About April Young Blackwell

April Young Blackwell lives in Raleigh, NC, with her husband and three amazing children, William 9, Zara 8,  and Julianna 6. April has been in the Financial Services industry since 1999.  In 2004, she had an awesome opportunity to get into the mortgage industry.  She began her career as a Loan Originator, aka Mortgage Loan Officer in 2005.  She has been on the roller coaster ride since then. She foresaw the crash of 2008 after noticing buyers were purchasing homes they could not afford.  She didn’t only survive, but she thrived during the housing crisis.  Unfortunately, that success slowly began to fade.

She has seen home values return to their pre-crisis levels and soar way beyond.  She has witnessed the pendulum swing with excruciating underwriting guidelines to loosening in the traditional world, along with many “outside the box” products returning to the scene.  

This is not a story, however, about mortgages.  It is a story of transformation. April has lived through it all, the good, the bad, and the ugly.  The good is where she prefers to stay, of course.  In 2018, her production was stagnate. The trajectory was grim.

The industry had changed, she had changed, as well, and not in a positive way.  She found herself getting beat up left and right. She couldn’t shake this feeling of being defeated all the time.  It was exhausting.  Call, call, follow up, provide a client multiple estimates, then, a big “Thanks, but no thanks.”  Despite her wins, her losses were all she could think about.  She needed to do better.  

Her growing family meant, growing financial responsibilities.  Performing at her 5-year average wasn’t going to do it.  She was stuck.

Her mind, heart, and spirit weren’t feeling right. She allowed self-doubt and fear to pour in and affect her in many ways.  But, all hope was not lost.  April had a miraculous spiritual encounter at Church after hearing a word about downward and upward spirals.  She knew she was at the bottom of a downward spiral, and the message gave her hope that would begin her upward spiral.  

She said a prayer, a plea, for tools and resources that would either “shape her up” or “ship her out.”  She knew either she needed to make it work or find another career. But, she didn’t know where to turn.  When she got to her car, she heard a voice.  “Find a Christian radio station, listen to the music, stop listening to all this news radio.”  She immediately complied.  She found a station and began to listen.  As she let the words pierce her heart and wash over her, she had another idea of inspiration. “Go to Linked In.”  "Good Idea," she thought. "Maybe God is telling me to find another job."  Once home, she began looking at what people she followed were following.  She knew she needed to find some positive, inspirational content, and quickly! 

One thing led to another that led her to a conference in San Diego, CA (Sales Mastery by Todd Duncan, High Trust). And that is where the story of transformation really begins.  The conference had such a profound impact.  It illuminated what April was doing wrong in her business and what she would need to do to fix it.  It showed a light on the area in her life she needed the most help, and that was her mindset. In her business, she realized she had lost her personal touch.

While there, April went all-in on the services at her fingertips.  She decided to go through Peak Performance Coaching with Jonathan Roche and sign up for business coaching with the Todd Duncan group.  Since starting coaching in November of 2018, the results are visible and measurable in April's life and business. In December 2019, April closed the year with a personal best. In December 2020, she topped that personal record by 65% AND was named #2 in her State, and #3 in the SouthEast Territory. The difference in her performance from 2018 to 2020 was nearly 3X! 

After seeing the vast improvement just one year into her journey, April had another idea of inspiration, this coaching blog . She named it "the coaching points," to provide readers the insightful points that were helping her in such profound ways.  This blog is all about the life and business lessons that April learns and takes action on, week to week, on her journey to grow and be better every day. 

Her blog blends personal challenges, motivational quotes for life, Bible verses, Disney song lyrics, Inspirational book quotes. If it lifts her up, she shares it.

April is a student of her craft and has an eager desire to learn more, achieve peak performance lock-in, chase down the best possible version of herself, and SHOW UP on fire, ready to serve her family, friends, her clients, and community.  

At the end of 2020 she found the courage and confidence to start her own Mortgage Brokerage, Blackwell Mortgage of NC, LLC.

She continues to read books on personal development and leadership that inspire her every day. April wants to share her passion with the world at large.  If just one person out there can experience what she has by being inspired by this blog, then the time and energy to do this will be worth it.  

April has arrived at a point in her life where her joy and enthusiasm for people can surely be felt.  She loves to love.  And Love is what the world needs.  Read. Enjoy. Be Blessed.  Find a Coach!