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How to Create a Sustainable Routine for Your Brokerage

January 11, 2023
How to Create a Sustainable Routine for Your Brokerage

Here are a few hard truths: around 81% of New Year’s Resolutions fail. Eight times out of 10, you’re more likely to fall back into old habits, and most people give up on new routines.

Why? Because change is hard.

We’re not saying this to demotivate or discourage you — quite the opposite. Our goal is to arm you with the knowledge and tools you need to form new habits and, more importantly, make sure they stick in this new year!

Whether you’re a broker or brokerage owner, keep reading to get our best tips on creating a sustainable routine in 2023.

H2: What is a sustainable routine?

For a new habit to become part of your routine, you must commit to it for at least 60 days, so it needs to be realistic and achievable — two things that we often forget when creating new routines but are essential for sustainability. 

If you’re reading this and are starting to second-guess whether the goals you’ve set are a little overzealous, here are some new routine red flags to look out for:

  • They try to change everything at once.
  • They tend to be overly ambitious.
  • The end goals often seek a result, not a ritual.

Now that you know what to avoid when creating new routines, let’s get stuck into the good stuff. Keep reading (or jump ahead) for our tips on creating sustainable routines for brokers and brokerage owners.

Sustainable routine tips for brokers

Choose your fighting days

It’s unsustainable and frankly unrealistic to expect 100% per cent of yourself every day — especially if you haven’t mastered your energy management. That’s why we advise our brokers to choose their ‘fighting days’. 

We love a battle metaphor, but these days are when brokers commit to bringing their A-game each week. Start by choosing one or two days each week to be completely in the zone, distraction-free, and ready to kick some serious goals. 

Protect your time 

Does your new routine include spending more time with prospective clients? Then you’ll need to set realistic expectations to protect your time. We suggest comparing your ‘work with’ hours to your ‘work for’ hours to determine how much time you’re willing to spend with a prospect before billing them for your time.

Whether you decide it’s 45 minutes or an hour, set a time and stick to it at all costs. Of course, we encourage you to pour as much value as possible into your prospects during that time so that you can step back guilt-free and leave the ball in their court. 

Seize every opportunity 

Nailing your elevator pitch is like gaining a superpower. You become unstoppable, and your potential for building connections is infinite. When you’re out in the world, say doing the weekly grocery shop or school pick-up, think ‘Carpe Diem’ (seize the day, or at least the opportunity). You never know who you’re talking to; after all, they could be a potential client.

We’re in the business of legacies. We’re changing lives. — Ruan Burger

Sustainable routine tips for brokerage owners

Pay attention to your people

People make your business go round, so look after them. Begin with your staff; check in with them regularly so you know how to set them up for success. Next, your clients. How can you better support and nurture them this year? What changes can you make to your customer success routines to enhance these relationships? Finally, your referrers; how will you thank them for their continued support?

Share your brokerage vision

As a brokerage owner, you have a vision for your business. You know where you are and where you’d like to go — but does your team? It goes without saying that your vision isn’t supposed to only live inside your head; it needs to be shared and stored somewhere accessible for everyone to review regularly. 

From here, you’re able to provide a brokerage strategy to your staff, which is essentially a roadmap to success. To do this, we recommended reverse-engineering your vision. Take a look at our recent post on goal setting for more ideas on how to achieve success.

Bonus tip: share what you’ve done

We encourage you to be generous with your knowledge and experience; this will help to inspire and get the best results from your team. Looking for more? The Broker Journal™ is your go-to guide for daily, weekly and monthly business growth. Filled with industry insights, activity sheets and handy tips, you’ll be equipped to create better routines, behaviours and outcomes for your business this year.[vc_wp_text]

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Ian Winn profile picture
Ian Winn
24 September 2026
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Ruan has been my mortgage broking coach for 6 months. Having owned a very successful mortgage broking business and now a coach of many businesses he has unparalleled experience to share with his clients. He does this in a very clear and consultative manner. He is always looking for improvements and innovation for clients to implement in their businesses. He has a big picture approach which really helps you get out of the weeds when analysing your business. He has helped me grow my business and provide clarity to achieve my goals. Thanks for your support.
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Anisa Buckley
14 September 2026
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I have learnt so much from Ruan and the team at Success & Broker. Ruan's practical advice to me as a new broker has been incredibly helpful and I have incorporated many of his strategies and approaches into my own business.
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Bree Rivers profile picture
Bree Rivers
14 September 2026
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Working with Ruan has been great. He genuinely cares about your success and provides honest practical advice from his own experience that can be applied to get real results. I highly recommend Ruan to any broker wanting to grow.
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Your favourite Bald & Bespectacled broker
6 August 2026
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Great weekly 50min session with Ruan himself, done online over Zoom with other brokers. Intimate session of around a dozen people, including Ruan and the host. If you're a new broker and have under three or four years of experience, and wish to get an insight into Ruan's mind + pick up tips and tricks, it's a very good six month-long training program. Even if you're a more seasoned broker like myself (nine years in December 2026), it's worth an education session - I have a few pages of notes and thoughts. Give it a go, brokers.
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Christopher Dodson
6 August 2026
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Thanks Ruan for your insight and warm approach
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Achani Kodippili
4 August 2026
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That was an amazing journey with Success & Broker. Excellent guidance is simply practical. Thank you team for the opportunity.
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Sara Shome
1 August 2026
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I’ve really enjoyed being part of Ruan’s Grow Broker Program. As a broker with an over 5 years of experience, it is easy to reach a point where you feel like you’re doing well but not really moving forward. This program challenged me to rethink almost everything I thought I knew about broking, relationships, branding and what it really takes to build a sustainable career. Ruan has an incredible ability to make you look at your business and thinking from a completely different perspective while providing genuine support and practical strategies that you can implement immediately and easily. It is not about quick wins or generic coaching. It is about building the right foundations and becoming a better broker and business owner. The confidence and clarity I gained through the program played a crucial role in my decision to move into a BDM role. It helped me recognise where my strengths truly lie and gave me the self confidence to take that next step. I would highly recommend Success and Broker to anyone who feels they have reached a plateau or wants to take their career to the next level. It has been one of the best self investments I have made.
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Jonathon Rhydderch
22 July 2026
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The Success & Broker course has been fantastic. As a new broker, you learn a lot about the technical side early on: compliance, lending policy, structuring deals. But what nobody really teaches you is how to build a sustainable business around all that. Ruan's program fills exactly that gap, giving you so many practical, actionable ways to grow: daily habits and consistency, marketing that actually works for a brokerage, operations and systems that scale, and how to genuinely deliver a great client experience rather than just process loans. What I liked most is that it's not generic coaching. It's built specifically around where you are as a broker, whether that's establishing strong foundations early on or working toward running a proper business with leverage and a team behind you. The 'Broker Journal' kept me on track throughout the course and is a great reference point when i need to work on my business. It is like a blueprint for success. All of it is delivered in a refreshingly warm, positive, and genuinely invested way. You can tell they actually care about your outcomes, not just ticking a coaching box. Big thanks to Ruan, and to Ryan too. Highly recommend to any broker serious about building a real business, not just writing loans.
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Alex Ritchie
8 July 2026
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Ruan and the Success & Broker team have been really helpful in getting us to think about how we operate, how we build out or team, and where we want to go. Ruan is super knowledgeable, having spent many years as a broker running multiple firms. He asks the right questions and challenges your thinking.
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Lachlan McKean
6 July 2026
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I've worked with Ruan at Success & Broker for the last 12 months~ and it's been great. Always makes time to discuss what's going on and the advice is invaluable. If you're a broker thinking of using Ruan's services, it's definitely worth jumping on board.
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