Welcome to The Millionaire Loan Officer podcast with your host, Scott Hudspeth sharing tools, tips and strategies so that you can go from a mortgage loan officer to a millionaire loan officer. It's your host, Scott Hudspeth.
Scotty: All right, all right, all right. Hey, this is Scott Hudspeth. I don't know if I can legally use all right, all right, all right or not. I don’t know if that’s like branded, but it's just man, it’s stuck in the run. I can't let go of it, so.
Ron: Let it out man.
Scotty: Let it out. Let it out. So, I mean, I'm on here with a dear friend that I’ve…Man we've known each other for a long time.
Ron: Yeah.
Scotty: And an amazing story, man. I think when I first started, like when we first started building our relationship, well, I'm not, I'll just get right into it. So Hey, welcome to Millionaire Loan Officer powered by Mortgage Marketing Animals. I'm Scott Hudspeth, I'm here with my dear friend, Ron Pippin, and amazing story, brother. I just want to share with the world, I want to help light more people's candles and your story will absolutely positively do that. And I want to start by saying when we first started talking, you're like, you don't want to get out, man. I want to semi-retire. I want to kind of remove myself from all this stuff. And I think, dude I think you're having more fun now. Closing what, three times the volume that you were three short years ago, maybe? [01:29.7]
Ron: Yeah, probably. Yeah.
Scotty: I mean, I don't, I see you doing more fun stuff than anybody I know. Podcasting traveling, buying your wife cool, awesome vehicles. I mean like, are you having more fun now than like, tell us a little bit about yourself, man? How long have you been in the business? And then we'll get into that, the fun stories.
Ron: Okay. So, I've been in the business, man. I think it's 26 years this year.
Scotty: Wow.
Ron: 26. Yeah. So, I'm going to start off by don't wait 20, some odd years to do what I did. Like just go do, you know, just, just follow the freedom club, follow Scott, follow those guys because you don't have to wait 20 some odd years to get to this level or beyond. So, what else do you want to know? I mean, I, I, I don't know. So.
Scotty: You like one of the big changes that I saw that you made was The Acts of Freedom.
Ron: Oh, totally. Yeah.
Scotty: When we first started, tell people what the acts freedom is and then tell them what you did to slowly remove the stuff you hate from your plate. Tell us about that. [02:28.0]
Ron: Yeah, so The Acts of Freedom is just identifying pretty much everything that you do. Like everything that you do in the mortgage business, from taking applications to making phone calls, to, you know, all the minute details that you do. And then you start identifying those things that are really important. Well, not really important, cause all of it's important. But those things that you are good at that you like to do and that bring in the money. And once you identify those things, that those things that I'm good at, the things that I like to do, then I started to try to figure out, well, how do I get the rest of this stuff off my plate? And so, it's not an event, man, this is a process, so we've been at this for a while. But I don't think I talked to you in the last couple of months, so we've made a couple of more changes. I don't know how to tell you about, so.
Scotty: I would love to hear it man. [03:24.2]
Ron: Yeah, so anyway, it's, it's just like when I started, when I met you, I think I was doing million-ish a month, pretty consistently. And that's the way I was for years, like years, I was like stuck at a million. I get over a million and that's kind of where I was. So, we're a little beyond that now.
Scotty: Yeah, yeah. To say the least I was scrolling through, I was looking for that text you sent me. Dude, just share with us what you'd like, what are you going to close this month, man?
Ron: I'll be honest. I haven't looked.
Scotty: Wow. That's a change right there.
Ron: Yeah. And the reason why is because I have somebody that watches all that stuff for me. So, we're pushing consistently close to 10 million a month.
Scotty: What!
Ron: I haven't been able to break 10 million yet, but you know, that's a huge difference from a million, you know? So, it's like.
Scotty: Hold on, let me just. Let me just do the math. If I'm not mistaken, that's about 10 times.
Ron: Yeah.
Scotty: What you were doing and okay, so let's back up just a little bit. Cause I want to share with people how fast this can happen. When's the last month you closed a million? Like how long ago? [04:29.6]
Ron: Probably three years.
Scotty: Three years.
Ron: Yeah, maybe it might've even been a little bit.
Scotty: Less.
Ron: Probably three years.
Scotty: I think it was less than that, man.
Ron: It could be.
Scotty: Yeah.
Ron: Okay.
Scotty: Okay, let's just say three years, 36 months.
Ron: It was two or three years ago, anyway.
Scotty: All right. So, here's my question. Go back to the month you were closing a million, what changed? What did you do? Like what's the first thing that you would tell somebody to do to get to that 10 million a month mark? Like what's the first. [04:58.8]
Ron: Okay. The first thing is don't look at 10 million. So, my goal was cause 10 million, you know, when you're doing a million, it's just like 10 million. Like that's just mind blowing, you know? And, and I'm really grateful. And I really don't like, I'm not one to like talk about numbers a lot, cause it's just like.
Scotty: You’re a humble dude man.
Ron: I just don't like to do it, but, but I want to give people some hope for that. This is really possible. So, my goal and even my passwords, I remember having a password of 2 million and then a password of 3 million and then a password of 5 million, you know? And, and you know, I do the little identifications, so it's like 3 million was the pound number and capital M one, you know? So you change it up. So, my passwords keep changing.
Scotty: Oh, you know what? That's amazing.
Ron: So, I would say, first of all, don't look at big numbers, but make them a stretch because my stretch was never, I worked at a company at one time where if you did 12 million in a year, like you were in their elite status and you got trips and stuff. And like 12 million now it's just like really 12 million. So, it's like, seriously, you that's, that's like, oh yeah, I don't want to say that's nothing. Cause it is, it's still, it's still a good business. [06:12.8]
Scotty: It’s a good business.
Ron: But like, like if I did a 12 million year now, it's just like, I would be really highly disappointed in myself. You know what I mean?
Scotty: So, do you tribute the growth on, I mean, dude, like when we first talked two years ago, you said, man, like I want to send my retirement, like I'm done. Like I want to, I want to get out. I want to, I want to pass the Baton.
Ron: Right. So, my son is in the business with me and so he's come over and I've kind of taken him under my wings and like he's phenomenal. He's an amazing business mind. And which why he runs, you know, in the background, he's really running the show. You know, he like keeps track of my PNL. He keeps track of the numbers and I'll ask him like before this morning, I call him up and say, Hey, so where's our numbers at? Cause I know Scott's going to ask.
Scotty: I love it.
Ron: So, he was telling me, so I'm fortunate to have him in my life and to have him help me out. So, I don't remember what the question was now. [07:10.1]
Scotty: Like what was it, The Acts of Freedom that you think like removing yourself from the stuff that is helped, you know, keeping you from doing the.
Ron: Yeah.
Scotty: What is it called the 20% that makes you 80% of your money? Is that, I mean, do you tribute it to that?
Ron: Yeah, right.
Scotty: Is there another? So, was it the acts of freedom? Cause it seems like for me the change for you, which was the hardest was letting go. Would do you attribute it to letting go of some of this stuff and trusting other people and putting the right people on your team.
Ron: First of all, I had to trust my coach. That was like really big thing and trusting other people to do stuff that affects me is really difficult. Like really, really hard. And so, I had to trust you. I had to trust, you know, other people that are in the freedom club that they knew what they were talking about. So, that was the first, that was the first step.
Scotty: Yeah.
Ron: So, trusting.
Scotty: Yeah.
Ron: Trusting my coaches was number one. Number two was trusting other people and putting people in place. So, like I had to hire a loan partner. I had to have a LOA and I had to give up like picking applications and doing that kind of stuff, cause if I was chasing conditions and taking every single loan application, man, I couldn't bring in more business. And so, I'm at the point in my career, now when I, when you say, Hey, I wanted to kind of semi-retire, I don't know that I will ever retire. [08:33.5]
Scotty: I know, I know.
Ron: But what I do.
Scotty: Love it.
Ron: Is different. So, what I do today is like, I am bringing in business. My job is to make the phone ring and to bring the leads in and trust my team that they're going to close it. And so, I'm not going to say that I never take an application because I do. If a realtor calls me and says, Hey, like we are making an offer in 30 minutes, I need a, pre-qual done. I'm not passing that off. I'm taking the application and I'm getting it done. And then I'm sending it over to my team. But at least I'm getting the pre-qual done. But for the most part, I don't take applications. This is a big one. I don't even answer my phone.
Scotty: Wow. Wow.
Ron: So, I have other people. Now that doesn't mean a realtor can't get ahold of me. I have another number that, that I give to my family and friends and like they know how to get ahold of me. And my team knows how to get ahold of me. But the number that everybody knows, like I'm still on the call tree, if nobody else answers it, I'm on the call tree and I'll answer because I don't want it to go to voicemail ever. And that was really important for me in my business to not have it go to voicemail. So, but we had to start with a few things like we had to start with, who's going to take applications, who's going to make phone calls. Who's going to update my clients. Who's going to do that kind of stuff? because I didn't enjoy that part of it. I like the chase. I like to go out and bring the leads in. I like to bring is kind of like dating man. You know, the fun part is chasing them, you know? And then when you catch him and go, oh, now! What now, what do I do? I, I caught her. You know, I was kind of the same thing with clients. And by all means, I'm not I'm, I'm not saying I'm. [10:10.7]
Scotty: Yes.
Ron: I want to leave clients.
Scotty: That’s it.
Ron: Because clients still hear from me. They will still hear from me. But when you get all this stuff off your plate, man, all of a sudden, now I can, it's freed up so much more time for me to go out and bring in so much business because in today's industry, man, if you are doing a million and you're going it alone, like you are working 60, 70 hours, 80 hours a week, you just can't do it with all the rules and regulations. You cannot do it by yourself. You're, we're slowly getting to the point where if you're doing two or three, four loans a month and you're doing it by yourself, you're swamped. You just can't do it by yourself.
Scotty: Hmm.
Ron: So, you have to surround yourself with some really, really good people. And I've gone through a few people, but we have some really, really strong people on my team now, like really strong.
Scotty: Who was your first hire Ron? Who was your first hire back when you went from a million to taking that next step? And I actually found the text, I want to read to everybody in a second here, but who is the, who would you tell somebody the first hire should be?
Ron: My first hire was a loan partner, a loan assistant.
Scotty: Okay.
Ron: Just to get some of the applications and some of the prequalification stuff and going through documents to get that off my plate. That was my first hire. [11:24.6]
Scotty: Gotcha. So, dude, this was August 4th, last year. Hey brother, just had to share with you several months ago, I raised my bill from 5 million to 7 million. As of right now, I have 29 loans for a total of 7.9 million to close in August.
Ron: That's fun. That's fun, man.
Scotty: And then, dude that was a fun text. And then August 18th, the middle of the month, but you send me a picture of you and your wife. I did manage to get to Glacier National Park for a week. Here's best part, no computer.
Ron: Yeah.
Scotty: At all.
Ron: So, let me share with you probably was it three or four years ago, my wife and I went with some friends to Hawaii. And half the trip I was on my computer and she just said, Ron, I don't want to take a vacation like that again, ever. You have to do something. So that was like the first change, like in my life, that is this like I have to do something because this is out of control. Just like am I'm freaking in Hawaii and I'm, I'm working just like, that's just crazy. So, I always say that there's people are putting your life at a certain reason at a certain point in your life for a reason. And it was shortly after that, that I got a call from you. Just, you know, you were just, cause we've been, we've been friends for a long time.
Scotty: Yeah.
Ron: And you called me up and said, Hey man, how you doing? And I said, yeah, I'm doing good. And so, we talked a little bit and you said, you said, so like what's your goal? Oh yeah. So, like, you know, I'm still trying to get to, you know, I want to do a couple million, maybe 3 million and you know, we've talked about that and you stopped and you said, dude you be telling me that for 10 years now, when are you going to do it? And I was kind of pissed off. I was kind of, so there was like this long silence, like, you didn't say anything like you were letting it sink in to me. And I didn't say anything either because I was, I was kind of stewing. And then it was 15, 20 seconds. Like there was this long, long awkward silence. [13:21.5]
Scotty: It was a long time.
Ron: And I just started to laugh and I said, Scotty, you're right. You're right. It's time. It's like really time. But I was never committed before that. And that's the difference. It's just like, you can't move forward.
Scotty: Hmm.
Ron: Until you commit to moving forward. And so, at that point I was committed.
Scotty: Hmm.
Ron: And that's when we started, that's when we started our journey. And that's when, like I committed not only to you, but to my wife and to my family, that I was going to move forward.
Scotty: Yeah.
Ron: Until here we are until I’ve got.
Scotty: Unbelievable man.
Ron: I’ve got a couple of assistants. I've got multiple marketing people on my team. I've got a processor, I've got a, you know, a manager that manages my business, which happens to me, my son.
Scotty: Wow.
Ron: And I just moved. So, I hired a third loan assistant, but I moved one of my loan assistants just recently. So, this is the part you didn't know. To help me on my side to take more stuff off my plate, because this guy is like, when people call him, when people we'll call him, they go, man, I like this guy, this guy like us, he's like on top of eight. He loves to talk to people. He's like a high I, so if people don't know what that means in the freedom club, we do like I disc profile, everybody that I hire, cause I want to know where their strengths are. And we had them in as a loan partner, as a loan LOA. And he was okay. I don't think he was stellar. And if he hears us, sorry, he knows who he is. But he was, he was good. But he like excelled at talking to people. [14:55.5]
Scotty: Hmm.
Ron: Like, and he likes that. And when I talked to him, cause he has a high I, and he likes talking to people. He wants to be on that front end. And so, we moved him there. And so, he's taken more stuff off my plate. So, the other day I talked to my wife and she came home and I'm like, I'll smile. And she goes, what? And she goes like today, I didn't know what to do. She goes, what do you mean you didn't know what to do? I said, we moved, I almost said his name and I'm not going to say his name. We moved this guy over to this. He took stuff off my plate. And like today I went, what do I do?
Scotty: Dude I love him, man.
Ron: So, when people say I can't hire people because I can't afford it, it's like, dude, you can't afford not to or do that.
Scotty: Yeah. Cool man, dude, I had chills through that whole thing, man. That's just, that's unbelievable, man.
Ron: Yeah, so. I just to share that story with you.
Scotty: Dude, you’re like, you're just a different person, like seriously a different person.
Ron: Yeah, I think so. I think so. I think I'm happier. And so, we're doing lots of videos now. So, I have lots of videos. Lots of social media. Yeah, we're just scratching the surface. We just moved our offices. You don't know this either. I purchased a, a commercial building. [16:02.4]
Scotty: Wow.
Ron: That's locally here and we are moving our offices over there. We're currently starting to renovate. So, man, it's just fun, man. We're going on vacations once in a while. And like, I just let my team handle it. And I told her, I am not going to have a vacation like Hawaii again. I just won't do it.
Scotty: Driving force. Man, I can go so many directions with this. I don't like commercial building. So, 10 million a month, I just wanted to let you hear that for a second, like 10 million a month. Not a year. A month!
Ron: Yeah, that's 120 million a year.
Scotty: Ron.
Ron: That's fun, huh?
Scotty: Dude. Why would you ever retire? You can like so serious question. What does Ron do everyday now? Besides did you have your own podcast? You're taking vacations, your quality time with your, I see you all the time with your family and your beautiful little dogs, man, which I'm jealous about.
Ron: Yeah, right yesterday I took, I had a daughter that had a birthday party for her son and they'd rented this a gazebo at one of the local water parks. And so I went to the water park with them.
Scotty: Wow. [17:05.3]
Ron: Now I don't want people to get the wrong impression like Ron doesn't do anything. Cause man, I'm still busy. I'm probably as busy as I've ever been. But it's with the right activities. It's with the activity, that's bringing the stuff in the door. It's like, so I'm doing podcasts, I'm doing video marketing. I'm basically marketing. That's my job now is and I'm smiling now because that's what my degree is in my degree is in marketing and that's what I like. So, taking, the pre-qualifying people like I can do it, but it's not my, it's not what I excel at. And so, I can do it and I can get them qualify and I know guidelines inside and out and I know how to qualify people. It just takes me longer because that's not my thing. You know?
Scotty: Yeah.
Ron: And so, when it's your thing, and then when it's my loan assistance thing and they're freaking, they're like these backend people that love this detail work. And most of us loan officers aren't detailed oriented. We don't like that stuff. So, they love it and they thrive on this. And so, they like, we've got another one. Let's go, let's go get a qualify. And I'm just going, oh please. Yeah, please go do that. And so, they do. [18:13.6]
Scotty: So, the big thing that I heard on this amazing like, dude, I'm so, so excited for you was commit number one.
Ron: Yeah.
Scotty: Commit to growth. Number two, I like to say fire yourself, which means hire someone to take over this stuff.
Ron: Yes.
Scotty: That one you don't like to do, which I, I know when I first started talking to you, you were doing a lot of stuff you hated doing.
Ron: Hmm…hmm.
Scotty: That's why you wanted out of the business, right? We all want to retire to run from something I want to be done with this. I'm done.
Ron: Yeah.
Scotty: And so that's number two, fire yourself. Hire somebody to do the stuff you hate.
Ron: Yeah.
Scotty: And then only do the stuff you love, which is where you're at.
Ron: Yeah.
Scotty: Is that so cool?
Ron: Yeah.
Scotty: I mean, congratulations man. Unbelievable. Unbelievable.
Ron: Yeah, thanks.
Scotty: So, in closing, like what would you tell somebody that's at a million bucks’ man? Like, like what would you say to somebody in a million dollars? Like I mean, we just talked about commit fire yourself, hire yourself. Is that what you'd say? Or what would you say? [19:06.0]
Ron: Yeah. So first of all, you have to come to whatever you're going to do. Whatever business you're in commit, commit to be the best of whatever you're going to be. But I would say get a mentor.
Scotty: Hmm.
Ron: My wife tells me that you can't, you're never going to quit the freedom club. Cause quite honestly, I did, I was in cause like I knew.
Scotty: I know you did.
Ron: Carl and Irene and Tammy, like before there was a freedom club.
Scotty: Yeah.
Ron: Like I knew way back, you know, a dozen years ago.
Scotty: Yeah.
Ron: So, I was in that group and then I started with the freedom club and then I quit and I tried some other and I'll tell you why I quit here in just a second.
Scotty: I was just going to ask that.
Ron: So, I'll tell you why I quit here in just a second. And then I went to some other coaching groups and they just weren't. I mean, they, they want to take you down their pathway, not your pathway, which I didn't like. But I quit because I wasn't getting the results. And so, I was projecting that on my, my coaches. And when it came down to it, man, it's like, when I had that phone call with you, it's just like, it's not my coaches, it’s me. Because I didn't commit to making and implementing the changes. So, once you have a good coach and you commit, then it's life changing. And at that point implement, like if you're in like the mortgage marketing animals or especially the freedom club, it's like drinking from a fire hose, you cannot implement everything that they tell you. It's not possible. Not all at once anyway. So, like I've implemented a lot of things in the last two or three years, like a lot, but we had to take them one at a time. And at first there was, it was still not as growth as I wanted because I'm a really impatient guy. But you know, you look today and look back and you go, wow, we've accomplished some stuff. [20:54.5]
Scotty: Good stuff.
Ron: Like we've come a long way. So, it's just like, get a mentor, but commit to that mentor. That's what I would say.
Scotty: Love it man. Dude, I'm honored to have you on this podcast, Millionaire Loan Officer podcast. I'm like beyond excited to see you and your wife traveling and doing things together and not taking your computer and not being on your phone.
Ron: Yeah.
Scotty: And t's like, you have no idea, that's what gives me chills talking about it man. So sincerely appreciate you and what you've done and what you're doing. And letting people know that, Hey man, going from one to 10 is possible and it's possible fast. I mean three years, man.
Ron: Yeah.
Scotty: Three years.
Ron: Yeah, it can happen. And it can happen much faster than that.
Scotty: Yeah.
Ron: So, I'm, because I was one that took it slow and man, don't take it slow. Don't wait until you're, you're getting gray hair like I am.
Scotty: Yeah.
Ron: And you know, just go do it.
Scotty: Love it.
Ron: And there's people that can help you, such as you and Carl and Tommy and Irene.
Scotty: Yeah.
Ron: And Ralph and Richard and all those guys, man, all these guys can help you guys. [21:54.2]
Scotty: I appreciate you, man. I appreciate you more than you know, so. Hey guys, thanks for hanging out here with us with Ron Pippin. Unbelievable man at Millionaire Loan Officer powered by Mortgage Marketing Animals guys, and you probably noticed this little over here, this sign behind me, loan officer coffee club, coming to you very soon. That's all I can say about it. Loan officer coffee club tune in. Ron, can't wait to share with you. You might hear it in Utah, if you're going there. Super excited, we have some new faces coming to, to the Mortgage Marketing Animals.
Ron: Woo.
Scotty: So, guys.
Ron: Guys.
Scotty: Have a great day. Commit, implement, fire yourself around. How does somebody get a, man I don't want to have people calling you and texting you? Like if someone wanted to follow you and just follow your journey, how would they get ahold of you?
Ron: I’m on social media. So, I'm on social media, Ron Pippin and it's PI P P I N not Ian.
Scotty: All right.
Ron: Ron Pippin. I'm in Utah. You can call me. I may or may not answer, you’ll take your chances. And my phone number is 801-628-7667.
Scotty: Awesome brother. Appreciate you man. Love you, man. Thank you again for being here. Thank you everybody for listening to Millionaire Loan Officer. We'll see you next time right here. Everybody have a great day. Be safe. Take care everybody. [23:01.5]
I'm a Millionaire Loan Officer.
Thank you for tuning into the Millionaire Loan Officer podcast with your host Scott Hudspeth, don't forget to visit MLOlive.com to have your questions answered. See you next time. [23:21.5]
