Mortgages. Money. Life.

Most mortgage professionals don’t have a work ethic problem… they have a goal-setting problem . In this episode of Mortgages. Money. Life. , Val Miller and Trevor Hammond break down the four most common mistakes loan officers make when setting goals and how those missteps quietly cap your income, your consistency, and your growth. From not setting clear, measurable targets… to aiming too low and p...

In this episode, Trevor Hammond and Val Miller dive into the mindset shift that separates busy mortgage advisors from scalable business owners. We talk about setting bigger goals, visualizing yourself already operating at the next level, and then aligning your daily actions to match that future version of you. From hiring before you feel “ready,” to getting out of the weeds on individual files, to...

In this episode, we dive deep into the art of intentional business planning, not the fluffy “new year, new me” version but the real, measurable roadmap that actually moves your business. I sit down with Trevor Hammond to unpack how top producers think about the next 90 days, the next year, and even the vision they’re building for 2026 and beyond. We start with the big picture: the long-term vision...

Are you spending all your time in your business, or are you making time to work on your business? In this episode, we explore the balance every entrepreneur and professional faces: managing the daily tasks that drive revenue while also stepping back to focus on long-term strategy. You’ll learn why it’s essential to go beyond just getting deals done and start building the systems, processes, and vi...

In this episode, hosts Val Miller and Trevor Hammond sit down with longtime friend and collaborator John Thompson of SMPL Mortgage to unpack the powerful (and often overlooked) relationship between mortgage professionals and financial advisors. Instead of fighting for the ever-distracted attention of real estate agents, John shares how loan officers can carve out deeper, more fruitful partnerships...

Cody Hardridge has seen his fair share of success; He's been on the leaderboards, he's been listed on Scotsman's Guide year after year. At this point, leadership and coaching are his passion - he has a clear enough vision that he scaled back on his own production to help other Mortgage Advisors become more successful.  In this episode, Trevor and Cody talk about all of the things th...

Welcome back, Mortgage friends!  One thing that Val has been challenged with is approaching partners (specifically agents) in a way that gets their guard down. It feels like you instantly become a sales person, even if you have something really valuable to help their business with.  Trevor talks through how to approach these relationships in a way that shows them not only HOW you can help them, bu...

If you're a Mortgage Pro, you have a database (we hope) - but how much are you leveraging it to get new business? Most of us don't look at clients we've worked with as a source of new business, but it absolutely can be.  In this episode, we walk through the 3 different ways that you can leverage your database to generate business for yourself, business for your referral partners and...

If it's not obvious already, the Mortgage industry can be a stressful environment. How can we keep ourselves from getting to the point of burnout, when it feels like there's so much to be done in your business?  Coach and Industry Veteran Hope Bourman joins us to break down this topic and help those in the industry cope with and avoid burnout.  How you can build your team so you're...

For years in the mortgage industry, there have been two sides of the coin; Fast, easy and cheap vs. local, advice-based lenders. Too many times, uneducated consumers are choosing the online "click-button-get-mortgage" option, because they aren't aware of the value they're missing out on. Those years are coming to an end.  Ryan Grant, Founder and President of NEO Home Loans, joi...

New year means you're starting to set all of those big, brave goals around what you want to accomplish by the end of 2025. We're not here to say you shouldn't, but let's go a little bit farther with this one. If we set our THREE year goals, then the progress I make this year is much more likely to be in line with my "down the road" goals.  This episode is not only for...

Have you ever heard of the "last mile problem?" The concept is this; When it comes to online sites like Amazon, the most difficult yet most crucial part of the entire experience is the last mile. That's when the customer gets the product in their hands, and realize they're either happy or dissatisfied with the product. It doesn't matter how amazing the process was the crea...

In this episode, we're joined by Craig Davis, founder of Ascend Xperience to talk about what he's seeing from a coaching perspective. We dive into what Mortgage Advisors are missing the mark on right now, where the industry is headed and his journey from Mortgage Professional to being a successful coaching entrepreneur himself. From battling cancer and losing his leadership position in t...

1 whole year of learning, growing, and sharing concepts that don't get talked about nearly enough in our industry. We've had a BLAST over the last 365 days, so during this episode, we chose our favorite episodes to reminisce and reflect on the lessons talked about in each one.  If you're a new listener, this is the perfect episode to tune in and get a high-level view around the conc...

For the first time ever, we welcome on a very special guest to join the show, none other than industry legend Todd Ballenger. Todd has been a coach and mentor to Trevor for many years as you'll hear in the beginning of the episode, and someone who has instilled a lot of the concepts that we talk about today into the way Trevor has done business. Todd joins us and shares his upbringing, how he...

Being in an industry where people metaphorically "get naked" for us when it comes to their finances, it's very clear that we have a massive lack of financial education in our society. It can be hard to articulate all of the short comings that many people have in their financial lives, and even harder to instill some of these lessons into your client's minds during the time you...

We set BIG goals - everyone likes big goals, right? But what happens when we don't reach them in the time limit we set for ourselves? We beat ourselves up, we deem it a failure, and we have less confidence than before. What if we aimed to accomplish those goals over a 25 year time span? How would that change our perception of ourselves and our successes? Of course, we have to set goals within...

Stress & Mortgage?! Can't have one without the other - but are you managing it in a way that allows you to operate at the highest level and actually use your stress as an advantage in your business? The first step is acknowledging your stress and the relationship you have with it. During this episode, Trevor and Val talk through how to view the feelings you're going through and effec...

It's easy to intake an application, calculate DTI and hand out a Pre-Approval letter based on income, assets and liabilities. What moves you to the next step of being a Mortgage Advisor is finding out if that mortgage or home is suitable for the client. What are their current and long-term goals with finance and real estate? Do they have kids they want to send through college in the next few...

You get on a new kick - you want to implement something new in your business, achieve a new big goal in your personal life, or start a healthy habit. You think about it for a week or two and nothing ever gets implemented or changes in your life.  Enter the 4 C's! This way of thinking about starting anything new will make you more intentional and change the way you look at many new things in y...

There's no better feeling than crossing something off of your "to-do" list; Or is there? Creating a "NOT to do" list could be the freedom you need in your business to focus on the things that are the highest and best use of your time. Whether it means eliminating these items altogether, or collaborating with someone else in order to get it off your plate, it's well-wo...

We hear it as Mortgage Advisors all the time... - I'm trying to be debt free - I'm trying to be mortgage free  - I'm working toward financial freedom What is the goal of any of these objectives? It's to increase our net worth. When we look at decisions that our clients, and even some of us, are making, many times they are not leading us to increase our net worth. They're t...

Partnering with Financial Advisors can be a very lucrative route that produces high-quality leads for your business. The problem is, not many have done it at a level that actually produces value for both you and the Financial Advisor.  In this episode, we walk through what these professionals value in a relationship, how to speak their language and relate to their business in a way that creates co...

Welcome to the nebulous world of KPIs! Key Performance Indicators show you the most important figures in your business and if you're doing the work necessary to keep growing and improving.  The challenge is, what do we measure when there are SO many metrics in our business? These are the 4 most important things I've discovered will accurately measure your success as a Mortgage Advisor. ...

Less folks wanted to buy homes, WAY less wanting to refinance, so where do you, as a Mortgage Professional, focus your time?  If you want to drive more conversations, be more of an advisor for your clients and set yourself up to be the go-to for all things Finance and Real Estate - talk about MONEY. In this episode we talk through the conversations you should be having with your prospects, past cl...