Prepared 2026-07-22. Five-minute orientation. The plan of record is 26_revised_final_plan.md — it supersedes everything else on conflict.
The recommendation in one sentence
Build year one on a Realtor Scenario Desk: fast, written, guideline-checked answers to hard financing scenarios for ~30 southwest-suburb agents (warm contacts first) on a documented SLA — acknowledge in 1 business hour, written brief in 4, Mon–Fri.
The secondary strategy
Southland First-Home Lab(name needs Ready approval): local education content nobody in the footprint publishes — the down-payment-assistance stack, Cook-vs-Will property-tax payment math, and condo-financing triage ("the rules changed August 3 — here's the new playbook"). It builds trust and a durable asset; expect 0–2 attributed conversations by day 90 — that's normal, it is not near-term pipeline. Plus a small self-employed/investor experiment (F-lite), judged at day 60.
The three things Mitchell should NOT do
Do not join Zillow Flex — ~$2,600 gross per $350k closing, a Zillow-Home-Loans contact-rate KPI, and live steering litigation make it structurally incompatible with being Ready's MLO. (Broker license = parked at most; never both roles on one transaction in year one.)
Do not say anything unverified as fact — no "reviewed with my team" until a reviewer is confirmed in writing, no Saturday SLA, no closing-speed claims, no IHDA positioning (Ready is not an IHDA lender), no rates/payments in anything self-produced, and never pay for anything of an agent's (RESPA — no exceptions, no small stuff).
Do not panic-spend or panic-dial — months 1–5 at ≈ $0 income is the plan, not failure (base case: 5–6 funded loans in year 1, first funding month 4). No paid leads, no dialers/blast texts, no doubling cold-call volume when a week goes red — diagnose energy vs. message first.
The first ten actions (file 10 has the full checklist)
Compute personal runway: [LIQUID_SAVINGS] ÷ ([MONTHLY_PERSONAL_BURN] − [OTHER_MONTHLY_INCOME]). If < 9 months, define the income bridge (draw / part-time floor / household support) before Day 1 (files 22 §6A, 27 P0-0).
Screenshot NMLS Consumer Access for himself and Ready (1100518) — before the meeting.
Hold the 2-hour manager/compliance meeting, Day 1, 10:00 AM, using file 20 verbatim; leave with the Decision Sheet marked. (Can't book it in 72 hrs? 30-min video call with whoever owns compliance, disclosure block only.)
Get written IL confirmation (license MB.6850275) + file the request to fix Ready's stale Florida-only license page.
Ask the DNC question: does Ready hold a Subscription Account Number? No SAN = no cold-calling cells — file the written SAN request same day; run email/LinkedIn/office-landline until it exists.
Request the written IL product menu, overlays, turn times, comp plan ([BPS_COMP]), draw/benefits/W-2-vs-1099.
Build Scenario Desk v1: intake form, v0 SLA statement, brief template (with the redaction gate — no raw agent messages into AI, ever), log — and 2–3 polished synthetic sample briefs by Day 4 (they lead every first email).
Build the 30-agent pilot list — the 6–8 warm slots first: Crosstown Hybrid/non-Flex agents via family + family intros elsewhere (never Flex-team members).
Submit all outreach copy (call script, email, signature, bio, landing copy) for compliance approval — and never contact anyone on unapproved copy. If approvals stall: run the holding pattern (drills, briefs, research) and escalate at day 7/14/21.
Start the daily reps: 20-min ChatGPT Voice role-play + 3×/wk written scenario drills (F-lite drills included, 2–3/wk).
The first week's calendar (compact — full version file 12)
Day
Morning
Afternoon
Mon
NMLS screenshots → manager meeting 10–12
Recap emails + written requests; pilot-list build (warm slots first)
Tue
Product-sheet study; Scenario Desk build
LOS walkthrough; finish pilot list; draft outreach copy → compliance
Wed
Role-play; call prep; sprint 1 (only if copy approved)
KPI scorecard; sprint 2; Flex "no" memo + Never-Automate list
Scenario drill; LOS dummy file; first booked conversations
Fri
VA/conventional edges; wave-1 calls
Held conversations; weekly pipeline review
Sat
Farmers Market walk (8:30–10:30)
After-action review; condo-rule study
Outreach always runs in 60–90-min prepped sprints with recovery after — never all-day calling. Sundays off.
The first five metrics (full scorecard file 23)
Meaningful agent conversations — two-way, business-relevant, with a next step (target 5/wk from week 3; weeks 1–2 expect 1–3).
Scenario requests received — the trust event everything turns on (target 3–4 in month 1).
SLA compliance — 100%, hard target; a Desk that misses its own promise is worse than none.
Follow-up completion — ≥90%; broken small promises kill the brand.
Energy at close (1–10 daily) — ≥6 average; if activity is green but energy is red, the dose is wrong, not Mitchell.
The five unresolved compliance questions (must be answered before launch)
The exact IL disclosure block (NMLS IDs + nmlsconsumeraccess.org per 38 Ill. Adm. Code 1050.940) and written IL license confirmation — blocks all outreach. (27 P0-1)
The real IL product menu in writing — what can Mitchell actually originate today? (27 P0-2)
DNC Subscription Account Number — without it, cold-calling cells is off under this plan's own rules. (27 P0-6)
Who approves marketing/scripts, and what may be cited — approval path, turnaround, pre-cleared facts. (27 P0-5)
IHDA path + interim DPA structures (Cook County DPA pairing, FHLB DPP, seller credits/gifts) — decides the DPA lane vs. the honest-referral recut. (27 P1-1; recut in 26 §5)
Key files
26_revised_final_plan.md — the plan of record (incl. what changed after red-team, Plan B, DPA recut)
decision_gate/ — decisions needed, compliance sign-offs, Prompt-2 readiness — the gate before anything gets built
10_first_72_hours.md · 12_four_week_ramp_calendar.md · 13_steady_state_weekly_calendar.md — the clock
20_ready_manager_meeting_agenda.md — walk in with this; leave with the Decision Sheet signed
16_realtor_scripts_and_objections.md — every script (v0/v1 rule) and objection answer
22_financial_model_assumptions.md — the honest numbers + the runway math (§6A)
27_questions_for_mitchell.md — the nine asks for the first meeting, P0-0 first
25_red_team_review.md — why the plan looks the way it does now