The Luxury Jumbo Mortgage Expert ⎮ Andrew Loranger

In this episode, Andrew Loranger talks about his amazing story of how he went from success to massive failure and losing everything and then bouncing back up stronger than ever. 

Connect with Andrew on Instagram - @drewsthemove
If you need help with mortgages - https://www.millenniummortgage.io/


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Transcript

Andrew Loranger  00:00
I found myself very quickly I lost my car. Things just didn't work out with the girl. I lost the condo. And so I find myself sleeping on a friend's couch. And until I couldn't anymore, and I ended up sleeping in a storage unit one night. And so I'm sitting in the storage unit and I'm like, I have nothing I'm $148,000 in debt, literally no money, my accounts overdrawn. And I was like, I gotta go home.

Edward Collins  00:30
Well, welcome back to another episode of entrepreneur unleashed. Edward Collins, here, your host, and I'm joined in the studio today with by Andrew Loranger, who is a partner in Millennium Mortgage. And they're located right in Miami. And I'm so I'm so excited to have him here. Because one of the things you guys understand about me is I'm interested in helping you guys shortcut your journey of success. And that shortcut process is best found and learning from the footsteps of others, the individuals who have come before you learn from their struggles and their triumphs. So I'm so happy to have Andrew here because his story was, let's just get right into it. Let's, Andrew, I appreciate you just jumping in here and being so willing to share authentically, 

Andrew Loranger  01:10
Yeah, absolutely. 

Edward Collins  01:11
Based based on who you are and where you've been. 

Andrew Loranger  01:13
Sure. 

Edward Collins  01:14
So tell me a little bit about before obviously get becoming an entrepreneur, I'm really always interested in origin story. So tell me a little bit about your origin story. Where did Andrew start from?

Andrew Loranger  01:25
Yeah, for sure, for sure. So I actually grew up in a very, very small rural country town called Winchester, Virginia.

Edward Collins  01:33
Winchester, Virginia.  Okay

Andrew Loranger  01:35
So it was out in the sticks. You know, we grew up. Well, I grew up avoiding country music. But that was all that was playing. I always had this like inner desire to be in the city, there was just something in me I was obsessed with in New York. But I was like living in the country. And I just felt like I didn't belong. So I was like the outlier or the outcast in like, almost every community within my small town, because I was just like, I'm not meant to be here. It's just doesn't make sense for me. It's not in alignment with who I feel like I am. And so that was like, basically how my youth kind of was dictated by that belief of like, I don't fit in.  And so yeah, I grew up in the country. My first job was actually at a buffet. I was like, working on the front lines as like a host. And then I got a job at on a farm actually. 

Edward Collins  02:26
Really? 

Andrew Loranger  02:26
Yeah. 

Edward Collins  02:26
Okay. So, that's definitely unique. 

Andrew Loranger  02:28
Yeah. And so my dad actually saw I was like goofing off at work, goofing off at school. And he wanted to teach me a valuable lesson, which was like, what happens if you don't do good in school? My parents were both very collegiate. You know, they worked at universities, they all had higher education degrees. And so yeah, they wanted to teach me the importance of education. So they put me on, on work at the farm, baling hay and alfalfa. And it was brutal

Edward Collins  02:53
Baling hay and alfalfa.  It's not a common journey that we hear in the studio. It's definitely unique. Okay, tell, tell us a little bit about how that potentially impacted your your journey. I mean, like.

Andrew Loranger  02:55
Yeah.  Well, honestly, like, there's nothing that compares to like real physical labor. And I think what happens is a lot of entrepreneurs, today, they, they've never really experienced that maybe they haven't done plumbing or welding or experienced these trades. And so they oftentimes don't have the appreciation when they're in the grind of being like, Look, I've done things that are a lot harder and pay a lot less. And so that was something that looking back on it, I can appreciate now, so I definitely appreciate my dad for like putting me through that. But at the time, it was horrible. It was horrible. I mean, we would I would get there at the crack of dawn, the sun was just, you know, breaking the mountains. And I would just be working, sweating. I had the worst farmer's tan you could possibly imagine. And so by the end of the day, my dad would come and pick me up and I would get in the car knocked out, I would knock out before we even left the dirt road. 

Edward Collins  03:09
That's hard work. 

Andrew Loranger  03:52
Yeah. No, but yeah, so it was great. It was a good experience. You know, anytime that I feel like, maybe I'm getting a little too prideful, or things just aren't, you know, where I think they should be or I feel like I'm not as grateful as I should be for whatever area in my life, you know, or season I'm in at the time, I always go home, I always fly home because I'll drive to that farm or I'll drive to my high school or middle school drive somewhere in this country town. And I'll be like, Man, this is like where I came from and it's such a humbling experience. Like I could be here right now. There's a lot of people that I went to school with that are still there. 

Edward Collins  04:35
Right

Andrew Loranger  04:36
And so they never left town and they have three, four or five kids not saying that that's a bad thing. You know, but they're working these lower income jobs. And they think that this is like all that life is, you know, and I think that it's so important to like get out of your hometown or get away from your parents or get away from like, whatever confines you feel like you grew up in, because that's what I did. And that's how I would have never had the experience of understanding that it was is a whole nother world out there.

Edward Collins  05:01
Stretching is definitely important person and I know that, that having having struggles are important too. I think struggle is a critical component to learning.

Andrew Loranger  05:10
100% 

Edward Collins  05:10
Of all babies learn to crawl when their toys are just out of reach. So putting yourself into a struggle environment like you are baling hay and alfalfa on the farm. What was the transition? Like? What what did you do? What what caused the transition from that? 

Andrew Loranger  05:26
For sure. So, um, actually, my mother worked at the university that was my alma mater. 

Edward Collins  05:31
Okay

Andrew Loranger  05:31
So, it was always, like, this direction had been like carved out for me. 

Edward Collins  05:35
Okay. 

Andrew Loranger  05:35
Which was, you're gonna go to the school, you're gonna, you know, study whatever they have available, you know, within their curriculum. And so you're gonna get a degree, and then you're gonna go do whatever, right? Whatever you decide to do. And so my dream was always I wanted to be an architect. And I wanted to be an engineer, I wanted, I was always an artist growing up, I was into music, I was very creative. And so I was like, Man, I'm gonna either go to Virginia Tech to be an architect, or I'm going to go to a music school, or I'm going to do something like that. But architecture was always like my dream. And so when I went to this college, I had, like I said, I had been goofing off, like all of high school, so I didn't have the grades to go anywhere that I actually wanted to go. So I actually ended up going to the school, you know, because my mom had worked there for like, 20 years. And so I got in, and

Edward Collins  06:22
It wasn't what you knew what to unit. 

Andrew Loranger  06:23
Yeah, exactly. It was that type of scenario. And so no, I got in. And all they had was like, business, and they had some music. It wasn't music school, but I just wasn't into it any more in that in that manner. And so I was like, Man, I guess I'll go for business. The only other option was like nursing or like English or something. And I just don't see myself doing any of that. So yeah, I went to school for business. I got a degree in accounting. And it's so funny, because growing up, I hated math. It was actually my worst subject. 

Edward Collins  06:51
Okay. 

Andrew Loranger  06:52
That's what I do today. So, go figure. So, yeah, that's what ended up happening. I went to school, and I met a really good friend of mine. We're still best friends to this day. He's actually my business partner at Millennium Mortgage. You know, he was like the guy that founded the entire concept of our company. And so we were really good friends in college. And he lived in New York. And I already told you, I had this obsession with New York. So I'm like, Dude, I have to come to New York. I need to be there. Like I've always seen it on TV and I loved it. And so he's like, fly out. So I went to New York several summers back to back and I was obsessed with it. Every time summer break would happen. I will go with him to New York.

Edward Collins  07:26
Go and big apple and just enjoy life. 

Andrew Loranger  07:29
Yeah, it was amazing, man. And so like, one summer we lived with his his mother in the Bronx. And we used to commute in and I worked at the 92nd Street Y 

Edward Collins  07:37
Oh, yes. Yeah. Okay. 

Andrew Loranger  07:38
And, yeah, man, it was just it was a journey. So I was like, in love with the city. And I had never experienced anything like this. And it was like, every time I would go to New York, and come back, I had a different perspective on life, I had a different perspective on the town. And like, it was just more of an inclination of, or really a solidification of this idea that I'm not meant to be here. Like, there's so much more out there

Edward Collins  07:58
Such a big diversity. Winchester, yeah. Okay. So tell them tell me a little bit about, like, talk us talk us through the, the process of leaving, like, because you made a decision to leave Winchester. So what was that process like for you?

Andrew Loranger  08:15
Sure. So, after college will towards the tail end of college, you know, everyone's looking for jobs, what's my career going to be? Where am I going to go? And so I ended up getting an opportunity with Edward Jones investments, they fell in love with me. And they were like, Oh, you could, you know, bring people in, you could create relationships, you're really good at this. And so they were like, fly out to St. Louis, we're gonna fly to our home office, through this career development program, you're going to study for your series 766. If you pass all this, we're going to fly you out, pay for you to live there for six months train you. And then we're going to plant you your own office somewhere, wherever you want to be. And so I'm like, Look, are you going to plant me in office in New York City? And they were like, Yes.

Edward Collins  08:53
This is where I want to be.

Andrew Loranger  08:55
So they're like, Yes, I absolutely will do it. So I'm like, Alright, it's a no brainer. So I ended up leaving to St. Louis. I'm there for six months. It was like I did not like St. Louis at all. I would I would not. 

Edward Collins  09:07
And it was like New York City. 

Andrew Loranger  09:08
That's not Miami. There's a dead of winter. Yeah. And so yeah, it just meant there. I learned so much. I had gotten my series 766 And then I passed those and then they flew me out. And I was just learning the roles and I was making friends and I never left for college. 

Edward Collins  09:26
Okay

Andrew Loranger  09:27
So I this was kind of like my first time away from home. 

Edward Collins  09:29
Oh, wow. Yeah. 

Andrew Loranger  09:30
Besides New York, obviously. And this was like, a more extended period of time. And I kind of like went a little crazy with drinking and partying and going out. And I really wasn't taking my job seriously. Because my my college was a mile and a half from my house growing up. So it was like I was still 

Edward Collins  09:46
You're sheltered. 

Andrew Loranger  09:47
Yeah, exactly. So man, I was out here. I was like finally 21 and I was just going crazy. And I didn't take it seriously at all. So time came for us to like launch our branches and I was like, I still have this project. I'm going in New York. And they were like, we're not putting you in New York. Like you can't because their goodness, their concept was you have to go knock on doors physically in streets, go knock on the house doors and like pull people into the branch to sell them investments. Right? 

Edward Collins  10:12
Wow. 

Andrew Loranger  10:12
And so they were like, you can't door knock in New York, where you're gonna go to the brownstones or into the, you know, the high rises, it's not gonna happen. And so they were like, We don't want you in Long Island. We don't want you out here. We don't want you in Jersey, like we want you somewhere else. So I was like, alright, well, I guess I'll go to the next biggest city close to home, which is DC. So I went out to DC started a branch with this company. And man, this thing was like a total failure did not work out at all. I knocked on hundreds and hundreds thousands of doors over the course of six or seven months. I got like two clients. 

Edward Collins  10:44
Wow. 

Andrew Loranger  10:44
And so they kept telling me like, this is what happens. You have to do this for years. And eventually two clients turns to five and then it turns to 10. And then you build a huge book of business over 10 to 20 years, and then you retire and you're good, right? But I was like, Man, I don't have time for that. I'm not gonna be out here knocking on doors like this. This sucks. 

Edward Collins  10:59
Long journey. Yeah. 

Andrew Loranger  11:00
Yeah. So um, man, I did that for a little bit. I ended up getting recruited by once I got those two clients. And I had like a book, right, I got recruited by Merrill Lynch. 

Edward Collins  11:10
Okay. 

Andrew Loranger  11:11
And so they brought me over, but they were like opening this new program at the time, they told me I was going to be an advisor, and I was gonna, like, you know, have these access to high net worth clients and the big dogs were gonna give me their little leads that they didn't want to touch anymore. Do they ended up sticking me in a branch at like a Bank of America for a Merrill Edge program, which was like some new thing that they were starting. 

Edward Collins  11:29
Okay. 

Andrew Loranger  11:30
And so I'm like, I had this whole thing, like, I was going to work for myself, whatever. And the reality was, I'm a nine to fiver at a bank. And there was nothing that I hated more than than being a nine to fiver at a bank, being told when to be there being told when I could leave, like a days I couldn't, couldn't take off. And so that did not last very long. I called my buddy who I had been studying for the series seven with my buddy from New York. And he was like, Dude, I'm in mortgages now, and I'm crushing it, because like, I moved down to Miami. And I'm like, why would you go to Miami? Isn't that hot down there? Like, did people is that even a thing and he was like, just fly down and visit. I'll show you what we're doing. And it was kind of like out of the Wolf of Wall Street. He's like, this is what I made this month. And I'm like, There's no frickin way that's like my annual salary. And then he was like, Yeah, I swear. So I flew down there. Of course, he shows me his check. He shows me the whole operation. We like that week. We were on boats. We were like out in Brickell, we were going to the club, we were doing all these fun things. And I was like, Man, I love Miami. I'm moving here. And so I went back to DC. Within two weeks I had studied for and passed my mortgage license, sublet my apartment, sold my car and got rid of everything. To where I had two bags, and I moved down to Miami. 

Edward Collins  12:45
Wow. So you actually, you made a decision? 

Andrew Loranger  12:48
Yeah. 

Edward Collins  12:49
And you implement it? 

Andrew Loranger  12:49
Yeah, immediately. 

Edward Collins  12:50
Okay. 

Andrew Loranger  12:51
There was like no time for like thinking about it. I just was like, I assume the day I got back, it was late. November was cold as shit. I had just left Miami. And so I wrote an email to the boss of at a bank of America. And I was at Merrill. And I was like, I'm done. I cannot do this anymore. Like, I quit, right? And so of course, in that type of role, they're like, alright, just leave your die, you know. So I gave him my two weeks notice. That meant nothing. I was fired the next day. And then yeah, man, it was like, I just started studying every day. And so I would study for like, eight hours a day. And then at night, I would like pack up my stuff and decide who was going to keep I would give things to Goodwill. I listed my car. I did all these different things, found someone to sublet the apartment. And so yeah, two weeks later, I was in Miami. 

Edward Collins  13:33
Okay. So, obviously, that was an had to have been a stressful situation for you. 

Andrew Loranger  13:39
Yeah. 

Edward Collins  13:39
Because at the end of the day, you're going from something you knew to something you didn't. 

Andrew Loranger  13:41
Exactly, yeah. 

Edward Collins  13:42
Tell us a little bit about what thought processes you went through?

Andrew Loranger  13:45
Yeah. So I mean, I've done crazy things like that before. That wasn't the first time, you know, that I've just often made a decision and went crazy. And I think in that moment, I am more fueled off of like the vision of what's going to be than like, the fear of the unknown, or the fear of what I'm losing or what I'm leaving. It was more like, I get so obsessed. I'm like almost OCD, in a sense, to where when I have an idea or a vision, I get so obsessed on one track mind, I can't think about anything else. I don't have time for relationship. I don't have time for this. And work life balance is very difficult for me for this reason. But I think like a lot of entrepreneurs, we get so obsessed, like this is all or nothing I'm going all in. And so this is what I do with most of mostly everything. 

Edward Collins  14:27
Oh, yeah. 

Andrew Loranger  14:28
And so yeah, man, I went all in on this vision of I'm gonna live in Miami, I'm gonna make you know, all this money. I'm gonna have this beautiful apartment on the water. I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna have a girl like Latina. I'm gonna, you know all these things. And so I was so obsessed with that vision that like nothing else mattered, right? 

Edward Collins  14:43
Right. 

Andrew Loranger  14:43
And it was just, this is what I'm doing. And I made the decision. I made it happen.

Edward Collins  14:47
Now, I often see entrepreneurs go through this cycle where they get excited about an idea. 

Andrew Loranger  14:52
Yeah. 

Edward Collins  14:53
And they have all this energy. Then they start to develop that idea and then that development process some of that energy gets lost. And they don't actually get to the point where they're expanding the idea. They just start to develop it. And then there's a new shiny object. Have you ever gone through any, 

Andrew Loranger  15:12
Yeah, of course.

Edward Collins  15:12
to tell us a little bit about that for you?

Andrew Loranger  15:14
Yeah, I think it's not so much. I mean, maybe it is the loss of the desire, or like, sorts of fizzle out a little bit, that could have one. You know, that could be one reason, but I think more so than anything. It's that fear starts entering in. And when fear starts entering, and like you have faith versus fear, and when you have that vision, and you're obsessed, and you make those decisions, that's why I was able to do that in such a short period of two weeks, like most loan officers take these tests, three, four or five times take some like six months, right? And so it's like, I think, if you implement in such a short period of time, and you don't wait,

Edward Collins  15:49
you don't give your time. Yeah, you don't have time to to actually allow field. 

Andrew Loranger  15:52
Yeah, exactly. And so that's been huge is like, whenever you have an idea, like implement fast, make a decision fast, don't sit on it too long. When you do sit on it too long, or like you said, when you're like mid process, the fear starts coming in, and the doubt starts coming in. And that's why it's so important to like, really listen to yourself and your own desires, and write your vision down, and really make it plain so that you're like, this is what I'm doing. And then, man, it's uh, it's hard. It's a lot easier said than done. Oh, because fear like, Dude, I deal with it right now. I'm, I'm building a studio. It's nothing like this. But I'm building a studio on my own. And, you know, as I'm in the process of building it, I'm like, is anybody going to watch this? Like, should I even record? What am I going to talk about? You know, and it's like, should I even do it? And I think it goes to like getting people on your team and getting people in line with your vision. If like, I have a great relationship with my mom and my dad, they don't always understand my vision, they actually like, might even be repulsed by it. Because it's like the polar opposite of their 

Edward Collins  16:50
what their academic. 

Andrew Loranger  16:50
Yeah, exactly. 

Edward Collins  16:51
That's their mantras, 

Andrew Loranger  16:53
but they've always supported it, right. And so you have to, like, really find people, or at least I do, the only way that I overcome it is to find people who support my vision, and people who can even help me implement it.

Edward Collins  17:03
I look at it a little bit along the lines of you are, what your network is.

Andrew Loranger  17:08
Oh, for sure. 

Edward Collins  17:09
So, tell me a little bit about like the network that you've been able to develop over time that's helped you to become who you are now.

Andrew Loranger  17:15
Yeah, of course, well, I think like finding people who are where you want to be in every aspect, whether it's faith, finance, fitness, family, right? A lot of times, when we're like, in one of these pillars, we tried to do it all on our own. So like, fitness is a huge part of my life. That's one of my primary pillars of like my functionality. As a human, if I don't work out in the morning, I just I have a really bad day. You know, and so for me, it's like, if I want to, if I want to, I guess go after this, and really be good at it, I have to find other people who are good at it. So some of my best friends are really hardcore gym heads.

Edward Collins  17:52
Okay

Andrew Loranger  17:52
Now they're really or they're really good at, you know, yoga, or they're good at some type of functional movement. And it's actually their bread and butter. That's how they do business. So I have friends that are really good trainers, 

Edward Collins  18:03
Okay

Andrew Loranger  18:03
And so I learned from them. And by being around them naturally, like I pick up good techniques, and I avoid injury. And if something hurts, like I can ask them and they tell me how to fix exactly right. So it's like that network has helped me propel and become better in that specific area of my life. Similarly, like, when I was going all out on this thing several months back, like I really lost track of my faith journey. And like, faith is a huge component in my life. So I had to start getting around people who are really involved in the church are really involved in their faith walk, you know, so because like, when I start feeling like that's drifting, I gotta surround myself with other people in community, because it's all about community and everything. And then my business endeavor, like most of my close friends, of course, I told you, I've got friends that are trainers, friends in the church. Most of my really close friends are all realtors.

Edward Collins  18:51
Okay 

Andrew Loranger  18:52
Because that's my business, I get my business from my agents and my agents become my friends. And that's how I continue to get more business and that's how they trust me. So it's all about your community. It's all about your network. I mean, that's the only way that we can excel.

Edward Collins  19:04
Oftentimes, I see when I'm sitting down, I'm talking with business owners. A common theme is that they, they have ups and downs, but sometimes those downs are pretty traumatic. 

Andrew Loranger  19:14
Yeah

Edward Collins  19:14
Some pretty challenging things that they've gone through. Have you found that to be part of your path? 

Andrew Loranger  19:19
Yeah, for sure. It's crazy, man. I've been down a lot of times. I've been down a lot of times. One time in particular, that was pretty. It was pretty intense for me, and I'll never forget. And I think it really characterized my journey and like helped me get where I am is. I was running a Mortgage branch in downtown Miami. I, me and my buddy, we had 15 guys working for us different friend. 

Edward Collins  19:45
This is before millennium? 

Andrew Loranger  19:46
This is before millennium. Yeah, so a buddy of mine, we had been working for this company. And so I got a call from the CEO. And I wasn't like by any means. I wasn't the top producer or anything. I just had a good work ethic and I kind of in my opinion, I did the bare minimum but In Miami, northerners bare minimum is a little different. A different example. Yeah, man, I got promoted relatively quickly. The owner of the branch that we had been working at, he'd left and started his own endeavor. So he completely left the business. And you know, he started his own thing. So that place, it became a new company, they separated. And so the CEO calls me he's like, Hey, do you want to start your own branch? You know, you and your buddy, we want to, you know, set this thing up. And so we did, we built this huge operation, you know, the guy financed the whole thing. And we had 15 loan officers working for us. And it was a major operation. We had leads coming in and everybody was on the phone. I had auto dialer set up, and it was just a huge phone operation. 

Edward Collins  20:41
When was it? 

Andrew Loranger  20:42
This was I think this was 2016 and '17. 

Edward Collins  20:45
Okay

Andrew Loranger  20:46
And so we blew up quick. And we were hiring we, in the matter of one year, we had outgrown three offices. 

Edward Collins  20:53
Wow. 

Andrew Loranger  20:54
So we had to get tremendous. Yeah. And it was all in the same building. So we kept going up floors.  Until the last the final year, we ended up going down the floor, because that was the only bigger space available. And so yeah, we got a massive operation. It was amazing. We had in house, you know, processing staff, people to collect conditions, we just had a, it was an incredible operation, man. And it was so great to like, go into the office and, like motivate the team every morning. And, and it was just it was fun, man. It was a it was a really good time. It was stressful, of course. And so my same buddy from New York, him and I had this concept where we were like, man, we go out to restaurants all the time. It's such a pain in the ass checking out. And so we built this mobile app, we had this all started as an idea. 

Edward Collins  20:58
Okay Okay, so we're transitioning now

Andrew Loranger  21:36
Yeah

Edward Collins  21:37
to some sort of technology. 

Andrew Loranger  21:39
Yeah. And so this was the segue of my demise at the time. Because I told you, I'm the all or nothing type of guy. 

Edward Collins  21:46
Exactly. 

Andrew Loranger  21:47
And so we had this idea, like, we're gonna start this tech company, it's gonna be a mobile app to help people check out at restaurants. And it was very intuitive. It was just, it was a great concept. And everybody was on board. I mean, we hired developers, I had a decent amount of savings. He did too. And I had a crazy like, open credit line to 

Edward Collins  22:04
okay 

Andrew Loranger  22:04
it's just out of control. And so it was crazy, man, we went all in on this thing. And I completely neglected the branch, like my mortgage branch and neglected it completely. And I went all in on this tech company. And so 

Edward Collins  22:18
That is the shiny object? 

Andrew Loranger  22:19
That was my shiny object. That was the thing that kind of deterred me from building this whole operation out to what it could have been, which, you know, looking back probably could have been huge. And so yeah, man, we, we went all out. We went all out on this thing. And it was like a total failure, like Oh, lop. And so, I mean, it could have been good. Like, looking back at it, it there was I know exactly what we could have done in order to make it better, like Hindsight is 2020. And it probably would have taken off, but like, we were in the app store, we had all these consumer downloads, but we couldn't, there was no like restaurant that would allow us to implement it there because we needed access to the backend of their POS system. And they're like, we're not gonna give you our POS system that's like the lifeblood of the business. 

Edward Collins  22:59
Right, right. 

Andrew Loranger  23:00
And so like, there were things now looking back, we could have definitely done things differently. White Label the product, even just done some licensing thing, whatever. But yeah, man, this is it was bad. I remember I went to New York, I was walking the streets for like four months trying to sell this thing restaurant I was on 35. Six, I'm up, down, all over the place, right. And so we got a couple of places that were interested. But I was like, Dude, I'm like, I look at my account one day, and I'm like, Where the hell's all my money? Like, I'm in all this credit card debt. It was bad. And we had been paying developers and UX designers and all these people and like I was tapped out. So I'm like, I gotta go back to Miami. I still have a place there. I fly back to Miami. I have two employees at my branch. I was so disconnected. I didn't even realize that everyone left every people had loved. My, the assistant manager had fired other people. And like things were just there was a dynamic that was like really bad. Once I left or it just things just weren't working out, the leads started to dry up. And then I wasn't there to like talk to the CEO to get different types of leads and go to different. So it just it was not good. It was not good. We had this huge office, all this overhead and there was no employees. And so yeah, man, it was really bad at this time.

Edward Collins  24:14
So the tech startup, yeah. Flopped. 

Andrew Loranger  24:17
Yeah 

Edward Collins  24:18
Your branch flopped.

Andrew Loranger  24:20
Flopped, yeah. 

Edward Collins  24:21
What did you do?

Andrew Loranger  24:22
So I have a conversation with the CEO. And he's like, we're gonna shut down this branch. And we just want you to liquidate the whole thing, sell everything, and just get rid of it, 

Edward Collins  24:30
Which was the largest office in the building that was available 

Andrew Loranger  24:33
Largest office at the company. And so he was like, just, it's a liquid. It's done. So I ended up just selling everything. And like, you know, whatever I could get for it is what I basically lived on for a little bit. And, so

Edward Collins  24:47
Still in Miami?

Andrew Loranger  24:48
And I was still in Miami. And so man, I was still so obsessed with this business, that I was like, I have to make this frickin thing work.  And so I had been living at the icon and Brickell at the time had a car that I was like I always had on my wall as a kid, I had that car, right, I had this beautiful girlfriend Cuban. And dude, within a very short period of time, I lost everything. Like it was three months where I was just, I was still trying to, like, live this life that I had been living, and trying to keep up with this persona of who everybody thought that I was on Instagram, because I was that guy, right. And I wasn't until it wasn't 

Edward Collins  24:54
Okay. 

Andrew Loranger  25:22
And then I tried to maintain this image. And it was me trying to maintain the image for like the external that ended up just completely crushing me. And so I found myself very quickly, I lost my car. Things just didn't work out with the girl. I lost the condo. And so I find myself sleeping on a friend's couch. And until I couldn't anymore, and I ended up sleeping in a storage unit one night. And so I'm sitting in the storage unit, and I'm like, I have nothing I'm $148,000 in debt. Literally no money, my accounts overdrawn. And I was like, I gotta go home. And so I call my parents and I was like, I have to come home. Like I explained, situate, I'm in tears. I'm crying. I'm on like this, this bench. I go on this little bench on the river. And so I'm just sitting there, I'm like crying. I call my parents. I'm like, I gotta come home. I need to borrow some money so I can get home. I need a rental car. So they helped me out. I got a rental packed all my shit. And I went to Virginia, the whole ride home and I'm like bawling because I felt like a total failure. I lost everything. I was like living so grand

Edward Collins  25:22
until you weren't.  dream home

Andrew Loranger  26:26
Yeah

Edward Collins  26:27
your dream car, your dream woman. And it was all gone.

Andrew Loranger  26:30
Yeah. So it was it was gone. Man. It was it was a pretty devastating experience at the time. I started. This is kind of what sparked my personal development journey. Because on the ride home a friend had suggested you need to start listening to Napoleon Hill Think and Grow Rich Outwitting the Devil.

Edward Collins  26:46
Amazing. Yeah, amazing. So AZ mint mentor. Yeah. 

Andrew Loranger  26:49
So these were the books that I started listening to like on the journey home for like, whatever it was 12 hours, I pitstop at a buddy's house in Atlanta. And so I dropped off the car, I go home, I'm just there like reading and just I writing in my journal, which I actually found a couple weeks ago, I started reading through it, and I'm like, Dude, this is crazy what I went through, and where my mindset was at the time even. And so yeah, this was where I was, I was like, dead broke. I went to an attorney in Virginia, and I tried to file bankruptcy to pay off all this debt. And he was like, you can't file bankruptcy because you just moved here. You need you need six months of domicile. I'm like, Are you kidding me? Like, what am I supposed to this? It's like 11,000 a month. And so I ended up calling the CEO of the mortgage company that I had been working for in Miami 

Edward Collins  27:32
In Miami. Okay. 

Andrew Loranger  27:33
His home office was in Maryland, and Glen Burnie, which is outside of Baltimore. I'm like, Dude, I need a job. I have gotten nothing like this my situation. He was like, I thought he was gonna tell me to go kick rocks.  He's like, dude, come over, check out the operation, and we'll put you on the phones, but you're not managing anything. You're gonna just be a sales guy. He's like, Alright, fine. I need whatever I can get. And so like, the thing is, I guess can't be choosers, dude, I trained all these 15 people that works for us. So I know how to do this, right? This is my thing. Like I could sell anybody with this specific product on this specific way. It was just my I'm an expert at this. So I knew that this is what I had to do to pay off the debt. And so I ended up rent. I went on Craigslist, I rented an apartment. 500 bucks a month. It was a little room in a guy's apartment and a 

Edward Collins  27:44
Yeah.  big difference from the icon. 

Andrew Loranger  28:18
Yeah. And there was I was sleeping on I found a picture of it. Actually, after I went through the journal, I started I pulled out my iPad, but I haven't seen in years. And the last few pictures were from Maryland. And I had a picture of the room that I was sleeping in. It was crazy, because in the picture, there's like this little thin map, like a futon mat that I was sleeping on the floor. I didn't have a dresser because I couldn't afford one. So all my clothes are piled out by shirts, underwear, like pants, everything on the floor. And then I have my Bible on the side of my my notebook. And this was like how I lived in this time period. And so yeah, there was no service in the place. So I would wake up in the morning, I would go straight to the gym. I worked out for two hours or so. I went to the to the office, I worked 15,16,20 hours, whatever it took that day, I would go home. I would on the way there I would download a podcast or download an audio book or something because I no service in the apartment. And I would listen to it before bed or as I was cooking dinner or whatever 

Edward Collins  29:14
right, right

Andrew Loranger  29:15
I will go to sleep. Do the same thing over and over 

Edward Collins  29:17
That's your routine. 

Andrew Loranger  29:18
That was my routine. And I was so set on my goal of getting back to Miami and leaving this place. I didn't even I didn't make friends. I made two friends the entire time I was there just because I met them at the gym. 

Edward Collins  29:28
Okay

Andrew Loranger  29:28
But I didn't go out. I went to one dinner one time with those two friends. But it was like I was so set on getting back to Miami 

Edward Collins  29:35
You have a mission. 

Andrew Loranger  29:36
Yeah, that was my mission was to get back to Miami. Pay off the debt get back to Miami. That's when I got into like Dave Ramsey started listening out my debts from smallest to largest did the whole snowball thing. I would start paying off the small debts when I got a big check. I would pay off a big one. And before I knew it, like about six months had passed and I had paid off all the debt. 

Edward Collins  29:55
Wow. 

Andrew Loranger  29:55
And so the next couple of months i the whole the thing was I had made like this commitment and agreement with the owner of the company that as soon as I paid off the debt, we put a date on it. In January, I was going to go back to Miami and start another branch. January comes, I've got some savings. I had this conversation. He's like, I don't want to branch in Miami, like that's done. I'm like, Are you kidding me? 

Edward Collins  30:18
We had a conversation. 

Andrew Loranger  30:19
We had a whole agreement about this. And he was like, I'm not doing it. You can either stay here or you can go but we're not doing anything in Miami. We really want you here. And so I'm like, Dude, I'm not staying here. No, I will not be

Edward Collins  30:29
Yeah, at the end of the day. You you were in love with the city life. You enjoyed the lifestyle in Miami what it all had to offer. You just had to figure a way to get back.

Andrew Loranger  30:38
I was it. So I ended up getting a job with this guy from New York, I flew to New York to interview with someone that my friend knew from Miami, some big hotshot, and the mortgage industry had been in the game for like 30 years. And so he was like, Yeah, we're expanding into Miami, and I need people on my team. 

Edward Collins  30:55
Okay. 

Andrew Loranger  30:56
It wasn't until like a year later, I found out this guy was like barred from the industry. So he didn't have a license. So he was making connections and writing, I was writing the business me and like the handful of other people, right. And so, I learned so much from this guy. I learned how to like walk confidently into a room how to like believe in myself how to met when I got to Miami, I had never done a purchase ever for the last four years or however long. It was all revised. Everything was revised on the phone. And so I get to Miami. I'm telling everybody, I am the luxury and jumbo mortgage purchase expert. I put it on my Instagram bio. I'm the expert. I do jumbo luxury manifests. It's like either manifest or fake it till you make it but 

Edward Collins  31:35
One way or the other. 

Andrew Loranger  31:36
And it was crazy. Because my first deal I got when I was down there was from this woman at the Armani casa. 

Edward Collins  31:42
Okay. 

Andrew Loranger  31:42
Yeah, it was like two and a half million dollar deal. And I'm like, Oh my God, I've never done a deal over 400 grand. So I get this deal. It was It was rough. It was rough. It was very rough. This loan had gotten denied from 17 banks. 

Edward Collins  31:54
Wow. 

Andrew Loranger  31:55
And so it came to us. And we found a way to get it done. 

Edward Collins  31:58
Okay. 

Andrew Loranger  31:58
And so we got it closed. And from that day on, I got like, six or seven deals in the building that just like made my whole year blow offs here. Yeah. And so then COVID hit. And so my this guide basically was just like, we're done, like, the business is shot, go do your own thing. So I kind of meandered I was drinking and partying and doing my thing during COVID. And on boats. And just like, you know, I had some cash. And I was just like, What do I do? 

Edward Collins  32:26
Went back into the lifestyle. 

Andrew Loranger  32:27
Exactly, I got swept back into Miami. And so yeah, of a friend of mine who had been in the business, he was like, Dude, you're always posting on Instagram, like you're always posting your life and all these things. He was like, this looks like crazy, like you should be selling something. You're just like, what promoting nothing. 

Edward Collins  32:45
Exactly. 

Andrew Loranger  32:46
So he was like, how can you monetize this. And so he shifted my perspective into I need to start posting about real estate. I started posting about mortgages, so I kind of shifted my content. And then I started getting businesses flowing in once COVID ended, where it was just like all my deals now come from Instagram, or my agents that I met through Instagram. 

Edward Collins  33:04
Wow. 

Andrew Loranger  33:05
And so yeah, that's when my buddy approaches me. And he's like, I'm starting this branch, or I'm starting this, this whole operation called millennial mortgage, and you're really good at getting the business, but you're terrible with the back end stuff. I'm like, Absolutely. Like that's I hate the backend, processing, calculating income, looking at documents, all that stuff. And he's like, Well, why don't you delegate that to me, and my team will take care of all the back and you take care of the front and just do your thing. I was like, absolutely. 

Edward Collins  33:31
It's a partnership made net. 

Andrew Loranger  33:32
Yeah. Amazing. And so this guy is so good. He runs the entire operations division. You know, they handle all the paperwork, pre approvals, calculating income, looking at documents, collecting documents, everything, I just have to go out and get business, which is what I'm naturally good at.

Edward Collins  33:45
Okay. So you're more of the visionary and sales guy. 

Andrew Loranger  33:48
Exactly. 

Edward Collins  33:49
And he's more of the implementer.

Andrew Loranger  33:50
Exactly. Yeah, I'm gonna open or he's a closer, 

Edward Collins  33:53
Okay, yeah, I like it. 

Andrew Loranger  33:54
But together, we get these deals done. And so, yeah, this is kind of where we are. Now. We've expanded dramatically. I have three assistants at this point, three director systems, two that are just like really close with me. We have a huge team that's out and Davey, and yeah, we're growing every day. We're always bringing on loan officers. And we're actually now going to be opening up another branch. And we were looking at Burkle, but I think it's probably gonna end up being Winwood that I'll be managing. So

Edward Collins  34:22
I'm so impressed by it by your commitment to your faith. And I'm just curious, like, how do you see that playing a role in your your growth as an entrepreneur?

Andrew Loranger  34:31
Yeah, no, I mean, it's, it's, it's vital. Everything that I've done, so every, I've noticed there's a direct correlation when I start going into the party lifestyle where I start, like backing away from my faith, or I started falling into the traps of Miami, or wherever I am. It's like, I it's almost like a direct like, I don't I don't want to call it a punishment because like, that's not how it works, right? But it's like there's a direct correlation from when I fall off the path like my finances suffer, my mental health suffers As my emotional health suffers, and when I like get back on, things just work out. It's amazing. Like the money starts flowing in, I started building relationships, I'm like feeling happy, again, my fitness is is on point. And when I started veering off again, it's the same thing. And then when I started getting really successful, and the money starts flowing in, and I get a little too big, that pride starts coming in. 

Edward Collins  35:21
Yep 

Andrew Loranger  35:21
There goes the fall again. So it's, it's crazy man, my faith has played such an incredible journey. And I notice it now I'm so self aware of the fact that when I fall off of reading the Bible, where I fall off of prayer, I fall off in meditation and the word like, things just fall apart in my life. And it's just I think it's because like, God has just such a, like, incredible plan. And when he knows, like, this is your plan, and you start falling off of it. Like he starts, like, kind of letting you know what's going on. And hopefully, at least, you know, I'd love to get better at my discernment. But hopefully, like, you're well aware enough that like, you're kind of going off the path so that you can bring yourself back on. And that's why going back to what I said, it's so important to have community of other people, other believers, or if you work out everyday, you want to have other people that are like in that circle, so that you could always stay on, on path. And on point.

Edward Collins  36:12
I think that the the logistics, if you will, of entrepreneurship, they require so many different things. And if you had to point to two or three things that have been most impactful to where you are right now, what would those things be?

Andrew Loranger  36:33
I would say, first and foremost, that's faith. You know, that's just played a unreal, unreal part of my life. It's just, yeah, that's it. I mean, that's number one. 

Edward Collins  36:45
First and foremost. 

Andrew Loranger  36:46
Yeah, it has to be. Because without that, it's like imagine, I tried to think sometimes I'm like, when people fail, and they don't have faith, like, What the hell do they do? 

Edward Collins  36:56
Exactly. 

Andrew Loranger  36:57
I don't, I don't understand what they do. Because the only thing that got me through that terrible moment was the fact that I had the faith and belief that I was going to get through it, that God was going to provide for me what she did, and then I was gonna get back to Miami. But what happens when you don't have that faith? Like, are you just relying on yourself? Are you relying on like, hope that the phones might ring or that, you know, you might be able to get business, it's like, you have to rely so much on yourself, when you don't have faith, and I can't rely on myself, you know, it's like, I don't have the strength to be able to manage all these people and to do all these things on my own, like, It stresses me the hell out, I can't do it. And you know, I kind of run out of steam. And it's when I get into my prayer life, or I get into the Word that I'm like, Well, I don't have to do this on my own, because I have the strength that comes from from God. And then all of a sudden, I feel like rejuvenated and I have all this energy, and I can talk to people and I can do certain things that has nothing to do with me. I have to like give that you know, glory to where it comes from. So that's huge. The second part would be I think, failing. 

Edward Collins  38:00
Okay

Andrew Loranger  38:00
Failing has played such a pivotal role in, in my journey, that it's just like I embrace failure. Now. I embrace failure, I take it on, because I know that when I fail on something like it's going to suck, it's going to be terrible. When I'm going through it, it's going to hurt, it's going to make me want to do something bad. But it's like it's in that moment of the failure that you're really pushing through. When you want to give up and you don't coming out on the other side of that is where you're like, wow, I went through all this for a reason you end up developing skills you never knew you had uncovering certain characteristics of yourself that you never knew was even possible. You started just realizing things about yourself and about others, their awareness becomes so much more impactful. And so yeah, man, failure is huge. Failure and faith have been my two biggest strong suits, things that I would say that I would never be even anywhere close to where I am without.

Edward Collins  38:55
Wow. Well, from the outside. 

Andrew Loranger  38:59
Yeah

Edward Collins  38:59
You obviously appear to have put yourself into a position of success again, you're back on the on the right path for you your authentic path. I'm curious, where are the things that you're currently struggling with? Like still? 

Andrew Loranger  39:14
Yeah

Edward Collins  39:14
Obviously. Again, outwardly everyone looking at us as Wow. And Andrew has his stuff together. 

Andrew Loranger  39:20
Yeah

Edward Collins  39:20
He's he's on the right path. But where is it that you you're, What are you still struggling? Where are you still finding lack? What are those two?

Andrew Loranger  39:27
That's an amazing question. It's so funny. I was just actually thinking about this this morning.  I was taking a shower, and I'm like, I hate because I had somebody yesterday that they call me and they're like, Dude, you're crushing it. This happens all the time. People are like, Dude, you look you're closing all these loans. We see your Instagram, you're doing all this business millions and millions of dollars. And I'm like, yeah, that's all cool, but I just it's just my job now. And so one of the struggles that I'm kind of going through right now is uncovering more so like who I am because I'm not in a place of survival anymore, where I have to make this money because I've got all this debt looming over me and I'm gonna, I'm like, dying, coming down. So like I've got, I've got good reserves now. I know the business is going to continue to come because I built incredible relationships, and I have a track record of being fruitful with my delivery. And so it's like now, like, who am I? And how can I create an impact on others. And so that's the journey that I'm going through right now. Because it's not all about the money I got last the last four months back to back over and over again, we're the largest month that I've ever had in my career. Last month, you know, it was bigger than the month before that was bigger than the ones before. Every one of those months was bigger than my entire year last year. So I've made a lot of money this year. And it's like, there's no fulfillment in it whatsoever. None at all. And it's so crazy, because we're fed this like idea that the money is gonna fulfill us and dude, it's cool. I just bought like my dream motorcycle. I love riding riding is like my thing. 

Edward Collins  39:34
Okay It's my life to go. 

Andrew Loranger  41:04
Yeah, right. Yeah, that's awesome. So yeah, man, I, I love riding, I just picked up a bike, it was like nothing was like a drop in a bucket to pick it up. And so you can do fun things I travel once every month somewhere, Colombia,I'm going to Dominican Republic next month, I'm going to Paris the month after that. So it's like I do travel a lot now. And I get to enjoy things. 

Edward Collins  41:26
You're adding to your library of life. 

Andrew Loranger  41:28
Exactly. But it's like there. Those are fun experiences. But there is no actual fulfillment in that, you know, and so because you come back from the trip, and you're like, that was cool. But what's next? 

Edward Collins  41:38
Exactly

Andrew Loranger  41:38
You know, or you get a big check. And you're like, that was great. I can go do fun things. But what's next? And so I you know, my journey right now is kind of uncovering? Where is that impact? How can I help other people, not just from a monetary perspective, because that only lasts so long? Like if you're not fulfilled by money, just giving money to other people, it might solve their problems temporarily, but it's not gonna fill them either. So it's like, what is that impact that I can create? That's going to be generational. 

Edward Collins  42:05
Okay. And you're still obviously working,

Andrew Loranger  42:07
I'm still working on that. That's a daily thing. The other one is going back to the faith thing. I feel like I've fallen a little bit off, you know, it's because it's a daily journey. It's it's hard. It's, it's hard to like, be disciplined. Discipline and, and in any areas very difficult. And it's something that you have to maintain constantly. I mean, how easy is it to fall off a healthy lifestyle, start eating chips, you have one chip here, you have to there you have ice cream one night, and then you haven't cake? And before you know it, it's like a daily thing like now now I have to have ice cream after every single meal, for instance. So that's just like one example of it's so easy to fall off your discipline. It's hard to like build those habits. And so for me, it's like, I have to now go back to what my night routine is. Because I'm working until midnight working till 1am. And then I wake up, and I'm exhausted. So I don't do my prayer. I don't do my word, whatever. Right. So now I have to like cut things off at a specific time. And I have to be more disciplined about that. So yeah, it's a it's a journey. It's something that is always a challenge every single day. And then once you get into the routine, it's like how do I how do I make this routine? Not doll?

Edward Collins  43:19
Yeah, I found I'm in the same same boat. There are definitely times where I fall off. From a discipline standpoint, I've I've learned to use friction in order to help both adding friction and removing friction. So for instance, with regard to eating healthy add, basically removing the friction is to get rid of all the junk through anxiety. 

Andrew Loranger  43:38
It's starts on the grocery store. 

Edward Collins  43:40
And adding adding friction is just putting those stop points like with you with regard to faith me having the Bible literally on your bed. 

Andrew Loranger  43:47
Yeah. 

Edward Collins  43:48
So you have to touch it before you go to bed.

Andrew Loranger  43:50
Exactly. I had to do those types of things. Yeah. Oh, this morning, I did that I put it on my bed with a journal. So that tonight I have to have to do at halftime because like, I have to move it in order to lay down. 

Edward Collins  43:59
Exactly, exactly. 

Andrew Loranger  44:01
So yeah, man, those are those are great. And it's always a journey. Every day is something different. There's always challenges. It's not going to stop. And quite frankly, why would we want it to. 

Edward Collins  44:12
Exactly.

Andrew Loranger  44:12
Because it would be so boring if we had no challenges and there was everything was just the same every day or it was always getting, I don't know, it's like, we want that fulfillment and I feel like that fulfillment comes through failure and challenge and the way that I've always gotten through failure and challenge was through faith.

Edward Collins  44:28
Well, it sounds your journey has been amazing. And I would like to do is I want to make sure that anyone who in the audience who would like to learn more about you and find out about you or or leverage this that you have, how would they go about finding you?

Andrew Loranger  44:40
I'm sure so you can find me on Instagram at drewsthemove. So that's that's my instagram handle. I'll be coming out with a website soon that's going to take you to a plethora of information about me and the podcast that we're starting. And you can also if you're interested in mortgages or anything finance related do go to millenniummortgage.io millenniummortgage.io.

Edward Collins  45:04
Make sure that all that's in the show notes. One has the ability to get in touch with you. I, I want to truly sincerely thank you for just being authentic and being so genuine and correspond open about just sharing your journey.

Andrew Loranger  45:16
Yeah, thank you for having me. This has been amazing.

Edward Collins  45:19
As you guys know, again, I can't say this enough, the easiest shortcut and your path to success is literally to find the people who are where you want to be, and learn from them. Whether that's direct outreaches, whether it's the whole concept of mentorship is amazing thing, find people who are where you want to be in life, and literally just model the things that they've been doing in order to get them there. Where you are right now is a product of the past three to four years of the habits you've been employing. And if you want to get somewhere different, you have to change who you are, change the habits that you're engaging in, change the things that you're doing on a daily basis. Learn from those who have done it. Learn from from individuals like Andrew and just make the effort because it's worth it. That whole concept of fulfillment. It's truly worth the effort. I wish you all very well in your journey of success. Bye for now.