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Experienced mortgage broker Katrina Parrington from Parrington Finance is back doing what she loves, despite relocating the business and executing a family succession strategy following a cancer diagnosis.
Parrington (pictured above centre), who launched her brokerage in 2008 and built a thriving brokerage across the Northern Territory, was recently forced to relocate the business to South Australia while receiving treatment.
Though Parrington still works in the business, it has been sold to Parrington’s daughter Kara as part of a family succession plan, with Katrina’s niece, Grace Clark, expected to buy into the business in the future.
Speaking with Australian Broker, Katrina Parrington said the business had grown through the changes.
“The transition was forced,” Parrington said. “I was never going to leave the Territory, I loved it. But health forced me to move down to Adelaide, and obviously family commitments as well.”
“But with Kara, and then Grace, who joined two years ago, we've actually expanded the business quite well through SA and the NT. We've still kept our NT base, that's hardly been eroded at all.”
The relocation has been helped by technology, with the team able to meet clients based anywhere.
“The onset of COVID and technology has helped us – we are Zooming or doing Teams meetings to meet with clients. The advancements on the aggregator platforms have assisted us in that space as well, because I wasn't allowed to see clients for a long time while I was in chemo and immuno.”
The strong local networks offered by Kara (pictured above left) and Grace (pictured above right) have also been critical to the transition.
“Kara and Grace both have strong Adelaide backgrounds and connections down here,” Parrington said. “That has added another bow to the business, so we've been able to grow quite comfortably during that transitional period,” she said.
Parrington has had a long career in the finance and real estate industry, having worked with ANZ and CommBank prior to mortgage broking, and insurance and real estate prior to banking.
However after years flying up and down the Territory to see clients in Darwin, Tennant Creek and Alice Springs, as well as some in Adelaide, the move for lung cancer treatment needed to be made.
“It was a diagnosis, and it had to be dealt with,” Parrington said.
“I was lucky that I had Kara working with me, and another girl at the time, Jocelyn, who's since retired, who were able to step up and handle the day-to-day while I was undergoing therapy. Then with Grace coming on board as well, I've just been really fortunate.
“The team is strong, they have lots of networks and relationships that support the business. So while I was going about the business of getting better or working on my health, the girls have been able to step up as a team and help out clients. Most [clients] have been very, very understanding.”
Even so, Parrington said it had been difficult letting go of the mortgage broking business she loved.
“I love doing what I do. I'm very passionate about it, and I've been in for a long time,” Parrington said. “So yes, it has been a difficult let go, but because I'm still sort of involved in the business anyway at the moment, that's been transitional.”
After going through treatment, Parrington said she was now “pretty dedicated to the gym and boxing” to keep in good health, in addition to making a number of other lifestyle changes.
“There won't be a cure. It's just managing to live with it.
“Selling the business to Kara was a position I'd taken a while ago, and Kara wanted the business as well, so that's worked out quite well. It's also a good transition for our clients. I'm still helping in the background with Kara and Grace, but eventually they will be the focus of the business.”
Kara Parrington said the succession had been smooth as Parrington Finance is a family business.
“Even though the ownership has changed over, our day-to-day running hasn't really been affected, because all three of us work quite collaboratively across all of our clients,” Kara said.
“So, particularly with mum’s diagnosis and treatment earlier on, all the clients were used to dealing with me anyway, and knew who I was, so it's been no real shock to the system.”
Kara said she would consider new directions for business expansion into the future. “I would like us to expand, but it's really just going to depend on what that looks like for all of us,” she said.
“I really would like mum to be able to take that step back into part retirement, or whatever that looks like, and then Grace and I would like to have work-life balance as well.
“But I've been toying with the idea of whether we transition into insurance, or look at financial planning, adding another string to the bow we already have, or just look at expanding in mortgage broking. I see the team growing, it will just be seeing which avenue we go down that is best for us as a team.”
The business will need to draw on its resilience again, with Kara expecting a baby in November.
“We'd actually agreed to the business transfer and how that would all look literally weeks before I found out I was pregnant, so it has been quite unique timing,” Kara said.
“But those are the perks of a family business, aren’t they? Really, it's flexible, and we work from home, and you know, we have family support too. So from a personal standpoint, I think we'll just manage.”
Katrina Parrington said she would be “back as much as I'm needed for as long as I'm needed”.
“After that, I would probably like to cut it down to two or three days a week maybe, or maybe have some weeks out just doing some other things,” Parrington said.
“But while Kara's having maternity leave, it'll be Grace and I who will be taking over to look after the day-to-day. But it's really been a team effort for a long time, and we are all across what everyone's doing pretty much.”
