Even as their album sales sored and Breakfast at Tiffany’s became an inescapable song, Tatom was preparing for the next thing. A self-described ‘realist to a fault,’ he could already see some tensions emerging between the band and the label, as well as between individual band members. Rather than pursue the creative grind of song writing for a label, Tatom took a short-term gig at a college friend’s mortgage company. He had taken econ classes in college with this friend, who knew Tatom had a mind for the work.
Mortgages fascinated Tatom. He’d been interested in finance since high school and saw the mortgage industry as a way to meet and help ordinary people. He could learn about unique situations and come up with tailored solutions while being that friendly voice on the other end of the phone line. He also found that a lot of the skills he used as a musician would make him successful as a mortgage broker.
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Tatom explained that both musicians and brokers need to be great self-promoters. Gigs and deals don’t just flow through the door in either profession. You need to go out and earn your reputation. You need to be consistent, too. A crowd that paid to see you play doesn’t care if you didn’t sleep well last night and are feeling a bit tired, just as a stressed-out homebuyer doesn’t care if you’re a bit overtaxed.
Tatom said that careers in music and mortgage both teach you how to manage chaos. On tour, something unexpected goes wrong nearly every day, just as it is when you’re originating loans. As a musician, Tatom learned how to deal with a problem he’s never seen before, something he now does every day as a broker.