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: Hello everybody. This is Scott Hudspeth, with Millionaire Loan Officer powered by Mortgage Marketing Animals and The Loan Officer Breakfast Club. More than excited to be here today with my dear friend and business partner Kyla Whitmore. Did I say that right?
Kyla: You did say that right. Good to see.
Scotty: Ufff. Okay. Got that out of the way. So, man, I could never be that person that like that graduation, that reads all the names off, that would just be a disaster for me. I will never take that job. So, Kyla, you and I have been friends for, I don't know, a little over two years now, three years now, and it's gives me chills to even be on this podcast with you because you've made such major improvements. And how I think about you is like, you're like the, one of the most competitive people I've ever met. The cool part about that, me saying that is that you're competitive with yourself and I just want to let other people know who you are and what you've done in such a short amount of time and how you've done it. So, tell us a little bit about you and where you're at and how long you've been in the business? [01:29.2]
Kyla: So, I have been in the business about nine years. I started out in retail banking and then went over into mortgage by accident. I really wanted to be in mortgage because of the flexibility or the thought of the flexibility at the time. And what I found was that it was not as flexible as I thought it was because I am so competitive. I was always climbing, climbing, climbing for that next step. And I became very bogged down in the business.
Scotty: Hmm.
Kyla: And I was no longer in love with it anymore, so.
Scotty: Excellent. So, when I met you, I think you, and I don't know, correct me if I'm wrong, you were maybe a little burnt out. Like I'm just, I'm kind of at the end of my road, kike what do I do? How do I do this? Cause I think you're such a perfectionist. And just knowing you the very short period of time, I know that everything you do, it's like top of the top, you know. [02:22.0]
Kyla: It's a blessing and a curse.
Scotty: Right.
Kyla: I am going, striving, striving, striving to be the next thing I was in very much burnout mode. We had had a series of events. My husband had been in straight leg braces or casts for a period of about 17 weeks for a leg injury on both legs. I had prepped for a bodybuilding competition. I had changed jobs. There was just a lot going on in my life. And I knew at that time I had to make changes and bonding a lender where I could grow and felt confident in what I was doing just, it set the pace for the year that I'm having this year.
Scotty: Good for you for you. And let’s so just to kind of, do you mind if I throw your numbers out there?
Kyla: Not at all.
Scotty: Okay. So, I was told that you're gonna really closer if not hit 23 million and a hundred, here's the crazy part of this. Like this reminds me of myself because my average loan size, you're going to laugh really hard and probably fall off your chair. But my loan size was 20 years ago, 105,000.
Kyla: Really?
Scotty: So, I felt pretty. All right, you know, you know my my feeling. Yeah. So, 165 transactions. So, in saying that like, what was the, the change or the trigger? What was it that allowed you to let go a little bit and put this thing in motion to where, I mean, there's this double your best year? Or like how does 23 million rate? [03:45.1]
Kyla: It triples my best year.
Scotty: Triples. Wow.
Kyla: Yes.
Scotty: So, you're hitting about 7, $8 million a year.
Kyla: Yes.
Scotty: Wow. Okay. In two years, so, you went from 7 to 23. What was it? Like Kyla, what was the, what was the one thing, two things, three things that for somebody listening.
Kyla: I have always wanted to service my clients, but when you're doing it yourself, you can only do so many. And when my husband became injured, I was, I felt very helpless because I did not have the help that I needed in order to hand things off. And I really would have handed them off at that time, I believe, because I needed to help take care of my husband and do things at home that we weren't prepared for. So, I knew I had to help have help. And I wouldn't at that time, I was like, okay, I have to get out from underneath this controlled freak mentality, but it literally took me over a year after our brought a team in to actually start utilizing them the way I should. So, when I started doing that, I became consistent in my daily activities. Prior I was up a month, down a month, up a month. I would do my daily activities and then the next month I would be so bogged down from doing those daily activities that I couldn't keep up. So, I would go drive into work and then the next month I would fall flat again. And that is what finally calls that roller coaster ride to stop was that I was utilizing the help and we were able to be more consistent with everything all the way around. [05:16.7]
Scotty: I love it. So, and just having a conversation about this, it's never a blessing for someone to get hurt, right? But your husband, he broke both of his legs?
Kyla: Oh, he didn’t break them. He actually was in the front yard with our son playing football and he jumped to catch the ball. And it was from years of tendonitis is what the surgeon says, but both of his quad tendons separated from the kneecap and rolled up inside his leg. So, they had to be repaired. And seven weeks later he was in straight leg braces and got up out of the recliner to go and use the restroom. And he didn't put his braces back on. He was in the recliner just relaxing. And he came out of the bathroom and his legs gave with him and he popped that ortho core to, into again. So, it set us on another recovery course. Yes, I mean, it was horrible on him. Absolutely. And I'm so thankful for his determination strength because it probably would have taken longer for him to recover, but it was crazy. [06:18.1]
Scotty: Man, I hate to say this, but was that maybe what.
Kyla: It’s the silver lining. It's a silver lining.
Scotty: Right. I mean, there's always something, there's always a silver lining. And I think that when you talk about like, Hey, the only way for me to be successful now that my husband's down is to let go, you know. So, you were forced, okay. If I want to still make money and do the things I want to do, I'm going to have to let go because I got to take care of him. Like you have a son, right?
Kyla: I have a son.
Scotty: So, you have a son, you have to take care of by yourself, your husband's down. And like, okay, I don't have a choice.
Kyla: It was hmmm…I felt very helpless. That's the easiest way I can put it. And I'm very married to my clients when I'm working on them, because I want them to have excellent experience and couldn't keep up. And that part was falling by the wayside. So, I knew then that I had to make a change. So, the first step I took was hiring the people, but I held onto that control much to.
Scotty: Yeah. So, I don't know, correct me if I'm wrong. If so, you're saying once you hired the people, it still took you another year. So, are we talking like within one year you were able to go from 7 to 23? Is that kinda what we're saying? [07:28.0]
Kyla: I made a call to action on Facebook when COVID struck and rates dipped. And it was refi. I mean, the refurbing was just, it was crazy what came in from just that one call to action. So, I have been building, but I haven't been living freedom for one year.
Scotty: Wow.
Kyla: So that one year to, I held a lot of the control. I was, I have, single-handedly just handed things off one at a time because that's just kind of person. I am, you have to find what works for you and I couldn't go here. So, I literally worked with my team handling that, handing things off that I didn't want to do. And then in March, when we had Freedom Club, Carl made a comment that said, if not you then who?
Scotty: Pheww.
Kyla: You're not doing it, but who can? And I was like, gosh, all this stuff that I'm holding onto, I'm not doing them. So why not have someone else do them? And so, I slowly started handing things off. And then my, it just gave me the ability to build relationships with real estate agents that I did not have prior because I had the time to spend with them.
Scotty: Yeah.
Kyla: And love on them and appreciate them for what they are. Because I will tell you this, they are, single-handedly, what's helping this housing market to continue to thrive because they're out door knocking. We're in a huge housing shortage and they're out doing whatever it takes to keep people, keep the housing market going. And I'm very much appreciative for that. So now I have the time to spend with them and work with them. [09:07.8]
Scotty: Unbelievable. So, you not only had the time, but you had the clear mind, like if I'm not mistaken, your husband is now working with you.
Kyla: He is.
Scotty: Your husband is one of the coolest guys like.
Kyla: He is the best Scott.
Scotty: [Inaudible] I swear, I'm going to give him a bear hug when I see him and I'm like, I don't know whatever I'm going to try. I probably can't get my arms around.
Kyla: He’s just a big teddy bear.
Scotty: He is, he is a Teddy bear. He's so cool. The coolest guy. So, what is your husband doing for you?
Kyla: So, we are tag team together. We go out is that our agents, we do lunches together. We are feeding 90 realtors, this coming Friday for our board of realtors, our pack option. He's very much a part of the real estate agent relationship of our business and making that go.
Scotty: You can't miss him.
Kyla: No.
Scotty: Definitely the biggest guy in the room. Like, whoa, there he is. It's so cool. So, 90 agents. So how did that come about? Was that a phone call or like how does getting in front of 90 agents at one time come about? [10:03.7]
Kyla: So, I wasn't real comfortable. Just, I'm very introverted. People think that I'm very extroverted, but I'm a very introverted person. When I know someone, we have a great relationship and I feel very comfortable with that person, but meeting new people off the bat, just draws my anxiety over the edge. And when he came on board with me, I had that. He gave me a little more confidence, I guess then we had. So, we started going out and visiting agent offices, taking them goodies, talking to them when they had a new agent, you know, who's your agent who can we talk with? And we were visiting them. And we became very involved in the board of realtors and the Palm Builder’s association and things that make the housing market move. And they just know that we want to be involved with them. And they literally reached out to me and said, Hey, would you be willing to sponsor our pack option and.
Scotty: Wow.
Kyla: So, yeah, we’re excited.
Scotty: How cool is that. So just putting yourself out there in a cool way.
Kyla: Just putting ourself out there. Letting them know that we want that relationship. We absolutely want them to look like the hero and building that relationship is major in this industry because they don't. Buyers and sellers do not realize how important your agent lender relationship is, because if you have communication on all aspects of the transaction doesn't [inaudible] and so I am very involved in helping our agents get where they need to be in their business. [11:30.0]
Scotty: So, I got an off the cuff question. So, you say you're an introvert, but you compete on stage in front of, I'm guessing hundreds of like, you have an alter ego. Like how do you do that?
Kyla: That’s not easy. That me putting my fear out there.
Scotty: Yeah.
Kyla: On centre stage. You can see me shaking, its head [inaudible]. But if I don't push through my fears, then I will be able to get to the next level and anything. So, I try not to let my fear drive me. It sometimes wins.
Scotty: So cool. So many cool things come about from, you know, and it's so many people look at like all the bad things that happen in your life, but you took them and made something so awesome. You're helping so many more homeowners get into homes cause they get to work with you and your husband. You're helping more realtors, close deals. Like there's so many things that come up from the negative. I think that we look at it as, oh, well, poor me, poor me. You know, when we first talked, it was kind of like, man, I'm, I'm kind of done for me, but you literally pulled yourself out of that, which you've done so many times. So, it's so cool. What would you tell somebody that's in that moment of 5 to 7 million, knowing what you know now, like what would you tell somebody? [12:37.9]
Kyla: Be consistent. Nothing happens overnight. Just because you fail once and I have failed many times trying to put this together and I'm still feel on a day-to-day basis, but I learned from that mistake. And I would hire a long partner and make sure if you're hiring that person, that you are giving them the freedom to make mistakes. Because I think that's where a business is built is where you allow them to make mistakes and then say, okay, this is what we'll do next time. And that gives them the freedom in your office to say, Hey, okay, I can do this. I think my office thrives because we make mistakes, but we correct them and we move forward to the next thing.
Scotty: That's so cool. And I know you've been instrumental in like you have some amazing partners and I've met one of them and I helped them, you know, meet the other ones, you know, somebody, but would you say the loan partners, your first hire was that your first, like, I need this person to let go? [13:35.4]
Kyla: Well, I kind of went all in and I went and got a loan partner and a processor that were dedicated to me.
Scotty: Okay.
Kyla: I was scared of that at first, but when I saw the business start to grow and I could, it was, it set my, my wheels on fire. I mean, you have to be disciplined in this business and if you're not disciplined than it will not grow, so.
Scotty: Was the scary part, knowing that now I have two more people to take care of, but now I have to go do the things that I know are the hardest thing to grow my business with. Like probably a little bit of both.
Kyla: It was petrifying.
Scotty: Yeah, it is.
Kyla: It was petrifying.
Scotty: So how would you, like you even talked to so many loan officers and I talked to so many officers, that's the hardest part. We call it a fish hook, right? The fish hook is when you're putting yourself out there and your business is going to go down a little bit because you're changing your thinking. You're hiring, you're interviewing, you're doing things, but like, so most people on the fish hook climb back to safety, like, Nope, not doing it. I can do it myself. This is what I'm going to do. You literally hit the bottom of the fish hook and just went… you know what I mean? What was it that like, what was the, was it just, I don't have a choice or cause you did? [14:42.1]
Kyla: I have no idea where I get this instinct, but I just had the ability to push through my fear. I am scared to death while I'm doing it, but I'm just going to push through it. And that is a gift, but it's also can be a curse too, because I will bulldoze through something, not thinking about what I'm doing.
Scotty: Yeah.
Kyla: And it bays a fire that I have to put out. So, I am learning too that not everyone works at the pace that I work at. And so, I need to set different expectations.
Scotty: Hmm.
Kayla: And work at a much slower pace. Everything doesn't have to be constant all the time. So.
Scotty: Yeah. Feel the fear and do it anyways, that's kind of what you're saying.
Kyla: Yes, absolutely.
Scotty: To me so many times I felt the fear and just pushed through it.
Kyla: I do.
Scotty: Unbelievable. So, what's next for Kyla? Like you've hit things that you probably I’m like, did you ever think you'd be here at 23 million, 165+s families that you're literally a part of that making their life better in some one way or another. [15:40.2]
Kyla: Well, I'm trying to hit 20 million for nine years. And so, it was the right combination of everything that just hit at the right time, but I couldn't have done it without a team so.
Scotty: Yeah. Now you know what you know.
Kyla: My next goal is to hopefully hit 40 million.
Scotty: Wow.
Kyla: We have a goal of 48 million and that was started in March, but I started, so I started video marketing right after Freedom Club event in March. And it absolutely blew up my phone. And so, I, we didn't know how to handle that, that amount of business that was coming in. So, I had to kind of pump the brakes for a minute and we've recently just rolled that out. My, the next thing that I will never hesitate to do is hiring another person before we get so busy that we can't take, we can't keep up.
Scotty: Wait a minute.
Kyla: And that was another fear that I didn't push through was hiring another person. I hired her, but I had to pump the brakes and then hire her. I should've just, I should have hired her immediately.
Scotty: So, what you're saying is if I use your face on my videos that I'm going to have, like yeah…
Kyla: You know, I really don't know if it's the face. I have a great media guy behind me. His name is Tim Rossis with the Appalachia media. And I don't like doing videos and so I was like, I need you to hold me accountable to do one video a month. And so, he will blow my phone up until we get that video done, so. [17:07.9]
Scotty: I love it. So, like what kind of video? And I've watched them and I love them. And I think you should do way more of them cause you're awesome. But what are you putting out there?
Kyla: Well, the first one that we put out was from when Todd joined me, after he had left his job to come on board. And it was just, you know, kind of showing our, what we're about? What we want to build with our business? What we want for the experience to be for the client? And we just floated that out there and it was crazy what it does. So, video will take me to the next level I believe.
Scotty: There's no doubt. A 100% that's why I'm here. I mean like thank God Carl, right? Like Carl, when I'm Carl, I don't know if I've told you this story, but when I first met him, he was in Arizona. I think it was called free Arizona. It's kind of weird, but he did video marketing and that was his first product for like 1795 or something like that. So, I started doing videos just like you, but I was doing one a week. And it's amazing. It puts you on a different level. So, there's, it doesn't even surprise me that once you start doing that, that people like, oh, Kyla, oh yeah, I know her. And they want it. They want to do business with you because now you're at a different level, you know? Cause people can't push through that fear. So, so 40 million. [18:18.2]
Kyla: Let's meet back here next year. [inaudible] 2022. Let's see if I've accomplished it.
Scotty: You know what? I'm going to hold you to that. I'm writing it down. It's on record. So, it'll be on the podcast. We'll go back and look at it. So, I'm so, so, so happy for you. And I'm forever thankful for the day we met. I think you're awesome. I think your husbands awesome. Can't wait to hang with you guys again. Any final words that you tell somebody that is doing good, but maybe like, hmm can't quite push through that fear. Any final words for them?
Kyla: The phone won't ring if you're not dialing.
Scotty: Hmm.
Kyla: You gotta make the phone calls. You've got to talk to people. I don't like it. I don't like talking on the phone, but it is the single handed the most important thing is to make those phone calls.
Scotty: Hmm…hmm…good for you.
Kyla: So, don't be fearful. They're not going to, if they tell you no, go to the next person, it's not, don't take it personal. I think that was one of the things of getting me over the hump is I take things very personal. I think that's why I'm always climbing, climbing, climbing. [19:14.9]
Scotty: Good stuff. Kyla, unbelievable. Congratulations. I'm so, so happy for you. The 20 million mark, you hit it. You're so worthy of 40 million, your summary of whatever you want to accomplish. You're so worthy, I know you'll hit whatever you want to hit, it's already proven. So just know that you are worthy of that. So, I appreciate you.
Kyla: Appreciate that.
Scotty: Can't wait to see you in November.
Kyla: Appreciate you.
Scotty: And guys, thanks for listening to Millionaire Loan Officer powered by Mortgage Marketing Animals and The Loan Officer Breakfast Club, stay safe, be persistent, consistent as Kyla says and amazing things will happen. So, we'll see you guys on the next podcast. Thanks so much everybody. [19:45.8]
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. [20:05.7]
