When an injury in college derailed his dreams of becoming a professional football player, Loren Howard had to turn to another career path. Growing up in a single-parent household and around successful entrepreneurs, he figured out that owning his business was the way forward. He began working toward the dream after graduating college in 2006, where he worked in pharmaceuticals, developing healthy products for his customers.
Loren Howard’s first venture was Alternative Web Media, which is an “Internet design, development, and SEO company.” From its humble beginnings, the company became successful enough that it now has associates in the United States and across India, with a customer base comprising global players. After launching another company, called Alpha Direct Compounding, he decided he wanted to learn more about real estate, which is one of his many interests.
So, Loren Howard became a real estate investor in Phoenix, Arizona, where he founded Prime Plus Mortgages. This business sets itself apart from other “hard money lenders” because it provides funding without any application hassle, and its terms are easy to understand, which would simplify the process of achieving their goals.
Yet again, Loren Howard has led another company to success. Prime Plus Mortgages now enjoys $12 million in equity, which they grew on their own, while also looking forward to grow their own capital. The company plans to hit $100 million and expand to other markets.
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Jerome Knyszewski: What do you think makes your company stand out?
Loren Howard: I’m a real estate investor, so with our lending company, I know how valuable speed, attention to detail, service is to our clients. Our customer service is great from the first call to the closed sale, and we really make sure that we are as transparent and easy to work with as possible. People see we offer a lot of value, and they are never treated as another number.
Jerome Knyszewski: Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?
Loren Howard: A lot of stress comes from the fear of the unknown and you need to understand why you feel that way to overcome it. If you are feeling stressed or burnt out you need to change your environment and your focus. It’s important to give yourself a mental break and changing tasks from time to time is a great way to fight that.
I also follow a pretty strict routine that helps me regain focus and set my intention for the day. I work out and meditate daily, which really helps me have better focus and clarity. I also have learned more about my personal habits and know what my triggers are for stress and know how to circumvent that.
Jerome Knyszewski: None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?
Loren Howard: I would say my business partner John Lewis has helped me grow in a variety of ways. He helped grow me as an entrepreneur and instilled a lot of confidence in how I perform. With all of our ventures he has always mentored me and guided decisions, but let me lead and learn. He has provided a lot of support and taught me the ropes and is a big influence on my success.
Jerome Knyszewski: Ok thank you for all that. Now let’s shift to the main focus of this interview. The title of this series is “How to take your company from good to great”. Let’s start with defining our terms. How would you define a “good” company, what does that look like? How would you define a “great” company, what does that look like?
Loren Howard: A good company is efficient and makes money but lacks purpose or vision. To be great means you have to add a purpose, vision, and have the right team that believes in the vision and will take it there. I think any company with strong leadership, that isn’t ego driven, and is constantly developing its people and serving its purpose is great.
Jerome Knyszewski: What would you advise to a business leader who initially went through years of successive growth, but has now reached a standstill. From your experience do you have any general advice about how to boost growth and “restart their engines”?
Loren Howard: Stagnation comes from boredom. I would suggest that they find something that is new or challenging. It can be in their work, or personal life, but it should be something that gets you engaged. Something you can get your teeth into.
Mixing it up gets your brain going in new and different ways and gives you new perspectives on things. I personally like to read and learn new things as I have found that the excitement to apply it makes me more motivated.
Jerome Knyszewski: Generating new business, increasing your profits, or at least maintaining your financial stability can be challenging during good times, even more so during turbulent times. Can you share some of the strategies you use to keep forging ahead and not lose growth traction during a difficult economy?
Loren Howard: A lot of business people don’t have a truly clear understanding of where they fall. Always know your numbers. You need to be able to forecast, and budget, which you cannot do without a clear understanding of where you are.
Some business owners let fear or ignorance get in the way. They will have a guesstimate or a rough idea of their budget and standing because they are too afraid or unaware of their real situation. Doing this is only going to hurt your business in the long run.
Jerome Knyszewski: In your experience, which aspect of running a company tends to be most underestimated? Can you explain or give an example?
Loren Howard: Working with other people. Being a good leader is all about knowing how to handle people, emotions, wants, needs and motivations. People want to work for, and with, likable people, so you need to make sure that you know how to work with very different personalities.
When it comes to building a team, you need to have a management style to help people to grow. No one wants to be micromanaged, so instead you need to empower your team to lead and grow.
Jerome Knyszewski: In your experience what are a few of the most important things a business leader should know in order to create a Wow! Customer Experience?
Loren Howard: You need to have a clear understanding of the customer journey, and why they need your service, and what problems you are solving for them. From there you can break down what the major pain options are for your clients to make sure that you solve all those problems with your care, speed and service.
Ask yourself: What problems you are solving for customers, and why those problems are important. From there I would break down how you solve problems better than the competition, how to make the customer experience better, add more value, and improve the service they receive.
Jerome Knyszewski: What are your thoughts about how a company should be engaged on Social Media? For example, the advisory firm EisnerAmper conducted 6 yearly surveys of United States corporate boards, and directors reported that one of their most pressing concerns was reputational risk as a result of social media. Do you share this concern? We’d love to hear your thoughts about this.
Loren Howard: What it really comes down to is the type of value you want to give your clients. If you use your social media effectively you will know exactly what your brand voice and tone is. With this it is easy to define and create a message for your audience that adds your value in a crystal-clear way. Having this tone as well will guide your content and make sure that your content is received well. If your message is adding value, it should not be a concern.
Jerome Knyszewski: What are the most common mistakes you have seen CEOs & founders make when they start a business? What can be done to avoid those errors?
Loren Howard: For me, we didn’t focus enough time on sales and marketing. Obviously, we learned from this early on, but many business owners don’t have a clearly defined sales funnel. Too many rely on trade shows and referrals to make their sales for them, and don’t know how to market a product.
Avoid it by having a sales funnel and marketing plan in place. Learn as much as you can about the two before you start your business so you have an actionable and trackable plan in place.
Jerome Knyszewski: Thank you for all of that. We are nearly done. You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
Loren Howard: Currently, I am the President of The Valley Guardians. We are an Arizona children non-profit that is teaching the tools of success to underprivileged children in the valley. We give deserving children access to education, mentorship, financial, and medical assistance to reach their full potential for success. 100% of donations go to the children of our community. You can learn more about the Valley Guardians here.
Jerome Knyszewski: How can our readers further follow you online?
Loren Howard: You can find me on:
Jerome Knyszewski: This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent with this!
