Pots and Pans
reading time: 3 minutes
"Hey Jason! Can I pick your brain?"
Over the last 10 years, this has been a frequent question. It fires me up to help others and I usually say "Yes." It's a good thing I don't own a pick-up truck.
Where we find ourselves today has a lot to do with what has happened yesterday and everyday before.
Bringing you back to the summer of 1998. School is out and many kids have a family vacation planned, summer camp, road trips, etc. My next two months were planned too. My Dad had prepared a list of everything I'd be doing around the yard and house if I didn't have a JOB. I needed to figure something out quick.
2 days at IHOP......QUIT (fired if you ask the manager)
1 day at the Car Wash.....QUIT (it rained, they sent me home, and that was that)
1 week at Dick's Sporting Goods.....QUIT (who wants to fold clothes all day?)
This working thing wasn't going the way I hoped and I was definitely not excited about free household labor when I needed money for gas, midnight bowling, and sub-woofers for my car. The bass from DMX and Jay-Z sound way better when you pop your trunk too (1989 Honda Accord problems).
Driving home from a friends house one Thursday night, I saw piles of things lined up on the curb in our neighborhood. It was bulk trash night. You could throw away larger items like broken appliances and old furniture. The white leather recliner I found a few houses away from mine caught my eye and changed my summer.
Of course ,when I asked my dad to help me unload it from the roof of my car, he wasn't thrilled. He wasn't angry about me scratching the roof of my car, but that I was bringing home someone's trash with me.
He said, "so you're picking trash now? That's my boy, POTS and PANS."
What does that even mean? To me, it meant he thought I was lazy, a bum, a loser. I couldn't keep a job, had little interest in anything besides baseball, and I'd be spending the next two months hearing about it while working around the house. My Dad is the kind of guy that isn't above making you stack firewood for two hours before changing his mind and having you move it to another spot in the yard. I love the guy and his lessons have brought me to where I am now. And....I can replace an alternator, brakes & rotors, or just about anything else on a vehicle too. Thanks Dad.
That night I spent two more hours driving through the neighborhood just because I didn't want to be at home. I ended up picking more trash and had a backseat and trunk full of other people's garbage. That Sunday I rented a table at the local flea market and sold my "trash" for $340.
You're kidding right!? Nope. I did it two weeks later and made $525. Two weeks later....$400.
One week I made $3200...........selling trash.
At that time, I never really thought much about what happened. I always had cash in my pocket and still helped out around the house A LOT. My Dad's chores can shape you or break you. Often they did both.
"Pots and Pans" is a name I'll keep with me. It means a lot. I embrace the part of me that FINDS A WAY. That way wasn't the path my Dad would have lead me down, but he was helping me carve my own in another fashion.
I've never been the loud spoken, fast-talking salesman. I'm often that quiet guy that spends a little more time thinking before I act, usually making things look easier than they really are. I've now spent the last 15 years in the mortgage business doing the same thing. Many have no idea that I've been a Top-100 mortgage lender for the last 7 years, and broke into the top 50 this year. That's just how I roll.
If you're looking for a new way to grow your mortgage business and want to do it the way YOU were meant to, I know this guy "Pots and Pans" that would love to hear from you.
Peace.
