Adviser who made a career switch shares her insight
Having spent 20 years of her working life in the public sector, Shelley Walker (pictured) had a long career helping people, but when her job became more about making budget cuts than providing help, she wanted to switch roles.
A property investor herself, Walker (pictured) was attracted to the mortgage industry and the prospect of becoming a broker. Today, she is director of The Mortgage Mum Specialist Finance, and clearly relishes her career change.
“I always said, if I had my life again, I would go to work in finance – it was just the thing that I'd always wanted to do,” Walker told Mortgage Introducer.
Her entry into the mortgage world came when she met Sarah Tucker, founder of The Mortgage Mum, at a reiki training session. With Tucker’s encouragement, she undertook her CeMAP training.
Now, with five years under her belt in the role, she knows what it takes to become a successful broker. Empathy for clients is key, she believes.
“You come into finance thinking it's all about the numbers and it really isn't,” she said. “It's about the clients and their outcomes, being invested in people’s journeys. Doing the best for the client always has to be the focus - and that's where you're going to get more referrals, naturally.”
Those cases which are ’more meaningful’ for clients, suggests Walker, can yield further business.
“They've got more at stake and on the line, and you truly help them, where perhaps other people might have dismissed them,” she said. “That's where you're really going to get champions of your business, spreading the good word about everything that you're doing. Ultimately, I get a lot of my work through word of mouth.”
Being able to relate to a client is valuable too, in Walker’s opinion.
“I think it helps that I am a property investor and can speak to people on that level,” she noted. “I can say, ‘OK, talk me through your investment strategy,’ because I've got a strategic mindset.”
Establishing strong professional partnerships is important, in Walker’s view, as well as promoting your business through social media.
“Maintaining this is one of the key things that you've got to be focused on, even when you're busy, because it's often the first thing to go,” she suggested. “Recruit help to do it, if you need to do so.”
Networking is a further skill in the mortgage armoury, Walker believes.
“You've got to get into the right circles, into the right rooms, with the right people,” she emphasised. “It's no good shying away and standing in a corner. You've got to get people to buy into you and your values.”
Read more: How can brokers be more successful?
Even small tasks could have great potential…
Walker acknowledges the importance of recognising the potential of a task, even when it isn’t so obvious.
“It is finding the opportunity within each opportunity,” she explained. “Even if you've got something on your desk that's small and you feel like you don't want to do it, it can lead to greater things.”
Self-care is important in the broker community too, it seems – burnout is all too easy, as Walker has found.
“The best business lesson is to protect yourself,” she urged. “We all talk about business and how many leads have you got and how much business you have you written. But, ultimately, you can't do any of it if you're not looking after your own health and well-being.
“So, I think it's really important that we all ensure that we're doing this. It can be really hard when you're very busy. I’ve had nights where I've worked until one in the morning, trying to get everything done, and then got up again at six am. But, ultimately, when you work like that, you burn out, and you're not your best self for anybody.”
She added: “My advice to any business owner, new or old, is really about self-care - what do you do for yourself in your week? Whether that is a lunchtime walk or going to the gym, or an hour off to do something with the children, I think it's really important we don't lose sight of that.”
