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 progressive methods, like embracing her new id and leveraging distinctive monetary options reminiscent of 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 automotive 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.
“Once you lose any individual that you just’re near it has such a big impact on you that you just begin to replicate on what your life means, and what’s essential,” she mentioned. “It actually drives house how treasured and delicate life is, so in case you’re going to make some modifications make them before later, as a result of later could by no means come.”
Looking for a brand new problem
MacDonald had spent 25 years working for main banks in Canada and Europe, finally 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 top of what I had wished 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 mentioned, including {that a} good friend 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 completed it 20 years earlier.”
New title, new enterprise; similar motivation
At first, the transition proved troublesome. For one factor, neighborhood members knew MacDonald underneath 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 automotive in advertising supplies that included a picture of her face.
“I by no means wished 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 mentioned. “Individuals forgot the outdated 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 residing wage, however loved the chance to work for herself and to assist the sorts of shoppers that she would have needed to flip away beforehand. “On the financial institution, it’s a really small pigeonhole that shoppers have to suit—one of the best credit score, one of the best earnings, one of the best historical past—whereas as a dealer agent you possibly can assist everyone,” she mentioned.
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 mentioned. “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 shoppers, however finally realized that a type of options was distinctive from the others. She had put a couple of shoppers right into a Manulife One mortgage over time, however solely those who requested it by title.
“Then one thing modified in 2020 after I had a consumer who got here to me and wished to enter it, and I processed it, and it began to make just a little extra sense with their file,” she mentioned. “I used to be intrigued as to why they have been so excited going into this Manulife One account.”
Across the similar time, MacDonald’s daughter and son-in-law have been in search of an answer of their very own, whereas additionally attempting 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 believed ‘okay, I want to grasp this a bit extra,” she mentioned. “I’ve now put my stepdaughter into the Manulife One account, and I current it to simply about each considered one of my shoppers that I really feel may gain advantage from it.”
Not like a standard mortgage, Manulife One calculates curiosity each 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 1000’s in curiosity, particularly in a excessive rate of interest surroundings.
“Manulife One is in a class of its personal due to these two elements,” she mentioned. “I’d be doing a disservice to shoppers, I wouldn’t be one of the 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 mentioned. “That I used to be part of serving to it occur, that’s simply one other win.”