If you had told me when I was in high school that I was going to become a mortgage broker I would not have believed you. At the time my dream was to become a doctor. I came close, I had the grades and got an interview, but you have to be the top of the top and I was not one of the 100 school leavers selected to study medicine that year (which I am now very glad about).
I decided instead to study Biomedical Science, as had always enjoyed the sciences at school. I started university, but always with the plan to take a gap year after my first year (once I had turned 18) to undertake a working holiday in France. I was first exposed to French when I lived in London for a year with my family when I was in Year 7 (it was a compulsory subject in the UK). I decided to continue learning French as an extracurricular activity during my high school years with a view to travelling overseas in the future.
I set off for France three weeks after my 18th birthday. Working holiday visa in my passport, backpack and basic French abilities, to pursue my dream of living in Paris and speaking French. This was in 2006, before the era or smartphones and free wifi, so I was very isolated and had to be self-reliant. Keeping in touch with my family involved going to an internet café once a week, putting on a headset and looking into a webcam. I worked as a waitress, a great job to learn the language, and came back speaking French after an amazing year. I have continued this passion and am raising my children to be bilingual, which has forced me to renew and improve my own French.
I mention this experience as it has influenced who I am today. It caused me to re-think my desire to become a doctor, I realised that by pursing that career I would not have a work-life balance. I have workaholic tendencies that would not work well with a career that requires 110% as a minimum standard!
Having a love for travel, I decided to undertake another working holiday upon graduating university. This time my then fiancée now husband wanted to come too so it had to be an English-speaking country and we decided to go to London. We were there in 2009 during the GFC so finding work wasn’t easy but I secured a role as a medical secretary for the NHS (government). It was a dull role made bearable by lovely colleagues and weekends spent visiting different cities around Europe.
Whilst in London I pondered what career to pursue when I returned home. I realised from the jobs I had held to date that I liked working with people and knew that I was not going to pursue a scientific role. I had a few friends working in sales and decided this might be worth a shot so applied for roles in this field and secured a field sales role working for TNT. I excelled in this role and won a number of national awards - winning an incentive where the prize was a trip for two to Europe was certainly a highlight! I moved on to other more senior Business Development roles. After 6 years working in sales/BD, I was made redundant (along with the rest of my team) whilst pregnant with our first child. This was disappointing as I had a fantastic manager who had built an amazing team culture and I saw myself in that role for a few years. However, I had never viewed sales as my ‘forever’ career so, given I wasn’t going back to work in a hurry with a bub on the way, decided to use the time to consider a career change.
I have always had an interest in real estate and property investment. My husband and I have accumulated a portfolio of residential investment properties over the past 10 years which I self-manage. Therefore, I started thinking about different careers related to property. Realestate agent? No, too much weekend work. Property Manager? Not well remunerated plus I have no desire to deal with anyone else’s tenancy issues! Mortgage Broker? Hmmm, could be a good fit.
I have always used a broker for financing our purchases so reached out to him for a chat and to take me through what being a broker was like and what getting started involved. I did extensive research and went in with my eyes open about the realities of starting up as a broker. I was fortunate to know someone with experience who was willing to be my mentor and decided to start under my own brand straight away – start as you mean to continue right? With my husband’s support, when my son was only 6 months old I started my broking career. My background in sales and business development equipped me with many skills that have been useful in my own business.
One of the biggest attractions of broking for me was flexibility. I work part-time and do most of my work in the evenings and on the weekend when my husband is around. I am surprised there are not more young mums in our industry as have found being a broker a perfect fit for me in terms of having a rewarding and challenging career (look at all the policy changes we’ve had to deal with over the past couple of years!) that gives me a good work-life balance and flexibility around the requirements of my young family. I have two children, William (3yo) and Eloise (1yo), and am grateful I have a career that allows me to spend so much time with them.
I have found my calling, I love what I do and am proud to be a mortgage broker. What we offer consumers is really a win-win. They get a personalised service, we increase marketplace competition and our fee doesn’t hit their back pocket. I hope my story of wannabe doctor to science graduate to BDM to broker encourages you to share yours.
