PULLING TOGETHER Business People Watching Each Other’s Back
	OCTOBER 2004

by Eileen Erickson

Barbara Streisand said in a recent interview that when she read the lyrics of the song that would become her greatest hit for the first time, she looked at the first line and asked her agent, “Shouldn’t the words be ‘People who don’t need people are the luckiest people in the world?’”

Barbara laughs at herself when she tells that story. She says that she learned long ago how absolutely true the message of the song is.

I think all successful and happy people live lives that are deeply interconnected with others. My occupation as a mortgage broker certainly has always cross-connected with the lives of other people in many ways.

The importance of connections was dramatically illustrated right at the beginning of my professional life because fourteen years ago I was a single mom and in real need of a steady source of income. Some people in my church, who knew about my need, also knew of a property appraiser who was looking for an assistant. They put me in touch with him and I took my first steps on the bottom rungs of the ladder of my new career.

Reaching out to Connect with the Industry
That job provided a good introduction to the business, since it forced me to work with a lot of mortgage companies and helped me develop good relationships with people in the mainstream of the business.

There was a short break during which I moved to Aptos and worked briefly as a client service rep for a local cable company. A remarkable thing happened to me while I was in that position. One of my clients was so impressed with my work and with my attitude that, right out of the blue, she offered me a position as manager of her mortgage and loan business. I went to work for her, became a loan processor, and through that position really began to learn the ins-and-outs of the business.

After a few years in that job I got my real estate license and “hung out a shingle” for my own company. As is typical for owners of new businesses, the first years were pretty tough and my son and I ate a lot of red beans and rice. Ten years ago I moved back to Brentwood and for a year I conducted open house tours for local realtors, Ed & Heidi Calvin.

After meeting a lot of people and getting some experience under my belt, I went to work as a loan officer for Kempco Mortgage and really began to get into the swing of the East County real estate market.

Raylene & Howard Kemp provided inspiration for all of us. They gave us all a generous start towards independence. They understood about being successful by making others successful. They taught us the importance of developing relationships everywhere. Sometimes we laugh about this and say, “You don’t know who’s going to sign your paycheck next year.” But the principle goes much deeper than this. After a number of years the Kemps still remain close.

Three of us who had been loan officers from the old Kempco agency became partners in a mortgage company. One of my partners subsequently moved back to her home in Alabama and the other moved to Modesto, leaving me as sole proprietor of our now inappropriately named Trinity Mortgage Company.

My two partners should have stuck around, because the company really took off. I had a great time building the business. I have developed a good reputation because I try to make sure, as the first order of business, that I really meet clients’ needs.

Success Through Helping Others
Because of my deep belief in the importance of connections, I am strongly committed to our clients’ good. The most solid basis for success I can establish for my business is by careful interaction with clients, identifying with them their real goals, and connecting my resources with their needs.

I basically regard clients as members of my extended family. We return some of our income back to our clients. The company puts on barbeques and parties.

I’m a firm believer in taking care of clients before I take care of myself. If another company can provide better solutions than mine in a particular instance, I’m glad to refer one of my clients to them.

“What goes around comes around” is more than a mere slogan. In my opinion, it is a fundamental principle of the moral universe we live in.

My clients feel a sense of being connected to us, as well. For example, they sometimes actually give me presents. One client gave me a hand-made wall hanging. Another client gave me a hand-made mosaic table for my office.

An interesting story behind the design of that piece illustrates the connectedness I’m talking about. The tabletop displays a sandy beach and some palm trees. The artist said that she came up with the design in response to a question she asked of herself, “What do I think of when I think of Trinity Mortgage?”

The answer came, “When faced with a challenge of financing property, I feel like a person stranded on an island. The people at Trinity Mortgage come to rescue me.”

I’m in this business for the long run and am building connections to generations yet to come. I want to be handling mortgage challenges for our clients’ kids and grandkids.

I especially developed a really good relationship with other mortgage brokers from the old Kempco days — with Paul Kelly at Home One Mortgage Express, Lee Hancock at Sunset Mortgage, Jeff Olson at Olson Financial, and especially with Howard & Raylene Kemp themselves.

Even though all of us brokers who came out of the Kempco agency are in formal competition with each other, we have all remained close friends. There’s never been any animosity or backstabbing whatsoever. We share a collegial attitude and call each other for help whenever necessary. Each of us is generous with our knowledge of the business. We feel that there’s enough business to go around.

Some businessmen approach the marketplace as though they were sharks circling prey together with the other sharks. The other sharks are competitors and the “prey” in this view, of course, are the poor clients.

We don’t view ourselves as a bunch of sharks; we’re more like a school of dolphins. We “swim around” together, merrily helping ourselves as we help each another. That’s not usual in this industry, where competitors sometimes will cut each other off in public. “They’re the enemies,” is their attitude. There’s nothing like that among us. We root for each other’s success. We watch for each other’s backs. We don’t regard anyone else in the world as an enemy.

One of the ways I’m currently helping my colleagues, for example, is by passing on to others the things that I learn and discover in a coaching program I’m involved in. One of my fellow realtors recently wrote me a note: “Thank you for taking care of my clients and for always including me in your coaching program. I appreciate your kindness and willingness to help make my business prosper.”

Our local WCR group, among other things, has provided books for elementary school libraries. We conduct fundraisers, such as an annual fashion show, to provide education for realtors. Other fundraises include a Holiday Wreath Auction, and a Day at the Races. That last one is a lot of fun for some of us. We buy tickets, which provide for our bus ride, entrance to the racetrack, and lunch.

All of these activities are designed to provide resources to help realtors to build their professional skills.

I have a new partner, named Steve. I brought him into the company last year. I continue to handle the loans part of the business and Steve does almost everything else, including marketing, website development, and office management. Steve even works with the Women’s Council of Realtors by handling the reservations for all the functions.

Deliberately putting aside any dog-eat-dog attitude makes it more fun for me to come to work, I think. We don’t have to make a battleground out of our marketplace. It is satisfying to see my business grow as though it were becoming an ever-more-complete part of some beautiful organism. We’re all working together to support the wonderful growth going on in our East County. We all enjoy together the harvest from that growth.

I believe that everybody gains more through an attitude of cooperation than through competition. The swelling sense of collaboration becomes like a tide that is raising all the ships. It produces symbiosis — the outcomes of people working in cooperation becoming greater than the sum of the efforts of all the individuals involved.

I need other people in my life for me to help and who will, in turn, help me. Streisand’s song is right on the money, in my experience! The people around me are making me one of the lucky people in this world!