Full Transcript is Below:
– Welcome into our Top Producer series for the month of December, 2021. We are gonna cap off another exciting year of sharing some of the best and brightest in the mortgage industry by saying hello to Tammy Wittren, who’s in Oregon City, about 20 minutes from downtown Portland. Tammy joined NFM a few months ago after a long stint at a another great organization. Tammy, it’s great to have you with us. How are you?
– Good day, you. Hi.
– I know, it’s been a while since I’ve seen you. I tried to get you to come to NFM for many, many years. You finally caved in after, I don’t know, eight or nine years of courting between me and another good friend of yours. So, what made you come to NFM?
– It was time, you know? I had been with my previous owners for a very long time, 23 years, and I had just got to a place where I needed to grow some more. And managing my P&L was one of those, and being able to really pour into others through a P&L, wanting to build out my own branch, that was my next step in my journey. And NFM is the perfect fit. I could not be happier.
– So you got into the mortgage business in 1988, sort of. You got into real estate then, and then fully into mortgages in 1993. So you have been in this game coming up on 30 years. Amazing.
– Yeah, we just say plus 25 because it just gets too much.
– Well, in 2021, you’re going to eclipse 200 million in personal production. That’s just a wow number. Where do you begin to tell people how to do that?
– Understand your why. Really figure out what it is that would motivate you to serve more people. Be grateful for what you have. You can’t ask for more if you’re not grateful for what you have. And then I would say, just serve, serve more people, serve your realtors, serve your team, serve your clients, show up, do a great job. Ask for the business, the basics, do your marketing calendar. You know, become a true professional. But if you don’t love what you do, you can’t do it every day. I love what I do. I feel blessed, honored to have the success I’ve had in this industry. And as long as I think I keep an open heart and I’m grateful, it just continues to grow.
– So that sounds great. But what do you say to people to inspire them? Can you teach someone to get to that next level or do they have to be kind of wired and have that hunger?
– I think you have to have that innate hunger to want to serve more people. But I think if you have a willing desire, you have a servant’s heart, following the basics, it’s really kind of a recipe for success. And I would say it’s a simple recipe, but most people don’t do it. You know, follow a marketing calendar, connect with your people, do a great job, answer your phone, build a team out, have people who want to serve like you do.
– So I’m guessing you go pretty deep with your referral partners.
– You know, I’ve had a lot of referral partners for 15, 20 years. Long time. Yeah. And you know, they’re my friends. When I travel, I travel with my realtors. I mean, it’s my life. You know, they’re not just my business partners, they’re my friends. It has just worked great, you know? Realtors work nights and weekends, I cover nights and weekends for my team, and it’s just evolved into that.
– So, Tammy, I asked you for three life lessons and you gave them to me, they’re right here on this piece of paper. Save 20% and don’t spend more than you make. It’s pretty practical. Grass is never greener. And work on yourself first. Which one of these three are most important?
– Pour into your team. Single biggest secret weapon I have, my team. You know, I think first and foremost, you lead by example, you know? You don’t ask them to do something you’re not willing to do. I cover nights and weekends for my team, not because they wouldn’t, it’s because they’re here every day, all day, 8, 10, 12 hours a day, and help people with home ownership, and it’s sort of my payback to them. And when I started really thinking about serving my team is when my business blew up.
– So you actually have spent the latter part of your career coaching others. When did you start to coach people? And how much more do you have to give?
– I’ve always shared my stuff, always coached others, but really to have a professional platform and be trained to do that was life-changing. It has immensely helped my own business and now I’m fully in and ready to help others grow again.
– You live on a 50-acre piece of property and you have a hangar with planes on your property. So this is pretty cool, what we’re watching right now, a plane taking off on your property, from your property, up into the sky. That’s pretty wild, yeah.
– My significant other is a captain at an airline. So I have a realtor with a little guy that wants to learn to fly, so Steve has given him private lessons. He’s also a trainer. Oh my God, he’s so awesome. He’d been flying since he was about 14. First a crop duster, then he flew tankers, flew commercial, and been in the airline now for about 25 years.
– So you both coach. I thought, you know, Paula Abdul’s song about opposites attracting, but you guys sound like you’re two peas in a pod.
– Yeah, no, Steve is constantly coaching and teaching for anyone who will listen.
– The majority of the population watching this has never heard of Paula Abdul. So yes, I am 50, folks. That is correct. Tammy, any parting words?
– You know, I would love to just say NFM is awesome. And it’s funny I think I say grass is not always greener. Just it took me a very long time to leave and I had so many fears about the change and so many fears that things would be so different, and they’re the same and better. And now I’m bummed I waited so long.
– I’m not gonna say I told you so, but I told you so.
– I don’t, but I am.
– But I told you so. Tammy Wittren, thanks so much for rounding out the year in incredible form. We appreciate it. Best of luck to you in 2022. We’ll talk to you soon. Love you, Greg, bye.
– Love you too. That’s Tammy Wittren, Branch Manager out of Oregon City. I’m Greg Sher from NFM TV. We’ll see you again next time.