Mortgage Broker Broadcast
Developing your knowledge to help you build a successful Mortgage Broker business. Craig Skelton shares his thoughts and experiences on all aspects of mortgage advice covering everything from operating in the banking world, estate agency based advisers all the way up to working as a self employed broker. He will be joined by experts from within the industry and other business sectors which all play a key part in becoming a successful mortgage broker in the modern world.
Mortgage Broker Broadcast
Charting Success: Reflections and Insights from a Mortgage Broker's Journey
Have you ever wondered what kind of wisdom you'd impart to your younger self after navigating the unpredictable tides of a career? Marty Naan joins us to reflect on his two-year saga as a self-employed Mortgage Broker, where he unveils the growth he's experienced and the advice he'd whisper to his past self. His candid tales, including St. Patrick's quirky visit to his hometown, are not just entertaining but steeped in the rich tapestry of cultural heritage, offering both light-hearted chuckles and profound insights.
Navigating the professional seas can often be solitary, but the beacon of client reviews reminds us that we're not alone. In our conversation, the significance of customer feedback is illuminated, standing as a testament to credibility in the vast ocean of business. I share how one heartfelt review can echo as a source of reassurance and motivation, providing a much-needed wind in the sails for those of us charting a course through the service industry's challenging waters.
As we turn the rudder towards the evolution of social media, we explore the shift from content quantity to the magnetic pull of authenticity. Martin and I discuss the balance needed to create an online presence that resonates with real stories and genuine advice, rather than just noise. We close by pondering the dynamic landscape of mortgage brokering, inviting you to join us in facing the industry's changes with resilience and a thirst for knowledge. Stay tuned for more episodes where we'll continue to share our navigational charts through the ever-changing world of mortgages.
The Mortgage Broker Broadcast on
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Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/3xmMdDcgmYh4A74wxeXnCV?si=cbc8f8b024fc4c98
Looking for one to one mentoring, visit my website to see how it works craigskelton.co.uk
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Hi and welcome to this week's Morgish Broker Broadcast. But guess this week is Martin Ann, and Martin is back onto the podcast. He was originally on the podcast two years ago when he first started out in his self-employed Morgish Broker world. He was in March 2022 that he first came onto the podcast and I wanted to get Marty back on just to his two years in now to that journey and I just wanted to get his sort of take on a lot of things really, but just really where he was, how he reflected on the last two years, what would he tell his previous self or any advice he would have given, things that have and just really just have an overall conversation about him and his business and what is the challenges faced and what he's been doing. So, yeah, my guess this week is Martin Ann. But before we get Marty onto the podcast, here's Lee with the regular Morgish Broker Bulletin.
Speaker 2:Thank you, craig, and welcome to the seventh edition of the Morgish Broker Bulletin. Beautiful valley behind me, pontypool. Today, just a little bit about unpredictability. Everything seems to be unpredictable at the moment. Not in a massive way, but it seems that lenders and their interest rates are pretty unpredictable. You know, you think they're steady and they might be reducing over the long term, and all of a sudden they put them up by 0.2%. And then you've got some clients at the moment that are being a little bit unpredictable, pretty much struggling to know exactly what they want, maybe due to the uncertainty around the interest rates in the overall market.
Speaker 2:And so we just got to prepare ourselves for everything really on a day-to-day basis, which, as you know, is quite tricky when you're really busy and you think you're into a rhythm and all of a sudden you've got a change direction and do something completely different. Plus, then you've got to keep an eye on the rates and the other clients that you've got on the go to see if you've got to change them as well. So I just wanted to provide some comfort, really, if there's any other brokers out there who are finding it very unpredictable and very tricky to read whilst going to go on next. You know, on your own, we're all in it together, onwards, upwards and forwards, and I'll speak to you next week.
Speaker 1:Thanks for that, lee, thanks for another great episode of the Morgish Broker Bulletin this week, and now let's just get Marty onto the podcast. So welcome back onto the podcast, marty. How are you?
Speaker 3:Very good, Craig. Well, I'm really good to call you, but we'll stumble on through it anyway. Thank you very much for having me. It's a pleasure.
Speaker 1:I appreciate you coming back on. You have told me on numerous occasions about your ailments right now, in terms of your cold, and your birthday as well recently. So you had a big. I know it wasn't a big birthday, I'm guessing, but it was big enough for you it was a big birthday.
Speaker 3:Of course, it was a big birthday Every birthday. When you get to my age and you get to make it to that age, every birthday is a big birthday. It was a big week. We've had. What did we have this week? We've had International Women's Day, and then we had Mother's Day, and then we had my birthday, and then we're coming up to St Patrick's Day as well.
Speaker 1:So there's not a lot going on this week. There is I'm very reminded that we're recording this on Friday, but we are going out on the Wednesday, so that will be the Wednesday Patrick's Day. Is it Monday?
Speaker 3:Sunday. So by the time this comes out, we will already have past St Patrick's.
Speaker 1:Day? Of course it is. So yeah, we've already had the St Patrick's Day, which I'm guessing is a big occasion for you.
Speaker 3:It's not as big occasion for naturalised Irish people, I think, as other Irish people. The only difference is, as a proud Irish man, I'm contractually obliged to wear green coming up to St Patrick's Day, but we don't make that big of a fuss about it. You know, it's not a. We're not going to be colouring the rivers in green or anything like that. A lot of it is very Americanised, whereas we're used to a more low key St Patrick celebrations actually in Ireland. Well, it's a good time to get out. Everybody in the world over seems to love the Irish on St Patrick's Day, so I'm not going to complain.
Speaker 1:It's just an excuse to drink Guinness. That's the thing. That's all it is. The celebration is just an excuse on a whatever day it is, it doesn't really matter, it's just an excuse to get drunk on whatever day on the Guinness.
Speaker 3:So if it's a Sunday, it's a weekend, it's just a bit well, it's a religious holiday technically because St Patrick's obviously a patron saint of Ireland. I've actually got a story about where I'm from. Allegedly St Patrick actually visited the town where I'm from and a sheep farmer in the area would not let St Patrick stay in his barn or in his buyer or whatever he was staying, and as a result of this, st Patrick cursed the sheep in the area to make them more aggressive than normal. Now I cannot confirm nor deny the authenticity of this local legend. The sheep though. They don't seem to be too aggressive in the area sheep aren't normally that aggressive anyway. But yeah, st Patrick, he is known to have visited where I'm from and the football team that I used to play for was called St Patrick's as well as Tribute 2. But yeah, it's a big deal, I suppose in Ireland too.
Speaker 1:A lot of history there is, and this was a long time before you was resident of your area. I'm guessing this was a long time before you were born, mike, when St Patrick was there. Yes, pretend the century's before a break. I'm not that old. I would clarify that. That's all. So welcome back on to the podcast. We've gone straight into it. We said before and I knew this was gonna happen that you use many words when we're having a chat, which is good, and we're straight into it already with no agenda and good. To get you back on to it like with the 9th of March 2022, when we you first came on the podcast, so two years ago, and you were just a few months into the self-employed world then and I got the horrendous. You really I've still got the shorts from that time, as in the clips. I know you posted on Rezact. I don't know what was within my head at the time with my red background light anything going on on my podcast.
Speaker 3:It was very, it was very soulful. You were going through your soulful phase, I think, but you seem to have come back now to your. This is like your professional phase now, for want of a better term, Thank you, I'll take that feedback.
Speaker 1:I will take that one. So yeah, episode 52, which was a long time ago, two years ago on the podcast, and that time you were new into the new-ish, into the self-employed world, and you quickly patented a phrase that I'd used since Patrick's day along, since he was around. And then you stole it and then patented it and ever since then claimed as your own.
Speaker 3:And actually you have got proof of the first time you said what's the worst that can happen? That phrase is mine. I'm actually wearing boxer shorts now and that's emblazoned all over the boxer shorts to see what's the worst that can happen. I will not show them on camera, but just be warned, they are there.
Speaker 1:And you are not. And you I was just gonna say then you're not known for wearing your trousers, but and I mean by that, but I mean as in, you're not just parading your boxer shorts, you're not known for just wearing shorts constantly I mean I don't. I think I've seen the innapair of trousers once and that sounds very only fans-esque. But we'll save that for another podcast, I think.
Speaker 3:I think we need to add context here. There's a lot of people currently turning off. Yes, I'm known for wearing shorts as opposed to trousers. I think trousers are uncomfortable, so I generally tend to wear shorts. And people ask me do you not get cold? And I can honestly say no, I don't get cold. I've never felt a chill from my ankle to my knee. That part of my body has never felt cold, so I just find shorts more comfortable. In fact, the only time I think you've seen me wearing trousers was the first time that we met. It was, and I was probably trying to make a good impression, so I thought maybe I'll wear some trousers.
Speaker 1:I think you bought a gift as well. I remember you bringing gifts to that house.
Speaker 3:I wanted to load everybody up with sweets because I'm the lot to take on, so I kind of have to set out the stall and ingratiate people towards me before they get to know me, because then, once they get to know me, it's probably too late. First impressions count and all that, so I need to brighten them before I start talking.
Speaker 1:That's very good in terms of your self-awareness. Not a lot of people are good on self-awareness, but clearly you are.
Speaker 3:Yeah. But you see, once you break through the initial barrier, let's say you spend a half an hour talking to me and then you consider I don't think I ever want to talk to that person again. It was too much.
Speaker 1:But if you spend an hour talking to me you've broken through.
Speaker 3:You're in the second half then, and then you just get gold. It's just a wonderful experience all around. Speaking to me is like getting a hug, really.
Speaker 1:Hey, your stories are second to none. That is a sad, but we won't get into too early into the podcast. I'm sure they'll come up on it but we won't get into it. So for people that don't know who you are and we've gone straight over seven minutes in already of your interview and we've not even done the interview so do you normally just enlighten people to who you are?
Speaker 3:Yes, no problem, my name is Marty Nhan. I am a mortgage protection advisor. I'm not a specialist, I'm not a broker, I'm not an expert. I'm quite simply a mortgage protection advisor. I work with Craig, obviously, and I have clients all over the UK to achieve their dreams to buy homes and buy new homes first-hand buyers buy tablets. Whatever it might be, you can be sure that I've dipped my hand in it and I'm ready to help people.
Speaker 1:Well, what an explanation of who you are. You are so good on self-awareness.
Speaker 3:I don't like talking about myself.
Speaker 1:I know you don't?
Speaker 3:I mean in all seriousness, I do not like talking about myself.
Speaker 1:I'm joking. I know you've told me that before. You've told me that so many times that you don't like talking about yourself. You tell me stories. That as well.
Speaker 3:Yes, that's the irony.
Speaker 3:I love being on camera and I love my voice being heard and I have. You know, I can talk all day, but when it comes to I don't mind talking historically about myself like I don't miss or I don't know, but when it comes to you know, talking, talking me up now, I find that very uncomfortable because ultimately, I don't think people want to know about me, I think people want to know what I can do, and that's just the way that I do things, because I view myself as a business, as a ship, and so that's it just finds me. I get uncomfortable whenever I'm trying to talk myself up.
Speaker 1:I think that's a really good analogy in terms of and people that don't know you well. If you look at your content, you look at how you promote your reviews and how you're very vocal about everything that you do. From a mortgage and protection advisor, I'll make sure I get that right not especially, if not broken an advisor I'll make sure that I get that right. But when you look at your social media profiles, you look at your videos you very much. Is that not big in yourself up? When you look at your gold stars everywhere, is that not big in yourself up?
Speaker 3:Well, there's two ways I think about it. There's two ways that you could do this kind of marketing. You can be, you know those guys that are outside of car, you know you go by a car, a car showroom, and you know that big thing that you blow up.
Speaker 1:Yeah yeah, yeah we're all yeah, why are they called? I've no idea what they're actually called.
Speaker 3:I don't know they look like sex toys, but I don't think they're sex toys. They're a bit of a big blow up man. But there is a lot of marketing and social media that is like that.
Speaker 3:Look at me, come and see me, look what I can do Now that guy is not selling cars, but anyway he's there to oh, let me go and look over there, or the way I do it is. I think it's in a very organic way, it's in a very natural way. I let the experiences of people speak for themselves and the journeys. I don't need to say, my God, I am so good because I have people that will say that for me. Or I will tell a story about how I've been able to do something and somebody will naturally come to the conclusion that sounded really good. He was able to do something special for that person. Because I don't like to glorify and boast about how good I am when I've got other people that will do it for me.
Speaker 1:No, it's true. No, it is true. I might 100% agree with you because I asked you that question because I know you could handle that question in terms of me sort of putting that out there and I know you come back with a very good, calm, calculated and very honest answer in terms of it, and there's a good analogy as well. I always do the analysis, however, what sort of I know you said broke because I'm going to be setting up biases quite a lot when I'm trying to. A lot of that mows your biases.
Speaker 3:Can I interrupt you one second? Do you know? The only reason I said that? It's because it's a bit like this I see a lot of different job titles for people that do the same job as me and there's almost an A to Z of different job titles and they all mean the same. I don't say they all mean nothing. They all mean the same thing.
Speaker 3:But some people are very peculiar about wanting to be called specialist or an expert or a mortgage consultant or a protection advisor. They all do the same thing. I don't really care what people call me. People call me awful things. As long as I can do the job that I promised I would do for them, I'm not bothered with what I'm called. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1:I know that you are on the mortgage broker broadcast podcast right now.
Speaker 3:For today, and today only, I would be a mortgage broker, I forgot what we're actually now.
Speaker 1:No, I haven't. So, going back to the point in terms of reviews, because I think it's a lot of brokers, a lot of advisors, forget the importance of reviews. They don't like asking for feedback. They're sort of scared. They've got that thick skin. They don't want to feel as though they've done a bad job. They don't want to get negative comments that a client might say to them or give them feedback on, whereas you have got it part of your process. You get I didn't count it. I should have counted before the podcast how many five-star reviews you've got over the last two or two years, but it's going to be quite a lot. And so when is it just part of your process? Because you are consistent with your five-stars, day in, day out, week in, week out.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, it's part of the process and I have no problem asking for it, and I also came to the realization that if people have had a good experience, they will have no problem doing it. You know, I very easily lay it out to them. It's not. It's not going to cost you anything. It takes five minutes, but it's very valuable to me. Five minutes of your time could potentially mean a new client to me. So that's, I'm actually putting a lot of responsibility on through the person that I'm asking to write that review for me, and then they will do it because they are happy with the service they want to give back to me, so they will write that review for me.
Speaker 3:I have never had a person say I'm not doing that. People are eager to do it. And let me add one more thing Somebody that says they don't like reading reviews they're talent lies because I, I will I get a little touched, and I don't mean that in the in the other way. I get a little touched when I read the words, and I'm being 100% genuine here. It is extremely humbling to read how somebody has felt in their words, you know, because I see them all through the journey and I talk to them. But people don't talk about that kind of stuff to your face. They don't talk about how the experience has been.
Speaker 3:Maybe they'll say is everything okay? Yes, everything's okay. If any questions, no, no questions. But when you read somebody's perception of that journey and what you've been able to do to them, it is truly humbling and it makes me feel very grateful to be part of that process and I'm glad to be in that process and I'm so grateful to every person that writes me a review and I'd like reading them. I only read them once because you get a bit obsessed and I've already got big enough head, so I only read them once. But it really does give me joy to to read people's reviews and see what I've been able to do for them in their words.
Speaker 1:Do you think? It's not that you keep maybe you do need to keep motivated, but in terms of getting that thing, like you said, that class not going to give you the comment, a classmate generally not going to say that to your face You're asking for review, you're not going to. You go to a restaurant and you're not going to give feedback at that particular point. You might. You might, obviously if it's a bad experience, but from a good point of view, you've got, you've taken time to reflect on the situation, reflect on the service you've got, and you're taking the time let's say five minutes to write review, which means the world to you. But what the thing? Self-employed brokers working from home, based on their own, nobody's taught to you. You get that review, you get that feedback and that just gives you that dose of motivation to go. Do you know what? I am right in terms of what I do? I do a good job and you will have, and it will give you that persistence or give you that drive it or give you that motivation. And I going slightly off-piste a little bit, but I gave, I did a review for some day last year, last year, about just over 12 months ago, and they. That individual was very like in terms of what they did. The review was worthy and I did take the time, probably something a little longer than five minutes but did they take the time to go on to AI, chat, gpt? And no, I didn't. I didn't go on AI and did the review and I actually took the time to write the review.
Speaker 1:And that particular person, that particular individual, came back to me and thanked him in the review thanks for the feedback. But then three months later he actually came back to me and said do you know what, craig? I am self-employed. They're not brokers, it's totally non-financial service industry. They said not only do. When I have a wobble, when I have a think about why am I doing what I'm doing, they said I read your review, I pick up your email, the center as well and I read your review. He said no, not only do that. He said if anybody comes to me in the business that I'm in who are on these people all self-employed, the same position as me and they all have that wobble, they tend to confide in me. I show them your review, I show them that your email to then help them to sort of spark that, because we are all on a zone, we are all running a zone race, we are all sat at our zone table doing what we're doing and getting that feedback, true feedback from somebody that has experienced firsthand what you do.
Speaker 1:And you're not like you said. You're not talking about it, you're not sort of saying that like an amazing guy, that your clients know they're going to get good service from you. But look at the 100 reviews, or 200 reviews, however many. It is all saying how good you are, and that's what I'm saying. I'm not saying that you're not going to get good service, but the thing is that certainly will keep you motivated, driven and having that persistence. You know, because we all have wobble, we all have bad days, we all have bad weeks. We all wake up in the morning going do you know what? Why am I doing this? Why am I doing this? If anybody says they don't, I'm going to say they're lying because we all do. And so, samet, go on. Sorry, no, go on.
Speaker 3:I was just going to say, of course they do. Everybody has peaks and troughs. Nobody is on all the time, nobody is flying all the time, and your reviews are a testament to what you can do for somebody.
Speaker 3:So if you're having a wobble, about something and you're trying to decide what will I do next? Maybe read one of your reviews and then go and change somebody's life, because some of the stuff that we do I know that sounds like hyperbole, but we quite literally change people's lives through the things that we're able to do. You know, a mortgage nobody wants a mortgage. Everybody wants a home and a home is it's a life. Buying a home is a life changing event. So imagine you can facilitate that life changing event and this is the way my brain works for giving mortgage advice.
Speaker 1:It's not about the mortgage.
Speaker 3:it's about the home and getting people into the home and making sure that you can stay in the home, making sure that you're protected and that your family is safe and your family is protected, and that's what it comes down to, for me is that I am again.
Speaker 3:I know it sounds hyperbole, I don't mean it like that, but I'm quite literally changing people's lives. I have a client at the minute who's been renting for maybe 12 years and it's felt like they're not getting anywhere and even the mortgage itself is very difficult. But last week I got the good news that a new mortgage application has been approved after many, many attempts, with many different lenders and that girl. I've got a separate video about it, but that girl told me that she's so happy that she was planning to name her first child after me.
Speaker 1:What's the middle name?
Speaker 3:I've told her I don't need that. Just pay my fee and everything will be good. But when I say I'm changing people's lives, it's true, and I'm not saying it to glorify myself or to put myself up on a pedestal. I'm just part of the process. But the journey of what we do changes lives. It's a fact.
Speaker 1:It does. But I think what also as well, which you are very, very passionate about I know that working for Tan with you is that it's not only getting people in that home. You said a little bit there about keeping people in there as well. You are very passionate about that. That is also things that will change lives as well, because I'm old enough to have had clients that have gone through not nice situations but being able to keep the homes because of things that you put in place. You will have that same thing in terms of you're very passionate about protection. So you're not only about keeping game people into our home, you're very much about keeping people in there as well. You're very passionate about that. That goes hand in hand. It's not a bolt on service for you in Sanjay. It's just literally what you do as advising.
Speaker 3:I think that's what's going on.
Speaker 1:It's not a statistic.
Speaker 3:For me, it's part of my process to make sure that people are looked after. That's the central goal. Somebody is looked after. The person is at the centre of everything. It's not a statistic that I want to get my protection numbers up or my mortgage numbers up. No, not that stuff matters. What matters is the client. Client is the most important thing that I can deal with.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. I think that's the thing when you look at, especially being a self-employed mortgage broker. Everything has to be client centric. It has to be all around the client. Whatever you do in you're self-employed you're building a long-term business it has to be around your clients because you've got these clients for life. Ideally, if you look after them, there will be clients for life. You want to make sure that everything you do is around the client, not about stats, not about numbers, not about income, not about anything else. That will all come. That will all happen if everything you do is focus on your clients. I know you focus on that when you were employed, but you've obviously been focusing on that over the last two years when you've been self-employed and doing what you've been doing.
Speaker 3:The drive to do a good job for my clients has never wavered, whether I was doing mortgages, whether I was employed, whether I was self-employed, whether I wasn't given advice, whether I was talking about other financial products, banking products the drive to make sure that somebody is supported that has never wavered. That is my employment. Goal is to support people. I don't see that ever changing.
Speaker 1:Why should it? You shouldn't should it. That is something that's never going to change and that's part of your values. That's part of your metrics. That's who you are.
Speaker 1:One thing that I want to talk about because, obviously, when we first started, when you came on the podcast the first time it was it was very early days in your self-employed world. It was very. I listened back to the podcast earlier, just to. I'm working the way to do these various things, but I'm just going to put the podcast on and things like the things I wrote down was about taking risks, about how you react. I've also wrote down Debbie Douter there was another name on there as well that came up and things like that and the one thing that stuck out there's a lot of good content in there.
Speaker 1:So if you haven't listened to it and you think about becoming self-employed broker, go back to episode 52, 9th of March 2022, think about bad lighting, but listen to Marty and talk about stepping out of his comfort zone and think about it. But one thing you sort of said, which still is really, really relevant now, is that no one cares. That's the one thing that you said is, and we're talking about your content and we're talking at that point. We're talking particularly about because you've gone out of the block. You're producing loads of content, you're doing lots of things and you quickly realised that no one cares. Is that still how you made up?
Speaker 3:Yes and no. That's a hard question to answer. I will say that, as a whole, people know that I produce content and I don't follow a lot of other mortgage advisors and mortgage brokers, so I don't know how prolific they are. I get a lot of connection requests on LinkedIn from other mortgage advisors. I think I currently have about 90. You're not getting accepted. Just want to put that out there because you I can't that. You're not going to add anything to me. You're probably just going to steal our content anyway as a full-.
Speaker 1:I was going to say are you going to be more worried about your patents on your content?
Speaker 3:Somebody actually asked me last week could they repurpose content of my classy thing to do? I said no problem because, let's be honest, this content is open source. Anyway, work way to use it. You don't have to ask and there's not much I can do about it if you do take it.
Speaker 3:But somebody did ask and they repurposed it. I was really appreciative, or I was very appreciative, of the fact that they did ask. And a couple of months ago somebody else didn't ask and basically copied something of mine word from word, picture for picture, and that really paved me off. There was no approach there. But anyway, I'm getting off topic here. Yeah, so the content as a whole I don't think people care. I think people as a community, social media I don't think they care what the individual pieces of content are.
Speaker 3:But then on occasion one person will see one piece of content that hits them and that's the time that they care.
Speaker 3:So what I put out there as a whole, I don't think it matters. But when one person tunes into something and I get lucky because it is a crapshoot, most of the time that somebody happens to see something on social media and it chimes with them, it's important to them, and then they get in touch with me, then we go on this journey together. So no, the honest answer is I don't think it cares. I think that you need to get content out there and you need to show that you're an expert and that you build your authenticity and that you build your reputation, and that's what I try and do with my content, which is why a lot of it is I've moved away from the comedy stuff. I still do that, but because I've been doing this two years now, I have stories to tell, I have real life experiences that I can now share and I think a lot of that stuff resonates more with people, because people buy into people, and I still will do funny stuff every now and then.
Speaker 3:I like doing rants. Somebody actually asked me recently I haven't done a rant in a while, are you gonna do another one soon? So there's another one coming soon, don't worry. So that's where I'm up to on the social media content, I think as an individual piece of content I don't care what's in it. I care more that the message that's in that content hits with somebody and maybe triggers them to make a change in their life or do something different.
Speaker 1:I'm glad you answered it and I really go to Answin to explain that because that was one of the things I was gonna ask you about. I've seen a significant shift in terms of your content and the hospital still makes me smile now, the hospital Steinfeld, and kicking back in your chair still makes me chuckle and yeah, so we'll leave that one there. But I've seen a significant shift in terms of the content that you're now producing, because you have got the stories, you've got the experiences and that will, like you say, resonate more with your potential clients. And I mean but leave potential clients and your existing clients will mean more to them because they will sort of resonate with it more. But was that just a conscious shift or was it just something that sort of happened or what?
Speaker 3:Not intentionally. That's my honest answer. I probably dail back a little bit from the funny stuff because being funny is not easy. You know it's almost. If you're trying to plan funny and humorous content, that's almost a full-time job because you need to plan out what's going to be funny, whereas if I'm trying to record and just to go back a bit this is why I was saying about I don't know why we're the prolific people are. I am prolific. I post a lot. You know it's usually five to six days a week that I'm posting content. Sometimes it's multiple times during the day. So I need to dip into the vault to be able to produce this content, to be able to post it, and I now have the stories to be able to produce this content. I can actually relate real-life stories and that's a key feature. Nothing I have ever put out on social media is false in any way. They're all 100% true stories, apart from maybe, if I'm telling jokes and things like that. Obviously that's different.
Speaker 1:But stories about mortgage and protection advice.
Speaker 3:They're all 100% true. And if it came from. You know, usually the story comes from somebody, it's about their experience. So if one person can experience, then maybe another person can experience it or has a question or needs some guidance. So it wasn't all. It wasn't just to go back to the question. I will answer the question eventually. It wasn't a.
Speaker 1:There's a little clock going on, to sort of see like there's a timer on there.
Speaker 3:Do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do. Yeah, it wasn't a conscious choice, it was just an evolution of the content.
Speaker 1:That's my answer to that question. Ok, thanks very much for answering that and giving that clarity. Well, it's when you look back over the last two years so obviously you've been in financial services for a lot longer than that but you look back and you watch the podcast that we did. You listen to yourself and then look back over the last two years. Do you take time to review, reflect, do you think about what you've learned and what would you? Is there anything you would say to the Martin Anne of 9th of March 2022?
Speaker 3:Yeah, go get checked for hemochromatosis, just to get that sorted out earlier. Aside from that, no, I think I was nervous. I hope you're not laughing at my condition, craig. No, never.
Speaker 1:Are you laughing at me? After that, soles, I'm just wondering how transcribing the podcast is going to come up when you've said that In your best Irish accent. That's the thing, don't worry, I'll text you that, I'll just spell it no.
Speaker 3:in terms of the job, I would say just get into it. I was nervous about starting on the job because I hadn't really got into the weeds on the job. I wasn't super busy. I was picking up a little bit of traction and I had some clients that were coming to me and we were doing bits and pieces, but I wasn't what I would call busy. But I needed to learn and I was trying my best to learn things. The best way to learn this job is to do this job. You need to come out of the blocks as quick as possible and get busy. Get busy working or get busy doing a different job.
Speaker 1:Ending on that point. You know that Get busy.
Speaker 3:I was going to do the other one, but I didn't want to. It's going to sound a bit more a bit if I say get busy living or get busy dying. But no, you cannot take it easy. You have to get stuck in and, as you know, I am Mr Competitive. I want to be the best, I want to be number one, I want to be the first person that people think about.
Speaker 3:All you have to do is and all you have to do is I want them, and the only way to do that is to get stuck in and do things and learn. The more cases I was taking on, the more people I was talking to. You know, I was getting hit then with stuff that I had never done before, like complex credits and orios and people that had adverse credit, self-employed structures and partnerships and stuff that I maybe had touched on before but I wasn't experienced in. But now I was being forced to learn that and I don't learn it and I can't do it. I don't get paid, and that really was.
Speaker 3:You know, being broke is a great motivator. I didn't want to be broke. I have family to feed, so I needed to learn. So that would be my advice to the. I want to say, like younger self, like two years ago, but don't be afraid to take on everything and find your feet, because I think people are hesitant. You know people don't like coming. We talked about it before. People don't like coming out of the comfort zone. But you step out of that comfort zone and you see the whole world that exists outside of that comfort zone. I think that's what I've done and I've probably, apart from when the economy was kind of messed up last year. I have been consistently busy for these last two years, another fact that I'm very, very grateful for.
Speaker 1:I think that's like you say. It's not, it's stepping out of your comfort zone. When you're looking back, you stepped out of your comfort zone. You were getting on with it. You were doing it from the start.
Speaker 1:I think that's the thing is with brokers. Going back to what you were saying there about certain difficult cases, different niche stuff, things that weren't you weren't aware of when you first became a broker, you've got a choice to make. You get that inquiry that's got a non-standard construction, or the credit file is not great, or whatever this is now, but there's a million and one scenarios from a client point of view. You've got a choice to make. You either go and just say you can't help them, then they'll bring another broker, or you go away and think I don't know anything about this part of the world mortgage, like I don't know any part of this sort of specialist lending space. However, I'm going to go out there and learn it and I'm going to learn the way on the job, which is the best way to learn, because you're learning on a client's scenarios the best way to learn, rather than some normal set with a BDM and nothing against BDM at all. I think you'll learn more if you're dealing with client scenarios and learning that way than just talking about typical client to clients. It's the only way to learn. So you've got that choice to make. I'm going to go to the end degree to find a solution for this client and I'm going to look back and if I cannot find a solution, there is no other broker on this planet that's going to find them a solution.
Speaker 1:I think that your job, that is what you've got to do as a mortgage broker. If you take the first choice, that's your call. That's more of an employed mentality of I'll get another one, I'll move on to the next one, and that's easy to do, especially when you're first self employed, chasing them. If you're chasing the pound, you're going to go knock out them. Where's the next one? Where is you Is the right way for my perspective and my opinion is go to the end degree, find a solution for that client.
Speaker 1:If you don't know what the solution is, go out and learn it, because there's plenty of things like that. There's always an answer to every question, being a mortgage broker and there's loads of questions. You just got to know where the answer is. So go out there and find it. You'll be a better broker. The client will think better of you and the client will be in a better situation than they were when they first, before they actually met up with you. So it's actually important going to that end degree for that client and then you'll sleep better at night. Nobody else could have done that for them. How do you feel when you get that feedback that are so to the broker is none of them could have helped me. But Martin and that night in shining armour in the green vest, green Hoodie came and got me the house and got me the mortgage that I wanted.
Speaker 3:Listen, it's funny. You say that because you and I both know that quite recently I had a review that came in that said that the client had seen three other advisors.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I forgot about that. But yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yes.
Speaker 3:Three other advisors that do the same job as me. You know, on paper they do the same job as me, but yet they couldn't help. But I can help. So that's the kind of stuff. Again it comes back to the client. I am not willing to give up on a client Unless I have exhausted every possible option. And I think that's the right attitude to have, because they've taken the time to come to me. So I should be taking the time to make sure that I've done absolutely everything I can for that person and supported them in every possible way to try and help them get to their goal, try and achieve that goal.
Speaker 3:It doesn't happen sometimes. That's unfortunate for somebody. We cannot help everybody. Sometimes people just aren't in a position to be happy now. Maybe in the future they can be. But if you haven't exhausted all your options and you've given up on clients, that kind of stuff really annoys me. That I don't like that. I take that back. I do like that because then that client would come to me. But from an ethical point of view I don't like that.
Speaker 1:Absolutely agree with you. It's very simple Just do your job. I'm going to patent that. I can't patent that, by the way, there are plenty of people who use that but just do your job. That's what your client comes to you and expects you to do your job. Just do your job. That's all that. It's as simple as that.
Speaker 3:They're putting their trust in you. Can you really afford to betray that trust? I can't. That's just the way I feel about it. I know now everybody feels that way. More to pity.
Speaker 1:I'm not saying that brokers don't care about the client journey. I'm talking about you. We're being specific about you here. You care about your client journey. You care about the feedback that you get from the clients. You care about getting people making dreams come true. You care about that. You give a shit about that. That comes from within. Your clients get that passion from you from day one, even before they've met with you. They've seen your content. You're displaying that passion. That's exactly how you are when you're with your clients through to the end, when you're making those dreams come true.
Speaker 3:When I was young, I was told that pride was a sin, but it turns out that whenever you get a bit older, pride to me is not a sin. I want to be proud of the job that I've done for somebody. I'm not in agreement that that is a sin.
Speaker 1:Marty, thank you very much. You've come back on the podcast with no agenda. I noticed there were a few other things I wanted to ask you. I know, as soon as I talk about things like WhatsApp groups and Facebook groups, we're going to spend far too much time talking about that. If we were struggling for a conversation which I know we wouldn't be I wouldn't drop those in, but maybe we'll get you back on to talk about Facebook groups.
Speaker 3:Maybe I'll give you a six month reprieve and then hopefully I'll have got rid of this cold, so that I'm not sniffling on camera. What's that?
Speaker 1:The world's smallest violin, playing a tune just for you.
Speaker 3:Look at that. I take time out of my busy schedule to come on.
Speaker 1:Have you not seen that? I've never heard that before. You're the first, you're one of the first people. I've ever, never heard that before.
Speaker 3:I have heard it. I just wanted to let you get on with it so you can have your peace. I've taken time out of my busy schedule to come on and make your day better, and then I get that kind of abuse.
Speaker 1:Do you know what your punishment?
Speaker 3:will be. I'll come back in the podcast in three months, not six months.
Speaker 1:We can do it. We'll do three months, and then what's that going to be? June Sun will be shining in the Northwest Hopefully by then, so we can do it out and about.
Speaker 3:I'll probably have a flu again. I have a toddler, so you just get everything that's going. But no, we should. It doesn't need to be two years. There's a lot of things to talk about. The entire mortgage world has changed since we last spoke. Everything's went topsy turvy, so there's so many things to think about. The role of mortgage fund is more important than ever. I think it's not just mortgages, it's finance, people buying homes, how we can help people. Everything has changed in the last two years. I've changed. My hairstyle has changed dramatically, but we've got a lot to talk about. So, yeah, let's make this a wee bit more frequent.
Speaker 1:I think we will. I think definitely. Two years have been, to part of which all the time we've got part of which to talk about. So this is the first installment of the 2024 series with Martin, definitely. Thank you very much for your time. We didn't get interrupted by any delivery partals or anything like that going on. No, thank you very much. Thank you for agreeing to come back on. Thanks for sharing and being honest. As always. We won't leave it as long next time. Let's get three months in the diary and let's go back and talk about other things that we need to talk about, like you said, in terms of what's happening in the mortgage space over the past few years. Thank you so much, absolutely.
Speaker 3:Thank you very much. Thanks for having me on.