32 Years at the Top: The One Mindset That Never Changes

What does it really take to stay great for 32 straight years? We sit down with Dave Kammerer—a top producer, mentor, and coach—to unpack a durable playbook that rejects ego and centers on service. Dave’s core rule is disarmingly simple: make it about others. From the first question you ask to the way you follow up, he shows how curiosity, humility, and clear thinking compound into trust, referrals, and long-term wins.

We go deep on the structures that keep performance steady: coaching that creates public accountability, peer groups that celebrate process and numbers, and a client-centric approach to prospecting that feels like leadership, not interruption. Dave explains how he leverages his strengths without pretending to be someone else, and how teaching raises the bar on his own daily habits. He doesn’t dodge the hard parts either—burnout, rough quarters, and the mental loops that stall momentum.

Mindset becomes practical here. Dave shares neuroscience-informed tactics to stay hungry after financial freedom, from moving money to trigger focus to calling a positive partner when the day goes sideways. He frames motivation in layers—needs, acquiring, competition, wealth, legacy—and shows how to operate from purpose while keeping a beginner’s edge. You’ll hear actionable ways to reset in minutes, lead with empathy, and make every interaction deliver value, whether you’re guiding a client, a teammate, or a referral partner.

If you want a blueprint for sustainable success in lending, real estate, or any client-driven field, this conversation offers clear steps you can use today: serve before you sell, build real accountability, and program your attention toward positive energy. Subscribe, share with a teammate who needs a lift, and leave a review telling us the one tactic you’ll implement this week.

Chapters

• 0:00 Make It About Others
• 0:27 Meet A 32-Year Top Producer
• 1:52 Humility And Service As Strategy
• 2:46 Early Sales Lessons That Endured
• 4:13 Competition, Accountability, And Coaching
• 5:24 Prospecting Through Client-Centric Thinking
• 6:40 Consistency, Burnout, And Community
• 7:09 Wealth, Motivation, And Legacy
• 8:07 Neuroscience, Mindset, And Positive Energy
• 9:16 Handling Bad Days And Resets
• 11:16 Joy, Relationships, And Car Passion
• 15:58 Parting Tactics And Takeaways

Transcript

Make It About Others

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Don't make it about you. Make it about the people around you or your subject.

Meet A 32-Year Top Producer

Chad 0:06

This is a secret sauce podcast with Chad Trees and Lacey Moore's, where we want to help people build big businesses and live big lives. We think every episode's gonna maybe give you one ingredient that you could add to your recipe to create your own secret sauce. Let's get into it. If you've ever wondered what the blueprint for long-term greatness looks like, this is the episode for you. Our guest has been a top producer for 32 years straight. Not once, not in a good market 32 years straight. He's built a 38-car classic collection. He's a mentor to us, he's a coach in our coaching program, one of the most consistent leaders this industry has ever seen. And today we get to ask him the question that everyone wants to know how do you stay great for that long? Ladies and gentlemen, Dave Cameron joining us today from Eugene, Oregon. Dave, that's the question I want to know, man. After after that intro, tell us tell us how you do it. How you have you been consistently great in this business for 32 years?

SPEAKER_01 1:04

Thank you for that intro, Chad. First of all, I feel like I barely deserve it. And maybe the answer to that is have an appropriate amount of humility and keep that around. And uh one of my favorite phrases is I may not be much, but I'm all I think about. And I you guys have heard me say that before. It and it's kind of a joke. It's it what I'm really saying is don't make it about you, make it about the people around you or your subject. So a long time ago, before I was in this industry, Chad, I took a sales trainer. It was actually a Dale Carnegie course. You guys probably have heard of Dale Carnegie.

Chad 1:35

Oh, yeah.

Humility And Service As Strategy

SPEAKER_01 1:35

Yeah. Wrote that book, How to Win Friends and Influence People. Anyway, I was a pretty young man, and I remember there was a guy kind of what my age is now teaching this class, and I was like, this dude's kind of old, but then he had all this energy and a really like bright outlook. And I remember he took me aside at the end of the course, and uh he says, Hey, listen, I want you to know something. If you help enough people get what they want, you'll always get what you want. The money might not show up when you want it to, but it will always show up. You just have to trust it. And I just I never let go of that notion of how important that is to help other people. So, Chad, when you keep the focus on your subject, whoever you're talking to, whoever you're helping, and really truly genuinely get interested in them and how to help them, and then use the skills that you have to do that, then that's part of the payback. That's I think that's if there's a fundamental thing that's made it work, it's that. I believe that everybody has some talent. I've got some mathematical talent. It works pretty good. I didn't know that it was that good until I got into this business a little bit longer, so I can think fast with numbers. That helps me. It doesn't mean you have to have that, but I have it and it's very helpful.

Chad 2:36

And uh I also grew up Yeah, they since invented calculators since you got into the business. Right.

Early Sales Lessons That Endured

SPEAKER_01 2:42

I like that. There was computers around, but there was definitely no cell phones. You know, the funny part is uh you should know this. Like they had just come out with these little pocket pagers when I got into the business. And the guy that uh hired me and taught me some things around sales, he goes, make the promise that you always call realtors back in two hours or less and have the pager. The pager, yeah. I still have that pager number memorized. I remember that thing would go off at all hours, but anyway, that was the technology back then. You had to get on the phone and call people. But uh, you know, part of serving people is like truly caring in your heart to do it. So I think that's a big part of it. The people that I see that are super successful, they either have a system of sales uh or they have that desire or that commitment. And uh there's a big part of me that's also competitive, and I like to compete and I like to win. I know I'm not gonna win every time, but I like to compete, and often the winning happens and it feels good. And what I mean by that, like you win a deal from uh in a competitive nature, or one of my favorite things about being in coaching and being coached is being coached alongside some other big producers like you and Lacey were competing, like who's gonna have the most units or who's gonna have the best reviews, who's gonna have the most money saved. Those things are fun to me and uh they drive they they drive me. So if if you have that competitive nature, I think it's very helpful. If you don't, uh you gotta find something that drives you. Yeah. A passion, so to speak.

Competition, Accountability, And Coaching

Chad 4:05

And and even if it's not if it's sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off, but even if it's not competition, like finding a group of peers, right? Absolutely. It's like it's like the whole like you're the product of the five people you hang around most, or get in the rooms that you want to get into, right? So it's like find those people that are going to push you. You don't need necessarily like if you're not super competitive, you can hold each other accountable. Somebody who's not necessarily in coaching, how would they apply what you're talking about? Is I guess what I'm getting at. And it's like you can correct find those people and you guys get together and share successes and do a little competing, like who had the bigger month, who saved the most money, get vulnerable maybe a little bit about finances, like who had the biggest paycheck that month. I think there's stigmas where people don't want to talk about that, but I think once we get past that, when you're in business and you can be transparent, that's when you are truly in a learning mode.

Prospecting Through Client-Centric Thinking

Consistency, Burnout, And Community

Wealth, Motivation, And Legacy

SPEAKER_01 4:53

Really, what I'm talking about is being a lifelong student. And Chad, I think the the best thing in our business, and this this translates to not just lending and real estate, but I think any business is always to be a student and always be uh learning. And so our coaching system has provided that opportunity. So I think that's if there was a couple key things, coaching and being part of a coaching program, and then growing enough where you're allowed to be, you're good enough that you can coach other people. There's a big part of accountability in being a teacher who's also working in the business. Definitely. And I tell you to do something and I'm not doing it, uh, you're just not legitimate. And uh, so that's a big part of it. I think help being held accountable by your actions and what you're asking other people to do because you know it works. Uh, so there's consistent effort. You make prospecting a priority. And to me, prospecting is always thinking about what that other person, the next conversation you're gonna have, the next person you're gonna call, whoever you're talking to, what matters to them. If you're truly in tune with what they need and you're you care about it and you follow through on it and you look for ways to help them, I mean, honestly, that's sales. And it's leading somebody through a process or an experience and with knowledge that you have and like doing the best for them. And I think about this what would I do if it was my mom or my brother or my best friend, somebody I I truly care about, what would I do for them? You got to treat everybody like that. And when you feel that way about them, or if you catch yourself not thinking that way about them, then and that that's happened to me. I catch myself and say, wait a minute, I'm not doing everything that I should be doing. And then I pull myself back in. So I think being centered around that and the focus on the client is super, super important. When I say the client, it's anybody I'm talking to. I it's a that's a coaching student, it could be somebody who works for me, a loan officer, or one of our other employees. You know, there's all sorts of protection staff. It could be uh an external client, which is a realtor referral partner or another business referral partner, or it can be one of the people actually getting a loan from us. But all of those people, uh, they all deserve to get treated the same way, and that is they get the best that I can offer at that moment. Does that make sense? It does make sense. Yeah, and then I could have all sorts of other tactics. And I've been in burnout mode in this business before, but the way to stay consistent over a long period of time is to be around uh like-minded people. I I believe being in a coaching program is a way that's what's made it happen for me for the last 21 years, and then also actually it's been longer than yeah, 22 years now.

Chad 7:09

Yeah, and you continue to be coached now, like we we were talking about it earlier when I asked you, and you know, not to get too far into the finances, but you are you could have retired years ago, right? Like we we did the uh how much money do you need to retire uh exercise, and you're you know pushing two million over that. Yes, I've over that number.

SPEAKER_01 7:28

Right. And it's you know what? It's a great place to be, and I'll tell you, I have other colleagues and people I've coached who've also reached that level. You know what's interesting? Those of us who stay in the business, because some of them have retired. Like there's Scott Oliver, for example. He hit the number and he retired, and he's he's living his life and he's happy. But a lot of the rest of us were still doing good because now we do it because it's we're passionate about it.

Chad 7:49

Yeah, that's what I was gonna say. I mean, it's it's incredible that you're that committed to coaching that even past the point where you could retire, you could ride off into the sunset, you could have a while ago, and you continue to pay to be in a coaching program. A testament to coaching for sure for you.

Neuroscience, Mindset, And Positive Energy

SPEAKER_01 8:02

Well, Chad, there's five motivations, right? So there's the first of all, there's the the basic needs food, clothing, shelter. Like I gotta then there's gathering stuff, then there's competition, and then there's building wealth, and then there's legacy. I'm probably in the building wealth and legacy mode the most, if I realistically, but I keep my head in the bottom. I keep my head in a little bit, I'm hungry. I don't have enough.

Chad 8:23

You put yourself in the mindset like you're kind of like start just starting out.

SPEAKER_01 8:26

A little bit of a hunger mindset, and I'll tell you what, that really helps me on days when you know this business can be rough. And there's days when if you had enough money, you could just I'd like to quit. I know so many people that we help. You do too. And it's sad to me, and they're in jobs or they're doing something that they have to do because they need money, but they don't really like it. Right. They don't enjoy their job, and it breaks my heart to see that. And um, I feel so fortunate that we don't have that. Like, I love what we do, helping people and doing that stuff, and seeing that light bulb go on with a student or a client, or you get them a house. And I mean, there's some just some wonderful things that we get to experience. Those those are things that drive me.

Chad 9:03

How do you trick your mind into believing that you need money?

Handling Bad Days And Resets

SPEAKER_01 9:07

It's easy. I move all my money into another account, and then I look at the account that it came out of, and there's hardly anything in it. Or there's another car I want, and I'm like, okay, if I want that car, I'm gonna have to really I gotta close 15 loans this month.

Chad 9:17

Yeah, I mean, I guess it's true. Like we we've the neuroscience and everything says that that like your brain doesn't really understand like truth or not. It's whatever you feed it is what your brain just processes, right? So if you're process if you're feeding it, hey, I don't have much money, look at this account. It it's not automatically thinking about, oh no, you do, you know. Like it's you're feeding it information and it's processing that's rationale.

SPEAKER_01 9:39

Yeah. I'll throw a name out there, Renee Rodriguez. We all know him, and uh he's really good at this neuroscience and sales, but he he's helped me a lot in the we just didn't we just did an episode on him, actually.

Chad 9:48

We just the episode before this one filmed, so it's probably an episode or two prior to this one dropping. If you want to get into the Renee Rodriguez uh stuff, he's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 9:56

Well, we all know him because and here's what his stuff is excellent. And I've been a student of his, and he's one of the people that I pay to coach me, for example, and uh he's worth every penny. It's not a plug for Renee, like his stuff really works. But if you want to learn more about how your brain works and how to help other people and motivate them, uh he's very, very helpful that way. And his his stuff is real and it it goes to the core uh basics of how your brain actually works. And it's funny, Chad, once you understand how your brain works, you can start you you can program yourself. Over the years, uh and you know my partner in the branch, Robin, she's a pretty spectacular person too, just like you and Liz.

Chad 10:30

No doubt. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:31

And she's she's gone through some of Renee's stuff as well. In fact, I think she's done more of it than I have, but we both have the same kind of idea around mindset, and that is that energy, and this might not my I I believe it is an absolute law of physics. There's positive and negative energy, that's how the universe runs.

Chad 10:46

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 10:47

Yeah, those vibrations, and you can tune into the negative vibration if you want, or you can tune in the positive vibration, and I choose to tune into the positive vibration.

Chad 10:56

And it's and it's just as easy as a choice.

Joy, Relationships, And Car Passion

SPEAKER_01 10:58

That's all it is, a choice. And you can every minute that you're consciously awake, you can be thinking about that. Am I am I on the positive side of this or am I on the negative side of this? Because it's you listen, human nature, it's it's easy to fall on the negative side. I think that I don't know, it might be from being a kid, but you get programmed like that. I don't know what it is. So you have to consciously make an effort to be on the positive side. So that's another thing that I think is really important, is is mindset. But mindset all is all about what we started with, and that is focusing on somebody else. When you focus on somebody else and taking care of them, I mean, honestly, that's a that's a point of entry in your life where you're caring for someone else, and that's that's to me, that's positive energy right there.

Chad 11:37

How do you do it on tough days when you're nothing's going right and you're like F this business, you know, and like I think it is time to ride off in the sunset because every everything goes wrong. Newton's law applies, right? And every or not Newton's law, what is it? Uh Murphy's Murphy's Law. Newton's law is just gravity, right? Murphy's law, everything goes wrong. What do you do on those days? Because it's that's a great question. It's easy to talk about all your success, and people need to know that we're all human and we all have really crappy days.

SPEAKER_01 12:02

Funny movie. Happy Gilmore. Remember that one? Oh, yeah. Go to your happy place. My happy place doesn't look anything like his in the movie, but my happy place is like call somebody that I know that I really like. There's a number of realtor partners and uh other financial people that I know. There's other loan officers like you and Lacey, for example. There, there's so many people. If I'm having a rough day, I will call somebody who I know I'm gonna get a positive response. And I even say, I need a reset. Me and Jimmy used to do that for each other. And we still do occasionally, but there was a time where I needed it a lot. When I first started being a branch manager, Chad, it was not fun. I think I had two years of pain. I'm like, I'm not making any money. I feel responsible for these people. This is a tough job. I love it, but I hate it at the same time. I literally had to get on a call with somebody almost every day and kind of get a little rah-rah. But that's what that's my tactic. And listen, we all have tough days. You have a tough day or a tough moment, pick up the phone, call a client that you know you just got a five-star review from, call one of your favorite real estate agents or one of your favorite business people that you did do business with, or maybe a colleague. Like if I had a really rough day, I know I could call you or Lacey and you guys would cheer me up. No doubt. And then, dude, it just pulls you right back. So the thing is, and you've heard this before, it's never as bad as we think it is. It's never as good as we think it is. Right. Yeah, somewhere in the middle. Yeah, and so you just need some perspective. And I think that's the human condition, we're made to be in a relationship. And if you are isolating yourself or silo yourself a little bit, you're missing out on the most important part of human experience, and that's being in a relationship with somebody. Sometimes those relationships can have negative interaction, and I think if you have too much of that, that's where that's where the bad day, quote unquote, comes from. So you have to like seek out some positive energy from somebody else. It sounds simple and it is, but it's not easy.

Chad 13:44

Yeah, I think putting it into action is, you know, because it's easy to stay in that negative mindset and actually then go invent to other people and pull them into your negative mindset than it is to seek out the positive. You know what it really is, Chad?

SPEAKER_01 13:56

It's all the self-talk. I'm not good enough. If I call them, they're gonna think I'm weak and all this. It's just all a bunch of baloney. That's back to that first statement I made. Don't think you're so stinking important that they're all gonna care. That everybody's even thinking about you. Yeah, like we started here of like my good side to the camera. No one really cares. Right. What they do care about is how you make them feel. And so if you just remember that and you keep focusing on that, and then you're like, I want to make sure that I always help people feel good and feel good about what they're doing. I mean, that's really that's not an easy thing to do, but if you focus on it, it will happen the majority of the time. So that's a lot of fun. And then it translates outside of business into every aspect of life, too. Like no doubt. I feel very fortunate. I have a really good long-term marriage. Uh, I love all my kids, I'm in a great relationship with all my kids. I'm really close to a couple of my siblings. I got a ton of friends. I'm just really, really lucky when I think about it. And then I got all this other stuff that I get to do, like the travel and the car thing. If you're a car guy or gal, you understand what I'm saying. But a lot of people are like, why are you so gaga over cars? It's just metal. It's there's just a neat part of it. So I I could give a dissertation on the automotive history of, especially in the United States. There's so much fun there. I get a kick out of it, and it's there's a whole thing there, and that drives me too. So it's just very enjoyable having that collection and getting to enjoy it. At the end of the day, when I think about what why do I even do that? I like the freedom. This is what I love about the United States the freedom to get in a vehicle and go anywhere the hell you want to go. Yeah. It's kind of cool. I was driving around in this area and I was thinking to myself, man, these guys really have a good interstate highway system. It works really good compared to some other states I've been in, which aren't so good. Like California, I've been in California recently. They have highways all over the place, but man, it's a mess. You guys got it dialed in here.

Parting Tactics And Takeaways

Chad 15:36

Kansas City's got our highway, our highways figured out. I've always said it takes like 20 minutes to get just about anywhere, except for to get to Lacey's house. She's further away. I'm amazed. Yeah. Compared to a lot of places, Kansas City is amazing for that. Dave, on that note, we got to wrap this up pretty quick because we're going to a car show, so you can possibly go buy a car. Or perhaps you will. Yeah. Yeah. It's not on my, it's it's not on my 2025 card that I'm just gonna, my bingo card that I was gonna buy a car, but maybe we'll squeak one in. Any parting words that you'd want to impart on realtors or uh loan officers out there that are maybe looking for a little pick-me-up?

SPEAKER_01 16:08

Well, just tactically keep the focus on whoever you're talking to. Think about how you can help them. Don't think about what it's gonna do for you because I promise you, whatever you want will show up. It just just trust it. And then be a lifelong student and get in coaching and let somebody who has bigger results than you teach you. And then you'll get to that point and then get you find somebody bigger. And as you can grow as far as you want to. Yeah. And you can stop or you can do whatever you want. But just remember keep the focus on other people and and keep that genuineness in your heart and seek out positive energy and learn how to control your mind in a more direct fashion. And uh you'll you'll end up being happy and you'll get to a spot, hopefully, like I did. Go to work because you want to and because you love it, not because you need to. I love that. That's what I got for you. Awesome. Thanks for having me today, Chad. It's been a pleasure.

Chad 16:53

Dave, thanks for spending some time with us. You are a mentor to me, no doubt. And I'm just uh I really appreciate you. I'm grateful for you. I'm grateful that you took some time to talk to our listeners today. So uh, yeah, let's go look at some cars. We'll see you guys next time.

SPEAKER_01 17:04

All right, we'll see you. Thanks, Chad.

Chad 17:06

Thanks.