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The Successful Adviser by James McCracken

James McCracken interviews today's most inspiring and successful advisers & entrepreneurs 5 days a week with inspiration from leading advisers including Pat Flynn , Tim Ferriss, Seth Godin & Tony Robbins

Journey Of The Successful Adviser is created for you - the adviser, the entrepreneur, and those aspiring to be one. If you're looking for inspiration, education and empowerment to help you keep moving toward your goals, whether you're on the way to work, on the way home, or during your 'down time', James McCracken brings you real-life stories of triumph and tribulation from many of today's most inspiring advisers and entrepreneurs. Each episode ends with the PD ROUND, where guests share nuggets of wisdom for you, Adviser Nation!

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Top 10 The Successful Adviser by James McCracken Episodes

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03/05/20 • 30 min

With a love of people, processes and numbers, though Cathy Brown started life as an accountant, she has found her calling as a mortgage broker.

From the early days of smashing out long hours and driving all over town, Cathy has restructured her business to fit around her life all while leveraging processes, technology and an off-shore team to deliver exceptional client outcomes.

Like many a broker, Cathy found it difficult to relinquish control but has found that with continual & effective communication, she can empower, upskill and support her team to take as much ownership over the delivery of service so her time can be spent on clients appointments and acquiring new business.

Cathy would be the first to admit that having an offshore team has provided both challenges and new learning opportunities for her. In particular, the proximity of distance has forced her to improve her communication skills so her team understand the ‘why’ and the ‘what’, not just the ‘how’.

Moreover, in her downtime, she can also tweak processes and system so they continue to stay relevant and enable her and the team to deliver on exceptional client experience.

Visit Activ8Finance website here.

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03/05/20 • 30 min

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Ilse Strauss Shares How to be In Sync With Your Purpose

The Successful Adviser by James McCracken

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02/27/20 • 37 min

In today’s interview, you’re going to hear from Ilse Strauss, a leadership consultant and advisor for people who want to ensure there is alignment between their values and their business.

In this interview, you’ll hear Ilse share specific insights into how having clarity of your value can and does make it easier to operate your business in a way that feels authentic for each person.

The reason for asking Ilse to share light on this very important topic is because quite often, in the cut and thrust of getting deals done, it can be easy to operate in a task-centric manner without having the clarity of purpose or being able to calibrate if or how the tasks are contributing to organisational success.

Ilse shares her perspective on mission, vision, values and clarity of purpose.

Yes, this interview is different, and by intention, so it can provide the opportunity for you to consider what else, if anything, you could be doing to help you, your business, team members and clients progress to the next level.

If you’d like to connect with Ilse, you can visit her website or connect on with her on LinkedIn.

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02/27/20 • 37 min

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02/24/20 • 37 min

Some brokers go quietly about their business, making an impact where it matters most - with the outcomes and relationships they have with clients.

This is certainly true for Kelly Cameron, the entrepreneurial director of Get Real Finance.

At age 30, Kelly sold her first brokerage and ‘retired’ from the workforce, though boredom, the need to be challenged and passion for making a difference soon brought her back to the finance industry.

Having since established Get Real Finance, Kelly has since brought on a total of 8 other staff members to accommodate the continuing need to service existing and new clients.

In contrast to some others, Kelly is a fervent believer that the PAYG model ensures her loan writers and admin staff are only ever focused on what’s best for the client. As she says, “keep it small and keep it all.”

And if the business results and loan book size are anything to go by, there’s merit to her philosophy, as her staff continue to grow in skill and confidence and Kelly is progressively transitioning from being in front of clients to overseeing business operations.

You can visit the Get Real Finance website here.

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02/24/20 • 37 min

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In this interview, Aaron Christie-David pulls back the curtain on some of the business processes and optimisation techniques that are helping him and his team operate an efficient and productive brokerage that delivers a smooth lending experience for their astute clientele.

As a marketer turned broker, Aaron has a keen eye for the small details that help influence consumer perception of him and his brand. For example, Aaron is masterful at communicating online and recognising and appreciating his clients and his team for the joint success experienced. It’s one of many subtle yet powerful positioning techniques he incorporates to drive advocacy, repeat and referral business.

To complement his outstanding broking and human skills, Aaron’s wife Bernadette has helped transform business operations through her knowledge of systems, processes and measuring tasks to optimise their ROE (return on effort) so they understand the cost and value of the work being delivered.

In a few short years, together, they have built a respected brokerage and client base of predominantly astute investors that recognise exceptional advice and service.

To connect with Aaron, visit the Atelier Wealth website or email him here.

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02/13/20 • 40 min

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How Otto Dargan went from a business of 1 to more than 150

The Successful Adviser by James McCracken

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02/06/20 • 41 min

When Otto Dargan started his mortgage broking journey, he had a modest vision of having 3 staff members and to service a local client base.

But, while trekking in Nepal, he broadened his horizons in more ways than one. With a more worldly view, he came back to Australia inspired about what else was possible.

With the newfound energy, he started experimenting with his business, and though not all experiments worked out, he failed often enough and quick enough to let go of the bad ideas and follow through on the good ones.

These days, his company, Home Loan Experts looked very different from those early days. With 150+ staff in Australia and Nepal, he operates an efficient, effective business from their Sydney office.

In a complementary way, Otto’s approach to business reminds me of Frederick Winslow Taylor, father of the principles of ‘scientific management’, as Otto, just like Frederick before him, has mapped out the various functions of the role to ensure the broker maximises their revenue per hour worked with all other functions being looked after by their support staff.

Further to this, Home Loan Experts have set up a significant Nepalese based operation that provides white-labelled loan processing and credit analyst services for brokers.

If you’d like to find out more about the services available from Home Loan Experts, you can contact Otto via his email.

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02/06/20 • 41 min

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12/06/19 • 32 min

Hearing Hannah Nguyen’s story will be aspirational for many - and rightly so. She is shooting the lights out with her volumes, though she is far from resting on her laurels.

Currently writing around $86 M with a goal of $100M (and then $150M), Hannah and her team operate with precision and structure to enable deals to flow smoothly through their well-oiled machine without every task being reliant on Hannah’s personal effort.

If you think of a surgical team, which has the prep-nurses, the surgeon and the post-operation support, that’s much like Hannah’s setup. Where Hannah is the surgeon and sets the tone for how the business operates.

Impressively, her last appointment time slot is at 4 pm, and clients find a way to fit around her schedule, not the other way round.

As you’d expect, Hannah has a strong grasp of loan structuring and though has a highly tuned loan submission process, in my opinion, what’s even more impressive is her capacity to guide and empower her team members to perform their role to the best of their ability.

This skill earns her loyalty, and moreover, gives her the confidence that clients will be well serviced, and provides her with the opportunity to have a work-life balance where she can enjoy the other responsibilities in her life.

Visit Hannah’s website here.

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12/06/19 • 32 min

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Luke Howes Shares How He Founded Bankstatements.com.au

The Successful Adviser by James McCracken

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11/28/19 • 35 min

Luke Howes is the typical story of an ‘overnight success’ 15 years in the making.

Better known as the founder of bankstatements.com.au, in our interview, Luke gives us the back story that brought us his fantastic innovation that now provides value for thousands of brokers and tens of thousands of clients alike.

Immersed in the entrepreneurial world for the better part of his working life, Luke readily admits that bankstatements.com.au was born out of continually listening to the market, tweaking and refining tech solutions until they landed on something ‘big’ (aka a ‘unicorn’ in the world of tech).

And like many a small business owner, Luke learned on the job through trial and error. He advises that while tech isn’t his strong suit, he was fortunate to have a brother who he partnered with to co-create their vision.

Experiencing rapid growth, Luke quickly found himself needing to hire, lead, promote, sell & delegate so he could build the business.

Luke’s story is a parallel for many brokers who also experience the challenges that arise at various points in their business, and I hope you enjoy his forthrightness, energy and get inspired about taking your business to the next level.

You can connect with Luke here on LinkedIn.

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11/28/19 • 35 min

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11/21/19 • 30 min

Like many a high performer, Nathan Aird is vividly clear on what’s important to him, and he is incredibly consistent in his approach to operating his brokerage so it can support his chosen lifestyle.

And, these days, Nathan strictly operates a Monday-Friday brokerage. For some, the thought of not putting in some hours on the weekend or doing ‘home appointments’ might make them nervous, but in Nathan’s case, it’s doing him a world of good...

By defining his boundaries and his values, it ensures that his time spent in the office is highly productive.

As Nathan said, he built his business by design so he could do great work for clients, and also have time to enjoy with those who matter most, namely his wife and his 3 boys.

And, though he doesn’t chase the ‘numbers’ or the ‘awards’, he does have his eye firmly on the key drivers that influence business results - namely, delivering a great client experience, always exceeding expectations, and having a great back office that can move each file quickly from application to settlement.

To introduce commercial lending to his clients, Nathan is well poised to deliver even more value and delight his clients, which in turn will be the catalyst for driving new business.

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11/21/19 • 30 min

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11/14/19 • 33 min

In this refreshingly honest interview, you’ll hear Mark Stevenson talk about the tribulations and triumphs of operating a broking business.

Mark is the Managing Director of Finance division of Bell Partners, a multifaceted professional services firm that aims to ‘put a ring’ around their clients so they can offer a suite of services to each client without needing to refer to people outside of the group.

As looking from afar, you’d think Mark has and the team have ‘got it made’ with all the referrals they could garner in-house.

And you’d be right, to a degree.

Though Mark certainly enjoys the benefit of generating a lot of leads in-house, as he candidly shares, the past 12 months hasn’t been without its challenges.

With operating overheads staying the same and settlement volumes being less predictable, Mark discusses how he has had to pivot, embrace resilience and remain highly focused to work through this challenging period and set up himself and his team up for the months and years ahead.

Visit Mark’s website here.

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11/14/19 • 33 min

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Building a Great Team with Liz Wilson

The Successful Adviser by James McCracken

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03/12/20 • 36 min

In this interview with Liz Wilson, we focused the conversation far more on culture, people, leadership and systems.

Like all mortgage brokers, Liz has needed to embrace the change of recent time so she and her team can remain relevant to their clients and continue to deliver outstanding levels of service.

What interesting to hear is Liz’s mindset and openness to personal change, growth and thinking differently in order to achieve different outcomes.

Not only does she embrace change, but moreover, Liz also engages her people in the process so there is buy-in at the ground level. As Liz would know first-hand, the more the buy-in, the easier the transition.

In terms of Liz’ personal growth, as she eloquently said, “The only way to survive is to grow”, and that’s a very healthy mindset so she can continue to explore new avenues for optimising the engagement and focus that her team members bring on a daily basis.

Liz also touches on how employing and engaging the right people and helping the wrong people get off the bus has made a profound difference to how their business operates and the energy & attitudes that are brought into the office.

If you’d like to find out more about Liz and her team, you can visit their website here.

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03/12/20 • 36 min

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FAQ

How many episodes does The Successful Adviser by James McCracken have?

The Successful Adviser by James McCracken currently has 125 episodes available.

What topics does The Successful Adviser by James McCracken cover?

The podcast is about Success, Insurance, Marketing, How To, Podcasts, Inspiration, Education and Business.

What is the most popular episode on The Successful Adviser by James McCracken?

The episode title 'How Cathy Brown Uses Offshore Talent to Grow her Broking Business' is the most popular.

What is the average episode length on The Successful Adviser by James McCracken?

The average episode length on The Successful Adviser by James McCracken is 41 minutes.

How often are episodes of The Successful Adviser by James McCracken released?

Episodes of The Successful Adviser by James McCracken are typically released every 7 days.

When was the first episode of The Successful Adviser by James McCracken?

The first episode of The Successful Adviser by James McCracken was released on Oct 6, 2015.

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