INTERVIEWS

An Entrepreneur Rallies After A Deal Falls Apart

By Morey Stettner
Posted on Investor's Business Daily, 02/12/2010

Over 17 years, Daryl Wizelman built two regional mortgage firms into a $60 million operation with 550 employees. Then he decided to sell - a fateful move that changed his life. Wizelman, 44, joined United Pacific Mortgage in 1991. He helped launch another company, Mandalay Mortgage, in 1997.

Through 2006, he says the two companies' average annual growth rate exceeded 25%. He sold United Pacific Mortgage to Countrywide Mortgage in July 2007.

As part of the sale, Wizelman signed a three-year, $5.5 million contract with Countrywide to continue to manage his mortgage business. But in March 2008, he quit after deciding that he could no longer work for the new owner.

Now a motivational speaker in Calabasas, Calif., Wizelman recently spoke with Investor's Business Daily about his harrowing experiences and the lessons he learned.

IBD: Why did you sell your mortgage firm?
Wizelman: Countrywide made so many great promises. It guaranteed jobs for all my employees. And some of its senior executives were my neighbors in Calabasas. Countrywide made it very easy to do the deal.

IBD: What went wrong?
Wizelman: It was supposed to be a seamless transaction. But it turned into a strategic unraveling of our business. All of our offices were closed and all of my employees lost their jobs.

IBD: How did you respond?
Wizelman: I got shingles from all the stress. The shingles lowered my immunity, and I got viral spinal meningitis. I was in the infectious-disease unit of the hospital for one week.

IBD: What happened next?
Wizelman: In the hospital, I made up my mind that life was too short. So I quit my job. I took an enormous financial hit, walking away from about 80% of the money (in the $5.5 million contract).

IBD: Did your former employees resent you for selling the firm?
Wizelman: I've received over 300 supportive notes from them. Many of them wrote, "Don't blame yourself" or "If you do it again, call me." My employees knew that my partner and I made the deal (to sell to Countrywide) for all of them. We had used a servant leadership model from the beginning, and our employees trusted us.

IBD: Can you give an example of servant leadership?
Wizelman: For 17 years, we gave back to our employees. We had very low turnover as a result. In 2000, we could've saved $100,000 by buying a different group health insurance policy. But a spouse of one of our employees had cancer, and buying the new policy would've meant excluding coverage for the spouse undergoing treatment at the time. So we didn't get the new insurance.

IBD: After quitting your job in 2008, what was your career plan?
Wizelman: For years, I gave motivational talks to my employees. I had written 25 presentations (on motivational topics) that I had delivered on a monthly basis. I could see my talks resonated with people. So I figured instead of inspiring the same group over and over again, maybe I could inspire different groups.

IBD: What advice would you give someone weighing whether to take a new job?
Wizelman: Interview them as much as they're interviewing you. Offer to work for free for 30 days to get a feel for the place. Give without expectations. You'll have to live with the new culture, so see if your values match.