306: $100 Million Broker Burnout

00:00:06 Ryan Wiley
Welcome to the mortgage game. I truly, truly believe that building a mortgage business, a successful one is like playing a game. There's winners, there's losers. There's certain things you try. Some of us are playing checkers while others are playing chess. I've had the ability to coach and mentor hundreds of mortgage brokers. I myself built a very nice business. So now I want to distill all that information, all the things I've learned from that and bring it directly to you in a simple to understand way. I hope you enjoy.


00:00:38 Ryan Wiley
Okay, welcome to the Mortgage Game Podcast. West Coast Wiley here. We're coming to you live from the office, not the Dodge Ram studio today. So we have a special guest. We're doing more of these in -person interviews, and I promise you, we're not just bringing people on to bring people on. We're bringing people on where I think there's a story you need to hear. There's something where it's going to help one, even if it's one person, change something in your life, personally, or business. And so today we have a special guest. Jules Ferris, say hello, Jules.


00:01:06 Jewels Ferris
Hello.


00:01:06 Ryan Wiley
Hello, welcome, welcome. Thank you. Let's get into it. So for those who don't know Jules, she's been on quite a journey, quite a run as a mortgage broker. I want to start at the beginning. We're calling this episode the $100 million burnout. And so that just gives you some context. In case you want to just stop watching, are we going to share like scripts and specific strategies? Probably not. But what we are going to do is we're going to peel the layers back a bit of the onion on Jules and where she was, where she thought she wanted to go with her business. She got there and then now where she's at. And so Jules, when did you become a mortgage broker and what were you doing before that?


00:01:47 Jewels Ferris
I became a mortgage broker in 2014 and I was a bartender and manager of a restaurant prior to that. And actually, it's an interesting story of how I got into the industry.


00:02:01 Ryan Wiley
Is that a cliffhanger or do you want to share?


00:02:05 Jewels Ferris
Daryl French, who owns a brokerage in Kelowna, he actually came into the restaurant that I was working in and I served. Kim and a bunch of his friends. And he just really enjoyed, you know, how I treated the table, how I worked that night and just approached me afterwards and said, you know, I own a brokerage in town. This is super awkward approaching you at your place of business. But if you're interested in something different. I think he'd be really good at this. And at the time, I knew nothing about mortgages, but I was really ready for a change. Like I knew that I couldn't serve forever. So it came at this really beautiful time in my life. And I just took the opportunity and ran with it. And I'm very glad that I did. Yeah,


00:02:53 Ryan Wiley
I'd say it's funny because a lot of, I came from the service industry, a lot of good brokers. came from the service industry. Like there's some crossover there. Like, cause you, you're, you're commissioned essentially a hundred percent commission. You're trying to create an awesome dining experience. You don't know how much money you're going to make that day. You're not trying to be an order taker. I love that. So you become a mortgage broker, you start brokering. And then Scott Peckford came into play at some point. Can you walk me through that part there? What are you watching? Know who Scott is? I don't think a lot of them know the backstory there. So I'd like to hear that.


00:03:29 Jewels Ferris
Yeah. So I honestly took the course immediately, became a broker. And like I said, I had no experience whatsoever. So I was so nervous getting into it. And I'm not the kind of person that can fake it till you make it. That's just not who I am. Like I need to know what I'm talking about before I can go out there and present myself as an expert in anything. And so it was great to be on Daryl's team because he did have kind of mentorship training opportunities there, which was nice. And then I actually volunteered with one of his brokers early on, like when I was doing my course, I was kind of volunteering and just sitting in their meetings and learning from them. And then when I became a broker, I actually became an underwriter for another really top producing broker. for a couple of years, which was really, really valuable for me. I learned so much, like it was insane. Because when you're first starting out, I mean, after two years in the industry, I think I was doing $8 million a year. So like, you're doing a few mortgages a year in the beginning stages, generally speaking, you're not going to learn very quickly, like all the nuances. But as an underwriter to a very successful broker who had really challenging files, I got to see so much in such a short period of time. And I learned so quickly. So that was hugely valuable. You were still building your book,


00:04:57 Ryan Wiley
were still building your book, but also running files for a top broker. Totally. Yeah. That's the holy grail. That's the holy grail. If you can figure that out, you're earning revenue. Building your book off the side, you know, side of the table. Plus, yeah, that's awesome.


00:05:12 Jewels Ferris
So good. So yeah, so I developed like such strong knowledge and understanding of the industry and so much experience in a very short period of time because of working for him. And so, yeah. And then during that time, I was always going to like every mortgage broker event. Like I went to all the conferences. I went to all of the events. I made a point of talking to all the people, the, you know, higher ups and the lenders, like you name it. I was getting to know them very early on in my career and just like being myself. And so, yeah, I was approached, I think, because of that and because of the way that I put myself out there and people really got to know me as a person. And I think from the experience that I had probably as an underwriter, like I don't know, but I was approached to take over Scott's Book of Business. And I was probably only, yeah, two and a half years into the industry at that time.


00:06:07 Ryan Wiley
Just a quick segue here on that is a lot of people, like they think of conferences and they think, well, I don't really learn anything. I don't learn. And I would. I would agree. A lot of the times, the speaking, the stuff, you're not there for that in all real. You're there for exact reason you did. To network with the lenders, get your name out there, and you never know what door opens. And that door, you opened a door you didn't even realize you opened at the time. But I'm pretty positive that's why you had the opportunity. So you took over Scott's business. all of a sudden now you took over probably a $30 million book, I'd say?


00:06:39 Jewels Ferris
Yeah, like $40 million. At that time, I was doing about $8 million of my own mortgages a year. And then when I took over Scott's book of business, I immediately, it was $40 million the next year, basically.


00:06:51 Ryan Wiley
And so all of a sudden, you have these new referral partners, you have this database, you have these clients, because you got to the $100 million broker. Was the goal always, like, were you like... this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to crush this industry. I'm going to win awards. I want to be known as the $100 million broker. Was that a goal of yours or did it morph into that over time?


00:07:12 Jewels Ferris
Not at all. It totally morphed into that. This is the thing that I've talked about with you so many times is that I have a really hard time articulating my success in this industry because I never had a plan. It wasn't like I'm going to do these things and this is going to make me successful or I'm going to do this marketing, you know, strategy, whatever. Like I never really thought about it. I just kind of like I said, I took this risk to join the industry to begin with. I just. you know, volunteer. I was an underwriter. I just learned as much as I could. I kind of just like went through the motions and I didn't really know where it was going to take me ever. And even in the beginning, like I didn't know what my value add was going to be in the beginning. Like I had no idea like who I was going to be. And I didn't feel like I had any value to add in the beginning because I didn't know anything. And so. To be honest, my value add from the very beginning was always that I have a passion for helping people and I have this beautiful opportunity to do that in this industry. And that was what I started with from the beginning. And I just kind of like ran with that. Like every single person that I spoke to, I just did my best and I just tried to make them feel better and help them in any way that I could. And it kind of like evolved. I think, from there. But it was never about the numbers for me early on. And I think, though, when I joined up with Scott, I don't know where it came from. I think it was partly Scott and probably partly me at that time. Just I think you kind of get consumed by numbers in this industry and probably any industry. You know, at the time, it was like the Dustin Woodhouses of the world. You know, it was like $100 million a year. He's so successful. Like, we all just wanted to be him. And I think that's probably where it evolved from. And then Scott was like, let's do it. Like, let's get you there. And so,


00:09:19 Ryan Wiley
yeah. You're absolutely right. The industry, and I think it's working against us now. I think people are just being defined by their volumes, but it's being pushed through the industry. You're like, that's how you're defined. But I know a lot of brokers doing a lot of really good volume as do you, but we don't know what trade -offs they made in life. And when you actually like get in and know them a lot more, a lot of them are sacrificing health and relationships for the volume, for the awards and for, and so there's a lot of brokers you've just never heard of that are very happy, very successful. And so you got into it where you're like, okay, let's go. So what did you do? It was you, I imagine you had to start building the team out. at that point. And you started hiring office space. Can you walk through the steps of who you hired, what they were doing? Did you go get an office? Did they sit in the office with you? Let's break down the team you were building to go support the $100 million dream.


00:10:11 Jewels Ferris
Yeah. And this was like very challenging to get started with. I think building a team is probably one of the most difficult things and people struggle with it their whole career. I've been very lucky. that I now have, this beautiful team that I've had for a long time, which we'll talk about, but it was a challenge to start. I basically took over Scott's book of business. And at the time, I didn't have an assistant because I didn't need one. I was an assistant. And yeah, and like I said, overnight, I basically took over $40 million a year. So I was flat out and I was exhausted and I needed some support. Now, I have an insane work ethic. Like I can handle a lot by myself and I am very organized and very efficient. So I was able to manage like surprisingly well. And honestly, because of the experience that I had as the underwriter for this, you know, successful broker that was doing big numbers as well, like I was able to manage it very well considering I was only doing a small amount myself personally. But it was a lot. So I think the first assistant we hired was just an administrative assistant just to like help with some of the back end stuff, like documents and client appointments. And to be completely honest, my beautiful assistant, my first assistant, she would like make me lunch. It's like, I need to eat. Can you just help me with this?


00:11:38 Ryan Wiley
Gosh,


00:11:39 Jewels Ferris
it was probably. about a year of hiring and it not working out and hiring and it not working out and trying again, trying something different. And of course, the challenge early on was that I was flat out. I didn't have any time to hire or to think about it. And that's why like now looking back, I always tell people like hire before you need it, because when you need it, you don't have the capacity to do it. And so I think, yeah, it was just a challenge. I ended up hiring I think at least two people as underwriters that really just wanted to be mortgage brokers and it just wasn't the right role for them. And so it didn't work out both ways. Like it wasn't a win for both of us. And so they went on to do their own thing. Gosh, I think I hired, I'd say about four people before I finally found Becky. 2018, I got Becky, and she was amazing. And so she was administrative assistant as well, but she was really, really great and helped me tremendously. So she was hired in February of that year, and I was still underwriting all my own files, doing everything over the summer. And then in, I think it was October of that year, we hired our underwriter, Shannon, who we still have today.


00:13:01 Ryan Wiley
You still are both. Again,


00:13:03 Jewels Ferris
I think I was still hovering around $40 million at the time that I hired Shannon, which was actually interesting because Shannon took a risk, first of all, coming to me. And I took a risk taking on that extra expense of having an underwriter at $40 million because I, in that moment, hired for where I wanted to go. But I wasn't there yet. I wasn't making enough money to afford her yet. Shannon actually came from a lender. So I had to match the salary and compensation and medical and dental and vacation that she was getting before I was there yet. And she left to join my team with the assumption that I would grow and that her volume would grow. We don't know if that's going to happen, right? So it's pretty interesting. That's pretty cool.


00:13:57 Ryan Wiley
That's pretty cool. You bet on yourself is what you did. And she bet on you as well. So I want to fast forward a little bit. You have the team in place now. Now it's time to go get the business and ramp things up with the referral partners and the database and put yourself out there. You got to the 100 million. You got there. I look at it as like you saw Mount Everest. It just so happened. You threw a number on it, 100 million. You got there. Like, was it what you thought? Did it come with a lot of personal trade -offs? Were you disappointed when you got there? Or did you not even think about it and you wanted to keep on going? Like, why not 200 million? And how did you feel at the 100 million? And then, like, why did we pull back a little bit?


00:14:37 Jewels Ferris
Yeah, absolutely. I think the 100 million was this goal that, to be honest, I didn't even... think I could achieve. Like it was like pretty big lofty goal at that time. And when we finally made it there, it was actually terrible. I was miserable. I was burnt out. I was exhausted. And I was resentful. Like I resented the job that I once loved, that I'm so passionate about. And I lost my passion. for it. And I think like for me, it wasn't the hundred million dollars that burnt me out. Like, don't get me wrong. You can do a hundred million dollars done differently and feel great. I just didn't do it very well. And I think for me, like I would say the number one thing was I just forgot to take care of me. You know, like one of the things I always say in my business is I have always been people over profits, no matter what. It's always about the people for me. And I forgot that I'm one of those people that needs to matter too.


00:15:42 Ryan Wiley
So when you forgot about yourself, was that like... the regular, like just taking care of your health, your mindset, what you eat, what you drink, your exercise. Like, are we getting that granular? Like you just, you were just so in the business. It was go, go, go, go, go that you didn't have time. Was it didn't have time to like enjoy things or you actually just were treating your body and your mind like you shouldn't have? I'll leave the above.


00:16:09 Jewels Ferris
I mean, yeah, like I just worked. That was all that I did. I did not really have much of a life outside of mortgages. I would wake up in the morning at 6 a .m. and I would go straight to my computer and I would work until midnight and I would not eat. Like I ate maybe one meal a day because I was too busy and I drank 10 cups of coffee and I just was flat out. And I didn't take breaks. I didn't allow myself vacations, you know, those things in terms of taking care of myself. And then also I took things so personally. I let the stress of this industry get to me so badly. And my perfectionism. Every day, not allowing myself to make mistakes, letting the mistakes define me. I was so consumed by this fear of getting it wrong and overthinking everything that I think a combination of working around the clock and not fueling my body and taking care of myself and then taking things personally and allowing the stress to get to me just completely. killed me. Thank you for sharing that.


00:17:21 Ryan Wiley
you for sharing that. That's very vulnerable and honest. Was there a tipping point? Was there a moment you can look back and you just said, did someone in your life say something to you? Was it you just looked in the mirror one day? What happened? I mean,


00:17:39 Jewels Ferris
mean, a lot of things happened, I think. It was kind of like the domino effect of everything crumbling down. It was after 2020, 2021. You know, it was just crazy. Like it was the last straw of like what I could handle kind of. And so I was just, yeah, I was exhausted and stressed and burnt out and I just didn't feel good. And I was going through a really difficult breakup, of course. Right. And just like everything in my life was just not going well and I wasn't happy. And I think. I don't know that it was one specific thing, although perhaps there was that I can't think of right now. But I think it was just, like I said, that domino effect where just one day I woke up and was like, my God, like, I can't do this anymore. And also, why am I doing this? Like, to what end? What's the point of all this? What's the point?


00:18:36 Ryan Wiley
point?


00:18:37 Jewels Ferris
And honestly, Ryan, I like literally packed up my whole house, put my stuff in storage, rented my house that I went traveling. Like I was like, whoa, like I just need to get out of here.


00:18:47 Ryan Wiley
Okay. So on the outside looking in, 100 million jewels crushing it, blah, blah, blah. But like behind the scenes, things are just crumbling. Your world is in shambles. You're questioning why you're even doing this, who you're doing it for. And because it's funny, right? You think, oh, she's doing 100 million. But like we talked to at the beginning, not everything is what it seems. There was a trade -off you were making to get there, right? So true. Absolutely. So you traveled. So did the business, like, obviously the team stuck with you. Was the team feeling the burnout as well?


00:19:23 Jewels Ferris
Yeah, absolutely. We all were, for sure. I feel like... Very likely me more than anybody else because I tend to take on way too much, micromanage my team and do more than I should. But we were all... You're way better at it now. I'm so much better.


00:19:38 Ryan Wiley
so much better. So much better. But at that time,


00:19:40 Jewels Ferris
at that time, oh God. And I was just, yeah, micromanaging and doing everything. Yeah, it was a lot. So, but my team stuck with me at that time. I mean, they would have been with me for about four years at that time, I guess. And they've always just wanted to support me. They've been so great. I've treated my team very well and they've done the same for me. And so in this moment, it was kind of like, Jules, go do you. What do you need us to do? Why?


00:20:09 Ryan Wiley
So you went off travel. Did you come back with a plan? Like, were there certain things that are jumping off the page that you were just not going to do anymore?


00:20:17 Jewels Ferris
Yeah. And I'll say, like, I didn't just go travel and like never work. Like I was clearly working still. But I needed a change of scenery. You know, on the weekends, I wanted to be somewhere different and just like get away from it all and try to figure it out. But yeah, I mean, I think. And this has been a journey. Like it's been four years since that day. And it's been quite a journey for me to navigate and to figure it all out. Like it took me two years just to like feel healthy again. Like my body was actually not okay. Like very burnt out and not okay. But I think for me it was, I just need to remember why I'm doing it. Like what is the purpose here? And I think for... The $100 million journey, like I got so caught up in the numbers and the volume and the awards and the recognition that I lost sight of why I was doing it in the first place and like what was important for me. And I think that's what I needed to go find. Like I needed to just like go remember, you know? And so, yeah, like for me, I've always done this job because I love helping people. take somebody from chaos and overwhelm and confusion to like peace and ease and confidence. Like I can feel that in one one hour phone call with a client. Like we can go from that place to this place. And so like that fills me up and I want to focus on that. And the only way that I can do that is if I have the capacity to show up. And if I'm in a regulated healthy place. If I take care of me first, then I can show up like that for my clients. And if I'm not burnt out. So I think the biggest thing was like, OK, I need to say no to things that don't serve me. I need to have boundaries.


00:22:14 Ryan Wiley
What are some examples of if you can put your finger on that you start to say no to? Well,


00:22:18 Jewels Ferris
I mean, I think like. trying not to do everything so like maybe not doing you know construction for a period of time because that's a little more consuming or not doing private lender mortgages like you can't do everything really well so trying to just sort of cut back and specifically work with certain clients or certain files it's hard to say exactly what they were but I think like if I have a client that you know, shows up and provides me the documents and is willing to do their part and they've got down payments saved and they have good credit, good income, like, hey, you're ready to go. Let's work on this. But it's like, I'm not going to like spend so much time on a client or like chasing clients that aren't ready to work with me. So I think we just have to set more boundaries and then also set more boundaries with my time. I can't work 12 hours a day. Like these are the hours that I'm available. I'm not working evenings. I'm not working weekends. And if you're not willing to wait to get into my calendar because I'm not taking your call tonight, then you're not a fit for my team. And that's okay. Go find somebody else. There will be somebody else that will take that call. So you were chasing every deal.


00:23:32 Ryan Wiley
you were chasing every deal. A lead was a lead. You were trying to get them ready to go buy. Maybe it's nine months from now, 12 months from now. If someone wanted to talk mortgages with you, you were taking it because you had the $100 million blinders on.


00:23:46 Jewels Ferris
Yes.


00:23:46 Ryan Wiley
And you were just like, bring it. I'm solution. I help people. Let's go. And then the bottom fell out. So you come back. You've spent two years getting healthier. mindset, body -wise, you're showing up differently now. What's different now versus four years ago? And what are you most proud of right now in the business? I would say the number one difference is that I've released control to an extent.


00:24:10 Jewels Ferris
would say the number one difference is that I've released control to an extent.


00:24:15 Ryan Wiley
To an extent, to an extent.


00:24:19 Jewels Ferris
I will always be me to an extent. But no, I've released control and I've put a lot more trust in my team. And I really tried to step away from sort of the back end things that don't need my involvement anymore. So I think the biggest change is that I'm not involved in every single email and every single. thing that happens. Like I have three people on my team that are amazing at what they do, that they each have their own individual roles and they do them very well. And I trust them to do their job so that I can spend my time doing what I do best. And so that's been huge, of course. But I would say the number one thing that is different today than it has been for my entire career is that I've learned to give myself grace. I've learned to let myself just be human. Honestly, it sounds like simple and ridiculous, but I'm telling you right now, it is the number one thing that has changed my life is... I had this realization like this year almost that like, oh my God, wait a second, you're not a robot. You are a human being and you're going to make mistakes and you have emotions and hormones and a life outside of mortgages and that's okay. My goodness, the moment I let myself be human, Ryan, it changed everything.


00:25:50 Ryan Wiley
Yeah, I've been a part of this journey and I've been seeing it. I have a front row seat. And so it's pretty awesome to see what's going on there. But you're right. And you shared an example with me of a file that just went sideways and maybe not sideways. It still went together. But you guys made a mistake, something you probably should have seen before seeing coming and you didn't. And then it got into a thing where the client's like, I want this and I want that. And like, you showed me what you wrote to the client. I mean, you explained and it was like, if you want to paraphrase that situation, I thought it was very powerful. And I think it was just showing how far you've come because you wouldn't have thought that before you would have got down on yourself and you would have spent three days, you know, peppering yourself with negative thoughts and it would have bled into other things in your business, but you owned it, you righted the ship and you were okay with. how that was going to play out. Do you mind just walking through that a little?


00:26:39 Jewels Ferris
Yeah, no. And that's exactly it. Like in the past, any mistake that I made, it would have been debilitating for me. Like I would have felt like I'm a complete failure. Like I would have let it consume me. I would have been so consumed by it that I would have been afraid to reach out to the client and even tell them that there was a mistake until like it's like the 11th hour and I have to talk to them. And all the while I'm losing sleep and not eating and not able to engage with my family. It was all consuming. And now with this grace that I'm giving myself, it came up and this has happened lots. I mean, like things happen all the time, right? But it came up and it was kind of like, all right, super unfortunate. I wish that didn't happen. But here we are, like it is what it is. We made a mistake. We are going to learn from this. And this is important. I always learn from my mistakes. We are constantly evolving our process and changing our process so that we can make sure we avoid these things in the future. But when they happen, like, hey, I'm human. And so I was able to just like explain that to the client right away. And like, here's what happened. And I'm sorry that it's happened. I totally own it. It's on me. But here's how I'm going to make it right. Your life will be no different as a result of this. I'm going to make sure that it is exactly the way that it would have been had this not happened. But there's just going to be a little extra delay here in timing. Anyhow, the client was quite frustrated, quite frustrated. And I find that a lot. I do. And I think the other side of giving myself grace. is that it allows me to give my clients grace too. Because when that client is really upset over something like this, it's generally not about me. Like there's something else that's probably going on in their life. So like, I'm not going to take that personally. I'm going to have compassion. I get it. But like, it's not about me. And so anyway, I dealt with the client really, really well back and forth with kind of how we were going to handle the situation and take care of it. And at the end, This person had asked me for more than I was going to provide. They kind of misunderstood my calculation. So I explained why that was, you know, going to be what it was. And then I said, thank you so much for your patience and understanding. We are all human and we make mistakes, but I always make sure that I make it right. And I appreciate your understanding. And I think it just like, it just brings the human back into it. Like, hey, guys. I'm a human being. I'm not a machine. So I'm sorry it happened. But here we are and we're going to fix it.


00:29:24 Ryan Wiley
So cool. So cool. Look at you all grown up.


00:29:30 Ryan Wiley
All grown up with these. This is cruel. I got to say, you got to where a lot of people aren't going to get to volume wise and it wasn't what you thought. So what I like to talk about, because there's no reason you. like won't get back there. Like you could very easily get back there. And you said, I could build a hundred million dollar team. I just do it differently. And that's what you're doing now. Right. And you've still got the same two people in play. Plus you added on another one. You've got three people in play, three full -time people working with you. Are you sitting here going, we're just going to roll. Jules is going to be as involved as I can be, but then I shut it off. I'm going to enjoy my life and we'll let the chips fall where they fall volume wise. Or are you sitting there going, I think I could do this right this time. If we get to 100 million, we get there, great. But if not, I'm not going to sweat it. Or is it a focus point? Again, you're just going to do it the right way. Not a focus point at all.


00:30:25 Jewels Ferris
a focus point at all. It's no longer what drives me. What drives me and what is important to me is my peace and my ability to enjoy my life. our world is not actually all about mortgages. Like we are here probably for a different reason than mortgages. But as funny as that is to say, like that's the way that I acted. I acted as though that was the only thing that matters. And so now it's just like, yeah, you know, I'm prioritizing my enjoyment of my life. I'm prioritizing being engaged in the moments that are happening all around me and being able to enjoy. the moments. I love what I do. I am so driven and it's impossible for me not to grow. Like I literally just love mortgages. I love helping my clients and it is fun for me. So am I growing? Of course. I feel like it's just natural for me to do that, but I'm not on some mission. There's no dollar value. It's literally how do I feel while I'm doing it and how do I make other people feel? That's it.


00:31:41 Ryan Wiley
So cool. And there's a little story I want to share. There's awards given out in Kelowna every year. And there are these awards, they're given out in all the cities and they go, hey, get your nominations in. And so in the past, you'd get that. You're like, hey, I forget what the awards are even. Kelowna's top mortgage broker. And so you guys would get it and then you'd take that and then. I'd assume you'd hand it out to your circle and go, hey, can you vote for us? Can you vote for us? Because we want to be gold. There's gold, silver, bronze. You used to put thought and energy behind that and actual time with the team to just put that out and ask for support for people because you wanted to win the award. Correct? Yeah.


00:32:19 Ryan Wiley
So this year, awards came up again. You had the opportunity to go do it. What did you and your team do this year about that?


00:32:27 Jewels Ferris
Basically nothing. Yeah. You know, it's funny. It came up this year. I was going to like do all the things, you know, I was like, and I was like, wait a second. Oh, it just doesn't feel good. Like this doesn't feel right. I just. Like for what? Like for what? You know, like do you need to be recognized as your ego need to know that you're the best? Like we were so busy at the time when those were announced that like for me to do what we've done in the past would have been a lot of extra work that we didn't have the capacity for at the time. So we just, you know, we still did a few like little social media posts or like an email to our database to be like, hey. You know, we were nominated, like would love your vote, of course. But in the past, we used to do like competition, like we would like do a contest, we would give them money, we would tell them do all these things, like vote for us. It didn't feel authentic this year. And so we didn't really push.


00:33:26 Ryan Wiley
push. It wasn't aligned with your new, like just the new version of what your team is. So then, spoiler alert, like, so the awards came out and what happened?


00:33:39 Jewels Ferris
The awards came out and we actually got gold this year.


00:33:44 Ryan Wiley
Yeah. So is that crazy how the karma gods spoke? Yes. And they're like, you deserve this. Without you putting the work in, you deserved it. I think that's cool.


00:33:54 Jewels Ferris
think that's cool. Yeah.


00:33:56 Ryan Wiley
I think that's very cool. I think that right there just shows you're where you're supposed to be. You're doing with the right people. You're on the right path. You've righted the ship. Okay. We're going to wrap this up shortly. I wanted to give people that just like you were there. You were there, but you're still there. Like you're still crushing mortgages. That's why I don't want people to think like she just shut things down and she's doing not that 30 million is bad, but I don't like attaching numbers to things. Exactly like you said, I go, are you happy? You're happier now than I've ever seen you. Our paths crossed here and there throughout the years. You were actually at my house, which was kind of funny. The first time I met you, you were invited to a party at my house, like a Super Bowl party. You were like, hey, Jules, how's it going? How's it going? But I have a deeper understanding of who you are now and what makes you tick, but I will say you... The sense is like you're glowing, you're happy, you're in the right spot. You're awesome to be around. It radiates. Your team loves you. You guys have such synergy within your team. Your team's just full of rock stars. You've got a really good thing. You should be very proud of what you've built. I know you are. Are you proud of what you built? I'm very,


00:35:01 Jewels Ferris
very, very proud of what we've built. Absolutely.


00:35:05 Ryan Wiley
Yeah. Yeah, you should be. And anyone who uses you, any client, they're very, very lucky. Okay. I'm going to hit you with a curveball here. We didn't talk about this, but it's... She's like, oh no, oh no. Why are you doing curveballs?


00:35:16 Jewels Ferris
are you doing curveballs? It's an easy curveball. It's an easy curveball.


00:35:21 Ryan Wiley
It's not a knuckleball. It's just a curveball, a slight curve, just a little curve. I just want to get your thought on, because I respect your opinion on our industry and there's a lot of stuff happening. There's AI, the lenders are tightening the purse strings. There's a lot of rate competition. Things feel different right now. Not everyone's doing their job. from clients to lenders to it just things feel a little different right now to me. And I know you feel it too. What's your take on our industry as a whole, the Canadian mortgage industry, you know, now and moving forward, just what are your thoughts on it? I mean,


00:35:54 Jewels Ferris
mean, I think that's a huge question,


00:35:56 Ryan Wiley
question, first of all. I guess I'm not asking are a mortgage brokers going to be around. I just want to know you're feeling the stress. Like things are harder to get done right now. Would you agree?


00:36:05 Jewels Ferris
I totally agree. And I think that, yeah, I mean, it is much more challenging than it has ever been. I think that people are feeling stressed more than ever. They feel like everything's more challenging. They're feeling like it's. Yeah, I think it's just really hard for a lot of people right now. And people are being very negative about the direction of our industry. But I do believe that we have a wonderful industry that will be around for a very long time. And us as brokers have an amazing opportunity to make a big difference in people's lives. And I think that if you continue to focus on that and your ability to make a difference in people's lives, then you don't have to worry about all the noise going on. around you. And I know that for me, like that has helped me to sustain my success over these past few years that have been really tough for a lot of people because people look to me for advice. They know that I have their best interest at heart and they call me when things are tough and they want my support. And so I would just say, For all the brokers out there that are having a challenging time right now, you just need to lead from your heart and take care of people. And everything else will fall into place. Like, don't stress about external factors that are out of your control.


00:37:26 Ryan Wiley
Ah, well said. That's why put the blinders on and build the business around. Your superpower is you care. And people, it's always, you know, it's cliche. There's so many cliches, but they're all so true. People don't remember what you say. They just remember how you made them feel. And you've made a career out of making people feel like they're the only one in the room and that you have their back. Like to even down to a certain point, if a client wants to make a switch on the mortgage, the typical broker will be like, yeah, call the branch and do the thing. And you're like, no, we have broker consent form signed. We have lawyer consent form signed. Like we want the client post funding to contact us, even if it's more work on our end and there's no paycheck attached to it. Like, that's not normal. Not a lot of brokers do that, but you and your team do it. But you invested in the team to be able to give that post -funding support that not a lot of people are short -sighted. That jumped off the page of me when we were just going through our many chats. You built that, right? Like, you funnel everyone in through that.


00:38:28 Jewels Ferris
100%. And honestly, it is a lot of extra work. It is. But... It is what fulfills me. I love helping people and I love making that client experience just so exceptional and I love making things easier on my clients. And so I do a lot more and it's a little extra work and I don't always get paid for it, but I love it. And it does come back to you, but that's not why I do it. I genuinely, it makes me feel good to support people. And that's why I do this. That's why I'm here.


00:39:03 Ryan Wiley
Well, I'm sure everyone listening or watching this, they're feeling it too. It's something either got it or you don't. The energy you're giving off and you definitely got it. So Jules, I can't thank you enough for coming on here and sharing. And maybe we'll have you back at some point and we'll get maybe a little more technical and in the weeds with like showing how the sausage is made in your team. And maybe we'll do that. Maybe we won't. But I'm so grateful that. I have the opportunity to be on this journey with you and that you open up with us. And I just want to say from the bottom of my heart, thank you for sharing everything. And our industry is better off because you're in it. So thanks for just being you. Okay, that's it, kids. Thank you for the support on this channel and this podcast. So keep supporting us. We're trying to put good things out there. So enjoy the rest of your day.