"the first time in my career" - Inside Perspective

Our Partners and Clients want Great Service, Competent Advice, and Real Added Value.  Our Happy, Empowered, and Collaborative TEAM delivers.

How does a 25-year Old “Employee / Shareholder Owned Common Stock Corporation”

prosper through Two Recessions with the Highest Average Employee Tenure?  Culture, TEAM Spirit, Fairness, Unlimited Skill Based Opportunity.

Knowing you matter, knowing you can make a difference, knowing your family time is important, and knowing you are on a team that you can own is a powerful formula for longevity of the TEAM and Empowerment of the American Dream!

Katie is a smart motivated mortgage professional who remained loyal to her prior employer for many years.  She only knew one mortgage origination sales group that moved from one out of state parent company to another.  We were very fortunate that her friend put Katie in touch with us due to the family sacrifice she had to make at her prior employer.  We only needed an hour to learn what a smart, caring, and creative person Katie was.  We knew she was a great fit and our Work / Life balance culture was the right thing for her family.  I had to share her email to Kathy and the Department Heads.  It’s a candid view from inside Southeast Mortgage.

From: Katie Dickens
Date: August 21, 2018 at 9:01:28 PM EDT
To: Kathy Gyselinck, Chief Operating Officer, and SEM Department Heads

Subject: Thank You

Ladies,

I was driving home tonight with a million things in my head and one moment in today popped out at me and it was our time in Kathy’s office today. 

I want each of you to know that today is the first time in my career that an incredible group of women were in a room together and sharing a positive purpose and movement towards shared goals. 

So often in business and in life women work against each other instead of collaborating and being truly joyful with one another. I know I haven’t been around long but I am so grateful already to be surrounded by like-minded and kind women in business and I just felt led to say that out loud to each of you. 

Thank you for welcoming me and making me feel like I’ve been around for a long time and for showing me what a team looks like.

KD

PS...that cake was ridiculously good!!

www.southeastmortgage.com 

People are meant to work together...

Periodically I see these Ant pictures on social media.  This morning it seemed more meaningful to me in that I saw why SEM always adapts to new regulations and challenges and makes them a permanent strength.  Although SEM employs 160+, we function as a TEAM and together build bridges for others to cross.  We do this as a culture knowing our bridges will be there when a teammate needs one.

During my many years in the Mortgage Industry, I have seen a lot  of solo people who rely on nobody except themselves.  Or they follow flash that attracts more solo players.  A group is not a team until they care about a common goal and share a common belief.  We are all humans and I could not imagine they share that philosophy in their personal life.  We all need people to rely on and know they have our back.  Happy times you need to high five and stressful times you need a sounding board.  That's a team.  That is why SEM's turnover rate is the lowest in the business and many of us have been together 20+ years.

The reason Southeast Mortgage of Georgia, Inc. is one of the very few Mortgage Companies that has survived 3 recessions (profitable in every month since inception) with the same name and ownership is due to our ability to build bridges over any adversary or economic event.  We build strong bridges that survive the test of time.

 

Cal Haupt

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Southeast Mortgage of Georgia, Inc.

www.southeastmortgage.com

770-279-0222

Money vs. Passion by Cal Haupt

Historical observation of my commercial clients and consumer clients as a banker and mortgage provider helped me refine my perception of what matters between chasing the money or following a passion.  The consistency of outcome for my clients with respect to the two methodologies is compelling as to which one accomplishes their longer term monetary goal. 

When I hear “xyz company is paying more” my next question is tell me about the company and the people who make the company what it is.  The typical response is “it’s about the money; I did not research their longevity, financial strength or long term goals”.  For money chasers, this is consistent across all industries.

When you look at monetarily successful people, they all started with a passion and followed a path that met a need in the market.  Most believed in a better widget, better service, or a faster way to accomplish a process.  They did not chase higher pay without a passion for the company or strategy.  They were all passionate about what they were doing, the people, and philosophy.  This is the path the majority of wealthy people take.  The money always follows over time when passion is in the forefront.  "Slow and steady wins the race" 

Most that focus on the best deal at the time without regard to passion or the team tend to have inconsistent outcomes and move to the next best deal without regard to the stability of the underlying foundation.  They tend to cycle monetarily up and down as clients adjust to the change rather than making a smooth trend higher as their referral leverage increases. 

A few observations:

> People are social and need to feel responsible for others to stay engaged long term.  The same reason families have such strong bonds. 

> One person does not possess all the skills necessary to push through certain paradigms or maintain all critical functions of a business.

> People get tired and life does not always follow a predictable path.  Having a team step in to maintain your revenue stream when the unthinkable happens is priceless. 

Look at the people you view as monetarily successful.  I use the term monetarily successful because I think there is variations of success.  Monetarily Successful, Great Family Success, Great Friends Success, etc.  Everyone has their own view of success and I can only hope everyone enjoys all the facets of success and you are that fortunate in life.  Back to my discussion. 

The majority of monetarily successful people achieved that goal through a passion facilitated by a group of trusted people who share a similar belief with them.  Each person in the group generally has a unique set of skills and capabilities that together make them better than they are apart.  Together, they make each other better and thus leverage the skills of all into greater monetary success for all. 

IMO "Money Chasers" tend to get by and miss the joy and sense of accomplishment shared among a trusted group that shares a passion and a common belief.  My career has always been team based and I have foregone many higher paid consulting opportunities that required only my skill set.  I would not trade the relationships and friends I have made over the many years for any dollar amount.  Money will never talk to you, Money will not visit you when you are sick, Money will not give you a hug when you need it, and Money will never brain storm with you to engineer a challenge.  Money derived from a passion supported by a team of like minded people creates a fulfilling experience and security for all.

Follow your passion, enjoy your team, enjoy the ride, and the money will follow over time….  It always does.

 

Cal Haupt

Chairman and CEO

Southeast Mortgage of Georgia, Inc.

770-279-0222

 

Success is a TEAM Activity

When you look at the biography of sales people who are successful in their careers over a long period of time, they all have one common denominator, they were part of a cohesive, diverse skilled, and mission focused TEAM. 

Although humans tend to self-preserve and put their own and family's needs first, in business it takes a village to sustain scale and income growth. 

One person only has 24 hours a day, X amount of energy, and typically cannot master all skills in business.  There is no doubt self focused people can be successful in their career, the issue is their success is limited to their individual resources and health. 

Although I can individually sell with the best of them, I have never wanted to sell without a TEAM.  In Banking and in the Mortgage Industry, I have always ensured I had a caring competent TEAM with diverse skills around me.  There is no better feeling or more fun than working with people who care about each other and respect the trust required to support the TEAM's overall success and continued growth.  As a result, the TEAM provides you and your family with safety and stability. 

A sales person that has to make sales calls, follow up with clients, process loans, handle the inevitable client or Realtor Issue, close loans, and stay in touch with clients and Realtors after the closing has a daunting task and tends to be too much for any one person.  Something has to be forgone in this scenario given time, energy, and skill create restraints to incremental success. 

Less time with your family, Not Staying in touch with past clients and Realtors, and that one issue that takes up a whole day putting you further behind are the accumulated limiter to scaling the income from a large referral base of Realtors and closed happy Clients.  What if this sales person gets sick or disabled?  Who will step up during difficult times?  The one constant in life is the unexpected always happens.  There is a reason commercial airplanes have two engines.  Redundancy matters. 

To truly maximize a sales career, the most efficient and successful path is to be part of a TEAM or a Village that has one common goal and belief system.  http://southeastmortgage.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-village-by-cal-haupt.html  With this mentality, a person’s career can scale up due to complimentary resources supporting the individual’s efforts.  With a TEAM, a sales person can rely on competent processing, underwriting, closing, and Client Relationship Management to provide great experiences for Clients and Realtors while staying in front of them for years of consistent growing referrals and applications.  A TEAM focused sales person has 75% of their time to develop more business, provide more personalized service, and time to spend with their family or go see their kids play sports.  If the TEAM sales person gets sick or has another hardship, they have a TEAM of people supporting them and maintaining their pipeline and closings.  This ensures their income from years of referral growth and their family is protected. 

My life experience has taught me individual success is not mutually exclusive from TEAM success.  Individual scalable results (more results with less effort over time) can only be achieved through a TEAM approach.  TEAM really means TOGETHER EVERYONE ACHIEVES MORE.   

Cal Haupt
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Southeast Mortgage of Georgia, Inc.
www.southeastmortgage.com
770-279-0222