The key to being a successful lender is consistency…. That’s it!

Real Estate is a funny business.  You have a wide array of personalities that get into the business. You have part time, full time, some of the time, and hardly any time workers.   Over the past two years I have closed 459 transactions and here is what I have learned….

1. You need to work every day.  This is a full time job if you want to be successful.  You don’t stroll into the office at 10 or 11am…  You get to the office by 9am and start your day… I see people working into the wee hours of the night and do not get me wrong, every once in a while that is required, but most of the time I find that people are doing this because they are not EFFICIENT with their time during the day.
2. Loans are not hard.  It really is paint by numbers every loan is different but the process should always be the same.

• It starts with a loan application.  If you do a half ass loan application you are going to get half ass results
• Based on your application gather the proper documentation.  So as you can see if you do not do step one correctly, it can throw off step two.
• Talk with you clients, set the proper expectations.  Remember that people with buy 4 or 5 houses in their lifetime, and we do this 4 or 5 times a day.  Cover the basics like, don’t move money around, don’t deposit cash into your account, don’t take days off work, don’t buy a new car, let them know how fast things move once an offer is accepted, let them know they need to make this a priority as well, ask them how long they plan on being in the house…. what are their short and long term goals.  If nothing more, it shows you care about them as people, not just as a transaction.
• Create a system and follow it EVERY time.  My assistant and I prequel, collect documents, request title/escrow, order the appraisal, stack a file, request items, etc… the same on EVERY file.  It is the ONLY way we can identify where something went wrong IF something goes wrong at all.  If you are always changing the way that you do things, you cannot identify what IS and IS NOT working… There is POWER in consistency.
• Get to know your agents.  I mean really know them as people…  There is a lot to be said for respecting them, knowing them, and being able to communicate with them.  I NEVER like to let my agents down because I genuinely like them and view them as friends.  Of course you don’t want to mess anything up because there is a paycheck on the line but it comes from a different place when you actually KNOW and LIKE them,
• Take care of those that take care of you.  I could not do what I do without the help of my processor, my assistant, the funders, the loan openers, etc…  Every once in a while buy them lunch, give them gift cards, or simply say thank you.  This is a relationship business and I think all to often we forget this.
• Realize that “no” builds credibility.  All to often people are looking for someone to tell them yes.  This business is full of “yes men and women” who just tell everyone what they want to hear instead of what is reality.  It is not always easy to tell an agent that a buyer does not qualify for what they are looking for, or to tell a buyer that they need to do “this or that” to qualify…  What I find is that lenders tell everyone yes just to “get the business” and then deal with everything once they are in escrow and have everyone “hooked” (for lack of a better term).  This is how you ruin your name and give everyone a bad taste in their mouth.
• Invest in people.  For me, I personally like helping realtors grow their business.  I love working with realtors that treat this as a career not a job. We essentially are our own “brand”  If we think of the big picture there is so much that we can do… I have closed 40 loans a month and have realized the work that goes into that is not much more than closing 15.  It is all systems and consistency.  If no one ever took a chance on me I would NEVER have made it this far.  I have had people invest  a lot of time in me and I take it personal.  I do NOT want to let them down…  I am always looking for that next realtor that is wanting to do MORE than what most people think is possible because that is when this business is FUN!

 

It really is paint by numbers, if you can just remember that

1. Is Blue

2. Is Green

3. Is Red

4. Is Purple

The loan (picture) will change, but if you stick with that the end result will always be the same… A funded loan, with a happy realtor and happy buyer!!!   It really is that simple.

Clear Goggles = A Sobering Thought

I decided back in March of this year to stop drinking.  It was a decision I made on my own but the impact has been felt by all of those around me.  My wife never directly asked me to stop drinking, neither did my family or friends but I think they have shared in the joy it has brought me (us).  I can’t say this for sure or speak on their behalf but I think throughout this last year I have become a better husband, father, friend, boss, brother, son, and person.  Along with hard work, commitment, prayer and my friends/family I was able to harness my passion to be successful and “addictive personality” and shift it into a direction with no  booze involved 🙂

 In the day to day lives of many people we are constantly stressed out, freaked out, overwhelmed, tired, rundown, and in turn (myself included) drink to “escape” the pressures of everyday life.  My friend Kanye West made me think when he said “The plan was to drink until the pain over, But what’s worse, the pain or the hangover” in one of his songs…   I started to think about why I was drinking… It was no longer to have a casual drink with friends, it was too dull the stress, pain, and reality that came along with my work and drive to be successful.  I realized my drive to be successful was either going to be a good thing or a bad thing; and at that moment I realized it was up to me.  It was time for a change…

 

I reevaluated my life and what my goals were and more importantly why those were my goals.  I came to the conclusion that I don’t have to make a lot of money but I want to.  Once I verbalized that out loud I was able to alleviate the pressure… Don’t get me wrong I still want to be rich (like really rich) but now it is just fun.    I had put very high expectations on myself and in turn my “wounds” were somewhat self-inflicted. 

Positives of no drinking:

1. My relationship with my wife/family
2. Better focus at work
3. Better fitness
4. Better eating choices
5. More productive throughout the day (no Saturday morning hangovers)
6. Better creativity at work on how to achieve my goals
7. Acquired skill on how to deal with stresses
8. Deeper, more meaningful relationships
9. Clearer vision of where I want to go

Negatives:

1.none

I challenge everyone to reevaluate their reasons for doing what they do whether it is drinking or something else….  Life changing.

Real Estate is for Dummies

I love real estate!   So do a lot of people that I know but they tend to make it more difficult than it needs to be.  Loan Officers, Real Estate Agents and Buyers are all their own worst enemy.

Let’s start with the buyers…

• It is HUGE. This is probably the biggest purchase of your life so now is not the time to use a friend or family member as your real estate agent or loan officer just because you know them.  Agents do MORE than unlock front doors to show you a house so make sure they are knowledgeable.  Loan officers do more than take an application and give you a rate. Online banks or the “lowest rates” can often times spell disaster… Make sure you trust and respect your loan officer.   Have you been to happy hour, golfing or the beach with your “potential” agent or loan officer during the week in the last year??  If your answer is yes then RUN!  One of the biggest reasons loan officers and real estate agents are not successful is because they abuse the fact they are self employed and work part time.  This is why they get part time pay and more importantly get YOU part time results…  just think about it.
• Be specific.  Real Estate is SUPER competitive right now and houses are flying on and off the market like hotcakes.  You no longer have the luxury of looking at houses and thinking it over for a week or two.  By the time you decide to drive by the house again you will looking in at the new owners house warming party.  Think it over… How many bedrooms and baths do you want?  Two story or one story?  Big yard?  Little yard?  What school district?  Check Megan’s Law website if you have kids!!  Do you want to live on a flat street (hills suck for kids to ride bikes on, play sports etc… I am speaking from experience.)  Be quick but don’t rush.
• This is an exciting time.  Don’t be afraid to enjoy the process.  There was a time when buying a home was a prestigious event.  I think it is time we get back to that.  Make sure your team you hire to work for you (agent, loan officer, home inspector, etc…) know that you are the boss and take this as serious as you do!

Moving right along to the agents…

• The old saying, “you play how you look” fits perfectly here.  Don’t be afraid to put on professional business attire when meeting with clients.  All to often I see people in our industry (loan officers included, don’t worry I will get to them) in jeans and a wrinkled polo and they think they are dressed up. Let’s be honest, there is great money in real estate if you work it properly and I think it is time we all dress the part.  Take some of the commission checks you cash and invest in some dress shirts, slacks, business suits or blouses and step your game up.  Our clients may not say anything but trust me they think it.  If we don’t consider ourselves professional business men and women neither will the community we work in.
• Find a good lender.  A good lender is not the one who jumps when you say jump, or sits at every open house with you, or “helps” you with your marketing.  I cant tell you how many times I see realtors use a lender because they do whatever they tell them to do, or because they “help” them with their marketing.  Guess what, if they can’t close your deals consistently with little headache what good is their marketing doing?  All they are doing is getting your name out to more people and then helping you fumble the ball at the goal line… Congratulations you are on the fast track to ruining your reputation.  This is not to say that your lender should not help you out and be there when you need them, I am not saying that at all so please no hate mail agents 🙂     All I am saying is sometimes no builds credibility (write that down).   This business is not rocket science and it is nothing personal, but we are in a R.O.W.E. (results only work environment) so make sure you assemble the correct team and be sure to tell your loan officer nephew it is nothing personal, you just need someone that would rather work than go golfing in the middle of the day or head to Vegas on a Thursday.

Last but not least the infamous loan officer…

• 90% of you suck!  (let me preface this portion by saying I am going to be the most blunt here because I myself am and LO and see how horrible we are as a “collective” group everyday and it is sad).  For a business (Yes loan officers you are a business) it is no longer enough to create a business that is reasonably priced and adequately functional.  It must also be beautiful, unique and meaningful.  Use your brain…  This is a fragile time in our business.  We are far enough away from the mortgage melt down for people to realize we are on our way up, but still close enough that the lending industry all but requires us to check the label on our buyers underwear to get them approved. Set the proper expectations upfront!  I know this sounds obvious but so many loan officers out there start the process off on the wrong foot.
• The process: since a lot of people that do what I do don’t seem to understand it, let me spell it out for the consumer and you can take some free knowledge

1. Meet with your loan officer.  I know you are busy but if you can try to meet them in person.
2. Discuss your plans with the house,  how long you plan on being there, is it on the high end of your budget, how much money you have etc… Trust me this helps us structure a deal that works for YOU.
3. Gather the documents (below are the basics)

• 2 years Full Federal tax returns
• 2 years W2’s
• paystubs
• bank statements (all pages… trust me)

food for thought:  as a buyer don’t tell the loan officer what they need.  If they ask for it trust me, they need it.  All to often I hear clients say “the other lender I qualified with didn’t ask for that”… my response is “yet”.   Loan officers out there do the bare minimum upfront to make the process appear easy to the potential client so they don’t scare them away and by doing this they may get the client but I can almost assure you the process will be a nightmare and they will have a frustrated client because instead of collecting it upfront in an orderly fashion they are now doing it on the fly in a hurry because they need to close.  (for a great article, Google “the perfect loan file”  Forbes did a awesome job with this write up).

• We have to realize that this is a HUGE job we are entrusted with and treat it as such.  Buyers have thousands of dollars in escrow, real estate agents have big commission checks on the line so everyone is on edge to perform.  There needs to be a consistent process you follow for each transaction.   Until you create a step by step process that you mimic on every file you will have chaos.  And chaos is the anti Christ in real estate.
• Play with your buyers.  Joke with them.  Get to know them.  They are people and respond well to interaction trust me.  Don’t be a secret service agent.
• Take your agents to lunch.  Take them to coffee.  Stop by and just say hello… don’t take up their whole day.  Literally just stop in say hello see if they need anything and then leave.  Watch their minds be blown because loan officers don’t DO THIS!
• Let me tell you something I learned over the past few years.  You don’t have to care about your realtors and clients as people… you don’t that is just the honest truth.  BUT!   IF YOU DO…. there will never be a question about whether you care about their business.  I have two agents that I have worked with for years and have come to a place where I care about THEM.  It is no coincidence that we not only close a lot of deals together, but we (the buyers, the agent and myself) have  a lot of fun when we work together…  This is a relationship business.  Remember that.  Harness that. Run with that.  Change your business with that.

The end of the year is upon us.   Instead of taking time off like most of this industry does during this time, use it as a time to seize more of the market share.

Peace-

Nathan!

PEOPLE DON’T CARE HOW MUCH YOU KNOW UNTIL THEY KNOW HOW MUCH YOU CARE!

Work is work but people are still people.  I think it is important to remember that the people you work with have lives, goals, dreams, families, problems and are real people.   Over the past couple of years I have found myself in somewhat of a management role at work due to the fact that my mortgage team is growing.  I have hired assistants and had to learn the in’s and outs of managing on the fly.

People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care!

I think you need to invest in people on a personal level.  You have to show them that it is not always about work and that you want them to be a better person overall.  You want them to have their own goals, their own successes and it is not just all about you and your wallet.   My co-workers are like family.  I look out for them and take great pride in pushing them as individuals… Do we always get along?  Heck no… Do we fight???  Yup!   But when push comes to shove we always have each others back and do not question each others intentions.

People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care!

I think both my assistants know that I want them to do well at work but I also push them outside of work as well on a personal level.  I can teach them everything I know about work but if they don’t think I care about them as a person why would they want to work for me??

People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care!

I also see this at my Crossfit as well.  We have coaches there and a lot of the reason that these members are so dedicated, so gung-ho, and so loyal to their gym is because the coaches are there to push us, hold us accountable, and help us reach our personal goals.  I for one have received text messages at 5:30 am when I have not shown up to my crossfit class… Guess what?  My coach doesn’t need to do that, he gets paid whether I am there or not but they hold us accountable because they care.

People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care!  Do you care? Do people know you care?  Are you investing in people? 

The “Average of Five” Rule. WHO IS YOUR STARTING 5?

Life is kind of like building your own basketball team.  You need to make sure you put the best 5 players you have on the court… And they all have to bring something different to the table.

“the average of 5”, a rule that states that you become the average of the five people you spend the most time with. For example, if you constantly hang out with negative people, you will ultimately find yourself becoming a negative person too. If you spend a lot of time with friends who all work hard to get high GPAs, you will find that you also work hard to keep your GPA within that range too.

WHO ARE YOUR 5…  I think it is important to put some thought into this.  These 5 need to be people that inspire you, drive you, motivate you, push you, hold you accountable and are there for you.

Starting at point guard for me would be the one and only Nick Di Nieri.   I have not known Nick for that long but it doesn’t take long for Nick to make an impact on those around him.  Nick is a well rounded guy, but what he brings to my team is an example of a God loving man.  Nick lives his life with a purpose, sets and example for those around him and is rich in ways that money cannot buy.  Nick is a loving husband, a great father and that in and of itself makes him rich.   Everything else in his life is just and added bonus.  I think people look to Nick for spiritual guidance, and what a God loving man should be, I am not sure if he knows this but people look up to him because of all this.  (whatever you do, no not accuse him of cheating on hill repeats or change a John Legend song)

My shooting guard would have to be my friend/co-worker Mr. Nick Cowan.  Nick is an Iraq war veteran who served 3 tours in Iraq.  He is now in the real estate business and has made himself into one of the best lenders in the business.  When I first got into this business I looked to him and mirrored his work ethic.  I knew that if I worked as hard as he did the rest would take care of itself.  He is very meticulous because of his time in the military.  Everything is very precise, very calculated and very thought out.  He is always strategizing his next move, again something I think he learned from his time serving in the Army.  He taught me to always be one step ahead, work harder than the next person, look at different angles for every scenario. 

I think my center would have to be my Pop (my grandfather).  He is no longer with me but in the time that I had with him he taught me more than I could have ever asked for.  He was a smart, hard working, funny, loving man.  He taught me lessons that I don’t know if he knew I was even taking note of.  I still remember times and conversations we had when I was 10 years old.  Conversations word for word that to this day have an impact on me, who I am and who I will always be striving to become.  (Miss you)

At power forward I think I would have to put in Ed Hoffman who is the owner of my company and my mentor in the real estate business and business in general.  He first off has taught me almost everything I know in regards to real estate.  How to structure deals, how to meet and exceed people’s expectations, and how to invest myself.  Most of all he has taken a chance on me.  He took a kid that could sell but did not know much about real estate and brought me to where I am now.  He let me fall flat on my, dusted me off, set me straight and let me go again.  He has prevented me from making mistakes that could have been costly and has given me the ability to look at business in a way I never thought possible.  Because of him my brain in constantly working… I am looking for an opportunity at every turn and most the time I can find it because of tools I have learned from Ed, things I will take with me throughout my life.  (things are never as good as they seem, things are never as bad as they seem…)

My small forward is going to be my inner college crew.  I can lump them all together in one position because this is my post and I can do whatever I want 🙂    Bobby, Ryan and Jon are 3 guys that are constant.  We are there for each other no matter what.  We push each other, ridicule each other, bash on each other, support one another and most of all love each other.  Come hell or high water I challenge anyone to find four guys that have each others back the way we do.  No matter what we can tell each other anything and know that at the end of the day we are brothers.

Who are your 5?  What do they bring to the table?  Do they make you better?  Just because they are in your 5 does not mean they have a positive effect on your life which is something for you to think about…

A FIT body is a FIT mind, and a FIT mind can do ANYTHING (make money)

Physical fitness is a key part of life.

I have always been active throughout my life but as time has gone on and the career has kicked in and the family life has taken over, I think it is more important than ever to make being “fit” a priority.

I am currently involved in “Crossfit” at Crossfit Crowntown in Corona, Ca.  This is by far one of the most challenging, rewarding and motivating things that I have ever done.  I wake up every day at 4:30 in the morning to be at Crossfit at 5:15… By 6:30am the hardest part of my day is over and I am off to work and have a clear head to work with.

There are people from all walks of life that make this grueling, rewarding, community based activity part of their everyday life.  There are 60 year old men and women, mother and fathers, businessmen and women, father/son, high school kids, elite athletes, you name it they Crossfit.

Everyone comes together at a “Box” and for one hour a day has one common goal, to better themselves and in turn better their family life, their careers, their social life, their health, their appearance, their confidence, etc…  Everyday I see people go beyond what they thought they could do.  They break through barriers in the gym and I think this sets the tone for their life!!

I for one have seen a direct correlation with my fitness level and my level of production at work.  I have 3 assistants at work and have made it mandetory for all three to crossfit (two of which I pay for to do it) and I will put my team up against anyone in the entire country because they know no limits and this all starts every morning at 5:00am in the gym…  By the time we get to work we are alert, confident and ready to rock.

I see the same thing with these moms in our gym… They run around after 1,2,3,4 kids and still have the energy to knock out an intense workout.  I know for a fact that being a mother is probably one of the hardest/tiring jobs EVER! If my wife leaves for a few hours I am counting the minutes until she returns because my two year old daughter is CRAZY!

Being a business man and always looking at what people do for a living, how succesful they are, how passionate about their life they are, I have found an astounding common denominator at Crossfit…  Everyone is very succesful, passionate, happy,and just full of energy… Coincidence???   I think not.

Like I tell my assistants everyday.  “A fit body is a fit mind, and a fit mind makes money!!!!”

When opportunity knocks, make it ring the doorbell

I know people are always looking for the next best thing and a way to better themselves and their careers. When you are good at what you do and when you love what you do people will take notice.

Passion is contagious. People want to be around passionate people. You will be recruited. You will be sought after. This is tough because being wanted by someone, a business, a company or whatever is always flattering but you need to be able to step back and assess the situation.

This isn’t college anymore, it is not just the thrill of the chase anymore. Anyone can get the girl but is she all you think she is? Maybe. Maybe not! This isn’t just about being recruited or promised the world. Your decisions might have long or short term impact on you and those around you. Being courted is definitely a sign that you are doing something right but it does not always mean the grass is greener.

I am not saying the grass CANT be greener all I am saying is make sure the grass is real and not just artificial turf = empty promises.

Wait for that bell to ring! Make opportunity wait at the door for a bit… If it really wants you it will still be there when you get to the door.

10 things real estate agents need to know in this market

1. Find a lender that you trust and then let them do their job.  If you feel you have to tell them how to do their job, they should not be your lender.

• I get agents all the time that tell me to order the appraisal on a rush.  FYI, this is not new news.  Every agent asks for this so I order the appraisals right away on every file.

2.  If there are no comps to support the offer price that you wrote the contract at do not be surprised when it does not come in at value. 

• It is a very competitive market out there so I understand that every property has multiple offers and right now people are bidding above list price.  This does not mean that the seller is going to drop the value if it comes in low, and if they do it is the agents job to negotiate that.  The seller will always come back and say why did you offer that high if you knew it wouldn’t appraise???  We all know the answer…. To get your offer accepted but trust me, that will be their first response followed closely by “Does your buyer have the money to come in with the difference?”

3. No one wins if the deal does not close so trust the lender when they say they want max appraise value as well.

• about 75% of the time when an appraisal comes in low the agents all of a sudden forget that this is a team effort.  It takes the agents, the lender, the appraiser, title, escrow, the buyer etc… to make a deal go smoothly.  When an appraisal comes in low this is the time to really buckle down and work together.

4. Prep the buyer about a real estate transaction.  We as agents and lenders will do this thousands of times in our lives, the buyer may do it 3-5 times.

• Each transaction is roughly the same.  Provide paystubs, tax returns (all pages), bank statements (all pages) and W2’s.  no cash deposits!!!! This is all stuff that the lender should go over with the buyers but sometimes it is too late when they get to us.  Setting proper expectations can save days and sometimes even weeks on a transaction.

5. If you have a good relationship with your buyers see if you can get a copy of their financials on a PDF.

• how many times have you written an offer and had to have the buyers cross qualified??   If you are writing offers in this market I am going to say quite frequently.  I have two big investors that I am a preferred lender for and they require a cross qualification in order to accept the offer and so many times buyers miss out on the house that they want because they cannot get documentation over to me in time… If their agent had this they could send it over right away even though the buyer is stuck at work.  Offer accepted!  (we will need all the items mentioned in tip #4)

6. Rates are pretty much the same no matter where you go and loan officer comp plans have changed so the cat and mouse game of are you getting the best rate from your lender is pretty much gone.

• this is not 2004-2007 anymore.  Lenders are not really doing arm loans anymore (I do not remember the last time I did one), they are not sticking prepayment penalties on the loans etc…  Think about it logically… everyone gets their money from the same place so if something sounds to good to be true it probably is.

7.  FHA, VA and Conventional loans take the same amount of time to close if you have a good lender.

• Is each loan different, ya a little but if you have a good lender the time frames should not be an issue.  Write each offer with confidence.  I can close any loan FHA, VA or Conventional in 21 days or less so should everyone else.  If they cannot, find a new lender.

9. Have fun with your buyers.

• We make sure that we have fun and joke around with our buyers.  If we are relaxed, they are relaxed.  We do this everyday so there are things that we know are normal that the average buyer does not.

10. Once you find a lender that is good.  Be loyal.  These lenders that are good will make you and your transactions a priority if you are an agent that consistently brings them business.

• I have about 10 agents that bring me every deal.  I know how they work, and they know how we work.  There is a lot to be said for getting to know one another.  Each agent is different and wants different things throughout a transaction.  I can tailor each transaction to each agent after I have worked with them a couple of times.  Some agents want updates every couple of days.   Some agents just want updates when there is a problem.  Some agents want to come into the office.  Some agents want nothing other than a fast close.   Tell your lender what your 3 hot buttons are so they can make sure to meet all your expectations.

Real estate can be fun, buying a house is not and should not be rocket science.  Find that lender that you trust to get your deals closed and the lender that will treat your clients right.  This is a team effort whether you want to believe it or not…. No matter how good the agent, the lender, the escrow officer, the buyer etc… It will not be a smooth transaction unless everyone comes together and works as a team!!!

See link below, I was number 11 in the entire Country for 2012 FHA origination volume.  Bigger numbers coming for 2013…. Stay tuned 😉

http://www.scotsmanguide.com/TO/2012/fha_volume.asp

Competition… Good or Bad. Win by any means???

So I found myself looking back to when I was a kid playing club soccer. For me or at least what I know the cheating seemed to creep into sports around age 10. AGE 10!

I am sure that everyone has their own stories, but kids were taught from a young age that this is ok. We had kids in club soccer with fake birth certificates, fake identification etc… Parents knew about it and condoned it but that is not even really my point here… let’s take a trip with these kids throughout their lives.

Taught at a young age in sports (which is just a game) that it is ok to cheat. WHy on earth would they not do the same when they run into some difficult times at school. Heaven forbid they perform to the level of their peers. They didn’t have to in sports and their parents said it was ok, so why shouldn’t they just cheat in school? After all it is just a little cheat sheet in their pocket.

How about when they get their first job at the grocery store, retail store, or wherver else is hiring these days. How often do you hear about kids stealing a t-shirt, or some miscelaneous items and the parents are confronted about it and are super embarrassed. Most of the time the kids that steal it don’t even need it when you look at their upbringing.

How about that kid that is being pushed through life by his family and goes off to college… Now they are on their own. Time to have fun, let loose, get wild… Uh oh, now they have to wake up for class and they forgot they had a test so what do they do? You… cheat.

How about that kid that is a phenom athlelte. He is playing division one collge sports… He has been told all his life that he/she is the best. Has a bunch of yes men/women around them so in their mind they can do no wrong. They are a bad ass athlete but now throughout their life they have found that they can cheat and gain just that little edge. Steroids??? HGH??? Or the newest one, deer antler spray….

Ok, now that we have covered a few scenarios, lets spell out what we have really done to this 10 year old kid that is now for shits and giggles lets say 25 years old. We have allowed this now adult to think that it is ok to cheat. We have had 13 year olds playing with 10 year olds in sports dominating. We have let them think in their head they are better than they are by playing with kids younger than them… This set the stage.

We have a kid going through school thinking it must be ok to cheat in school because “my parents allowed me to cheat in sports or atleast allowed my team to cheat and turned the other cheek, why wouldn’t it be ok in school too?” Seems like mixed signals from parents right??? Win by any means necessary right???

Really what we end up with is a 22,23,24,25 year old yound adult that has gone through life with a skewed sense of reality. Competition got the best of them. Life always seemed easier that it really was because they never had to work through adversity:

1. Sports… lets just play with kids that are younger so I seem like a bad ass

2. School… ehh, I dont need to learn this, I will take the short cut and make a cheat sheet

3. Work… Why be the best, no one will know. I will just cheat.

At age 25 we have to many kids that come to an epiphany that life is hard because we allowed them to cheat until now. Now the corporate world kicks them in the ass and I think this is a big reason to the ENTITLEMENT mentality that our world has today…

They say kids are impressionable so love them, nurture them, teach them. This is so true… make sure the example to cheat does not start at home!

(these were random thoughts today and I was in a hurry to get to Crossfit so sorry if the thoughts are a little scattered today 🙂 )

Don’t fight the funk…

No matter who you are, what you do, what you drive or what style of music you like, you know that you have found yourself rocking out to your favorite playlist on your way into the office.  You know what i am talking about… I mean really rocking out.  That rocking out where your head is bobbing, the feet are tapping, and your are signing like you are recording your debut album.

I am not really concerned about the signing, really what I am focusing on is that feeling you have deep down in your gut that you can do anything.  That music that is getting you totally amped to take on the day.  That feeling that no matter what the day throws at you, you are going to crush it…

For me, I listen to hip hop or rap on the way into the office.  I love the fact that they are talking about money, fame, hustling, being #1, grinding, being on top and doing it better than anyone before.  All these thoughts get me in the mindset to tackle any situation, customers, agents, processors, underwriters, agents etc… throughout the day.

Music has the ability to take you somewhere else if you let it.  The key is taking that energy that you have while you are in the car and carrying it with you throughout the day long after your engine has cooled off.  I actually will crank up the volume in my office and blast one of my favorite songs before I make an important call to an agent, buyer or seller… This ensures that I bring my A-game and all the positive energy.

Don’t fight the funk… Let the music take you away. 

I would love to hear comments on what your song is that takes you away….