What truly motivates you? Is it the same as when you first started your professional journey? I can honestly say for me, the differences are fairly dramatic. It’s interesting and somewhat beneficial I believe, to reflect on what drove you in the beginning and what drives you now and into your future.

Now, I’ve already shared a synopsis of how and why I got into the real estate and, more specifically, the mortgage industry, but in case you missed it, you can find my story HERE. If I look back even further, I believe what drove me had to do with how I was raised. My family placed a great deal of importance on higher education and while I did obtain my associates degree, I never went on to finish out my bachelor’s degree, which I always felt was a black spot on my family as it carried with it heavy disappointment. Bear in mind, when I started on my educational path, I was a psychology major that wanted to be a criminal profiler, but quickly discovered I was incredibly impacted by those around me, so that line of work seemed particularly dangerous for my own mental health. As a result I diverted paths, took the somewhat cliché “break” and the passion for traditional school simply fizzled a bit. During that time, I also found my financial career (and am grateful that I did even though it has often brought me to tears).

While higher education was always important (my father holds several masters degrees and at 40 went onto enter and graduate from medical school, and my mother graduated with honors when she went back to college as an adult to obtain her bachelor’s, so you can see why this was a somewhat heavy weight on my mind – who wants to disappoint their parents?), another element was always present in my household while growing up. That was the presence of bringing something bigger to others, something that would help them improve their lives – how that would play a part in who I have become I did not realize until very recently.

As many who entered this business, money was the primary focus and only second to that was my desire to climb the corporate ladder. I saw how my father, throughout his extensive military career, climbed the ladder and found his rank constantly increasing due to the merits of what he brought to his work, regardless of how intricate the assignment. I also saw the work that my parents put into everything they did, so of course I had the prototypical philosophy of “work hard, get promoted, and the money will follow”.

Now as I take a step in a different direction, I find my motivations are completely different. Sure, I could shoot for another job with a mortgage company, I certainly have the qualifications and continued interest in learning that would allow me to perform well for an organization, should they choose to allow me to join their team, but I have found something missing in my last few jobs. Not the money, nor the title, but the ability to help everyone – all at once. Of course, I was fortunate enough to be in positions where I could help many throughout my organization, but what about beyond that? How can I be employed by one company and help others at other organizations as well? I found that in order to do that, I had to admit two things:

1.     I was forced to reflect on what my true motivators are at this point in my life – and

2.     I had to think outside the box and take a personal risk – i.e., I had to start my own consulting business, even if that meant a scary time of growth which included building something from the ground up and loss of all income for a time, in order to truly help others.

What is my goal exactly, you may be asking – here it is. Simply put, I want to effect a major change on the mortgage industry, even a disruption to use a popular turn of phrase, to help refine operational processes, risks, etc., thus increasing earnings and reducing loss. This work has obvious benefits, but the not so obvious benefit is to reduce the number of layoffs that are seen when the market shifts. This last go around has been enough for me to see that my financial comfort is not all that matters and that the skills I have built over 20 years may in fact benefit many individuals, teams, and companies. Could this sound arrogant – perhaps, but it is not intended to “toot my own horn” as they say. The point of sharing my larger vision with our LinkedIn community is that growth is not simply increasing your paycheck or improving your title with added responsibilities, or perks; sometimes it’s a complete mind shift that allows learning and service to be at the forefront of what you do for a living – a way to give back.

I plan on continuing to learn as much as I can as fast as a I can – I suppose the student in me never really left, even though the degree that was so coveted when I was younger disappeared – but now I want to make sure that what I learn or already know, benefits as many people as possible. They were right – sometimes, “it’s not all about me”.