Everyday I'm Hustlin'

The fact that we now have a Texas license has most certainly taken things up a notch around here!  This week was full of busy-ness and craziness!  Ryan came home with comments like, This feels like the good ole days back when I was a loan officer and I did lots of multi-tasking today and I've got a lot to do tomorrow.  You know, it really feels great to work.  Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men. --Colossians 3:23

The kids had lots of activities this week, so the dropping off and the picking up combined with the things that needed to be done in the office equaled one busy week.  I worked on our Facebook business page and our CRM system, which is a really sophisticated database management system.  I'm pretty excited about the CRM because it will put us ahead of the game technology-wise, and it will be a huge benefit to our clients.  More on that later.

Also considering creating some videos for our clients to view as they work through the mortgage process.  Ryan speaks Mortgage-ese and I speak Real Estate-ese, but we realize that not everybody (and especially first-time homebuyers) speaks our languages.  So we hope to create some videos that will clearly explain the basics of interest rates, closing costs, the mortgage process, etc.

Realizing that many of our clients prefer social media (rather than telephone), we plan to amp up our social media presence over the next few weeks.  We love social media but we also love good old-fashioned talking on the phone too.  Anybody remember what a land line is?

It feels great to hustle!  Looking forward to a relaxing weekend!

Pop Open the Bubbly!

Well after a very frustrating morning, we were elated to find out this afternoon that our Texas license has FINALLY been approved!  We have been waiting for months to get over this hurdle so that we could start working on some Texas loans.  Two words: Divine Intervention.

We are now ready to serve our Texas clients!

Happy day - we will be toasting with some bubbly tonight!

My Perspective

I'm so proud of Ryan and the perseverance he has in beginning his own company.  Starting from scratch!  He has always been a hard worker with more than adequate dedication to his job, and I admire his ability to build...whether it is building a company, building a family, or building me a desk for my art studio...he always builds with his whole heart.

Xcel Lending will be a place he can pour his big heart into: he can leverage his strengths and enjoy serving the needs of others using his expertise and natural abilities.

We have both laughingly said how exciting and wonderful this time is because it's like when we first moved to Texas and began our careers and we had this whole huge road in front of us with no clue what was to come.  (It's kind-of like when you are dating and you don't know the other person yet but you are just blown away by what you do know.  The infatuation stage!)  This is how the business is for us right now: super exciting, hard to sleep at night, eager to build and serve, challenging in a marvelous way, anticipating the future!

My role for now at Xcel (as we start from the beginning and start small) is accountant, social media helper, and personal assistant (i.e. director of Ryan Grandi's happiness)--ha!  I'm really just trying to use my experience and knowledge to contribute however I can.  I am enjoying this sweet time with Ryan when we communicate throughout the day, work together using our strengths, and problem solve together.  Don't get me wrong, it's not all roses and loveliness--however most of the time it's wonderful and exciting!

Have a great weekend!

A Logo!

We have a new logo for our company!  We like the black and white color scheme; very classic, but we also have the logo in blue when we feel like we need a little pop of color!  The design of the four houses with the "X" in the middle was something that we felt like just fit with our business.

We are excited to start on this new venture, and to use the logo in all of our business correspondence!