How Katie Thomas Built a Brokerage Settling Nearly $1B a Year
Sam Panetta sits down with Katie Thomas from Focus Finance to unpack how she built a highly successful brokerage from the ground up, now settling close to $1 billion a year with a team of 25.
Katie built Focus Finance from the ground up to nearly $1 billion in annual settlements with a team of 25. Culture, curiosity and a referral book that grows itself are what drive it.
1) Nearly $1B a year with a team of 25
Focus Finance now settles close to $1 billion a year, with a team of 25.
- Close to $1B a year.
- A team of 25.
2) A referral book that grows itself
Scaling wasn’t optional. Katie’s book of business is referral-driven and self-propagating, so the team had to grow to keep up.
- Referrals keep coming.
- Growth becomes a necessity.
3) The pod structure
The business runs on pods, with roles segmented across the loan lifecycle. That’s how it manages high volume without losing quality.
- Roles split across the loan lifecycle.
- High volume, consistent quality.
4) Culture over process
Operations matter, but Katie’s team works like siblings: dark humour, a bit of chaos and a shared purpose, rather than a rigid corporate structure.
- A team that feels like family.
- Shared purpose over rigid structure.
5) The vibe check
Katie hires with a vibe check, trusting her intuition over technical credentials alone.
- Trust your intuition.
- Credentials aren’t everything.
6) Hire through your network
Katie usually recruits through her existing network rather than formal job boards.
- Your network is your talent pool.
7) Lending is a byproduct of relationships
For Katie, lending comes out of human relationships. The relationship comes first.
- Relationships first.
- Loans follow.
8) Stay curious: ask why
Curiosity is central to how Katie brokers. Asking “why” gets to the source of a client’s issue.
- Ask why.
- Get to the real issue.
9) People with goals, not files
Katie treats clients as people with goals rather than files to process.
- See the person, not the file.
- Start from their goals.
10) Take the fear out of decisions
Katie advocates removing fear from business decisions. Getting past the fear of saying no to bad-fit clients and inefficient processes has let her keep her integrity and build a more authentic business.
- Say no to bad fits.
- Say no to inefficient processes.
- Protect your integrity.
The biggest lesson from Katie Thomas
Build a culture people want to belong to, stay curious about every client, and have the courage to say no to anything that doesn’t fit.
