and we're very into our own little circles and we never ventured out of our circles. We'd go out to someone's house every friday, saturday night, get on the pierce, do all the same thing and like sort of groundhog day, and I went out to um to explore the world, went over by myself and was forced to go into a whole new experiences with different people and different parts of the world and different cultures and and um, and I was sort of forced out of my comfort zone to actually find new people.
Speaker 1:That's probably a really important thing when you think about success is obviously building a bigger network, learning to ask better questions and gather information. But also get used to being uncomfortable, Because if you just stay in that same bubble as you mentioned, you're only going to have the same thoughts, actions and behaviors and if you don't get challenged on that, you don't really ever. I know for me, I never really thought that a life of wealth financially was possible, or flexibility. I just did what everyone else did, which is similar to you drink piss, do the same stuff, and it was Groundhog Day all week.
Speaker 1:So then, to see people, even for yourself like I, look at you and what you've created and I know a lot of people listening to this will look at what you've created and everything that you're doing and they're going to learn so much more about that process to success, Even the fact that you were 25, most of these people. There's a lot of young agents who I talk to on social media who aren't even 25 and they're putting so much pressure on themselves to have it all figured out and to be Matty Lank already. And it's like you got time. You got plenty of time.
Speaker 2:There's so much that you have to put into it to get there, and that's a whole other sort of conversation about what's going on now with people and wanting to be there now, because it doesn't matter what business you're in. I listened to this amazing podcast which we spoke about the other day. It was the Tim Ferriss with Hugh Jackman, and there was one amazing podcast which we spoke about the other day. It was the Tim Ferriss with Hugh.
Speaker 2:Jackman Yep, and there was one point that he made in there which it just resonated so much with me is his son is always looking at ideas and he keeps saying to his son don't settle, don't settle, go and look for something. But the issue these days now, with social media, with the way that markets are running, real estate markets running, all of those sorts of things is that people want to be the CEO early, like they want to do it straight away without doing the work. And if you have a business or if you want to be the best in your, whatever your given field is or whatever your talents are, it takes a minimum of five years of 24 7 hard work and then, when you get five years down the path, it then might be able to get a little bit of work-life balance going. Going. You know what I mean and maybe you can employ someone to help you, you can get a manager and maybe take a backward step at that point. But everyone wants everything now for nothing.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 2:And they forget. So, for example, in my field, in real estate, if you think that there's such a thing as work-life balance in your first five years of your career, get out, because there's not.
Speaker 1:You're doing six days a week right still yeah. And how long have you been an agent?
Speaker 2:for 16 years, 16 years, yeah, and it's like become a bit of a a balance for me now as my my sort of everything's changing, family situation's changing, got three beautiful kids, beautiful wife, and it's um, I'm now working out ways of where I can improve different parts of my, my life is that.
Speaker 1:Are you finding that hard? Like, how is that for you? Because you would be so accustomed to your routine right, like many of us find routine, and that becomes simple. So then, trying to change things up, are you finding that challenging? Absolutely like it's um.
Speaker 2:for me personally now it's it's particularly when the market's running as well.
Speaker 2:It's like you've got this carrot dangling in front of you and you've worked 16 years to get to a point where your stars have aligned, but everyone wants a piece from so many different facets of your life, yep, that it becomes quite overwhelming and quite stressful.
Speaker 2:And stress is a huge, huge thing, and I'm doing everything in my life right now to mitigate as much stress as possible, because I think stress is probably one of the biggest killers of people. Yeah, it is, and I'm at a point where, for me, my family is my number one priority, my relationships with my inner circle, and I can literally now, over time, worked out who the people I want to be associated with and, in a selfless way, I can give value to them and, in a selfish way, get value back. And that reference group of people has changed over a period of time where I now spend most of my time with people I really want to spend time with and you know, because time is really precious right. So it's like you get into this busy rat race of life and work and everything and you've just got to really manage what you actually like and what makes you happy.
Speaker 1:We've been speaking about it a lot.
Speaker 1:I feel, like every session we're talking about the meaning of life and everything like that, and I know for you it's really delving into the meaning behind why you're doing everything that you're doing. That's how you've you know, it's why you show up at the gym every day, it's why you prioritize your time with your family and you're very intentional with that inner circle. Because I guess when you aren't clear on meaning and you just say yes to everyone which we I'm probably in that phase the older we get and more experienced that we get, I guess it makes it easy to say no to things. But for you, like, what is the meaning behind a lot of the stuff that you're doing at the moment?
Speaker 2:It's. So it's a really great question, and it's something that I've been battling with for the last probably two years. Is you know what's my story, what do I want, what do I want to achieve and how am I going to do it? And that's probably. I've been working on that so hard lately. Well, you actually do have an idea, because every morning I, buddy, almost cry on your shoulders about life.
Speaker 2:Morning I'd, buddy, almost cry on your shoulders about life, and it's um, so I've I've worked out in the last short while is the ultimate goal, and what I want to achieve is being happy. Yep, number one. And so I've worked out all of the parts of my life. I'm writing it down every single day the things I love, the things I love to do, things I love to do, the things that make me happy, the things that are non-negotiable for me, and the things that I'm not actually being myself by saying yes to a lot of these things when I should be saying no, and a lot of those things cause added stress. The things I should be saying no to is causing me extra stress in my life at the moment, which is, in turn, making me unhappy, which is doing the opposite to what I want to be, which is happy, yeah. And so training, for example, the time I spend with you like we do. We've got a really good training regime, and if I don't train in the mornings now, it's a part of my lifestyle.
Speaker 1:But why has it become a part of your lifestyle and you don't miss Like. Even if you're out at a function, you'll still be there.
Speaker 2:So if I get home at 12 o'clock, I'll still show up at 5.
Speaker 1:Yeah, why.
Speaker 2:Because it's a well one. I don't want to let you down and you're very expensive as well, so I want to get my value out of it. Two, I want to um, I, I, just I, I feel like I'm an investment. Investment, yeah, that's what you keep saying um, I, um, I have, I, I set quite high standards of myself and I, I like to say, do things that I say that I'm going to do and I take it. I take it very seriously. If I say I'm going to do something and I don't do it, I get anxiety about it. And then also, unless I say I'm going to do something and I don't do it, I get anxiety about it.
Speaker 1:And then also, unless I really need a break. I'll text and say, hey, I'm really need. But even then like I reckon there's been under a handful of times that that's happened. Other times we might just sit in the sauna or have an ice bath or literally go for a coffee. 100% just show up, yeah, yeah, or literally go for a coffee 100%.
Speaker 2:Just show up. Yeah, yeah, but I enjoy that, like you're one of the people that I actually get value in being in my life. Not trying to give you a plug on to themanacamprojectcom, to the forward slash. It's you know I enjoy the time that we spend and I'd hope in return you'd get some value out of our time we spend together as well, tons yeah.
Speaker 2:But yeah, I think, showing up and doing the things and practicing what you love to do, like every morning, like I was there this morning training and loved it, and it sets my day up for me to I like to do things that make me happy and so if I do that, it'll impact the way that navigates, the way that my day is going to go how does it help you, though?
Speaker 1:like, obviously, one, doing something that makes you happy, but two, from a physical standpoint, with your energy, because you're, you know, I feel privileged to have an hour of your time during a work day, like it's your time's very valuable. So the fact that you've diverted appointments and all that to be here, how do you? How does having the energy and the health and the fitness and the vitality that that gives you set you up for success in your career? Because picture this right you could be on the flip side, where a lot of blokes are, where they're so unhealthy they turn to the bottle a fair bit and they say I don't have time to train and that was me
Speaker 2:when being vulnerable about it. It's like that was me. I was finding my escapism from life and stress was drinking alcohol, yep, and I'd quite regularly drink three or four bottles of red at night, not only because I actually love red wine, but not only that, but because it was a bit of an escapism of stress and everything. But the problem came is when I would do that regularly and then I'd still show up to training, yeah, and so when you have a problem like that, I'd go, and I'm sure a number of people that listen to this would be in the same boat is you've got to know what's good for you and what's not good for you, and you've got to be honest with yourself and stop doing deals with yourself on those things. And if you think you're drinking too much, then fix it. So we've done what Well, we've done 125 days off the piss this year, which has been awesome.
Speaker 2:And look, I don't want to say that I'm doing these things to feel good, just for that, but it's like if you have an issue in your life and that's one of my issues is I like drinking red wine and I like drinking it and I don't have boundaries on it. I need to fix that part, and you know, if I fix that part in my life, I genuinely know. So the time off the booze I've had this year, I've become more engaged with my family, with our team at work, with my relationships with my family, with our team at work, with my relationships with my friends guaranteed, and they all know that I'm not drinking or I haven't been drinking, and your real friends won't put the pressure on you and look, one part of it, though, is I actually really enjoy it. So, you know, to have a wine with my wife, or have a wine with my best mates to celebrate an occasion, why not?
Speaker 1:No problem. We've spoken about that because we've made that agreement, and then we're like you do miss out on so much, and it's not for some people. It is a problem For me, it's not a problem For you, it's not either, but it's working out okay. Well, what's the opportunity cost? I would love to sit down and have a beer with a mate, or anything like that, but when you put restrictions on yourself, there is a detriment to it as well totally, but like if you have an issue that you genuinely know the reason you stop drinking is because you have a drinking issue, then yeah, stop think about it like this, right, if you're once again, if you're overweight and the energy levels are making you snappy with your parent, with your family or, uh, in in the workplace, cut it out.
Speaker 1:Do everything you can to get that shit sorted, because your wife's not going to hang around forever or your partner's not going to hang around forever. Your kids will probably think you're a dick and you'll end up resenting yourself. Well, it's interesting.
Speaker 2:With your family, you get into a routine and then, if the people you love are accepting of it, there's only so long they'll accept it for accepting of it. There's only so long they'll accept it for, and it's not until the damage is done where it's done. So if you genuinely want to improve your life and do things that you know to improve the quality of everyone's life around you and give the maximum impact, have a think about, rate yourself, what are the things that you could improve in? And I do that every day. Now I've just started doing that. I write all of the things I want to achieve in the morning and I write all the affirmations of what I, who I want to be and what I want people to think of me. Yeah, it's really interesting.
Speaker 2:I was listening to a podcast I can't remember which one it was, but they were saying what would people say at your eulogy, you know, and I really thought about that and I was like do you know what? Do I want? To be known as the grumpy guy that snaps at everyone, that pull like, rips everyone's head off? Or do I want to be the, the leader, the inspiration, the, the great father, the great husband, the great friend yep and all of those things and I think everyone wants that right and everyone has a choice to do that. But you've got to make that decision and be really hard on yourself because most people they know what the issue is deep down but they're not prepared to accept it and talk about it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's a good exercise that everyone can actually do and have sent it out to you. But I always get clients and mates and I do it for myself as well. I send it out to important people in my life who I value their opinion and I know will shoot straight, not sort of beat around the bush and go everything about you is perfect. And I sent it to Amy and I was asking how she perceives me and the things that I got back was like ambitious, hard-working, you know, all work related, which is awesome. It's what I always wanted. But then I'm at a point in my life now where I wish she said I was caring. I was always valuing her time, I made her feel heard and that didn't come back and I was like fuck, maybe my priorities are wrong and how I'm showing up is wrong. So, even though it's a bit of a or, it is a wake-up call, I can now shift that because when my eulogy does come, I want different outcomes.
Speaker 2:Absolutely so. Do you know what For me? Now I look at different buckets of my life, of how I want to be and what I want to achieve, and, funnily enough, the financial and wealth side of it has become way down the priority list. Do you?
Speaker 1:feel that is because there's going to be people going, yeah, but that's because you got it sorted. Do you feel like obviously, you're always going to want more money, like I think, as people, we always want it and that comes of a result of wanting to just grow. It's not always the dollar figure, it's just I want to be better. But do you feel, because you're seen, because here's a question for you I feel I'm in a fortunate position. I get to speak to you a lot and other many other successful business owners that, um, I guess are in financial positions and have life set up to what I'm striving towards. But I also see that it doesn't change everything, if that makes sense. I feel a lot of us are striving for that million dollars or whatever it is, because we think that's the ticket that's going to change our life. Is that bullshit? No, it's not bullshit.
Speaker 2:What's bullshit is money doesn't change who you are as a human being or the meaning of what you want to achieve, right? So just because you have and this is what I think you look at billionaires and all of those sorts of things and you go, okay, well, why would they turn into dicks just because they've got money? Why wouldn't they just be? You know great humans, and I'm sure that there's a huge. There's some great examples of people that are very wealthy, that are actually really good humans, obviously, but but it's like it gets to a point where, if you focus purely everything on your life to be about financial, I just think you fail, like you lose sight of what's actually important to in life. Like, so there's the saying that goes you could be, um, you could be a billionaire, unhappy and you're broke. Or you could be the happiest person on earth and broke and you're a billionaire. Make sense, so you could be, you could have no money, but happy, you're a billionaire, and vice versa you can, meaning we give to it, yeah yeah, it's like, and for me now my whole thing is I've missed a lot in my life of sacrifices.
Speaker 2:So, for example, so being a real estate agent and a performing real estate agent, you work six days a week. You're literally when I, when I was coming up through the ranks, I was in the office Like I'm talking, I'd get in the office at seven o'clock in the morning and I used to benchmark myself against other agents in the office and stay there longer, make more calls, get really serious about what I was doing, and it had an impact on my personal life. So I've got a lot of friends like that would sit there and go oh, matt doesn't come here. Or you know, it came late to my own 30th birthday party and, interestingly enough, it's not until now that my mates, who actually might have been a bit upset at the time, get it Yep, right and it's like. So I made a huge amount of sacrifices. I missed 25th birthdays, 30thth birthdays, rocked up late to wedding. I'd always wear my suits to weddings. I'd go to the reset, I'd go to the ceremony, back to the office, make calls, then go to the reception like and and but that was my life. I used to. I literally used to burn through girlfriends because they couldn't understand what they'd be like.
Speaker 2:Oh, when are you coming home? Or what are you like when you got time for me? And it's like, well, this is the path I'm on and you have to make sacrifice. I made sacrifices and now I'm seeing the benefit of those sacrifices, but at what point is enough, enough, like it's a big question. And this is this is this is the questions I'm asking myself all of the time. And yeah, great, we've had a huge year this year, like a ridiculous year and, interestingly, it hasn't made me any more happier. The money. What will make me happier is being more engaged with my family, being more engaged with my wife, being more engaged with my friends and enjoying myself, not stressing because it's like you know, it's all good, you can make all the money in the world, but then what? You get hit by a bus and die. What happens then? You know, yeah, pretty deep real deep.
Speaker 1:This is a normal bloody Monday, Wednesday and Friday with Matty and.
Speaker 2:Rocky. But it's interesting because, you know, everyone spends so much time planning on future stuff rather than living in the present.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, this is one thing I'm so great and you mentioned before, like you hope I learn a lot from you. It's one thing that I learn from yourself and other people is like I get to learn you know someone who has a highly successful business, runs leadership, speaks well, keeps his commitments, has it, has the family and all that sort of stuff, but you also have um set yourself up financially. But it's also we get to talk about. It's like, well, there eventually comes a point where it's like when's enough enough and what's the meaning for your life? So for me to be able to take those lessons while I'm growing my business, and even for me with the rowing coming up, taking a month essentially, where I'll be fucking half dead to just do that may impact my business, but it's an experience that I may never get to do down the track.
Speaker 2:But on, that rowing thing, mate. You know what it's like. Not many people can do that. It's a bit mental and doing 31 marathons or 30 marathons in 30 days, whatever it is, see how we feel, and um, you know what, though, but the great thing about it, indirectly from that, you've got a bunch of of of people that have come on the journey to support you with that yep, and they're now training and doing something that they've never done. So, you know, in a indirect and I'm sure that this wasn't your whole thing but you've now got a community of guys that are coming together to row to support you and also do things for themselves that they've never put themselves out of their comfort zone. So it's huge, mate. It's awesome. It's like, and it's not really about the row. The row is like one thing Vehicle. Awesome, it's like, and it's it's not really about the row. The rows like one thing but vehicle. But but what it's actually doing indirectly on the back end of it is is nothing short of exceptional. It's awesome.
Speaker 1:Thanks, man so you're hitting the hitting the first one with me now as well, which will be great. But going back, I want to want to touch on the sacrifices, because I think that definitely goes undervalued. Um, I watch people, even Darren and Tash, with what they've done, with Functional like I see sacrifice and I think I'm very attuned to it. I think this is why I believe everyone should have a shot at running a business, because there's people who have never run a business and they don't understand, maybe, why they aren't getting pay rises, why the business is running the way it is because there's so many things going on in the background that people miss and can't understand because they've never been in that position.
Speaker 1:So you talk about before people wanted to jump the gun. You know there's that instant gratification. People want to be a fucking top agent, or they want to be a top coach, or they want to be the best on YouTube without doing the work and, as a result of that, they're missing all the learnings and they're, quite frankly, just being fucking ignorant pricks. So you talk about the sacrifices of missing birthdays, rocking up to weddings, going back to parties. Most people would never do that, but they still want success. So talk about the price of success, because it's a fucking huge thing. And looking at the price of success for you, is there anything that you would do differently?
Speaker 2:look, it's um, it's a long-winded question, I know, but it's, um, you know what? It's funny? They, a lot of people that that look at me or come into our business and they see, well, they, they actually in our business, they see the work that goes into it. But there's a lot of people from the outside that, you know, they think that I'm a 16 year overnight success, yep, and they all want a lot of people from the outside that you know they think that I'm a 16-year overnight success Yep, and they all want to.
Speaker 2:A lot of people do want to. Well, they want to knock me off all the time, which is great, and I love that. I love ambition. I'm all for ambition, like our whole business.
Speaker 2:The way that we've got it structured is to harness people's ambition and help them grow Yep, but what you find is you've got two types of people. You've got people that say that they have ambition and they want to do it, and then you offer them an opportunity to do it and they don't do it. And then you've got people that run at it, and being a leader or being an owner of a business doesn't necessarily isn't everyone's path right. Some people are better, and one of the best things about our group is there is agents that can make more money than the owners, and that's a really proud thing for for us. So with our industry, you can go. The work you put in is what you get back. Yeah, and we have agents in our business that could make more money than than me and my business partner, hansley, and that's a really proud thing and you got to embrace that.
Speaker 1:And you mentioned darren and tash before with their business at function well like what a what an epic business you know, and like hard work, a lot of risk, a lot of a lot of you know lots, lots going on, you know, with natural disasters and I've made all kinds of stuff and you hear people complain about the most minute thing and you're like pull your head out of your ass for a second and look at the big picture. I know, you know there's there's so much happening and everyone's. You know. I truly believe every business owner is doing the best that they can to you know, provide opportunity, create good obviously there's some that don't but create good culture and provide opportunity, as you said, foster people to grow into the best you know version of themselves. But often it's. It's quite easy to try and pull people apart and look at the bad stuff at the moment.
Speaker 2:There's a lot of there's a lot of that that happens, it's um, and social media has been a big part of that. Like it's like I've. I just can't with the social media. I should say that I put myself out there with videos and things like that.
Speaker 1:You've got the best content in real estate.
Speaker 1:But it's like it gets to a point where you go okay, I don't know we were talking about this last week or the week before, but I'm in the same position where I fucking hate having to really great content. Really, are you sure about that? Oh no, I do. I do. I, you know. It's so good for my business, like it's one of those things. I've put myself in a position with business that most of my leverage comes and my my clients come through social media. But I'm at a point as well where I, every time I get on social media, I'm fucking anxious coming off it because I feel like I'm not doing enough, or you know that's.
Speaker 2:That's how I feel.
Speaker 1:It makes you feel inadequate, even though I know I'm doing a ton and you're the same, but it's just fake world, or you catch, you know, some people's content at the wrong time and it goes oh, I'm not doing enough, even though I've done 10 podcasts this week and coached 30 sessions or whatever. You've sold $10 million worth of property and it's just. Do have those moments. I think it's for me if I could control where my focus goes. One thing in the future is I want to step back from social media a bit more.
Speaker 2:It's an evolving world all the time and for us we needed to make a shift, like I saw a gap in the market literally about five years ago, where I was a huge print advocate, so we used to put lots of ads in the paper for my business, obviously and then social media came Just prints of yourself.
Speaker 1:No, no, no for ads of properties.
Speaker 2:And it was interesting and we spoke about this the other day. It was. You know, there's moments of your life where you realise, geez, what do I need to do to go to the next step and how do I innovate and do all these things? And I saw a gap with social media about five years ago and I said to Hazley, my business partner, mate, this is a big thing and he used to hate it. He'll openly tell you. He's like what are you doing on that? That's like, you know, just so distracting and everything. And then I said to him mate, if you're not on this now, in five years' time, you're going to really struggle if you don't have that going on. And you just watch what's happened with it Social media and look, it's a necessary evil. It's interesting In a world today. It's like they've got all filters for everything. Right, and I love what Amy does with her social about it. And you look at anyone that actually uses a filter or just does anything with a photo. There's some vainness in that.
Speaker 1:Definitely.
Speaker 2:And it's just become like. I saw this app the other day, which was on. I think we spoke about it too. You can actually delete someone from a photo and put someone else in it what the hell.
Speaker 1:It's mental. So you're telling me when I crop this I can put like lebron james next to me.
Speaker 2:Pretty much you could if you wanted to you should yeah, I should um, but you know it's um, it's, it's an interest, it's an ever-evolving world and it's um. I don't know.
Speaker 1:I'm, I'm yeah, it's a necessary evil, but that's why you got to learn how to manage it. If you're getting anxious and overwhelmed from it, try and minimize your time and potentially outsource it, or, yeah, just cut time on it. You and hazy weren't always in business together, actually, I want to go one question. Before that you got into real estate at what? 25, 26, 25, yeah, 25 did you just rip straight into it or did you fuck around for a fair bit?
Speaker 2:well, it was interesting. I got back from overseas and I was over in in london, hazely hooked. He rang me and said hey, mate, I'm in london, let's go out for a night, and caught up with him. We went out to this club in mayfair actually, and it was a big night. I had a chat and I said look, I'm coming home.
Speaker 2:And he's he just bought a business called Ray White New Farm and he literally had four staff. He had a 450 square meters of office space, which was huge, and four staff. He had a girl on reception who had her nickname was Knuckles because she had tats on her knuckles, and um and um, literally it was. It was one of those things where he was desperate for salespeople and I came home from overseas and I sat down, had a meeting with him. He goes oh, mate, you'd be a really good agent. You should definitely. I know you've had a taste of it, but you'd be really good. And he goes what's your plan? I said, oh, after traveling the world, I think I want to start a shoe shop, a shoe store in Sydney. And he's like, okay, what the heck? And I should have looked at like, what's that brand now? The one in the city? Which ones? Oh, there's a few shoe shops.
Speaker 1:I'm not a platypus or not.
Speaker 2:Like one of those Brando sort of shops or whatever. Anyway and he said look, I don't think that's a good idea. I think you should sell real estate. And so I decided, yep, I'm going to do that. And literally it took me six months to make my first sale, six months. Then there was. It was at a time where there was no debit credit system. So in real estate there estate you now have to pay a person a wage, and they call it debit credit. You pay it back.
Speaker 2:So, there's legal requirement to have to do that now. There never used to be that legal requirement.
Speaker 1:So you were just purely commissioned Commission only.
Speaker 2:So I'd sucked up all of my last little money that I had. I've moved out of home. I bought a house with a mate at 18, moved overseas. I hadn't been at home. Moved out of home. I bought a house with a mate at 18. Moved overseas, Never been home. I hadn't been home since I was 18. Moved overseas, Travelled the world, Came home, Moved back in with my parents at 25. Had no money, Literally. My first sale that I made, I remember, was on McKellar Street in Tenerife. It fell over the first one. Then another agent in our office goes hey, I've got a buyer for you. And then I was so desperate for the sale he said oh look, I'll bring my buyer through. They're interested in something else. Let's reverse the split of the commission. So he got 80%, I got 20%. Oh, dirty dog, and docked me and I took it because I needed some money and literally made like 14 grand in my first year.
Speaker 2:Grand in my first year, yeah. And from going from, I sold a house, had a heap of money from that, went overseas, burnt. It all came back, moved home, I got myself into fifty thousand dollars credit card debt and, interestingly, I was so embarrassed that I didn't even tell my parents. My mom and dad didn't know I was living at home, zero money. Fifty thousand dollars debt, like I was literally juggling credit card debt to pay another credit card debt and got to 50K. It's funny Haisley's mum and Haisley's now mother-in-law they used to literally pray for me that I'd actually make it in real estate. It got to a point that I sat there and I was like how low does your bank account have to be until you start to do the things you know you should be doing or that would generate?
Speaker 1:income.
Speaker 2:And so it was this moment and I remember it was like literally $50,000 debt and I rang my mom and said I need to borrow $1,000. And she goes, okay, and I went and bought a new suit because my suits had holes in it, like my pants had like holes, and my shoes were like all tatty. And so I bought a new pair of shoes and a suit and um booked a flight to sydney and I went and I organized meetings with three of the top agents in sydney and were they in any sorry relation to ray white?
Speaker 1:were they just?
Speaker 2:The main one I met wasn't. He was with McGrath actually.
Speaker 1:And he was still willing to meet with you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but that's like, that's the industry, right, yeah, pay forward.
Speaker 1:That's awesome.
Speaker 2:But it wasn't like an easy meeting to have. It was like you meet me at this time, you've got 15 minutes and I'm flying down from Sydney for this meeting, yep. And it's funny, I had the meeting with this gentleman and he said, yep, let's go, I'll give you three pieces of advice. And I was like, yeah, okay, what is it? And he goes you need to do auctions. I said, yep, okay, cool, you need to be the biggest advertiser in your local publication. He was in Sydney, he was in Wentworth, korea, which was in Paddington Willara area. And then you need to outwork your competition. And I was like, okay. And I was like, oh, that sounds really awesome. Okay, I'm going to do that. And I wrote down all my goals Number one auction lister, number one advertiser, hardest worker in my industry, outwork my competition. Came back to Brisbane.
Speaker 2:Hazley had the sales meeting and he goes everyone, matt's been in Sydney, he's got the magic, the special sauce, you know, he's got the magic dust of what to do in real estate. And I stood up and I said, yep, you've got to do auctions, you've got to do big print and you've got to work really hard. Yep, and he said you are a fucking idiot. That is like Ray White's been around for 100 years and that's what the whole training in Ray White has been for the whole 100 years. What was interesting about it? I learned a very valuable lesson in that One. Yes, I was a fucking idiot and I could have saved $1,000 to fly to Sydney and suit. But it's not about the message. Sometimes it's not about what people tell you, it's about how they deliver and how it resonates with you. And Ray White could have been saying that to me in our training, or Hazley could have been training us on it, but it didn't drop, the penny didn't drop and it took all of those steps for me and the desperation to listen and I found it was delivered to me in a way where I went I get it Light bulb moment right. So everything I do now I look for these little light bulb moments and, interestingly, I came back from Sydney and implemented all of those things non-negotiable, became like literally psychopathic about it, like would not deviate one little bit from it. And my business every single year, 2x, 2x, 2x, 2x, all the way through, and it's still the ethos of my business now and every single year, without fail, my business has doubled. It's insane and obviously it's evolved along the way. Like I've set up some pretty awesome um structures and and um some systems and and have an epic team to support as well. Um, but interestingly it's it's the and I called it going pro.
Speaker 2:I made a decision in my brain, in my mind how low does your bank account have to be before you actually do the activities you know you should be doing? And how am I going to execute it? Because what most people do is everyone knows what to do right in their given field, but they just don't do it, they don't implement it and they don't do it. And I became literally psychotic about it, psychotic and I didn't. And hence missing friends, birthdays, missing, going out, missing, doing all of these things that, as a young person, missing those things is probably the big, the hardest thing as to why people don't aren't successful is because they don't. They're not willing, like really, really, truly willing, to make the sacrifice to make it happen. And I literally knew what I wanted and I thought, holy shit, this is my opportunity to have a crack and I don't want to go back to being a sparky. It's not what I want to do and how I want to be, but this is something that I and I didn't necessarily have the skill, but what I had was I knew what I needed to do. I became psychotic about it.
Speaker 2:I followed a system and followed a process and I worked my ass off and it was interesting. It was like you start to get a little bit of success. I paid back the 50 grand like no credit cards. Then I was like, okay, what's next? Awesome, I bought an apartment in New Farm. So I bought my apartment on Brunswick Street, then kept going, then bought a house my first house on Brunswick Street then kept going, then bought a house my first house then I bought a second house, then bought our building where our office is, and then everything. I've always set these big, hairy, audacious goals every year that I want to achieve and now, funnily enough, 16 years later, my whole goal system my hairy, audacious goals are not financial-based. It's changed.
Speaker 1:Interesting, very, very, very interesting. So what? Obviously more family focused and stuff like that. When you think about oh sorry, when you speak about those actions and the discipline, why do you feel a lot of people don't take them like if most people know what to do? What do you feel is holding us back?
Speaker 2:oh, fear yeah, there's fear. There's fear of failure and fear, fear of success. Well, and that's. You know. It's all good having a plan and writing a plan and you know we have a lot of people in our group that they all know what to do, right, they all know the business plan.
Speaker 2:But what happens is, on a Monday morning, come into the office, they go oh, what'd you do on the weekend? Try and distract other people. Let's go get a coffee and talk about the weekend. Oh, a bit hungover today. But I know I need to make my 50 calls to people that own property, because if you make your 50 calls to people that own property every day, your business is going to go really well. Then what they do is they get distracted, they don't make those calls and they say, oh, bugger it, today's a write-off, I'm going to do 100 tomorrow. Then they roll them the next day. They don't do the 100 I'm going to do. No, I'm going to do 150 on wednesday and blank out the whole day and do 150 and it snowballs and snowballs, and then they don't do it. So no one's actually prepared to do the actual work that will. They know the outcome for it's not until they get a taste of it, or they have a light bulb moment where they go.
Speaker 1:Actually that works what do you believe in, like two or three skills that everyone, from sales to entrepreneurship, should learn to be successful?
Speaker 2:oh, look, I hate the word, but it's it's. It's true is hard work.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 2:You know, and I believe and we see this all of the time in our industry is hard work and enthusiasm around what you're wanting to do can beat the shit out of skill nine times out of ten, you know. So, actually being prepared to do the hard work get your hands dirty, yep, you know. Get in there and do the work is a huge part of it. You've got to know what you want to achieve is another one, and how you're going to achieve it. So it's all good. So, for example, with you and your row, so you're doing 30 marathons in 30 days. That's the goal, right? Yep, the goal's all cool, and most people have these awesome, hairy, audacious goals, but they're not prepared to do the steps like. So, for you, you've got to eat 4,000 calories a day in order so you don't turn into like an Ethiopian Bloody hard. So you've got to eat, you've got to train, you've got to get your kilometres on your legs. You've got to do all of these things in order to get to the final, which is finishing 30 marathons. So most people will say I want to do that goal, but then they won't do all the work that prepares them to get to that what the end goal is and they fall apart and they don't make it.
Speaker 2:And that's what happens in most industries. It doesn't matter if it's real estate or anything. People aren't prepared to tick boxes and follow a process. They want to cut every corner and go to the end, and it never works. They don't build foundations. You've got to have a plan, you've got to execute your plan. That make sense yeah, 100%. And then the last thing I think is you've got to have compassion for people, you've got to be empathetic. You've got to because it's all good saying you've just got to be a genuine human. I believe in giving back and I believe in giving advice to people. I believe in just being a good human, and I think that comes back in life always, definitely.
Speaker 1:Some great points. Final question what's your definition of being a good human? And I think that comes back in life always definitely some great points.
Speaker 2:Final question what's your definition of being a man? Being a man? That's interesting. The world of of um transgender and all of that at the moment it's, it's.
Speaker 1:And the reason why I ask it is because everyone's definition is completely different. Right, there's going to be some people who think my definition is fucking pathetic, or it's toxic or whatever it is, but then there'll be people who go. That's what I stand for, that's what I believe in, that's what I think, because we're not all supposed to fly under the same fucking belief system.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't know. Being a man look, maybe for me it's a good question. I think for me is I direct that to all of the impact on relationships that I have with my people and committing to things that I say that I'm going to do, having integrity with everything that I do, being a good human. You know, I love what you said before about commitments. Like you know, always fulfilling your commitments that you make and just adding value, like being of service to people in life, I think is is a mate, is one of the things and I think for me now it's like I want to be a great role model for my family. I want to be a great role model for my friends, yep um and my reference group, and for anyone. You know. It's interesting in a world that we live in now, with social media, people think they know you before they know you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the anonymity, or whatever it's pronounced.
Speaker 2:And, look, I'm working really hard on myself at the moment not to actually care, but it's hard. You know, in a world of trolls and all of those things and you know, with real estate, you put yourself out there all the time and you obviously with everything, anyone that puts himself out there, they're open to get criticized, right, and I think for me, if I can only control what I can control, so being a nice person, being compassionate to people, caring about people, being interested in people, being present with people, is something that is, I think, that's what determines being a man for me. And that might be a long-winded way of answering it.
Speaker 1:I like it. Mate. That was quality. I really, really like it. So where can people find you? Where can people find one of the most enjoyable to watch real estate agents?
Speaker 2:on social media. Instagram is obviously one. I've got a hacker at the moment.
Speaker 1:I saw another one. You've had some rough trots with Instagram over the last 12 months.
Speaker 2:I've been hacked quite a few times. It's held ransom. Matt underscore, lancashire with an E, no E. If the one with no E comes to you and wants to sell you crypto, don't buy the crypto. It's cheap at the moment, but um, no, look, it's um. I, I love, I love, um doing things like this. I love and then you know other little things is I love sharing little things and if you get something from it, awesome.
Speaker 2:If you don't get anything from it, no, no issues yeah and it's like you know, I just, I just think these things are really great, for you know, if anyone's sitting there and something resonates with you, or if there's a light bulb moment or something that resonates with you, then awesome. One thing I just wanted to finish on I always like to talk about books that I'm reading at the moment yes, or podcasts You've said one before Podcasts that I'm reading at the moment yes, um, or podcasts before podcasts that I'm listening to um, it's I. So if anyone that's listening hasn't uh, read or listened to on audiobook, uh, atomic habits by james clear, it is an absolute game changer and it's um, it's interesting with locky's, with locky's row, that he's got going on and the analogy I gave about that it's interesting. James Clear sums it up all in one about that is you don't rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems, which is just so spot on.
Speaker 2:So it's um, if you haven't read that, it's all about marginal gains and you know, little life is not about going and making massive shifts of things. So if you know, oh've got to change everything, it doesn't work. Just make these marginal little shifts and they have such huge impact on all aspects, and that's transferable not only with business, but relationships, everything, and so that's a really good one as well. If you want Great book, great book If you want. If you're a young family and you've got boys and or girls, and you're a young father or mother or that's struggling, or you're an uncle or whatever you might be an older brother. There's a great book called Raising Boys and there's Raising Girls.
Speaker 1:Also the New Manhood. I got his new book the other day called Fully Human by Steve Bidoff. He's next level.
Speaker 2:Awesome and just a short little podcast that I've just listened to and I've flicked it to Lockie. You flicked it to me. It was a Tim Ferriss one, which was with Hugh Jackman, and obviously Hugh Jackman being such a great Aussie icon David Foster Wallace this Is Water. That is a speech that is made at at a I think it's at a kenyan um university, like a commencement speech that he makes and, um, if you have a chance, that this is water, it's just a really great analogy of life and you know, making choices. It's um, you know, people, people are all busy, yep, and you people make a choice as to whether you want to wake up being angry or whether you want to wake up and have the most exceptional day of your life. That's up to you, you know like it's. So that whole this is water is about that I'll post that in the show.
Speaker 1:Actually, I'll put it in the Facebook group. So you have to take an action step and join the Facebook group. But, mattydie, it's been a pleasure. I feel underdressed next to you, but you've inspired me to get a new coat. It's been unbelievable and even for me, the takeaways, like I always learn from you, like I said, but just the way you speak and the certainty behind how you speak, for me is just like it gets me so motivated. So it's made me also want to do a speaking course or something like that.
Speaker 2:I'll figure out what that looks like. Maybe we can all do it in our one-on-one session. Yeah, you can coach me. Get some back. Get some of the money back.
Speaker 1:That's not going to work for me. No Thanks, mate. Thanks a lot, cheers.
