Q. What made you decide to become a broker?
It took me a little while to get my head around the fact that I was going to be a mortgage broker – not from an industry point of view, just whether there was something else different to do.
But once I worked out that I love helping people and love finance, it was always going to be broking.
Q. How did you manage the transition from banking to broking?
I’m still getting used to calling myself a broker, but it was a transition.
For a little while there in the office, we joked about how we can’t wait to be a proper [brokerage]. We’re feeling like we’re there now at 12 months in.
The transition was difficult at first, getting out of the old ways into the new ways and then moving forward to having some good success over the last 12 months.
Q. What types of finance are you specialising in?
We’ve just said yes to everything.
Two of our best stories I love to share are [when] we helped a gentleman called Kerry with a reverse mortgage for $72,000. Kerry just needed a small little top-up to his regular pension to get him through a couple of years and help his wife, who wasn’t well, stay in the same house.
That was nice. And we’ve recently settled a $54 million refinance from one big four bank to another in the commercial banking space.
So, it’s wearing different hats at different times. But we’re saying yes to everything.
Q. At just over 12 months in, Brokers for Qld has already grown to a team of five. Did you always think you were going to build a team so quickly?
That was the plan, because I was really keen to go big. I thought, if we’re going to do it, we’re going to have a good crack at it. And you can’t call yourself Brokers for Queensland and be solely based on the Sunshine Coast.
We’ve got some growth plans set up to do later this year, hopefully early next year. But it takes good people to come on board and help your clients.
Q. How did you start generating your first business?
I had done a fair bit of advertising in my previous business, and I went to that same radio station and advertised that I was open for business, local and just happy to help out. Obviously, that resonated with people [who] had liked us in the past.
But it was surprising how many people reached out going, “Oh, thank God you’re a broker now. I can actually get your support.”
They were just happy for us to have the choice to try and help them achieve what they wanted to achieve. And we have great relationships with local accountants and real estate agents, so our referral network started up pretty strongly.
Q. And what advice would you share with any new brokers following a similar path?
Do that prior planning. Get some good lead time before you’re actually going to become a broker. Find some good mentors and contacts in the industry that can help you out, especially if it gets tough. And then once you launch, just have as much fun as you can.
