The Insight Interviews - Powered by Rewire

In this episode Steve and Jason discuss:

• A season for everything 
• What does it take to have a good mindset
• Brainstorming and framestorming
• Looking at a problem from a different perspective 

Key Takeaways: 

• There’s a time to be present and there’s a time to look back. Now is the time to reflect and to think about what you think this year is teaching you. 
• Having a good mindset isn’t about pretending that everything’s fine, it’s about facing reality and talking about what’s really happening. 
• Brainstorming is all about going around and contributing solutions to one another while “frame-storming” is about considering different perspectives about a topic. 
• Don’t let yourself be restricted to your own perspective only. Try to see a problem from another person’s eyes. 

“How would the best version of future you think about this particular challenge or that particular time?” - Jason Abell

“Frame storming - It's different than brainstorming. Frame storming is actually not necessarily looking for different solutions, but looking through different lenses.” - Steve Scanlon

Check out the Reflection and Planning Guide mentioned in this episode by clicking here: https://thewireboard.rewireinc.com/resources/reflection-planning-guide 

Connect with Steve and Jason:

LinkedIn: Jason or Steve

Website: Rewire, Inc.: Transformed Thinking 

Email: [email protected]

Show notes by Podcastologist: Justine Talla

Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it. 

About Tom Durney: He has been a Mortgage Operations professional with over 20 years of experience, joining the industry after coming out of the Air Force. He started on the ground level and worked his way up to where he is today. 

In this episode Steve and Tom discuss:

• Build your own luck
• Progressing through tenacity
• The importance of culture
• What to do with luck 

Key Takeaways: 

• The harder you work, the luckier you get. You build your own luck through your decisions and actions. 
• When you want to progress in your career, sometimes all you’ve got to do is keep your head down, chisel away at it, be tenacious and wait for the opportunity to come, because it will come and faster if you have proven yourself. 
• The general culture of a company can make it or break it and the mindset has to come from the top. The bar has to be set by the leaders and communicated clearly across the organization. 
• Recognizing the “luck” you received in your successes in life is a sign of humility. However, you’ve got to do something with this luck, you’ve got to use it as an opportunity to grow in your career or as a person. 

“You have to network, you have to get to know people, get your foot in the door. But then once you get that foot in the door, it's all on you. And you've got to earn everything that you get.” - Tom Durney

Connect with Tom Durney:

Website: www.crosscountrymortgage.com 

Email: [email protected] 

Connect with Steve and Jason:

LinkedIn: Jason or Steve

Website: Rewire, Inc.: Transformed Thinking 

Email: [email protected]

Show notes by Podcastologist: Justine Talla

Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it. 

About Chrissy Brown: Her passion is in creating the operational team and the experience she always wished she had. She wants to help each team member reach their highest potential while helping improve their personal life through balance and appreciation. For more than twenty years she has worked in the mortgage industry, where she has had the opportunity to work in nearly every facet. From starting out as a receptionist for a three-man shop, she has worked in the areas of setup, post-closing, funding, origination, table closer, mortgage closer, renovations and construction loans, processing, underwriting, and everything in between. Now that she has the privilege of overseeing all of Operations, she feels even more blessed to have had the opportunity in life to work in the many different areas. She firmly believes that it makes a world of difference when management can empathize with people’s challenges and stresses.

In this episode guest host Craig and Chrissy discuss:

• Leadership is a jungle gym 
• Why it’s important to do hard things
• Providing value by educating clients

Key Takeaways: 

• Approach leadership as not a ladder but a jungle gym. The way isn’t always directly up, you have to embrace all the pivots and recognize it all as a part of your journey toward becoming a better leader. 
• Don’t shy away from or grumble about difficult circumstances. Treat every experience as an opportunity to build up your skills and character. Cultivate a hunger and desire in you to make a career out of the job you’re in. 
• Recognize that people on your team or in other departments are all just as much of a key piece to the success of the organization as you are.
• Providing education to the public means expanding their understanding of what is possible. We must all do a better job at making sure that our clients are equipped with everything they need to know in order to get what they want. 

“Even if you're not growing in your title, or your compensation, everyone has the ability, at any level that they're at, to grow as a person - professionally and personally. When you put in effort, you will naturally be a leader to those around you, even if you don't hold the title.” - Chrissy Brown

Connect with Chrissy Brown:

Website: https://www.atlanticbay.com/ 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrissy-zotzmann/ 

Connect with Craig Ungaro:

Website:  www.annie-mac.com 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/anniemac-home-mortgage/mycompany/ 

Email: [email protected] 

Connect with Steve and Jason:

LinkedIn: Jason or Steve

Website: Rewire, Inc.: Transformed Thinking 

Email: [email protected]

Show notes by Podcastologist: Justine Talla

Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it. 

In this episode Steve and Jason discuss:

• Bringing awareness to our internal state 
• Experiencing life more mindfully
• Rewriting the context 
• Rewiring your mind 

Key Takeaways: 

• The holidays could mean different things to different people. For a lot of us, holidays, like Christmas, mean stress and pressure. We have to be aware of what goes on inside in order to make a choice. 
• When we live life fast, we often hit bumps in the road or see signs that teach us to slow down. Heeding those warnings would mean that you get to experience life much more deeply and more mindfully. 
• No matter what happens externally, we always have the choice of how we respond internally. Rewrite the story in your mind of why a person could be behaving the way they are so you can help yourself respond in a healthy way. 
• There are a lot of ways to rewire your mind and one of the best, both experientially and scientifically, is gratitude. 

“Only through awareness do we get that choice. If you're not aware, you don't get a choice, you'll only feel and act and respond to how you feel in the moment.” - Steve Scanlon

“We have the choice - every day, every moment - we have the ability to change our state.” - Jason Abell

Connect with Steve and Jason:

LinkedIn: Jason or Steve

Website: Rewire, Inc.: Transformed Thinking 

Email: [email protected]

Show notes by Podcastologist: Justine Talla

Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it. 

In this episode Steve, Jason, and the Guests discuss:

• Reflecting on your own gratitude
• The two most common reasons for gratitude
• The effect of communities in the workplace 
• Finding simple reasons to be grateful

Key Takeaways: 

• Listen with deep empathy for what people are grateful for and let that wash over you. Think about your own life and think about your own relationships. 
• Community and family are two big things that have the potential to sustain people’s gratitude.
• Even in business, a sense of community and friendship makes a big difference - it’s one of the reasons why someone wouldn’t have to dread going to work each day. 
• We all have the ability to choose to be grateful. Simple things like beautiful scenery or maybe just the fact that we woke up today are good reasons to be grateful.

Connect with Steve and Jason:

LinkedIn: Jason or Steve

Website: Rewire, Inc.: Transformed Thinking 

Email: [email protected]

Show notes by Podcastologist: Justine Talla

Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it. 

About Erika Martens: She currently serves as the Chief Financial Officer for FirstTrust Home Loans. Throughout her career, she has held many roles in diverse departments including compliance, operations, underwriting, and technology, and these experiences have given her a unique vantage point when it comes to strategy, decision-making, and data delivery. If asked, she’d tell you that she has made a career out of always being curious and being willing to be the first one to try to figure something out. Erika is a past President of the Oklahoma Mortgage Bankers Association and Board Chair for the Health and Wellness Center, Oklahoma’s largest rural FQHC. She holds an MBA from Oklahoma State University and is an active member of several other communities and faith-based organizations. She was named a NEXT Powerhouse Award Winner for 2021. She lives in Oklahoma with her husband, an accomplished police lieutenant, and her son, a bright and active fourth grader.

In this episode, Steve and Erika discuss:

• What makes a good leader? 
• Having a learner’s attitude 
• Fostering curiosity 
• How stress affects intentionality

Key Takeaways: 

• A good leader is one who shows confidence in their team, and is never about themselves but always about other people. 
• Learning to be more curious starts with deciding that you want to be more curious. Having a learner’s attitude will bring you not only a lot of knowledge and experience but also a lot of opportunities. 
• Start small, and don’t be afraid. Pursue the “why” and give your intention to it. Help others be curious, seek out people who want to know more about the things that you already know very well. 
• Intention takes energy and so does stress. Therefore, stress and anxiety in life have the potential to rob from the intentionality in what you do. 

“You can never stop learning. Continuing to learn and be curious - that's what gave me those opportunities. And I want those opportunities to keep coming.” - Erika Martens

Connect with Erika Martens:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FirstTrustHomeLoansInc 

Website: www.firsttrusthomeloans.com 

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/erika-martens-19167818 

Connect with Steve and Jason:

LinkedIn: Jason or Steve

Website: Rewire, Inc.: Transformed Thinking 

Email: [email protected]

Show notes by Podcastologist: Justine Talla

Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it. 

About Jelaire Grillo: Jelaire is the Brand Ambassador at Prosperity Home Mortgage and travels the country training and elevating mortgage lenders and leaders to change the game and maximize their future growth potential using various tools in the PHM technology stack. Traveling in market and the conference circuit allows Jelaire to promote the PHM brand in a public space and elevate the MC brand using PHM's tools. In market, Jelaire works to drive the adoption of those tools.

Mortgage was not Jelaire’s first stop. She started at a lobbying firm on The Hill in DC and then moved into the non-profit space soon after she realized The Hill was not for her. Jelaire started in the mortgage industry in 2012 as a Loan Officer Assistant. She played in that space for about 6 years, but her true love is to be creative. She eventually edged her way into a marketing position and the rest is history.

In this episode, Steve and Jelaire discuss:

• Seeking out your passion 
• Learning something from others 
• Developing your personal brand
• Why should you have a “why”

Key Takeaways: 

• Listen to the longing of your heart. Consider how you could do more of the things that you are truly passionate about. 
• Open yourself up to building relationships with people and learning from them, especially those who come from a very different background than you. Everyone is different; apply that truth when coaching in a group. 
• Developing your personal brand starts by pulling out that authentic identity that most of us are very afraid to show. Doing that will take some vulnerability on your part. 
• When you know what your “why” is, conversations are just much easier and they will flow better because you’ll have a clearer picture of who you are. When you’re in a space where you are working in service of that “why”, you will feel more grateful for your life. 

“If you’re only in it to make buckets of money, at some point you’re going to be obsolete… People don't want to be seen as transactions, they want to be seen as people.” - Jelaire Grillo

Connect with Jelaire Grillo:

Website: https://www.phmloans.com/ 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jelairegrillo/ 

Connect with Steve and Jason:

LinkedIn: Jason or Steve

Website: Rewire, Inc.: Transformed Thinking 

Email: [email protected]

Show notes by Podcastologist: Justine Talla

Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it. 

About Carolynn Monaco: Carolynn Monaco is the Owner/Developer of CTM Job Solutions (RealEstateBestJobs.com), a successful recruiting company specializing in the mortgage industry and banking.

Carolynn’s company specializes in such areas as project management, full mortgage branch placement, bank mortgage departments, mortgage & finance companies, banking placements at all career levels and real estate. 

Carolynn has placed candidates from entry level through executive positions up to the CEO level, as well as entire branches and loan officers. She is skilled in understanding both company and individual needs in any capacity in finance fields, and is passionate about helping people find the right fit.

In this episode Steve and Carolynn discuss:

• Finding out what you want to do
• Shutting up to listen 
• People need to hear the truth 
• Inspiring a caring atmosphere 

Key Takeaways: 

• If you want to help someone, the first thing you’ve got to do is to find out what it is you want to do and how you can use that to serve people. 
• Pause your preconceived notions about a person and silence that instinct to make conclusions about them if you want to be able to learn more about their ideas. You’ve got to shut up to listen to someone’s story. 
• Sometimes, people need to hear the truth. You can’t always sugarcoat everything.  
• We need to inspire a culture of care in the workplace. People need that in order to be happy and satisfied in their work. By encouraging people to care about each other, people will stay in the workplace and love their job. 

“If you can't get up in the morning, and say, ‘I can't wait to go to work’, you're in the wrong job.” - Carolynn Monaco

Connect with Carolynn Monaco:

Website: http://www.RealEstateBestJobs.com  

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolynnmonaco/ 

Connect with Steve and Jason:

LinkedIn: Jason or Steve

Website: Rewire, Inc.: Transformed Thinking 

Email: [email protected]

Show notes by Podcastologist: Justine Talla

Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.

About Dionne Bass: She has over 25 years of Mortgage banking/lending experience. She is also an approved NMLS Course provider for Continuing Education and Pre-Licensure Courses for Mortgage Loan Originators. She is the Founder and the Owner of Ask the Underwriter, which was created in 2008 as a blog to bridge the gap between Operations and Sales. She has been writing courses and training mortgage professionals since 2000. She has also trained and assisted mortgage professionals, industry partners, and prospective mortgage professionals since 1996. And while she has worked as a Contract Underwriter for 3 major mortgage insurance companies and underwritten for several major lending institutions, her real passion is writing courses and training others.

In this episode Jason and Dionne discuss:

• Putting your identity in your business 
• Seeing a need and meeting it
• Don’t compare yourself to others 
• There’s no such thing as perfection

Key Takeaways: 

• Seek clarity on what you want to do and who you are and pour that into your business. Look for a problem that you’re passionate about in your industry and create a solution for it. 
• Wherever you see that there is a need, meet it. Help others out and always strive to give value to others. 
• Don’t compare yourself to others. There’s only one of you and there’s only one of them. 
• Everyone wants to be perfect but there’s just no such thing as perfection. If you worry yourself too much over trying not to make any mistakes, you’ll end up making mistakes anyway. 

“See a need, meet it.” - Dionne Bass

Connect with Dionne Bass:

Website: www.asktheunderwriter.net 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dionne-bass-b944427 | https://www.linkedin.com/company/ask-the-underwriter/ 

Connect with Steve and Jason:

LinkedIn: Jason or Steve

Website: Rewire, Inc.: Transformed Thinking 

Email: [email protected]

Show notes by Podcastologist: Justine Talla

Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it. 

About Adam Johnston: Mr. Johnston has extensive experience leading and developing diverse teams and functions in mid-size and Fortune 500 companies. Operating under the belief that continuous curiosity, hunger to improve, and thoughtful prioritization are key elements of sustainable and beneficial growth, Mr. Johnston has utilized diverse professional and personal experiences to build an agile career. From his start as a U.S. Marine, to real estate appraisal, police officer, process improvement, project management, and many roles in mortgage lending, Mr. Johnston is authentic and open in sharing insights into his many failures, improvement opportunities, successes, and principals that function as his true north.

In this episode Steve and Adam discuss:

• Cultivating perpetual curiosity
• Treating others with humanity
• Applying your learnings with humility 
• The real adventure

Key Takeaways: 

• Be perpetually curious. You have to have a desire and the will to execute it and be willing to endure and improve. 
• Power is neither good or bad, it’s how you use it and how you treat people when you’re in a position of power that makes it good or bad. Just like you and me, other people want to be respected. You’ll see people open up more easily if you give them respect and dignity. 
• Understanding a concept is only half the battle, being able to apply your learning is what really makes a difference. Applying your learning and being able to evaluate yourself honestly will take humility. 
• The real act of discovery is not in finding new lands, but in seeing with new eyes. It’s not about the place that you’ve arrived at, it’s about who you’ve become along the way. That’s the real adventure. 

“Being perpetually curious is an important true north and a desire and will to continuously improve.” - Adam Johnston

Connect with Steve and Jason:

LinkedIn: Jason or Steve

Website: Rewire, Inc.: Transformed Thinking 

Email: [email protected]

Show notes by Podcastologist: Justine Talla

Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.