What "The Wiggles" Can Teach Us About Successful Mortgage Sales.
Posted by John Scott Smith on Mon, Mar 08, 2010 @ 12:59 PM
Are you a parent? I am. Of two young boys. My oldest is two and a half years old, and is no longer into Elmo, Big Bird, and "Sesame Street". He's moved on to "The Wiggles." Now, that's what we watch, right before bed, as part of his nighttime routine. When he shouts, "It's our SONG!" as "Rockabye Your Bear" comes on, it kind of melts your heart, no matter what my day was like.
Curious, I did a little research on "The Wiggles" and found out something that hadn't occurred to me: "The Wiggles" weren't always "The Wiggles". They had been aspiring musicians, each with a different level of success. After leaving music, three of them met while working on degrees in early childhood education. They had been studying to become teachers.
Money quote from the a New York Times article about them, Murray Cook (one of the founding members) "I'd played in rock bands and didn't get anywhere in the 80's."
For their school courses, they made a music project incorporating early childhood lessons with original music and dancing. And, it caught on. Caught on in a BIG way. (In 2005, they raked in forty-five MILLION dollars from their CD's, concerts, and merchandising.)
What does this have to do with mortgage sales? Pop music was a tough market. But, by discovering an unfilled demand in the marketplace for quality children's music, they got to perform for larger audiences in more venues making a LOT more money.
Right now, amidst this mortgage wreckage, there are still underutilized skills, and market demands that are not, yet, met.
Where can you specialize and make more money? Your unique patch of grass has its own answer, but foreclosures aren't going to end any time, soon. What if you learned everything there was to know about getting people financed to buy foreclosures? Do you know enough, yet, to give an informed presentation on FHA 203K mortgages to your local Realtors Association? On a more basic level, do you know everything there is to know about the changes taking place with regard to FHA mortgages beginning on April 5th?
For a living, I have to stay up on all changes to FHA, so I read several articles per day for my work, here. I am constantly amazed by how much information I find out there that is flat out wrong on ActiveRain and other real estate sites.
If you're still in the business, there are unexploited areas that offer less resistance for those who study and do their homework.
Right now, most of us are struggling pop musicians. Maybe it's time we became "Wiggles".
What do you think? What areas can expand into in your area?
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