I myself have 'been there done that' so I feel that I am qualified and somewhat allowed to voice my opinion when it comes to this situation.
I did my first BPO order for Clear Capital in September of 2006. After taking a half a day to complete that first order, I didn't know if I wanted to do any more of them, but I submitted it with great pride none the less. I printed out this report and still have it in my possession today. Boy, did I make a lot of extra work for myself and as I look through my first BPO report I see just how far I have come in the last 5 years.
After doing this one BPO order I found myself hooked! I couldn't stop doing them or wanting to do them....so I killed myself for the next 2 years working nights, weekends, holidays and such. My personal life suffered, quality family time was an event little enjoyed because I simply didn't have much extra free time. Within the mix of things, I also had managed to somehow make it through a few cycles of swearing that I was near burn-out, but gave myself a pep talk and didn't give up on BPO's.
I had never been in a position like this before. Never found myself caring so much about what I was doing and never contemplated how my choices would effect me for years to come.
I decided to slow down after the first few years as a BPO agent and looked for a way to help other agents. In this time I created a BPO Manual that was amazingly embraced by many other real estate professionals who wanted to be successful with BPO's.
Another pinnacle event that I focused on was in trying to figure out a way to not have to work so hard, so many hours and such when doing BPO orders. I learned about a way to automate the data entry side of my BPO orders in September of 2008 and then took it upon myself to figure out all of the computer programming as well as the ins and outs of how to automate my BPO orders.
I dove head long into an amazing journey that I am still on today. I created a system after 3-4 months of working one-on-one with various brave souls and by using it on all of my own BPO orders.
At that time I worked heavily for Landsafe (Which was known as Countrywide back then), Clear Capital, LSI, FARVV (now known as CoreLogic) and a few other select BPO mills.
When I saw an order of mine go through the automation process I flipped out for about the first few months, then I got addicted to it and spoiled. I promised myself that I'd never do a BPO by hand ever again. I've kept this promise to myself to this day.
After seeing how much the BPO automation software helped me with my work I decided to help other people. In April of 2009, a childhood friend and myself created a company called the BPO Automation Group. We spent the next year figuring out so much about ourselves, about how to make the best products possible, all with the goal in mind of helping share our message with as many people as possible.
We are coming up on our 2 year anniversary of first opening our doors. As I look back on things from the very beginning I can't help but feel extremely honored. I cherish being able to help make it possible for BPO & REO Agents, (like myself) no longer have to be killing themselves by working too many hours and making too many painful compromises.
This is a driving force in my life and I plan on continuing to try to help out in the industry for as long as it will embrace me, what I do and my vision of wanting to see people succeed in this very tough economy and highly competitive industry.
If you aren't using BPO automation software I can guarantee that you are working too hard. There is a better way!
I'd be glad to help answer any questions you may have as well, just shoot!
Thanks for letting me share,
Nicole Ocean
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