A passion for learning persuaded Sam McDonald to trade in his mining gear for a career in commercial finance at Atlas Broker. Speaking to The Adviser, McDonald describes his journey into the world of equipment finance and shared what he loves most about his new career
Q. What made you leave mining for the world of broking?
I love learning, love education, and think of myself as a lifelong learner … I had a lot of downtime and I was reading a lot, digesting a lot of media and podcasts, and they were all finance and business-related.
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I was just flicking through Seek one afternoon, knowing that I wanted a job in finance, and the role from Atlas Broker appeared. It sounded interesting, so I called the number on the page. It was our head of broker Matt Corkin. Straightaway, we hit it off over the phone. He sounded like a real genuine bloke, a really good guy, and he made the role sound interesting.
I went through the interview process, met a few other people within the business, and they all sounded like the sort of people I wanted to work with. I was going to be working with a lot of small-business owners and a lot of my friends and people I’d knock about with were those types of people anyway. It was one of those things – nothing ventured, nothing gained.
So, I jumped across and gave it a crack. And three and a half years later, here I am.
Q. How did you get up to speed in the world of finance?
When I first started at Atlas Broker, I was what they call an equipment finance specialist, basically just assisting the brokers.
The directors and the head of broker here have a wealth of experience and quite large books, but they were more than keen to show me the ropes and also give me the autonomy to go out and do things on my own. At the start, I was just working on their deals and then slowly they started providing me with deals of my own as I finished the Diploma of Financial Services.
They saw that I was asking the right questions and wouldn’t ask a question twice because I’d write it down, understand it, and learn it. So, they started giving me some of my own clients and then finally moved into the role as a broker in my own right.
Q. What type of loans do you like writing most?
Personally, my favourite thing to [help] fund is a cash-producing asset – assets that enhance the business.
It’s helping businesses grow and seeing someone go from an employee to a sole trader to a company and to eventually get off the tools, that’s the best part of the job.
Q. What is the next phase for you? What do you hope to achieve in the industry?
I really want to just keep doing what I’ve been doing, helping my current clients continue to grow their businesses, and building stronger relationships with those referral sources, whether they be the accountants that I work with or the equipment suppliers.
Hopefully, if I follow the process, the results will come.
Tune in to hear more!
You can find out more about Sam McDonald in the New Broker podcast. Tune in to the podcast, New Broker: Starting an explosive career in broking, here.
