26 years learning how deals get approved.
Now I give that knowledge to brokers.

My career started in banking. Not as a credit analyst — as someone who sat across the desk from business owners, listened to their stories, and then had to figure out how to present those stories to credit in a way that got a yes. I learned fast that it's not what you say. It's how you say it.

I spent years understanding how risk grades work, how credit managers think, how a margin can be reduced by 0.75% just because someone was willing to do the assessment properly. I once inherited a client from a colleague who had ticked "acceptable" on every single risk criteria — never actually done the work. When I ran the proper assessment, the client's grade improved enough to justify a $15,000 annual saving on their lending. That lazy banker had been collecting that margin for years.

That experience taught me something I've never forgotten: doing the credit manager's job for them — properly, thoroughly, from their perspective — is the single most valuable thing a broker can do. It gets deals prioritised. It gets credit managers calling you back. It builds the reputation that turns one deal into ten.

From banker to broker

When I moved into commercial broking I discovered something interesting: everything I'd learned on the credit side translated directly into better submissions, faster approvals, and stronger client relationships. I was thinking about deals the way credit managers thought about them — which meant I could see the risks they'd raise before they raised them, and address them before they became objections.

The most important question I ever learned to ask a client wasn't about their financials. It was: "What is all this for? Being in business has its ups and downs — what keeps you going through the downs?" Most people hadn't been asked that by their banker. It built trust that no financial analysis can build. And trust is what gets you referrals.

What I do now

I work with commercial and business finance brokers across Australia — giving them the credit expertise, the tools, and the institutional knowledge that used to only be available to brokers who'd spent decades in the industry. I stay invisible. The broker takes the credit. Their client thinks they're the most capable commercial broker they've ever dealt with. And sometimes they are — because they've got me in the background.