The Independent Young Gun of the Year shares her biggest business challenge and how she tackled it.
Each week MPA brings you advice from the industry's thought leaders on their biggest business challenge and how they tackled it. This week we speak with Marissa Schulze, director of Rise High Financial Solutions and 2013 AMA Young Gun of the Year (Independent).
MPA: What has been one of your biggest challenges in business to date and why?
Marissa Schulz: The biggest challenge I have faced is starting my own independent mortgage broking business. Starting my own business presented several challenges from deciding on the business name and corporate branding to choosing the right aggregator to creating and implementing new systems, processes and procedures to ensure that it was an efficient, compliant and productive business from the very beginning. There was also the challenge of building a completely new customer base from scratch and building credibility for the business.
MPA: How did you overcome this challenge?
MS: Once I had made the decision to start my own business I faced all of the challenges head on and enjoyed working my way through them to establish a business that I am truly proud of. With the assistance of my business partner and husband, James, we each focused on our strengths and worked together to develop all of the necessary building blocks. Where we faced challenges outside of our area of expertise we proactively sourced education/training programs and/or experts in the areas required to enable us to develop the skills and knowledge required to overcome the challenge at hand.
MPA: What are some of the key lessons you learned from this experience?
MS: The decision to start an independent mortgage broking business was a difficult one. It was exciting but also very scary as we had never run a business before and I only had a few months experience as a mortgage broker before taking this big step. As our business approaches its second birthday we are so proud of how far we have come and so proud of the business we have developed and believe that taking that leap to start our own business was a great decision.
The most important lesson I took from this experience was to trust myself and my ability. I gained the confidence to make decisions and stick by them. I learnt that if you build a business that you are deeply passionate about that is truly focused on the client, with hard work and dedication, you can achieve anything.
MPA: How have those lessons benefited you in business since?
MS: Once I had made the decision to start my own business I faced all of the challenges head on and enjoyed working my way through them to establish a business that I am truly proud of. With the assistance of my business partner and husband, James, we each focused on our strengths and worked together to develop all of the necessary building blocks. Where we faced challenges outside of our area of expertise we proactively sourced education/training programs and/or experts in the areas required to enable us to develop the skills and knowledge required to overcome the challenge at hand.
MPA: If you were to tackle this again would you do anything differently?
MS: There is nothing I would have done differently. Since starting the business everything has been a great learning experience. I believe that we would not be where we are without making a few little mistakes and being able to learn from them. Now in our second year of operation, we are still learning every day and continue to enjoy the journey of taking our business to the next level.
MPA: What advice would you give to other brokers facing a similar situation?
MS: Whilst it may be a big and scary move to make the decision to branch out on your own, if you have the confidence that you can make it work and you are willing to go the extra mile for clients and for your business then back yourself and go for it. Make sure you have a good support network of other successful independent brokers that are happy to share ideas with you and a good aggregator that gives you the support you need.
