The Western Australia-based broker delves into how he became a broker, how he manages his wellbeing, and his goals for the year ahead.
How and why did you become a broker?
I [was a] personal trainer for five or six years and then I met my coach from my football club at the time who was a mortgage broker. He sat me down and showed me how all the numbers work because I was looking to buy my first property at that stage.
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That’s when he introduced me to his boss and … then started on the [next] Monday. And that was it. That was back in August 2007. So here we are, nearly 17 years later.
It was a very steep learning curve and I was super enthusiastic.
How do you structure your team?
We’ve developed this pod structure where we’ve got a lead broker and underneath that, they’ve got their parabroker. So they work in one silo.
[The] lead broker takes the inquiry, the paraboker does the analytics, puts the files together, and the broker submits the deal.
Once the deal is submitted, the customer service team steps in – they handle both pre- and post-settlement.
I did this because I didn’t want them to do it the way that I did it; I wanted them to get where I got to (numbers and volume-wise) a lot quicker. And hopefully with a lot less stress!
What tech do you use to make your job more efficient?
[I was introduced] to Adobe Sign and from such a simple thing, I got back [so much time] in my day. With Adobe Sign and those certificates that you get online, it not only makes you efficient but also compliant.
BrokerEngine has been a massive game changer for us. We were using scrap bits of paper, scrapbooks. And we said, look, there [are] too many things going everywhere. We needed to put everything into one engine. And that’s when BrokerEngine came in.
Quickli is another tool that we didn’t have until two or three years ago. Quickli, for us, I think has probably shaved off 30 per cent of the time we would have previously spent doing multiple bank calculators.
What are your goals for the year ahead?
The year ahead for me is really about solidifying my two lead brokers within my referral group and turning more into a business owner rather than a business writer.
I’m trying to scale back my personal workload from writing deals myself. I’m also trying to bring Jake Hindley and Rohan Kandiah up through the ranks to become senior brokers and also taking on my referral group and existing customers. So that transition for me, is my next chapter in my journey.
What do you do to unwind?
Swimming [is my outlet] for a couple of reasons. One, for the physical movement. Two, it’s very low impact on the body, so as you get a bit older, you try to seek out those activities.
Going for a run for me is not the best result the day after. It feels good at the time, but the day after you’re kind of struggling to move around, whereas I’ll go for a swim for sort of anywhere from one to three hours sometimes, just depending on how much time I’ve got. And you finish it and you come out, you feel like elongated, you feel stretched, you feel relaxed.
What are your top tips for new brokers?
Stay in your lane, work out what you’re good at, and just do it and do it to the best of your ability. Then, put systems or people in place to do the things that you’re not good at.
The second thing I’ve always lived by is ‘ask the question’. I asked the question. I was in the gym. I saw the guy from a football club with the same signal on. I went up to him, he told me about his job. I said, “Wow, that would be amazing. Can I work there?”
Fast forward 10 years later to that, I went into my boss, I said: “I've finished my 10-year agreement. Can I buy you out?” I asked the question and I relate that to all the things in my life.
Find out more about how Joshua De Buelle set up his business by listening to the Elite Broker podcast episode, How this broker is helping borrowers finance their next adventure.
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[Related: How this broker is helping borrowers finance their next adventure]
