Jignesh Joshi arrived in Australia as a qualified accountant and former bank credit manager, and had to start his career over from scratch. First as a data entry operator, before landing a management accountant role at an FMCG company in 2008. By 2012, the routine of weekly reporting left him feeling unchallenged, and Jignesh set out to build something that gave him more variety, more client contact, and eventually, ownership.
By mid-2024, Jignesh had built ES Finance to just under $100 million a year in settlements. All this on the back of referrals, quick service, and doing right by clients. But he was still doing it largely alone: three people in the business, no documented process, and every application running through him. He engaged Success & Broker on 1 June 2024 to build the systems, compliance, and team structure that would let ES Finance scale the way bigger, more established firms operated.
No Documented Process
Volume was already significant, but nothing about how ES Finance ran was systematic: no defined process, no compliance checkpoints, no consistent way of handling leads or communicating with clients.
A Team Of Three
Jignesh had only ever hired support staff, with no structure in place for building out a team capable of carrying more of the workload.
Recruitment Trial And Error
Early hiring attempts failed – first, it was brokers with a couple of years' experience, then fresh graduates trained from scratch. Both fell short of what the business needed.
Referrals Without A Safety Net
New business came almost entirely from referrals, built on fast, transparent service. But leads that weren't ready to move immediately had nowhere to go.
As Jignesh put it: "If I need to follow up manually, I don't do it. A lot of times, it's just my nature, I don't pursue. I should, but I don't."
Since June 2024, Success & Broker has worked with Jignesh across process design, compliance, client communication, lead handling, team structure and broader business strategy. A direction Jignesh credits with reshaping not just his systems, but how he thinks about the business day to day.
Process mapping and task documentation, done for the first time, gave the team at ES Finance a defined way of working rather than relying on Jignesh's memory and instinct. This also allowed for more successful recruitment.
A shift in recruitment strategy - moving away from graduates and lightly-experienced hires toward candidates with three-plus years' experience meant new team members could contribute from day one instead of requiring months of training. This was especially important given the ES Finance’s clientele.
Reduced owner dependency - Jignesh's day-to-day involvement in each application has been pared back to a single client meeting, with the rest of the process now handled by the team.
Reputation - Jignesh has since won numerous industry awards and nominations, as well as being ranked #60 in Australia’s Elite Broker rankings.
Lead nurture foundations - the business is now building automated lead and post-settlement nurturing with the implementation of a new CRM, to catch leads that were previously falling through the cracks.
GROW BEYOND COMFORT. SEEK PERSPECTIVE.
This is exactly why I was looking for a coach — give me your direction. Otherwise, I would have stayed happy doing what I was doing. But I wanted to grow. I wanted a different perspective.
Referrals and great service can take a business a long way, but without a system behind them, they cap out at what the founder can personally follow up on.
Recruiting for experience over potential can shorten the road to productivity, and outside perspective matters even when a business is already performing well.
Looking ahead, ES Finance is targeting $300-$400 million in settlements within three years.
Jignesh is now dedicating two to three hours a week specifically to marketing, a new endeavour to upskill in an area that will allow for a more diversified lead flow.
"Having a coach means you don't stay in your comfort zone — you always challenge yourself."
- JIGNESH
