On the drive home from college graduation, Matt Doyle’s dad warned him against relying too much on credit. “If you find yourself in debt, you figure it out. Don’t call us for a bailout,” he told Doyle. But sure enough, the post-college job that Doyle had secured fell through because of a sudden hiring freeze. This happened after Doyle had signed a lease to live with two friends near Wrigley Field. “I did exactly what my dad told me not to do: I got into debt,” he recalls. “I also did what he told me to do, in that I figured it out myself.”

He called a mortgage broker he knew and landed a job. “I started hitting the phones and closing deals,” he says. “After four years, I co-owned a brokerage with my old college roommate Scott ‘Homeownership’ Hulsey.” Now on their 14th year as business partners, the two credit the decision to join CrossCountry Mortgage in 2015 for the tremendous growth their business has experienced since.

“Our best source of business is referrals and repeat clients who move, refinance or buy investment properties,” says Doyle, now branch manager of Team Doyle Hulsey. “They know we are always available and ready to help, seven days a week.”

Last year was Doyle’s best in mortgages but toughest personally. He was the recipient of a “40 Under 40” award from the Naperville Chamber of Commerce, but at the same time, lost his mother to cancer. She was his biggest supporter; he still has the Post-It note she wrote, “Go get ‘em, tiger,” when he and Hulsey launched the business. “The recognition from my peers was a reminder of how important our work is,” he says. “My mom would be proud. We don’t just close loans; we help put a roof over a family and make a house a home.”