Mortgage dealer Donna MacDonald’s journey from tragedy to triumph is a narrative of resilience and reinvention.
Following the heart-wrenching lack of her sister and the top of her marriage in 2010, MacDonald launched into a transformative profession shift. After a 25-year tenure in conventional banking, she ventured into the world of mortgage brokering. Her tenacity and modern methods, like embracing her new id and leveraging distinctive monetary options corresponding to Manulife One, not solely redefined her skilled trajectory but in addition earned her the title of Dealer of the Yr in 2021.
Two days after separating from her husband in 2010, MacDonald’s older sister, Lynda Lyster, tragically misplaced her life in a automobile accident. On prime of all of that, MacDonald’s profession in monetary companies, to which she had devoted a lot time and vitality, had begun to lose its lustre.
“Whenever you lose any individual that you simply’re near it has such a big impact on you that you simply begin to replicate on what your life means, and what’s vital,” she stated. “It actually drives residence how valuable and delicate life is, so in the event you’re going to make some adjustments make them ahead of later, as a result of later might by no means come.”
Searching for a brand new problem
MacDonald had spent 25 years working for main banks in Canada and Europe, ultimately launching and managing a department of her personal in Carleton Place, Ontario, simply exterior of Ottawa. The yr that it opened it was the financial institution’s prime performing new department within the nation.
“I actually had reached the head of what I had needed to do in banking, and banking had modified fairly a bit—administration wasn’t what it was—so I made a decision to get my licence to dealer,” she stated, including {that a} pal had lengthy pushed her to make the profession change. “In October of 2012 I gave up my financial institution supervisor job; now I want I had performed it 20 years earlier.”
New title, new enterprise; similar motivation
At first, the transition proved troublesome. For one factor, neighborhood members knew MacDonald beneath her married title, which she dropped within the wake of her divorce. That’s what impressed her to hire a billboard on the town and wrap her automobile in advertising supplies that included a picture of her face.
“I by no means needed my image on my advertising, however I had to attract a line connecting who I used to be to the brand new title and the brand new profession, and it labored,” she stated. “Individuals forgot the previous title, they usually remembered who I used to be as a result of my image was there, so it was a very good technique.”
In that first yr, MacDonald says she hardly earned a dwelling wage, however loved the chance to work for herself and to assist the sorts of purchasers that she would have needed to flip away beforehand. “On the financial institution, it’s a really small pigeonhole that purchasers have to suit—the very best credit score, the very best revenue, the very best historical past—whereas as a dealer agent you’ll be able to assist all people,” she stated.
MacDonald says she counts each “sure” as a victory, and since turning into a dealer agent she’s celebrated much more wins. “What motivates me are these success tales,” she stated. “I measure success by how rapidly I get away from bed within the morning, and after I can’t wait to get to my desk within the morning, I really feel so profitable.”
Racking up the wins with Manulife One
MacDonald says she loved having a wider array of options to help a wider array of purchasers, however ultimately realized that a type of options was distinctive from the others. She had put a number of purchasers right into a Manulife One mortgage through the years, however solely those who requested it by title.
“Then one thing modified in 2020 after I had a shopper who got here to me and needed to enter it, and I processed it, and it began to make somewhat extra sense with their file,” she stated. “I used to be intrigued as to why they had been so excited going into this Manulife One account.”
Across the similar time, MacDonald’s daughter and son-in-law had been in search of an answer of their very own, whereas additionally making an attempt to maintain some cash apart for an adoption.
“I put my daughter and her husband into Manulife One, they usually raved about it, so I assumed ‘okay, I would like to grasp this a bit extra,” she stated. “I’ve now put my stepdaughter into the Manulife One account, and I current it to simply about each one in all my purchasers that I really feel may gain advantage from it.”
In contrast to a standard mortgage, Manulife One calculates curiosity every day, versus semi- yearly, and operates as a checking account in addition to a mortgage product. When mixed, MacDonald says these two distinctive components can save debtors tens of hundreds in curiosity, particularly in a excessive rate of interest atmosphere.
“Manulife One is in a class of its personal due to these two parts,” she stated. “I might be doing a disservice to purchasers, I wouldn’t be the very best dealer I may be, if I didn’t have this in my toolkit.”
Simply over 10 years after leaving banking behind, MacDonald is among the many prime 10% of Mortgage Alliance Professionals and was named dealer of the yr in 2021. After simply over a yr since finalizing their mortgage, her daughter and son-in-law are additionally very near lastly beginning their household.
“I credit score Manulife with placing them in that place,” she stated. “That I used to be part of serving to it occur, that’s simply one other win.”
