The Personal Finance Playbook

Katie's Kingdom

For a while now, I’ve wanted to start making interviews a regular part of this blog.  I think it will help me to keep delivering quality content to people.  Instead of the blog being limited to my ideas for posts and things I can research or come up with to write about, interviews will allow me to share more different ideas and viewpoints on the blog.  Plus, I get to ask people in depth questions about how to do things without seeming ridiculously nosey.  I’m excited about it.

This is my first interview.  It’s with Katie Lewis.  I have known Katie for about 9 years, and she’s a person who has been predictably successful.  To know her is to love her.  She’s witty, charming and great with people.  My wife and I sometimes talk about who of our friends we would feel comfortable hiring for this or that.  I’m confident I couldn’t afford her, but I would hire Katie for any sales job in a heart beat.

Katie is currently an associate financial representative and works under one of the most successful financial planners in the country.  At the tender age of 26, she’s already had several career stops, starting out in a real estate sales position, then building a title company from the ground up, staying with it until the time of sale before settling in her current career.  She’s on track to retire before she’s 40.  Katie and her husband Jared also recently had their first child, a son they named Ben.  But enough build up, I’ll let you read about her in her own words:

Q:  Why don’t you start by telling me a little about your educational background.

A:  I went to Duchesne High School in St. Charles.  I enjoyed my high school days, but a person is either a high school person or a college person.  I was definitely a college person! I learned a lot in high school, but it didn’t exactly expose me to a lot of diversity… so I wanted the big college experience (with in-state tuition, of course).  I looked at all the state schools and some out of state programs just for kicks.  At the time I was going into computer science/mathematics, so University of Missouri-Rolla had some appeal, but MU stole the show.  I loved the large campus and town.  And now, because I moved to KC after graduation, I get the honor of defending my Tigers every day to all these Jayhawks and Cornhuskers.  I started MU in 2000 and after one semester I realized that computer science was the most boring thing I had ever encountered.  It was NOT for me.  I changed to math, then psychology, then sociology, interdisciplinary studies, and finally business. Obviously I was a little lost because there was no major called “rule the world, become rich, retire early.”  I graduated with honors in 2004 from the business school with an emphasis in Marketing and 2 minors (German and Sociology).

Q: What was your first job out of school?

A:  In October of my senior year I was offered a job with Pulte Holmes in Kansas City. I was from St. Louis, so KC seemed like the anti-christ.  The Royals suck, the Chiefs fans were scary, and how could one live in a city with a sub-par zoo??  All my friends were vying for positions as buyers or marketing for major companies. Those jobs never “wowed” me.  Anyway, after much debate I accepted the job with Pulte.  It was a commission job in a new city where i knew no one and I was scared.  It turned out the be one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.  The company is great, I worked with 15 people exactly like me and now those people are my closest friends.  KC turned out to be better than “anti-christ” and I’ve been here for the past 5 years.  I sold new homes for 2.5 years, working every weekend without fail.  I made great money and it made things possible for my husband and me that we never dreamed of at such a young age.  What I learned from Pulte: the big corporation is great to work for in terms of stability and consistency, but don’t kid yourself… they are still a corporation and they don’t care about you.  don’t give up your family time/holidays, etc., because at the end of the day they don’t care and you can’t get that time back. It all changes in the blink of an eye – your VP gets let go.  A new VP comes in.  They might hate you or your style.  You are starting from scratch again.  Or your division gets work from the corporate office of major changes.  Those changes aren’t negotiable.

Q:  How did you end up running your own title company? Did you start it from scratch? If so, how did you get customers and compete with more established businesses? Did you create a tangible business plan?

A:  After Pulte, I was ready to get my weekends back and I didn’t want to work for a large company any more.  I received financial backing and lots of guidance from a gentleman in StL. He owned 15+ companies and was interested in opening a new one in KC.  Opening a title company is quite simple if you already have an underwriter in line, which he did.  All the title searching was done thru the StL location, so I just needed an office in KC.  There is a lot of money to be made in the title business because you can close so many deals in a day!  It’s definitely a sales role though.  You have to sell yourself first to get in the door of the mortgage company.  Then you have to sell your company’s ability to do it faster and better than the competition… at a lower price of course.  Then you have to actually get the deal, work up the closing documents (by coodinated efforts of the title company, mortgage broker, lender, and possibly the other party involved if it’s a purchase and not a refinance).  Lastly, you have to sell yourself at the closing table.  The borrower needs to trust you that you’re telling them all they need to know when staring at a stack of 80 pages of paper.  I would normally have to make them like me, then explain their loan, sometimes resell their loan and tell them why it was a good loan/rate for their situation, and then make them happy before they walked out.  A mortgage broker can call any title company they want.  The only way to keep that broker calling you (and telling others how great you are) is to be PERFECT. I had to be quick, accurate, and sell their deal at the table if the borrower started getting nervous.  Please don’t take that the wront way – borrowers are very likely to “panic” at the closing table. It’s a lot of paperwork, money and words they don’t understand.  It’s scary!!  It was my job to make them feel ok with their own decision.

Q:  What does a title company do?

A:  Title companies research the property to determine if there are any liens, owed taxes, etc.  Also the coordinate the proration of homeowners association dues, homeowners insurance, property taxes, escrows from the lender, etd.  Also they coordinate the transfer of funds between parties.  You have to use a title company as a third party that is neutral.  We don’t know the client or the lender so it’s just business.

Q:  What is an underwriter?

A:  Basically an underwriter backs the title company’s search.  When you and Rachel bought your property in StL someone did a search to make sure they owner actually owned it and determined what liens/rights were held to that property.  If they missed a lien, then the underwriter (like Old Republic – the largest) would pay to have this resolved, whether in court or otherwise with title insurance.  Without an underwriter, title companies are just saying “looks good to us”.  The underwriter guarantees it or backs it.  your title is only as solid as the underwriting.

Q:  What were the terms involved between you and the financial backer?

A:  I had to get enough business to make it profitable in under 2 months or he would pull his name and his support.  I had to get my notary and my E&O but the rest I could run thru his other businesses.  It was very advantageous for him to stay involved because title companies make a lot of cash quickly if you have the client base.

Q:  What equipment, software, knowledge, etc. is necessary to start and run a title company? How did you acquire those things?

A:  I rented office space in the great business park in overland park, ks.  All you need to run a title company is a computer, a fax, and a FedEx account.  As I mentioned, I became a notary and had an E&O that is required for all notaries.  The software needed to work up a HUD can be purchased from several different companies that specialize in this. That was easy too!

Q:  How long did you own/run the business?

A:  I ran the company for 6 months before someone came along and wanted to buy the client base.  They approached the gentleman in StL and they negotiated the deal.  He sold the name of the company as well so it was a very quiet “transition” that the clients never really saw.

Q:  Did you have employees?  Did you have an accountant?

A:  No employees, just me working a LOT of hours.  I ran my own payroll and the business money was sent to an accountant in St. Louis.

Q:  Why did you decide to sell the business?

A:  We were approached to sell the KC piece of the business by a company out of Colorado.  They offered just a lump sum of $ and that was that.  The thought was that I would just find a new client base, build it up for another 6 months and sell again since that worked so well, but I was not on board. I was done selling for a while.

Q:  How did it happen?

A:  The company from CO contacted us as well as 3 other title companies in KC and made a very premature offer.  After several very long conversations they decided to go with our title company because we were already operating off of the StL main office so it would not be hard to transition to operating off of their CO main office.  Also, my overhead was so low (just me) and my margins were quite high.  Very appealing to them

Q:  Did a lawyer or accountant assist you with any part of the sale?

A:  All parts of the sale had a lawyer involved.

Q:  What are you doing now? How did get from owning to title company to the job you’re doing now? Do you miss being self-employed? Do you think you’ll ever be self-employed again?

A:  Now I work at Northwestern Mutual for one of the top reps in the country (#5 this year – woo hoo!).  I actually found this job thru the man who rented the office next to me at the business park in Overland Park, KS.  My role now is quite different, mostly office work and lots of phone interaction with clients.  I have been here 2 years already and love it.  My boss is my employer, not actually Northwestern Mutual so he and I work hand-in-hand.  It’s a big corporation but I work for one individual and he is sort of “self-employed”.  I now am licensed in insurance and investments and we have a special niche market – we focus on tax efficient ways to build wealth.  The client base is mainly lawyers, doctors, business owners, etc.  I don’t miss being self employed because this job gives me lots of freedom and my boss empowers me so I don’t feel micro mananged.  If you are interested in titles or “climbing the ladder” this is not the job for you.  That doesn’t impress me anymore – all I care about is the pay check and job satisfaction.

Q:  What do you attribute your success to?

A:  That’s a hard one!!  I would say that I’m very fortunate to have a great work ethic and I love talking to people so it makes it easy to put myself out there.  I’m surprised how many people are afraid of rejection or even just picking up a phone to call a client.  One of my largest flaws is that I love to please people.  That makes me a wonderful employee and business partner, but sometimes I take on a bit more than I should to remain sane   If it isn’t slightly uncomfortable you aren’t pushing yourself enough, right!?!

Q:  What are you reading? Fiction or non-fiction? Do you have a favorite book?

A:  I am reading Baby Proof (book about a couple who gets married with the intention of never wanting children and then the husband changes his mind) and the first Twilight book (I can’t stand hearing about something all the time and not knowing what all the fuss is about).  I don’t have a favorite book – I’m a new reader.  I never made reading a priority until a few years ago so I have a lot of catching up to do..  My husband is a book addict so he’s always handing me some boring history thing to read.  No thanks.  It’s funny to say, but I think everyone should put their flaws out on display in order to make them work on them. I’m a slow reader since I have not done a lot of reading (but i memorize every word I read) and I’m a terrible swimmer   I grab a book and jump in the pool all the time, but that doesn’t make me good at either just yet!!

Q:  Will Ben be an only child?

A:  Nope, we want 3 or 4 and then plan on either adopting or foster parenting.

Q:  Has gender been a significant factor in your career?  How?

A:  I have always worked in predominantly male fields – I think I do well in these enviroments because I’m rather unemotional.  I do not cry easily, I sometimes talk harshly or pointedly to people when I think they are being intellectually challenged so I do not get offended if someone talks pointedly at me.  I like the investment world and for whatever reason that is a male field.  I think you have to have a certain “super man” complex to be in a commission business and men seem to have that more than women.  Women think things through too much and are too calculating to work in a commission based world where you never know if you’ll eat again.

Q:  Soccer or baseball? Europe or the beach? New York or LA? Seinfeld or South Park?

A:  Soccer. Europe. Jamaica. Seinfeld. Steak. Ice cream. Rum and Coke. St. Louis Cardinals.

Q:  Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

A:  Funny you should ask, I am actually set to retire in 10 years.  My husband will be a principal or superintendent by then and I have my retirement plan in line. We joke that I will be Jared’s secretary and secretly run the school with him as the “face” of the operation.  In all honesty, I don’t know what I will do.  I like being behind the scenes and not selling but I love to work so I’ll never settle down.  I have a list called “me” of all the things I will do when I have time so I’ll work on that as well.  I will probably get my masters because I can’t stand the idea of Jared having more education than me. Ultimately, I would like our mailbox to read “The Doctors Lewis”.  Also, after our kids are gone, we will move back to Columbia and be professors at Mizzou.

Q:  What advice would you give to someone interested in starting or acquiring a business?

A:  I would say you need to be ready to work your ass off and really assess yourself.  Can you handle being rejected over and over and over again?  It’s important that you are resiliant and focused.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 4th, 2009 at 6:00 am and is filed under Business Profiles, Entrepreneurship, Interviews, Real Estate. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.