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Tony Gale, MD of Jims Financial Services, shares his top tips for thriving in the world of mortgages, and explains how the group is working to reinvent broking as a full suite of financial services
Q: What’s one of your recent career highlights?
A: The highlight would definitely be getting involved with the Jims Group. It has provided a platform that has allowed us to reinvent a typical mortgage broking business through diversifying, to offer a full suite of financial services. Successfully franchising this business model under the iconic Jims brand has been really rewarding.
Q: What’s the greatest challenge for brokers at this time?
A: As banks and financial institutions tighten their lending policies, consumers are facing a significant reduction in available credit. This credit squeeze is a major challenge for brokers, so having alternative finance options for clients is crucial.
Q: If you won $1m, what would you do with it?
A: I’m really concerned about homeless youth in Australia. Charities such as the Lighthouse Foundation and Whitelion provide shelter and services for homeless young Australians, so I’m sure $1m would assist.
Q: What was your firtst job?
A: After university, I started working for South Pacific Tyres, which included Dunlop and Goodyear. It was 1988 and I was arranging the delivery of tyres direct from the factory to the major Australian car manufacturers. In theory, our work was based on the Japanese system of delivery called JIT, which stands for ‘just in time’. In reality it was stressful and we never seemed to deliver just in time.\
Q: What are your top survival tips for working in finance?
A: It’s a tough business, so survival as a broker relies on that ability to generate leads, then manage, submit, approve and settle multiple loan opportunities every month. Good brokers who set up efficient systems that allow scalability and diversification of finance products for their clients – along with managing compliant volume loan applications and providing quick turnaround for customers – will be the most successful in their endeavours.
Q: What’s one thing, personal or professional, that you hope to achieve before the end of the year?
A: Our target for this year is to reach the milestone of having 30 successful Jims Finance franchisees around Australia, and the real icing on the cake will be when each of these franchisees is writing business across all of our product platforms.
