KC Wain

I was using LDS.ORG to journal, but when I couldn’t get it to sort I decided to move away from it and move it all back here. Here is what I had placed out there.

6/28/2011 The Hardy’s May Help my Cash Flow

I am still waiting for licenses. Reuben, the third person I hired in WA, has not been getting back to me. He has actually been kind of difficult. I hope this is an indication that he will be a good sales man. I have to cut him loose if he doesn’t get back to me soon. I have a backup in WA. I am looking at my cash flow and it worries me. Sal and Kim are moving forward. Sal called the other day to use the card I sent him. I should have written the number down in case I want to cancel the card. Oh well. I did get a possible answer to my prayers. Mike and Summer Hardy are looking to refinance. They may find it tough to do so, but if they do it could really go a long way towards helping my personal cash flow.

6/23/2011 Three employees no sales

Nominally I have three people working for me. It is all about licensing. I am a little worried about Kim passing the exam. I think she mislead me about when she could take the test. I am a little worried about Rueben. He does not seem dedicated to making the employment work. He has asked twice to be paid more, but he hasn’t done the simplest thing like responding to my emails. I am a little worried about Sal. He turned me down before but asked to be considered again. I paid for Sals education ($355) I am waiting to hear from Reuben. Stephanie from DFG is supposed to get back to me on compliance issues around hiring a WA MLO to do CA loans. I hope the money does not run out.

6/21/2011 Interviewing and Extending Offers

I finished the interviews of the 4 candidates in WA in Friday. I had received 8 resumes and when I extended offers for phone interviews only three responded. I called a 4th person I was interested in talking to. He said that he had not responded because he thought the position was beneath him. Why did he send in his resume? So I guess I can expect half the resume responders to actually agree to a phone interview? Weird? Of the three remaining candidates, one was clearly not right for the position. He had been working at the Apple Store for 4 years and wanted a better opportunity, but was so unprepared to interview for the position that I couldn’t even consider him. The other two were quite good. I extended offers to Reuben in WA and Sal in CA. Reuben responded back with some questions and then said he would let me know. I have not heard from Sal. This is the second chance for Sal. He turned me down before and then came back and said he wanted to reconsider. I am growing a little leery of his game. Kim revealed that she had taken the CA test and had failed it spectacularly. I hope that poor test taking translates to good salesmanship. This explains why she is not aggressive in taking the test ASAP.

6/16/2011 No Telecommute in WA

I was a little more diligent in getting things done. I really like my new cash flow because it really provides some guidance. I built a worst and best case scenarios. It still involves a lot of waiting. I got a response from the lawyer in WA and the law was designed specifically to prohibit un supervised work of mortgage loan officers. So I am interviewing for WA MLOs but they will have to originate CA loans it seems. I nearly forgot one task and that was making sure I published the LLC in a newspaper. I still have a month, but I completely forgot. I did send out pings and updates to everyone. But mostly I am waiting. I am not counting on getting my license, but going through the process has made it better for hiring so it was good that I did. According to my new cash flow I am supposed to hire a second CA MLO and a WA MLO this next week.

6/15/2011 Perpetual 2 Week Cycle of waiting

It turns out that my WA license is inactive until I fix the employment issue. I resubmitted with the address in Cave Creek, AZ. I don’t know how long this is going to take to finally get the license. I was a little discouraged yesterday because it seems like I could do nothing but wait. Kent called and saved me. He helped me realize there were things that I could do and ought to do since I have the time. I made a better cash flow diagram and I setup some interviews on Friday. This is the perpetual 2 week cycle.

6/14/2011 WA License, now what?

I really couldn’t come up with much to do yesterday as I wait for the licenses. I sent an email to Kim explaining that after she applied for the license it might take a month to get a license. She was surprised. I put another ad out on Craigslist this time in Seattle. I got three responses already this morning. Then surprise. I got a notice from WA that my license had been granted. Now what? I am truly scared. There are no excuses. I have to buy leads and close them.

6/13/2011 Waiting waiting waiting.

Kim sent me an email and said that she could not schedule a test before July 7th. I am going to choose to believe her. That really slows down this process. I may step up efforts on Craig’s List and even offer a job to Sal who rejected me earlier. Of course if my license were here I could start getting leads and hopefully start putting money in my account. I am in a huge waiting game. I don’t know what else I can do. Do I go on vacation?

6/11/2011 Licensing and little stuff

I didn’t have a lot to do yesterday and yet I feel like I did a lot. I am running into licensing issues. CA wanted to know why Directors was not listed as my current employer. WA got that their sponsorship was the indication that they were my current employer but they did not like that I was 100 miles away from the office. I called them and was told to write to the attorney. They are definitely not setup for telecommuting. I could get around it, but it doesn’t scale. If I want to hire someone in the middle of nowhere I would have to make them a branch office. Not that $600 isn’t worth it, but they are not a branch office. I also did some questioning on appraisals and a few other things. Oh I got my other debit cards so I turned in my LMB contract. I am having trouble using my cards on craigslist. I do not know what the problem is.

6/8/2011 First Employee fired, second hired.

A lot has happened as I try and figure out this journaling. So I had to fire my first employee. It was an interesting experience. I said that I would terminate him if he failed to pass the test and he failed the CA state test. I wanted to give him a second chance, but I walked around the block thinking about what I should do and I knew that I needed to know that I could be tough. I sent him an email (chicken) and then talked to him on the phone. I then sent a letter to Kimberley Campbell offering her the position. It was a little easier because I had kept some of the stuff from Derek. I emphasized again that I would terminate her if she failed the test. She said that she had already taken the education. I am wondering what she has done because she seems to be struggling getting the test scheduled. I have found some other information including how to pull credit order title and other things. I finished my WA education and now I am sitting waiting for the licenses to be approved.

5/25/2011 First Employee

I finally got some one to take my offer. Derek Downs is employee #1. I am just a few steps ahead of him in figuring out what he needs. I sent him the I-9 and W4 tax forms. I did install encompass on my mom’s old computer. I am still not sure how I get paid. I have a meeting with Directors next week and I need to have all of my questions ready.  I also took the WA test without studying and passed. I will be able to get Dee Ann’s loan for her. She will be my first Guinea Pig.

5/24/2011

It was a very full day. I listened to the Encompass training that was given to the Director’s Financial staff. I worry that I won’t know enough to take an application. I believe that I will be able to figure it out. I have to move forward with confidence. I signed up for the WA exam. I am going to move forward with that. The biggest hurdle is getting an MLO to accept my offer. Sal took all day and then declined. I sent an offer to Derek from Sacramento. I am glad I had that backup option. I put out another craigslist ad this time in Riverside. I got 2 resumes immediately. Bill from LMB cancelled again our date. That is ok. I think I will put him off until next week. I can’t take any leads until I have a license and that might not happen until the middle of next month. There is a lot to do, but the two biggest hurdles is getting an MLO on board and getting my license.

5/21/2011 Day of Interviews

I spent most of the day interviewing. I also got some PC specific stuff working on the Mac. This is training material for using encompass. I think I will be able to get encompass to work, we’ll see. I asked Susan for a meeting with Don next week. I am still going to offer Sal the position, but it is nice to know that I have some viable second choices. So I got 8 resumes. I interviewed 6 and I could make an offer to 3 of them. I am going to do this every week.

5/20/2011 Getting Access to Director’s Tools

I went out to Director’s. It was a very quick drop in. I feel like it is worth it. They are providing access to Encompass and other tools that would have been so hard for me to do on my own. I feel like I am making progress. I received 8 responses to my craigslist ad. I setup 6 interviews. I am figuring out a way to keep track of that process because it will be critical. I got access to the pricing engine for Directors. It is not as great as I thought. The pricing (without origination fees) is not as good as American Interbanc’s Weird. Whatever. I need to come up with a working agreement that Don can sign off on.

5/18/2011 CA License Submitted

I really made a lot of progress on getting my license and setting up with Directors. I feel like that is going well. I did get an email from the state saying that it should be done by the 16th of June. So now I have to wait to see when it actually gets done, but factor in that it may take a month after submitting. I still do not have it down how I will do all of the licensing paperwork for bringing on a new MLO. I am meeting with Directors tomorrow and I will have a lot of questions for them. I was supposed to meet with LowerMyBills today, but they pushed it out to next week. Kent said that money came from Fidelity where I cashed out our retirement. That is what is funding all of this. $22K I actually posted a craigslist ad for an MLO. I posted it at 2AM and by 8AM I had a response. I am now going to interview Sohail’s brother since Sohail has not responded.

5/17/2011 Phone System and my license

I spent a lot of time yesterday without a whole lot to show for it. I first emailed Sohail again. I have to call him today. I finished my application for a CA license online and submitted it. That cost me $384. Then I read that I have to mail documentation and make sure that I have a company attached to my record. I emailed Susan and Directors’ and she said that she would take care of it. Then I got an email response saying that it should be done by the 15th of June. I may be overly optimistic about my start date. So I got that portion done. I found a Kaplan course that can be started any time so that will not be a problem for hiring. I then spent a long time trying to get the phone system to work. I have it mostly working. The only thing that does not work is if someone calls after hours, but the TFN and the queuing and call forwarding work fine. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out the LOS stuff. There are a lot of options and no one offers a complete solution. I have learned now that I need to plug into whatever Directors’ wants for application submission. I may be able to get on with their license or I may have to get my own. Every piece requires more money. Everyone wants a piece of the monthly revenue. $70 per month for the LOS, money for the appraisal, credit pull, closing documents, etc. More money.

5/16/2011 Trying to hire Sohail

I emailed Sohail again trying to convince him that he should join me. I also emailed the lady at Wells Fargo asking how much payroll servies cost other than that it was not a work day.

5/14/2011 Bank Account Created

I took the CA state test. I wanted to see if I could pass without studying. I was nervous because I didn’t want to fail and yet I wasn’t doing everything I could to make sure I didn’t. No need to worry. I passed it no problem (92%) and it is good to know that it can be done easily. I tried to get a hold of the two people that Sonny recommended to me. One of the guys’ number had been disconnected. The other called me back and we talked for a long time. He said that he had a job offer with PNC that would pay him $2800 per month base and 45bps but he would be responsible for his leads. I told him that I would give him $1500 per month and 50bps and I would give him more leads than he could handle. He said he is going to think about it this weekend. Boy I hope he makes the decision in my favor. I then went to the bank and opened a bank account under KC Wain LLC. I went to Chase first and they said that I had to open the account in AZ. I then went to Wells Fargo and they had no problem. So I have a bank account with $500 in it. I am going to check into moving my stock ($22K) and maybe setting up payroll services with them. I thanked the Director’s Financial Group people and then sent a lot of questions to Susan regarding how to get started. I spoke with the Encompass people. Cost is $1000 setup and $90 per month. I am getting closer.

5/13/2011 Director’s Financial Group first meeting

A very good day. I met with Director’s Financial Group. It was as if they designed the missing piece and offered up to me. How do we license MLO’s they will do that. How do we pay MLO’s they will do that. How about lender agreements, done. It is a perfect fit and I don’t know if they realize that they could be asking more for what they are doing. I threw out there that I would start as the initial MLO and they immediately reacted negatively to that. So I sent an email to Sonny and asked him for some leads on MLOs. He gave me two. What? How is this all falling into place. I spoke for quite a long time with LowerMyBills. I have a new contact, Bill. We are going to have lunch tomorrow. I don’t think it is necessary, but I am going to do it anyways. I have to followup with Directors and then contact the people that Sonny gave me. Hopefully they are unemployed and desperate.

5/12/2011 Research working on B-Plan

Yesterday I spent time trying to figure out if I can get a license to originate loans in CA without getting a real estate license. So far the answer seems to be no. I did watch a presentation from Freddie Mac on becoming a selling partner. That is one of the goals. It would take about a million dollars in assets to qualify. I spent a little (very  little) time working on the business plan.

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