Elite Broker: Making a mark

Q. How does your life as a broker compare to your previous career in lending?

It’s a bit like being in a candy store, to be honest. When you’re working for one institution, you just have their products to deal with. But as a broker, you’re spoilt for choice.

The diversity of how you can help people but also all the amazing people you get to meet in terms of business development managers in every bank. It blew my mind, to be honest. I didn’t realise that this industry was so powerful in that respect, in the choice that it offers people.

Q. What are you seeing from borrowers at the moment?

Q. Originally, you worked at Mortgage Choice head office in a franchise development role. How did you make the transition to becoming a broker in your own right?

At the time, our state manager had gone on maternity leave, and I’d stepped into her role for 12 months, which was such an honour, and I absolutely loved every second of it.

When she returned, I found it hard to step back into my old role, and I didn’t think that would fulfil me anymore. So, I started to look at alternatives. There was an opportunity to buy a retired loan book at the time, which hadn’t been worked on for a really long time.

That enabled me to step away from a corporate salary and have an income to start with.

Q. What does this shift mean for brokers and their clients?

Everything surprised me, to be honest. I went from being the master of one element/wearing one hat to having to wear every hat and not being a master of anything! I found that really challenging.

I also worked from home for two years, and I found that really difficult as well. The best thing I ever did was to get a shopfront, move in, and have a dedicated workspace.

It’s like anything – if you go from being in a role that you feel that you’re doing really well to then starting from scratch, you’re learning on the job. You obviously have to spend a lot of time learning your craft. But you don’t learn everything at the beginning. It’s all from experience.

I had to give myself a break because I wanted to be brilliant in every facet, and I realised I couldn’t be. So, I just had to learn what I needed to learn and take time to grow organically rather than wanting to be the expert straight away.

It was just about making sure that I kept learning and didn’t make the same mistake twice.

Q. Can you remember the first deal you settled?

I had a lovely couple, Joe and Karen, who came to me with three loans: two investment properties, and one residential property. They were in a bit of a mess. There were various different loan splits. Some were crossed, some weren’t, and it was just all over the shop.

I did three separate applications at the same time. It was a big piece of work, really, for my first loan, but I was really happy when we got that all set.

Q. What loans do you specialise in at the moment?

I specialise in first home buyers. I run first-time buyer seminars and am really involved in trying to educate first home buyers to get into the home ownership market.

I love helping that age group to really kind of understand how to get into home ownership. When they do, it’s such a thrill for me.

Q. What’s the best bit about being a broker?

I absolutely love meeting people and understanding their uniqueness and what’s important to them and really drilling down on how I can help them achieve what they’re wanting to achieve in the future – not just what’s immediately in front of them and really exploring what their future looks like and trying to support them on that journey. I absolutely love that.

Q. What advice would you offer to someone

Don’t be afraid to get out there and learn your craft well and always keep learning

Get admin early. Move into a shopfront early. You need money to do that, but those two things materially made a big difference to me. Put processes in early. Don’t be afraid to get out there and learn your craft well and always keep learning because you can never know enough.

And ask for client referrals early. That is your biggest market. I think we’re all a bit reluctant to ask for client referrals, and we must do it. You want raving fans, and it costs you nothing.

You’ve just got to have the courage to ask. People love to talk about a great experience that they’ve had. So, give your clients permission to do that.