I was introduced to a form of Neuroscience-Based Executive Coaching & Leadership Development that not only helped me become one of the most successful mortgage bankers in the country (running a branch funding in excess of $500 million in residential home loans per year and lifetime personal fundings of nearly $1 billion), but also helped me go from 70 to 35-hour work weeks while being MORE productive than ever before.
“Prospecting is the job. I need to be touching those people, delivering something of value.” - Scott Hoolahan
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I know I say this quite a bit but I've got a great guest in this episode. He is someone that I'm excited to have on the show. He is someone that I've known for many years. I have done a lot of journeying with this guy and I'm excited to get him into our program and have some of his thoughts and insights shared with you. Mr. Scott Hoolahan, welcome to the show.
Steve and team, thanks for having me.
We're grateful to have you on, Scott. We are in the middle of a series that we are calling the What If We series, WIW. This series is all about the fact that so many people in business, particularly in financial services, mortgage, and real estate, it's a tough time. We've seen some crazy things happening post-pandemic and there are all these difficulties but as we read the news and get all this stuff, there are some realities to what's going on.
However, the truth of the matter is, if we're to navigate through this with excellence, we need to deploy some level of creativity. We need creativity. Anxiety, fear, and worry don't coexist with creativity very well. I thought about bringing some people on that I could get creative with and ask you some questions about where you think we could go and what you think we can do so that's where we're going to go. Is that cool with you?
It sounds like a plan.
Before we do that, I do think it's fair to ask you if you wouldn't mind giving us the thumbnail, Reader's Digest of Scott Hoolahan. Who are you? What have you done in business? What brought you to where you are now? Go.
Steve, I'm a Southern California native. I was born and raised outside of Los Angeles. I am almost an empty nester. I've got a kid trying to figure out what her calling and her direction in life are. I just graduated my youngest from high school. He's getting ready to start adulting. For the last few years, I've been blessed to share my life, my spare time, and my free time with a woman with whom I got engaged.
I found somebody that likes football as much as I do. She's probably more of a fan addict than I am when it comes to her Chargers. That's a little bit of an issue because I'm a lifetime Raiders fan. We're a house divided but I asked for her hand in marriage at halftime during a Chargers-Raiders game in Las Vegas. I've been asked a couple of times to write a bio and it's always strange to me to start that out by saying, “I've been in the financial services industry for many years,” which blows my mind because I was always prideful of being the youngest and most unseasoned guy in the room.
With that, I've got a lot of experiences to draw on. I've done everything from knocking on doors and dialing for dollars to collecting car payments and repossessing cars. I spent a bit of time in the training world before I got into the mortgage business. I lived in Detroit. I worked on staff for General Motors University doing several different training modules and got certified to do all that stuff.
It all played well into what has been my calling and that's been to be a leader and a manager of managers. I've spent the better part of my mortgage career since I made that deep dive into the mortgage business with GMAC Mortgage back in 1998. I have done everything from doing loans to managing one office, one person, multiple people, multiple offices, and multiple states. I have nothing but gratitude for all the different roles that I've had.
Doing a number of different training modules and getting certified plays really well into your calling.
I've been lucky enough to travel and meet a lot of people in one of those roles. I ended up in Colorado at a training event and got to meet you. It's been a good ride. I'm a Vice President, Regional Manager, or Area Manager. The title doesn't mean a lot at this very moment because I'm the manager of one and my goal and my mission with this move to Mason-McDuffie Mortgage were to build out a region, build offices, hire people and do things I've done in the past.
That comes on the heels of about a few years of taking a big step back to what I did at the very beginning of 1998. From ’99 to the 2000s is when I started writing mortgages and became a loan officer. In the last couple of years, I've gone back to the licensing piece and built a database. Also, doing all the things that I had been trying to mentor, teach and lead people to do. The pandemic and some personal family matters forced this opportunity as I see it to get back to the street.
The last two and a half years have been spent doing loans. I managed a small team. I can't help but recruit. It's what I do, whether I'm recruiting for my local rotary club or a mortgage company. I have that innate. I'd like to share what is working for me and when I identify somebody that's a fit, I can't help but want to share it with them.
That's worked well for me and my career. I've built several teams. I'm so very proud when I look around the industry and I can identify people that I've touched. They have gone on to do great things in the business or even some of those who have left the business and done great things. I like to think that I had some impact on that. That's where I am.
Thank you. That was fantastic. You reminded and triggered me to think about a saying that says, “Success in business and life consists not only in the pursuit of excellence but also in the humble willingness to start over.” I thought it was Dale Carnegie that said that but I can't seem to find and get it. I hear in you this humble willingness to start over and it was somebody who had said, “That's part of success.” I can't tell you, Scott, how many times people that I've worked with and coached go through seasons of life, and even this one that we're in, maybe we got to start over.
Maybe you got to start over as a reader. Where do you need to start over? I can be included in, Scott. I don't want to accuse others but there can be a sense of, “I got to go do that again.” It can feel tiring or exhausting. Sometimes, it’s humiliating and that quote reminds me that success is in the humble willingness to start over.
My coach would say that for him, it's a daily reminder that he's a beginner. It's not only an admission of that. It's an embracing of that. You don't get to start over. What if we get to? I heard you use words like a blessing and this and that. You're not looking at it going, “Mason-McDuffie, I got to do this again.” It’s like, “I get to go do this again.” You get to go do it again.
For the record, I don't care if you're 30, 40, 50, or 60. I've been working with enough people and it's cool when you get people who are in their 50s and 60s to go, “Where can I get to go start over? What do I get to start over?” I hear that in you and it's a cool thing. Thank you for all of that. Scott, I want to dive in because you've been around this industry, in financial services, for decades. You've seen a lot. You've seen ups and downs. Nobody gets into financial services or has much to do with the business that doesn't go up and down.
People want to treat this particular one like there's a certain confluence of things that are going on that might feel unique. It could certainly be perceived as a downtime but I heard you say this is an opportune time. I want to know, what are some of the positive things that you can think to do? If we were brainstorming and your daughter who's trying to figure out what she wants to do, calls you and goes, “Dad, I want to get into a mortgage and real estate,” where you see the season, let's come up with 1, 2 or 3 things. What's the first thing that you can think of when you would say, “Here's the opportunity now?” How would you have our readers capitalize on an opportunity? What do you get for us?
I gave this some thought coming in and it was pretty easy for me because I'm doing it. What I'm going to talk about are not things that I'm going to pull out of a notebook and say, “You should try this. I saw or I heard,” but I'm going to share with you things that I'm doing. The very first one I need to give credit where credit is due. I sat down with a local loan officer, a branch manager, and a gentleman whom I've known for a few decades. We went to high school together and he's got a very successful business in the mortgage business.
We sat down and he said to me, “Do you know what I'm doing?” I thought this was something that I took note of and action on it because I thought, “This guy has so much going on. He's got so much business and in this market, he's doing this. I'm going to follow suit.” Go through your entire database, pull up a property profile, and get together with your local title rep. Put together a letter, a quick paragraph that says why you're doing this. You're trying to be of service and be of value.
In short, that letter reconnects you with your past clients and tells them that you're doing this because the market has changed. You've probably seen a lot of appreciation. This thing called identity theft that has ruined people's lives is being used to take people's homes or somehow fraudulently use that equity or home to do something bad. You should be aware of it. You should look at it.
I put this letter together real quick and started doing that. Number one, it's given me an insight into my database, “How loyal are my past customers, my friends, my family, and the people that know, like, and trust me?” I'm pulling up some and they refinanced. It wasn't with me. They moved. They don't even own that property anymore. I don't know what's going on with them.
It's given me an opportunity to pick up the phone and figure out what I'm going to do with that person, that contact. Am I going to keep them in the database? Am I going to reach out to them? Am I going to send them maybe a simple announcement card? In my case, I made a move. In somebody else's case, it could be a simple touch for whatever relevancy that might have but then everybody else, I'm packaging up these property profiles with a letter, my card and I'm sending it off. There's a lot of work that goes into that but at this moment, prospecting is the job.
Prospecting is the job.
I need to be touching those people and delivering something of value. I'm about halfway through. I can tell you already that I've gotten phone calls, emails, and texts. “I got your package. Thank you for that. That was great.” “I've got a question, Scotty. I got your package.” I am halfway through the process and I have, at least, two applications. I've had several conversations and feedback of a positive nature.
I feel like my database is going to be more valuable when I'm done because I'm going to have discovered some things about my database and how loyal they are. For those that didn't refinance with me, it was my bad. I'm getting in front of them and reminding them that I'm here. I'm doing something of value. I'm tightening up that gold mine of future business by connecting with it.
There's so much gold there and it's so funny. I'm looking down at our time together and I'm going, “I don't mean to rush through this and go, ‘What are your other 2 or 3 things,’” because I feel like I've got 25 questions for you about that. There’s one thing that you said that jumps out at me and maybe you didn't say it, Scott. I wonder how many people hear that and hear the gold of your database.
I wonder how many people also hear that and say, “You can only capture that gold if you go out of your way.” Number one, you have to do the work. That's not easy. There's actual work in that but number two, it's also about being thoughtful about what are you bringing to the table that's valuable to them.
Your little passing comment about identity theft wasn’t even something that's saying, “I wanted to add genuine value. I care about that.” Three, I wonder what kind of ego it takes. When I talk about ego, I mean it in a good way. What kind of ego strengths does it take to humbly know that we haven't done this as well as we could have and I'm still going to reach out to people? I wonder how many people don't do this because when they think about it and they think of their database, they go, “Pass,” because that's going to make me feel bad.
What I heard from you is it's teaching you and yes, you could feel bad but so many people, Scott probably won't do this because of the cognitive dissonance that exists by feeling bad about, “Did you not do it? Did they go somewhere else,” and here you are going, “I can learn from that.” Do I have that right?
Yes.
It's an unbelievable one. I appreciate the tangibility of it all as well. Number two, what else have you got? I don't mean to brush that one by. I want to keep getting the gold. What else?
There are some things that we could go deep on there so I appreciate that. Number 2 and number 3 are probably in alignment but the 1st thing is networking and prospecting. A lot of things that I share, I'm going to tell you right up that I've ripped them off from somebody else because I've been in enough training and environments where people have shared with me things that have resonated and the ones that stick, I share.
I walked into this real estate office that had this massive mural on the wall that said, “Prospecting is the job.” I've already said it once. I'm going to say it again. It applies to us. Prospecting is the job. Taking applications and closing loans is another part of the job but that doesn't happen if you're not prospecting. Prospecting and networking go hand in hand.
If you've got and go find these groups, there are several professional networking groups. BNI is the one that I'm a member of and there are several others out there. I will tell you that I was not a believer a few years ago. I reluctantly went to my first meeting. I was invited by my CPA and it was like, “I don't know.” I'm here to tell you, a few years later, you are going to have to pay me handsomely for my seat.
For those of you that don't know what a professional networking group is, I'll tell you. In short, you pay to play and there's only one person that does your job and is representing your business channel in that group of professionals every week. There is structure to it. This is not being a member of your chamber of commerce or your local building industry association. Those are nice and they're good networking opportunities but you pay to play and everybody else in the room is in that same mode.
Steve, it's been the best return on investment of my time and money ever. I had the benefit and luxury of getting into a group that was starting. There was no real estate agent at the table. If you get this opportunity, it's the golden buzzer. I was able to walk out and I'm able to look and go identify a real estate agent that I know, like and trust and bring them to the table. The guy that I did that with, after his first meeting said to me, “Scotty, I can't thank you enough for bringing me. You, me and the auto insurance and property casualty insurance guy in the room are the apex predators in this group. Everybody needs us.”
There might be a physical therapist in the room, an air conditioning guy, or an autobody guy. You may or may not need them. If you drive a car in LA, you probably at some point are going to need the auto mechanic guy but there's somebody that owns a home, selling a home, everybody in the group. For me particularly, especially going through the last couple of years with interest rates, it was a no-brainer. Start networking and find those professional groups like BNI. You can find them in your area. You might need to reach out to a BNI regional director and say, “I want to start my own because my area has one that's been here for many years.”
The mortgage guy in those groups like myself is probably not giving up their seat. You are talking about a $700 all-in investment up front. Go find those groups or start a group. If you're the person that starts it, then you get to identify all those other people to come in and you go after people that you don't get business from. Go find that insurance agent, CPA, or real estate agent that you want to get business from and you create business for them. It is the golden ticket.
Number three right there with it is networking. Steve, you and I have talked about this. A big part of my life is I try to live this motto of service before self. The organization in almost every town and place in America that represents that is Rotary International. It’s a little bit different from professional networking groups. This is a group where you're going there with the intent to be of service and that's to your community, fellow community people, and those in need but here's the deal.
That group of people that have identified with service before self is ingrained in your community. Some of them hold leadership roles in local government and local charities. You're getting to network with them. Over time, when that group of people identifies you as someone who is like them in terms of service before self, they can't help but find out what you're doing. They learn more about you and the next thing you know, you are getting referrals from that group of people.
The group of people that have identified with service before self are ingrained in your community and some of them hold leadership roles in local government and local charities. Network with them.
Some of these groups are big. Unlike a professional networking group where you might walk in, if you're starting it from scratch or you walk into one that's 10, 12, 20 people deep, you might join a rotary club that has 60 plus members in day 1 and 90% of those people are established. They are business owners and community leaders. They all share that common virtue of putting others before themselves. You work that networking and prospecting, go find the rotary, be of service and sign up. Be a member.
These are fantastic. I love the tangibility of them. You didn't speak in theoretics. You gave us three tangible ways. You inferred the fact that it's been out there. Maybe you didn't feel it was that creative and it is. We're missing some of these opportunities to connect like this. For the record, Scott, that service-before-self thing is super noble and good. That can only be good for people. Thank you. How fast did that go for you? That's crazy. We're getting to the end of our time.
I'm going through this, Scott. There's one thing that I want to point out to the group of people. You could feel this in Scott's overall posture. You didn't list it out as one of your three but Scott, one of the things that we do in coaching is to listen for energy. When you're talking about Rotary, these business support groups, BNI and even your database, I want to ask you as a reader. Did you feel Scott's energy? It's crazy.
As a coach, I would so capitalize on that because that's what we need. It seems like Scott is to go, “What am I doing to serve other people? How am I prospecting, getting excited about that and putting the energy there?” Guess where we're not putting our energy? Into the negativity and some of the challenging things. This is not about denying reality. We are in a challenging time, Scott. This is a challenge and yet, these are positive things that we can be doing.
Scott, I am grateful. I loved that what you brought to the table were three things that aren't from the annals of history and in books. It is stuff you're doing. I'm super grateful for that. Folks, go into your database knowing that there's gold there adding value to people. I love the doing-it part. I can't tell you how many people agree with that like, “Yes, amen,” and they still don't go do it. It’s the actual of getting that done, the networking and what you're doing with Rotary, which was a combination. It's still networking but I felt this altruistic thing of service before self.
I had a John Lennon moment. I was like, “Imagine a world where people were involved at least in some part of their world of service before self.” You've given me some great thoughts and tips there so I plan on going and spending some time thinking about that. Also, asking where I can do that more too. Thank you for your time and thoughts. Was there anything that I didn't ask you that you hoped I would?
No. I'm super grateful and humbled to have this opportunity. Steve, you know this. I don't have to tell you. You are at the top of my list in terms of human beings I love and respect. I'm grateful to have this opportunity. I hope I brought something to the table that somebody can do something with.
You not only brought it to the table. You set the table and made us dinner. Scott, thank you very much. As we say all the time here in the show, as you're learning from that, it doesn't matter as much what Scott's insights were or what my insights were. What matters is what yours are. What insights did this draw for you? Scott, thank you very much. We'll see you next time here at the show.