We speak with the Mortgage Choice Oakleigh broker about how a home loan led to him becoming a broker, and how backing yourself and connectivity are essential to business sustainability.
For 14 years, Marvin Coleman was a chartered accountant but after relocating to Australia, he embraced a career change.
Since his move, he’s never looked back and was recently crowned as Victoria and Tasmania’s Broker of the Year 2021.
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We speak with the Mortgage Choice Oakleigh broker about how a home loan led to him becoming a broker, and how backing yourself and connectivity are essential to business sustainability.
You’re originally from Scotland. How long have you been in Australia?
We moved over in 2005. I was living in London with my wife, and we’d just had our second child. We were thinking about coming over to Australia, and then the London bombings happened. We accelerated some of our plans and moved over to Melbourne in September, and started the broking business about 15 months after that.
You were a chartered accountant prior to broking. What made you take the leap?
We bought an investment property. We knew we could borrow the money, but we didn't know how to borrow. We googled mortgages and up popped Mortgage Choice first.
I got a phone call from a broker named Dean Phelan, and I immediately connected with him. He became my broker, but halfway through the appointment, he asked if I’d ever thought about becoming a mortgage broker. I told Dean, in no uncertain terms, that I was a chartered accountant and “why would I possibly want to become a mortgage broker?"
What was the catalyst for you to change your mind?
My wife and I spent the next two weeks discussing it while going through the mortgage application process. I later phoned Dean with my tail between my legs. One thing led to another, and there was a Mortgage Choice franchise for sale in the same marketing area as him. That deal settled in December of that year, with Dean and I sharing an office. We leased a space in March 2007 and six months later, we were in a lease together.
Who’s in your team at Mortgage Choice Oakleigh?
At the moment, there's six of us, plus one on maternity leave and a couple soon to be joining. I’d say we’ve split the business into three parts. There’s myself and one other who receives and evaluates the opportunities before packaging the deal. We then have two in the processing team and then we've also got one person (with another soon to join), in our client review tea,; that’s all around keeping in touch with our clients, ensuring that we have long-term relationships with them by getting in touch with them every six-to-eight months, making sure everything's okay.
What do you think is the biggest challenge in establishing your own office?
Building your single operator business into something sustainable. That's what my target is still.
I remember being on holiday 10 years ago with my family. We got a place in Margaret River over Christmas, and I was sitting on the balcony, overlooking the water, but on my laptop on Christmas Eve. My kids were playing, and I should’ve been playing with them, but I was trying to get settlements through on my own. That was the trigger point. That following March, I’d recruited my first person. That was the start of the journey to where we're at now, and we’re only halfway through that particular journey.
But to be honest with you, I'm probably seven years behind where I should be because I spent too many years being a single operator.
What tips would you give to other brokers looking to grow?
You've got to learn you have the ability to connect with people because without that, there's nothing. But when you've got to that point, you have to back yourself. Whether it's offshoring, outsourcing, employing, you need to back yourself. If you're willing to work hard and you can connect with people, success will come. But if you don't back yourself, you spend years trying to play catch up.
With the extra time now required to process an application, for me, it’s impossible to build a business alone. What will end up happening is rather than taking 10 years to get burnt out as it used to be, you'll probably burn out after five because of the extra compliance requirements.
Take the mindset that “I'm willing to take a few risks”, because I promise you that you'll succeed if you have the ability to connect with people.
You can find out more about Marvin Coleman and his top tips for success in the Elite Broker podcast.
Tune in to the episode with Marvin, Vic/Tas’ Broker of the Year 2021, below:
