Having become a broker 11 years ago at Aussie’s original retail store in Sunnybank, Danny Blair has sat down with The Adviser to discuss what his journey has been like and why he's taken on four franchises.
In this Q&A, we find out how Mr Blair entered the broking industry, what led him to join Aussie, what prompted him to purchase additional franchises, and his advice for new brokers looking to get started in the industry.
How and why did you become a broker?
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I originally come from a hospitality-based background; I spent 14 years working in hotels, pubs, and clubs, working my way up through management in hospitality, but always in customer servicing facing roles.
The time came in my life when I started a young family and realised that the lifestyle and late hours, passing my wife like ships, passing notes on the fridge, etc ... that I needed to change. And that’s when I looked at what was available in the market that I had some skills that I could apply and that’s when I started to have a look at different brokerages to start and that’s when I ended up with Aussie.
What led you to join Aussie?
I think it was the name in the end. I’d done a number of different interviews with a number of different brokerages, but just the well-known name and the fact of the size of Aussie and just the security of knowing that the brand was there behind it.
Why did you start as a loan writer rather than buy a franchise initially?
It was really the unknown. I didn’t know what I didn’t know back then 10 years ago, so that was really the biggest thing.
Starting as a loan writer back at Aussie Sunnybank, which was Aussie’s first-ever retail store, after the first couple of years, I gained a bit of confidence to think: ‘Hang on, I can actually make a really good career’. That’s when I went out with the old franchisee at Aussie Sunnybank and purchased Aussie Ipswich.
What prompted you to open additional stores after Aussie Ipswich?
I just saw an opportunity. As an industry, we went through the royal commission and obviously we were walking around on eggshells seeing whether we were going to be fee for service or what our actual industry was going to look like.
Then, at the start of COVID-19, there was more uncertainty. But I think it was pretty early into the COVID-19 lockdowns in certain states that we actually found that people were still buying houses more than ever.
The inquiry [level] was through the roof and I had just seen an opportunity to take advantage of that and then I expanded and bought Mount Ommaney as a greenfield site. From there, I went on and bought Kenmore and, more recently, opened up the fourth store at Forest Lake.
I was in the first store at Ipswich for about five years before I bought the second store in Mount Ommaney, then had that for two years, then bought Kenmore, and now, two years later, Forest Lake.
How many employees do you have across the stores?
We have 14 brokers at the moment and approximately four admins at the moment and we’ve only recently changed that as we used to have eight admins.
We changed it as we took on the Aussie-supported store model where they actually handle the client solutions, handle the settlements, and the lodgements for us and the associates take care of their customers in that early part of their journey before they might be ready for an appointment.
What initiatives do your stores do in the community to get the name out there?
Most of my stores have an association with the local school, typically the P&C, as they’re always looking to raise money for new playground equipment and everything else like that.
All of my stores also sponsor local sporting groups, typically one of my brokers has a child or a kid [who] plays in that, so we’ve got a handful of guernsey sponsorships out there for that and we still do some of the school talks.
Most recently, my team at Mount Ommaney went and presented at Centenary High School, which is just around the corner, talking to year 11 and 12 students about all the new facilities and what the actual interest rates and their implications of them.
I think one of the biggest things that I’ve found even starting early on as a broker is just a general lack of finance knowledge among everyone generally. We get taught the basics for maths, English, science, and everything else in school, but actually managing your finances, a lot of people don’t know how to manage their finances efficiently.
What advice do you have for new brokers looking to get going?
If you’re just starting in the career, I know it is going to be tough in your first six months or a year, but see it out and try and align yourself with a really good mentor, someone who you can bounce ideas off and can take you through the highs and lows of learning everything, dealing with first home buyers when you get a tough decision, and a decline and the euphoria of getting that tough deal approved and seeing someone get their first house.
But just try to align yourself with a really good mentor in that first year and try and see out the first two years, if you’re a mortgage broker for two years and it’s not for you, that’s okay, but once you’re in it for two years you will stay in the industry for a very long time.
And for those looking to expand, I really encourage you to partner and get your team set up correctly before you do it, I think too many people try to expand without having the right cogs in place, the right people in place, and if that happens you just wear yourself too thin.
There’s no point having two inefficient stores over having one successful store because you haven’t got the right people in place or the right plan and partners in place to execute that second store.
If you’d like to find out more about Danny Blair and his Aussie franchises, tune in to the Elite Broker episode, How this broker runs 4 brokerages at the same time, below:
