Dan Gilbert, Founder and Chairman of Quicken Loans, had me at, 'Hello.'
Or maybe more accurately, he had me at, 'You're hired.'
And okay - if we're going for the straight story here, it wasn't Dan Gilbert personally who hired me.
But that's how it felt when, last June, I was offered a job with Title Source, Inc., a member of the Quicken Loans Family of Companies. I'd been following the story of Gilbert, Quicken, and Title Source, and not only did it seem they were leading the way in the mortgage business of tomorrow, but they had the sort of guiding principles I could get behind.
Check them out here. Some only make sense once you've been privy to the frenetic eight-hour training experience that is 'ISMs Day,' but others apply beautifully to any aspect of life - and appealed especially to my more new-agey and optimistic tendencies.
Do the right thing.
You'll see it when you believe it.
Numbers and money follow; they do not lead.
This is good stuff, right?
Add to that this blog post I stumbled upon - Dan Gilbert's thoughts at the start of 2014. He described a quiet moment in his office at the start of the new year, with sun glinting off the fresh snow outside. Something about his determination to make the most of the new beginning afforded by simply turning a page on the calendar spoke to me.
As my regular readers know, 2014 was the start of a roller-coaster period of transition for me. My marriage ended. My novel - aptly named Fifty Ways to Leave Your Husband - hit a few niche bestseller lists, but failed to earn royalties that would allow me to write full-time. And real estate title work, which had sustained me and my fiction-writing habit for the two-plus decades since my father first trained me in the business, was changing rapidly.
The opportunity to work for Title Source seemed a blessing. I jumped at the chance to learn the high-tech approach they were pioneering. I flew to Detroit for training. I excitedly selected an ISM for my email footer and business cards:
Every client. Every time. No exceptions. No excuses.
Throughout the Family of Companies, I saw a level of enthusiasm and dedication to excellence that impressed me. Concern for clients was paramount. Working nights and weekends was commonplace. Clearly, everyone had drunk the ISM-infused Kool Aid. My expectations of Title Source had been high going in, and truly, I was not disappointed.
What surprised me was that, over time, I became disappointed - in myself.
While my colleagues were going all out on nights and weekends for the benefit of the company and the clients, I was squeezing in blog posts, writing, and editing. I was daydreaming about creative work. I was counting down the hours in the work day, collecting my paycheck, and praying that my next book would be the sort of blockbuster that would allow me to bid adieu to the 'day job' forever.
I'd drunk that ISMs Kool Aid too. I deeply agreed with the principles they embodied. But I wasn't living them, because I simply wasn't in the right line of work for me. It ruffled my feathers to consider plodding along at the title business on nights and weekends. But get a creative idea in my head, and I'd gladly stay at my computer writing for days on end.
Title work, I realized, was my father's legacy, and for me, it had run its course. I'd enjoyed all those years I spent in the field, and they'd served a valuable purpose - they allowed me to raise my son and give us a decent life. I could tuck him in at night and burn the midnight oil writing, nurturing the thing that called to my soul. That balance worked for a long time.
Until it just plain didn't anymore.
In that blog post from the outset of 2014, Dan Gilbert wrote that there "is a simple question that I am continually asking myself and I am sure you often ask yourself: 'How do I find the time to explore and create new things while I am also responsible for keeping the day-to-day trains running smoothly?'
"There are no easy answers to this critical question. However, what I do know is that in this fast-changing and technologically driven world, if you don't find some time to focus on your ideas, creative thoughts, and implementing the 'new' stuff, those trains that you are focused on running daily will soon come to a screeching halt."
Certainly, the context is different for a billionaire businessman than for a compulsive writer past her prime, but his words resonated with me on an uncomfortable level. The trains were grinding to a halt here. I was turning down writing opportunities because my work for Title Source took priority, then struggling to get my title work done with a brain full of unfulfilled creative ideas.
I was not doing the right thing.
I was neither seeing nor believing.
I was letting numbers and money - the comfortable, steady paycheck - lead.
And so, inspired by the words of the man for whom I'd gone to work less than a year earlier, I resigned.
It wasn't my intention in taking the job, but working at Title Source turned out to be the baby step I needed to extricate myself from work I'd outgrown. It helped me find the courage to put my real talents to work in pursuit of my dreams.
Because here was the thing: the reason I'd been impressed by what Dan Gilbert had built in his Family of Companies was that it was the work of a man realizing his dreams.
Every client. Every time. No exceptions. No excuses.
That is indeed the sort of service everyone deserves, whether it's as a client of Title Source or as the reader of this blog. With my attention divided, I did an okay job. But 'okay' isn't a quality I aspire to, and it sure as heck isn't what Dan Gilbert is looking for in his employees.
So now, this thing that has called to my soul all my life has my undivided attention.
I believe in it.
I see it.
I know I'm doing the right thing, and I trust that the numbers and money will follow.
The trains are running smoothly here once again - just on a different track.
