My story of failure: Not telling a babysitter where I was going.

Mitchell graduated from Evangel University with a bachelor's degree in Business Management. He started with AGCU in 2012 and has served many roles inside the mortgage department, including Loan Officer, Processor, and Underwriter. Before moving to AGCU, Mitchell spent his career helping operate his family's businesses, learning a diverse set of skills that would help him in his roles at AGCU.

Mitchell and his wife, Heather, have lived and worked in Springfield their entire lives. They have six children, Ella, Bentley, Parker, Thatcher, Juniper, and Adalyn. The Swanson Family enjoys outdoor activities, playing games, going to the lake, and spending time with friends and family.

In today’s episode Mitchell talks about:

- falling into lending
- working for his parents
- having someone follow through with him and offer him a position
- taking a pay cut to get his foot in the door
- focusing on lending now
- working for Mitch
- growing up in the business with friends
- great memories of working
- being a part of a small family business
- pushing a broom as a kid in the shop
- coming to basketball practice smelling like strawberry popcorn
- hard work ingrained at a young age
- not eating popcorn for 3-4 years after leaving
- his dad as a mentor and instilling doing the right thing
- taking care of and serving people first, no matter what
- “Even if there’s an easier way, you do the right thing no matter what.”
- Royal Rangers and pinewood derby
- unshaped wood
- building his self confidence at a young age
- Paul Ebbish as a mentor
- Fail forward fast
- being strategic as a small business
- not enough words
- being fortunate to have some direct mentors
- passive mentors
- lunch with more experienced people
- don’t chase the dollars
- growing organically over the last decade
- sharing different perspectives ten years in
- nice to be able to share now
- helping set him apart
- being an overbooked market
- doing the right thing and replicating with others
- buying a house is not a short term deal
- being the highest of integrity through the process
- coming from a family of five kids
- taking care of six high energy kids
- his wife Heather and him wanting four kids in the beginning
- being scared from a physical standpoint to have more kids
- going from fostering to adoption
- never anticipating six children
- the same serving principle translates to home
- being entrusted with children
- the ultimate goal is to be there for his kids
- wild days and making breakfast
- his wife being a champion at home
- worth the stress and hair loss
- the willingness to enter the madness
- driving and listening to podcasts
- pouring in passively
- coming into the industry in 2012
- everyday failures
- humbling in the beginning
- thriving in failures
- seeing rates in the threes
- lenders being overwhelmed
- “There’s no excuses. You grind and figure it out.”
- being forced to look into the process
- sharpening himself through the process
- wouldn’t have grown without the hard work and failures
- some of the sharpest people in the industry
- trying to solve it first and then helping
- unicycle without training wheels
- getting hung up on
- a tough and character building time
- the exciting thing right now in weird economic times
- earning favor and building out a team
- the fun of watching a team succeed
- hard to imagine where he is now
- something he needs to work on
- like to look back and see that he hasn’t lost his roots
- giving back like he was given
- finished building their house
- the excitement of a new home
- enjoying what God’s created and 1/4 mile walks
- continuing the dating pattern and growing together
- sparking a love for traveling
- a podcast with kids