What’s Your True North?

There’s a lot of competition in the mortgage industry, and if you want to have any kind of traction, you’ll need to stand out, expand your network, and keep growing your business. And while these are all fine goals to set, you can’t lose sight of what really matters as you pursue them. Think of it as maintaining your true north — where you stay firmly rooted to what’s important to you, and you don’t sacrifice that for any reason in pursuit of your goals. It can be tempting on occasion to take a shortcut or skimp in certain places, but if it doesn’t correspond with your true north, the results will probably not be rewarding for you. Let’s look at how you can get a clearer sense of what true north means to you, and how you can implement it into your daily work.

To begin with, you’ll need to connect to your ‘why’. Think of the reasons you got into the business and the meaning and purpose find in your work. What aspects of the mortgage business are most fulfilling? What matters to you? This doesn’t need to be a profound reason —just an honest assessment of what motivates you to do the work you do.

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Once you’ve reconnected to your purpose, it’s easier to identify your values. Your values form the foundation of how you conduct business, yet I see a great many mortgage professionals not investing the time to get unambiguously clear on them. Your values should be the guide that continually refines your sense of true north, so it’s crucial to take the time to define them. Here’s an example: if honesty is one of your main values, this will have an impact on how you market your services, engage with your colleagues, and, maybe most important, interact with your prospects and clients.

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Finally, let’s look at how you bring those values into specific areas of your work. Broadly, this is all about defining your standards. Let’s use honesty as your key value again. In the case of your marketing, your standards informing your marketing efforts would be transparent, clear, and truthful. Any information that could potentially be misleading would never pass muster. You want to set standards for yourself across every area of your business, and those standards make sure you remain connected to your values, your purpose, and consequently, your true north.

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In many ways, this whole piece has been about integrity. If you want to build a business that you’re proud of and achieve success that you can enjoy, integrity has to be at the foundation of all your work.

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If you’d like to talk more about finding and maintaining your true north, or if there’s something else I can be of assistance with, don’t hesitate to reach out. I’m always happy to set aside some time to connect.