Today on the Heath Barnes Show, I’m speaking with Jane Floyd from NFM Lending located in Tampa Florida. When the market crashed in 2008, after 22 years in the business and almost losing everything, Jane was able to rebuild and prioritize what actually needed her focus.
In this episode, see how staying disciplined and utilizing a couple of different tools can change your mindset on how you view “problems”, which can actually be gifts we welcome.
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Rebuilding And Changing Your Priorities And Focus With Jane Floyd
I’m inspired to have our guest, Ms. Jane Floyd. A brief introduction, Jane is a super successful loan officer in Tampa, Florida. She’s been in the business for many years. I was inspired to bring her on the show because of her story and what she’s gone through in the last several years. All of us in life when we hear a story, we’ll learn that life sometimes gives us gifts and we call them problems. Every problem is a gift if you can find the gift in the problem and how you see things in life is how they appear. Her story is beautiful. I’m so excited to have you on the show. How are you doing, Jane?
I am doing so fabulous. It’s been several years since we have known each other. It’s been that long.
When was the first time we met? I guess we met when you, Brian, Tom and I hopped on a call to talk about being a coach in the core. Before we get into your story, tell the audience where you’re from, how long you’ve been in the business and who you are with.
I’m in Tampa, Florida. 1,200 people move here a day. It’s amazing. I have been in the business for many years, which is mind-boggling. I am with NFM Lending. I had my company. I was a broker for many years.
You are at NFM Lending. You are not planning to move, right?
I’m not going anywhere. I love my home.
Years ago, you had something happen to you. One of the reasons that I wanted to get you on the show is to tell the audience a little bit about your story and what you learned from it. Can you share a little bit of vulnerability with us?
Let me go back several years to bring it forward to the challenges. I’ve been in the business for many years. In 2008 or 2009 when the market “crashed,” I almost lost everything. I started over. I was giving up my retirement and everything to keep my business running. We are going to talk about mindset. To me, that’s the most important thing in life.
To put that in perspective, I have been an originator for quite a bit before that but then had some challenges and almost lost everything due to the business. I put my nose down and fast forward, bringing it back to doing extremely well. It’s because of what I did in those years from almost losing everything that enabled me to go through what I went through in the capacity.
My husband was very suddenly diagnosed with cancer called multiple myeloma, which is a blood cancer. It’s treatable but not curable. At that time, it was bad and the outlook was maybe six months to live. We have been through a lot. We have been through three transplants. He is relapsed again but doing awesome, responding to treatment.
The reason I went even further back was because of what I learned from that. With the team that I have built and the people that are with me, I was able to be there with him through everything. It’s astonishing that in my business, I honestly did not miss a beat. I have elevated the team. I poured myself into them and surrounded myself with amazing people. The businesses that you and I talk about are mostly realtors and past clients. My realtors have come to trust my team. Even though I might not have been available during certain times during this period, they were. It’s because of them.
To put a little in perspective for those that are reading and how incredible of a loan officer Jane is, we were talking on the call and she was telling me about her production for January. She said, “I got to poke the team a little bit because we are going to do 85 loans in 1 month and 50 of them were mine.” I’m thinking, “There are not very many loan officers in the country doing 50 transactions a month.” My hats off to you, Jane. I want to put things into perspective. Going back to 2008, you were talking about the things that you learned. You almost lost everything. What are a couple of things that you took from that event in 2008 that carry you through what you’ve gone through with your husband?
At that time, I had a beautiful poem that I loved. I tried to keep my business running so I took out a huge equity line on my house to not lay people off and instead only hurt my family. It’s fear. You can’t live in both. I chose to get out of fear and live my life in love. I put my head down. My mentor said to me, “Do you like your house?” I said, “I’m contemplating. I got to move out and rent my house out. I can’t live here. I will take my family. We go rent somewhere cheap.”
Less is more. The most important thing is spending time with the people you need to spend your time with. Click To TweetHe said, “Do you love your house?” I said, “I love my house so much.” He said, “We have choices.” “What are they? I could move out, rent it out and go somewhere cheap so I can make more money.” He said, “You are right.” You have those defining moments and it was up to me. I put my head down and stayed disciplined.
I focused on prospecting but most importantly, on people. Our buddy Rick wrote the book People = Profits. If you think about that, it’s the truth. Fast forward, I’m at a point where I want to give back to other loan officers. The reason I was able to be there and go through all of this was because of the people on the team.
Become a slave to your calendar. We learned that from our buddy Josh Sigman. I have done deep dives on my calendar. You’ve known me for a long time. Going 100 miles an hour, I have the energy to the point where I just do. I wake up that way and always want to cram too much into a day. It’s who I am. Take a step back. When I look at this deep dive on the calendar, what did that look like for me? Less is more. The most important thing is, “Am I spending my time with the people that I need to spend my time with?” That was huge for me.
For you, who are the people that you need to be spending your time with? Who comes to mind when you think about that for those people reading?
Let’s look at business first. First, it’s my team and my loan officers. Back when I say, “I’m closing. We are doing 85. I’m doing 54,” my other eight loan officers are doing the rest. I need to be pouring myself into them. This is my calendar. Reflect that. Am I pouring myself into them? For me, to do those loans that I want to do on the team, am I pouring myself into my team? Am I teaching or mentoring them? Are we doing the right things? Also, ops manager. When you run a branch, you need to have an operations manager. It’s those business people but then we have to take care of them so then am I spending my time with my strategic partners, my realtors and some financial advisors? They are on my calendar.
I’ve learned a long time ago and I still have the habit. When my assistant put something on the calendar, it’s green or red. Green means moneymaking. Red means cost. It’s not costing me money but it’s not generating revenue. What’s one tip or technique that you’ve learned that you still abide by that will help someone with their calendar? I hear you saying, less is more and make sure it’s on the calendar.
I want to give credit to the right person but it was a sports guy. I read a book and this was a big a-ha to me. We all have the same amount of time and it is what it is. My husband and I sometimes get these. He’ll say, “I didn’t have time to do that.” “No, it wasn’t a priority to you to do that.” We joke around about it. It’s time to buy a car and watch the football games but the point is we find the time.
Take a step deeper. I realized that we can’t manage the time but we can manage what we put in the time when we have the most energy. Here’s what happened to me. I have my calendar time block and I had an interview for a loan officer at 3:00 in the afternoon because I’m doing my prospecting. I was making my phone calls to my agents, past clients and VIPs. It’s 3:00 when I think that’s not what I’m making the phone calls and I’m doing this Zoom with this person I want to recruit.
I’m a morning person. I get up at 4:47. I want to save the world by 7:00. At 3:00, I start thinking. I quickly jump into the car and go to Starbucks to grab a coffee. I realized it was this a-ha and then I had heard or read this book after that I’m like, “Jane, you shouldn’t be talking to this guy. You are not at your peak.” If you look at your calendar, put the most important thing when you have the energy.
Some people have more energy at night. Some are more of a night person. I have always been a morning person. I will put things on my calendar. When am I lower at? I review emails with my assistant. Things that are those green, red and money. Put those red things on there. Not something that’s high green like the activity when I’m at my lowest level. That was a big a-ha.
What I hear is if you are high energy, you can get things done. It’s like when you are in high energy and you are rolling through your day, time is moving super fast. Time slows down when your energy slows down. You do those things that you need to connect with or you need the most mind power early in the morning and then the things in the afternoon are the things like checking email, doctor’s appointments or anything that you don’t need your mind for. That’s a great idea. Anything else with regards to the calendar that you wanted to cover?
If you hear me say all this, you’ll be like, “Is she selfish?” I have to do me first. Mind, body and soul. I take care of myself. At 4:47 in the morning, I have my journal time. I read scripture, meditate, write and go work out seven days a week. People always say, “I don’t have time to work out.” It’s not that you don’t have time but you are not making it a priority. Every one of us is busy and has problems and challenges. Putting those personal things in there fuels me like I have an old mother. I need to see her twice a week but if I fly by the seat and go see her when I have a chance, when would that be? Never.
It’s putting those personal things in there. If you have younger children, put it in there. I never miss my kids’ ball games. I have an appointment. I cannot get that back. It’s crazy. I still have a date and I have been married for many years. I have a date night. That goes in there. Friends that I want to see if I don’t put them in there. I realized that I wasn’t spending enough time or connecting with extended families like nieces and nephews so I put that in there. I’ll text. It doesn’t mean I’m spending hours. Take care of yourself and put your personal things in there so then you can get to the business.
What is it about 4:47?
I used to wake up at 5:30. I need seven hours of sleep. Every once in a while, if I don’t sleep, then I will turn the alarm off and sleep until 5:30 to make sure I get enough sleep but for the majority, it’s 4:47. I set the clock at that one day and that’s it.
I love your morning ritual because what I find myself doing every year like I’m doing is I set myself up for this morning ritual. By June, I have got no ritual again. In 2022, the one thing I’m committed to is making sure that I abide by that morning ritual all year long. I’m curious. What are the things that you do in the morning that are part of your rituals? It means you do them all the time in the morning like you wake up at 4:47 and make a cup of coffee.
It’s the same thing. I make the coffee the night before. I roll out of bed, go turn on the coffee and brush my teeth. By then, the coffee is done and I have my spot unless the weather is horrible. I’m out on the balcony. It’s so serene and quiet. I have the journal that I write in. Sometimes, I’m reading. I’m reading a new book. You were the second person that told me so I went and bought The Gap and The Gain. I read my scripture because I want to get my mind in the right place and then I journal. It’s always the same thing.
I write three things I’m grateful for. I always write down gratitude. I write what I’m grateful for and what I want to accomplish that day. I’m in a study called experiencing God. I will read a couple of pages in that. On Tuesday nights, we have a small group. If I have time, I will jump and read The Gap and The Gain. I get a couple of pages into this or Benjamin’s book about leadership. That’s down and I go to the gym.
You go to the gym every day too.
Every single day.
People usually don’t have energy because they are not taking care of themselves and not working out. Energy is time. Often, we tell ourselves, “I don’t have the time,” but you do have the time. Stop saying, “I don’t have the time.” Say, “I got the time,” and make it happen. What are you journaling about? Are you writing the three things you are grateful for? Are you talking about what happened the previous day? Are you journaling a thought? I’m curious selfishly for myself.
I mix it up. I have the two journals that I started for my boys. I have two separate journals. I don’t do that every day. I switch it up but I write in there so that someday they will have it. When I’m not here anymore, they will find it and can go back and read what I was feeling about them that day. In the experiencing God study that I’m doing, it’s like, “What is God working on or want through me now?” For me, my purpose is to positively impact and improve the lives of others. That’s what fuels me.
I wrote that many years ago and it hasn’t changed. There are times when it’s like, “My purpose this week is to get my husband through this.” I love being a mother but every single day, I want to impact people. I write about people. You put them to heart. If you look back at my journal, you are in there. I write about people, what I want to do and whatever comes to mind. I have got so many of them. That’s how I journal.
I don’t know about you but for me, it was so therapeutic when I started writing it out. What I realized through writing is I have these thoughts in my head and I felt to journal them out. I can work through those thoughts. It’s funny how that happens. What I hear you saying is you write down three things you are grateful for and then what you want to. Did you say what you want to create or accomplish?
There’s a journal called The Five-Minute Journal. It’s quick. It prompts you. “What are three things I’m grateful for? What are the three things that I want to happen now?” That goes back to your calendar, whether it’s like, “I have to call Heath Barnes or this client and drop this bomb this morning.” It’s the three main things that have to happen now. You’ve got your to-do list and all that. It could be something like, “I need to pick up the phone and make this doctor’s appointment for me.”
At the end of the night, I love it because you write down and it’s less than five minutes. I can’t remember exactly what it says but something that happened that day that was awesome. You said at the beginning of this show, Heath and I have learned, “What done differently now?” Many times, for me, it’d be like, “Not with my patients with this person. Stay calm during this.” If you are constantly reading that, then it’s pretty easy.
We can't manage the time, but we can manage what we put in the time when we have the most energy. Click To TweetSelf-reflection is so powerful. I see a lot of what you do in myself and my morning rituals. I do the same thing. I do ten things that I’m grateful for. I try to focus on those things that I wouldn’t be grateful for. It’s easy to be grateful for those things in your life like family but how about being able to be grateful for my car not getting picked up on time because we were getting our car picked up or the bid not coming incorrectly? It’s like being grateful for those things in your life that you normally wouldn’t be grateful for. When you are grateful, all the fear of life goes away.
I love that and I wrote that down to do more of that.
Speaking of something that happens, what are the 2 or 3 blessings that you’ve experienced as a result of your relationship going through and what you’ve gone through over the last years?
When you said the things that you write down that you are grateful for, that weren’t great things. There have been times in the journal that I have written that I am grateful and Hank and I talk about this how he got cancer. You knew me before that. We had a great marriage and life but this took us to a level that is almost indescribable to make it through and come to the realization. Watching him, his relationship with the Lord and his faith becoming so much stronger is unbelievable.
I had to do a lot of self-reflection. I always want to be better in every area. When you are retiring, why don’t you retire that you’ve hit that number? The first person that said it to me, I got pissed off. I was angry. I want to hang up the phone on him because it sounded awful to me. Retire, it’s not what fuels me. I’m nowhere near looking at that. However, going back to our time, I have no problem saying no to people and being extremely honest. I’m fully committed.
What’s interesting about that is when I sent you the first email about being on the show, it was back in October 2021. I got a response back that was like, “I can’t do it.” My assistant gave it to me and I said, “It is either she has a fear of being on the show or her assistant doesn’t know who I am.” What I’m doing is I’m trying to come up with things other than, “She doesn’t like me.” Often, we get those responses from someone who’s trying to set boundaries for their life.
Instead of respecting them, we are more interested in what we are not getting. I acknowledge you for that. There’s a lot of grace in telling someone, “I sincerely appreciate you asking me to be on your show but now, I’m focusing on this area in my life. I don’t know when in the future I could do it but I would love to be on it in the future.” That’s so much better than someone not responding or saying maybe. Anytime someone says maybe, I’m like, “How about if I put you down for a no and then if you change your mind, let me know so we are both on the same page?” I appreciate it.
Do not fear what people think about you. Be honest with what you can commit to. We talk about under-promise and over-deliver. Most of us do the opposite. It’s not about me. It’s about the other person. Nothing annoys me more than what you said when people do not respond. Tell me no. It’s fine. That’s why I do so much business and many realtors respect us because they trust we are going to communicate. It’s so important. When we look at loan officers, they are afraid. I have no problem being honest and direct.
There is a great book called Crucial Conversations. One of the gifts that you and I learned in this business and we have been taught for many years is that the best loan officers make the tough calls. Understand that good news doesn’t get any better over time. You and I make the big boy and big girl calls and that’s what makes us decent loan officers. I’m not at your level yet.
We’ll start to wrap this up. I appreciate you giving me a piece of your number one commodity, your time but you said, “I got angry when he asked me about retirement.” What I often find is that when you are angry about something, there is something below that anger that otherwise wouldn’t make you angry. If you were to look into that resistance to something, what would he think that was about for you?
I didn’t give you the rest of the story. I am a big boater. I love to boat, fishing, no phone and peace on the water. He said, “I don’t understand. Why you don’t retire and sail off on your boat and hang out on the beach?” That made me angry because it’s the thought of I loved to go to the beach for a few days. The thought of with no purpose and giving back in life was what made me angry like, “Is that attractive to you because it’s not to me? We are not aligned.”
That’s one of the secrets of life. People think, “I want to get to the point in life in which I don’t have to do anything.” Doing nothing is the most boring thing I have ever heard. What I’m hearing you say that fills you up is doing all of this for purpose and a reason to give back to your loan officers the gifts that you’ve learned. I acknowledge you for that and for being here.
I admire your courage, faith and drive. It’s never-ending. You are a beautiful person. I appreciate you being on the show and I will tell you one last thing. I don’t know if I told you this but Jane and I did amplify back and I got on the call with René Rodriguez to find out about it. I said, “You might know some of the people that are going.” He said, “Jane Floyd.” I said, “Sign me up.” He said, “Wait, you didn’t even ask me the price.” I said, “It doesn’t matter. I want to be around Jane Floyd because she’s an amazing human being.” I acknowledged you for who you are and what you represent.
I walked in that night. It was starting and you like, “We are there.” You’ve surprised me. It was the greatest surprise. It was amazing three days to be able to interact with you and look how deep we went authentically. What we learned from René was amazing.
If our audience would like to get ahold of you, what’s the best way for them to do that?
My cell phone number is area code (813) 758-8334.
I appreciate you being on the show. I wish you the best in 2022.
It’s going to be awesome. I love you. Thanks for the opportunity.
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There you have it. Another great episode. Don’t forget to check out the notes at HeathBarnes.com. You can find out more about all the ways we can help you at HeathBarnes.com. That’s it for this episode. We’ll talk next time.