In episode 69 of Wake Up to Wealth, Brandon Brittingham interviews the operations powerhouse Matt Breidenstine, as he shares how he transformed from a hands-on operator to a mentor and leader who consistently turns green recruits into top producers.
Tune in for an episode that is packed with motivational insights and practical strategies that will give you an edge—whether you’re leading a sales team, launching a business, or scaling your investment portfolio
SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS
Brandon Brittingham
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mailboxmoneyb/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brandon.brittingham.1/
Matt Breidenstine
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/matbreidenstine/
WEBSITES
Brandon Brittingham: https://www.brandonsbrain.org/home
==========================
SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS:
Accruity: https://accruity.com/
This is Wake Up to Wealth, a podcast dedicated to helping you change the way you think about wealth. And now here's your host, Brandon Brittingham. Buddy, this next segment is brought to you by my good friends at Acruity. Now, if you run a business, most business owners neglect their back office. And they don't even know where to go or who to trust when it comes to their financials or a CPA or taxes. That's where Accruity comes in. You can trust them, they can give you advice, and they understand the back office. Listen, you're not running a business correctly if you don't have a hold of this, and it's really hard to trust people that are out there. And most CPAs frankly work for the IRS and don't work for you. That's not the case with Accruity. Check my good friends out at Accruity for any needs that you have when it comes to helping with your back office, getting your books straight, getting your taxes correct, and they guide you and give you advice, which most firms don't. So check out my guys at Accruity. Tell 'em I sent you. Hey everybody, what's up? We are back with another episode of Wake Up to Wealth. And as we start every show, I just want to say thank you guys so much for consistently supporting our show. Making us one of the top investment podcasts in the world. We're averaging top 5 consistently on the charts, 125,000 to 135,000 downloads per episode with no major corporate sponsors, no major studio behind us. It's just us doing it in our studio, giving you content that we think you need to hear. So I can't say this enough. Thank you guys so much for the support of the show. Thank you everyone out there for liking, commenting, sharing, supporting the show. Thank you guys so much. So today I've got a special guest who I actually work with, this gentleman. It's Matthew Bridenstine. Did I get that right? Bridenstine. Bridenstine. See, I always butcher people's last names. But really cool. He works on the real estate investment side with me. Thanks for coming on the show today. Pleasure to be here. So just want to unpack a couple things, right? He specifically works on the off-market side with me, but he has a resume where he's done a lot of stuff in sales and management and just really has things dialed in as an operator, really understands how to run a business. I just want to ask you a couple of questions because I always want to give our listeners value. So over, well, first tell everybody kind of who you are, where you come from, what you've done. Yeah. So obviously Matt Breidenstein. I come raised on the Space Coast, lived in Florida most of my life, did a couple journeyman deals with some startups, a couple organizations. Started early on managing my dad or my buddy's dad's lawn care business. Learned all of Procedures, processes. It was all on me because he lived out of state. And then kind of worked my way up, worked in call centers, managed a 290-seat call center, got into real estate investing post-COVID, did a little stint with some GLP-1 stuff, working with different organizations, really helping their processes. Got it. And so you've obviously had to manage a lot of people and the different things that you've done. What do you think is maybe 2 qualities over the time that you've managed people that you see in people that you think is like, if they have this, they're going to be successful? The most is not afraid of a challenge and willingness to take action. I would think those are the 2 things. They're not scared of it and they're willing to go after it. So in any organization that you've got, everyone has to always recruit talent. Yes. So you are part of recruiting talent here. You've been part of it at a lot of different organizations. How do you, on the front end, how do you spot it? Well, I'd like to do, my style is I like to do group interviews to get people in together and kind of see how they interact with people, who shines. So there's people that shine 'cause they just wanna ask a bunch of questions. There's people that shine 'cause they ask the right questions. You can, they, they're almost putting themselves in the position and they're asking the right questions. I love when that happens. It makes the conversation mutual. Yeah. So that's what I look for. If they're picking up what I'm putting down, that's what I go for. What about in an interview? Like, what, what kind of questions do you ask to kind of probe to see, is this person going to be a fit or not? Uh, in an interview, I like to look at kind of the resume, see, you know, do they work with organizations for a long time? Do they bounce around? They do bounce around. Why are they searching for something that we might have? Um, but I mean, for the most part, uh, you know, you have your standard questions. What would you do in this situation? Have you ever been in this type of situation? We also use Team Architect, so we'll have a good understanding of if they're a fit. And, um, you know, you have different types of interview guides and stuff like that. But really, I want someone that's not afraid to come in, have a conversation, understand they're talking with the boss and they're asking the right questions. Mm-hmm. It really comes down to the questions because if they're seeing themselves in the position, if you've done a good job explaining the position, it creates a mutually beneficial relationship because you're trying to enter into a relationship where they manage what you're expecting them to. Sure, sure. Is there anything— is there any specific question you ask that is like a key of like, I want to see their— like, this is an automatic yes or automatic no? If, um, if you're successful in this role, where do you see yourself in 6 months? That's, that's a good one that I like to just throw out there to see what they're doing, see if they have a why. Yeah. If someone has a why, you can usually find that and work with it. Yeah. Um, you know, if they're wanting to purchase a home and settle down, that's always great. Um, I always like people that have nice cars because they got nice payments and stuff like that. So really it's just trying to understand, um, if the role is going to be a culture fit through some of the questions and how they answer, but There's never been— I've taken someone from green to all the experience in the world. I've had the most success with someone that's green. They don't have any bad habits. Yeah. Yeah. That makes sense. As far as one of the other things that I think that you're a huge believer in, and I am too, and sometimes entrepreneurs just don't do this and don't do this well, is just measuring and putting KPIs behind everything. Yes. I'm a KPI and process guy. Yeah, yeah. Talk a little bit about that. Uh, so I like to look at, you know, any sort of sales process and even business process. You know, there's going to be KPIs that you're looking to gather out of them. Um, so I like to look at those KPIs as almost like training as well. Um, understanding where— think of a KPI as like, you know, you got 6 or 7 KPIs that you're tracking and then a hose The hose could be kinked in multiple places or just one. So if you're tracking those KPIs, you can find someone that they're having a lot of conversations in our world, but they're not translating to appointments. I know to fix that versus someone that has a bunch of appointments but no contracts. Well, that's where I gotta work. Um, and then from the procedural standpoint, it's tying your processes with your KPIs. 'Cause the KPI is a key performance indicator, but for me it's also a key process indicator. Yeah. Your KPIs are struggling, you can blame it on people, but is your process right? So people that are listening to this that might run an off-market real estate business, you know, or just sales in general, like what are, what are some KPIs you think that you've got to be looking at? If you're in the sales world, it's obviously it's calls and conversations and then it dictates based off of what your KPIs are off of that. For instance, us in the off-market world, we're looking for LOIs sent, offers that follow that, and then contracts. And we have benchmarks that we want to hit, right? If you go on so many appointments, you want to deliver so many LOIs. that'll turn into so many offers. Yeah. So if you're only delivering a 50%, just for the sake of conversation, a 50% offer rate on everything you send an LOI, maybe you're just looking at wrong opportunities. We have to get to the people that need our help. Yeah, makes sense. And then, um, talk about kind of like how you present KPIs and, you know, how you think your salespeople should be seeing it and things like that. What's really interesting, and I focused in a lot on it with this role, is, uh, using the KPIs as like a tool, not a tool of measurement to success, but also a tool of training. Yeah. Um, the agents love that from day one that they step in, we're gonna be looking at every aspect. You know, they're not gonna be left to their own demise. Sure. And then through that, we'll go ahead and we'll dictate, you know, where they need the help, where they need success. And you, you wanna look at the success just as much as the failure. I, I find you find more outta the nos than you do the yeses. Yep. 100%. I don't know if I answered that correctly. Yeah, no, no. I mean, that's a good way to look at it. What else do you see? You said you've taken someone from green to successful as a salesperson. Walk me through that journey. What does that look like? What helps them? What do you do that helps them become successful? Well, I think it's a little bit because, I mean, you've seen me, I'm hands-on. I want to make sure you understand it. I want to make sure there's no questions. Basically remove all the fear and doubt. Um, with— and, and that serves with my management style, that serves well for, uh, what I would call green. They don't have any experience. Um, through all the industries I've worked in, you know, what you run the risk of with a really, really good salesman is bad habits, right? They come in and they're only shooting for the low-hanging fruit. They're not optimizing your process. Sure. They'll be good, but it'll be short-lived. What happens when that little list that they're working on doesn't work because they've never figured out how to work the larger list. Right. With someone that's green, it's almost you're walking through those experiences, celebrating with them, and then also having teachable and trainable moments. They don't come with any bad habits. Batteries included is good if they're a performer, but if they don't have it and they're willing to take a risk, obviously, our role is 1099. If they're willing to bet on themselves, well, I feel like I have to go to task making sure they're successful. Yeah. What just made me think of a question. What do you think you have seen, right? You've had people, I've had people that have been W-2 their entire life and then transition to 1099, which is scary, but then they absolutely crush it and they make more income than they've ever made in their life. What do you see? Is it something in that person? Is it What do you think is the underlying thing that helped? Because there's a lot of people who can't do it. You have to have somewhat of a wantrepreneur. You have to be able to see a target, chase a target without knowing the ending outcome, but have a little bit of trust that you're on the right path. The biggest thing I see transitioning W-2, because everyone will come in and they'll want a little something, It's, it's really translating that you're betting on yourself. If you take this position, you know, I'm going to hold you accountable because I, through the KPIs, and that's a big point with the KPIs, I know that X amount of calls equal X amount of action that equal X amount. I know that if you come in and you do it, the law of averages shows. Yep. So, I mean, I think that's, that's really the key is they might be scared of it. But I always sell it as this is a sales position. If you want a W-2, you're capping yourself because at some point the company has to say, if they don't perform in a month, we have to make sure we're not overspending and we have to collect on the back end. You'd rather the full pie than just be told how many pieces you can have. That's how I try to manage it. Sometimes there's no out of it. People are used to, they feel comfortable knowing that biweekly check is coming. Yeah. And they can't see the forest through the trees that if they just they put in the work, they'll make triple what they were, they were making prior. 100%. They don't know how to bet on themselves sometimes. Yeah, well, I think that's it. I think the biggest thing is, is that, um, when someone transitions from W-2 to 1099, the biggest thing is they just got to be willing to burn the boats. And the ones that are willing to burn the boats, uh, that's the ones you see be successful, of like, I don't have any other fucking choice. This is the choice. I'm doing it. That's what goes back to in the interview process, a why. I need to have a why. Yeah, yeah. Makes sense. You're living with mom and dad, sitting on trust fund money. I've tried them. They'll work for a little bit, but they're kind of like a bottle rocket. There's no payoff. Right. Another thing is, what do you think is like, we've seen this, we've seen this since you've been here. You've seen salespeople come in, be completely green and not really know anything about real estate or anything, but they have just kind of some innate qualities that make them good. Like, what makes somebody a good salesperson? Just kind of one or two things. Teachable and coachable. Yeah. The person that comes in, they got it all figured out. They don't have time to listen to you. They might have some success, but they're going to depend on their own tools. This is built over years. This is experience, tried, true, and tested. You'll have some initial success, but if you're not following the process of the company, you're, you're paddling out in the middle of an ocean, and eventually you're going to have to turn around and figure out how to get back. Versus paddling with the group. Another question is, you know, there's a lot of people who run sales teams, who are in sales that listen to the show, right? It all happens. This, I mean, this happens. What's your advice or how do you get somebody, 'cause it happens, right? Sales are up and down. Salespeople are up and down. What happens when that rockstar salesperson gets in a rut? Well, it's a conversation and it's usually like, we gotta get back to basics. Like, you know what got you here? So we just, we have to get back to basics. You know, you run the risk of, and when you have a sales, and especially if you're in a high ticket and they start seeing success, you almost as a manager got to be in their background saying, are you investing? What are you doing with your— Don't blow all that money. Are you quarterly taxing yourselves? Like stuff like that. Because— Don't increase the way you're living too much yet. Not yet. Don't be an NBA player. Don't blow it all. No doubt. What do you, uh, what do you see— I mean, in the ones that are consistent and are kind of even keel, you know, consistency is one of them, but what do you see in like the mindset and the moxie and just kind of their approach? Well, we have a few here. Yeah. Um, and you know, both the two that I'm thinking, they're, they're different in their approach. One, it's more like it'll get figured out. It always gets figured out. Yeah. And that's just a great moxie to have. You do want to have a little bit of, oh crap. Yeah. Because that'll keep the deals aligned and you don't want fear of fallout. So I would think that that's a key on one. The other, it's— and I think it takes— it ties down to the process. They're not going to, you know, they're even-keeled and it works because they know they're working with an organization that has their back. And things of that nature. So, I mean, I don't know, with talking to the person, you don't want them to be what I can be, which is, oh crap, the boat's burning. We'd fly and jump out of the boat to go get some water when you needed help. What's going on here? Right. I think that would be the key thing. What I see in them is they're agnostic to what's happening. They just trust the process. Yeah. Um, and Storm on our side is very much like that. Yeah. And he knows he has a team around him. You gotta be a good teammate. Um, they gotta know that you'll grab the rope and lead from the front. Yeah. Um, and that helps those types of individuals remain calm and just do what they need to do. Yeah. That, that you kind of segued into my next question. What do you think makes a good leader of salespeople? A good leader of salespeople? Um, you have to care about the business. You gotta have a lot of integrity. Um, and you, uh, you have to be ready, willing, and able to kind of put yourself in the person's shoes that's coming to you for a question. It's so easy as a manager to just be like, oh, it's there, it's here, it's there. But in my case, when we got a bunch of new trainees, when they come to me, I've probably answered the question 100 times. This is the first time they're asking it. So, you know, I have to make it an experience for them and so that they feel like they're a part of it. Yeah, they're in tune. They're with the company, even though I've answered it 500 times. Sure. What about thick skin? You have to have thick skin. I mean, as emotional as I am, I do a good— every morning and every night, I kind of download what happened for the day. Yeah, check my list. I keep a Notes always open, putting stuff on there. And for me, knowing that at the end of the day I'm going to be able to kind of take all this down, that's, that's my reset. I've had to put that in place. Otherwise I just feel like I'm spinning and spinning and there's no start and end. Yeah, you need to start and end to wake up the next day and go after it. Yeah, that's a good point. Um, another question I would have is, how do you, as a manager, right, where you've got a bunch of deals going on, you got a bunch of people to manage, you got a bunch of shit going on, a bunch of shit going wrong. Yeah, like, how do you run— how do you successfully— for people that are listening, how do you successfully run your day? I have trust in— again, it sounds so stupid. I have trust in the processes. When you go through it for the first time, it's crazy. You go through it the second time, it starts to make sense. The third time, you just— I think we were talking about thick skin. You just kind of, you get used to it and you understand there's an outcome and there's a possibility on anything. Yeah. It might switch, the deal might change, but we still have an outcome as long as our processes have led to this now new outcome. Yeah. Yeah. But trying to not get rattled, that's tough, especially when, I mean, right now with all the new people, we got a bunch of deals going out, signed contract 3 days in with a new agent. All those things are great, but there's so much stress on the back end because did I do everything right with the first 3 days? Like, that's great, but like, is the seller aware? I'm confident because we had a good onboarding process, but those are things that'll keep you up at night as well. Yeah, 100%. 100%. Uh, we're gonna end it with 2 questions. Yeah. Um, anyone that— salesperson that's listening, I want you to give them one of the best pieces of advice you ever got. And anyone that's in leadership, I want you to give them one of the best pieces of advice you ever got. For the sales side, fail forward. Um, you had a post, a great post on it the other day. It's just fail forward. Don't be afraid to fail. If, if you've been invited to the position Put your elbows on the table, go after it, and be teachable and be coachable. Don't be afraid of teachable moments. If someone comes and corrects you, they're not coming at your pride, they're coming at your process. Yeah. Um, and then for, for leadership, um, you know, try and get down to the level of understanding what this person is going through. Try and make it, uh, important to them. And then on a grander scale, just make sure the energy and the effort that you're putting out rewards the outcome that you want to see in the end. Love it. Last question. I ask everybody the same question at the end. We call this show Wake Up to Wealth for 2 reasons. I want people to wake up wealthy, and I wanted them to wake up education-wise about what wealth is because we're not taught about it in this country. No answer is wrong. I just want your answer. What does waking up to wealth mean to you? It means something that I've strived for, thought about almost my entire life, but never really took actions. It was just kind of, I want to be wealthy. I see the wealthy people. I think you mentioned it's when your passive outweighs your current. It seems like a tall order. So waking up to wealth is something that I'm a journeyman on. And I'm finally to a point in life at 39 years old, through all the things that have happened in my life where I'm willing to take a risk and bet on myself. I think that's the biggest thing to wake up to wealth is you have to kind of put all noise aside and just be as hammer after a nail as you can for your wealth journey. Understand where you're going and not be non-negotiable. I've been negotiable a lot of ways. Nice cars, nice house, nice area, stuff like that. If I wanted to be more hammer after a nail, that's how I can possibly wake up to wealth. And that's the journey. Awesome. Hey, Matt, I want to say thank you so much for coming on the show today. Guys, thank you again so much for listening. Um, Matt was a little nervous for coming on the show, so go find him on social media and tell him he did a good job. Again, thank you guys so much for consistently supporting us. You know, give us a like when you see us pop up, share, download, review, and we can continue to give you really cool guests like Matt. And, uh, be able to just continue to support you guys as listeners and help you on your journey. Thank you so much for coming today. You did a hell of a job, brother. Appreciate you. Thanks so much for tuning into this episode of Wake Up to Wealth. We sure do appreciate it. If you haven't done so already, make sure you're subscribed to the show wherever you consume podcasts. This way you'll get updates as new episodes become available. And if you | 00:00:03.064 - 00:22:28.093