I don’t see my self carrying on as a low-leverage sales practitioner in this industry indefinitely. There will be mortgage people for the next 6-7 years, so far as I can tell. So far as I can tell, there will be folks that explain the mortgage process, help get files gathered and underwritten.
I’m guessing the fee per deal goes down.
I’m guessing that there are fewer people/groups doing more deals per person. I’m hoping for some sort of industry-wide optimization, because the lack of inegrated/integratable standards is really bizarre.
I think that, for 5-6 years, it will be roughly business as usual. There will be a need for more velocity. (Our process lends itself to sloth, because each…outlet requires a wholly different set of paperwork to deal with).
We need RIDICULOUS speed–Jamie Dimon level speed in this business.
So–for now: Leverage my contacts, my ability to meet people on a predictable basis. Grow my Realtor Contacts.
10 Day Mortgages/10 Day Service…is a powerful idea. I have to brand that idea AS something shortly. I like it because it’s succinct, it’s specific, and it makes a specific promise to my customers.
And…FOR MY NEXT TRICK: RightRightNow.com
With solid systems, I can lower my involvement in the mortgage business from 40-45 hours (down from 60-65) to 15-20 per week. As soon as all of my main systems are in place (Lead Generation, Application Handling, Processing, Closing, CRM, Post closing), I will move to market myself as the owner of a technical services company. This won’t take long; I think by April 08, I can get that accomplished.
There’s a lot to do–but the gist of what I want to develop–the “right right now” idea is small project custom consulting. I think I can get an average ticket of $3500 bucks.
I’m branding under “right right now,” because I want to limit the things that I’m perceived to do. I want to specialize in rapid delivery IT projects. Since I’m only going to be getting them, I need to start with small, safe projects–and grow from there. I think stuff like “$900-1000 cusotm wordpress implementations” will be where I start.
What I want “right right now” to do, ultimately, is to be the company that helps other businesses do things FASTER and with more confidence. GTD has probably had a geometric effect on my productivity, red
Finally…blogging?
I’ve established this as a “rough draft” site, more or less. Not trying to be on topic or particularly interesting; this is mostly a place to write down ideas for development a little later. For that–it’s working. I ditched “livejournal” for this site and Google Reader. Instead of the repetitive whining of below average people that gained access to my mind by virtue of sharing an interest….
…I get insight from world class experts that are still willing to interact with me.
I’ll maintain this blog, but not advertise it much, not deliberately, at least. I will produce the best stuff I can, but this is really a “first draft/rough draft” place. I will also maintain “columbusmortgagenews.com” or it’s equivalent.
The rest? I’m not an expert yet, but I think that “speed” as a concept is a niche I can fill. THere are “efficiency” sites, and “personal productivity” sites, but I think being oriented around speed is a dynamite concept to sell and share. Keeping 2-4 posts per wek, on topic…about that idea…is a way to teach ME how to be speedy. Being the “speed” guy is probably a ridiculously effective application.
And, I can throw my insights about sales/general business here, and some of ‘em will rise to the top.
More tomorrow.
Shutting down tonight.
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