When I began my career as a young(er) broker, I quickly discovered how much I didn’t know.

My journey of knowledge since then has been pretty significant, and I can confidently say that I truly understand the business now, but there is still much that I don’t know.

I guess that when you get right down to it, that’s one of the things that I love about the business. It is a constant learning experience, and as they say on TV, “you never know what’s going to walk through that door.”

When I was asked to write about what I wish I knew when I started, I wish that I knew what the business truly was all about. It would have saved me a lot of time, and I would have made a lot of money. Too many shops these days consider themselves retail stores. If you are loaning to sell, you are losing money! Selling product is a byproduct of this business as you never loan thinking they are going to lose the item (yes, I know there are those loans that you know are really buys). So if you are loaning, the goal is to get the customer to pay and eventually redeem.

When I make a sale, I’m selling with the hope to loan on that item at some time in the future. It takes some people a long time to figure that out. We sell money! I know that there are those that disagree with that statement, but it is the goal of every broker to have a large loan balance that has a great yield and the “right” redemption rate. It’s what pays the bills.