Yin vs YangThe Battle for Success in Life

photo credit

Article by Peter J. Normandia. Follow me on Twitter.

Every Wednesday is Personal Development in Business…

I would imagine the saying ‘stick to your guns’ developed over the course of history from gunfighters meeting their tragic end while trying to use a weapon they were not familiar with. Fast forward hundreds of years, and even though I am not a gunfighter, my experience in business has lead me to understand the true value of this pearl of wisdom.

For those that don’t know, my partner Chris and I started up a new business in November of 2007. The business is a media production company called Reimagine, that specializes in web and video production. Chris is a multi talented graphic/web designer from an advertising background. He has been in the freelance creative business for a long, long time. I was a video guy with a background in business. My skills shine when I am networking, selling, and at the editing station.

As a company, we could make money doing print media, web design/development, social media consulting, marketing videos, event videos, TV commercials, internet videos, motion graphics, email blasts, t-shirts, writing, and sound production. I’m sure you are saying, well that’s a good thing. A lot of avenues to make money. However, time has taught me that this can actually be a negative.

A Positive experience with Mortgages

It’s funny, cause before I got into this business, I had my own mortgage branch. I graduated film school and got engaged. I was writing screenplays, but that was not cutting it. I needed something to pay the bills while I honed my skills. That’s when I jumped on an opportunity to get into the hot mortgage game.

One of the things I always remember from my experience in mortgages is how the successful brokers did business. Depending on their license, a broker can do refinances, purchases, FHA, VA, FHA streamlines, Jumbo, and until recently, Home Equity Loans and 2nd Mortgages. Not only that, but you could even get licensed in multiple states. However, with all these options, I found that a very successful broker usually only did one kind of loan. This means they specialized in one type of loan from the hundreds they could do.

At first, I didn’t understand this. As a young broker, each time I got a lead, I was pumped. I didn’t care what the person wanted, I would figure out how to get it done. So if they were doing a refinance, I could do it. Purchase, no problem. FHA, of course I can. As long as I could make money, it was legal, and good for the client, I was in. While many brokers had no regard for their clients, it was very important to me. Doing right by my customers was not so I could say I was a good person. It was so the client would refer me to someone. I always found doing good business to reward itself.

However, with all these options, the money for these loans got stretched very thin. Doing a good job for my clients was hard. Each loan was completely different from the last. I had to learn the bank guidelines, the proper procedures, which paperwork and information to get, as well as the little rules unique to the client’s situation. Instead of knowing what was next, I was always trying to figure it out. Each loan I got was like starting over from scratch.

One weekend, to open my own branch, I flew down to Florida for a big mortgage conference hosted by the enormous company I was joining. At the conference, to pump us up, they celebrated their top branches across the country. I was shocked at the time to find out that each of these ridiculously successful branches only did one type of loan. One person, who grossed the most ever for the company, specialized in only VA streamline loans in Kansas. That’s it. That person just did loans for veterans living in Kansas. He did no other type of loans whatsoever. None. I didn’t even know there were that many veterans in Kansas.

Another top person just specialized in FHA Streamlines in Missouri. Another just in FHA in Florida. All of these top people did one type of loan. What I learned was that it made their job, their service, and their time management that much easier. Sure, there were opportunities to make money doing other loans, but that would mean learning a whole new routine. The time alone was not worth it to them. It was more beneficial to just stick to what they knew.

Stick to your Guns, Increase your Funds

That’s the approach my partner and I have learned to take with our business. While there are numerous avenues to make money, being a specialist at what you do is that much more rewarding. You can easily grow more and more efficient each time, and not have to spend the extra time feeling your way through the process. Your clients will appreciate it more as well. Nothing is better than having the confidence the person you hired is an expert.

For all of you out there with your own business, try this approach. Think about what it is that you do best. What is it that you can be better than everyone else? Then stick to that, and build from there. I’m sure it will be tough to turn down some business down at first, but you must look at the big picture. Over time, becoming a master at something effects the work process in the following ways:

• It gets easier
• Work time decreases
• Profit margin increases.
• Customer service gets better which leads to more referrals.

Looking at your short term money is necessary to pay your bills. However, using this strategy can pay your bills over and over as time goes on. It may be slow in the beginning, but after all, I believe it was the tortoise that won the race against the hare in that timeless children’s story, wasn’t it?

——————————————————————————————–

If you like what you see, get all the latest updates right to your email…