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.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
My agenda yesterday was:
Our locked pipeline
What does it look like?
What are the Real loans?
How are the changes we made last week working?
Robust evaluation and correction of changes we made last week
How are the changes we made last week in the working?
Warehouse line turn-over ratio
What has it been?
Are the recent quick purchases at trend?
Review of the Corporate Branch/Processing Center’s processes
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
Training and Equipping
21 Minutes class today is on the Law of Respect. This covers the 5 levels of leadership.
Note: please review these levels. What level are you on? 360 degrees?
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?”
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.
AUS strategy scenarios
Training
Reports
Pull-Throughs
Approved: submitted vs approved
Funded: approved vs funded
Overall and by AE
I seemed to have drifted quite a bit because I was only Purposeful about 1. the 21 Minutes class, 2. a sneaker meeting with Scott about ProLender, 3. a few emails, and 4. a couple of discussions about warehouse lines. Well, I was Purposeful about drifting.
So, today, I’ll attempt to pay attention to the points above, plus warehouse lines and ProLender and some hiring practices. I’ll be sending some of you emails about specifics.
One thought though (more of a “reflecting forward” thing)….
Pragmatism is defined as “the idea that if something works, then do it.” Good behavior could be defined as “neglecting pragmatism and doing something because it is right, not because it works.
Danny
Our locked pipeline
What does it look like?
What are the Real loans?
How are the changes we made last week working?
Robust evaluation and correction of changes we made last week
How are the changes we made last week in the working?
Warehouse line turn-over ratio
What has it been?
Are the recent quick purchases at trend?
Review of the Corporate Branch/Processing Center’s processes
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
Training and Equipping
21 Minutes class today is on the Law of Respect. This covers the 5 levels of leadership.
Note: please review these levels. What level are you on? 360 degrees?
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?”
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.
AUS strategy scenarios
Training
Reports
Pull-Throughs
Approved: submitted vs approved
Funded: approved vs funded
Overall and by AE
I seemed to have drifted quite a bit because I was only Purposeful about 1. the 21 Minutes class, 2. a sneaker meeting with Scott about ProLender, 3. a few emails, and 4. a couple of discussions about warehouse lines. Well, I was Purposeful about drifting.
So, today, I’ll attempt to pay attention to the points above, plus warehouse lines and ProLender and some hiring practices. I’ll be sending some of you emails about specifics.
One thought though (more of a “reflecting forward” thing)….
Pragmatism is defined as “the idea that if something works, then do it.” Good behavior could be defined as “neglecting pragmatism and doing something because it is right, not because it works.
Danny
Monday, April 7, 2008
Good Morning,
I remember a few Mondays ago, in a 1006, sharing how I had left on Friday afternoon, not wondering if we needed to lay-off some people due to loan volumes and other problems, but praying about who those people would be. Yet, as the weekend progressed, I felt God moving me more towards resolving overall performance problems; Alethes needed people who were performing; we needed people getting good results; I needed people working together. Though our industry was constricting and changing, our problems weren’t really because of that. Our problems were because of people performance problems. Our problems were because of us not getting results we needed with our own performance.
On Monday morning, I had zero doubt; Alethes needed performance and if I did not get 360 degree Performance, the lay-offs that day would not be near enough.
We became Purposeful and began focusing on Performance and the Results have been Inspiring. What has been extremely Exciting has been the Intensity with which we’ve worked together in meetings. This is not surprising considering how Lencioni tells us that it is through an emergency that you really find out about your team’s ability to perform; one of his examples of a team that always performs well (if it has the right people) is a hospital emergency room.
The test for us now is to continue to perform well; our emergency status is still at “urgent and important.”
The trick is to then keep that “crisis management mode” behavior instilled in ourselves. We can’t apathetically lay back and let things “float along” ever again.
My focus is on INTENT.
Covey writes that “intent is a matter of the heart.” He further describes how Intent is about motive, agenda, and behavior.
My heart is focused on the INTENT to improve the performance of Alethes through you, the people of Alethes. We can have all the systems, strategies, scenarios, processes, products, and technologies that money can buy, but if we don’t have Performing People the spent money is a waste.
My agenda today will particularly pay attention to:
Our locked pipeline
What does it look like?
What are the Real loans?
How are the changes we made last week working?
Robust evaluation and correction of changes we made last week
How are the changes we made last week in the working?
Warehouse line turn-over ratio
What has it been?
Are the recent quick purchases at trend?
Review of the Corporate Branch/Processing Center’s processes
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
Training and Equipping
21 Minutes class today is on the Law of Respect. This covers the 5 levels of leadership.
Note: please review these levels. What level are you on? 360 degrees?
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?”
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.
AUS strategy scenarios
Training
Reports
Pull-Throughs
Approved: submitted vs approved
Funded: approved vs funded
Overall and by AE
Undoubtedly, I’ll be asking questions about ProLender or expenses or hiring practices or….?
But, as we go about today, let’s behave our way into continued performance,
Danny
I remember a few Mondays ago, in a 1006, sharing how I had left on Friday afternoon, not wondering if we needed to lay-off some people due to loan volumes and other problems, but praying about who those people would be. Yet, as the weekend progressed, I felt God moving me more towards resolving overall performance problems; Alethes needed people who were performing; we needed people getting good results; I needed people working together. Though our industry was constricting and changing, our problems weren’t really because of that. Our problems were because of people performance problems. Our problems were because of us not getting results we needed with our own performance.
On Monday morning, I had zero doubt; Alethes needed performance and if I did not get 360 degree Performance, the lay-offs that day would not be near enough.
We became Purposeful and began focusing on Performance and the Results have been Inspiring. What has been extremely Exciting has been the Intensity with which we’ve worked together in meetings. This is not surprising considering how Lencioni tells us that it is through an emergency that you really find out about your team’s ability to perform; one of his examples of a team that always performs well (if it has the right people) is a hospital emergency room.
The test for us now is to continue to perform well; our emergency status is still at “urgent and important.”
The trick is to then keep that “crisis management mode” behavior instilled in ourselves. We can’t apathetically lay back and let things “float along” ever again.
My focus is on INTENT.
Covey writes that “intent is a matter of the heart.” He further describes how Intent is about motive, agenda, and behavior.
My heart is focused on the INTENT to improve the performance of Alethes through you, the people of Alethes. We can have all the systems, strategies, scenarios, processes, products, and technologies that money can buy, but if we don’t have Performing People the spent money is a waste.
My agenda today will particularly pay attention to:
Our locked pipeline
What does it look like?
What are the Real loans?
How are the changes we made last week working?
Robust evaluation and correction of changes we made last week
How are the changes we made last week in the working?
Warehouse line turn-over ratio
What has it been?
Are the recent quick purchases at trend?
Review of the Corporate Branch/Processing Center’s processes
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
Training and Equipping
21 Minutes class today is on the Law of Respect. This covers the 5 levels of leadership.
Note: please review these levels. What level are you on? 360 degrees?
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?”
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.
AUS strategy scenarios
Training
Reports
Pull-Throughs
Approved: submitted vs approved
Funded: approved vs funded
Overall and by AE
Undoubtedly, I’ll be asking questions about ProLender or expenses or hiring practices or….?
But, as we go about today, let’s behave our way into continued performance,
Danny
Friday, April 4, 2008
Thursday, April 3, 2008
I’d like to talk at length about QBQ, Good-to-Great, Silos/Politics/Turf Wars, The Secret, The Contrarian Leader, The Calling, Death by Meeting, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Boundaries, Scenario Planning, How to Win Friends and Influence People, The Speed of Trust, The Other Six Days, Developing the Leader Within, throw in a few Proverbs, the book of Colossians…and a host of others.
But, today needs to be about settling down and focusing on the tasks at hand. Definitely reflect on what your past has taught you, but focus on the real task at hand.
Today needs to be about taking deeeeeeeep breaths. Pray for strength, discernment and patience.
Remember, we are people. We are going to let each other down. We are going to struggle. The work is not easy. We are grown-ups and should know better - but we don’t. Tomato to you is tomato to me (say each differently). Know that it takes work to work together. We are people.
Working with each other is kind of like stumping your toe in the middle of the night; you’re not expecting it – and it hurts. But you know, it’s suppose to hurt. And you weren’t expecting it.
We’re working with people.
Strength comes best from conflict. Learn from conflict. Let it bind together, not tear apart.
Don’t become obsessed over the minors. Choose your battles; rarely is there one worth bleeding over, even emotionally.
Take deep breaths.
Don’t become diverted from the real work.
Help each other. Lend a hand. Say something nice; even when it hurts.
Stay focused on being a team.
Let’s build the wall.
Danny
But, today needs to be about settling down and focusing on the tasks at hand. Definitely reflect on what your past has taught you, but focus on the real task at hand.
Today needs to be about taking deeeeeeeep breaths. Pray for strength, discernment and patience.
Remember, we are people. We are going to let each other down. We are going to struggle. The work is not easy. We are grown-ups and should know better - but we don’t. Tomato to you is tomato to me (say each differently). Know that it takes work to work together. We are people.
Working with each other is kind of like stumping your toe in the middle of the night; you’re not expecting it – and it hurts. But you know, it’s suppose to hurt. And you weren’t expecting it.
We’re working with people.
Strength comes best from conflict. Learn from conflict. Let it bind together, not tear apart.
Don’t become obsessed over the minors. Choose your battles; rarely is there one worth bleeding over, even emotionally.
Take deep breaths.
Don’t become diverted from the real work.
Help each other. Lend a hand. Say something nice; even when it hurts.
Stay focused on being a team.
Let’s build the wall.
Danny
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Yesterday was a whirlwind. I look back over my emails and notes of meetings and if you’re day was like mine and it very likely was….it’s a wonder we aren’t all schitzo.
I mean, the emotions went from “let’s be cool as we spin up ProLender to oh no I’m running late to wow we made it through another year, to…I wonder if we’ll make our equity requirements, to,….Kelley, sure, set down, tell me what you’re thinking and good thoughts, let’s discuss, to…we’ve got to concentrate on these loans we’ve got in our pipeline, to…what is the real pipeline, to…Chas/Paul – get the AEs in the rest of the week to help work these loans, to…ok everyone needs to take a deep breath, to…hmmm, can we really clean out this pipeline in an orderly fashion, to…well, we’ve got another personnel problem, to, cool pictures from Cathy’s birthday party. Do I really look that fat?, to…how is everyone taking to ProLender? I better make the rounds, to…laughing about a joke Paul said about Kelley and Kelley threatening Chas (just for good measure), to…walking in on a discussion about the TIL calculation in ProLender (it doesn’t calculate), to…let’s write our own program to calc it!, to….uh oh, how is Scott and John doing?, to…uh oh, to….wow, that granddaughter (looking at picture) sure looks cute with her grandfather, to….writing this program was a really stupid idea, to….was Woody in here a minute ago, to….writing this program to calculate TILs was a really stupid idea, to….where did John Glen go? I’ve got to talk about some loan officer hiring details, to…I’m going to beat Cunningham if he and whoever he’s with is laughing at me about this TIL calc program, to….what does HUD mean when they say “beginning balance is same as previous balance in first month and multiply times 12 and then divide by 12? HUH?, to….I’ll beat him for good measure, to…uh oh, that’s Cynthia looking for me, I’m sure Woody asked me to do something, to….oh! I see what HUD is saying in these 10 pages of instructions to write a TIL calc, to…don’t I have someone that can do this for me?, to….oh, I think Cynthia just told me that I needed to sign the warehouse extension and John Cox would be in to get it this afternoon, to….not now Chas, to…I can’t get this to work, there’s a bug, where’s Cunningham? Did he think I was serious when I said to give me some time?!, to…sure let’s talk about what Calling really means, to, yes Austen, I know I said we were going to have those IDs for DU today, but I’ve not gotten with Paul on a couple of things and we need to discuss some more strategy about how we’re going spin up the AUS agenda, to…hmmm there it is (the other bug), now I’m ready for Bryon (he’s not Cunningham for now), to wow, its after lunch and Jason is here and I haven’t even talked to him yet, I wonder how he’s holding up, to….well now Bryon and I are both stumped…the HUD example works, but not a real file out of Datatrac/LSSI --- AH HA GMAC was wrong the whole time – they ‘ve had us running all over the place chasing TILs and they were wrong! I knew it I knew it!, to….oh, that’s the problem, P&I / (1+0.225) is a calc from 1998 and the MIP in 1998 was 2.25 – it is now 1.50 so we substitute the 0.0225 for 0.0150 ---- ta DA – it works – let’s send this to ProLender – hey Roy, can you show me how to hide and protect these certain cells!, to “Jason, how’s it going” where’s Curtis? Oh, you told him to stay at Lock-In Central/Ground Zero.” Good move. How are you doing? 500 registrations last week? Wow. (uh oh..guldp),…..to Scott, John, how’s it going? Remember, we all just people – we’re not techies – (yes, I know techies are people too), to you’re welcome for lunch (it wasn’t necessarily kindness, I just wanted to feed you to get blood back in your face), to…(should I tell Bryon I thought about beating him), to…not now Chas, to….. Oh man, I haven’t looked at emails in 3 hours and I sent that email out this morning about File Submissions..do I want to look?, to….whoops, ticked that guy off! Return email; no sir – I think you are upset because you think I was directing this email specifically to you. This was a blast email that went to all Alethes employees and clients. We use a fancy program that makes it look personal (errrr). Yes, I’m sure you do submit a very clean file. Thank you., to…..ok, I understand we’re back to DataTrac on some redraws and the PL to LSSI problem is maybe limited to just files that had been run DT to LSSI first, to…yes Gail, I will start wearing my glasses at all times (private joke), to…where’s John Glenn (he really went to hear an economist speak at luch? And he was excited about it), to…Cathy, Chas!! I don’t want to hear anymore about stinking coffee, to…that’s it, I’m going to make a BUTT of myself about the cost of coffee – and speaking of coffee, why do we have to have a special water fountain, can’t we just drink tap water. Good grief, to…ok – Scott and John looking much better – the day’s almost done – thank you Lord. Whoops. I haven’t prayed in hours. Oh, and I’ve got a luncheon Thursday about integrating business leaders and the church – oh yea, I need to reschedule my “session” with Dave. Oh yea, he’s coming by later to pick something up, to…yea, no problem, we can change the wording on the TIL calc from something loan amount to Loan Amount: with UMIP. If that works, no problem, to,…good looking grandkids, to….ok, how’s everyone doing with ProLender – deep breaths, that’s ok, Rome wasn’t built in a day – work through supervisors – we can’t wear IT out on minor things – Lord, I pray that you give Scott and John strength, help them remember we’re all just people and some can get emotional. Remember Danny, this has nothing to do with your salvation, that’s done OK. Ok. Deep breath. Scott’s loosing color again, but he’s walking around, to…hmmm, hope I wasn’t rude to Woody earlier – my head was spinning with that calculation, to….everyone needs to know that Paul is hording coffee in his desk…good grief, I detest Starbuck’s coffee and I’ve been spending how much on it? I really do think they put drugs in to get people hooked. The price is ridiculous, to….that’s good (what’s good? – don’t know, I lost my train of thought), to…Paul, I need to meet about AUSes, I know I told you we’d do it this morning but I had the TIL calc that I let myself get involved in – pretty cool thing though, let me tell you all about it, to,,,,, ok we’ve got to get our head into the AUSes and what our strategy is so that we have files to fund in May and beyond. Ok, here’s what Bryon and I have been talking about – see this proposed org chart, we’re going to…..,, never mind, we can’t get in too deep on future stuff because I don’t want everyone thinking too much in the future because we’ve got to get today’s files worked. (wow, Lord, you’re giving us the opportunity to start out this fiscal year with a big bang of profits – I pray that we don’t mess it up – give me wisdom and discernment), to,…Paul, I thought you had to leave at 5 to work out? It’s 5:30 – you were looking for an excuse not to sweat. Bryon said you ate enough for 3 people today at lunch. The secret too weight loss is Eat Less – Move More, to…let’s look at the reports tomorrow morning and we’ll start the AEs chasing AUSes run in March and see if we can get our pull through up to 50%.to….ok Guys, let’s practice “be blunt – be gone” the red brick stuff, I want to leave before 7 tonight. Wait, let’s talk to Roy about how we chased DUs back in the Irwiin days, to…its about time to pull all the ex-Irwin types in to help us shed some light on what we did to have a 86% pull through, to…I’ve got to check to be sure Scott and John haven’t turned on each other, to…Cathy? Brandi? Are they still working on that 5% rule?, to…did Mark tell we funded 15 loans from the processing center last month? – AWESOME – that’s the best month in some time, to, cool, we got a ProLender to LSSI doc set out. Awesome, and they are working on another one. Thank you Lord. Pray for the next, to…AWESOME, JohnB has left at a decent hour tonight. Thank God for Ben being here to help. Thank you Lord for all the hard work going on, to…Cathy, I’m done and headed to the truck to read or nap, to, well Jason, how was today? I need to come your way in the next few days so we can set and talk about the AUSes and what that looks like from your end. Bryon says that he’s got some reports out of PL that can help us run better numbers. Lara run 112 AUSes in 4 days last week with a 60% approval and 25 were below 580 and 5 of those were approved. We are running more numbers to see how that holds ups, to, how did Cathy beat me to the truck – well, that worked out good – she drove the truck down to the front, though I could use the exercise, to…hey babe, how was your day, to…what’s for supper, to….wow, I forgot about that other REO – did we get the people out of the house? – I’m glad Cynthia is paying attention to that thing. Uh oh…she called me earlier. I need to call her back tomorrow, to….wow, everyone sure looked tired. What a day. Phone went dead. Good. I am not going to gouge myself tonight while watching CSI reruns.
(dang, I feel bad this morning). Lord, what do you have planned for me today?
Sound famailiar? J
Today? Focusing on what we need to change to get these loans through the system, what people can we move around, are we hiring good and ethical loan officers, how to spin up AUSes for May 15th, and what I can do to help with ProLender.
Don’t worry about tomorrow, today has enough problems of its own!
Buckle-up,
Danny
I mean, the emotions went from “let’s be cool as we spin up ProLender to oh no I’m running late to wow we made it through another year, to…I wonder if we’ll make our equity requirements, to,….Kelley, sure, set down, tell me what you’re thinking and good thoughts, let’s discuss, to…we’ve got to concentrate on these loans we’ve got in our pipeline, to…what is the real pipeline, to…Chas/Paul – get the AEs in the rest of the week to help work these loans, to…ok everyone needs to take a deep breath, to…hmmm, can we really clean out this pipeline in an orderly fashion, to…well, we’ve got another personnel problem, to, cool pictures from Cathy’s birthday party. Do I really look that fat?, to…how is everyone taking to ProLender? I better make the rounds, to…laughing about a joke Paul said about Kelley and Kelley threatening Chas (just for good measure), to…walking in on a discussion about the TIL calculation in ProLender (it doesn’t calculate), to…let’s write our own program to calc it!, to….uh oh, how is Scott and John doing?, to…uh oh, to….wow, that granddaughter (looking at picture) sure looks cute with her grandfather, to….writing this program was a really stupid idea, to….was Woody in here a minute ago, to….writing this program to calculate TILs was a really stupid idea, to….where did John Glen go? I’ve got to talk about some loan officer hiring details, to…I’m going to beat Cunningham if he and whoever he’s with is laughing at me about this TIL calc program, to….what does HUD mean when they say “beginning balance is same as previous balance in first month and multiply times 12 and then divide by 12? HUH?, to….I’ll beat him for good measure, to…uh oh, that’s Cynthia looking for me, I’m sure Woody asked me to do something, to….oh! I see what HUD is saying in these 10 pages of instructions to write a TIL calc, to…don’t I have someone that can do this for me?, to….oh, I think Cynthia just told me that I needed to sign the warehouse extension and John Cox would be in to get it this afternoon, to….not now Chas, to…I can’t get this to work, there’s a bug, where’s Cunningham? Did he think I was serious when I said to give me some time?!, to…sure let’s talk about what Calling really means, to, yes Austen, I know I said we were going to have those IDs for DU today, but I’ve not gotten with Paul on a couple of things and we need to discuss some more strategy about how we’re going spin up the AUS agenda, to…hmmm there it is (the other bug), now I’m ready for Bryon (he’s not Cunningham for now), to wow, its after lunch and Jason is here and I haven’t even talked to him yet, I wonder how he’s holding up, to….well now Bryon and I are both stumped…the HUD example works, but not a real file out of Datatrac/LSSI --- AH HA GMAC was wrong the whole time – they ‘ve had us running all over the place chasing TILs and they were wrong! I knew it I knew it!, to….oh, that’s the problem, P&I / (1+0.225) is a calc from 1998 and the MIP in 1998 was 2.25 – it is now 1.50 so we substitute the 0.0225 for 0.0150 ---- ta DA – it works – let’s send this to ProLender – hey Roy, can you show me how to hide and protect these certain cells!, to “Jason, how’s it going” where’s Curtis? Oh, you told him to stay at Lock-In Central/Ground Zero.” Good move. How are you doing? 500 registrations last week? Wow. (uh oh..guldp),…..to Scott, John, how’s it going? Remember, we all just people – we’re not techies – (yes, I know techies are people too), to you’re welcome for lunch (it wasn’t necessarily kindness, I just wanted to feed you to get blood back in your face), to…(should I tell Bryon I thought about beating him), to…not now Chas, to….. Oh man, I haven’t looked at emails in 3 hours and I sent that email out this morning about File Submissions..do I want to look?, to….whoops, ticked that guy off! Return email; no sir – I think you are upset because you think I was directing this email specifically to you. This was a blast email that went to all Alethes employees and clients. We use a fancy program that makes it look personal (errrr). Yes, I’m sure you do submit a very clean file. Thank you., to…..ok, I understand we’re back to DataTrac on some redraws and the PL to LSSI problem is maybe limited to just files that had been run DT to LSSI first, to…yes Gail, I will start wearing my glasses at all times (private joke), to…where’s John Glenn (he really went to hear an economist speak at luch? And he was excited about it), to…Cathy, Chas!! I don’t want to hear anymore about stinking coffee, to…that’s it, I’m going to make a BUTT of myself about the cost of coffee – and speaking of coffee, why do we have to have a special water fountain, can’t we just drink tap water. Good grief, to…ok – Scott and John looking much better – the day’s almost done – thank you Lord. Whoops. I haven’t prayed in hours. Oh, and I’ve got a luncheon Thursday about integrating business leaders and the church – oh yea, I need to reschedule my “session” with Dave. Oh yea, he’s coming by later to pick something up, to…yea, no problem, we can change the wording on the TIL calc from something loan amount to Loan Amount: with UMIP. If that works, no problem, to,…good looking grandkids, to….ok, how’s everyone doing with ProLender – deep breaths, that’s ok, Rome wasn’t built in a day – work through supervisors – we can’t wear IT out on minor things – Lord, I pray that you give Scott and John strength, help them remember we’re all just people and some can get emotional. Remember Danny, this has nothing to do with your salvation, that’s done OK. Ok. Deep breath. Scott’s loosing color again, but he’s walking around, to…hmmm, hope I wasn’t rude to Woody earlier – my head was spinning with that calculation, to….everyone needs to know that Paul is hording coffee in his desk…good grief, I detest Starbuck’s coffee and I’ve been spending how much on it? I really do think they put drugs in to get people hooked. The price is ridiculous, to….that’s good (what’s good? – don’t know, I lost my train of thought), to…Paul, I need to meet about AUSes, I know I told you we’d do it this morning but I had the TIL calc that I let myself get involved in – pretty cool thing though, let me tell you all about it, to,,,,, ok we’ve got to get our head into the AUSes and what our strategy is so that we have files to fund in May and beyond. Ok, here’s what Bryon and I have been talking about – see this proposed org chart, we’re going to…..,, never mind, we can’t get in too deep on future stuff because I don’t want everyone thinking too much in the future because we’ve got to get today’s files worked. (wow, Lord, you’re giving us the opportunity to start out this fiscal year with a big bang of profits – I pray that we don’t mess it up – give me wisdom and discernment), to,…Paul, I thought you had to leave at 5 to work out? It’s 5:30 – you were looking for an excuse not to sweat. Bryon said you ate enough for 3 people today at lunch. The secret too weight loss is Eat Less – Move More, to…let’s look at the reports tomorrow morning and we’ll start the AEs chasing AUSes run in March and see if we can get our pull through up to 50%.to….ok Guys, let’s practice “be blunt – be gone” the red brick stuff, I want to leave before 7 tonight. Wait, let’s talk to Roy about how we chased DUs back in the Irwiin days, to…its about time to pull all the ex-Irwin types in to help us shed some light on what we did to have a 86% pull through, to…I’ve got to check to be sure Scott and John haven’t turned on each other, to…Cathy? Brandi? Are they still working on that 5% rule?, to…did Mark tell we funded 15 loans from the processing center last month? – AWESOME – that’s the best month in some time, to, cool, we got a ProLender to LSSI doc set out. Awesome, and they are working on another one. Thank you Lord. Pray for the next, to…AWESOME, JohnB has left at a decent hour tonight. Thank God for Ben being here to help. Thank you Lord for all the hard work going on, to…Cathy, I’m done and headed to the truck to read or nap, to, well Jason, how was today? I need to come your way in the next few days so we can set and talk about the AUSes and what that looks like from your end. Bryon says that he’s got some reports out of PL that can help us run better numbers. Lara run 112 AUSes in 4 days last week with a 60% approval and 25 were below 580 and 5 of those were approved. We are running more numbers to see how that holds ups, to, how did Cathy beat me to the truck – well, that worked out good – she drove the truck down to the front, though I could use the exercise, to…hey babe, how was your day, to…what’s for supper, to….wow, I forgot about that other REO – did we get the people out of the house? – I’m glad Cynthia is paying attention to that thing. Uh oh…she called me earlier. I need to call her back tomorrow, to….wow, everyone sure looked tired. What a day. Phone went dead. Good. I am not going to gouge myself tonight while watching CSI reruns.
(dang, I feel bad this morning). Lord, what do you have planned for me today?
Sound famailiar? J
Today? Focusing on what we need to change to get these loans through the system, what people can we move around, are we hiring good and ethical loan officers, how to spin up AUSes for May 15th, and what I can do to help with ProLender.
Don’t worry about tomorrow, today has enough problems of its own!
Buckle-up,
Danny
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
While it is not over, let’s pause from time-to-time in the coming months to remember the trip we’ve been on these past few months, weeks, and days. I look back through my emails and know they are a journal of thoughts, concerns, and wishes. Do that and reflect on what were you concerned about on March 1? Or the 12th? Or yesterday? Last year?
I’ll repeat Mr. Covey again, “we behave our way into trouble. And we don’t talk our way out, we behave our way out of trouble.” We’ve been in trouble these past few weeks, and some would say we still are……but we’ve behaved well.
Proverbs 25:2 says, “the glory of God is to conceal a matter, but the glory of man is to search a matter out.” Let’s insure we are searching out these matters. Asking ourselves what have we learned? What was the real purpose of the struggle? Was it more than just a mess? Was there a lesson? Were the triumphs themselves a lesson? If we were to be given a grade, what would it be? What do we measure it against?
Maybe it was just so we’d be more thankful. Maybe the struggle was just so we’d not be so cynical.
Yesterday morning we did not have enough warehouse line for the day. We had asked the Texas Banks for more credit last Friday and were told no. Yet yesterday, around 9am, after confirming with Roy, Bryon, and Jessica that the available warehouse lines were short by 1 million, an email came from Norman at 1st Star. Don’s phone call to give Norman a call revealed we had been given a 3 million permanent increase to our 1st Star’s line of credit.
Proverbs 1:20 says, “Wisdom calls aloud outside: She raises her voice in the open squares. She cries out in the chief concourses, At the openings of the gates in the city, She speaks her words.”
Imagine that; just think…..Wisdom is like a woman screaming out in public, “HERE I AM. I’M NOT HIDING. I’M RIGHT HERE –OUSTIDE, I’M NOT HIDING FROM YOU! LOOK AT ME! I’M WISDOM AND I’M RIGHT HERE!”
More times than not, we just need to go about our business, work the routines, search the matters out, and wisdom is bestowed upon us.
We end up looking real good. But let’s not forget how God provides. Let’s be sure and give Him the thanks for giving us the sense to behave our way through the troubles. I pray we handle the triumphs just as well. I pray that I remember Jesus today and tomorrow and on May 15th.
We’ve just finished a period of decent volume; January and February were the best fundings for those months we’ve ever had. Estimated fundings for March is 235 fundings (including LEM) and 268 purchases. Our goal, which would hopefully make us profitable for the fiscal year, was a respective 200 and 265.
This month will surely be a transition time; manual underwrites are all but going away; AUS becomes the king; new processes in processing/underwriting/closing; LTS Online going live; new LO hiring practices; AEs selling again; a new compliance agenda; ProLender; and more……..the need to perform continues.
Our funded pipeline should give us a record purchase month in April. With this and the combined open pipeline to fund out, we could set numerous records, including profitability. Profitability is important, yet not something I’ve focused on enough. That lack of focus has caused us to be barely sustainable at times and the jury is still out on how well the audited financials for the period ending 3/31/2008 will come out.
We’ve began the transition to AUS but most of us must stay engaged in the open pipeline. Though most of you will probably just start seeing and hearing bits and pieces about the transitions, and that’s what I’m hoping for; a transition that is not something so new we have to “get used to it.” I am meeting with Bryon, Chas, Paul, Mark and/or others numerous times per day as we work through bits and pieces of what the strategies might look like. The move from the Manual-to-AUS world is heaviest on most minds and should be. I’ll put out plenty of emails about the plans, but for now, unless you are requested different, please stay focused on your tasks and jobs at-hand. My office is open if you want to ask specific questions or just generally curious.
I want to thank you all again for the marvelous work you’ve done these past weeks. When I discussed back in early February about how well we needed to perform, this was what I was talking about. Last night Jessica, Gabe, and I were talking about how much better and smoother things were going in the prod/ops area; it was 6:10, the last day of the month and maybe 3 people were left in the underwriting to funding group. By 6:30 everyone was gone and it just wasn’t because of the ProLender conversion; it was because of good performance. We are performing at a higher level, with fewer people (more loans per person). This is not the results of any-one-of-us, but a testament to Teamwork.
Thank each other for that – you have all done well.
Let’s continue to behave well by being Purposeful with our actions and words; by pursuing good Results; by being Objective with our thoughts and manners; by being Vulnerable in our transparency and not have hidden agendas; by being Incarnational in how we help others; by being Dependable so that others know what to expect from us; by being Engaging and pursuing what needs to be done; and by being Resourceful and using what God has given us to succeed in life.
Today begins a new year; while learning from our history, let’s forget the past and look forward to the great things God has planned for us.
Let’s pursue that Call.
God bless,
Danny
I’ll repeat Mr. Covey again, “we behave our way into trouble. And we don’t talk our way out, we behave our way out of trouble.” We’ve been in trouble these past few weeks, and some would say we still are……but we’ve behaved well.
Proverbs 25:2 says, “the glory of God is to conceal a matter, but the glory of man is to search a matter out.” Let’s insure we are searching out these matters. Asking ourselves what have we learned? What was the real purpose of the struggle? Was it more than just a mess? Was there a lesson? Were the triumphs themselves a lesson? If we were to be given a grade, what would it be? What do we measure it against?
Maybe it was just so we’d be more thankful. Maybe the struggle was just so we’d not be so cynical.
Yesterday morning we did not have enough warehouse line for the day. We had asked the Texas Banks for more credit last Friday and were told no. Yet yesterday, around 9am, after confirming with Roy, Bryon, and Jessica that the available warehouse lines were short by 1 million, an email came from Norman at 1st Star. Don’s phone call to give Norman a call revealed we had been given a 3 million permanent increase to our 1st Star’s line of credit.
Proverbs 1:20 says, “Wisdom calls aloud outside: She raises her voice in the open squares. She cries out in the chief concourses, At the openings of the gates in the city, She speaks her words.”
Imagine that; just think…..Wisdom is like a woman screaming out in public, “HERE I AM. I’M NOT HIDING. I’M RIGHT HERE –OUSTIDE, I’M NOT HIDING FROM YOU! LOOK AT ME! I’M WISDOM AND I’M RIGHT HERE!”
More times than not, we just need to go about our business, work the routines, search the matters out, and wisdom is bestowed upon us.
We end up looking real good. But let’s not forget how God provides. Let’s be sure and give Him the thanks for giving us the sense to behave our way through the troubles. I pray we handle the triumphs just as well. I pray that I remember Jesus today and tomorrow and on May 15th.
We’ve just finished a period of decent volume; January and February were the best fundings for those months we’ve ever had. Estimated fundings for March is 235 fundings (including LEM) and 268 purchases. Our goal, which would hopefully make us profitable for the fiscal year, was a respective 200 and 265.
This month will surely be a transition time; manual underwrites are all but going away; AUS becomes the king; new processes in processing/underwriting/closing; LTS Online going live; new LO hiring practices; AEs selling again; a new compliance agenda; ProLender; and more……..the need to perform continues.
Our funded pipeline should give us a record purchase month in April. With this and the combined open pipeline to fund out, we could set numerous records, including profitability. Profitability is important, yet not something I’ve focused on enough. That lack of focus has caused us to be barely sustainable at times and the jury is still out on how well the audited financials for the period ending 3/31/2008 will come out.
We’ve began the transition to AUS but most of us must stay engaged in the open pipeline. Though most of you will probably just start seeing and hearing bits and pieces about the transitions, and that’s what I’m hoping for; a transition that is not something so new we have to “get used to it.” I am meeting with Bryon, Chas, Paul, Mark and/or others numerous times per day as we work through bits and pieces of what the strategies might look like. The move from the Manual-to-AUS world is heaviest on most minds and should be. I’ll put out plenty of emails about the plans, but for now, unless you are requested different, please stay focused on your tasks and jobs at-hand. My office is open if you want to ask specific questions or just generally curious.
I want to thank you all again for the marvelous work you’ve done these past weeks. When I discussed back in early February about how well we needed to perform, this was what I was talking about. Last night Jessica, Gabe, and I were talking about how much better and smoother things were going in the prod/ops area; it was 6:10, the last day of the month and maybe 3 people were left in the underwriting to funding group. By 6:30 everyone was gone and it just wasn’t because of the ProLender conversion; it was because of good performance. We are performing at a higher level, with fewer people (more loans per person). This is not the results of any-one-of-us, but a testament to Teamwork.
Thank each other for that – you have all done well.
Let’s continue to behave well by being Purposeful with our actions and words; by pursuing good Results; by being Objective with our thoughts and manners; by being Vulnerable in our transparency and not have hidden agendas; by being Incarnational in how we help others; by being Dependable so that others know what to expect from us; by being Engaging and pursuing what needs to be done; and by being Resourceful and using what God has given us to succeed in life.
Today begins a new year; while learning from our history, let’s forget the past and look forward to the great things God has planned for us.
Let’s pursue that Call.
God bless,
Danny
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