Why this broker went independent from the get-go

Speaking to The Adviser’s Elite Broker podcast (recorded live in Perth where she was crowned Best Newcomer at the 2021 Better Business Awards), Ms Ferguson – who studied science at university – said that her passion for forging relationships with people and her positive experiences of using brokers when she and her husband purchased investment properties piqued her interest in a broking career.

After researching the field and what it would entail, speaking with brokers within her personal network, and learning that it would be a flexible career path that would allow her to balance her career and her children, Ms Ferguson decided to begin broking.

She also decided to establish her own independent brokerage and brand immediately in 2016 instead of joining another franchise or brand.

Explaining the reason for this, Ms Ferguson explained: “I decided that I would start my own brand straight up from the word go because I thought you might as well start as you need to continue, rather than swapping down the track and losing trail and things like that.

“So, I was fortunate. I started straight up as my own sole broker business under my own brand.”

As a new broker and business owner, finding a mentor was not only compulsory but beneficial for Ms Ferguson. As such, she once again looked to her personal network for a mentor.

“I was actually very lucky. It was someone that was acquainted with my family broader network,” she explained.

“We just happened to bump into each other at the right time.”

Choosing mentors and aggregators

Having a mentor also made the decision of choosing an aggregator easy for Ms Ferguson as she chose the one her mentor was using.

However, after operating her business for a year and finding that her software requirements had expanded, she and her mentor decided to switch to Finsure.

Explaining her reasons for switching aggregators, Ms Ferguson said: “At the time, the software I was using wasn’t pushing through very well to a client line. And there was a lot of data I had to re-enter. I had already entered [data] in my internal software [but then] I had to re-enter it when I got to the application portal.”

Ms Ferguson – who predominantly writes loans for first home buyers and owner-occupier upgraders – said that while she is currently the sole operator and manages all the functions of her business, she would explore options to add processing support to her brokerage.

Adding back-offices support

She added that she would avoid recruiting more brokers into her business, explaining that she does not “particularly like people management”.

“I had a bit of experience with that in my corporate career,” Ms Ferguson said.

“It’s just something that stresses me. So, it’s not natural for me. So, I prefer to minimise that.”

However, Ms Ferguson said she would like back-office support with data entry, ApplyOnline processes and other administrative tasks.

This would enable her to focus on the client-facing aspects of the business and grow her brokerage, she said.

To listen to the full Elite Broker podcast with Amy Ferguson recorded live at the Better Business Summit in Perth, click here:

[Related: Why this property investor became a broker]