Over the years, I’ve taken note of certain personality traits that tend to predict success pretty consistently. So here’s a quick checklist:

Do you … ?

  • Thrive on change
  • Love challenges
  • Enjoy creative thinking
  • Enjoy critical thinking
  • Like working with numbers
  • Crave difficulty
  • Desire a fast-paced working environment
  • Like winning
  • Enjoy endurance challenges such as triathlons or Ironman competitions
  • Search out events that require discipline, focus and consistent training
  • Enjoy chatting about meaningful topics
  • Have a firm grasp of technology
  • Understand the value of written communication

Are you … ?

  • Open minded
  • Thoughtful
  • Capable of empathy
  • Tolerant of rigid policies
  • Willing to accept responsibility for your clients’ money
  • Able to spot mistakes and oversights hiding in complex material
  • Willing to be told no by clients over and over
  • Willing to be told no by lenders over and over
  • Willing to show up with a smile every time after all the no’s

If this is you, you’re definitely Mortgage Broker material.

If you agreed with three-quarters or more of those points, you’ve found areas that you may need to work on.

Under three-quarters? You might be missing the perseverance, resiliency, listening skills, efficiency or entrepreneurial focus to consistently meet the challenges of a Mortgage Broker business.

This business offers the power to create positive change in people’s lives, clients and Brokers alike. It offers the potential for substantial financial rewards. But it is not right for everybody, as evidenced by the fact that nearly half of all new Brokers leave the business within four years of getting their licences.

You have to be internally motivated to always be on, to always be delivering a level of service that year after year continues to impress new clients, repeat clients and referral sources alike. Money and/or accolades alone will not be enough to keep that flame burning. You need a deep-seated drive to fuel your motivation, a drive to deliver the goods when it counts. And guess what: it always counts!

If you are interested in entering the field anyway — this is, after all, a quick quiz on somebody’s blog, not a battery of scientific personality tests — I urge you to talk to some experienced Brokers about their day-to-day working lives and ask yourself honestly if you could thrive in the face of all those demands.