I thought I knew how to do this

Start your week with intention.

Part 2 of 3

When I was producing, I knew what my day needed to look like. I knew how to build relationships, take care of borrowers, and move my business forward.

Then I became a district manager.

They announced my new role in December of 2006, and as 2007 unfolded, my paycheck dropped right along with the market. I had no personal pipeline to fall back on. I would sit at my desk looking at my phone, unsure who to call.

Last week, I shared how afraid I'd been to apply for that job. Now I had it, and I was learning how uncomfortable it could be to go from knowing your work to needing help with it.

I had thought of this as a promotion. What I began to understand was that I had changed careers.

Being a successful producer gave me valuable experience. It didn't teach me everything I needed to know about recruiting, developing people, or helping someone build a career. I had a lot to learn, and admitting that was part of learning it.

Chris Altig helped me. Rose Marie David, my peer then and my boss since 2011, mentored me. Coaching helped me understand the work in front of me. And as producers began joining our team, I started building confidence that I could do this job.

Liz Wiseman explores this in her book Rookie Smarts: Why Learning Beats Knowing in the New Game of Work. She studied how people approach unfamiliar work and found that rookies can outperform experienced colleagues, particularly when the work calls for innovation. Knowing they have something to learn makes them more likely to seek help and draw on other people's expertise.

That makes sense to me. When you're new, you ask questions because you don't know the answer. You pay attention and find someone who can help you understand what you're missing. When you've been successful for a long time, it's easy to recognize something familiar and reach for the approach that worked before. Sometimes that experience serves you beautifully, and sometimes you need to acknowledge the situation requires a different strategy.

You don't have to change jobs to find yourself there. You can know mortgage inside and out and still be a beginner with AI or a new technology platform. You can have years of strong relationships behind you and still need to rethink how you're reaching people.

It's uncomfortable to be slow at something when you're used to being capable. I know that feeling. But I also know how much harder my transition would have been if I'd tried to hide everything I didn't understand.

What I took from it

A new seat can be a whole new career. I walked in thinking I had been promoted into a job I already understood. Recruiting, developing people, and helping someone build a career were skills I had to learn from the beginning.
Saying "I don't know" is how the learning starts. Chris, Rose Marie, and my coaching could only help me once I stopped pretending I had it figured out.
Experience can keep you from seeing a better way. The approach that worked before is not always the one the situation needs, and sometimes the most useful thing you can do is look at your business like a rookie would.

I'm grateful I had people who helped me learn. I still need those people.

Next week, I'll share what happened when our company announced it was for sale and my job was still to convince people to join us.

Make it a great week! 💛🌟

MY LINKEDIN FEED

My post this week

Stay deeply committed to your purpose, without insisting the path unfold exactly as you first imagined. Rose Marie David shared that from the stage in Dallas this week.

Natalie with her team at Momentum Builder in Dallas

Read the rest of this post here.

mPower

This is mPower's recap of Hoda Kotb's conversation on Saturday. My favorite line was hers: "If you have a hope or a wish or a desire, say it out loud. Something happens when you speak it."

Read the rest of this post here.

CHART OF THE WEEK

Chart: the top 10% of households account for 49.2% of U.S. consumer spending; the other 90% account for 50.8%

Moody's Analytics found that the top 10% of earners (households making about $251,000 or more) now account for 49.2% of all consumer spending, the highest share on record. It was about 43% in 2020. Economists call this a K-shaped economy, where one group keeps climbing while the other feels every price increase. It is why luxury goods and premium travel can thrive while affordability leads the news.

What to tell a borrower or agent: The headlines describe an average that almost nobody is living. Some of your clients are stretched and need a payment they can count on, and some have more buying power than ever. Ask about their situation before you assume which one you are talking to.

Source: Moody's Analytics, share of U.S. consumer spending by income group, second quarter of 2025.

PODCAST OF THE WEEK

Ina Garten Is 'Allergic to Boredom' | Making Space with Hoda Kotb

I just saw Hoda Kotb speak at mPower in Chicago, and she talked about this interview with Ina Garten. Ina had a painful childhood, and she decided those years did not get to choose what came next. She is 78 and starting a new project because she still wants to have fun. It is 51 minutes, and it is a good listen if you have been telling yourself it is too late to start something.

ONE AI THING I ACTUALLY USED THIS WEEK

My closet. I took a photo of every piece of clothing I own and uploaded them to Claude. It built a catalog, and now I tell it where I am going and what is on the schedule, and it puts together outfit boards from my own clothes. It styled me for Momentum Builder in Dallas and mPower in Chicago.

It was not perfect. It kept reaching for the same few pieces until I told it to stop, so you still have to coach it. What made it work was the setup. Taking the photos was the boring part, and it is the reason the answers are about my closet and not a generic packing list. Whatever you want AI to help with, do the setup first.

LINKS WORTH YOUR TIME

Seniors now hold more than $15 trillion in home equity
Homeowners 62 and older are sitting on a record $15.34 trillion in equity, and high rates have kept most of them from touching it. Think about the parents and grandparents in your database, and ask yourself who is talking to them about their options.

Pull the credit file now, buy the score later
TransUnion and Equifax will now let lenders pull a borrower's credit file first and add the scores later, only when they are needed. Credit report costs have been a sore spot for all of us, and this is the bureaus' latest move to bring them down.

WHERE TO FIND ME

Oct 15: Spokane/North Idaho All Employee October Luncheon

I am home in Coeur d'Alene for the rest of October and November. If you are in the area, reply to this email and let's grab coffee. If you want time on the books, grab a spot on my calendar here.

ON THE CALENDAR

Oct 11 to 14: MBA Annual, Chicago
Oct 12: Columbus Day, bond market closed
Oct 13: ADP weekly jobs estimate, Existing Home Sales
Oct 14: September CPI inflation reading
Oct 15: Jobless claims, Retail Sales, Producer Price Index
Oct 15: Spokane/North Idaho All Employee October Luncheon
Oct 16: Import Prices, Industrial Production
Oct 16: National Boss's Day
Oct 16 to 19: NAMB National, Las Vegas
Oct 27 to 28: Fed meeting

WHO LENT ME THEIR BELIEF

On Saturday I was at mPower in Chicago as a nominee for the mPower Visionary Award. I got to be there with Rose Marie David, Kate Nichols, and Christie Schalock. One person was missing. Kristine Griffin had personal obligations and could not make it, and she is the reason I was in that room. Kristine is the one who put my name forward.

Kristine is our EVP, National Underwriting Manager at CMG, and I have worked with her for 16 years. Nobody works harder. She gives her best every day, for every customer. She stays calm under pressure, and she is kind while she does it.

Kristine, thank you. Your commitment and your grace inspire me, and I am grateful for you.