Mortgage Broker Broadcast

Quarter One Review: Why Reflection Matters for Brokers

• Craig Skelton • Season 6 • Episode 19

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Quarter one of 2025 has vanished, and with it, 25% of your year. For mortgage brokers, this moment demands serious reflection: Are you where you expected to be?

The exciting goals and fresh energy of January often fade without systematic review. Without a manager breathing down your neck, the responsibility for accountability falls squarely on your shoulders. This critical juncture offers the perfect opportunity to assess both business performance and personal growth trajectories before proceeding into Q2.

A thorough business evaluation examines financial metrics (revenue targets, completed mortgages, average case sizes), lead generation effectiveness, client experience quality, time management efficiency, and marketing consistency. Equally important is your personal development assessment: Are those January habits still intact? How's your mindset? Have you invested in your professional growth? Are you maintaining work-life balance and protecting your wellbeing?

The consequences of skipping this review are severe: another year of directionless drifting, repeated mistakes, and stunted growth. Conversely, taking time away from your desk—in a distraction-free environment during your peak mental hours—to honestly evaluate Q1 empowers you to make meaningful adjustments while nine months remain.

Setting specific, measurable Q2 goals transforms vague aspirations into actionable plans. Replace "I want more clients" with "I will generate 20 qualified leads monthly through LinkedIn" to create clear targets with definitive success metrics and weekly action steps.

Ready to ensure 2025 doesn't slip away? Book a discovery call at craigskelton.co.uk to discuss how targeted coaching can help you achieve your mortgage business goals. Remember, in this competitive industry, the most successful professionals aren't necessarily the most talented—they're the ones who consistently pause, reflect, adjust, and run their own race with intention.

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Speaker 0:

Hi and welcome to this week's the Mortgage Broker Broadcast. This is the podcast that's made for mortgage brokers at every single level. Whether you're just starting out in your mortgage broker journey or running your own mortgage broker firm or focused on growing and scaling your existing business, this podcast is for you, and today's episode I'm talking about the importance of reviewing the first quarter of the year and why it's crucial, the benefits of doing it properly and the consequence of not taking the time to reflect and to plan. Now into april, quarter one of the year is done. That's three months gone, already 25 of the year and it's time to ask yourself where are you? Are you where you expected to be? And let's be real new New Year's resolutions they're probably they will be long gone now for most people. The excitement of January, the fresh start to the year, the big goals all of that can fade fast unless you have systems and pros in place to review, reflect and adjust. Being self-employed means you don't have that manager breathing down your neck to hold you accountable. You have to do that for yourself. So that's what I wanted to get into in today's episode and if this is your first time listening, I'm your host, craig Skelton. I'm a mortgage business owner and mentor and coach, and I'm here to help self-employed mortgage brokers and business owners build the business that they want. This podcast is all about giving you practical advice and the right mindset to help you grow personally and professionally. You can expect informal discussions, actionable tips and plenty of motivation to keep you moving forward. And, before we get into today's episode, if you are enjoying listening to the podcast, I'd really really appreciate it if you could subscribe, leave us a review and share it with other brokers who you think would find it helpful. Your help and support helps us reach even more people within our industry.

Speaker 0:

So, as I said, in this episode we're going to be talking about why a quarter one review is non-negotiable, how to review both your business and personal growth and the key steps to setting goals for quarter two, and the importance of honesty, focused and doing it without distractions, and why 2025 cannot be another year of drifting. So let's get into why a quarter one review is non-negotiable. Look, if you don't stop and take stock of what's working and what isn't, how will you ever improve? Too many self-employed professionals just keep going without stopping to reflect and then they wonder why they aren't seeing the growth that they want. So let's look at the benefits of reviewing the first quarter of 2025. You get clarity on your progress, where you are compared to where you wanted to be. Are you ahead, on track or behind? You can then identify strengths and weaknesses, what's worked well, what needs to change, and then tweak the course if you need to. If you're off track, you can fix it now, not in six months time, which will then help with your increased motivation. Reflection can reignite the fire and remind you of why you started in the first place. It then gives you confidence. If quarter one went well, it will help you so much with your confidence. If it didn't, you now have an action plan instead of stress. So what about the consequences of not reviewing the first quarter of the year? Well, you'd just be drifting through 2025. Another year goes by with no clear direction. You've just been making the same mistakes. If you don't identify problems, you'll just repeat the same mistakes over and over again. It will also give you a lack of accountability. No one is checking up on you, and if you don't do it, if you don't reflect, if you don't review, who's going to do that for you, which can also lead to low performance. If you aren't measuring success, you cannot improve it.

Speaker 0:

So now let's look at how to review both your business and personal growth properly. You need a structured approach. When you're looking at your business, ask yourself these key questions. Financial performance Did you hit the revenue target you wanted? How many mortgages did you complete on? What was the average case size? What about lead generation? Where did your leads come from? Are you focusing on the most effective channels? What about client experience? How is your service? Are you getting the referrals you want? Do you have systems in place for follow-ups and repeat business? Retaining clients too? How is your time management? Are you spending too much time on admin? Have you automated enough? What about marketing and branding? Is your content consistent? Are you staying visible to your audience? What about team and processes? If you have got staff, how are they performing? If you are solo, then are your systems efficient? And write these down. Be brutally honest with yourself. There's no point pretending things are going well if they're not.

Speaker 0:

It's also important to review your personal growth numbers. You are the business. Your mindset, your energy and your habits determine your success. So, on that basis, you need to be asking yourself did you set new habits in 2025? Are you still doing them or have they faded away? How is your mindset? Are you positive, focused, or are you overwhelmed and just reactive all the time? Are you developing yourself? What books, courses, webinars or coaching have you invested in? What about work-life balance? Are you burning out or you're making time for what matters outside of work? What's important to you? What about your health and well-being? Are you looking after yourself physically and mentally? Your business can only grow as much as you do. If you're not making personal progress, your business will feel it.

Speaker 0:

Now let's move on to setting clear actions and goals for quarter two. Once you've reviewed Q1, it's time to take action. Q2, just another 90 days to move forward with intent. So how do you set strong goals for quarter two? The first thing to do is break it down, set goals for income, revenue, lead generation, client experience, marketing and personal growth, and be specific. I want more clients is just far too weak. You can't manage that. You can't. That's not tangible. You want to be thinking of things like I will generate 20 new leads per month through LinkedIn is a strong, clear, actionable goal to achieve.

Speaker 0:

You also need to set deadlines. Don't just say Sunday, or this Monday or next week. Give yourself a time frame. You need to measure success. How will you know when you've achieved it? Define that outcome and plan weekly actions. What small steps will you take each and every week to move forward towards the goal?

Speaker 0:

You also need to do the review the right way, but what do I mean by that is to get most out of the process. You need the right environment and the right mindset to review and set goals. Take time away from your normal place of work. Go to a coffee shop or a hotel lounge or even just a different room. Just be. Don't be in front of your desk, don't be where you normally work every single day.

Speaker 0:

And also one thing that gets overlooked is about doing it at the right time of day to think about. Don't just try to review your business when you're exhausted at 10 o'clock at night because it's on your to-do list that day. Don't do it. Do it when you've got a clear head, when you've got clarity. So do it at the right time of day that is right for you and with no distractions no phones, no emails, no interruptions, no, anything whatsoever. You need to be honest. There's no point sugarcoating things. You've got to be brutally honest with yourself. You're doing this for yourself.

Speaker 0:

So just a few of my final thoughts to make quarter two and the rest of 2025 count because we're three months into the year you still have time to make 2025 the year you want it to be. But if you don't stop and review and plan, you will blink and it will be December and you'll be wondering where the hell did that year go? Where did 2025 go? And, as with the end of quarter one first week in April, take this week to sit down, reflect and set clear actions for quarter two. Hold yourself accountable because, as a self-employed professional, no one else is going to do that for you. So that's it.

Speaker 0:

That's this week's mortgage broker broadcast. Next week we're getting to more detail about starting local and being the local mortgage broker. And if you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave me a review, please subscribe, please share with fellow brokers. Just important to reach out to as many single brokers, business owners within our industry and as many as we can that help. And if you are thinking about becoming a self-employed mortgage broker or launching your own brand of business, are you ready to take your existing business to the next level? Go to my website craigskeltoncouk book, a discovery call or just simply get in touch. Let's have a chat about how I can help you achieve your goals for quarter two and for 2025. And, as always, please remember to run your own race.