I had a conversation a few years back with a broker from Vancouver. He asked me where I was with my year. I said I was at $24 million in 75 files at that point in the year, in comparison he was at $20 million in 25 files.
He then followed this comment with, “Now I understand why you got a second job,” in reference to my underwriting training business. I did three times the number of files and three times the workload for virtually the same volume/compensation and I also started a second business in my ‘free time.’ Instead of seeing my effort for what it was, he saw the dollars earned and patted himself on the back for having it all figured out compared to the effort I was putting in.
I had another conversation with a different broker from Victoria that same year. He asked me about my business and what my average file size was. At the time, I believe it was around $260k and he told me that he ‘wouldn’t even get out of bed for a file under $300k’ and suggested I was wasting my time brokering files that small.
When I look at my funded files history over the last 6 years, 170 of those files were under $300k. Those 170 files represent $35,646,203 in total volume. And gross income of $309,996, which I am kind of happy I got out of bed for.
More importantly, it represents 170 families that I was able to assist with their home financing needs. And as my colleague Blaire Borle says, “everyone needs a place to live.” And not everyone lives in a million-dollar home. I like to think of myself as a broker who gave everyone my time and respect, not just the clients with generational wealth.
As a group of competitive type-A personalities, it is no doubt that the comparison of businesses takes place in our industry as much as it does. We award based on volume and rank our industry in top broker lists. We admire and look up to brokers who, in some cases, do not deserve our admiration, simply based on the numbers. We give voices, audiences and stages to them based on the business they do with no measure of whether they are good people living in a meaningful way.
Do we measure success solely by income in our industry?
I admit, I have been caught up in this myself as of late. I have compared my brokering revenues to my coaching and training course revenues and I have questioned where my time is best invested in the never-ending chase for the elusive feeling of success. No doubt, this has been fuelled by the constant comments and jokes from colleagues across the country wondering why I would work on a $100k mobile home deal.
And I myself have been sucked into the negative narrative regarding these files on many occasions.
‘Like travels with like’
‘You don’t want those referrals’
‘You are wasting your time on files that small’
‘You should move to get better clients’
‘I can’t believe you would work on that’
‘Get smarter clients, or clients that trust you’
The last one was sent to me (on the day of writing this) in response to a post online that a colleague made about struggling with educating a client. The conversation evolved to highlighting the difference of perspective that a male broker in Vancouver would have vs. a female broker in Edmonton.
Demographics matter in our business and everyone services a different demographic. Where your clients come from is based on so many factors, that comparing one business to the next is impossible.
Are you male or female?
Where do you live?
What culture, race or religion are you?
How old are you?
Do you live in a rural or urban area?
Where do you acquire most of your leads?
What is the average household income of your 5 closest friends/referral partners?
And yet, we compare. We compare a female broker in a rural area in one province to a male broker 10 years older in a major urban setting in another province and then wonder why they don’t have similar statistics and client demographics. And it is suggested we should cultivate our client base to mirror what someone else has created to emulate that same level of success for ourselves, otherwise we are doing it wrong.
All the while forgetting that someone else is looking at our business with envy wanting to emulate what we have already built.
Your business, your way
It seems that somewhere along the way, we forget that we are building our own businesses. Not a mirror of someone else’s. And those giving the advice often forget that their audience is not the same as them and that there’s more than one way to crack an egg.
Success comes in every shape and form in this business. Your uniqueness is your selling feature and the clients that are attracted to one person are not the same clients that will work with another. There is a fine line between focusing on trying to attract a certain type of business, and trying to be something that you are not.
No doubt this competitiveness and overall anxiety is heightened right now in a time of lower volumes and lower compensation. Feeling the financial pinch has brokers reevaluating their business models, processes, client base, budgets, brokerages etc.
And while it is absolutely healthy and growth-mindset-oriented to look at other successful brokers for business ideas and habits that can help us in our businesses, it is another thing to forget to take stock in what we want our business to look like that is authentic and true to ourselves. And very easy to get swept up in the notion of what success looks like to someone else that we forget what success feels like for ourselves.
An important reminder as we head back into conference season that these events are there to help you pull out positive gold nuggets to propel your success and encourage you to build on what you have, not to leave you feeling like you are doing it wrong.
One comment I think I might never forget; was a new broker to the industry meeting me at an event in Toronto over the summer. In the first two sentences, he asked me what my average file size was out in Alberta. After hearing my response, he then asked why I wouldn’t move to Ontario so I could work on ‘real mortgages.’
I smiled a little and answered with a fairly moderate level of arrogance: “I think I’m doing all right.”
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Last modified: October 2, 2024