October 2007

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.

Most of the time, most books I read are not worth a lot.  They stimulate my brain, and keep me in mental shape, but usually, business/motivation and self help books are only “ok.”  A lot of it has to do with the way the publishing industry works (i.e. there’s no viable market for 30 page articles, so they have to fill an entire book).   A lot of it has to do with the kind  of “least common denominator” approach–trying to write for “Everyone” means that the book is useful for “noone.”

The Power of Focus…is largely like that.  It is a big, ambitious, meandering book that resells a lot of the ideas that most buyers will have (20 pages on writing goals down, etc).   There is one idea that redeems the book, and makes it worth the 5 hours I spent with it.   If I can get this idea down–then the book will have served me.

“Have a Zero Exceptions Policy.”

That’s it.  Second chapter.  They advocate building habits one at a time, and then having a zero exceptions policy behind them.  Meaning, you are gonna work out?  OK, up at 5:30 and work out, zero exceptions.   One habit at a time, zero exceptions.

There are a lot of things I want to do, but I let whims change my mind too much.  How I “feel” about something–as if that matters–dictates what I’m going to do or not do.   Having a “Zero Exceptions” policy to establishing new habits is very powerful.   I run my day off of a checklist that starts with the alarm going off at 4:45 during the week (soon to be weekends), and ends with me going to bed by 10:45.

But there are times that my days are frayed.  I’m doing INFINITELY better than I was (thanks to Getting Things Done, in part), and I’m trending in the right direction (i.e. I’m earning money, writing, losing weight, and I’m connected with my faith).

But–if I had a Zero Exceptions policy…and I integrated habits into my life…one at a time,  boom, I’d be slamming progress.

So, now I do:

Plan my food 100% of the time.

I was doing well, winning the battle of exercise, but killing myself with the garbage I ate.    If I plan and prepare my food, 100% of the time, this won’t happen anymore.

So it’s time to plan my eating, my food.  I’ll figure out how to do that in a minute.

OK, I’ve sorted out a lot of what I intend to get accomplished in the near future, and more or less how I intend to do it.   Getting liquid is important, and with a baby on the way it’s not entirely practical to expect to shed expenses.

Some thougths:  Do I stay in Columbus Long term, or 3 years, or do I take off asap?  This is totally undecided.  I have to come to an ok decision with this soon.

 Thought #2:   Do I stay long term in the mortgage industry,and, if so, what do I do?  More or less, I’ll roll with it a while.  I’m in a good spot, I’m working less and making more.  I am not at the top of the pile, but I think that I can creat a system that keeps me working under 20 hours a week, and allows me to earn $30k/month net.   No, I’m not there yet.   But, it only requires that I get a LITTLE bit better/faster/more sticky.

Thought #3:  10 day service is my brand.  Do I go with www.10dayservice.com

Or something else?  Starbucks vs Seatle’s Best Coffee question.

Tomorrow–more stuff coming.  Mostly written.  Gonna finish the buckeyes game.

OK, I invited some realtors (i.e. as many as I had email addresses for) to an event:

(click here if you care)
On the EMAIL, I had: Friday, October 3rd, 2007 in one spot (even though I had October 5th in other spots.  I goofed).

I got this in response from one Realtor (who doesn’t do much business).  This is what she said:

 I would probably take this SERIOUS [sic]… IF you knew what DATE this Friday was.

HOW UNPROFESSIONAL!!!!!!!!

Now…this was what I was afraid of.  If you stick yourself out there, you’re gonna screw up sometimes.  You’re gonna suck at some things.   FACT. OF. LIFE.    A date is something that I screwed up–and it was still reasonably clear when to come, but it wasn’t handled as well as it could have been.

At first I thought: How embarrassing–this is the WORST THING that I’ve ever done.   Man, I’m a fool.    And then a thought occurred to me:  I will NEVER be perfect EVER.  It’s not efficient.  It’s not smart, and some people are gonna look at stuff you do and try to tear you down.

My second thought:  I’m never gonna get it perfect, and I’m never gonna get it all done.   And I don’t have to.

To think about it: in 1775, the most “professional” group of soldiers were under the British Crown.  General Howe and (later) Cornwallis had them fighting with ultimate professionalism, compared to the folks under George Washington who had a bunch of plain folks that believed in their cause.

I let it go–I’m bummed that I made a mistake.

But..

It would have been a bigger mistake to NOT try.

It would have been a bigger error to NOT put myself out there.

I welcome the feedback and the opportunity to get better at what I do.

Why did I start this blog?

Why did make it easy for anyone that was looking for me to find it, putting rants, thoughts, goals, failures, successes on the cloud of the internet?

Because I want the ball.

Because I want to be held accountable for who I say I am.

Because I want to live a transparent and congruent life.

Because going to the gym at 6 every morning is HARD work, and I want to have people ask me “hey, you make it to the gym?”  (I have, thanks, and it seems that exercise is now a daily habit.)

Think about this:  If someone that DIDN’T LIKE YOU could peer into your life and probe you for weaknesses, would you go about your business any differently?   Would you maybe make sure that you are who you say you are?   If the Paparazzi was ready to snap a shot, ready to take you down, would you leave the house looking like the star that you are?

Hell yes you would.

And that’s why I put this out there.  I know that about 100 people read this every day via my WP stats.  And I’m glad for that–I’m glad to see you all…because even though I don’t know who you are, the fact that people read this thing keeps me accountable.

And being held accountable is something that makes me operate on a higher and better level, so even the (hopefully few) people that consider themselves my enemy…can help benefit me.

I am a borderline GTD fanatic

Since I got into the technocrati/Lifehacker posts that talked about the cult of GTD, and since the valedictorian of my highschool said that there was value in it, I realized that there is a ton of value in not only the system, but in writing stuff down, forgetting stuff you can do nothing about, and organizing your life.

I say it only takes a TINY bit extra, in the right spots, to make a HUGE difference in your business/personal life. GTD is a TINY bit in a lot of the right spots.

More on this later, after I re read the book four or five times.