Man starting a business is tough. We still do not have our first sale. We thought we did and it went away. It was partly a mistake on my part. Eric was so excited he did a one call close and then to see it all evaporate was disheartening to him. Then other deals started evaporating. I was feeling pretty good yesterday and then BAM it all adds up to nothing. I am actually amazed that anything has worked. I feel like we are getting closer and closer, but when rates went up to day and we lost those deals it felt like we  have made no progress at all. I wish I wasn’t the one answering all of the sales questions. I am a little miffed at Sonny. He was supposed to be doing this, not me. He doesn’t even return my calls. I am so grateful for Eric. I must remember how hard this is. I do believe that this will be successful. I do not want to undervalue the pain an risk I am going through now. I am trying to think what insight I have learned today. Not about mortgages, but about business. I don’t think I did an adequate job explaining what I have learned about risk. I thought that I understood risk, but I realize now that it is more nuanced and important.

It may have been awhile since I last updated this blog. The last non-private entry was in July. It is now the beginning of September. I am getting closer to actually making money at KC Wain, but still no sales. We got a food order from the Bishop. He reached out to us and offered to help us extend our savings. My current calculations are that we will run out of money in January. I feel confident and comfortable with where the business is at. I never would have thought that I would be working with and relying on Eric. He is really quite good. I think he can see the potential for him. Until we get the first sale, and I believe we are very very close, we are 100% failing. Is it wrong to plead with God that this sale comes through? (Alma 34:24) I mean what about the guy who isn’t going to get the sale. What about his family? I don’t know, but until I feel prompted to do otherwise I plead with God that soon I will be more concerned with something else.

I finally got my license (CA-DOC619492). This is a relief. I really only have Kim in the wings now. If she passes her National test and files for a license I think I will start buying leads. One of the reasons to start early is to get an idea of the timing and to see what it takes to followup on leads. So that can be a week or two away. This means that I am going to be in the thick of it during Bass Lake. Since Sal seems to be out of the picture now I placed an ad in Orange County Craigslist. I will do some interviews on Friday and see if I can get a good candidate. I like the idea of having 3 MLOs to mitigate the problem of one bad MLO. I was talking to Eric (Kendra’s Husband) and I thought later that maybe I have stumbled on to something. What if I could come up with a way of bringing part time students on board. There are a lot of challenges to doing so. I think Eric would be a safe trial on the possibility of success. If a student could work the 6AM shift and go to classes whenever it might work. Especially if location was not a factor. So I may ask Eric to give it a try. I will pay all the same for training and licensing. I will give him half the leads I would give anyone else. I sent an email to directors financial saying I got my license. I did not hear back from them. There is a lot of waiting to still do. I am still scared.