Dear Loan Officer: Why It’s Important to Take Time Off (Even in COVID-19 Times)

(This is a repost from March 7, 2017)

I’m about to tell you something that will radically transform how you think. In fact, for some of you, it may change everything about how you run your business and life.

When I tell you this new way of thinking, I am betting you will react in one of two ways:

Scoff in disbelief, and convince yourself that it’s just not possible to operate in that way. You’ll probably even say, “Trevor doesn’t know my business…it’s different for me.”
Breathe the biggest sigh of relief, feel a tinge of excitement, and think, “Finally, someone is going to save me from quitting this business!”

Are you ready? Here goes:

Taking time off is not a reward for working hard; time off is a requirement for you to be at your peak for your customers and team when you come to work.
Read it again. I imagine that for some of you, this way of thinking about time off just hit you like a ton of bricks. You get it. You may not know what to do with it yet, but you love it and want to adopt this new mindset.

Others are reading it and still scratching your head. That’s ok. We’ll get there together.

Let’s take a quick trip back in time. When you first got into this business as a commission-only Mortgage Loan Originator, a couple of things were extremely appealing to you:

-Unlimited income potential
-Nobody telling you when to be at the office

Whether you’ve been in the business two years, or twenty years, take a quick assessment of your current career so far. Are you earning the income you imagined possible when you first were starting out? It’s possible you are. Some people simply didn’t realize the potential that exists as an MLO, so your goals may not have been big enough. Here’s another way of asking yourself this question: Are you earning as much as you could be? Are you capable of earning much, much more?

Second, how are you enjoying the time component you were so excited about when you took the entrepreneurial leap into this commission-only world? When coaching loan officers, I often will say,

“Nobody tells you when to be at the office, but there’s also nobody telling you when to go unplug!” The reality is, I have no way of knowing how you answered the above questions for yourself. In fact, your answers might be different today than two years ago and may be different 5 years from now. But I do know, after two decades of being in this field that the average income for commission MLOs is low (relative to what is possible) and that an insane percentage of MLOs work more than 40 hours per week. In fact, when I take surveys at workshops I facilitate, 80%-90% of hands are raised when I ask who works more than 40 hours per week. Many hands continue to stay up as I move up to 50 hours, and even 60. In fact, it saddens me when there’s still some hands in the air expressing they work at least 70 hours per week.

For most, these hours include far more than just typical time in the office. They include the weekend calls for pre-approval letters, or working late to “meet” with a new homebuyer to map out a plan.

It’s up to you to transform how you view time off. Re-read the statement above. You must rejuvenate (Even in COVID-19 times) regularly to be of maximum value to others and be at your peak state in creatively solving problems.

I wish you all the best!