Welcome back to Lending Leadership: The Mortgage Pros. We’re continuing our Blueprint series as we dive into one of the biggest turning points in a mortgage professional’s career: the decision to shift from top-producing loan originator to non-originating manager and leader. It’s a transition that’s not for everyone, but for those who feel called to grow something lasting and impactful, it’s a path full of challenges, rewards, and personal growth.

We’re excited to focus today’s episode on Robert Fillyaw’s journey—what inspired his move away from personal origination and toward branch leadership. We discuss the motivation and “why” behind making this major shift, the realities of burnout, building a sustainable business, and the servant leadership mindset required to succeed as a non-originating manager. We also examine practical strategies—like team development, transitioning your focus, and recruiting branches—and the challenges unique to geography and market size.

Whether you’re a seasoned originator contemplating next steps, or a producing manager ready to scale, this episode lays out the blueprint for changing roles within the mortgage industry, featuring stories, lessons, and actionable guidance from real experience.

Key takeaways:

1. Leadership Driven by a Bigger “Why”: We talk about how a deeper, legacy-driven motivation is essential for making the leap from origination to leadership. Robert shares that his desire for something beyond personal success—a business that could run independently and serve others (even his own kids in the future)—was the foundation of his transition.
2. Burnout and the Catalyst for Change: We discuss the exhaustion that often precedes this kind of career shift. Robert candidly describes feeling burnt out, even with a strong team in place, and how letting go of control (while learning to delegate) was crucial to making the change sustainable.
3. Servant Leadership and “Ripples in the Pond”: One of the most fulfilling parts of leading a branch, according to Robert, is embracing servant leadership—putting others’ success first, even if it means your own files close last. The impact you can have multiplies across teams, clients, and communities.
4. Building and Trusting Your Team: We stress that before you can serve others or grow a branch, your own originations and processes must be dialed in. Robert lays out how investing in team development, training, and systems (to the point where they’re 90% of you) is step one in transitioning focus to bigger leadership goals.
5. The Role of Market Size, Geography, and Scaling: Geography matters—especially for leaders in smaller markets. We explore how location shaped Robert’s recruiting and branch-building strategy, the challenges of saturation, and the need to create impact beyond your immediate locale. Additionally, scaling is not linear; setbacks and pivots are inevitable, so your “why” must keep you moving forward.

This episode is an honest look at the journey from producer to leader: the blueprint, the bumps, and the breakthroughs that come with creating something bigger than yourself. Whether you’re thinking about this shift or currently navigating it, our hope is that you’ll come away equipped and inspired to build your own legacy in mortgage leadership.

Come back next week for part two of this conversation!

Robert, Tom, and Dave

At some point in their career, many originators face this ultimate question. Do I want to originate for the rest of my career, or am I meant to do something more than that? Am I meant to do something different? You know, do I want to grow a team and focus on that? For Robert Filal, that moment changed everything for him. And in this episode, we're going to dive into just how Robert made that shift from. From originating manager to non originating manager. More of a focus into leading. And we're going to tackle the blueprint behind that growth and what every producing manager can learn from in this playbook if they're looking to make that same change. All right, excited for today. I got to be a part of Robert's, you know, massive shift and change and growth, so really interested in.

Excited to dive in and. And. And rehash some of the memories, man.

Me too, man. I'm excited. I got to tell you, though, I'm a little. I'm a little butt hurt. You know, this is part of our blueprint series that we're doing, and Dave not only got to go first, but he got two episodes, and now here I come in, you know, kind of second fiddle, so I got to bring the wood to. To make up for that. So. All right, I'm excited.

I mean, would you say I. I had a better story that might have something to do with it?

No, that's absolutely not the case, Dave. I think it was a scheduling issue.

Right.

Like, if we want to be really transparent, honest. I was out of. I was out of town, so we had to put you in first. But listen, whatever you. You, Whatever you need to tell yourself.

David, we haven't had Robert on a podcast for a while. Feels like Tom, huh?

I. I don't think so. I don't think so. But we're gonna. We're gonna dive right in today. We're putting them on blast.

We're gonna jump in. Yeah. Sorry I've been missing you boys. Mean, the. The fall has been busy with travel, so.

Yeah. So a little background on Robert. Of course. You know, ex Marine leader, prides himself in the logistical problem solver, very driven, goal oriented, determined. So we're going to talk through some of the stuff that that's. That's led you to today. So, you know, we talked a little bit about that turning point, right, Robert? We mentioned that in the. In the opening, you know, was.

Tell. Tell us a time that you started thinking like, you know, because there was a point in time and, And. And look, there's nothing wrong with Just being. I, we shouldn't say just. There's nothing wrong with being a top producing originator for your entire career. Nothing wrong with that at all.

And for most people that is the right answer, right? For probably 90%, that is, it pays the bills.

It's, it's a good living, especially if you get dialed in. And we have seen so many people fail at trying to be a non producing branch manager or a producing branch manager.

Yeah, well, it's hard and we're going to talk about some of that today because you go from being in full control to thinking you're not, but you actually are of your future and your, and the outcome, you know, and I think Robert's done a great job of that. So, you know, let's talk about that. You know, you know, you, you felt a calling, you know, and I think that's, that's what it takes, right? It really takes like, not like feeling like I'm supposed to graduate to this. Like you have to feel a calling towards it. Talk a little bit about what led to that.

I, I think that's a great way to put it, Tom. You know, it, it's really. You got to have a massive why behind it, right? And what I've shared with a lot of people and probably even on this podcast is the why got bigger than me. It got. When my why got to be more about me, then that's when it was kind of that next step to pull into building the branch and moving away from origination and just leading. Frankly, you know, the first kind of catalyst was it is I wanted to build something that could have a legacy to it, that when I decided to step away, if I decided to step away, my kids could step into and possibly take over and run. And I think from an origination standpoint, that's really hard to do. Right.

We all want to think that, you know, you can build, build your team and hand your origination off to someone in the distant future when you get ready to go to the sideline. But it's, it's not as easy said as. It's not as easy done as said. So with the, with the branch opportunity, I felt like that was a little bit different if I had built a branch that was sustaining and running and profitable and I got to a point where my kids come into it and can learn the business and take it over and keep the branch running, that's more feasible in my mind anyway. And that's really, that was kind of the seed that started it and kind of had me looking in that direction. You know, frankly, also, I was kind of burnt out on originating. Man, that's.

I was going to ask you, were you getting. I remember some, when I first met you, Some of the origination stories you told that. Because you did a lot of usda, right?

Yeah, yeah. A lot of govy loans, a lot of manufactured homes, a lot of USDA loans.

You had some harder loans. And you.

You were getting.

When I first met you is before you fully transitioned to being, you know, a branch manager and leading a large team, you were a little toasted. Is that fair?

Yeah, 100 fair. Absolutely. Because I mean, think of, you know, I was. I had built the team, but I still. I'm disclaimer. I'm a little ocd. Right. So I had built the team, but I still had my hands on so much of it and was still way more involved than I would ever coach or want our loan officers to be as they start building their teams.

So I'm still taking the weekend calls, I'm still taking night calls. I'm still. I'm still wanting to do every conversation with borrowers at this point. Right. So, yeah, it's a lot. Had. Had the twins. You know, this is probably 2016, 2017, when, you know, I really started thinking about this shift.

So kids are like six and six and seven. Six, seven. Right. Had to. I had to. Sorry, guys. And so, yeah, there. There was a degree of burnout to it.

You know, there was. There was that big why for me. And then the other piece of it that happened, I'm not going to sit here and sound all virtuous. Like this was what I knew was going to happen or what I was hoping for, even, or like I wanted to scale to where I had a business. I wasn't the business, if that makes sense. And for me, that means if I took an afternoon off for my kids, things were being handled. The. The branch could run without me being there on every aspect of it every day.

So. And that I was building something that was a legacy for my kids. What came out of that, that I didn't even like going into it, had no idea is just this. This servant leadership that I love and I call it ripples in the pond. The impact that I started having with the leadership and the teams and the people that we were bringing in on their life and their business and their team structure and the development and the growth that they experienced and the way that. That honestly kind of filled my tank, I didn't know that going into it, I didn't expect that it was a pretty cool aspect of it that just made it even more fulfilling. And I think for those of you out there who may be considering this, like, you have to know that that's really what it is, though. It's servant leadership.

It's like, I remember, I can tell you probably 20 stories of, you know, we're running a pipeline and, you know, there's a capacity issue or four files have to go to closing. They have to go in order. Right. Which one's going first? And guess what, My. One of my team's files may have been in there in the mix, and my file's going last because I'm the leader. And my. Now it's changed. It's not about me.

It's about taking care of the originators who have partnered with me and are trusting me to help them grow and build their business. So it's a different mindset, but it's been a hell of a ride. It's been a lot of fun.

How much of like, your geography, where you live played into that as well, too, because you're a nor for people don't know you're in Gainesville, which is, I guess, north Central Florida. Is that fair?

Correct. Yeah. North central. Yeah.

So you were only able to build so big of a branch in that area, but I guess you got Tampa within a couple hours and some other major metros. But how much of your, like, location and geography played into it as well, too? Because when you recruited branches, you recruited branches from all over the country.

Well, in the. Y' all states, primarily in the Southeast, We. We got a little bit outside of that, but those are my people, Dave. You know that. But. Yeah, no, it absolutely played a part. And you know, for me, better, worse, right or wrong, not only did it play a part in, you know, how big can you get? How. How much market can saturation can you have, like, those aspects of it.

But also I'm in a smaller. Like, we. We have a smaller area, a smaller footprint. Right. Population wise, there's. And there's a lot of chitter chatter. Right. So it.

It got to a point where I was self. I was self. Hold on, let's. I always forget this word.

Self. Sufficient.

No, it got to a point where I was self conscious about some of the success that I had, and it almost felt like it was a hindrance as an originator at that level. So it was almost like I needed to do something bigger to justify the success. And that's probably more in my own head than factual, but it was A small factor of it.

What, what. Let's talk a little bit about that. Before you were able to actually shift your focus, take some of that focus off of your personal production and your personal production team. What. And let's talk not volume, let's talk units. Because nine years ago the, the loan amounts were different. So it's not as relative today, especially.

When you're doing USDA loans, how many.

How many units a month, you know, was your team doing it? How did you like get it dialed in to where you're like, I can go serve others now and, and this can still be an income for me? Because you kind of needed that along the way. Obviously you don't, you don't just start a branch and an income starts flowing, right? As you know.

Absolutely. I think that's a great question, Tom. And you know, as we talk about the blueprint series, I would say that's, you know, anyone looking to take this path. That's step, step one is you have to focus and build your team because you have to get your team to a point where you're relying on them and, and trust them implicitly to be able to continue the business and the relationships that you've built and grown while you're going to kind of shift focus and do some of this other stuff, because you still need that coming in. So we, we had gotten to where, you know, an average month was probably 20 to 25 units. You know, we'd have, we'd have high water marks in the 40s. I remember back in, I think 16, I think we closed 290 units on my team. It was a bunch of loans, right.

And we had set a goal for the next year to do365. We wanted a closing for every day of the year. But the team was at a point and you know, this was several years of building them and developing them and teaching them and coaching them to where they, they were really 90% of me. And once I kind of got them to that where they were 90 of me and I felt confident and comfortable that the business as it came in, that they could handle it, then I could kind of shift the focus and go and start having some of the conversations and some of the, you know, the, the relationship building activities. It's, it's all the same. Like ultimately you're doing the same thing. You're, you're building relationships. It's just who are you building them with? Are you building them with clients and referral partners or do you shift and now you're building it with other originators.

And I think, I think getting your business in line to where you can go out and serve others is also inspiring to the others you're attempting to go out and serve and bring to your team. Because, you know, a lot of times their business isn't in that position where they can go do anything else to help anybody else. So to show them like, you know, know the production that you're doing at a high level, how it's kind of dialed in, you know, that's the path that they're looking to, to, to have help get paid for them. So that led a lot to your ability to grow, right, because you had put it in you, you had that, that clout. I, I, I would say that that respect given because you, you, you, you were doing it not just had done it.

Well, it's proof of concept, right? It's one past always predicts future. And you know, I mean, we could use a hundred analogies here, right? Pick one. Sports comes to mind. Like, you know, there's a reason that people get, go get recruited to Nick Saban when he was at Alabama, right, Because he had a proven track record of building great teams that won championships. And that's why people, it's attractive and people go there. So yeah, absolutely. When, you know, we have this record, this blueprint, if you will, of this is how I built my team. And here's, here's where we were, here's where, where we are now, and here's how it runs.

That solves 60, 70, 80% of the problems that most originators have in the market. So it's instant attractive. And now I am adding value and bringing something to the table that wherever they are, whoever their leadership is, whatever, whatever their career is, hasn't been there to this point. And it is powerful. And to this day we do it, we talk about it, right? We, we use Dave's team as an example. When we're recruiting and talking with conversations, we use the other teams that we've built. Like we live in a world where past predicts future. And you know, if you figured it out once and you got through the challenges and the hurdles, the second time you do it, it's even easier.

The third, fourth, by the time you get to the 15th, 16th, it's old hat. You know what I mean?

Takes time.

It takes time.

You know, one of our top branches, we've been working with them for 15, 16 months and they're like, they're basically there. Well, Robert, what have you seen?

Well, real quick, Dave, it takes time and it's not linear. So many people, right, think that it's just, you're going to do this and, you know, then the next step is this, and the next step is this. And even now, us, we're talking about a blueprint, right? Well, yeah, that's great until you're building the team and you get a resignation from a loan partner out of the blue that you weren't expecting, and now you have to regroup and rebuild. Right. Or something goes sideways. Right, Right. Like, I was building the team and planning to do a lot of this at a company that at the, at the time shifted gears and changed leadership and changed the way they, like, no control of mine and basically made it almost impossible to do what I was wanting to do. So then I had to pivot, and that's where Tom and I ended up meeting.

So, you know, not only does it take time, but there's going to be setbacks, there's going to be frustrations. That's to me, when we. That's why I started with your why has to be big enough to make it make sense. Because if it's not, when you hit some of those frustrations, when you get some of those setbacks, you're just going to go back to originating and do what you've always done because it's comfortable, it's easy at that point, right?