A word from Aussie
We know brokers are doing more than ever – balancing customer relationships, business growth, and changing market expectations.
As the landscape evolves, so does what it takes to build a successful business. Stronger customer engagement, smarter use of technology, and the ability to scale sustainably are becoming increasingly important.
At Aussie, our franchise model is designed to support brokers looking to take that next step. It combines the strength of an iconic brand, proven systems, and integrated tools and services that help customers find, buy, and own property with greater confidence, while giving brokers the opportunity to build long-term value across the customer life cycle.
For brokers ready for something bigger, it offers a clear pathway to become CEO of your own business, with the backing to grow, scale, and build something that’s truly yours.
At a glance, Chris Gamble’s introduction to the mortgage broking industry mirrors that of many high performers – starting on the tools, learning the ropes, building a strong client base, becoming a business leader, and eventually expanding operations.
What makes the Western Australian broker’s journey particularly interesting is the speed with which he has reached each milestone.
Gamble joined Aussie Woodvale in February 2022, switching from a career in retail to pursue an interest in property.
In just over 12 months, he had purchased the store from the franchisees – not bad for someone who hadn’t yet turned 30.
While he concedes there was an element of being in the right place at the right time, becoming a franchise owner made sense in terms of where he wanted to take his career.
“I spent a lot of time discussing it with my wife, my parents, grandparents and in-laws. We discussed the pros, and we discussed the cons,” he says.
“The ultimate decision to make the transition to become the franchise owner was around the opportunity to not only accelerate my learnings into the mortgage broking industry, but double down and ultimately learn how to operate and run my own business.”
Becoming a business owner
Since taking the reins, Gamble has turned Aussie Woodvale into a leading branch, earning him a place in Aussie’s Signature Program, which recognises the network’s top performers.
He says one of the big enablers in his journey has been finding the right team.
“We are consistently renewing our process and refining it to become easily taught and repeatable. Our new team members can assist customers sooner and if there’s any support required, we have a manager/senior staff member available to assist,” he says.
“Each staff member has a monthly coaching session where we review the wins for continued progression and identify the areas of opportunity. Each month has a goal or strategy to be implemented to actively change the opportunity into a strength.
“These are reviewed weekly to provide additional support if necessary. This could include specific scenarios, or type of application or it could simply be around how to engage in a meaningful conversation to understand and identify the customers’ ‘why’.”
Aussie’s model has played a key role in recruitment, according to Gamble.
“It supports our business to bring in new-to-industry staff members who can hit the ground running, supported by an eight-week graduate program and an amazing platform that is consistently improving to add time back into our day and spend more time with our customers,” he says.
“Aussie has continued to support our growth and assist when needed with further training, internal coaching and the tools to assist.”
As the business scaled and the need for additional management support grew, giving greater responsibility to senior team member Dean Cokis was the natural next step.
“We needed to ensure that we had managers with defined roles and responsibilities, primarily to a ‘front of house’ and ‘back of house’ operations,” he says.
“As much as I love being a mortgage broker, I needed to take a step back and spend more time coaching and developing the team to ensure our process was repeatable, consistent and above the customer expectation.
“The more the team has mastered mortgage broking, the more people we could assist.”
Find, Buy, Own
Gamble has also been able to make the most of Aussie’s recent repositioning as a fully integrated property ecosystem, with services including a new property search platform, conveyancing support, and an app with tools such as live equity tracking.
Rather than operating purely as a mortgage brokerage, Aussie’s evolving model enables franchisees to participate in more stages of the property journey.
The introduction of a buyer’s agent at Aussie Woodvale provides a strong example.
Since joining the store in August 2025, buyer’s agent Brent Compton has helped secure more than 40 properties for customers across Australia.
“Brent actively educates our team on the market conditions and will support our team on questions relating to the property transaction,” Gamble says.
“He is backed with extensive experience in real estate and continues to attract five-star reviews and feedback for his outstanding service. Our clients are now supported with professional service from the home loan to property purchase, to settlement.”
In addition to delivering value beyond the home loan itself, the new proposition has also opened up a new revenue stream, allowing the business to diversify beyond traditional commissions.
“While the mortgage business has been our primary source, introducing a buyer’s agent into our team has assisted our customers to purchase property faster, which has resulted in equity gained sooner, and has relieved the emotional fatigue from missing out on the properties that they dreamed of,” he says.
“Customer satisfaction has increased, and this has also generated another referral network where our customers are recommending their friends and family to utilise a buyer’s agent.
“The feedback is often around how they feel they were supported through the transaction or previously have tried to purchase property on their own and feel they may not have been considered. Our customers can actively see the level of support from buyer’s agent to broker, broker to buyer’s agent with the customer as the main priority.”
Multi-site ownership
With success, Gamble and his counterpart Cokis have moved to a multi-site ownership model, opening a new store in Butler – a suburb in Perth’s outer north.
While Gamble concedes the process will come with its share of challenges, he is excited about the potential to apply his principles to a new set of customers.
“Woodvale was already in an established location, where the local customers knew where we were. The second location is a brand-new office where there have not been many established mortgage broking businesses,” he says.
“We have started by reaching out to local sports clubs and businesses to see how we can support them. We want to be involved in the community.”
And while he may be moving quickly through the mortgage world, his ultimate goal in the industry remains the same – helping one more person than he did the previous month.
“Aussie’s model has allowed us to hit the ground running with active inquiries within our first months. Our associate colleagues have identified customers who have engaged with the Aussie brand within the local area that could benefit from our services and have quickly been connected to our broking team,” he says.
“We believe that with the same obsession to an amazing customer outcome, a keen eye for detail, supported by Aussie’s platform and new innovations, we are set up for success.”
