From Uncertainty to Opportunity: Building Success in Mortgage & Business with Parker Knudsen

0:02Parker Knudsen:Hi, and welcome to this week's episode of the Epic Entrepreneurs Podcast, where we are all about helping business owners just like you achieve success. So we don't do fancy smancy. We don't do flashing lights. We don't do a lot of things that a lot of podcasts will do. These are just real stories about real people and their entrepreneurial and business experiences. as we go into their wins, their challenges, and their learnings. So we hope you enjoy it.

0:34Epic Entrepreneurs:All right, everybody. Welcome to this week's episode of Epic Entrepreneurs. I am Cliff McRae with Action Coach Business Growth Partners, where we work with local business owners to turn big ideas into real scalable growth. Today, I'm excited to be joined by Parker Knudsen, Rate Mortgage. So Parker, thanks for being here. How are you doing today?

0:54Parker Knudsen:Hey, I'm doing so well. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it.

0:58Epic Entrepreneurs:Yeah, no problem at all. So let's go ahead and jump right in. So for those of you who may not know it yet, who is Parker Knudsen and what is rate mortgage?

1:08Parker Knudsen:Amazing. So Parker Knudsen, man, a little bit about me. I am a father. I just had my second kid about two and a half months ago. I'm a traveler and I've actually lived in about three different countries. I'm passionate about real estate finance and I love helping people with all their mortgage needs and rate mortgage itself is based out of Chicago though we have a very small kind of mom and pa

1:39Epic Entrepreneurs:office in the Asheville area so if you if you were to start from absolute scratch and obviously this is a hypothetical question but if you were to start from absolute scratch in your business you know, no brand, no clients, no safety net. What would you do differently the second time around?

1:57Parker Knudsen:Man, that's amazing. And to understand what I do different, you'd have to understand what I did in the first place. So I was one of those people that fell into mortgage. I never really inspired myself going this route. I was one of the people that decided to get a career change in COVID. So I was actually teaching English in Thailand at the time COVID came. COVID happened and we had to come back and I wasn't engineering before mortgage. But I came back, decided I did not want to do that any longer. I wanted something flexible. I wanted to make more money. And a combination of buying a house and talking with a friend that was the mortgage broker, decided me to make the jump.

2:48Parker Knudsen:So going from engineering to mortgage, it was really scary to think about going from knowing what I got paid to going to full commission. So I actually started as a loan officer assistant for a whopping two months. So to answer your question. I would go right to becoming a licensed loan officer without having being an assistant. I would have definitely done things imperfectly and got them done instead of focusing on trying to be perfect and be the best loan officer from day one. I also would have just kind of really leaned more into more of the sales side than necessarily just learning the loan products from the beginning.

3:43Parker Knudsen:You need to know the loan products, but you need the sales in order to understand the loan products and experience that as well. Okay.

3:54Epic Entrepreneurs:Yeah, no, I love that advice. That's awesome. So what's a lesson you learned the hard way as a business owner that no one really prepares you for?

4:02Parker Knudsen:Oh my gosh. So I learned my life the hard way in my personal life too. And I've learned so, so, so many things. The things I've learned the hard way, I would say sometimes, especially at the beginning, I feel like almost giving too much passion or time with those kids. clients was actually a negative thing. I think I realized that people really want to speak to their mortgage person as little as humanly possible. So instead of talking with them with updates every single day, little, little things, really trying to be intentional and make our time together important and big and really hone in on all those big milestones and updates with a smaller communication in between does that make sense it does yes

5:14Epic Entrepreneurs:all right so what's a lesson you learned the hard way actually i just asked that i'm sorry what's one common myth people believe about running a business that makes you laugh now

5:24Parker Knudsen:Oh my gosh. There's so many myths about just entrepreneur itself. There's myths about mortgage. There's myths about real estate. I would say that one of the biggest myths is the flexibility aspect. A lot of people get into real estate or mortgage or entrepreneurship thinking that this is going to be the key ingredient to buy themselves more time with their family. And I think it does eventually. But those first few years, you're definitely working extra to set yourself up for that.

6:06Epic Entrepreneurs:Yeah, no, that makes sense. That makes perfect sense. so be honest are you naturally more of an entrepreneur or an employee at heart oh man

6:14Parker Knudsen:i'm definitely much more of an entrepreneur and i'd say ever since i was a kid i was always scheming on how to make money or dream of businesses every single passion i've had i wanted to turn into a business um mortgage is actually my third entrepreneurial journey I've had two quote-unquote failed business attempts, one being an artist making jewelry and one being kind of a marketer in a way. One was a jewelry business and the other one was selling different air purification systems through blogs online. I've always wanted to work for myself. So I've never really, I've always admired leaders and mentors, but I really don't like people telling me how to do things.

7:14Parker Knudsen:And I love being creative and finding ways how to do things better than what people will find out. So I always love being a leader. I love being a teacher and I love being some kind of manager, leader, a helper for those that are trying to increase their own careers.

7:38Epic Entrepreneurs:Yeah, yeah. No, it sounds like you're just naturally just a real helper. Like you want to see people do their best. That's right.

7:44Parker Knudsen:That's right. Yeah.

7:47Epic Entrepreneurs:No, that's awesome. That's an awesome trade. because, I mean, it's like, you know, it's hard to come by these days, you know, in a world that's always about me, me, me, me, me, rather than, you know, helping everybody else.

7:59Parker Knudsen:Well, also, leadership is the hard route, right? And I think a lot of people these days, they like convenience. They like easy. I know before I even started this mortgage journey, you know, I was always scheming on how to make easy money. And you hear about people making easy money, and I think it's possibly possible, But what people don't realize is there's a lot of work that those people have to do to get where they're at. And it's only the small select few that's willing to put in the time and the blood, sweat and tears to get there. But I'm long term vision. I see things paying off in the future.

8:42Epic Entrepreneurs:Nice. I love it. So how do you personally handle stepping away from the business? I guess you could say like vacations how do you handle vacations

8:50Parker Knudsen:one of my biggest downfalls I would say I am very dedicated to my business in my business in being mortgage if you don't answer that phone call right away there's a good chance that they're calling that next person so it took a long time for me and my wife and my family to kind of figure out how the best way I can still enjoy my time with them, enjoy our vacations, and also still close business and bring in business. And I'll tell you, it's the curse. Every time you go on vacation, that's when you get the most business. So how I change that is we actually now plan extra long vacations. and I plan on working about a half of a day each day while being there and then just really being vocal and communicative with my clients and my partners about hey I'm out of town I'm still here for you these are going to be the best times to get me if you need me otherwise just know I'll get back to you as soon as you can and believe me it's probably me in my head thinking it's taking a longer time getting back to my clients than what they do um i'm just very obsessed with getting results and answers back to my focus really nice nice i love it love it

10:25Epic Entrepreneurs:so how do you personally handle like i guess the workday or unplugging at the end of the workday are you typically a person that at 6 7 p.m you're done turning your phone off or are you

10:36Parker Knudsen:answering phones around the clock yes so that's also something i've struggled with um but i'm slowly getting better and i will say after having a second kid about two and a half months ago i think i've really honed in on trying to set those proper boundaries and stuff to myself they just grow so quick and I definitely don't want to miss anything so I wake up I get the kids I get my oldest toddler daughter fed and ready for school I go into work about 8 I would say and just really try to work as much as I can so at least 4 sometimes I go to 6 but by 5 I really want to be starting making dinner, starting to decompress, putting a little bit of music on, and really focus on trying to separate my business from the time of my family.

11:37Parker Knudsen:There's been so many nights where something was going different or sour or sideways or unknown. I'm sitting there at dinner just thinking about that and not really absorbing that time. I just realized that time is so, so important. So I'm also on dad duty till about 8 p.m. Put my kids down, get them baths booked. So I tell my clients that between about 6 p.m. and 8 to 8.30 p.m. is my time to be a dad. I will still text them back and I will call them back after that. But there are many folks that can't talk during their normal work hours. I've worked with a prison guard or a warden before. They definitely can't leave.

12:29Parker Knudsen:So there's definitely late night phone calls that pick back up about 8.39. And sometimes my best work gets done after the kids are in bed. And I have that time to myself.

12:42Epic Entrepreneurs:Are you a night owl, Parker?

12:44Parker Knudsen:I used to be. I am now seeing the value in more sleep every day.

12:54Epic Entrepreneurs:yeah no sleep sleep's a little bit important so yeah i definitely get it yeah no i i know how it is i you know i tell people this all the time i'm definitely a night owl i don't know what it is i've been like this since i was 14 as soon as that sun goes down i get a second wind and i'm like up and ready to tackle everything i don't know why so i've always

13:15Parker Knudsen:been like that though and now i'm a dad it's just my my day there's there's no time for just me except for right in the morning before everyone's up my lunch break and when everybody goes to bed so that usually is my time that even if i'm not working i'm doing something or other for myself

13:39Epic Entrepreneurs:yeah no get it get it so looking back what do you attribute most to your growth so far in your business?

13:47Parker Knudsen:Man, that is really, really good question. And I would say, believe it or not, it's not the loan product. It's not the rate. It's not necessarily the loan credentials that I think most people think about when shopping for a mortgage. I truly believe the key to my success has just been bringing in a little bit more human into the financial world and building trust and teaching people that I am not a gate blocker. I'm an opportunity seeker for you. And if you're concerned about something, I want to know what that is because I can help you come up with solutions or help ease your anxiety about those things.

14:40I think that language is the best tool

14:45Parker Knudsen:anyone could use, probably in almost any entrepreneurial business. If you can master language, you can master teaching those things. You can master the sales of bringing in those people. You can really work and master a lot with just language alone. And then once you start to know your products, your timelines, what works for you and your schedule, that only increases through time. So yeah, I think it's the trust. I think it's the transparency. I think it's the language and I think it's the education for people. I think people really do when they leave me think that I went above and beyond for them.

15:38Parker Knudsen:I looked out for their best intention. I educated them on all their options available and I think that reflects my Google reviews and everything as well.

15:49Epic Entrepreneurs:Very nice, very nice. So let's dig into that a little bit more Parker because I'm interested. I'm actually intrigued what you said there. So you know you're seeing language. Do you You mean not language like the English language itself. You mean saying things that get over with people, correct? Oh, my God.

16:06Parker Knudsen:Actually, a lot of both. So most of communication will actually be nonverbal. However, most of my calls are on the phone. So it does have to be verbal a lot of the time. um mastering english is definitely like learning how to say things several different ways and learning how and it's crazy learning how to better your language by simplifying it because sometimes with mortgage or other entrepreneur stuff you're working on you work with these acronyms and these terms and these words every single day and you get used to those things and it becomes just a common thing for you. But most people don't know.

16:57Parker Knudsen:You have to explain what PMI is and stuff. So the language of how to educate, the language to listen. You need to be able to listen more than you sell. In fact, the best coffee meetings and stuff that I have with real estate agents is really just me listening to them and asking the right questions. And people love to talk about their self. And then just being intentional with, you know, what you want to ask them. Simplifying things. I think also there's a lot of empathy and human emotion and human connection that is explored through language. I mean, just for an example, when you're texting someone versus you're calling someone, like they can interpret that message completely different.

17:55Epic Entrepreneurs:Yeah, no, I totally agree. I think that's like you said, it's not what you say. It's how you say it. Right.

18:03Parker Knudsen:That's right. And how they feel about how you say that.