At the age of 23, former professional golfer Jayden Brown decided to open his own brokerage in Sydney’s Sutherland Shire.
Brown (pictured above) started playing golf at the age of 16 and at 18 he moved to New York as a student-athlete and captained the Division 1 Golf team at Long Island University. Whilst there, he pursued a triple major degree in business management, marketing, and finance at Long Island University.
Brown returned to Australia after finishing his degree in 2021 and started his mortgage career at a Sydney Loan Market franchise, where just six months into his role, he decided it was time to open his own brokerage.
Now 11 months into owning and managing mortgage brokerage Harrow & Co, the driven and devoted Brown is reflecting on his career in the mortgage industry so far.
“We are settling decent numbers just eight months in and averaging around $3 million per month,” Brown said. “I am now building good relationships in the Sutherland Shire and eastern suburbs of Sydney.”
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Brown said consistency and hard work were important when starting your own business.
“I just kept pushing and repeating what I was doing over and over until I saw results,” he said. “I am now receiving referrals from clients who I have helped previously which is really rewarding. I enjoy the smooth transition from the first initial conversation all the way through to settlement with my clients.”
Brown said client reviews were always a great way to demonstrate your service to potential clients.
“I always ask my clients to leave a review if they are happy with my service because word of mouth is so important,” he said. “Having a strong online presence in this day in age can also help you stand out from the crowd.”
Brown said one challenge he faced when opening his brokerage in September 2021 was being so young and winning over clients as he had less experience.
“Building trust is key and proving you can do a good job for them,” he said. “You would hope people would choose to deal with you when you first open your own brokerage, however at times, people have steered in another direction because of how fresh I was in the industry.”
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Brown said he enjoyed exploring and building new connections with different lenders.
“Rather than becoming complacent and sticking with one or two lenders, I like branching out so I have the opportunity to offer my clients as many options as possible,” he said. “I do not have any super strong relationships with the big four banks, so I leverage off smaller banks and non-banks to get some great rates for my clients.”
Brown said his aggregators at Finsure were always happy to lend a hand.
“My BDM Phil Donaldson has been outstanding and always jumps on any issues that arise,” he said. “If I ever experience any issues with banks or lenders, he is always onto it. Finsure’s compliance system and CRM database is awesome.
“Finsure has allowed me to structure my business the way I want to rather than manipulate or direct it into a way that I am not comfortable with.”
