Hands up - Who would love two more appointments next week?
Two more appointments means more work, more client meetings, more applications, more approvals, more after-care and sure, more money.
If you want more, you must work more. It’s the nature of our industry.
There are a lot of people who say “work smarter not harder” but what does that really mean? I want to flip that and say “work hard but think smart”.
Because guess what? If you want to be a ripper of a mortgage broker or loan Writer and write a huge number of loans, then you need to invest in the hard work. Hard work doesn’t disappear because you start to work smarter.
Writing more business takes time, determination, effort and commitment. Commitment to working hard when you need to and working smartly all the time. But I have a strategy that can help you with working hard and not burning out.
I want to introduce you to my concept of “fighting days”.
Fighting days are the days in your week, maybe two or three that you absolutely MUST be ON. These are the days where you will see 80% of your work “done” and the days where you will create the most impact and connection in your work and deal flow.
Your fighting days are your non-negotiable days. As long as you’re not sick in bed, these days are your 100% ON days. You have the day stacked with the ‘hard work’ and dollar productive work that will see you kick your goals.
If you think back to medieval times, where soldiers would be fighting constant wars, there wasn’t a day you could call in sick for battle. You had to pull up your boots, strap on your sword and get to fighting. It was life and death.
If you use that metaphor today, you’d be surprised at what you can achieve over a year.
Listen; we get that life, clients, relationships, and the barrage of a bad-news cycle can be overwhelming say the least. And if your life requires you to be gentle with yourself and your time or plan a little extra rest in between the fighting days, then by all means do it.
There is no point in running on empty until the engine gives out. This is what your non-fighting days are for. Low impact work, work that you can do gently and without as much energy being taken from you.
But on the fighting days, you must be ON fire. So you do whatever you need to do to pump yourself up to be the best, most powerful, influential and potent version of yourself.
Your clients deserve it, your family deserves it, you deserve it.
And this goes for whether you’re starting out in your broking career, a seasoned pro or an owner of a mortgage broking business. Everyone will have OFF days. But everyone needs the ON days.
Have we become too selfish or soft with our time? Have we forgotten the goal of a mortgage broker; to connect clients with their home, to assist in their investments and with financial matters?
In our business, the client comes first, second and third. The client doesn’t need you - you need the client. Think about that.
On a fighting day (one where you feel less than 100%) but you still turn up for the client and the client says “thank you for today, you were so helpful” this will give you the drive you need to show up again and again. And subconsciously, you were very clear on what your responsibilities were that day, and what you needed to do.
In our market, mortgage brokers and loan writers are not an endangered species. If you are not showing up for your client/prospect in the moments that matter, creating a lasting and positive experience and developing a strong relationship then that client will go somewhere else, it’s that simple.
The choice of how much hard work you really want is up to you. You can ask yourself; “Am I fighting today? Am I going to bring my A-game? Am I going to WOW every client, referral source, Lender and professional I connect with?”
Know that every fighting day is getting you so much closer to your goals. Write out your goals, have them a visual up on your wall so when you are fighting you can see what you’re fighting for.
Lucky for us, unlike our medieval counterparts, we won’t be fighting for our lives. We can go home and enjoy a glass of red, without having to risk our lives on the battlefield.
And point to note - Strategy is for implementation, tactics are for observation, so you need the fighting days more than you know to ensure you can observe your offer, your play, your value and constantly tweak to ensure you remain the best version of you at offer to your referrers, your clients and your lenders.
At Success & Broker, we have a few different ways to assist in your broker journey, depending on where in your career you are right now and what you’re looking to gain in the next twelve months and beyond.
The exercise program for finance professionals - The Broker Journal™ is designed to kickstart your broking journey, revitalise your broking career and set you on the path to lasting broker success. Through an online learning platform, you gain access to weekly coaching videos, activities and routines to help you plan, grow and expand your growth.
Your very own weekly coaching, results tracker and motivator in one place. The Broker Journal™ does not have any one-on-one support as a part of the program however it is industry recognised with a maximum of 30 CPD points from the MFAA and FBAA.
This coaching option is personal one-on-one support with Ruan Burger. There are a couple of options ranging from monthly, bi-monthly and three-monthly check ins, depending on your goals and desire for growth. You also gain access to The Broker Journal™ which can work with your coaching side by side.
To enter into the Pathway to Broker Growth, it’s a discovery call process and we help you to decide the right option for you based on your present goals.
As a Business Owner, you may seek to have a greater vision to fulfil. You may just need a little (a lotta) help getting there. Our Proventus Program sees you exclusively partner with Ruan Burger for eight one-on-one sessions per month for 12 months.
This is serious business planning and deep strategic development for business owners with real goals to achieve and big plans to set in motion.
Just remember; strategy is what is in front of you, vision is what is ahead of you.
A coach can assist with those strategic plays for better tactical implementation.
The Proventus Program is built on 4 pillars: research, planning, implementation and review. Your vision, your strategy, our support.
To enter into the Proventus Program, it’s a discovery call process so we can understand where your business is now, and where you want it to be. Click here to book the call.
If you’re a mortgage broker looking for a coach, or own a mortgage broking business and looking for a business coach then please contact our team today. We have solutions for you, whether you are metro or regional broker, just starting out or a seasoned pro - we’ve done the hard yards and we can help get you to where you want to be.
