$ALE$ FORCE
Real estate ace Eklund explains how to deal
HE COULD sell ice to the Eskimos — and a $20 million penthouse to J.Lo. And now he wants to teach you the tricks. “Million Dollar Listing New York” star Fredrik Eklund, the city’s No. 1 residential broker, has put out a part-memoir/part-businessmanual/all-fabulous book that he hopes will inspire and, more important, entertain.
“I’ve done New York,” Eklund told the Daily News about his book, “The Sell: The Secrets of Selling Anything to Anyone.”
“I’ve seen and done so many amazing and rewarding things — and I wanted to put all that in a book and send it off and see what happens. It’s a message in a bottle.”
In “The Sell,” out Tuesday, Eklund spills some of the trade secrets that helped him rise from a Swedish startup failure to a New York City power broker so beloved and talented that he’s closed deals with Sarah Jessica Parker, Jennifer Lopez and Leonardo DiCaprio.
In 10 years, he’s sold $3.5 billion in New York real estate.
And Eklund’s main secret is no secret at all: Be yourself.
“When you’re new to a workplace, the biggest mistake you can make is copying the people around you or other people in the industry rather than being the authentic you,” Eklund says. “Be the unique, crazy eccentric you that your friends and family love, and people will gravitate toward you and trust you.”
What does that mean when you’re Fredrik Eklund?
“Jump out in the middle of Fifth Ave., stop traffic and scream, ‘I love New York!’”
Eklund may be famous for selling multimillion-dollar pads, but the book — a cross between an autobiography and a guide to being a
business executive — is remarkably accessible and a good read for anyone with ambition in a city fueled by it.
“It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in,” Eklund said. “After all, we’re all selling ourselves all the time, whether you’re on a date, on a job interview or just negotiating with your dog.”
Eklund is a handsome Swede — but why does this 37-year-old think he can teach business techniques in the U.S. of A.? Here’s a guy who experienced his fair share of failure — a tech startup he cofounded ran out of money, and he even did a short stint as a porn star.
But you know what Nietzsche said — and it’s especially easy to get stronger from failure when you have a personality like Eklund’s.
Since he moved to New York in 2002, his antics have sent him flying up the ranks — and earned him his biggest break, being cast in “Million Dollar Listing” in 2012.
“I used to sit near Fredrik when we both worked for a small boutique firm years ago,” said Michael Graves, a top Manhattan broker. “Even years before all the lights and cameras, it was clear he had an extraordinary drive to be No. 1.”
Another key to Eklund’s success? Letting go of past hurts. “I’ve always had really long eyelashes,” he says in the book. “When I was 14 years old, the older guys in the schoolyard began making fun of me by saying I had ‘girl eyes.’ I became so scared to pass those boys in the hall that one day I went home and used my mom’s manicure scissors to cut off my eyelashes.” But bullies didn’t have the last word. “Last week, I was out with Jennifer Lopez showing her $20 million penthouses. We were standing on a terrace overlooking all of downtown Manhattan. She turned to me and said, ‘You have the bluest, most beautiful eyes.’ I thought of those boys back in Sweden and forgave them.”
It’s also important to dress for success, says the impeccably coiffed Eklund. “Every three weeks I spend $275 on my haircut.” he notes.
Why is he telling us all this now? He’s at the top of the heap, but like all mortals, he knows it can’t last.
After all, he’s about to become a parent for the first time, with husband Derek Kaplan. The couple is having a daughter with a surrogate mom. “It’s definitely going to change a lot of things,” Eklund said. “I might have to accept that I’m not going to be No. 1 anymore. I tell myself that as long as I’m No. 1 to her, it won’t matter.”
That’s not the best lesson for a budding business leader — but as life lessons go, it’s not bad.