Q. How and why did you become a broker?
When I was 20, I took a job as a sales rep as something that I’ll do until I figure out what I want to do. All of a sudden, nearly 20 years passed!
I felt like I wasn’t fulfilled in my job. A good friend of mine owns a successful Mortgage Choice franchise and he’s been in the game for 20 years. I started talking to him and one thing led to another and we decided to go into business together and start a new franchise.
I’m now 12 months into my broker journey.
Q. How did you manage the overhead costs of setting up your own franchise?
In my previous roles, I had full profit and loss responsibility for the business segment that I was in control of so I’m very familiar with the P&L. I knew how much my expenses were going to cost per month, how much commission we got off each loan, and how many loans we needed to write.
The business gets the revenue from writing loans and I only pay myself a percentage of those loans. If I write no loans, I don’t get paid anything!
We set up a structure there that was going to give us a clear indication of our break-even point so I had that all planned out from early on, which I think is important.
Q. How did you find your first clients?
My first two clients were members of my gym. I go to a CrossFit gym that has a pretty social group. When I started my business, word got out, and I when I told them what I was doing, it seemed like the vast majority said, “I’ve been meaning to look into that”.
With everybody I meet, I let them know what I do and I can see the penny drop and they think, “Maybe you should look at my loan”.
Q. How and why did you hire support staff?
I started the business with a loan processor that does all of the general admin for me. They’re not on a fixed salary, so I only pay them when I’m writing loans. I saw that as no huge burden or loss because it’s not an overhead unless I’m doing business. If I’m doing business, I’m making money.
If I can be out there trying to source new clients and write more loans, then that brings more money in and allows me to pay someone else to deal with admin. I saw it as a way to keep me focused on growth and customers.
Q. What are your top tips for new brokers?
As a new broker, get yourself good support from somewhere. It could be from your aggregator or it could be from another broker that acts as a mentor. Not all brokers are competitors. My experience has been that most brokers are happy to help other brokers.
If you find another broker out there that you get along with and they’re experienced, try and catch up with them. Having someone there that you can call for advice is really powerful. In the early days, if you’re sitting at home by yourself with no one to call it can be pretty daunting. Whereas if you’ve got someone to call, they’ll usually have the answers and it makes the road a lot smoother for you.
