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A mortgage professional who has recently struck out on her own has offered some advice on how to successfully build a new brokerage.
Having recently soft-launched her own brokerage after breaking away from a large company, mortgage and finance specialist Bianca Patterson of Calculated Lending has emphasised that building a successful company from scratch requires thorough and thoughtful preparation.
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“Make sure you are mentally and financially prepared for the first year as it won’t be easy,” Ms Patterson told The Adviser. “Put away enough money so that you’re not stressed about bringing income in so you can focus on discovering and building your own brand.”
Ms Patterson emphasised that developing a brand before embarking on the journey of launching a new brokerage is “critical”.
“If you try and rush, what you put out may be sending the wrong message to clients, which will cost you far more in the long run,” she explained.
Ms Patterson also advised that is important to be “very specific” about a target market from the outset, as the location of the office, branding and advertising should all be aimed at that group.
“If you are not sure who your target market is, you need to invest time and resources into working this out,” she added.
Further, she highlighted the benefit of delegating effectively and “acknowledging what you’re good at,” as having an expert handle certain parts of the process may have an initial cost but can overall translate into a saving over time.
“Keep your overheads low where you can, especially if you will be starting small,” Ms Patterson added. “There are so many ways to have the best of everything at a lower cost than doing it all yourself.”
“Consider sharing space and resources with other business; you could all be brokers or you could work in complementary services, i.e.: a broker sharing an office with a settlement agent and a planner.”
Ms Patterson said her new brokerage Calculated Lending soft-launched this week.
[Related: Ambitious broker highlights benefits of mentorship]
