Ep# 118: How this Loan Officer Went from 0 to 85 Million in Just Three Years With Personal Branding-Final

Alex McFadyen, known as 'The Mortgage Pug,' shares how he built an $85M/year mortgage business from scratch in 3 years by leaning into a pet-based personal brand, consistent video education, and social media. Best for LOs who want a real-world case study on building a recognizable brand and audience without cold-calling or chasing agents.

Takeaways you can run this week

• Pick exactly ONE social media platform, commit to it completely, and ignore the rest until you've mastered it — Alex chose Instagram first, then expanded.
• Post one educational video per week on a consistent schedule, plus a video on any major market event (rate change, rule update) — this creates audience dependency and agent requests for your content.
• Host a 'Beers and Home Buying' first-time buyer seminar 3-4 times per year to drive local brand visibility and generate warm leads offline.
• Use your Facebook Live or video show to interview local referral partners (agents, financial planners, insurance agents) — offer them the platform as a value exchange with no ask in return, which organically builds reciprocal referral relationships.
• Identify the one thing you're best at (advising, video, phone) and pour disproportionate time into it rather than patching weaknesses — Alex outsourced processing so he could stay in marketing and client communication.
• Audit your client communication process and build a consistent multi-touch system (video updates, text, email) during the loan so past clients remember the experience and call you first — Alex credits this as his database retention strategy entering year five.

The playbook

1. 1. Choose a memorable, authentic brand identity tied to something personal and real (Alex used his pug Ernie).
2. 2. Commit fully — get a logo, claim your handles, and post consistently even if early content is rough.
3. 3. Lead with education: identify what your target audience (e.g., first-time buyers) finds confusing and make simple explainer videos on those topics.
4. 4. Post one video per week minimum; add bonus videos on major market events.
5. 5. Use live video/interviews with referral partners to grow local influence and give partners a platform — no ask, no pitch.
6. 6. Play the long game: expect 3-5 inbound contacts per week from social after consistent effort over 1-2 years.
7. 7. Reinforce with in-person events (buyer seminars) to bridge online visibility to offline relationships.

Worth quoting

“Just pick one place. I don't care what it is. Pick one and just do it really well.”

“You're not legitimate if you're not online.”

Best for

LOs who are starting from scratch or stuck in a referral plateau and want a proven social-media-first brand-building model they can replicate.