Q. What made you want to follow in your father’s footsteps and become a broker?
I’ve always been relatively good with numbers – that came naturally to me. And then, even as a young kid, I remember helping Dad in his business with old-school admin tasks.
Back in the day, Dad used to do a newsletter. I think it was a quarterly newsletter that he’d actually write himself. I’d help fold them up and we’d mail them out and I put the stamps on and licked the envelopes and all that jazz. I’d also help him with faxes, making sure the faxes went through while he was doing other jobs and stuff like that.
I’ve always had an interest in what he did. Then I got a job at Commonwealth Bank, worked there for five years in a variety of roles, and then made the plunge and joined the First Finance Solutions Group.
We have separate businesses, me and Dad, but we do still work alongside each other.
Q. What is your process for writing loan
I have a team that helps me offshore, they process all my deals. They do some follow-up for me, too. I am in the process of trying to get them to do a bit more of that for me.
From the client meeting (once I’ve got the documentation, made my recommendations, and assuming the client’s comfortable with them and wants to proceed), they [the offshore staff] basically take over from there until submission.
I make sure all the compliance documentation is correct and that the application is good so, between me and the staff, we work all the way through settlement.
Q. What have been your highlights over the past nine years?
Being able to grow a business is a great achievement. I’m pretty proud of what I’ve been able to do over the last nine years and set my family up. I have a business now that allows us to live a reasonable lifestyle.
I also get to see Dad every day. We come into the office and we always have a coffee together and have a bit of a chat about things. Not many people get to spend that much time with their family.
Q. What advice would you give to a broker just starting in the industry?
You’ve got to be prepared (especially at the start) to go a bit over and above, especially with the hours you’re probably going to work.
I would definitely look at education; look at ways to upskill
The other thing I found really helpful for me early on was reaching out to a lot of brokers. I went and had coffee with them and picked their brain on how they do things. Because I know Dad does things his way and his way is great, but there’s always another way! I wanted to pick a way that was going to be good for me.
I would definitely look at education; look at ways to upskill yourself. I was pretty big on making sure that I upskilled in things like asset finance and commercial relatively early on. You don’t want to lose a client because you can’t service their full needs.
Q. What’s next for your business?
I’m definitely in a growth stage, but I want it to be manageable and sustainable growth as Dad does a transition to slow down a bit.
I’ll probably put on more staff; whether that’s onshore or offshore, I’m not certain yet. I think we’ll cross that bridge as we get there.
But that’s the goal – just to keep writing more business, serving more clients, helping more clients out, and getting good results.
