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We are on a quest to transform the mortgage industry.
We believe there needs to be more transparency, which is one reason why we decided to share a monthly report on what we have learned, what worked and what didn’t, and what’s next in our plans to grow a Billion Dollar Brokerage.
We hope you find a few useful ideas and tidbits to help you in growing your mortgage business.
Welcome to March 2024
Brokerage Stats
Production since August 1, 2021
Volume: $1,317,457,096
Files funded: 3,046
February Production
Volume: $71,027,974
Files funded: 172
February Agent Stats
Rookies: 125 (+4)
Pros: 131 (+11)
Total: 256 (+15)
I decided to compare Q1 of 2024 with Q1 of 2023. We are up by approximately 227% over last year, in volume and files.
Also, February marks a milestone for us at BRX. It is the first time we have more Pro agents than Rookie agents.
We are still fully committed to having the best training and support for our rookies, and to turning them into rockstars.
However, I believe this shift in Pros versus Rookies is due to more experienced agents finding out about BRX, and reaching out to join our movement.
Your Business, Your Choice When It Comes To Technology
I have asked a few of the brokers who joined us recently, “Why did you join BRX?”
A common theme that has emerged is that they felt they were being forced to use a particular submission platform for their business.
In some cases, they were being charged a fee for not using the brokerages’ preferred platform.
The brokers who have been joining us told me they appreciated that we were “platform agnostic.”
The last time I checked, the vast majority of brokers are independent contractors, who are responsible for paying for their own internet, phone, and lead generation, plus all other costs associated with running their business.
I have always felt that forcing a broker to use a particular tech stack was a lot like choosing their significant other for them.
How should I know what your type is? And why should I penalize you if your type differs from mine?
I believe that a submission platform, just like a significant other, is a very individual choice, which is why we allow our agents to use any submission platform that works best for their business.
We have agents on all four of the major submission platforms.
We do require all files to be housed in Finmo,* for compliance review and storage.
As a virtual brokerage, we prioritize efficient operations, and using a single platform for compliance increases that efficiency.
As a side note, we pay our agents twice a week, which is only possible because we simplified our compliance process.
It’s your business. The technology you want to use should be your choice.
At BRX, our goal is to create the most agent-centric brokerage in the country, and having a platform-agnostic policy is part of that creation.
The best tech stack is the one you use.
End of story.
*Full disclosure: I currently have a sponsorship agreement with Lendesk, the owners of Finmo.
However, I reviewed all the platforms prior to signing with Finmo, and I liked it the best. We needed a platform that was easy to learn and use, as we trained the next generation of rockstar mortgage agents.
I wholeheartedly admit there is no perfect platform. They all have their pros and cons, including Finmo.
The same could be said of significant others, BTW.
Who Really Won That Award?
On April 21, 1980, Rosie Ruez broke the women’s record for the Boston Marathon and hardly broke a sweat.
The world was stunned.
However, eight days later, race officials stripped her of her medal, having learned that Rosie entered the race about a half mile from the finish line.
Her strategy was not to run the entire race but to simply show up at the finish line and get the credit.
As odd as that story is, this happens all the time in the mortgage industry.
I see team leads and broker owners who accept awards for their production, yet they may have done only a small percentage of the volume.
The bulk of the volume was produced by their agents, who used them as a submission agent.
I believe this is just another example of the lack of transparency in the mortgage industry.
At BRX, we believe in celebrating our agents' individual achievements.
In fact, we not only give awards but also stock options to our top producers, since they are directly responsible for helping make the company more valuable.
If you get an award for production that others helped you achieve, I suggest that you make sure to thank them, and celebrate their role in the achievement.
Don’t be a Rosie Ruez.
Mindset Coaching – The Missing Link in Training
One of the rare series that I got hooked on a few years ago was Billions.
It was the story of Bobby Axel, a hedge-fund manager who made boatloads of money with some very questionable tactics.
It wasn’t always insider trading, but they seemed to always look for an information advantage before plowing a bunch of money into an investment. I don’t recommend this as an investment tactic, but I digress.
For me, one of the highlights of the series was a psychologist who effectively acted like a mindset coach for the traders, who were under a tremendous amount of pressure in that environment.
When we launched our Rookie to Rockstar program, I knew that getting the tactics, training, and support right was just part of the equation.
To help more of our rookies succeed, I knew we needed mindset coaching.
This is why we hold a weekly mindset call for all our agents, and why we have one-on-one mindset coaching for our new rookies.
Starting a new mortgage business is hard. Really hard. And sometimes, the biggest obstacle comes from those six inches between our ears.
Even the most amazing people can fail to reach their full potential because of a mindset block.
It could be fear of failure, fear of rejection, or even fear of success that is holding someone back (to name a few blocks).
No matter how good the training or tactics, if a new broker won’t take action because of a mindset block, they are not likely to succeed in this business.
Which is a real shame—for them, and their family.
We have always had internal staff to help with the one-on-one calls. However, we recently decided to hire some of our most successful rookie grads to do one-on-one mindset calls with our new rookies.
This has been amazingly successful, for two reasons.
First, the new rookies can’t say, “This stuff doesn’t work,” because their mindset coach has recently gone through the exact same program, and has built a successful mortgage business, using the plan.
Second, it makes success more tangible for our new rookies, because they are being coached by someone who is just a little further ahead of them, and is thriving.
It can be hard to relate to someone like Alex McFayden, who is funding hundreds of files a year, when you are struggling to find your first 10 files.
We are so grateful to have three amazing mindset coaches in our Rookie to Rockstar program—Ashley, Jordan, and Lori—who can help our agents overcome the inevitable blocks that come with starting anything new.
I personally have had some of my biggest breakthroughs, in my life and business, by receiving mindset coaching from people who were just a little further down the road than me.
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