Freedom From Versus Freedom To

As mortgage professionals, we often talk about all of the things we wish we could let go of.  This is actually a huge differentiator and a large component of what our Aspire team is doing differently to support our top mortgage professionals.

Freedom From: Think about all of the things you want more freedom from.  As a commissioned mortgage advisor, these things tend to relate to nearly every part of the loan process AFTER the client says “yes”.  Packaging the file up, chasing down conditions, tracking the market for when to lock in the rate, talking to underwriters, analyzing income, organizing a database, and on and on.  In reality, after coaching mortgage professionals for years, the list of what they’d like freedom FROM is fairly the same for most.

But few take the time to ask the question: “If I actually achieve the freedom from all of these things that, while necessary, I don’t personally enjoy, what will I then do with my new found time?”

Freedom To:  And this is what I mean when I use the phrase “freedom TO”.  If those other items were actually removed from your day and week, what would you do with the time?  When I ask this of my mortgage advisors, the most common answers are the activities they actually have a passion for which mostly include meeting with clients, giving valuable advice, and building relationships with real estate and financial professionals.  For some, once their mind is opened up, they begin to realize their passion for speaking and coaching others, or perhaps writing.  They imagine the joy of building a top-notch team, or managing other loan officers striving to grow their business.

Go a step further.  If you had freedom from, what would you have the freedom TO do outside of work?  What about coaching your children’s team, or being home when they get off the bus?  What about surprising your spouse for an impromptu lunch date, or breaking up your day with a good workout?

The point I’m trying to make is this:  if you track your time, you will find that most of it is being spent on the activities you do not have a passion for, and quite frankly, others could do better and faster than you. 

So why do you still do these things?  You can use the over-used excuse, “I’m a control freak”.  But if I can venture a guess, from my experience, it is because you aren’t in an environment that either fosters this, or you don’t have a leader around you to coach and support you on how to effectively let go of the majority of the activities that you don’t enjoy and that don’t make you, or your team, money.

Imagine spending 80% of your week on the parts of the business you love?  How much more business would you have?  How much happier would you be at the end of each week?  How many team members could you provide a career path to?  What would it be like to design a business that you’d never want to retire from?  Imagine the impact you could have on others, when applying your passions and unique abilities to more of your day, every day?

This is the essence of The Aspire Way™ at Sierra Pacific Mortgage Company, Inc.  This is what I have spent thousands of hours figuring out how to help others accomplish:  “Freedom from…” all of the activities that get in the way of their happiness so that they can finally, after years of doing it the hard way, have “freedom to…” do what they love.  When will you start?  Need help?