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Imagine the terrifying thought that your mortgage business disappeared tomorrow?
Maybe the death was caused by some wild regulation or perhaps a new technology, but whatever the cause, being a mortgage broker was no longer a profitable career.
I suspect that, like most of us, you would be stressing out. (I know I would be!)
I believe the mortgage business is here to stay—heck, I started a Mortgage Brokerage in 2021.
However, I think it is helpful to plan for the worst possible scenario while hoping for the best.
Let me share a story about a friend of mine who was in a profitable industry that was wiped out by a new technology, and how it was the best thing that ever happened to him.
I had a mortgage client, whom I’ll call Tom, who was a door-to-door encyclopedia salesman.
Now, Tom happened to be really good at it. He believed in the product, loved helping people, and made great money.
Everything was going great for Tom until something unexpected came out of nowhere and ended up wiping out his entire industry.
In the stock market, they call this a “black swan event,” which is basically when something rare and unexpected happens that has serious consequences.
Tom’s black swan event was not the Internet, as you may have expected, as it occurred back in 1996. The technology that killed his business was the CD-ROM. (Think DVD for computers.)
Now, Tom did not wallow in self pity and think, “Woe is me.” Instead, he asked himself what he could do with the two most valuable things he still had.
Tom realized that he had two advantages—great sales skills and a large network of people who trusted him.
He decided to start working with a direct-selling supplement company called Melaleuca.
After only eight years of hard work building his Melaleuca business, Tom built a passive income of $30,000 to $40,000 USD per month!
Tom told me that the death of the encyclopedia business was the best thing that ever happened to him.
As I have mentioned, I am very bullish on the mortgage industry—I am all in. However, I am not naive, thinking that nothing could disrupt our industry. A black swan event is unpredictable and could always happen. After listening to Tom, I decided to follow in his footsteps. I knew that, no matter what happens, if I am growing my skills and my network, I will always find the next opportunity.
One of the best decisions I ever made was to start the I Love Mortgage Brokering podcast in July of 2014. It has helped me grow a massive network of some of the most interesting and connected people in the mortgage industry.
The podcast also forced me to learn a lot of new skills. If you listen to my first episode with my mortgage idol, Peter Majthenyi, you can hear my voice crack like a nervous teenager when I am talking to him. 😨
I love the mortgage industry, and hope to be doing this for years to come. However, I also know that life is unpredictable, which is why I believe in continuing to develop my own skills and my network.
In fact, I recently paid a podcast coach $10,000 to help me improve my podcast. Even though I have been podcasting for over nine years, I knew I needed a fresh set of eyes in order for me to level up.
If you want one last reason to continue to build your skills and your network, think of this. If that black swan event never comes along, you will have built a mortgage business that is insanely hard to compete with.
If you are building your skills and your network, you win, no matter what happens. 🙂
PS If you want to start a podcast, and want to use the team I use, check this out.
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