How to Scale from Solo LO to Billion-Dollar Leader with Shayla Gifford

What does it really take to go from a broke 23-year-old cold-calling strangers…
 to building a billion-dollar mortgage organization — without losing your family, your health, or your joy?

In this powerful episode of The Way with Dino Katsiametis, Dino sits down with Shayla Gifford — mortgage industry icon, Rainmaker strategist, and creator of the Rainmaker Archetype system.

Shayla’s journey is raw, real, and deeply tactical:

• Dropping out of college
 • Starting in door-to-door sales
 • Closing 20 loans in her third month
 • Scaling from a one-woman operation to a 150-employee, billion-dollar team
 • And ultimately rebuilding her business around systems, balance, and sustainable performance

This isn’t just motivation.
 This is a playbook for originators who want to scale intelligently in today’s market.

Thanks for listening to "The Way With Dino Katsiametis"  
 For full show notes, links, and extra episode resources, visit dinokatsiametis.com.
Follow Dino for weekly clips and mortgage leadership insights on
instagram.com/dinokatsiametis | linkedin.com/in/dinokatsiametis
Learn more about Ethos Lending at ethoslending.com.  

Transcript

Dino - Shayla Int Raw: [00:00:00] We are back and I finally have Shayla Gifford on this podcast. So for those of you that don't know, I've been trying to get her on here forever and she has just been blowing me off constantly. Um, but she's here and I'm super excited about it. So welcome to the show. Thanks for coming on.

Shayla Raw: This just proves why you have to be a persistent salesperson, because in my mind, I only pushed you off once. So if you felt like it was more than that, that's just what people go through in sales, right? We think, oh my gosh, I've been pestering, I've been bugging, I've been denied in my memory. Seriously, Dino, it's only been once.

So anyway, sorry to, uh, be tough to, to get on here, but I'm super happy to be here.

Dino - Shayla Int Raw: so here she is coaching already right outta the gate. I love it. Thanks for, for doing that. And it was more than once, but we'll get over that right now. Uh, so Shayla, look, you've been around now. For how long? How long have you been in the mortgage business?

Shayla Raw: [00:01:00] 21

Dino - Shayla Int Raw: So 21 years, you've done all of it, right? You've been a producer, I think You, do you still produce or do you just, uh, manage at this point or lead?

Shayla Raw: years. I'm, I'm no longer talking to customers and locking loans. I still have the Gifford team. Um, they still wanna use the name. I still, you know, have my database of 6,000 past closed loans over the last 16 years. Um, my team did, there was about three loan officers that closed over a hundred million for the, for the giver team last year.

But, um, I would not consider myself a producer. No. I am considered formally a non-producing district manager. I run a district of about 10 or 12 branches. Uh, we call ourselves the legacy district. Here at Guild Mortgage, I'm in Reno, Nevada, and my branches are in Northern Nevada, Northern California, Southern California, and Prescott, Arizona.

And then, um, I started growing a [00:02:00] team nationally as well that I started over the last two years. And I call that team Shayla. And, um, that team, we've got a total of 75 loan officers, about 40 in my district, 35 in the whole team nationally.

Dino - Shayla Int Raw: Okay, so just to put it into context for everybody, right? She knows what she's talking about and she's done whatever it is you're doing, and she coaches everybody on how to do stuff like this. So I, I, I have a goal and that goal is to get a whole bunch of free advice out of you today or everybody to benefit from including myself.

Um, so I wanna start with who are you today? And you just gave us the professional side, but who are you personally? And then I want to get into a little bit of what you do today, but I wanna start kind of back at day one and then walk through your journey back to today again.

Shayla Raw: Sweet. Um, well, I'm Shayla Gifford. I'm 45 years old in February and I've got two [00:03:00] daughters, Gemma and Gwen. They are 15 and 12, so we're full on teenager, dumb, uh, freshman in high school and a sixth grader in middle school. Uh, Gail and I have been married for 16 years. We got married in Tahoe City, California.

We split our time both from Tahoe and Reno. And I love to water ski and wake surf and ride my mountain bike. Um, I like simplicity now of reading my Kindle and going on walks every day. I, um. I'm just super driven. I'm a striver, I'm a seeker. I'm always yearning to know and gain mastery and kind of contemplate the deeper questions about what do I want most in my life?

Why am I here? What is my purpose? Um,

Dino - Shayla Int Raw: Was it, was it always like that or is that like after you? Went through all of that. You got to that point.

Shayla Raw: I've always been driven. Um, I have two younger brothers and my [00:04:00] parents had me young, and were both extremely driven to uplevel our family from, you know, the, the economic status that they grew up in. And so hard work is in my genetics and in every form and fashion. Um, but I've always felt that I needed to be competitive to kind of be, uh, noticed in my family.

And I, and that's, that was just my story and my lens. But, um, being the only girl and, um.

Dino - Shayla Int Raw: What about.

Shayla Raw: brothers that were just crazy, they were doing back flips on skis. We were all gymnasts. They were really bold. And I, I always felt like more reserved, you know, like as, as a skier, I'm very much talking in my head the whole time.

Like, skis down the hill, stay engaged. You know, it's not natural for me to, um, be this like hard charger. I'm, I'm much more cautious and [00:05:00] thoughtful. I maybe an old soul where I feel like I've been around many times. Um, and I really got into personal development at the age of 16. I went to my first leadership conference.

I went to rapport leadership at 16. Um, I read my first book on nutrition and started making my own lunches and, um, thinking about macros and stuff at 16. So I would say that I've been a striver and a seeker probably all my life.

Dino - Shayla Int Raw: That's, that's what I was trying to get to is, you know, a lot of times people don't become a seeker until later in life. After they've been through it and they realize there's so much more and they want to find it. Uh, so with you, I have a question. As far as all your coaching goes, does that play a big part in how you coach?

Shayla Raw: absolutely. Um, you know, I think that my goal for being in people's lives is to bring energy, um, and to help them be the most authentic, powerful [00:06:00] version of themselves, um, to like actually live a life that matters and is in alignment to what they truly desire. And, um, you know, I think, I think I treat myself as kind of the Petri dish as the experiment.

Um, I don't feel like I've ever really been naturally good at most things. I've had to really claw and work hard and compete to gain the skills. Um, I'll give you an example. Like maybe, maybe a thing that I'm naturally talented at is like math. Like I, I, I love math. I like a spreadsheet, gimme a calculator, and I'm turned on.

And, you know, like I was the girl sitting in the front row calculus, and my teacher, if, if I had this like, you know, scrunched up look on my face, she'd be like, oh, you're not getting it, are you? Which means the rest of the class isn't getting it. So, so I, you know, I've been, I, I've definitely have some God-given talents, but for the most part, especially when it comes to people skills, those are not natural for me.[00:07:00] 

Um, I dropped outta college, uh, when I was 19 and I got into sales and I sucked. I, I didn't know how to get people to like me. I didn't know how to make small talk. I didn't know how to make friends. So I think the big reason why I'm so passionate about being a coach is that I've been way more successful, um, than I probably deserve to be.

I think my timing in the marketplace combined with my work ethic and chip on my shoulder, and the mentors I've been blessed with, have all been kind of like this perfect concoction recipe. But I heard the Zig Ziglar, um, quote early on that was like, you can have whatever you want in life if you help enough people get what they want.

And so anything that I've ever learned, any unlock I've ever gained, I've always wanted to figure out, okay, well how did I gain mastery in that thing? How did I gain that level of success? And I wanna turn around and give it to someone else. Um, probably just so I [00:08:00] don't feel bad or, or selfish or undeserved for the success I've had because I wanna turn around and give it away.

Dino - Shayla Int Raw: I love that. And I just wrote down that quote actually, 'cause I like it so much, I'm gonna start using that more often. Um, you said a word earlier that really resonates with me. You know that one book, I think it's called The One Word and you're supposed to pick that, the one word for the year to really focus on.

Right. A long time ago I picked the word simplicity, which is the word you said not too long ago. And, and instead of choosing a new word every year, I couldn't move on beyond it 'cause I felt like I didn't master it for literally almost 10 years. Then finally 10 years later, I was like, I got it. I figured it out and I was able to move on after that.

But I'll tell you what's really interesting is I. [00:09:00] I, I think my interpretation of it changed a bit as I went, but what it turned into was it's not, not doing a bunch of stuff. 'cause then you just don't get anywhere. And I am driven, so I can't just not do things. It's not in my DNA, but what, what it boiled down to was systems.

Simplicity became systems. If you have systems, then simplicity becomes part of how you live because the systems do the job. It's not everything on you. And, and, and I think as far as originators go, the ones listening right now trying to get some free advice, I think they get bogged down with trying to do everything themselves.

And it's humanly impossible to actually do it all unless you're doing 12, 14 hour days, which so many of us do in this industry. So when I'm coaching, I'm always saying like. The systems are what you have to build out first. And they might be [00:10:00] different for you than what they're for me or for you. But at the end of the day, without 'em, I don't think you can ever achieve simplicity.

Simplicity unless you really are just trying to not do anything.

Shayla Raw: Totally. Well, the first thing I would ask is what your resistance was to simplicity, you know, and what is the opposite of simplicity that, that your life look like, that you felt you needed a 10 year journey to gain mastery?

Dino - Shayla Int Raw: So I think I'll start with why I chose that word. It was right after 2008, um, when the big crash happened, and I went through a divorce at the same time, and I just felt like my life was chaos and, and it had never been like that. I was always in control, right? Of everything and successful, everything was great.

And then you go right after that and you start, I've lo I lost everything, like literally everything. And my wife, so. Simplicity, like became a thing and, and I always [00:11:00] believed in God, but I, I really just dove in at that point after a little while and started really studying the Bible and, and studying all of it.

And, and I boiled it down to a couple things, simplicity and faith. And, and if I can achieve those two things, I will be really happy. And the faith piece I got, and that helped a lot. But then the simplicity piece was, was difficult because things were still chaos in my life. It, it, I just couldn't, you know, it took a while before things got back to normal.

And, and then even when things got back to normal personally and professionally and I started making money again, and financially things got better. The busier I got, the more I worked and the more chaos there was until I developed enough systems to. Create the, the path that I wanted, that I viewed as successful, I guess, and, and simplicity kicked [00:12:00] in.

Shayla Raw: Thank you for sharing that. And what I would say for me is I've chosen complexity out of insecurity that, you know, I've created chaos out of fear that when I really slow down, it's that I don't trust others or I don't trust myself or I don't. Trust the process. And so I create a lot of chaos to almost feel comfortable

Dino - Shayla Int Raw: Yeah.

Shayla Raw: because then it feels like, well, at least I'm doing something and I am, you know, it's, it's totally a lie.

'cause it's usually a lot of the wrong things and the wrong order and, and half-assed doing it all. Um, but yeah, it's, it's part of that journey of gaining self-trust and trust in your plan, and trust in your people, and trust in your process. Um, that then starts creating simplicity. But [00:13:00] every time I over function or I, um, overc create, or I'm jerky as a leader, it always comes back to insecurity.

And then my insecurity comes down to worthiness, which is, you know, am I good enough? Is this enough? Are we enough? And that stems into me going, I gotta do more and I gotta be bigger and I gotta go, go, go, go, go. Which. Adds more shit and adds more complexity. So, um, I'm proud of you. Congratulations for getting mastery on simplicity.

That's, and a way to stick with it because that, that's the opposite as I would say, 90% of people is to say, I really, really want this and I'm not gonna let it go. I'm not gonna move on to the next thing until I feel like I've gotten that for myself. So that, how did that feel when you really felt like you've embraced or embodied that word?

Dino - Shayla Int Raw: It really felt good 'cause I, I viewed it as the key to life after all those years. I, I [00:14:00] realized that if I can achieve this both personally and professionally, then I, I feel like I've, I've unlocked the door to. A good, happy life. And, and through that process and, and going back through the divorce, through the 2008 debacle, through having to reinvent myself and, and go through all that, I, I would say, you know, simplicity, but also perspective is a word that I, I fell in love with because no matter how difficult things were, I was still living in Newport Beach, California.

I was still soaking up the sun and ate at, you know, great restaurants and had a lot of friends. So it was crap all around me. But really from [00:15:00] an outside perspective, it would've appeared like I had a pretty good life. And, and I think I needed to start seeing it as that. In order to, to convince myself that it's not all that bad.

But, but through that process, the word perspective became really, really important to me. And, and a powerful word because, and this is where faith kicked into, is like, no matter what, I feel blessed and no matter what, I am loved and I love. So it can't be that bad, you know? It just can't be that bad. And I used to have a podcast.

Okay, so now here we are. You're interviewing me all of a sudden, uh, I used to have a podcast years ago. It's called God's Met of Influence. So let me back up. I had a radio show called Money Matters with Dino, and that's how I reinvented myself after 2008 and then a few years later. I created a podcast [00:16:00] called God's Men of Influence, and I interviewed men.

And, um, it was the same questions every time, but it was a, it was their testimony, and it's kind of how this show is. It was, who are you today? Who were you way back then? And let's walk back through your, your journey back to today again. And, and there was this one question I always asked, and it was, have you ever had a hard time in your life?

And all of a sudden these men just broke down crying. and it was like, man, that was a hard time, right? Like, the experience they had was, was so strong, difficult, you know, hurt, whatever that might be. And, and, and everything you can imagine from drugs to infidelity, addiction, murder, um, financial ruin, you name it.

I, I heard all of it during that time and it was the most powerful thing I've ever done. The show took off. It was awesome. Um, but also, uh, [00:17:00] it was like, again, a PhD in life after talking to 130 something men. It was really, really cool. But where I'm going with it is there was this one guy that I interviewed and he, uh, he was financial ruin as well, and, um, he didn't feel like he had self-worth and he lost everything.

Felt like he let his family down, um, you know, had to sell the big house, had to sell the, the fancy cars, all that stuff, right? And, and he just, he was struggling so much and his wife said to him one time, um, I'll leave his name out, but let's call him Bob. Bob. I don't care about any of that stuff. As long as I have you and our son in my life, I'm happy.

Shayla Raw: Yep,

Dino - Shayla Int Raw: And he broke down telling me this story. And, and it was so powerful to hear him say that. And, and at that moment I also realized, you know, it's like perspective. And as long as we have, [00:18:00] like I'm assuming as long as you have your husband and, and your children and your life, I mean, who cares about the rest?

It's all good. Right? So we've all in this industry experienced some hard times recently, and one of the goals with this particular podcast was, was to motivate people. Because the one thing I did learn after 2008, it doesn't matter what's happening in the economy, somebody's crushing it. Just be that person.

Like always just be that person, right? And, and that's where I'm fascinated with certain people because. They're not struggling. They're closing over a hundred million easily. Right? Maybe not easily, but, but they're closing it. And, and I think that, you know, the few people that are left in our industry, I would love for all of them to be closing that much and to have better lives and to have a great perspective and to have simplicity and love in their life.

So that's kind of the goal with all [00:19:00] of this. And, and I know that if I keep bringing on people that do that and have a story, then number one, somebody listening right now can relate. Because first of all, they can respect what you're doing and they can relate, because we're gonna go back to day one when you started.

And the reality is you did it just like they did from the very, very beginning. So everybody is the same. None of us just walked into this industry. Inheriting a hundred million dollar book of business didn't work that way. So what did we do to get there and, and with you, I know there was a lot of hustle, but I love the mindset piece where I want to bring more of that in too, because I do believe there's a lot of guys out there and women that, you know, they let one of the two get in the way all the time.

Shayla Raw: Well, one of the best things that has gone for me is I [00:20:00] focused on winning above all else, and my perspective of winning is the game is not over until I've won. So I, I have this like warped. View of failure and that I just don't consider anything a failure. Uh, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm a spinster in my own head to the positive.

Like the minute something happens that could be quote unquote negative, I'm already going, oh, well look at all the lessons we gained and look at, you know, all the, the shortcuts we'll have later. And, you know, and I'm immediately finding the way to see it as a positive and the overall grander picture of where we're trying to go.

And, um, and I think that that's just the no quit in me that is like, you know what? If he can do it, I can do it. And, and maybe that's just from being around my brothers. Like I've never got anything as fast as them. I never was gonna ski moguls the way they did or [00:21:00] shred on the water ski the way they did or whatever.

But I was playing my own game and I could always keep improving little by little to the point that I was pretty damn good. And people are going. Wow, you're impressive. Like, wow, I can't believe you can water ski like that, or, you know, whatever the case is. And, and that's what I was looking for and have always looked for is what is my, wow, what is my version of excellence?

And um, and I think surrounding yourself with people who are playing at a big level, and again, say again, saying, well, if you can do it, I can do it. Might have taken them three years and it might take me six years. It doesn't, doesn't matter. I will find my way to get there. Um, that's really important. So, um, I, I, that would be one thing.

I would wave magic wand and change for people because somebody not showing up to a coffee appointment. I'm going, great. Now they're even more obligated to me for the, for [00:22:00] the rebook. And they're gonna feel bad and it's gonna be easier to knock that one down, you know? Um, somebody saying, no, I can't make the event.

They're probably gonna feel a little bad that they said no to me. And if I stay positive and No worries, no worries. I'll get you on the next one. It'll be easier on the next one. Um, somebody not responding to a video message, that's okay. They're probably like me, and they looked at it a stoplight and they did not respond to me because of me or something I did.

It's like their kid had their phone at that time. Like I just, I just don't try to take things personally because I know it's almost never personal for me. Um, I'm not somebody that holds vendettas, that has grudges, that holds resentments. And I know that's not everybody, but I just don't, so like. I'm really straightforward.

If you piss me off in the moment, I will tell you and I'm over it in two or three minutes. Like, so I don't assume that people are [00:23:00] hating me or talking about me, or I just, I just have blinders on to be like, I'm just gonna keep cruising and some will, some won't. So what next? And it might be the right time for you now and might not be, and maybe this year we work together and maybe we don't, and maybe we won't see each other for three years, but like I just focus on the much bigger picture, um, and trust that it all works out and it always does.

Everything always works out.

Dino - Shayla Int Raw: Yeah, so, so that's another key phrase that, that I have is that it always works out. I mean. Here I am. It always works out. So I think if somebody could remember that and, and realize that perspective changes a little bit, it'll always work out. But it may not just happen overnight or with a quick snap of the fingers or a quick prayer, right?

[00:24:00] Like, okay, you did all that, but you gotta still go out there and earn the new business. You gotta still build whatever it is that you left behind or what you didn't do for the last three years and, and now you're paying the price for it. So, all right, let's move on. I want to go just quickly, since we spent so much time on this, and I actually want to get back to today again, 'cause that's, there's so much value there that you can bring.

But I am curious how long ago you started, why, where, when, and then just kind of a quick journey back to today again.

Shayla Raw: Sure. I started in June, 2004. I was 23 years old. I just spent the last four years in network marketing. So I was selling haircare, skincare, weight loss products. I was making cold calls to get people to show up to a presentation. I stood up in front of the room and gave the presentation. I was spraying cleaning products in my mouth.

I was [00:25:00] drawing on the whiteboard and talking about why you should get involved in being your own boss and, and, you know, um, I was going to a sales conference once a month, every month for those formative years. So.

Dino - Shayla Int Raw: So, by the way, I, I still love network marketing as a whole. I still think it's the most amazing business in the world. And I met a guy a long time ago, probably around that same time, maybe a little bit sooner. Yeah, probably like just before year 2000 and I finally learned how a successful person does it.

And the first thing he said to people is like, don't go home and tell your family and friends that you're doing this first and foremost. He goes, they're not going to support you. You gotta treat it like a real business. And if you're gonna treat it like a real business, let me explain and show you how to do that.

And he had a whole system. It was a business in a box that he gave to them and he [00:26:00] helped them be successful. And I saw it in action from a pro, and that's what the difference was. So I loved it.

Shayla Raw: It is the hardest business out there because just like you said, it's, it's got a stigma. And 97% of people are wanting security in stability. And to go their traditional route, go to school, get a degree, get a job that pays a salary, there's some level of assurance and guarantee and work your way up the ladder.

And so when you're, you know, pitching people to break that mold and, and be a rhino in the jungle, not following the herd of cows, you know, and, and actually going to business for themselves, it's, um, it's a, it's a big deal. And then they go into business for themselves and then they get teased to buy all their family and friends, like, you know, oh my gosh, what is she doing?

I think it was really healthy for me that I, I went to school in Arizona. Started in my dorm room [00:27:00] and then that summer I moved to Chicago where my upline mentor was, and spent the next three years in the Midwest living on air mattresses with multiple people in apartments. And, you know, I wasn't around family or friends to be watching my growth through this period of time and seeing what I was doing.

And I was waitressing at night, um, at Outback Steakhouse or a fancy French restaurant or whatever, being a cart girl at the golf, golf, uh, course. And then during the day I was building my business. And, um, when I moved home at 23, um, I was, I was basically broke. I mean, I, I had a thousand dollars to my name.

Um, you know, I had told my family members I was gonna retire by the time I was 30. I was gonna have this residual income. And I came back kind of with the tail between my legs. I didn't have a college degree.

Dino - Shayla Int Raw: But you had a killer education.

Shayla Raw: I had a killer education and I quickly. I didn't actually realize [00:28:00] how little sales experience most, most mortgage and real estate people have.

It took me about five years to realize like, oh, I, I've got the double threat. I'm, I'm a nerd who really, really gets loans and is good at math and could, and can understand guidelines and figure things out. And I've got this incredible sales ability. I've got 10,000 hours in cold calls and, you know, overcoming objections and presentations and all that stuff.

Um, so I get involved in the industry. Um, I moved to my hometown, but I didn't know anyone as an adult. You know, I left at 18, so it's not like I dropped into my hometown at 23 and I had a network, so I literally called the parents of all my friends. And said, who do you know that's a real estate agent?

Like, I'm in the mortgage business. Do you want me to take a look at your mortgage? Do you need to look at a potential refinance? And who do you know that's a real estate agent? And, you know, I grew up in, [00:29:00] in kind of more of the affluent part of my town, my, my parents were entrepreneurs. They built their own custom home.

Like I always wanted to be successful because you never wanna be less successful than your parents were in the way you grew up. Right? So the realtor referrals that they were giving me were like the top dogs in town. I mean like the agents that had been doing it for 20 years, the most classy professionals.

And you know what? Those people took a meeting and they took a meeting with me two months in of being an lo because I was referred by my parents, or I was referred by a past client of theirs or what have you. Probably because no one else is calling them for a meeting and I was just straight up cold calling them and using the triangle for trust script of a, and I didn't even know the script at this time, but essentially was like, Hey, you know, MC Pearson, you don't know me directly, but you sold my parents to their house a couple years ago and I'm now a loan officer and I wanna see if I can come meet with you in your office and go over a couple things about our company and see if I could help.

You know, with any mortgage [00:30:00] needs. I don't know what I said and I would show

Dino - Shayla Int Raw: real quick, there's, there's two things that I think of right there is, um, Todd Duncans says it all the time, is, who do you know that I should know? And then, do you know Michelle Berman?

Shayla Raw: No. Oh yeah, I know Michelle. Yeah,

Dino - Shayla Int Raw: Yeah, and Michelle Berman says, leverage, and you just used leverage. You don't know me, but you sold my parents' house and I'm doing loans now.

Shayla Raw: right.

Dino - Shayla Int Raw: Parents were the leverage that makes her have to kinda listen.

Shayla Raw: Absolutely. Never. Nobody wants to be known as a jerk. Especially if somebody's friendly, enthusiastic, and they're not asking for a big commitment. I offered to meet them at their office. I asked for probably a 30 minute meeting. I showed up super professional and with a folder of flyers and

Dino - Shayla Int Raw: have looked like a baby though. Did you look like a total baby back then?

Shayla Raw: mean, no, I was wearing a suit and driving a Mercedes at the age of 19. And, and you know, [00:31:00] I as a, as a network marketer, most people that were in my downline were double my age, you know? So, um, I was aware of the fact that I was 23 and I got freckles. I'm a blonde chick and, um, I always treated that as me being an underdog.

And I think that's part of the same story of my life of having brothers. I've always looked at myself in the mirror as. Being an underdog, you know, and I, I believed in my earliest years that I was a disappointment. Like just the fact that I was a girl, just I was a disappointment. That's how I felt. And so I've always felt like you're an underdog, you're in second place.

You gotta earn it. You gotta prove it. And um, so I'm very comfortable in a competitive situation. It's just normal for me. Um, and yeah, so yeah, so I wore a suit and, and did that. I, you know, the equivalent today almost nobody wears suits, especially women wearing suits. But, [00:32:00] you know, the equivalent today would probably be slacks and a nice shirt.

Um, but that's how I started. And I found a couple realtors right away that gave me a chance. Um, uh, my, at the company I worked with back then, they used to have boxes of files 'cause everything was paper. And so at night they just said, call through these customers that we used to do loans with. So I just would open a folder.

I would look at the 10 0 3, I would see what their last loan was, and I'd give 'em a call and I started selling debt consolidation. And I, I would say like, oh, you're a VA loan. Did you know you can do a streamline Also, there's the opportunity to roll in any debts that you have and, and do a cash out refinance.

Um, are you interested in having me take a look? And then I would meet clients at, you know, 6:00 PM every day because they had to come meet me after work. And, you know, my goal was to have one to two meetings at the end of the day, every day. And I mean, I think by my third month I would close 20 loans in a month.

Um,

Dino - Shayla Int Raw: kidding.

Shayla Raw: [00:33:00] yeah, I didn't, I mean, I didn't know any different. Um, I made a hundred grand my first six months, but like, there was no way, I wasn't gonna be successful. I literally came home after dropping outta college with my tail between my legs, and I knew how to work seven days a week. That's what I did in network marketing, and I knew how to sell the toughest thing in the business, and here I was going, wait a minute.

I can close a loan and make $3,000 or $1,800. I was selling a box of vitamins and making $8, so I just, I just went for it with that same enthusiasm or work ethic that I put into everything else.

Dino - Shayla Int Raw: Uh, I love it. I love it. Okay, so here's a question for you. You, you obviously hustle. You obviously don't appear like you have fear. Everybody does, but, but you don't care. Um, doesn't necessarily mean you know how to run a business. And when somebody starts doing that kind [00:34:00] of volume. They often have to start learning how to run a business 'cause that's exactly what they have and, and I see a lot of people get hung up.

They either just keep working more or they hire somebody but don't know how to train somebody or don't know how to work with somebody. They're just so used to doing it all themselves. What was your growing pain like, your first growing pain, how did you overcome it?

Shayla Raw: Well, I was a control freak, um, because I, you know, I'm, I'm smart and fast, um, and I didn't, I didn't know anything else but working hard. I didn't have any kids. I, you know, I just, I just grinded and loved every minute of it. And, um, I never had a mentor or a manager or somebody I could look to in my office and say, oh, there's the model of somebody who has one teammate or two teammates, and this is, this is how you grow and scale.

I had none of that. I, I literally. Just, just work hard close loans. That was my, that was my deal. Um, I never tracked my leads. I, [00:35:00] I mean I was taking loan apps on the back of, uh, anything, you know, envelopes in the car, scrap paper, whatever. And, um, I was even going to the title company and I was signing the docs with the, with the client because I trusted myself more than I trusted an escrow officer to sign loan docs.

So, um, and I just had a really huge capacity. I mean, in 2009, this is now five years in, I was going out and knocking on doors, um, to pitch FHA streamlines, 'cause I got title lists of everybody in new home subdivisions. And I was like, everybody who's buying post crash is first time home buyers. They're all using FHA and VA loans.

I got the title records and I went knocked on their door and told them about FHA streamlines. And that's how I generate a lot of loans And, um.

Dino - Shayla Int Raw: real quick. Uh, 2008 hits everybody else going out of business. And you're going and knocking on doors.

Shayla Raw: Oh yeah. I was so excited. You remember when, [00:36:00] um, quantitative easing happened? That was like Q4 of oh eight. So the whole world is crashing. You and I are watching the same news. Lehman Brothers is closing down. Like all, all kinds of, it was crazy to witness. And then the government does a first round of quantitative easing and rates pretty quickly.

Went from 6.75 to a 5.75 like overnight. And I literally was like, oh my gosh, I don't know how this long as this is gonna last, but like, I gotta go tell everybody about it. And that's when I went out and started knocking on doors and sending mailers and um, and did a lot of business. And then all, all of a sudden they did quantit easing again.

And now the rates are at five and a quarter and then they're at four and a half. And so a lot of those clients I picked up, you know, two or three refis out of, um, 'cause I was just super proactive and fast and good at it. So I didn't, uh. I didn't get a coach, um, or start building a team or learn anything about delegation systems, um, [00:37:00] until 2011.

So I was in the business a full six years. Um, I, uh, I was working at Flagstar Bank in oh nine and I just gotten married in August and a couple weeks later, the company I worked for a Flagstar came and shut down my branch. And you remember this whole time when it was the implode to meter where every other day another mortgage business was going outta business and companies were doing all kinds of drastic changes.

I was number one in Flagstar at the time, and I was really proud of that because I was one girl, no assistant, no a team, and I was in Reno, Nevada. All the other guys that I was passing on the, on the charts were in Seattle, Chicago, la you know, definitely bigger loan sizes.

Dino - Shayla Int Raw: Yeah.

Shayla Raw: and so I'm, I, I got married. We had no honeymoon planned [00:38:00] because I was too busy.

I, uh, I had 31 loans in my pipeline. Granted, most of 'em were FHA streamlines. They're, you know, I was originating say 15 different states at the time I was taking bank leads. Um, but anyway, the company closes me down and, uh, spreads my loans across the country to various processors. And, um, so I spent 30 days hunting down those loans and processors and getting them closed without having a Flagstar email, without, I mean, it was a

Dino - Shayla Int Raw: Please. Yeah.

Shayla Raw: and then, uh, I interviewed mortgage companies for six weeks. I, if there's anybody that's. Wanted to switch companies recently switched companies. I, I did so much due diligence, Dino, 'cause at this point I trusted no one. I thought everyone in the mortgage business talked out of both sides of their mouth.

They didn't truly care about people, they didn't value their salespeople. And I was the girl [00:39:00] working 15 hour days and loving it, but afraid of myself because, you know, I'm definitely marching into workaholic territory. And here I just married the love of my life and he is so rad and doesn't miss a powder day and is like, you know, fun first is his motto in life.

And, and here I am, like secretly working like a maniac, hoping he doesn't find out how nerdy and

Dino - Shayla Int Raw: well, everybody like that deserves a person to support them.

Shayla Raw: dude. So anyway, I, that's when I find Guild Mortgage and I started with Guild in November oh nine. So it's, I just, I just came up on 16 years here and, um, I, you know, I did a crazy amount of due diligence on nine companies. So happy I, I chose Guild and then I started networking with the top managers and producers at Guild and found coaching that way.

And, um, I remember sitting down [00:40:00] with Debbie, a Maggart, who lives an hour from me, and she was the first manager I met at Guild Mortgage. And she said, Shayla, like, let me tell you about coaching. Let, let me show you my lead tracker. Let me show you my pay log. Let me show you my profit loss. Let me show you my personal family budget.

And I'm like, oh my gosh, I have none of these things. And I just closed. loans by myself working 12 hour days. Like, what if I actually put these systems in place? What if I actually ran this like a business? And that's what opened my eyes. I went to my first coaching conference in May of 2010. I was too cheap to sign up for coaching 'cause at the time it was $1,500 a month.

And I was like, PS no way. And um, I came back in November of 2010 to the next conference and the people I'd met in May had signed up and I didn't. And they were way further ahead than I [00:41:00] was come November. And even though in November I was eight months pregnant with my first daughter, I said, okay, I need to be in coaching.

'cause this competitive side of me was really pissed off that I wasn't, I wasn't growing and evolving as a business person as fast as I could have been with the coach.

Dino - Shayla Int Raw: So that's, that's fun. Um, did you take any time off? With being pregnant, having a baby.

Shayla Raw: What do you think?

Dino - Shayla Int Raw: I gotta tell a quick story. My processor, who's Vietnamese, um, I, it's just, it's the most insane thing I've ever seen in my life. Like, this chick can just work and work and work and never miss a beat no matter what. No matter what she has going on. She didn't tell me she was pregnant 'cause it was all remote.

And, um, and I didn't know, and I was stressed out that year. [00:42:00] I did like 156 million and I was like, I need my processor. Like I need her and she's having a baby, right? And she, she's, she's like, don't worry. She goes, I got it. I'm, I'm gonna have a baby. I'm gonna have the baby on a Friday and I'll be back on a Monday.

I might need a, a couple, I won't be like working as much as usual, but it'll still be plenty. I'll take care of it. So the day comes and it's Thursday night. She calls me at eight o'clock at night and she says, I can't hold it until tomorrow. So I, I have to go to the hospital. I'm gonna, I'm gonna try and take some, I'll be back by Monday.

And I swear to you on Friday afternoon, she was emailing clients, emailing me, uploading documents, doing everything she normally does from the hospital bed. Like, like it

Shayla Raw: this her first baby?

Dino - Shayla Int Raw: no. Second,

Shayla Raw: Yeah, that's, that's, yeah. One, once you've had one, you're like, I can do this.

Dino - Shayla Int Raw: [00:43:00] like, women that are like, that amaze me. They like it, it, it, my, I think of my, like, I think of my mom, but then I think of my grandmother who was even tougher than my mom. And what a strong woman can bear over any man that I know is like so much more.

Shayla Raw: It is pretty remarkable. It is. I, you know, I often think now, um, that the, the thing I wish I could tell my 30-year-old self is that longevity is the game and. You know, this game will go on for a really long time and you're gonna always be winning at a high level. Um, because, you know, I wonder, had I taken four months off and, and like really, you know, did it would've been any different?

Um, I don't, I don't know. But I, I do think that early for both of my kids, I, [00:44:00] uh, was not mentally present because I, I grew so fast, you know, so I started coaching in January of 2011. Gemma was born in January, 2011. That first year I did 75 loans the first six months. And I'm on my semi-annual goal setting call.

And I tell my coach that I wanna close 150 loans in the second half of the year. And he is like, wait a minute. You just closed 75, the first half. Why don't you set your goal at like 80? And I'm like. And then I close 156, the second

Dino - Shayla Int Raw: Wow. Surprising to fire the coach for aiming too. Loaf.

Shayla Raw: yeah. Yeah, I just, I just knew what I was capable of. I knew the momentum.

Um, and yeah, it might've just pissed me off to say like, watch, I'll go prove it to you. But, you know, my volume went from, uh, 28 million to, then that year was 40 to the next year was 80 to the next year was like [00:45:00] 96. And, and so, I mean, I, I really ramped and that was my personal production. And then meantime, I didn't want any other los, when I came to Guild, I was opening a branch just because I was done with having douche bag managers.

And, you know, I just wanted like a happy, healthy culture where we could come in, crush it and go home.

Dino - Shayla Int Raw: Yeah.

Shayla Raw: uh, but God had another plan for me and, and this whole philosophy of, of give it away and teach others. Just lent perfectly to, um, eventually becoming a coach at the core, and then, you know, being a branch manager and then eventually, as you know, what I'm doing now.

So, um, in that eight year span from the time that Gemma was born, well, yeah, seven or eight years, I went from me, a girl and a backpack at Gil Mortgages, one person to like 150 employees and a billion dollar team.

Dino - Shayla Int Raw: Wow.

Shayla Raw: and so it was, it was bananas. It was a, it was a crazy ride that [00:46:00] went really, really, really fast.

And I had no governor on my, my speed. Um, I didn't have a lot of boundaries. Um, I felt, you know, that I just, I, in many ways didn't feel like I deserved it. So I felt like I've gotta be the first one in the last one out. Um,

Dino - Shayla Int Raw: Okay. I got, I got some questions. Hold on. Um. If you were coaching somebody that was really like a mini you, or let's just, let's just call it your daughter decided she's gonna get in the mortgage, mortgage business, and lo and behold, the apple doesn't fall, fall far from the tree, and she turned out to be a total psycho that can just work and work and work and achieve, and achieve, and achieve.

And no governor, and she sought coaching and you happen to be the one, what would you say to that girl, that young girl, right? That that is working her tail off and achieving. Not like [00:47:00] she's falling apart, but you know, now the damage that it did, the good that it did the whatever, right? Like how, how do you coach a, a a 30-year-old Shayla Gifford?

Shayla Raw: Well, I tell you, had I had a female coach. Through this season, it would've been such a godsend. And I didn't, all the people around the table were men. Everyone I competed with was men. And every coach I had was a man. And I fucking love men. I, they're easy for me to be around. I had brothers. I don't even notice when there's no women in the room sometimes.

Um, but like, I just, you know, it's, it's just different, right? Like being a nurturing present mother is different than being dad who goes out and hunts and kills things in the jungle and comes home at night. Right.

Dino - Shayla Int Raw: Yeah.

Shayla Raw: um, you know, I've got Alison Larson on my team. She is 35 years old. She's 10 years younger than me.

Um, she's come to Guild and been on my team for two [00:48:00] years, and she's grown from 50 million to, I think 70 million to 86 million in the last two years, which was really hard. She also recruited 10 loan off loan officers in last year and became a go coach. She's, she's as as much of a bonkers person and, you know, duplicate of me as I've met in a while.

But she's done at four o'clock every day. She has the balance. She really is playing with her family. She is on the floor loving the hell out of her kids. Um, and like, does she take a call after four? Sure. Here and there. But like, she, she understands balance. She loves her life. She claims, you know, I'm a millennial, so this is just how it's gonna go.

She's absolutely addicted to systems and you know, of course today's technology is different than I had back then. I was using all janky spreadsheets and everything else. She's got everything built out in Salesforce [00:49:00] and outreach and with automations and sequences and, you know. I don't know. She just does it different.

And I just, I just wish that when I was 35, I had someone to look at, or when I was 30, I had someone that was 35 I could look at and say, okay, this is how you can have it all and be both. Um, and I listen, I did, I did both. I mean, we built a house, we bought a Tahoe place, we've traveled the world. I moved my kids and family to Spain after that, that burnout period.

Um, but I, I guess what I would've coached myself to say is like, choose lot, um, uh, longevity. What is your win? Because I always never felt alignment at the core. I always, it was, it was very fear-based. It was very much like you are broken. And, and that never felt right to me. Um, I'm very much a love, abundance, positivity person. [00:50:00] but I was getting rich and I was growing, and so I kind of had to shut down my intuition to kind of mold into that culture, if that makes sense. Um,

Dino - Shayla Int Raw: it does. And, and it's something that was gonna it. So the next question was gonna be when you were do, uh, when I was hearing your story, I couldn't help but think of the core in the back of my mind, which I, I actually like. Um, but it's not my style. So I can respect it and, and I know everybody or a lot of guys in the core are hardcore and they do killer business.

Um, but a lot of it's still just not my style. So at the end of the day, I don't think I could go coach there and or be coached by somebody there, whether I'm younger or now, whatever, and, and be okay with it. But I do like a co a, a, an aspect of the discipline of [00:51:00] it. 'cause I think discipline is super important.

I just. Wanted to be different. So where I was going with it was, now that you are a coach and you are coaching, you know, people, what is your, like what is your coaching company style?

Shayla Raw: Thank you for asking that. Um, I love the core and the core. Absolutely. A hundred percent truly works. And all of the coaches and my, my colleagues there, those are my people. This is my community. I think the ethos, I. Of the core was very, uh, shame, feed on your unworthiness, feed on your brokenness, kind of propel you with, with fear as fuel.

And, um, I just want my fuel source to be positivity and, and truly abundance. I don't wanna be shamed into giving away money. I wanna be called into being charitable. I don't wanna be, um, you know, like put on a, a metric or a [00:52:00] ranking in order to determine whether I'm good or not at something. I want to determine what a win is for me truly, and be a lot more thoughtful about doing that.

So, um, what I coach in Catalyst now is of course the things that I'm really fricking good at, which is sales mastery, you know, landing appointments, converting leads, being bold and, and closing and asking for the business. Um, I've got. I don't know, tens of thousands of hours in that, doing classes, doing presentations, like stuff that actually creates a rainmaker and gives you that ability to be self-made and control your own destiny and make limitless money.

Right? So that, that's of course like my professional expertise, my personal mark that I'd like to make on the world is again, helping people get that balance that they so [00:53:00] desperately want and, and live their life in authentic, joyful way. Because I know what it's like to be out of alignment. I know what it's like to be a driver and driven and, and a seeker and striving, but feel so yucky inside and feel so empty even when I've got all the points on the board and life looks.

Good on an Instagram reel. And, um, so I teach vibe, vision, and habits as my fundamentals. Um, you know, I really help people get clear on what they want. Like what do you really, really want, define success in this season of your life. And I have a lot of frameworks for doing that. 'cause just straight up asking what do you want is so hard when we've been conditioned to impress other people, be a people pleaser, and constantly be serving others before ourselves.

And so wanting for a [00:54:00] lot of people is very uncomfortable. They can need something, but wanting is abundant and you can want what you want just because you want it. And so I find a lot of students just like me when I say, what do you really want? Have no idea. Have a hard time answering that question. And how do you live

Dino - Shayla Int Raw: feel, or maybe they feel bad about saying it like they feel guilty.

Shayla Raw: Or they just can't even come up with it. Like I, I don't know, like what are goals outside of close 10% more or get from 20 million to 30 million, you know? And, and life is so much more expansive than just volume and units, right? Um, after a while that doesn't turn us on. That doesn't bring us joy and purpose.

So, um, my daughter's calling for the sixth time. Do you mind if I answer it?

Dino - Shayla Int Raw: Yeah. Go ahead. Sorry about that.

Shayla Raw: Gemma. [00:55:00] Okay. Sorry.

Dino - Shayla Int Raw: No, it's okay. How much time do we have?

Shayla Raw: Yeah, I've gotta run across town to meet her. I didn't realize that I got her screwed up. So, um, I don't know, maybe five minutes. Does that work?

Dino - Shayla Int Raw: Yeah, I'll wrap it up.

Shayla Raw: So I need to, I need to reposition. Um, I, so the first part is really. Taking frameworks around, imagining and visioning what you truly want. And I use something called an on fire framework.

So I really believe that there's a spark within all of us. And sometimes that spark has [00:56:00] gotten so dim because life has beaten us up. We've been through a hard time, you know, mental health is in the toilet. We're we're just stuck. And, but the truth is, we all know there's that spark there. And so how do we turn that spark into, you know, a blaze from within, not externally, but from within.

And, you know, how do we become like an illuminator to the world? Because, you know, talk about the law of attraction. Talk about like true meaning and joy. It's, it's inside job, right? And so anyway, on fire for me is FIRE. It's the four domains of life. F being fitness, I being impact are being relationships.

E being enlightenment. So I run my program curriculum every quarter. I use a catalyst planner, and the planner has about 13 different goal pages and things like that. So you get really clear on what is your vision, what are your [00:57:00] annual goals, what are your two quarterly goals, what is your overall business plan?

And then I teach a process of like, how do you get focused and prepared so that you can live in alignment with your vision, you can play your game, you can keep yourself accountable and on track. And then this year I've layered in something called my sales attack book, and this is a version of everybody's sales attack or sales tracker where you are tracking your talk toss and your face-to-face.

Um, I just add some Shayla spin on it. So there's, you know, rating your attitude every day. Then really deciding what works for me. So what are those four strategies you are going to deploy every single week for this quarter? Not willy-nilly, not try it one week, try something new. But like, what are the four things that you like to do that are in your rainmaker archetype that you're gonna commit to and check the box every single week.

And so, [00:58:00] you know, I'm helping people get clear on their vision, get habits and rituals in place so that there's less decision fatigue and it's more living and alignment and flow with what you're doing because it becomes habitual. And then as a coach, as we do, we always look for patterns and beliefs that are gonna keep, you know, you where you're at, you know, because we ultimately, the thing that makes the difference is our patterns.

How we show up over and over again and in all areas, you know, like, do you go home and right away like me want something crunchy 'cause I'm stressed, and now I'm like eating a bunch of crackers before dinner. Like, why am I doing that? You know, if I could just tweak that one thing to a different habit and replace a different habit, so many things change.

Um, so anyway, I, I, I of course wanna help people make more money. If people around me professionally, I want them to be able to say, man, I [00:59:00] get energy, I feel loved, and I feel abundant around Shayla. You know, she helps me be more bold and actually be authentic, like, true to myself. Um, I wanna see people make a lot more money and grow in their volume and build their teams.

Um, but more importantly, I just love to see people feel more stability and confidence and feel like, you know, this is my life. And I, I feel like grounded in it.

Dino - Shayla Int Raw: I, I'm sure the rest will come when you feel like that. Everything else will get easier. And, and I know we're short on time, so I have three more questions. One super quick and two depends on you.

Shayla Raw: Yep. Okay.

Dino - Shayla Int Raw: you have a free test, I think it's free, that somebody can take on your website. What's that called?

Shayla Raw: so it's my Rainmaker Archea type assessment, and you just go to shayla gifford.com. The assessment will take you four minutes, but this basically will show you what your natural archetype is to [01:00:00] be a rainmaker. Like what is it that you rely on to generate referrals and momentum in your business? And what you wanna do is come up with your primary and secondary archetype because one is gonna open doors for you, one is gonna close doors for you.

For example, uh, most people will rate as a trust builder, as one of their top two. Trust builders are fantastic salespeople because people like them, they trust them, they often go deep quickly. The downside for trust builders, Dino, is that they keep a really small circle. So once they get their homies, their six guys, they tend to lock in there.

They don't really go out and, and build this, you know, 'cause they, they, they crave that depth. They crave the trust. So a trust builder might also be a marketer. Well, now you've gotta use that secondary archetype to give you scale to, you know, take the stories of what you [01:01:00] do with your tight circle and expand that out and open your circle wider.

Um, or you might be a networker or you might be a technician. So I give you a whole blueprint when you take the assessment, um, to show you what your strengths and weaknesses are for each of the archetypes and how you can really leverage those to go out and make it rain, but do it in your style.

Dino - Shayla Int Raw: And you can do it no matter which one of those you are. Correct?

Shayla Raw: A hundred percent. I mean, I've coached as you, I've coached people that are introverts and extroverts that are old, that are young, that are tall, that are small, that are incredible technicians and loan nerds and others that couldn't even spell mortgage and somehow still close a lot of loans. So ultimately you've gotta find your why.

You've got to define success for you. You've gotta have, you know, a process around living your business plan every single week, which you do with a tracker, and you do with accountability and measuring [01:02:00] and tracking. Um, but then ideally you're working in your natural style, uh, because you're gonna have much more success.

It's gonna feel good and you're gonna wanna do it a lot more.

Dino - Shayla Int Raw: Yeah. You know, it's funny, I learned that a while ago. I took the DISC test and there's the, I forget the words right, but it's like what you are at work typically and what you are the, the adaptive and what's, what are the two.

Shayla Raw: Well, oh, your adaptable, your natural style and your adaptive style.

Dino - Shayla Int Raw: adaptive. Right. And I was the, uh, the adaptive, I, what, what, I guess, let me put it this way. The one at work, I, I didn't have a low D but I had kind of like a, a medium D and then off of work my natural, I had a high D. And at the time my coach asked, it's really like backwards. Usually somebody becomes a higher D at work as opposed to off work.

But you flipped it. Why? And [01:03:00] she made me think about it. And, and I said, well, I guess, 'cause I always envisioned high Ds as a bunch of

Shayla Raw: exactly.

Dino - Shayla Int Raw: and I don't wanna be that. So I purposely bring myself down and I learned a really valuable lesson. What she said was. You need to be true to yourself. The more true you are to yourself, the more successful you'll be.

You don't have to be a dick if you're a, if you're a high D, you can be a good person to be a high D, but if you're not being who you really are, you're not being true to yourself. You're not giving everybody else the best of you that way either. I thought that was really like insightful.

Shayla Raw: It's, I always say like, you just need to be the biggest version of you

Dino - Shayla Int Raw: Yeah.

Shayla Raw: and bottom line, you'll bump into those beliefs. And that was just, that was a great coach locking you in onto beliefs. And you may have, as a younger person, been told, you know, don't be too loud, don't be too bossy, don't be a dick. And [01:04:00] so you've naturally. Fit into some persona that you thought was acceptable, but it's not naturally who you are and it's hurting your business, not helping you.

Dino - Shayla Int Raw: Yeah. Okay. Two more questions. This one's super easy, I hope. What's your favorite book or favorite two books?

Shayla Raw: The favorite question is always really hard for me. Um, how to win friends and influence people change my life 'cause I was not a natural people person and I needed to understand how people function and how to get them to like me, how to influence them. So that's one of my all time favorites. Um, conversations With God is a really fun book.

I just reread again in October and just felt like I was floating on the clouds, flying with the butterflies as

Dino - Shayla Int Raw: of that one before.

Shayla Raw: it. Um.

Dino - Shayla Int Raw: I've never heard of that one before. What, what's it like or what's it about?

Shayla Raw: [01:05:00] It's, it's a guy that I, I think, you know, grew up as a Christian, has worked really hard on his spirituality and being a good guy, and was just pissed that his life wasn't working out. Like, why don't I have any money? Why don't I have the love of my life? Why am I struggling so much? And so he sat down in the eighties to write a letter to God, basically saying, what the hell?

Like, I'm doing all the things. Why isn't my life working out? And supposedly, you know, pen to paper, he writes a question and then God starts, you know, talking to him through, through the conversation. And he writes out the response, and then he asks another question and he writes a response. And, um, it's a, it's just a really beautiful book that feels really true.

Like it's, you know, we, we as humans really complicate things and I think our, our soul and our nature is just. Pure love, and it's, it doesn't, it doesn't have to be so hard and complicated. And, and that book just reminds me of [01:06:00] that. Um, and, and God has a great personality in the responses too, which just feels really fun.

Dino - Shayla Int Raw: Yeah. Awesome. And one of my favorite questions is, if I picked you up right now, dropped you off somewhere in the United States where you don't know anybody and you have all your knowledge, you don't have your database, you don't have a lot of money, you have just enough to cover your bills and maybe a little bit to try and grow your business, right?

That that's all you have. You're brand new again, basically, but you have all your knowledge and you have to make a million bucks before you can come home and see your family. How are you going to do that in the loan business?

Shayla Raw: Yeah. Teaching classes, I, I mean. Helping people grow and be more successful has always been my strategy. Um, when, when I started building a business that was a referral based business, in the [01:07:00] beginning I was just looking for transactions. So I was going door to door to literally find someone to get their transaction and moving on.

After about six years of doing that and starting over every single month, 'cause there was no, nobody to give me referrals unless I was like really lucky, some random way. Um, it was all about how can we grow together? Not how can I be a vendor, but how can I be a true partner to you? And when I started teaching classes, it combined my ability to speak.

Um, because I learned that in network marketing, it combined all of my nerdy knowledge. And then my number one strength is being strategic. So I, um, can take a person's story, their goals, their, their network, their assets, and I could say, okay. You wanna go from here to here? Have you thought about babababababa?

And I can take someone's success story over here and I can feed it to these people over here, and I can, I can just start creating momentum and a storm [01:08:00] of possibility and hope and energy. Um, and I think when you speak and you teach classes, you're showing that you are credible, you're a person of authority, um, you know, people are inspired by a person that can do that.

Now, the conversion generally comes in the one-on-one after the class. I haven't, like, stood in front of a room in front of 20, 30, 40, 200 and all of a sudden dollars are ending in my bank account. Like it's, it's just the credibility piece. It's the exposure piece, and it's enough and it's value that people need.

Dino - Shayla Int Raw: and I know you're short on time and stop me if you are. Um, I'm just gonna, I'm gonna challenge you just a little bit on those just because, um, one is nobody knows you. So how do you get the credibility to speak on stage in front of other, in front of a group of people, number one, number two, um, the one-on-ones afterwards.

How do you get the one to [01:09:00] many to come down to your funnel and actually speak to you?

Shayla Raw: Okay. So first of all, I think about who needs to grow their people. So brokers and team leaders are always looking for speakers and content to bring good stuff to their sales meetings. So of course I could show up and say, uh, you know, I'm a coach. Um, here's my past experience. You know, I'm a lone guru.

You know, here's the tr struggles and challenges people are having with affordability. Here's the struggle and challenges people are having with their listings not getting sold. Here's the struggles and challenges that people are having with, you know, a contingent sale. You know, here's some ideas I have.

Can I teach a class on this? Because even if I can help you unlock three or four sales this month, by teaching these topics, I, I wanna add value. I wanna earn by loan business, by bringing you ideas and teaching you things. And so, almost always, if, if an, uh, broker or team leader is impressed by you and the ideas that you have to [01:10:00] help their people, and they could feel you're genuine, they'll give you the opportunity to speak at their sales meeting or to teach a class to their brokerage.

Second, a sign in sheet is critical, making sure everybody signs in. I like to give 'em an old school tape, na, um, uh, name tag so that as I'm speaking, I can use people's names in the room and I can put a face to the name the whole time I'm there. Then third, you've gotta do a survey at the end. And the survey is, you know, on a scale of one to 10, how valuable was this?

What was the most important thing that you learned, um, for future classes and offerings? Are you interested in learning about generating more leads, uh, loan programs to close more deals? Um, time management. And would you be open for me to follow up with you to see if we can have a one-on-one and I could find a way to help you with your business and then put their name, phone number, address birthday on it.

So you can send a thank you card. You could put their birthday and your CRM and you can call the people to [01:11:00] get a one-on-one. Um, um, the sign-in sheet and the survey are critical, especially 'cause if they're giving you permission, the follow-up call is pretty easy. Um, knowing that I'm in a new town and I have to make a million dollars to see my family, I probably just cold call everybody before and after I would cold call to fill a class.

Um. I did a great podcast on this on December 17th, um, where I talk about the law of promotion. It's a sales skill that a lot of people don't have. Like how do you actually promote something and get people to show up? And so I talk about actually doing classes and using the law of promotion. So that's on the Mortgage Rainmaker podcast.

Um, that like literally just came out.

Dino - Shayla Int Raw: Awesome. So guys, we're gonna have that in the notes as well, but. Um, the Rainmaker Podcast, love the name, think it's great. Shayla gifford.com. Go take the test. I, I actually went in and took it. Um, it was a while, a little [01:12:00] while back, so I don't even remember what I got, but I was trying to find it before the podcast and I couldn't because I was curious just to, to kind of play off of it a little bit.

But it was super easy. I thought it was accurate. I loved it. So great job on that. And also just great job out in our industry. I love watching you because you are bringing tremendous value to everybody. And I think especially now after getting to know you a little bit, I can see it where your heart is.

And I love that about you because our industry absolutely needs it. So thank you so much for being here.

Shayla Raw: Thank you for having me. It was a blast.

Dino - Shayla Int Raw: You guys, we are here to empower, equip, and educate you the way loans should be done. And, you know, as you saw with, uh, Shayla today, it's, it's not just about grinding as hard as you can, you know, she did it.

And I think you can gauge a little bit of, she would probably have done things a little bit differently. And I, I do believe that there's a time and a place to grind really hard. There's time and a place to [01:13:00] install or instill, you know, systems and, and work through how to do things so you're not just beating yourself up every single day and, you know, learn from people that have done it in the past.

It will help you get there so much faster and seek coaching. I think Shale is probably a great one for somebody to go seek. Um, she's got the core, which I, I do think is super valuable and I actually really like it. Um. Even though it's not my style, I think there's so much of it that you can learn from.

So I think she has that, but she has that other side that I really love and I think it's so important when you marry those two together, I think you got a great combination. So for most people that are out there looking, I, I would say probably try Shayla out and you'll probably be really happy with your results.

So thank you again and we love you guys. Don't forget, comment, share, do all the good stuff on social media, help us and we'll see you next time.

Shayla Raw: Thank you.