"My No. 1 secret is putting others first, and if the client isn't winning and if the deal does not help them, I do not win," said Birkland, who has been immersed in the banking industry since 1990 and launched Sapphire Mortgage in 2003. "There may be deals that don't really make me any money but if I helped the client change their life for the positive, something good will come for me and it always does. The whole baseline is giving is receiving."

It may seem like a risky strategy, but the tactic has proved both fruitful and lucrative for Birkland, who noted that 99 percent of her client base was created by means of referrals.

"With Sapphire our company is a little unique in that our relationship with our clients is not usually a one-time deal," she said, adding that she focuses on long-term solutions, such as helping clients plan for their children's education or retirement. "Clients are like family to us, and so our services are completely based on building their wealth. Our philosophy is that our client gets to win under any circumstances, so we put them in transactions that are improving their lives and building a lifetime of wealth, and that usually starts with a home mortgage."

Birkland previously worked for five years at a Portland, Ore.-based title company before a friend suggested she try her hand in the finance business.

"I did that for a year then I got recruited for a mortgage company; they promoted me into management and had a Las Vegas office. They put me in Las Vegas and I was a branch manager and then I went out to broker," Birkland said. "But I had more experience than the owners of some of the companies I worked for, and when you work for someone else, there are certain ways of doing business that went against my philosophy of the customer coming first and what we could do to change their lives."

To that end, Birkland founded Sapphire Mortgage, paying $100,000 in cash to get the company off the ground.

"I don't like to have debt," she said. "A lot of people will open a business on credit and then your profit and loss is sideways."

Five employees jumped ship with her to join the company, which quickly grew to meet the needs of an expanding clientele, and had 60 employees by November 2005. But rapid growth led to a decreased quality of customer service, which ran counter to Birkland's business philosophy. So she downsized the staff and rearranged her company's sales/intern administration ratio and client programs to be more efficient and hands-on, and to position Sapphire for long-term success.

It was another bold move, but it paid off.

"Downsizing didn't really affect my business," she said. "I'm in the top 5 percent of income earners in the country, so when I was able to put more into my team and my clientele my personal income went way up and I like it this way. Besides, I'm a producing loan officer and owner, so I do my own loans and run the company, and my favorite thing to do is spend time with the clients. Before I downsized, I spent so much time running the company I didn't get to spend time with clients."

This includes Doug Monroe, the branch manager of a local administration facility.

"Cindy has been my broker for the last year, and she helped me to refinance my existing home and helped me purchase a rental property," said Monroe, who has referred friends and colleagues to Sapphire. "I think she's very aggressive and she's got her eye set on the future and how to get there in the most profitable way. I like the direction she's steered me in, that's for sure. Only time will tell if it will work, but I think she will help me to capitalize on the market in Las Vegas in the next three to five years."

Birkland has no formal training in money management but spends an estimated $35,000 a year on education. She pays a mortgage coach about $2,000 per month and also attends regular summits, where she gleans knowledge from successful entrepreneurs and professionals and plugs the useful information into her business model.

She also has a Realtor partner plan, which includes a twice-monthly coaching program.

"Every deal they give me I give them one back," Birkland said of her Realtor partners. "If I am going to do my best to help people win, it entails giving the Realtors a thank you and the best way I can do that is to send them business."

Karin Wilson, a real estate agent with Century 21 Aadvantage Gold, is among the Realtors who benefit from such a relationship.

"Cindy has been a loan partner for about a year and a half," said Wilson, who added that Birkland also refinanced her mother's house. "We run a mother-daughter team and that was one of the first things we did when we started working with Cindy because we like to try a transaction with someone before we recommend them to our clients. The process was wonderful and Cindy and I noticed we both have the same business model and had so much in common as far as the way we both did business in terms of follow-up and customer service and that was really important in looking for a loan partner. Cindy also does coaching for real estate agents and I have a real estate coach and she has a mortgage coach so we can pass ideas between us."

In addition to partnering with Realtors, Birkland is also committed to networking and does not hesitate to work the phones.

"I make sure that I talk to a minimum of 10 people a day," she said. "I will maybe call five business partners and five Realtors and check on them, and see how I can help them.

If I do that every day, at the end of the week I've talked to 50 people, and at the end of the month I've talked to 200 people. It's a numbers game in this business, so the more people you talk to the more deals you will close. I'm also able to connect people and they are so grateful they send me business."

Birkland cited employee recruitment as the most daunting obstacle to running Sapphire Mortgage.

"I guess the biggest challenge as a business owner is making sure you hire the right person," she said. "It's got to be a good fit I take a little more time when I hire people now. I test all of my employees for the position and kind of do a personality profile with a service that I pay for, because if someone is happy and love what they do they will work really hard, be happier at home and make more money."

Birkland offered the following nuggets of wisdom.

"My advice to business owners would be to watch the bottom line and make sure they are slow to hire and quick to fire, because if you have employees that have developed a bad attitude or are a bad fit it sets a precedent that you settle for mediocrity or that cancer in the office is OK," Birkland said. "That's why it is so important to take you time with people and make sure they are a good fit."