The life of an entrepreneur is filled with challenges , uncertainty, and fear, and despite what some believe, that doesn’t go away as you become more successful. In fact, it’s the opposite—the more successful you become, the more adversity you face.
That’s because as you grow, you’re forced to solve bigger problems, and usually for more people.
Derek Carlson says that he was fortunate to have learned this lesson early in his career, and it helped him to understand the importance of mindset.
And he has more authority on this topic than most because of what he’s experienced, especially in recent years.
Carlson had built a successful real estate brokerage that was ranked No. 86 in the United States for closed transactions. He grew the company from a one-man operation into an organization with more than 1,300 agents at its peak. But in December 2023, he was blindsided by a challenge that would threaten everything he had built.
His brokerage was one of just sixteen that were named in the first 2023 NAR class action lawsuit. These brokerages were chosen based on their sales volume, and the plaintiffs were seeking millions in “damages” from the defendants. Two more class action suits later followed, targeting even more brokerages.
But there was a deep flaw.
Unlike the fifteen other brokerages that took a cut of their agents’ commissions, Carlson’s brokerage operated on a 100% commission model, meaning that his agents kept their entire commission and the brokerage generated revenue through flat monthly and transaction-related fees.
In other words, the settlement that plaintiffs were demanding was impossible to pay because they had conflated transaction volume with revenue.
Despite billions in transaction volume, the money wasn’t there, and it never had been.
For over a year, Carlson tried to tell them how his business model worked. He tried to tell them that the money they were after was never actually revenue in his company. And he tried to explain that this would destroy his company.
He saw the writing on the wall and knew the inevitable was coming, so in August of 2024, he pivoted to bring his expertise into a role as president of a new brokerage, which he quickly grew from scratch to over 1,100 in his first year.
He eventually ended up being forced to declare bankruptcy and shut the first brokerage down, ending an entity that had served tens of thousands of clients and created careers for thousands of agents, not to mention the tangential positive impact for countless appraisers, title companies, lenders, and others who play a role in every real estate transaction.
But because he was now leading a new brokerage, none of that went to waste. His experience, knowledge, and connections were redirected into the new brokerage that he led, but did not own.
Along the way, he started working on a passion project to share both his journey and his insight gained over a career spanning decades, in building an unbreakable mindset.
His mission was simple: To give entrepreneurs a proven framework to master their mindset, expand their vision, and live their purpose.
Unlock Your MVP was the end result of that project.
The first chapter, titled “Who I Became Before I Chose,” opens with a foundational mistake most entrepreneurs, and frankly, most people in general, make—a lack of intentionality in their life.
Most people choose a career, but often, that decision is swayed by what’s “logical” or expected of them. They don’t give much thought to what they really want or who they really are at their core. Before long, their path begins to subtly change, driven by failure, criticism, and trauma, until they’re eventually being pushed through their own life like a dead fish floating down the river.
Carlson recounts his mother’s journey in this chapter and explains how her courage and perseverance shaped his own mindset.
“She chose courage every time life tried to bend her, and she chose love, even when the world offered little reason to trust it. Without knowing it, she handed me one of the first blueprints for how to navigate adversity, not by denying it, but by refusing to let it decide who you become,” he said.
He also emphasized the fact that his parents never lectured him about discipline or mindset because they demonstrated these qualities daily in their actions. This is the epitome of leadership. Those with a managerial mindset tell people what to do, while true leaders live by example.
Later, he shares a story from early in his real estate career after moving from Massachusetts to Florida and before he had started getting traction. As he watched his bank account dwindle, growing frustrated that nothing he did seemed to have any impact, he had to set his pride aside and seek employment to cover the bills. Unfortunately, the answer he kept getting was, “You’re overqualified,” but rather than give up on his goal, he found a way to stay in the fight.
“What kept us afloat during that season was not my sales career. It was eBay. As a lifelong sports fan from New England, I visited Red Sox spring training practices and collected autographs from players like David Ortiz, Pedro Martinez, and Nomar Garciaparrera. What began as a fun connection to home became the way we kept the lights on. When the mortgage was due or the fridge was empty. I listed an autographed ball, bat, or photograph on eBay and waited for the bids to come in,” he explained.
Adapt, improvise, and overcome—it’s a mantra often heard within the U.S. Marine Corps, and although the stakes are not as intense, it’s an equally important mindset for entrepreneurs.
You need to be prepared for things to go wrong and take longer than you expect, and you also need to be willing to make sacrifices to achieve your goals.
Who you are will change along the way, but that change will only be positive if you’re committed to growth. Otherwise, you’ll be forced to shrink into a shell of who you once were, and more importantly, who you could become. Either positive or negative, your decisions will shape who you become.
Carlson explains, “when you survive something that should’ve taken you out, you do not come back the same. You come back with a marker inside you that says, I have been here before. I know what fear feels like. I know what uncertainty feels like. I can live through discomfort again, and I can keep moving, even when I do not feel ready.“
This is what separates top performers from everyone else. The average person pulls back or even gives up when things get tough. They shy away from fear, uncertainty, and criticism, retreating into familiar comfort. But top performers push through all of that.
They’re completely committed to their mission, and they value that far above their own personal comfort. Look at anyone who has achieved greatness, and you’ll see exactly what I’m talking about.
Everyone said Elon Musk was crazy for trying to create a civilian space program, but he ignored widespread criticism and built a more successful space program than every government program combined. Walt Disney is another great example. He was broke for most of his life but ended up building one of the most iconic brands in history despite constant criticism and nearly going bankrupt several times along the way. And none of us would be here today in the land of opportunity if George Washington had listened to critics claiming he was insane for going up against the world’s largest and most powerful military at the time.
Mindset is critical in achieving greatness, but it’s not usually something we’re born with. It’s built by facing and overcoming challenges others would avoid.
I think Carlson sums it up best by saying, “Pain planted the seeds of resilience and responsibility in my life. I was not born with a strong mindset. I built one over time, brick by brick, loss by loss.“
