Hey there - Broker career change

Hey All

I am looking to change careers from consumer goods sales to mortgage broking and looking for any tips along the way. I’m working through my diploma whilst planning the next steps.

 

Which way did you go with regards to your questions about aggregator offerings?

 

I decided to ‘decouple’ the certificate/diploma and get that done seperately while looking to research aggregator options better. Ideally including mentoring. The options are endless however.

 

Then I'd say start with finding your mentor. That will likely influence the choice of aggregator, but you can change aggregators in the future (not an entirely easy process, but it can be done).

It should go without saying that your mentor needs to be highly competent in the finance niche you're expecting to target and they need to be someone you trust and can work with well.

Will you work for your mentor or work as a separate business? The first will help you with leads and possibly income, but you probably won't 'own' your book. If you are starting your own business you're fairly independent, but you better have enough money in the bank to live for a year or two until you start to generate some cash flow.

Something very important to consider is licensing and aggregator agreements. Does your mentor hold their own license, or do they operate under their aggregators license? If they do have their own license or will you operate as an authorised rep or will you work under the aggregators license? If you're not working directly for the mentor, then I'd suggest getting your own aggregator agreement.

I changed aggregator a few years ago (had been with the previous one for over 15 years). The only reason I changed was for the efficiency the software brought. Initially business support from your aggregator is very important. Later on when you're well established it's little more than payment structures and efficiencies. At a minimum I'd choose an aggregator with payment models for fixed price payment models. A percentage may be cheaper initially, so ensure you've got the ability to change models later on.

 

Quite a few people on here have become brokers after buying IPs in Logan and western sydney - if you do a search you'll find a few threads about how to get started

 

Great advice. Particularly around the license.

I had been looking at some options to run my own business but with mentor support linked to an aggregator or sub-aggregator and flex to start with a % model and moved to fixed as it grows, so pleased you backed up my thoughts.

 

Ex-FMCG industry here...

The two things you'll need more than anything are:
#1 To close the gap on the functional learning as quickly as possible - you will need to be able to deliver good customer outcomes (cert4/diploma anywhere near enough on this)
#2 Put together a plan on where your business is going to come from (without this #1 is irrelevant)