It seems I’m stuck on the letter P; last week it was Purpose and Planning and Performance, yesterday Pragmatism. The comments on Pragmatism were from Dave Moore’s new book, “The Last Men’s Book You’ll Every Need.” And though Mr. Findley might disagree, Dave does not throw women under the bus and all genders will enjoy the read!

Today I’m thinking about Persistence, Performance, Principles, Prayer, and Priorities. And Patience. But, I’ll concentrate for the moment on Persistence and ask you to remember the trip we’ve been on the past few months.

While Scott was discussing the WebLender problem, I was reminded of the date “October 23, 1998.” This was the date AmeriNet was first approved with HUD. I know that date, not necessarily from memory but because I went that night (10/28/1998) and bought newspapers; Wall Street Journal, NY Times, Baron’s, Dallas Morning News, Austin American Statesman, etc. When I look across my desk, these newspapers, along with a few from other special dates, set just above eye level. Its interesting how I can absently look at that stack and what comes to me about the last nine years. I believe I bought those newspapers, even at a whim, because I wanted a reminder of the beginning of this trip. I wanted to be able to think forward and be able to look back on that date and be reminded of where we’d come. It’s also interesting as to what was going on in the world at that time (and what is irrelevant, but that’s another thought entirely).

I wasn’t sure where we were going, who all would be going with me, or what horse I would be riding. I wasn’t sure even who “we’d” be. I was just praying that I would make this trip better than those in the past. At this point, it had been 3 years since I had written my personal mission statement and around 5 years into the “I’ll be the same 5 years from now as…..” process. I was even learning more about what “better” really meant. Still am.

Thinking back now (remembering the trip), it has been a good. Would I want to do it again? Not really. Would I change some things if I could do them over? You bet. And I will change some things as I do them over. Oswald Chambers states how repetitive life is and that “God will keep putting us through the same thing time and time again until we get it right.” I call it the ground-hog day syndrome (think back to the Bill Murray movie).

What would I change? Or, what will I change?

Me. I’ll pray and work for a better me. I’ll continue paying attention to 1. with whom I hang out, 2. what I watch and listen, and 3. what I read. A few years ago I started working on ways to be more Persistence. This came during the time I was learning Patience through woodworking (another story). I can learn Persistence in part just be being repetitive. This is not something that comes natural considering all the Louis L’Amour westerns I devoured at an early age. Cowboys had to change up their schedule everyday or risk being ambushed!

One of my Persistence practices is reading Proverbs and Psalms everyday (almost). This gives me a sense of being repetitive and having a since of Persistence. I also learn more by revisiting these same words month after month. This is the same reason I re-read parts of books over and over again. And why I read biographies and time-tested books. I want to learn from the mistakes and triumphs of others. Persistence gives me the ability to evaluate and correct without new things being thrown in unnecessarily – or at least it allows for a few certains. Persistence helps set boundaries I can work within.

I applaud you for your Persistence. Let’s not grow weary. Be sure you are rested; insure you take time to re-energize and refresh.

I applaud John Cox and Roy for taking a breather. You have done a great job with the added accounting demands these past months and now you’ve got an audit coming up.

Carmen and Jessica. I applaud you for your Persistence through the LSSI issues, again. I know you want to scream and I Pray that you don’t take this out on your families.

Ruth. The files just don’t get any better do they? I applaud you for keeping on keeping on.

Folks, we have some good momentum going into our new fiscal year. Think back over our trip; remember the trip, the changes, the faults, the defeats, the victories. Thank God for the challenges and blessings.

I pray for Persistence through my agenda this week.

God Bless,

Danny

Our locked pipeline
What does it look like?
We took 268 GMAC locks last week (Jason and Curtis - Thanks for your Persistence)
We expect to fund 50-75% of these loans
Curtis was able to finish the input to ProLender on Tuesday and we’ll start running reports to validate our pipeline
What are the Real loans? We are holding the loan officer and processor’s feet to the fire for good submissions. Approximately 30% of are being rejected for underwriting and the LO/processor is being told to complete the processing and resubmit a complete file. Those rejected go into the shred bin. (now that’s a change!)
ProLender Steadily working through the kinks (thanks John and Scott…you are awesome).
File Flow Process
How are the changes we made last week working? there are some bumps and grinds but it appears to be working well. We’ll have a better idea after WebLender gets the kinks worked out
Robust evaluation and correction of changes we made last week
How are the changes we made last week in the working? Some of us are exchanging emails and clarifying and testing how this is working. The periodic announcements you see via email is also helping to communicate the changes and to remind us all of new habits we need to develop
Warehouse line turn-over ratio
Are we getting files shipped as fast as possible? I’ll be talking to Kandy and Mary today about any additional help they need; chasing packages, stacking, etc.
Are the recent quick purchases at trend? No good answer yet
Review of the Corporate Branch/Processing Center’s processes (Mark and I are meeting this afternoon)
Position Contracts
Work flows
Loan Officer performance
Notification to existing loan officers of change we are making with whom we will be working with in the future
Release of memo about what level loan officers we are now working with (this will happen after the meeting today)
Training and Equipping
21 Minutes class today is on the Law of Respect. This covers the 5 levels of leadership. Great class – we discussed this week Deborah and the Law of Respect. Did I mention Persistence?
Note: please review these levels. What level are you on? 360 degrees? How are you influencing across?
The Call: a discussion group will begin Tuesday night – 6 to 7pm – to discuss the book “The Call,” by Os Guiness
What does it mean to “be Called and not driven?” We had a group of 8 that met. Hopefully they’ll all come back next week.
I will send out a separate email asking for your list of meetings you attend on a regular basis
Note: this is one important area in which we have improved during this “crisis” time. Thanks to those I’ve received back. I’ll be posting a list of meetings so you can all see who is meeting and when to help with planning
AUS strategy scenarios. Though we’ve slowed down the emphasis for a few days, this is not on the back burner. I’m very concerned that we Persist through our existing pipeline for a few more days until we are sure what we have and don’t have.
Training Sunne is ready with to test her training materials. Once we are ready, we’ll have training schedule within 2 or 3 days. Much of it can be done on-line.
Reports Paul has determined what reports we’ll use to track the AUS
DU or LP not sure yet, but we are leaning towards DU except on certain file types (self-employed – LP)
Pull-Throughs
Approved: submitted vs approved we are currently looking at a 75% benchmark, though it will likely start out at 50. 75% though by July 1.
Funded: approved vs funded 85% pull-through
Overall and by AE see above

Again, God Bless.