Victoria-based brokerage Entourage Finance has been growing rapidly in recent years, hiring new brokers and staff even while enduring the world's longest lockdowns. We find out how they did it. Damien Roylance's brokerage Entourage has been busy making a name for itself in the past few years, and took home the Office of the Year, Non-Franchise award at the Australian Broking Awards last month. But as well as offering broking services, it now provides clients with property, wealth and legal services in recent years, too. Tune in to find out:

• How Damien has been building his Entourage
• Why he changed aggregator
• Their workflow and file process And much more!

Ian Robinson, the founding director of agribusiness and corporate finance brokerage Robinson Sewell, was crowned Broker of the Year and Commercial Finance Broker of the Year at the Australian Broking Awards 2021. In this episode of Elite Broker, host Annie Kane catches up with the regional broker to find out how he's been supporting farmers during a rollercoaster few years, why his team are opening a new base, and his top tips for new brokers looking to write agri loans for the first time. Tune in to find out:

• How Robinson Sewell services the needs of farmers and agricultural clients;
• The challenges and opportunities facing farming communities; and
• His top tips for writing agri loans

And much more!

In December, senator Jane Hume – the Minister for Superannuation, Financial Services, and the Digital Economy and the new Minister for Women's Economic Security – delivered the keynote speech at the Women in Finance Awards 2021. In her speech, Senator Hume urged the financial services industry to help support more women to lead in the finance space and underscored the business case for more female representation in leadership positions, including better outcomes for organisations and their productivity and profitability.

In this episode of In Focus, tune in to hear the full speech and find out:

• The shocking income disparity between male and female parents
• How female leadership leads to better bottom lines
• How the Morrison government is supporting women's economic security

And much more!

Commercial broker Dan Holden of HoldenCAPITAL has won countless awards for his work in construction and commercial property finance, and has now (literally) written the book on it, too. In this episode of Elite Broker, host Annie Kane catches up with the commercial finance broker to find out how he's been building his business over the past few years, why he started his own lending fund, and his top tips for new brokers looking to write construction finance for the first time. Tune in to find out: - Why he specialises in construction finance - What he hopes his new book, Constructive Finance, will achieve - His plans for his broking and lending businesses

And much more!

Brokers are known for going above and beyond for clients; but Louisa Sanghera of brokerage Zippy Financial has demonstrated an extraordinary dedication to customer service in a particularly difficult year, as Annie Kane finds out. In this episode of Elite Broker, recorded live at the Better Business Summit in Sydney, host Annie Kane catches up with Zippy Financial's Louisa Sanghera to discuss her recent win as Mortgage and Finance Broker of the Year at the Women in Finance Awards 2021 and why - despite the accolades - it's not all been smooth sailing. Tune in to find out:

• What she thinks is the mark of excellence in broking
• How a serious health scare brought into sharp relief the need to succession
• Why brokers need to focus on their wellbeing

And much more!

In this month's episode, partnered by Prospa, we are looking at what small businesses are seeking finance for and how brokers can help support them.

As the year 2021 draws to a close and a new year fast approaches, we're catching up with Prospa's co-founder and chief revenue officer, Beau Bertoli, to review what the key issues and themes have been for SMEs in 2021 and what these business owners will need in 2022.

Tune in to find out:

• How brokers can help SMEs access credit this summer
• Business growth opportunities with Prospa
• What 2022 could look like for SMEs

And much more!

After migrating to Australia from Vietnam, EZ Financing broker Thuy Hook started working in banking before making the leap into broking. Having been a broker for the last seven years, the Queensland-based broker now focuses predominantly on first home buyers – and this year celebrated the achievement of writing $100 million in loans as well as being named a finalist for the upcoming Australian Broking Awards 2021 (for Customer Service Of The Year – Individual) and as a finalist for the FBAA's QLD Finance Broker of the Year award, too. In this episode of Elite Broker, host Annie Kane catches up with Thuy to find out what she most loves about broking, how she's been building her business each year, and what she thinks is the mark of great customer service.

Tune in to find out:

• The importance of business planning and setting goals
• Why she went from franchise broker to independent broker
• Why she's hiring a new broker And much more!

For Jennifer Richardson, offering clients help with their finances is something she takes seriously. After qualifying as an accountant and setting up her accounting practice, she soon found that clients also wanted help with their wealth and loans too. But rather than refer clients out, she decided to become a qualified financial planner and mortgage broker herself. In this episode of Elite Broker, host Annie Kane catches up with Jennifer to find out how she manages to operate as accountant, financial planner and broker to her clients all while running her Newcastle-based financial services business and starting a new financial literacy platform, too. Tune in to find out:

• How she structures her business and her week
• How helping her mother feel comfortable with finances kickstarted the 'Got Money Honey' financial literacy program;
• Her top tips for new brokers

And much more!

Over the past year, there's been a groundswell of Australians leaving their PAYG roles to set up their dream businesses – with more expected to do so this year. Building on the self-employed sector report in the November edition of The Adviser magazine, in this episode of In Focus, partnered by RedZed, we catch up with the lender's executive general manager of distribution, Chris Calvert, to discuss:

• How self-employed borrowers fared under the COVID-19 pandemic
• Why the self-employed will increasingly need to turn to brokers
• Top tips on writing loans for the self-employed

And much more!

When it comes to running a successful brokerage, there's a range of different models and routes you can choose to take to build, grow and evolve your business. In this episode of Elite Broker, host Annie Kane catches up with Gracious Chidhakwa, managing director at Eagle Life in Melbourne; James Hasselle, group director of Mortgage Choice Miami, Burleigh, Palm Beach and Bayside; and Troy Phillips, managing director and founder of FirstPoint, in Sydney, to find out the different models they chose and how they've built their businesses into award-winning brokerages. Tune in to find out:

• Why they chose the model they did and how it's helped them succeed
• The steps they took to growing their brokerages
• Their top tips to brokers looking to grow And much more!