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Starting as a standard banker, Mike found an MLO he greatly respected, after half a year under her wing, she retired, and he took her spot. This involved teaching many other LO’s the basics and making sure they retained special product knowledge as well. He was then promoted again to do the same for the entire state of Virginia. During this time, Mike saw a fatal flaw in their systems, a complete rebuild was needed on their antiquated tech stack. Instead of bringing someone else in to do it, Mike rolled up his sleeves and got to work. This success brought him notoriety, and after being recruited to clean out multiple bank’s process and upgrade their tech, Mike heard about the wholesale channel. He saw that the wholesale channel wasn’t just a bunch of warring branches, but rather a community of people with the collective goal of doing what’s right for the consumer.
Mike joined a brokerage at first, just to get his bearings in the new channel, but with help from his Husband and his background in compliance, they finally opened their new brokerage, The Socha Lending Group, last year. The key to their success? Thoughtful social media marketing. Mike has learned how to master the inner workings of Facebook groups. mortgage related or not, Mike has found a nice and natural way to become a part of multiple communities and naturally obtain referrals as a result.
Mike says don’t do anything you’re not comfortable doing. For example, Mike is a part of the LGBTQ+ community, and gets lots of referrals through live Facebook newtowrking parties in groups like NAGLREP (The National Association of Gay & Lesbian Real Estate Professionals). Mike mentors his own LOs to lean into their own niche communities. They don’t need to start running virtual parties out the gate, nor should they, he adds. Slowly comment and connect, try to add value and make yourself heard in any of the hundred and hundreds local Facebook communities for your area. Mike also mentions the importance of following up with a personal message for people you don’t know in real life. As long as they see that you’re real, they’ll want to get to know you. Business opportunities will present itself over time. As far as his personal page goes, he tries to keep it simple: “life, mortgages, puppies.”
He leaves the listeners, and especially new LO’s thinking about starting their own brokerage, with a few words of wisdom. Do it when you’re ready. Do your homework first, find out how comp works, how you pay processors, what kind of tech stack do you need, what does, or doesn’t work together, and then just how much is all of this going to cost. It is more than doable, he wants potential listeners to know, but don’t just dive into the deep end with your arms tied behind your back. Having a partner by your side can also be a very powerful tool for beginners. Slow and steady wins the race here. Understand how it works, and then add and grow from there.
Show Notes:
- Intro To The Industry (2:19)
- FREE Social Media Marketing (11:00)
- Mike’s Business Model (26:18)
- Words Of Wisdom (39:44)