Viktor Desovski has taken mybrokeronline to new heights through innovation and rooted principles
Viktor Desovski has taken mybrokeronline to new heights through innovation and rooted principles
It all began when Viktor Desovski became a dad. After the birth of his son Phoenix in 2013, he put his commercial real estate career on hold and decided to start a business that would allow him to set his working hours around his child’s needs.
“Mortgage broking offered the flexibility and the challenge I was looking for, while providing an opportunity to transfer my inherent knowledge and professional skills in real estate,” Desovski tells MPA.
His investment knowledge quickly elevated his status as a trusted adviser. This has allowed his enterprise, mybrokeronline, to thrive purely through word of mouth, up to this day.
But Desovski is not one to rest on his laurels while his clients do the talking. Next year, he will employ a digital marketing channel to generate even more leads.
The brokerage specialises in commercial real estate lending for investment purposes across office, retail and industrial asset classes. It caters to the needs of high-net-worth individuals, property syndicators, SMSFs, professional services solicitors, accountants, and professionals in the medico sector such as general practitioners, veterinarians and dentists.
Mybrokeronline also specialises in the end borrower for off-the-plan residential project settlements and house and land packages for large residential subdivisions.
Working with time and technology
Dividing each day between building a business and being a dad has been quite a challenge for Desovski.
To best manage his time, he sets expectations up front. This means telling clients, who he usually meets after hours or on weekends, that he’s a full-time dad during the day and has limited time to respond. His forthrightness wins the respect and trust of clients.
“Time is an elusive asset. The biggest lesson here is that it’s not just about my ability to be efficient. It’s also about getting customers on board with the process and system we adopt,” Desovski said.
He uses various digital tools, including Google Docs and Calendly; more complex systems such as Salesforce for his CRM; and PyCharm and WebStorm for his IDE. He also employs two support sta . These strategies give his business a competitive edge by efficiently managing and organising his time and productivity. Desovski believes that as technology advances, brokers’ value proposition becomes even more important to the customer.
Mybrokeronline’s biggest achievement to date was being exclusively appointed to an off- the-plan project that settled 49 deals with an average of $400,000 per loan from May to September 2017.
From a community standpoint, Desovski considers his involvement with the MFAA Global Money Week initiative as a different sort of achievement that was equally rewarding.
On the path to digitisation
Desovski hopes to offer an end-to-end mortgage solution in the future. His goal is to build technology-dependent products that remove friction in managing compliance, identity verifi cation, and collection of supporting documents. By applying digital e-signatures, he aims to see customers experience convenience during their home loan journeys.
Desovski also believes that education is as important as building an efficient digital arsenal. His company gives back to the community by delivering presentations in schools on financial capacity, discipline and independence. Desovski has been an MFAA Global Money Week ambassador since 2016. His work and dedication were recognised by the MFAA last year when he won the 2017 NSW/ACT Regional Finance Broker award.
Start with a mentor
According to Desovski, applying the principles of not borrowing too much, bootstrapping, and practising financial discipline remain basics for brokers starting out. But he believes the most important move nascent brokers can make is to find a mentor who will genuinely invest in developing their mentee’s skills. Along with that is focusing on one customer segment or niche market that they want to specialise in. It’s a way for them to build authority and their relationships with lenders and BDMs.
Despite strongly adopting digital technology in business, Desovski prefers the more traditional method when it comes to client interaction. “As counter-intuitive as this sounds, technology is just a tool,” he says. “The broker is the solution. So focus on offering face-to-face time by being available to your clients.”
