It's no easy feat – but priorities and clear focus are essential
For mortgage brokers, being able to take a step back from the gruelling nature of day-to-day business when life throws a curveball is often easier said than done.
Building a well-oiled machine that’s capable of functioning just as smoothly without the close attention of its driving force takes time and effort – and a recent panel discussion at the Canadian Mortgage Brokers Association – British Columbia (CMBA-BC) annual conference in Vancouver gathered brokers to discuss strategies for keeping things rolling even when an unforeseen event occurs.
Chaired by moderator Tony Spagnuolo (pictured top) of the Spagnuolo Professional Corporation, the panel featured four brokers who had seen their lives impacted by unexpected circumstances, and had to adjust their business accordingly.
Its purpose, Spagnuolo said, was to explore answers to a big question: “Whatever the issue is, if you want to get away… and not pay attention to your phone, can you? And if you can’t what can we help you to do to learn how to do that?”
For Jewels Ferris (pictured below), a Kelowna-based broker, the first step was understanding the importance of self-care and prioritizing health and wellness, even amid the intense challenge of building a multimillion-dollar business.
“What I had to do to get through [stress] was take care of myself,” she said. “I had to get to that place to realize what’s important – and number one is you have to take care of you first. Because if you’re not here or you’re not well, you’re no good to anybody else. And that seems like a simple concept, but I know for myself… it’s very easy to project that when we’re faced with the busyness of the challenges we have.”
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— Canadian Mortgage Professional Magazine (@CMPmagazine) April 24, 2024
Coping with a demanding and intense industry
The mortgage industry is a notoriously stressful one – and for Ferris, among the most valuable lessons of recent years has been learning to separate herself from it to a degree. “I took responsibility for everything that happened, and it’s not about you,” she said.
“You’ve got to be able to separate yourself from the situation. You can’t control external circumstances. You can’t control other people. The only thing that you can control is how you respond to that situation.”
When Rebecca Casey (pictured below) of Custom Coast Mortgages Inc. had to take a temporary step back from her own business, she realized the value of having a dedicated, competent and trustworthy team to rely on.
“The team that I have was incredible – the fit,” she said. “The ability to empower them to make decisions as if they were me in those moments was easy because we had always operated from a place of integrity and really doing what’s best for the client – even if that means losing a client.
“And so they didn’t have this pressure of ‘We need to hang onto every single deal’ because they knew that I was OK with whatever they needed to do to get through it.”
When it comes to potentially serious health-related matters, Casey also emphasized the importance of making sure business will and power of attorney arrangements are in place well before those situations arise.
The importance of understanding what really matters
Having a clear perspective of what’s truly important in life beyond the mortgage realm emerged as one of the most prominent takeaways from the session.
For Surrey-based broker Russell Morrison (pictured below), that made it all the easier to delegate to his team and trust that they could get the job done without him.
“I think with all of our business… we feel like we’re the only person who can get it done,” he said. “And I’m finally now letting go, saying to my team, ‘Just do it, guys. You’re more than capable. Get it done,’ just having trust and letting them go.
“Something could happen right now. Could I let go of my business? To a certain extent, yeah – and I’m going to keep going with that.”
Christine Buemann (pictured below) of The Collective Mortgage Group doubled down on the importance of being able to step away – both physically and emotionally – and see things in clear focus.
“It’s the emotional stepping away that I think most of us struggle with… but ultimately, I think it’s one of the most important things,” she said. “It’s the reprieve that we need to be able to move through.”
Christian Amurao (pictured below) of the Open Doors Mortgage Team said tapping into the wealth of knowledge around the industry, not least at the CMBA conference, had made the task of building an efficient team more straightforward.
“Being friends with a lot of other [industry] people, just having that level of knowledge around you, just cuts off all the other hard work that I don’t necessarily have to go through,” he said. “It’s kind of like a life hack.
“The end game for me was: How can I do the business but not work too much, and have enough time to do the things that I enjoy doing?”
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