Summary
On this episode of Startup Junkies, hosts Jeff Amerine, Caleb Talley, and Victoria Dickerson sit down with Skylar Wallace, founder of Level Up Lenders, a company on a mission to create a positive impact through home ownership in rural America. Skylar earned his MBA from the Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas and has founded multiple businesses, ultimately gaining traction through the help of EOS in his current venture. Throughout the podcast, Skylar shares about his background and his passion for using home ownership to help rural communities improve their quality of life.
Show Notes
(0:50) Introducing Skylar and His Origin Story
(6:13) Utilizing EOS
(8:31) Taking Action While Learning
(11:44) Leveraging Impact Vehicles
(20:10) Focusing On What You Can Control and Looking Toward the Future
(25:50) The Challenges of Scaling
(29:14) How Skylar Chooses Markets
(35:14) The Visionary and Integrator Relationship
(39:34) Skylar’s Thoughts on Traction and Other EOS Tools
(41:51) Advice to the Young Self
(47:16) Closing Thoughts
Links
Quotes
“Now we know anytime we bring on a new [loan officer], we’re not going to sit around and talk about this. Day one, you go out and start taking massive action. And so our sales methods have changed, but that activity remains the same.” – Skylar Wallace, (11:28)
“In the investment world, there’s these things called investment vehicles, which are different vehicles that you can invest in. There’s venture capital, there’s the stock market, and all those things. So I’ve been thinking about this concept of impact vehicles. A lot of [entrepreneurs say], ‘I want to create a positive impact in the world. I want to make a difference.’ But there’s actually a lot of different vehicles you can leverage to do that.” – Skylar Wallace, (12:40)
“Our commitment is that it’s never a ‘no.’ It’s always a ‘how,’ because every file is a family. So if somebody comes in to our office, they’re not going to get turned down. They’re going to be shown—look, you can’t buy today, but here’s the steps that we need to do to fix your credit, to get you on the path.” – Skylar Wallace, (15:54)
“I believe the number one skillset an entrepreneur should have is the ability to sell. If you can sell—that’s the thing because that’s how you create revenue.” – Skylar Wallace, (42:20)
Conversations about Homeownership with Skylar Wallace
On this episode of Startup Junkies, hosts Jeff Amerine, Caleb Talley, and Victoria Dickerson sit down with Skylar Wallace, founder of Level Up Lenders, a company on a mission to create a positive impact through home ownership in rural America. Skylar earned his MBA from the Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas and has founded multiple businesses, ultimately gaining traction through the help of EOS in his current venture. Throughout the podcast, Skylar shares about his background and his passion for using home ownership to help rural communities improve their quality of life.
Learning While Managing Growth
When Skylar and his business partner began discussing Level Up Lenders, he was adamant about one nonnegotiable: this team would be built intentionally on a proven entrepreneurial foundation. Ultimately, they chose the Entrepreneurial Oporating System, or EOS.
Skylar understood that he needed revenue and couldn’t afford to put the business on whole while he learned and implemented EOS. He began reaching out to a hundred realtors—his ideal clients—each week, all while establishing the cultural and operational foundations for Level Up Lenders.
Skylar’s lofty goal of a hundred cold calls a week paid off, and the results were rewarding. Level Up Lenders aimed to close 300 deals in 2020 and ended up closing 412. They’ve seen extraordinary success in the last three years and are planning to open another office in Kentucky.
“Now we know anytime we bring on a new [loan officer], we’re not going to sit around and talk about this. Day one, you go out and start taking massive action. And so our sales methods have changed, but that activity remains the same.” – Skylar Wallace, (11:28)
Leveraging Impact Vehicles
As a part of implementing EOS at Level Up Lenders, Skylar needed to establish the vision, mission, and core values for the company. He knew he wanted to make the world a better place, but he didn’t know how to marry that intention with mortgage loans. Ultimately, he came across the idea of impact vehicles, and realized that he could help rural communities by providing a resource that leads to homeownership.
“In the investment world, there’s these things called investment vehicles, which are different vehicles that you can invest in. There’s venture capital, there’s the stock market, and all those things. So I’ve been thinking about this concept of impact vehicles. A lot of [entrepreneurs say], ‘I want to create a positive impact in the world. I want to make a difference.’ But there’s actually a lot of different vehicles you can leverage to do that.” – Skylar Wallace, (12:40)
Level Up Lenders now helps transform rural communities through the power of homeownership. Studies have shown that communities with higher home-ownership rates have better living experiences, as residents are more likely to be invested in the future of their communities. While most mortgage companies simply accept or deny loan requests, Level Up Lenders take the time to sit down with its clients and walk them through a plan that will lead them to future homeownership opportunities.
“Our commitment is that it’s never a ‘no.’ It’s always a ‘how,’ because every file is a family. So if somebody comes in to our office, they’re not going to get turned down. They’re going to be shown—look, you can’t buy today, but here’s the steps that we need to do to fix your credit, to get you on the path.” – Skylar Wallace, (15:54)
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