She had a dream about starting a business… and turned it into a reality
Not many brokers likely considered joining the fire service and becoming a Page 3 model before they hit upon a career in the mortgage industry. But Kelly Worthington (pictured) did – and she prides herself on her straight talking.
“When I left school, I wanted to be a firefighter,” Worthington, director of All You Need Mortgages, told Mortgage Introducer. “But I realised I'm not that great with heights, so that might not be the way forward for me. I did think about being a Page 3 girl, but I decided I didn't want my granddad to see my boobs, so that wasn’t the way forward!”
The Sun’s loss was financial services’ gain. Worthington eventually joined a mortgage packaging firm as an office junior. She eventually became a business development manager, covering East London and her native Essex, and took her CeMAP training. “I've always had the motto if you don't ask, you don't get,” she explained. “They always believed in me and they always encouraged me. So whatever I wanted to have a go at, they let me.” When the company was taken over, she continued her role.
The Credit Crunch hit and redundancies followed, so Worthington stepped out of the industry to do five years in recruitment. “It was a great experience, but I missed being in mortgages,” she recalled. “It's funny because you never think, ‘oh, mortgages is going to be my passion’, but it really is.”
Worthington took a BDM role with NatWest and was then invited by a brokerage to take on a self-employed adviser’s role. “I was nervous to go from being employed all my life to then self-employed,” she said. “But I'd hit a bit of a crossroads in my personal life, I'd got divorced, and I suppose in a way I felt lonely because I was out seeing brokers, but I was in the car on my own and I'd go home on my own - so, I became a broker.”
Four years later, Worthington branched out alone to set up her own business – and it only happened, she believes, because she dreamt it.
“I had a dream that I had my own mortgage firm called All You Need Mortgages,” she recalled. “So I woke up in the morning, because I'm a believer in all of this stuff, and I bought the domain name. My other half at the time said, ‘Are you looking to leave?’, and I said, ‘No, I'm not, but that's one hell of a dream.’”
Six months on, it became a reality. “I ended up going out on my own, which was very scary,” Worthington said. “I launched one month before COVID hit, so I was thinking, Oh my God, what have I done? But touch wood, it's gone from strength to strength.”
During the pandemic she gained her equity release qualification, which has boosted her business options, and it is something that she instinctively prefers to do instead of protection; she thinks a broker would struggle to do both because equity release involves a lot of compliance. Worthington contacted all of the brokers that she used to work with as a BDM, urging them to refer equity release cases to her in exchange for a fee – effectively making her their later life lending specialist. Her venture Later Life Freedom was launched two years ago.
Read more: Is Help To Buy 'successor' a game changer for first-time buyers?
How key is communication to mortgage industry success?
Worthington is – in her own words – ‘a chatterbox’ and that’s served her well in the business.
“Communication is key,” she noted. “A mortgage is the biggest commitment that someone's ever going to make. All they're thinking about is their mortgage, and they're worrying about everything, so the whole process is huge to them. It is just about keeping them regularly updated, every couple of weeks, even if you've got no news, just to say we’ve not forgotten about you. I would say that's the main thing, no matter how busy you are. Always remember to keep in touch. I send a card for their birthday and a Christmas card, and I also send out a newsletter every quarter.”
Worthington is clear about her biggest money making tip – seek referrals.
“My business is built on is referrals,” she said. “Always ask - just say, ‘I'd really appreciate it if you could pass my details on to friends and family. I've even got it on my e-mails. Once a deal completes, it's always worth asking for a review. The reviews on Google always help.”
What, then is the biggest business lesson Worthington has learned as a mortgage broker?
“I am very much a lady that wears her heart on my sleeve,” she said. “What you see is what you get. I'm very passionate about what I do, it's hard to switch off. I've learned to try to not take things personally - it's business.” She continued: “You just get one life, you’ve just got to keep going, keep pushing. I things aren't right or you're not happy, make a change - that's just the way I've always lived my life.”
Does Worthington regret not being a firefighter or page 3 model now?
“No, probably not,” she laughed. “It has worked out OK. I've not had to reveal anything to get me to where I am – my dream has come true.”
