After buying into a broker franchise in NSW, broker Kristie Gould hit the ground running making it her own. We find out how she did it
W: You began your career in banking as a teller. What made you decide to become a broker?
I started at the bank when I was 19 as a teller but I was getting to the point where I was turning people away all the time. And that was really hard to digest. I really liked helping people and having to say no to people was not something I thoroughly enjoyed.
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I've been a broker now for eight years. I'd left the bank, wanted a bit of a change and just went into temping in broking to start with, I did that for a little bit and then realised that this is what I really wanted to do long term.
I bought into an existing franchise about seven years ago, and two and a half years ago, I took over the franchise from the existing owner. We were partners for five years.
So it's just me and the team now.
Q: What does the full team structure look like?
We have a relatively large team and they’re all women. We've got a team of nine, including two brokers. Everyone plays their part. It’s really segmented around what everyone's responsibilities are... I've got two credit analysts (I call them broker support, but people like to call them credit analysts), two that look after customer care (retention, post settlement type stuff), two that look after the settlements and then someone who floats and does lots of different jobs...
At the moment, we're submitting about 40 to 45 applications a month, so it’s a well-oiled machine.
Q: What was the most challenging part of transitioning from being a broker to becoming a business owner?
I found it really quite difficult just because I don't think I was mentally prepared enough for it. I just didn't really know what it all kind of looked like...
I felt like if I wasn't doing the application, that I wasn't really working. I was not used to using the team or delegating to them. Allowing other people to help with our loan choices, our recommendations, doing the research, all those things. I had to allow someone else the opportunity to do that..
I think it has probably taken two years to get to the point of understanding that that's okay.
Q: What changes did you make to the business when you became the owner?
We were really quite paper-based before. So over a 12-month transition, we went electronic. We obviously needed to start thinking smarter about systems and getting rid of the paper. Also systems, processes, all of that, we had to scrap and start again. Basically. It just wasn't gonna work for me to have other people doing those parts of the process if I was still trying to do it all.
Q: What is the biggest challenge you face in the industry today?
Trying to keep up to date. Obviously, everything's changing so much with artificial intelligence (AI) and all those things, just really trying to keep up to date.
There are new tools that come out all the time, and just trying to leverage or use the information that's there to really try and create efficiencies is time-consuming. But we have to, otherwise we're just going to fall behind.
Q: What has been a "game changer" for your business's growth and your personal confidence as a business owner?
I think having Ross [Le Quesne, business coach at Billion Dollar Broker] on board…
Before him, I felt like I wasn't growing anymore. I wasn't able to look at it from a different perspective. So that, for me has been a game changer.
I think it's also built my confidence. In the transition, there was a lot of imposter syndrome, and to be honest, there still is. And I often really doubt myself. But I think just having someone else sort of pushing you to keep going, I think, has been a game changer.
Q: How do you create a good team culture?
I'm pretty flexible. Some of the team work part-time - maybe three days or four days a week.
I do allow them to work from home and be pretty flexible. I really want them to be able to like go to their kids' sport events or after-school things. So I think for the team and our team culture, it's really important to have that flexibility and allow people the opportunity to do those things.
Obviously, it's nice when everyone's in the office but sometimes we turn into having a mothers’ meetings when everyone's there!
Q: How are you going to continue to build the business?
At the moment, we are doing mostly residential loans. We do some asset finance as well, but mostly resi... This year we are looking to diversify.
The other broker that I've got on board, she's a bit more familiar with commercial lending, self-managed super fund lending. So that's something that we definitely want to diversify into as one of our growth goals.
Q: What is your key piece of advice for a new broker just starting their career?
I think it's important to work hard but not lose sight of why you're doing what you're doing. It can get super stressful, as everyone knows. It can get really demanding and at times it can get you down a little bit, I think. But I think just going back to why you decided to do it, what that particular client needs what's important to them, I think is really important not to lose sight of.
You can find out more about Kristie Gould in the Elite Broker podcast. Tune in to the podcast, How this broker is evolving a business and empowering her team, to find out more.
You can watch the episode on YouTube above, or on your device by clicking here. You can also listen to the audio-only version via your podcast player of choice or in the embedded player below:,
