Fall is here, which is great. There is a lot to be said for living in a part of the world with changing seasons and the excitement that comes with the preparation and unique activities that each offers.
We truly live in an amazing spot!
This past Summer I did not quite embrace our amazing outdoors as in previous years, resulting in a rather pale complexion for the entire season. There were a few days of fun in the woods, even I cannot be 100% work 100% of the time. However most Saturdays and Sundays found me triggering an out of office email response and planting myself firmly in my office for some rather long stretches.
It was all about 7 months of intense focus to bring to fruition three years of talk.
Action triggered in no small part by my daughters gift of not just a journal, but a journal with this sentence on page one:
I took her words to heart January 1st, 2015
The finished product from many hundreds of hours hit Amazon Sept 16th in the form of Be The Better Broker – Volume 1
Artist’s rendering of me on a Saturday – Courtesy Jennifer Okkerse
This is not a book targeted at clients shopping for a new home or mortgage. It is dedicated toward those contemplating making the leap from their current job into the world of the ‘self employed’. It is a primer of the hard truths of living one client at a time. It should read well not just for prospective mortgage Brokers, but also for Realtors, or any other role where one need be an organised self-starter with zero guarantee of compensation no matter how hard they work.
I remained very strict about dedicating Zero time to this project from Monday to Friday. There could be no distraction from my own being the better Broker.
Monday to Friday – clients own me.
Maintaining this division allowed us to drive our service levels higher still in 2015. It has been a stronger year than the last.
The thing with writing a chapter about being better at one aspect of the business is that you are then forced logically to live up to what you are projecting.
Writing mortgages is how I will continue to make my living, and clients will continue to be 99.9% of my focus Monday to Friday. 8am – 6pm
Writing (& publishing) books… Not a profit centre.
It is actually a pretty expensive hobby when you are an ‘unknown’.
So I am not off to a world of fame and fortune as an author, that is not a real thing for very many writers of business books. Instead I am in my office working client files – as I like to be. Doing the actual job.
For those of you that read this far I offer two things. 1. an interesting mortgage fact, and 2. an offer if you are interested.
- If interest rates increased doubled (they will not be anytime soon, but if…) your mortgage payment would increase by 30%. No small amount, but not something to get too concerned about. An increase from where we are at today of more like 50% from current rates (from 2.00% to 3.00%) is more likely over the next 5 years. Assuming rates do not simply stay flat. Flat I can easily picture. Which for most fixed rate clients is resulting in them renewing into lower rates than they took back in 2010, 2011, and likely 2012. All is good.
2. If you are interested in what becoming a Broker is all about I would be happy to mail the first 5 people that respond with a ‘Yes Please’ and their mailing address a copy of Be The Better Broker – Volume 1.
Thank you.
Dustan