Scaling Production and Growth with Laura Witte

On the show today, Skip welcomes back a good friend and top producer Laura Witte, Co-owner/Founder and Loan Officer at Highland Mortgage in Atlanta, Georgia, recognized as the top producing woman mortgage originator in Georgia with 130+ million in volume and a career-high year. 

Laura and Skip discuss how she builds trust and puts borrowers at ease, emphasizing respect for clients at any credit or price point. She shares advice for loan officers scaling from 25M to 50M and beyond: maintain belief and persistence, adopt a growth mindset, stop micromanaging, build and trust a support team (including hiring an assistant early, even part-time), and rely on repeatable processes. 

She also stresses diversifying mortgage products, continuous education, protecting personal time, and connecting goals to a personal “why,” shaped by losing her childhood home to foreclosure. 

Episode Highlights:

00:00 Welcome Back Laura

00:19 Meet Laura Witte

01:00 Top Producer Milestone

02:21 Comfort First Approach

04:04 Mindset to Level Up

05:40 Trust and Build a Team

08:28 Hiring Before the Chaos

10:21 Diversify and Keep Learning

11:54 Find Your Why

13:50 Working With Your Spouse

15:15 Dogs and Quick Laughs

15:42 Gamer Trivia and Favorites

17:26 How to Reach Laura

17:49 Final Thanks and Wrap 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Yeah, that's right. We're back, and this ain't my first mortgage podcast. Welcome to the show, where we discuss all things mortgage sales, industry news, interviews of the top mortgage professionals, and more. Strap on in, enjoy the ride, and welcome to Ain't My First Mortgage Podcast. Laura Whitty, welcome to Ain't My First Mortgage Podcast. It's your first time on the new show, but you're not new to me, are you? How are you doing? Right.

SPEAKER_02 0:38

I'm doing well. How are you? Thanks for having me on. Of course.

SPEAKER_00 0:41

You're not new show. It was only a matter of time. It was only a matter of time. So Laura, do me a favor to all the listeners out there who may not have caught your previous appearances on my other show, my old show. Introduce yourself. Tell them who you are, what you're all about.

SPEAKER_02 0:56

All right. Well, I am Laura Whitty. I am one of the owners and founders and a loan officer with Island Mortgage, located in Atlanta, Georgia. Let's see. What am I about? What are you all about, Laura? What am I about? I like long walks in the park. And I know I'm passionate about helping people with home ownership and advocating for people that maybe don't have a voice that need help. Love, you know, what I do and want to help if I can. So glad to be on.

SPEAKER_00 1:26

Awesome. Awesome. Well, I would be remiss if I didn't bring up the fact that you are the top producing woman originator in the state of Georgia. Isn't that correct? It is correct. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 1:37

With a whopping volume of 130 something million.

SPEAKER_00 1:42

Yeah, I can't remember either. It's a movie, you know, 130 something. Yeah. So that's good. No, 130 plus million. Yeah. And that is a, if I'm not mistaken, that is a career high for you as well, is it not?

SPEAKER_02 1:54

It is. Yeah. Yes. Even in a COVID year, yeah, it's still pretty high. And I have an amazing team that works with me that that helps like we're it's fantastic.

SPEAKER_00 2:05

Oh, yeah, for sure. Yeah, can't do it alone. So, what is that? This is gonna be like a super generic question, but what does that mean to you to be the number one producing woman originator?

SPEAKER_02 2:16

It means a lot. When I first started in the business, there was not a lot of women in our business. And it definitely means a lot coming from where I came from. I don't, I'm not college educated, you know, grew up in a single parent household, and my mom always taught us that we could do anything we wanted to. So yeah, it just means a lot to show people, women and and men, you know, what you can do. Like I guess when you believe and you put your mind to it. And yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:46

So I feel so obviously I've known you for a few years now, and and I have you you give off a different feeling than the other people in your bracket. And I say that in a positive way, not a negative way, of course. No, you give off a different feeling, you know, and frankly, I'd be so I mean, so does Mark, who you work with, of course. But you know, I know top producers across the country, right? And I run into them all the time. I'd go to the awards, all that kind of fun stuff. And one of the things I think that is one of your biggest strengths, and please tell me if you agree with me or if I'm completely wrong here, is that you really do a great job of making your not only your referral partners, but your potential clients and customers feel very at ease and very comfortable with you. Would you agree with that?

SPEAKER_02 3:39

I think so. Yeah.

unknown 3:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:40

And we've all been there. There's no shame. I have people that apologize all the time. I'm sorry my credits this way, or I'm sorry, I'm only buying this price house, or you know, it's like there is no shame. Everybody goes through stuff in life, and you have to honor the person and respect the person in front of you and treat everyone fairly. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, yeah. I'm the mortgage therapist.

SPEAKER_00 4:03

Well, I was gonna say that's just like the that's the that that was the first thing that stood out to me when I first met you in the office of Highland, whatever that was, two, three years ago, was that you know, you and Mark both very welcoming personalities, you know. So it made it, you know, it makes you very easy to talk to. So, you know, uh, and that's uh I think that's a really big strength, especially these days when so much is done virtually or electronically or whatever else. You know, I think that's a great skill to have. So, all right. So I want to talk to you a little bit about obviously your success, but not currently. I want to I want you to step back the clock a little bit, and I want you to talk to all the listeners out there who are at you know the $10 million a year mark that want to get to 25 or the 25 that want to get to the 50. There's a there seems to be specific skill sets across the board, which I mean I know each individual person is gonna have their own streaks and that they need to double down on that. But what would you say to someone that says, Hey Laura, you know what? I want you to give me the best piece of advice you can think of for me to step up from you know 25 to 50 million dollars annually.

SPEAKER_02 5:16

Yes, I'm putting on the spot. You did. Is there a timer on this? No, I'm just I think the first thing that comes to mind is to never give up. You ever see that movie? Never give up, never surrender. Who was that movie? I think it's not over until you say it's over, kind of thing. Like if you didn't get to your goal yet, then just keep going. That's the most important thing. There's all sorts of things that you can do to get to your goal, which are wonderful things you teach people as a coach and make the calls, commit, do the time blocking, all the things that you can do. But it starts with the belief and the mindset that you can get there and you can do it. And if you didn't get there this month, okay, you'll get there next month. You just have to keep going, don't stop.

SPEAKER_00 6:03

Yeah, keep going. I love it. So wouldn't that be the same then? So for somebody who's looking because there is a big difference in 25 to 50, but I find that taking that 50 on up, that that tends to be a big differentiator. And what was your experience taking it from that $50 million mark on up to where progressively where you are now? I mean, what would you say looking back was what really pushed you through that?

SPEAKER_02 6:29

I'm gonna give you an I am a big gamer from the 80s. I played video games. So you know, you know, when you play, let's just say Tetris, when you play a game that you're on the first, you're on the first kind of screen and you have to pay attention really well, right? Because you're like all the blocks are coming down, and then the second screen's a little bit easier, and the third screen, what shifted? You got more comfortable, your focus, it was more, you know, it was your focus shifted, right? You're more you're operating more unconsciously, subconsciously, trusting, right? You can't, you have to let go of control and have a team and trust yourself and trust the process because if you micromanage yourself and your team, you just you can't get there. It's not I think that's the I hope I'm explaining this well. It's the best analogy that I can think of is that the more you trust and you give up your power in a sense, and you put it in the appropriate place, of course, with your team and your skill set, which always educate yourself, always keep up on new things, the more you can do, but you can't do it if you're holding on so tight to where you're managing everything. You can't manage everything if you're gonna get to that level. That's the biggest difference. Jumping from 30 million to 50 million was a big jump. 50 million to 70 was a big jump. But honestly, over 70, not so much. If you have the process set up, okay, okay. You have the process set up to where you have the team, you can't do it alone. This business, you just can't. I was a lone wolf early in my career, and I was doing 50, 60 million, like super early, and I was exhausted. I was worn. I mean, you know, there's only so much time in the day. You have to have people that support you. And I'm not talking about a huge team, just get an assistant. If you're at that point where you're thinking, do I need an assistant? It's kind of like you're sort of jumping off a cliff and doing the trust thing where you know, I've been there where you're not busy enough, maybe for an assistant, but you are busy enough for an assistant, like you're sort of on that lead. You have to kind of take the jump and trust that you're gonna get there and not just trust, believe, but then also do the work. It's all tied together.

SPEAKER_00 8:51

I would say, and I am and I'd be interested to hear your input on this too, just shifting gears a little bit, talking about adding team members, whether it's one assistant or a you know, um an LOA and a processor, whatever the case is, right? You don't have to add a ton, but I think if you are in that spot that you just mentioned where you've got you're kind of at a crossroads, you're like, okay, I kind of could do one, but I may not necessarily have the huge ROI immediately, but don't know if I can get to where I could. It's better to take the risk and go ahead and bring on a team member before it gets nuts than it is after the fact, because then it's like, hey, you haven't grown together. It's almost you spend a lot more time trying to get them integrated and figure each other out than if you kind of grow together. How do you feel about that? Yes, absolutely. Yeah, yeah. And I think that's a problem a lot of LOs and frankly a lot of companies face is that they're like, well, they don't have the production yet to justify it. Well, it's chicken or egg, right? We're not gonna get there unless you have something, and so it's a but that comes down to hey, having a frank conversation with your sales team and getting to know who you are as a salesperson to say, okay, I'm gonna try it out. And guess what? If you're still able to scale after that, then you've identified some areas for improvement. So you don't make a mistake either.

SPEAKER_02 10:08

And you can also start a little bit slow. You can hire somebody part-time, nothing wrong with doing that. Yeah, it's a it's all steps, it's not like I woke up one morning and was doing 20 million and now I'm 120. It's steps.

SPEAKER_00 10:21

It's can you imagine the you got a good lawyer? No, the abs. I mean, they'll sit and send me to the nut house. Yeah, no, I can that crazy. I love that advice though, and what you said about getting at 70 and then going on, is it being really kind of a you've got your system and all and then that point is just about scaling at that, you know. Exactly. Yeah, I like that a lot. What other pieces of advice would you have to someone looking to grow?

SPEAKER_02 10:48

I think it's important to diversify. And I I have these mantras. It's like diversify or die. And what do you mean by that exactly? So you you cannot just sell one or two or three products. You have to have an array of products, you have to have a company that you're with that has a growth mindset extremely important, like Highland growth mindset. Just anything that we can do to bring quality products to buyers to help. Anything that we can do coming from that mindset of how can we help you is a great mindset to be coming from in our business. Yeah, educating yourself always. This business changes so much consistently, and that's part of the fun of it too. It's never boring. No, it's never boring. Always the least of keep your sanity, take time. I mean, also that is important. Take time as you're building this, as you're like committing to you know, to this job, which is a lot. It's a big job what we do. And make sure you take time to protect your sanity, take time for yourself with your family.

SPEAKER_00 12:00

It's that's just as important as you know, hitting business hard or build it, you know, because you have what are we doing this for? Exactly. I mean, what's the point of going out there working so hard, earning if you're not able to enjoy it from time to time, right?

SPEAKER_02 12:16

But I think the other thing too is find out why you're doing this.

SPEAKER_00 12:19

Yes. Identifying your why.

SPEAKER_02 12:21

Identifying your why, what is the purpose? I have I am driven, you know, pretty much very deeply from the inside to help people. That is my mission, whatever way I can do that. And it's not, it's I mean, just in any way, in anything that I can help. Like when I'm out in the world, you know, I see somebody in need, how can I help? But when I'm in my business, how can I help somebody get in a better place?

SPEAKER_01 12:50

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 12:51

That's kind of where the mindset is where I'm coming from. And then it's important for me to help people get in homes. I grew up, we lost our home to foreclosure. That was a huge defining moment in my life. So, how can I help people get into homes? So I have defined my reason why I'm doing that and my goals. So I think defining what you want and where you're going and what direction and who you are in this business is important.

SPEAKER_00 13:19

I like that because a lot of times we hear about, you know, discover your why or learn the borrower's why. And we also hear a lot about, you know, hey, it's important to set goals and have metrics to measure off of. I don't think we talk enough, and I'm speaking personally as a coach and trainer, we don't talk enough about connecting the two.

unknown 13:39

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 13:40

And say, okay, you got these goals. Why do you have these? What you know, okay, you want to become a $50 million a year producer. Why? You know, um, I don't think that's asked enough, you know. I mean, it's floating around out there, but I think it's really important for us to have an honest conversation with ourselves as salespeople as to why we're doing all this, right?

SPEAKER_02 13:59

Yeah, I I agree. I think that's part of it because then you're not you're not pulling yourself, you're propelling yourself.

SPEAKER_00 14:07

Oh, I like that. I like that. Look at you. Quotable right there, baby. Quotable. All right, so you also have an interesting dynamic in that you get to work with your significant other, your spouse, Mark. Uh, and you know, tell talk to me because I know several husband and wife or partner teams like that. And talk to me about that dynamic. How do y'all how do y'all survive that and not because I because like I know personally, my wife and I could not work like that together. We're very different. We we would butt heads about how to do things, that kind of stuff. How do y'all how do y'all make that dynamic work? Um every day.

SPEAKER_02 14:47

No, just it's fun. I mean, it took a while for us to figure it out, yeah. I think, but he does his we do two very separate things.

SPEAKER_00 14:57

Right, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:58

I think if we did the same thing, it would be guilty hard. Yeah, yeah. But we do it just that is true.

SPEAKER_00 15:04

Y'all y'all have a very clear delineation, y'all do completely separate stuff in a company, so yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:08

So I think that's why it works, and it's great because we're on similar schedules, and you know, we have a purpose together besides our marriage, our kids, our house, our dogs, our life. Sure. Also, yeah, we have a purpose to build something together that has meaning and similar purpose and direction. So that's it's nice, it helps.

SPEAKER_00 15:31

Good.

SPEAKER_02 15:31

Yeah, I like it.

SPEAKER_00 15:33

That's the good question, Skip. Yes, here we go. All right, well now. So here's the really important question. All right, your dog. Yes, is he right there at your feet right now? Both somehow. That big old dog. I absolutely love that. Is it was it Gus? Is that his name? Gus, he's playing with the Romney's part. He's been good. Gus is here, Lola's here. Lola, that's right. Yep, yep. Gus, Gus was definitely my favorite. He I just do this for my dumps. Yep, love it. All right, so as we draw to a close for this episode, yo, you brought this up. I like to end with some fun, fun fact, trivia kind of stuff now. So you brought this up. You said you're a gamer. Talk to me about your favorite video game from the 80s, 90s. Oh god, Wolfenstein. That's a great one. Look at you. Look at you.

SPEAKER_02 16:22

So Wolfine and Doom and Quake probably were my favorite.

SPEAKER_00 16:25

Quake, yeah. Okay, so you actually were like computer video games.

SPEAKER_02 16:28

Oh, I was I was in game rooms like Mortal Kombat, like and then I played chess for like 2,000 hours and burnt out like so many hours.

SPEAKER_00 16:38

So there was an arcade in the mall when I was a little kid, and there were two games I remember going there and playing. It was Street Fighter 2, yeah, which was one of my all-time favor, and and that on Super Nintendo 2. That's like my all-time favorite. And uh, do you remember Afterburner?

SPEAKER_02 16:56

Kinda, yeah. That's the one with the Link Galaga?

SPEAKER_00 16:59

No, Afterburner is the one that you actually sat in. It was the Fighters coming, and the thing would rock and go from side to side, yeah, in the F-14 Tomcat. Oh man, that that was good times right there. Yeah. How about uh you mentioned Tetris? How about Dr. Mario?

SPEAKER_02 17:14

Yeah, a little bit. I was a Pac-Man girl too for a while. I got like the highest score on like every machine very now.

SPEAKER_00 17:25

Uh there is a slight age difference, not tremendous, slight age difference between the two of us. So I remember Pac-Man being in the pizza restaurant when I was real little on that tabletop thing. Do you remember that?

SPEAKER_02 17:36

Yeah, Pizza Hut.

SPEAKER_00 17:37

Well, it wasn't Pizza Hut, it was like a local own place, but they had the Pac-Man on the table. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:43

I grew up with the Pac-Man at the table too.

SPEAKER_00 17:45

Yeah, I love it. I love it. I love it. All right. So is there anything else that you want to share with the listeners today?

SPEAKER_02 17:52

Just, you know, I am always happy to help. So if anyone has any questions and wants to reach out, you'll be sure you'll put my contact info when you post this, but you can reach me at Truth and Lending on Instagram.

SPEAKER_00 18:04

Yep. So it's more about email at Laura at truthandlending.com. That's right. Yep. There you go. Laura, thank you so much for coming on. This was fun. I'm glad we can get you recorded on the new show. Me too. Thanks for having me.