The Iron Bar and The Mortgage Broker
A 1kg steel bar forged from iron is worth about $2.50. Forge it into horseshoes, and its value rises to $250. Craft it into sewing needles, and it’s suddenly worth $70,000. Shape it into watch springs and gears, and you’re holding $6 million. But if you refine it into precision laser parts, its value soars to $15 million.
The iron never changes. What changes is what you do with it.
And that’s the same with you, as a mortgage broker.
The Raw Iron Stage
Every broker starts as raw iron. You’ve got your accreditation, your lender portal logins, and maybe your first few clients. On paper, you’re no different from the thousands of brokers across Australia. But at this stage, your value is modest - because you’re doing what every other broker can do.
Think: product comparison, writing a loan, sending it to a lender. That’s the raw material level. Necessary. Useful. But not extraordinary.
The Horseshoe Stage
At the horseshoe level, you get the basics right. Your voicemail sounds professional, your fact-find is sharp, your office is set up, and you can submit deals confidently. You’re building relationships with real estate agents and clients, and you’re starting to generate referrals.
But if you stay here, your value will be capped. Clients will see you as a transactional broker - one they could replace with the next ad that pops up on their Facebook feed.
The Needle Stage
To move up, you need to specialise. Like the iron shaped into needles, you become valuable because of your precision. Maybe you understand complex structures for self-employed borrowers. Maybe you’re the go-to broker for first-home buyers and know every government scheme inside-out. Maybe you’ve built strong referral systems and your pipeline flows steadily.
This is when your business starts compounding. Clients don’t just come for a loan - they come for your expertise.
The Watch Spring Stage
Here’s where brokers transform. Watch springs power the finest watches in the world. They require mastery, patience, and detail.
At this level, you’ve developed systems, templates, and processes. You’re not just reacting to enquiries - you’re running a business with discipline. You’ve built a brand, a following, and clients actively refer others to you.
You’re a trusted adviser, not a salesperson. That distinction multiplies your value.
The Precision Laser Stage
Only a few make it here. These brokers are thought leaders in the industry. They run seminars. They publish insights. They are connectors, bringing together accountants, financial planners, and buyers’ agents into ecosystems of trust.
At this stage, your advice shapes futures. People don’t come to you for a loan - they come to you for clarity, strategy, and confidence. Your business is valuable not just because of revenue, but because of reputation.
The Lesson
The iron bar shows us that potential isn’t about what you’re made of - it’s about what you shape yourself into.
Every broker has the same lenders, the same products, and access to the same interest rates. Your value comes from how you use those raw ingredients.
Are you going to stay as iron? Or will you forge yourself into something extraordinary?