Its Wednesday, January 13th 7:30 am and I am sitting in my office in Phoenix. I’ve just returned from Atlanta, GA after a 3-day event called Mortgage Revolution. I have hundreds of emails to return, many voicemails and I’m putting on a 3-hour seminar this afternoon to 35 Real Estate professionals, which I desperately should be preparing for. There are many things I should be doing to get ready for my day; however, this day is different. This is the day that will change the way I do business forever. I’m going to tell you why Mortgage Revolution changed my life.
I’ve been to all the other seminars before this event and watched some really great speakers, but none of those seminars had quite the impact as Mortgage Revolution has. Let me take you back and tell you about my experience.
Originally, I was going to attend the event with a long-time friend. He was unable to make the trip right at the last minute, so I was left traveling alone. I arrived in Atlanta early on Saturday night. I had received an email from Mark Green, inviting me to watch football or network with my colleagues at the Waverly Bar earlier that day with Mark’s phone number. Although I had never met Mark, I decided to meet up with him and a few other guys and catch the Dallas/Phillie game. The guys immediately welcomed me to join them and bought me a beer. After getting to know a few people, we left and went to the Waverly Bar. Upon arriving at the bar, I was immediately introduced to Mark Madsen, Dave Savage, Bob Rutledge, Rene Rodriguez, Derek Edeberg, Brian Larrabee, Chris Brown, Dustin Hughes, and many other well-known individuals in the mortgage industry. Right away, I knew this event was going to be something special.
The speakers that came to this event didn’t get paid to share their ideas. They didn’t get free airline tickets, free dinners and a hotel room. They were there on their own dime, just like me and every other attendee. They were there for their dedication to the industry promoting change. In fact, the organizers Mark Madsen, Brian Larrabee and Mark Green actually paid to be at this event as well. This event wasn’t about selling products and services. This event, Mortgage Revolution, was about giving back to our industry, our referral partners and our community. This event was developed to bring street level originators together for the purpose of education, networking, and change. All the money that was made as a result of this event is being donated to 3 charities.
The next day, I went to the conference and watched Ric Edelman, Rene Rodriguez, and Dave Savage tear it up on stage. By the end of the first session, I already had so much information; I could have left the seminar without any more information and still could not implement everything. Once lunch came I had no plans so I headed down to the sports bar and was invited by some other loan officers I had never met to join them for lunch. I had done a conference call with Dave Savage a few weeks prior to the event and one of the people in front of me recognized my name from the call. His name was John Fortener from Home Savings of America. During lunch, we all shared our thoughts about why we were attending the event, our marketplace challenges etc. This turned out to be one of the best lunches I have ever had with a group of like-minded people in our industry.
Later that night, I decided to head back to the Waverly Bar to do some more networking. That night I met up with Dustin Hughes again and started talking. Dustin and I became friends on Facebook a few months back. I had heard of Dustin through Loan Toolbox and knew he was an intense, passionate guy. He was with some other loan officers and we shared some business ideas. Dustin also shared a story with us about how he had approached a successful Realtor in his market. Dustin shared with us the events of his initial meeting, which fostered a relationship with a top producing Realtor. Rather than tell this agent the same thing she’s heard before about products, rates and services, Dustin took a different approach. He took us back to the meeting in her conference room. They both sat at the head of the table to show signs of strength. He acted as if he had nothing to lose and she had everything to gain. He professionally let her know he wasn’t going to beg for business. He was there to show how he was a professional and the reasons they should work together. It was a great take-away.
The next day was filled with great speakers once again. After an all day event of taking notes, I returned to my hotel room about 5 pm and headed back to the event at 6:30 pm. This time it was all about sharing with a smaller group. A group of individuals who were there not to just party but to dominate the world, in Mark Madsen’s words. We were a group of 50-60 people. We were all hungry to learn more information and give more to others. We listened as Mark Madsen showed us how he’s using blogging in his market. Jason Klaskin (jkmortgage) took charge of the meeting and then we shared our own story. Each person in the room was given the microphone and allowed 30 seconds to share two things; one thing they do better than anyone on their marketplace and/or what the one thing they were most proud of in 2009. There were many awesome stories. The ThinkBigWorkSmall guys were there and talked about adversity they’ve encountered. Another story was how someone has been able to use Facebook to become the most well-known Loan Officer in their marketplace with spending very little money. In my own words, it was the pinnacle of the event.
To go full circle on my feelings about Mortgage Revolution, this didn’t change my life because I sat in a chair and learned two good ideas. This changed my life because I have built life-long friendships with some of the most respected individuals in this industry. If you haven’t heard of some of these guys, I can assure you over the next 5 years they will be the biggest individuals in our industry. They are changing the game. They are the “Dream Team” of the mortgage industry. They are here to do what others said can’t be done. If you feel like you missed out….. you did. The good news is that Mortgage Revolution isn’t done. It’s going to be localized in areas across the nation. I’ve already heard about a San Francisco event in April. If you’re interested in that event you should email me. I’m making a plan for myself in the future and I am committed to changing this industry. Roberto Monaco said, “Either have a plan for yourself or you’ll follow someone else’s plan.”
