Scott Baker is the founder of his own Mortgage & Finance Broking business located in Geelong, Victoria. Scott Baker provides not just finance solutions, but a long-term relationship to work with his clients on their long-term goals and develop a road map on how these goals can be achieved. Since 2019 Scott has helped hundreds of people get into their first home, grow a property portfolio or save thousands in debt commitments. Scott’s business has recently achieved a number of awards within Liberty Network Services for 2021:
- #1 (Victoria) – Highest Settlement Volume
- #2 (Australia) – Highest Settlement Volume
- #1 (Australia) – Highest Settlement Increase YoY
For more details about Scott, visit his website here.
Here we sit down with Scott Baker, to know a bit more about his journey as an entrepreneur.
Q. WHAT INSPIRED SCOTT BAKER TO BECOME AN ENTREPRENEUR?
Scott: After working 20 years in the Fashion Retail industry in various leadership positions across the Marketing and Customer Experience space, it was time to get uncomfortable again and explore my passions. I’ve owned investment properties for over 10 years and have always had a keen interest in the property, equity and the finance side of how property goals can be achieved and this was an area to explore.
Q. HOW DID SCOTT BAKER GET STARTED?
Scott: I got really clear on what my passions and skills in life are and it bubbled up to four things – building relationships, property, finance and problem-solving. After much research of roles within Banking and Finance as well as Property and Real Estate it was clear that a Mortgage Broker was it!
After researching the Mortgage Broking industry in great detail, I finished my career in retail and took the plunge! I started my own business, decided Liberty Network Services was the right aggregator for me and then was off and running!
Q. WHAT WAS YOUR BIGGEST STARTUP CHALLENGE? WHAT STEPS DID YOU TAKE TO OVERCOME IT? WHAT DID YOU LEARN?
Scott: My biggest fear initially before starting my career as a Broker was how I was going to generate leads. The most important role I believe of a Mortgage Broker is a lead generation and until I got started this was a big unknown how I’d go.
I was very proactive in building up an initial 6-month Marketing plan which was built around 3 pillars: Local area marketing / Digital / Local partnerships. I wanted to try and meet with as many people as possible to connect with them, hear their stories about their own businesses and build up a strong network quickly. I was amazed at how many people didn’t know what a Mortgage Broker does and it really helped accelerate my network of leads. I also set up a number of local business partnerships to start to build my brand in the community in addition to a lot of local area marketing including billboards, letterbox drops and community involvement. A key part of my marketing strategy is to ‘be the familiar face in the community’ and all of these initiatives helped accelerate the success. From a digital perspective, building up a consistent content stream for Instagram has been a big key to my digital growth as well.
The biggest thing I learnt was to not rely on 1 or 2 marketing initiatives to drive growth, but to do LOTS. Some will work, so do more. Some won’t, which is then a great learning experience to then adjust the plan and keep moving forward. On top of this, consistency is the key – KEEP AT IT!
Q. WHAT IS THE MOST MEMORABLE THING YOU’VE DONE SINCE YOU STARTED YOUR BUSINESS?
Scott: I wouldn’t say there is one specific thing, but I get total job satisfaction by helping people achieve their goals and educating them on the journey of how we got there. I absolutely love it and hope these will be my clients for life!
Q. WHAT IS THE ONE BOOK THAT SCOTT BAKER WOULD RECOMMEND, AND WHY?
Scott: Good to Great by Jim Collins. I’ve read this a number of times and it is great for what principles you can develop and follow for a business of any size. It also taught me to AIM BIG! Having a big, hairy, audacious goal (BHAG) is key to know where you’re heading and why you are doing what you do.
Along these lines too, one of my favourite quotes is from James Cameron: “If you set your goals ridiculously high and it’s a failure, you will fail above everyone else’s success”. I love this.
Q. WHAT ARE YOUR TOP 3 FAVOURITE ONLINE APPS, TOOLS OR RESOURCES AND WHAT DO YOU LOVE ABOUT THEM?
- Trello – great for business management and for the whole team to be across our pipeline of work to deliver our clients goals.
- ContentCal – this has been great for social media planning and scheduling. So easy to use!
- OneDrive – I love the ability for us to have access to files on any device across the team. So good.
Q. IN TERMS OF LEGACY, WHAT IS THE MARK YOU’D LIKE TO LEAVE ON THE WORLD?
Scott: I am passionate about financial literacy and education. A big part of what I do is educate people about money, finance, budgeting and also how to grow wealth through property and I would love my legacy to be that I’ve had a positive impact on peoples financial futures and to set them up for the future to give them the freedom they want.
Q. IN ONE SENTENCE, WHAT’S THE BEST ADVICE YOU’D GIVE TO SOMEONE JUST STARTING OUT ON THEIR ENTREPRENEURIAL JOURNEY?
Scott: JUST START! The sooner you start, the sooner you can make mistakes and learn. Don’t wait for the “ta da” moment as when you start a business you will continually learn, evolve and adapt to what your customer is telling you and how your strategies need to evolve over time.
To keep up to date with Scott Baker, connect with him on his Instagram.
