Is fear holding you back?

It’s common to think of fear as holding you back from something. After all, if you’re claustrophobic, you avoid small spaces; if you’re acrophobic, you avoid heights. When it comes to business, however, being afraid can cause you to miss out on opportunities and avoid taking risks that could pay off in the long run.

Chad Jampedro is the president of GSF Mortgage, and he’s also an origination coach, which gives him a unique perspective to the business, and how loan officers are working at any given time. In the current climate, he says, fear is omnipresent.

“Many [originators] – especially in this market – are operating out of fear, and that fear of change, and that fear of becoming rendered obsolete. That their services are no longer required or that their compensation will be attacked because they’re not bringing value to a transaction,” Jampedro said.

Although some aspects of the job will change, Jampedro said that originators should look at the big picture. “From an advisor standpoint, from an expert standpoint, you bring something to the table that’s more than just the way someone gathers documents or the way they find information online. And that’s happened in a number of industries where individuals have had to essentially up their game from a value perspective in order to stay relevant. Technology can enhance that if you can embrace it.”

Not everyone is eager to embrace technology, and it’s not hard to know why. If you’ve got a system that works, you might not want to rock the boat. It also can be quite a bit of investment, both in monetary terms, as more advanced platforms and systems can require quite a bit of capital, and in terms of the time required to learn these platforms and train others to use them.

Ignoring the way the industry is moving, however, isn’t going to benefit you or your business in the long run. If you’re afraid of rocking your business boat, there are ways to take that fear and harness it into something productive. Fearing what could happen is a reactive position, and the way to combat it is to become proactive, planning what good change can do for your business, and how it can add to your value proposition.

“Start slow, don’t try to swallow every piece of technology all at once. It’s difficult. Because we’ve got, at any one time, 10 or 11 systems running on our own. So pick one, start slow and master one piece of it,” Jampedro said.

Make things more manageable with a plan. Prioritize by deciding which systems impact your business the most, and start there, working forward. If you have a processing team, for example, then maybe you can focus more of your energy into your marketing or CRM platforms. Or maybe it’s understanding how to use AI technology. Jampedro said that those originators who start small and learn one thing go far. “Typically, once they see the results from it, they more aggressively approach the next challenge and the next challenge.”

The result isn’t just a reduction in fear, but a renewed enthusiasm for your business potential. As you see results, you’ll build confidence, and be more willing to tackle the next step. Jampedro has seen some previously fearful originators change their tune as they become more well-versed in various aspects of technology and how it enhances their business.

“All of a sudden they’re running Facebook ads, they’re dialing in their CRM and extracting all the borrowers [with] a certain interest rate to send a really poignant marketing piece to, and a few months before that they would’ve never even considered that that was possible. But then their confidence builds and they feel like, just like any other task in life, more exposure to it, the more mastery you build, the less anxious you are about approaching it, and now they’re out and running,” Jampedro said. “That’s good to see their attitude change toward it.”

By using your fear to motivate you and facing changes head-on, you’ll be ahead of the curve, instead of being rolled over.

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