Embracing Female Empowerment and Connectivity in the Mortgage Industry with Laurie Nelson

Hey, everybody. Welcome back to Lending Leadership. I'm Rach, and we've got Ryn and Laurie Nelson here. Laurie is one of our top loan officers from the Pittsburgh area, and we're thrilled to pull up a seat at the table with her, ask her some really, deep marketing questions, get to know her better. And, Laurie, thanks so much for joining us.

I'm happy to be here. Thanks for having me. You You guys have been killing it with the podcast, so excited to be a participant.

It's been a lot of fun having our loan officers on, and, we were you know, Rachel and I were talking before this one. We were really excited to start chatting with you and and diving a little bit. I mean, you're one of our largest producers in the Greater Pittsburgh area, Laurie, and you're really a leader in the space. But I think, you know, Rachel and I were talking, and we were curious, you know, how did you get into this business? How how did you get started? Give us give us some of the background on on why mortgages.

Okay. So I'm I'm gonna take you way back before I get into this because I don't think many people know this about me. So time to share. When I was growing up, my parents were convinced I would be a lawyer. I was one to argue argue like crazy. I still think I'm always right. That's maybe part of why I do so well. So I went off to college.

I went to UMass Amherst, and I ended up majoring in political economy, which is kind of a weird major, with the thought that I would move on to law school. And, upon graduation, I was invited to spend the summer at Martha's Vineyard. That summer turned into about four years at The Cape Bartending and waitressing, and, I'm sure my parents were about to die that my four year degree had kind of, I don't know. I just I'm one of those people that just didn't go back. I didn't go back to school. And I had a blast, and I loved it. I mean, talk about building communication skills. You know, I just I'm a people person.

I love talking to people. I love hearing their stories. And it's not that, like, bartending translated into mortgage, but I then moved to Boston and was like, I had an moment, I think, on The Cape. It was, like, fourth of July, and, of course, you're working every Friday, Saturday, Sunday. And it hit me that I wanna be the person that's getting waited on instead of the person waiting on everybody else. I was like, it's time for me to, like, go to the other side and stop. Yeah. You know? And so I like, back in the day k.

This is the nineteen nineties. You got a job with the want ads in the paper. K? That's how you did it. So I I got the Sunday Globe, the Boston Globe, and started circling ads. And I ended up I ended up working as a salesperson at a Porsche and Audi dealership in Boston. And it was cool. I know. So I sold cars, and I was in my twenties, young twenties, mid twenties.

I didn't know anything about what I was doing. I mean, I knew nothing. And they had me start on the Saturday morning. They were one of the only people that, like, I got an interview with, so I just jumped on it. I didn't even really think about it. I was just like, this is a job. I'm gonna do it. And, I had my first sales meeting.

It was 16 guys in me, Most of them older. Like, I was young. I was like I mean, I remember I had to go shopping for, like, a blazer. You know? I didn't I didn't have any professional I had nothing. And I cried the whole way home in the car. Like, I just bawled. It was like I faked it through that meeting, and everyone was sizing me up. And I was like, oh my god.

What have I done? What have I done? And I sobbed. And for some reason, I just I kept going back. I hated it at first. It was really hard. I had to learn absolutely everything about these crazy cars. I mean, driving a nine eleven when you've never driven one before is actually really hard. The pedal's really heavy. And I I studied my butt off, and I learned everything there was to know about these cars.

And I ended up being one of the top salespeople, in probably about six months. And I remember getting my w two that year. I never thought I could, like, make that much money, but that was not my passion or my long term career. But that is where I learned about, credit financing. I ended up doing some stuff in their finance department, which led me to analyzing credit and working on loans. Back then, we got credit reports on a shiny fax paper. Like, it would go back with, like, x's and o's. I mean,

it's just paper. It was

all paper. I mean, the fax machine was, like, a big deal. But what happened to me is, that led me to another job as an independent leasing consultant, and, I followed a boy to New York.

And

then, I followed a boy to New York. That didn't work out, and he was moving to Michigan, and I was, like, not doing that again. So I came to Pittsburgh and crashed on my sister's couch. I ended up, you know, applying for a job in mortgage with my background. And twenty five years later, here I am. I'm still in Pittsburgh. My family's in Pittsburgh. Like, this is where my life is now.

So it was a little, wasn't like you grow up saying I wanna be a mortgage broker or I wanna be a loan officer. But,

I think I think there's so many, there's so much to learn from that. I feel like there's so many loan officers and and people just in different categories and spaces where you have this vision of that. You're gonna go to college. You're gonna climb this corporate ladder or whatever and take a step up each time. And you end up finding out, and this has been similar to my journey too, Laurie, so I can relate to the to that story. And you're just on this kind of zigzag path that goes in all these different directions, might get you into different, you know, categories of business. But that's where you learn everything. Right? And, you know, also starting off in, you know, just that story of you being in the room with 16 other male salespeople.

I mean, that's an intimidating experience for a young woman. I mean, a lot of these financial categories, it's male dominated industries and, you know, you're a tough female who's, you know, rose to the top. So that's a pretty cool story. And it makes a lot of sense how you started there now knowing where you've come and where you are now.

Yeah. I mean yeah. It was it was, I felt like you know, someone once told me that if you can do that, you can do anything because that's a really hard job. And in Massachusetts, they didn't have any laws about being closed on Sundays. So, like, I'm crazy competitive. So I got every other Sunday off, but if you didn't come in, then you wouldn't, like, win the contest. So I was working, like, seven days away. So I was I guess I was born for this job.

It's sort of twenty four seven. But that was, like you know, I had zero zero experience doing that.

I think that's almost better sometimes. Right? You know? If you know what you're getting into, sometimes you're like, I'm not doing that. But if you just don't know, you know, that's why in our youth, when we're just, okay. I'll do it. I'll go for it. Yeah. You know, you don't know what you're jumping into. So but I I wanna back up because I think it's I think it's so interesting.

I wanna say that people who have been in sales are the most successful people, have usually started out in the restaurant industry in some fashion, you know, bartending, serving. Because really at the end of the day, what we do is serving. So if you can talk to people, if you can strike up conversation about anything, I wanna say that you're gonna be successful in sales.

I mean, the the what I love about my job and what I think, like, everyone's like, well, what's your superpower? And what, you know, what makes you different than someone else is, like, I love talking to my buyers and my borrowers. I love it. I love asking them, like, why are they moving? Why do they like what they do? How did they start doing this? I mean, my typical conversation with someone who's looking to buy a house is not five or ten minutes. It's it's a lot longer. And that it's funny. I remember, you know, because I've had all different leaders over the course of my twenty five year career, and I remember someone who I really respect him telling me, like, you gotta stop being so you have to stop staying on the phone for so long. Like, you need to put that all on your team. Stop having these long conversations.

You're not gonna hit your numbers if you don't, like, wrap it up. Keep it tight. Keep it that way. You know, there's probably a little bit of truth to that. Like, maybe I could do more business if I spent less time with people, but, like, that's not who I am. And I think that, you know, there's just so many different styles of I mean, we call it sales, but connection. And, I mean, they say women have more connectivity across their brains. It's a like a researchers have proven that, and I do think that makes me a better loan officer, like, undoubtedly.

Yeah. I I can see that. I mean, my husband's a software sales guy, Laurie, and he he'll be on calls for half an hour, hour. Next thing, he's talking about the Yankees. He's talking about sports. He's talking about hobbies, and I'm like, How long has this call been? But he he will relate to that and to your point and to your story that sometimes that's just what feels natural, and that's how, that style of selling I shouldn't even say it's selling, connecting, consulting occurs. And that's where you make those bonds and you build trust. And people want to buy from people that they like, know, and trust.

So I feel like it all goes hand in hand, and, and that's a really that's a really important, yeah, story to share.

In terms of the the connectivity and just the conversations I have, there are three women currently on my team. One's my processor and Paige and Nicole. We've been together for, like, almost seven years, us working together as a team. It took a long time. I I think that this is you know, I hate to stereotype, but in my experience being I I had a lot of trouble letting go of doing everything myself Mhmm. Sure. Because I felt like I'm the one that needs to talk to my clients all the time. I'm the one with all the experience.

It it's it's hard to let go of that. But if you do wanna be successful and you do wanna grow your business, you have to have a team, and you have to have a team that's going to that's going to work like you work. So Nicole and Paige have worked with me for so long, and what they did, you know, kind of just as we as I moved a little bit more into them taking calls now as well as just me, is they'll listen to my calls. Like, I'll tell someone, like, I you know, I have Nicole on the line. Is it okay if she listens to our conversation? And so they've heard how my style is never, what's your name, where do you live, where do you work? Like, I would I just would never do that. It's it's always, get to know the people a little bit. I think when you're financing a home, people are nervous before they talk to us. They're so nervous, and it is so personal.

I mean, we see their bank statements. They're I mean, we see everything. So if you can get someone to relax a little bit before you dig into the details that you really need, number one, you're gonna learn a little bit more about them. You're gonna find out what their goals are, but it also makes them feel a lot more comfortable when you have to have, you know, more detailed conversations about income and assets and even credit. I think I'm lucky to have, two women that, have been with me for so long that we're all there's you know, nobody's better than the other person. Like, we can all function with the same style, and that is really key. Really key.

Well, I know that you are a big believer, and we say this all the time, Corinne. Right? Your vibe attracts your tribe. I know that is something that you stand by and you live by. And I'm sure, you know, not not everybody's a fit for your team, and that's okay. But when you do find those people that you really connect with that that do wanna learn from you and that you can train and you have your style and that you really trust, that's marketing in itself. Right? Because what is marketing? At the end of the day, marketing is making sure that your reputation walks through the door before you do, that, you're getting your name out there and and bringing in more sales. Right?

And how how do you do that?

Making sure that you have a solid team is so huge. How long did it take you to to put this group together?

Years. It took years. I will say that, you know, for any women in mortgage out there that that's you know, maybe they're at a I don't know. They're at a 10,000,000 and they wanna get to 25. There's always these magic numbers we we have. There's, like, you know, the $5,000,000 producer wants to get to 10, and the 10 wants to get to 20, and the 50 wants to get to a hundred. You know? There's, like it's really hard to do without, advocating for assistance. And I worked at a place where I went in with one assistant, and there were several male colleagues of mine that had two or three assistants, and we were all doing the same amount of production.

I, like, I'll never forget the the day I set up a meeting with, you know, two people in leadership, and I I pitched that I need a second assistant. And, and, man, they said no. They said no, and I, again, I was pretty devastated. And then at first, I was upset, and then I got mad. And then I was like, you know what? Then this is all on me because if they're saying no, then I did not do my job presenting my case enough. I'm like, so this is up to me to to change their minds. Like, you know, maybe maybe they had a good reason to say no. You know? Instead of blaming them, which I did for a day, I said, you know what? This is all on me.

If I'm gonna turn this around, then I need to be more convincing. And I spent about a week putting together a presentation, and I insisted that we talk again. And when I was done, they were speechless. I mean, there were no words. No words. I got my second assistant.

And you got your second assistant. Look at that.

I did. And, you know, I you know, that's also years of experience. You know, when I was a younger loan officer, you know, I probably I maybe I just didn't have enough nerve or I hadn't found my voice, but it's really it can be really hard to advocate for yourself, to get support in especially a really big mortgage company. Like, that's just it's so important to do that and not to give up because, if I had given up, I probably woulda had a completely different year. And then, you know, the next year, I negotiated a third assistant. So I had I actually had more I had a bigger team. There was only one person, I think, where I used to work that had a team the size of mine, and he was, you know, just killing it. But it it took a lot of nerve and, and really planning.

But I

think also finding your voice is really one of those tidbits in what you just said there, Laurie. And I I do agree with you that Yeah. It can be challenging sometimes as a rising female and a male dominated industry to to find your voice. And you've really kind of nailed this space, and and we can see from your experience where a lot of it comes from. But I guess my question is, like, what would be your advice to younger female loan officers who are really trying to get into this industry, have a passion for this industry? Now having been through some cycles of this, what would be something that you would tell them or some advice you would give to them or maybe even something that you regret or a mistake that you made that you feel like you could, share with them?

I think, join join a team. Get a good mentor and join the team. I think that when I first got into this business, I had absolutely no training. I mean, it was just total sink or swim. I mean, sink or swim. I, you know, I I stuck it out and, obviously, I did okay. But if I look back at the first handful of years, those were kind of refi years. I didn't approach I mean, what's so funny now is, like, my favorite thing to do is to go into a real estate office and talk about mortgage, and I, you know, I could do that all day long every day.

I love doing that. But when I first got into the business, I remember walking into a real estate office and literally turning around and walking back out. Like, I was completely terrified that I did not I felt like I didn't have the knowledge and experience to be good enough to, like, march into this office. And it took me a while to switch from someone who did a lot of refis. Because when I first got into business, rates just started like, every year, they go down a little bit more. So it was like, you know, it was a lot of refinances. And purchases to me were, like, kinda scary. You know, I I guess if I had joined maybe a team where I had a really good mentor and somebody who shows you, like, how to market, how to talk to people, someone who's double checking your work so that, you know, when you submit a file, it doesn't fall apart because there's I mean, you know, the the the guidelines in mortgage are just ridiculous.

I mean, you could still probably screw up a guideline if you if you weren't careful. There's just all these weird little things between conventional purchase, FHA, VA, PHFA. I mean, you name it, and they change. So if you you can't master all of that when you first get into the business. So what happens is you might put in a file you're really excited about, and then you find out, like, that it doesn't work. You know? So I think joining a team is a great way to build your own career and and just learn a lot. Like, get a mentor. And I love doing that too.

Like, mentoring is really, really key. What else? Oh, Rachel, when you would ask me about, I love that quote, your when your your vibe attracts your tribe. Attracts your tribe.

Yes. I say it all the time. I love that.

I love it too. Actually, a woman I used to work with, is the one that kind of, like I think she's the first person I heard say that too, and I'm like, that is, like, words to live by. But I think too when when I market, you know, ideally on marketing, not necessarily individuals, like, those would be past clients that refer me business. Right? And that's, you know, obviously a huge part of my business, but a lot of my business does come from builders, realtors, and, is some financial advisors. And I think that the mistake that some loan officers make when they first get into this business is they wanna they wanna go for, like, the the big hitter agent. You know? They see they see these big names on these lists, and they wanna, like, go work with these top producers when a lot of your best referral partners are gonna be people that are really set on growing their business and might even be newer to the industry. Mhmm. And that's, again, that's the realtor that's doing two and a half million and wants to do 5 or 5,000,000.

If you wanna grow your business, you need to partner up with other people that are really committed to growing their business, that are hungry, that are ready to go the extra mile. Because, if you're not aligning yourself with someone who really wants to partner with you and grow together, I don't know if it's gonna be as rewarding.

I I really like that, and I just wanna repeat that for our listeners because there's a lot of good nuggets in there, Laurie. And I haven't heard that one yet, so I'd love to point out things I haven't heard. But if you wanna grow your business, partner with others that are trying to grow their business too. It's brilliant. It it is easy to always focus on the shiniest, largest Yeah. Team in the room instead of focusing on other people that might be at a level you're at or close to a level you're at and you're all talking the same language. You're all communicating what's in common and then you end up with this partner for life and you're growing year after year with them. And I can I can see how that makes a lot of sense and would make a lot of sense for a lot of loan officers? I wanna stick on marketing for a minute because you touched upon it, and we started kind of, dipping our tone in a little bit.

But since this is the creative brief, we've gotta cover something on marketing, and you do a lot of marketing and do a great job at it. I know you mentioned before, you've said this to me, that you feel like your marketing is more of a style than a routine. And I wanna kinda dig into that a little bit. Tell us about your style and how your approach is to marketing in general.

I know. That's a big question. And, you know, when when I agreed to come on here, I thought, my gosh. Like, I don't have Dave Holland will kill me for saying this, but no. But, like, I, I don't necessarily do the no. I don't necessarily do the same thing every day, but I've had the same style for years. I I think it's really important to go out into the real estate community and be really present and show up to any and all events possible. And when you walk around the room, you know, if there's a if there's an event with a hundred realtors, I think some people think I gotta get in there and need to talk to 25 people.

Like, I need to get in there and talk to everybody, get my cards out, like, you know, let's go hit up as many people as possible. I do the opposite. I wanna go and connect with a few people on a much different level and instead of, like, a whole bunch of people. And I think the way you have thoughtful conversation with other people in the business, whether they work with you or not, I think it's important. Like, that's your reputation. Like, I want, there are so many amazing realtors in Pittsburgh that I feel like I know really well and, would pick up the phone and have conversations with them anytime. Their loyalty is with another lender. I appreciate that.

I respect the loyalty. But, I wanna be the person that if they see my preapproval come across on their listing, they're like, thank god it's Laurie. Like, I'm so glad it's Laurie. So my my marketing has also just been my reputation, how I carry myself, how I talk to, how I talk to other agents, how I wanna be a resource and not just I'm not just asking for a referral and your buyers, but I'm also the person that's gonna pick up the phone and help you through a tough situation that I'm not even involved in. And I've done that for twenty five years, and I think that part of my marketing has been my my reputation. So you wanna be careful. Like, just because somebody is never gonna give you business, that doesn't mean that you don't still wanna connect with them, and you just you you always wanna be, like, your best self when you're out and about and communicating with anybody else in the industry. Even your title companies, like, I I think that, all of that carries a really long way.

And it's also, like, experience. Do you know what I mean? Like, I've been around here for long enough that I feel like part of my marketing is my experience. I I mean, I guess that's one facet. You're probably looking for something a little more I'm

noticing I'm noticing a theme, you know, and it's that that conversation, the reputation, yes, but the connection, obviously, I think is the theme of our of our show today.

Yeah. Yeah.

And and what I heard you say is that you go deeper, not wider. You know? People in sales, sometimes we wanna cast this wide net. But sometimes it's it's very important to cast that deep net because how many times you just said it. You're at a a networking event and you wanna hit talk to everybody, but then you've had 20 Yeah. Not meaningful conversations, mini conversations that at the end of the day, no one's going to remember versus if you can have two or three really good conversations. And when you do pick up the phone and call that person, they're gonna remember the impacts that you made on them. That's huge. That is huge.

I've had loan officers say to me at at events, like because I just can't help it. We tend to gravitate together and start chit chatting, you know, from other companies. I, you know, I can't talk to you. I need to go, like, make my rounds. I know so many other loan officers in Pittsburgh, and I feel like I have so much respect, and I have what I feel like are a lot of friendships and at least friendly acquaintances. Like, don't discount your relationships with other loan officers because there's always gonna be something that maybe you can do and they can't or they can do and you. I mean, that is, I mean, we swap around business all the time. And if you're someone that took the time to have a really good conversation with someone that works at another company, you know, they're probably gonna think of you first if they need help with something.

I just I think that's really important as well. So we talked a little bit about the vibe tribe analogy. Your vibe attracts your tribe. I am really thoughtful about who I approach to potentially be a referral partner with me. I think that, you know, you need to align yourself with people that you feel like maybe have the same style as you. I mean, I let's face it. A lot of the realtors I work with are probably moms. They're probably women, obviously, if they're moms.

Although I have some really, really amazing men that I have worked with for so many years, and what makes them so great is they are not the least bit phased by the fact that my marketing is so targeted to other women. My events, like, my annual my big annual event is a Galentine's, and none of the realtors that I work with that are men, they they could care less. Like, that they're not the least bit. I mean, they joke about, like, not being invited, you know, but they don't they're not, like, they're not gonna stop working with me because I I have this vibe out there on social media that, is certainly probably more directed towards women. I mean, that's what I am. That's Yeah. What I love, and I you know, I'm not gonna change that. I've had people comment, like, oh, do you think, like, you're gonna lose business because you're, like, talking about what a you know, women empowering women and supporting women.

And I'm like, am I, though? Really? No. Like No. It's really impressive. About that and you're not gonna work with me, then you probably shouldn't work with me.

And we need we need more women empowering women. So I love I absolutely love that. I think it's so important to especially aspire younger women who are entering the workforce. Right. Giving them tips and giving them advice and guidance and watching them shine. I mean, I'm feel passionate about it too, Laurie, so I think it's awesome.

Without a man signing. Yep.

So so a hundred and eighty five women. Like, so all of these women, if they weren't married or had a dad, they wouldn't have even been able to buy a house. Like, can you even imagine what that would do to our business and our industry? I mean so it is kinda cool when someone applies on their own, especially someone who's, like, going through a divorce because we get a lot of that, and they're like, oh, I'm so nervous. This is the first time applying on my own. When I tell them that, I'm like, well, my whole team is women. You know? We've got them they've all been through all different stages of life, you know, me being the oldest. They, like, they're they, like, let out a sigh. Like, that's great.

I mean, can I say

reassuring, and it allows people to

Yeah? Yeah. I

mean, it's just

I think we feel like a safe place. So and I and I I like that. That that's really helpful.

Laura, you've had a lot of success. Right? I mean, that's no that's no secret. You've talked about building a strong team, and I know recently you've had some of your largest years ever, which feel free to share any details you want. But my question is aside from building a team, what would you say are one of the largest or first top one, top two largest thing that has really helped you to have such a successful sales year? So we covered team. What else? Tell us a little bit more.

So I'm kinda funny. I don't think I don't think I'm the only person that says this, but every year, like, towards the end of the year, I think of a theme word for my year. And Well, this year, I'm sorry. Yeah. But this year. It's, it it this year's is a little boring. It's growth because I really wanna grow my team. I wanna grow not just my my team in numbers.

Like, I'd really love, someone that fits our vibe, male or female, to come join our team. And I also want, like, my team to always feel like they're growing in their roles. That's really important to me. I always wanna know, like, what do you wanna learn that you don't already do? I wanna make sure they stay engaged. You know? If you're doing the same thing every day, you'll lose engagement. So, my style of leadership is pretty pretty loose in terms of that. Like, I don't think I've ever gotten mad at anybody on my team that's worked for me, and we've all made mistakes. I make this we're not perfect.

So, again, hate to stereotype, so I'm gonna say I feel like as a woman in the mortgage industry, for many years, I was so concerned with the process being perfect that I didn't always reach my potential with numbers. I wanted everything to go really perfectly, and I felt like I noticed some of the really successful men that I worked with were just firing in all the business and figuring out later how to close it. Like, who cares? We're gonna close. Let's just hit the numbers. So my word for that year was application, and it was literally I'm not kidding you. I told my manager who was absolutely fantastic. He that year, every Friday, he would post how many applications we took that week, the whole company. How many applications.

And nothing motivates me like a contest.

Okay. You do like contests. I'm getting that.

I love it. I love the competition. Every Friday, he would post how many applications we took. And I just flipped the switch, and I was, like, determined to do one application a day no matter what. I needed seven by every Friday. And I had, my teammate that year, he did not stay with me on the long haul. Poor guy probably probably needed sleep. I think I stressed him out.

We were

working we were working. Like, Thursday nights, we'd go real hard trying to get people to, like, commit to the refi because I had to be at the top of that list on Friday. And I made it there were a couple of us that were neck and neck, but when I saw that I could put in more applications than anybody else in the whole company, like, I was like, I, like, I can't stop. So I went so hard that year. I closed 80,000,000 at the end of the year. And this was before I got my second assistant, so it was brutal. At the end of the year, I thought the only thing that I wanna not do next year is that. Like, it was it was it was it was horrible, but I did it.

So, you know, and it's it was tough. Like, I didn't have a lot of balance that year, and I did it. And the next year, I wanted more balance. So I I worked on the process, and I think we were almost as successful, but in just a more like, in such a better way. Mhmm. Just so much better. And then the year after that, it was follow-up because I realized that I left business on the table by not following up as well. So, like, you need to you know, no matter how great you're doing in your business, I think you need to listen to your team, listen to your heart, listen to your clients, listen to your realtors, and you you always need to do some revising because what strategy works one year might be might not be the right strategy for next year.

There's always gonna be tweaking. And I think that our team is like I think we've got that down now, and now we wanna grow. Like, we wanna grow. We wanna bring someone else in and and make it really special and probably ready to hit some higher numbers again. I hope.

I think that's I think that's pretty cool, you know, to see that journey of application to process, to follow-up to. I think there was probably one other one in the customer.

Me. Was you? It was me. I mean, I last year, I was really I took more vacation, and I spent more you know, this business is really if you're not accessible evenings and weekends, you will lose business. So that's why I think being on a team, even if you don't you're not ready to be a team lead, but you wanna be on a team, then you don't have to work every weekend. We're gonna we're gonna split that up for you so that you don't burn out. I burn out early on trying to be Superwoman, and I lost a lot of time with my family, just in my drive. It was unstoppable. And, you know, what I learned as I grew through my business is that, you know, balance is really important.

Sometimes you figure it out a little too late. But last year, I think we'd had a great year, and I spent a little bit more time doing stuff for me. So that was that was a win.

Well and then this year, it's about the growth and putting and and you never really leave any word behind. So you you have those words that are wrong for the journey with you, but to make it that process and and always leveling up. I'm a big believer in iron sharpens iron, and I guess that goes along with your vibe attracts your tribe. Right? Making sure you surround yourself with the right people that will hold you accountable and keep you on that path of of growth. So now that we know and everybody at home listening knows that growth is the name of the game for the the Laurie Nelson team this year. Who's out there? Who's out there? We gotta find you some, some people that help grow your team and and grow what you're doing. And, this has been awesome. You you really let us down a lot of different avenues, and Mhmm.

And I love that. That's what this is all about. It's not cookie cutter in our industry. Really, any sales industry, but especially in the mortgage industry, it cannot be cookie cutter.

I I do feel like, that the events, like my Galentine's event, is something that is special to the people that come, and it is not about I don't talk about mortgages. I don't it's no lunch and learn. It is literally, like, there's no structure. You show up, you mingle, you talk to other women, and you, you know, you just it's really just like a treat. And, you know, hopefully, I can afford to grow that, that guest list because there's always more people I would love to invite. But, you know,

And you just had that, and it looked like such a great event.

It did. And that was like you know, it started as something smaller, like a luncheon, something a little bit smaller with a more intimate bunch of women. And I had a couple bring people bring friends and just say that that felt really special to them. So, yeah, like, that's I guess that's gonna be kind of my signature event each year. I think that experience brings calm. It's Mhmm. So hard to work in this industry if you're not calm and if things are blowing up and you know, it's just, I commend anybody that's new to the business that's doing it on their own because it is it's tough and it's unforgiving. And if I could go back and tell my old self something, it would be, like, calm down and slow down.

You know?

Sure. It's good advice. Calm down and slow down.

A good friend of mine said once they're loans, not lives. You know?

Yeah. They're yeah. I like that.

I probably needed to adapt that in my earlier days, and now, like, what I love about my job is just it's I feel so calm. Like, I just it's a calm it's a whole just different world when you've been doing it for twenty five years.

Finding it in the calm finding it in marketing. Oh, yes. Right?

It it does, though. But that spills into marketing. It spills into confidence and, you know, like, do I think I'm the best? I do. Like, when I sit down in front of someone, I truly believe, like, I'm the best, and that came with years of mistakes and and growing and coaching and now confidence. And that's, you know, that's something that's hard to to do on your own is all.

I love it. I love it. And I feel like if you hear the click clacking of heels

No. Sure.

Listeners. It is team Laurie Nelson

coming out. Now I'm

I I really appreciated this, Laurie. I think you did too, Rach. This was just

a lot

of great storytelling and great moments. And, guys, we'd love for you guys to like, subscribe, share, and we'll have more good stuff coming at you. But thank you for joining us today on the creative brief with team Laurie Nelson.

This was so fun. You two were the bomb too.