Financial Planner Life Podcast
Welcome to The Financial Planner Life Podcast. We cover an intimate and honest account of what it’s really like to work in the financial planning profession.
Our guests share their stories of success, failures, and learnings, as well as what to expect from a career in the financial planning profession! We host guests at various stages in their careers, as well as multiple roles, to ensure that our audience has a variety each week.
Financial planners, business owners, paraplanners, and back-office staff all have their own stories to share, and The Financial Planner Life podcast serves as a platform for them to discuss their personal and professional journeys. The podcast covers a multitude of topics, from mindset and motivation, health and wellbeing, all the way to diversity and inclusion.
We approach each episode with the idea that it will educate and spark a conversation within the industry on topics that may not be openly discussed. If you're considering a career as a financial adviser or are curious about learning more about this exciting sector, we encourage you to give the podcast a listen.
The Host: Sam Oakes is the host of The Financial Planner Life Podcast. since 2008 Sam has been supporting leading national and global financial planning firms in finding the best talent, he was the director of Recruit UK, a 7 figure turnover financial planning recruitment company that he successfully exited in 2024, Sam now works as the Head of Creative for Hoxton wealth, building out podcasts, YouTube and social content for this fast growing fee based international financial planning firm.
Sam has always had a passion for financial services, starting as a trainer for a leading product provider in the UK, and he has been in the industry for over 20 years.
He sees himself as a partner to the industry and wants to contribute useful resources, such as this podcast, to educate those who are further seeking advice and help about how to push their careers forward in this amazing profession.
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Financial Planner Life Podcast
Mortgage Adviser Explains Why She Went Self-Employed - And Will Never Go Back!
Mortgage Adviser Explains Why She Went Self-Employed, and Will Never Go Back!
👉 “I left my job after 16 years, and it turned out to be the best decision I ever made.” That’s what Carly Naylor, Mortgage and Protection Adviser at Foster Denovo, told me when we sat down to record this episode of Financial Planner Life.
Carly’s been in financial services for over two decades. She started her journey in high street banking, moved into mortgage advice, and spent 16 years with one firm before making a leap that changed her life completely. She went self-employed under the Foster Denovo umbrella.
She didn’t make the jump just for more income. It was about freedom. About ownership. And more importantly, about finally finding the balance between work and being a mum without compromising on ambition.
But let’s be honest. That golden phrase, “work-life balance”, gets thrown around a lot, especially in self-employment circles. So we ask the question head-on in this episode:
Can you really find work-life balance as a self-employed mortgage adviser, or is it just a myth?
👇 In this episode, we cover:
🟢 Why 16 years in the same job was enough
🟢 The mindset shift from comfort to growth
🟢 How Carly built recurring income through protection advice
🟢 The emotional and financial impact of going self-employed
🟢 Managing motherhood and a business without burning out
🟢 What Foster Denovo provides that made all the difference
🟢 Mentoring young talent and building something meaningful
🟢 What real balance looks like when you choose how you work
Whether you're a mortgage adviser stuck in a rut, a mum wondering how to make a career work around your kids, or someone on the edge of going self-employed, Carly’s story will hit home.
It’s real. It’s relatable. And it might just give you the nudge you need.
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You can either take two routes. You can either just become quite complacent and stay where you are, or you can act upon it, and I acted upon it and I think it was probably the best move that I've ever done. Really, I wanted to do something for me and build something for me, and I felt that I'd got as far as what I could go within the organisation. And I wanted to do something for me and build something for me, and I felt that I'd got as far as what I could go within the organisation and I wanted to explore something different. And I think I got to a point where, if I didn't do it, I'd always wonder what if I just like the idea of belonging to an organisation that was maybe bigger. That would create more opportunities for me as an individual and build some really good relationships, which I have done.
Speaker 1:I always want to do a sub 50-10k or whatever it may be. I always want to, and I think you should always strive to work harder. As a woman working in finance, I think it's created a very good lifestyle, not through a lack of hard work, because it has been hard work, but I'm okay with that. I don't want to compromise this time with them at my own sort of expense, when I feel like I've really got that balance just right now.
Speaker 2:Carly, thanks so much for joining me today on the Financial Planner Live podcast for this special episode with our partners Foster De Novo, and today we're going to talk about your career. We're going to talk about your time at Foster De Novo. You are not a financial planner, no, you're a mortgage and protection advisor, and I think it'd be refreshing to hear your journey. There's plenty of mortgage and protection advisors that do listen, uh, to the podcast, and we can talk about financial planning as a transition from that and whether or not it's actually something you even want to do. Okay, so kick things off. Um, we'd love to know what your journey was getting into financial services and eventually getting yourself to foster the Inovo.
Speaker 1:Okay. So I left school, went on to do my A-levels and secured a place at Huddersfield University to do a marketing degree and actually, after doing my A-levels, thought I don't want to do any further education at this point. So I took the opportunity to defer for a year and my parents were very much of the opinion that you're not going to not do nothing. You need to go out there and do something. So I applied for a job at a very well-known bank, secured the employment role and just ended up staying. Just really enjoyed it. Really enjoyed the different opportunities that it brought and, yeah, we had good fun. It was fun. What were you doing at the bank? So initially I was a customer advisor and then went on to do mortgages, but solely for the bank, and that progressed me down the mortgage route and doing my CMAP qualification and when I got to probably 23, 24, took the opportunity to go independent. So I went to work for an independent brokerage on an employed basis and then did so for 16 years before leaving there and joining Foster Ilver.
Speaker 2:Brilliant. The banks were such a fantastic place to start a career if you, especially if you didn't go off to university or even do your a levels. The amount of people that I spoke to that were personal bankers, and I used to run a recruitment business. I used to place loads of people into personal banker roles or customer service advisor roles into the banks. Right and um, I was like you know, I started that journey about 17 18 years ago and to see some of those people that I placed in the bank are now working in financial planning or mortgage advice or have definitely progressed their careers. So I think banks have done such a fantastic job of training people, developing people Was that?
Speaker 1:your experience? Yeah, very much. So I think the opportunities that presented themselves for me were really very good. Opportunities that presented themselves for me were really very good, and I met some really really good people along the way, people who I'm still very good friends with to this day. But I equally, I think that working in financial services and helping people, clients, getting to know people and it just does something to you, and I think think that you for me, I wanted to take that further. I wanted that level of help to be more and build those relationships, not just for the single transaction but also for the longer term. So a lot of my clients now that I have have been clients of mine for many, many years and will continue to be. I'm now looking after their children, which is, you know I don't know if that's a good side or a bad side the fact that I'm obviously getting older.
Speaker 2:I was going to say it's a sign of getting older, isn't it?
Speaker 1:It's nice to know that you're building those foundations and you've got those established relationships and naturally that just sort of you know snowballs to other relationships with their friends and parents and that's how the success of my own personal businesses has come about, really, I think the whole intergenerational um, whether it be intergenerational financial planning or intergenerational mortgage advice.
Speaker 2:It does give you comfort in knowing that your business is safe, that there are ways to be working with absolutely lots of different people, even even within their own families. You can get referrals right. It's part of life's journey buying a house.
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:It's part of life's journey to make sure we protect ourselves, whether it's critically illness or whether it's life protection. So you left the bank. It was a little bit restricted. You then went to a brokerage which opens you up a little bit further to the world of independent mortgage advice. Okay, just tell us a little bit about that 16 year journey then?
Speaker 1:what was going on there and why so long in that? And were you employed? Were you self employed? What did you learn? So I was employed and I joined that organization in 2007. And it was brilliant. It was absolutely brilliant.
Speaker 1:We did a lot of business and all of a sudden, the crash of 2009 happened, which coincided with the birth of my eldest daughter. So I think my maternity leave at that point was quite welcomed because the crash was significant in our industry. There was a lot of concern, a hell of a lot of concern, and, to be fair to the owners of that organization, they kept the business going when a lot of other organizations at that time they were folding, they were having to close down because there just wasn't the volume of business there at that point. So I returned back in 2010, and it wasn't the same. It wasn't the same, it wasn't as busy, but it was steady and actually for me at that point in my own personal life, it was quite welcomed because I had a young child, you know. I then went on to have my youngest daughter in 2011. And again, a period of absence. It just it was good because I didn't feel if I have a break now I feel I need to get back into work, whereas then I didn't feel like that because it wasn't as busy, it wasn't as fraught as it is now. So I actually took an extended period of time away from the company and had 18 months off work because I just wanted to spend time with my children and it was nice to watch them grow at that, you know, at that young age.
Speaker 1:But I think, being the individual that I am, when they came to go to nursery, I wanted to get back and I wanted to come back quite strong, so initially returned part time and that's when I really started to build my portfolio of clients. I was able to do so within the company. They were very supportive company. They were very supportive. Um, I'm just a very ambitious individual and that wasn't mirrored entirely across all the people that worked in that organization and actually that was fine. It was absolutely fine, um, because there was no pressure either way. You know if you did really well, if you didn't do so well, it wasn't a problem. It was really. You drove the. You know the dynamic of where you wanted to be.
Speaker 1:But I think ultimately I got to a point where I think actually 2020 when Covid happened. Working from home and homeschooling two children um was really difficult and at that point for for us as mortgage brokers, interest rates were very low, people wanted to start moving the stamp duty. Uh threshold reduced, the market become very buoyant and with that level of buoyancy just becomes a number of applications that need to be submitted, and that was really challenging. I found that year particularly challenging and I don't think when we returned to the office I ever felt I never felt quite right, I just felt overwhelmed and very frustrated and I think then, when you start to feel things like that, you naturally start to think is this for me anymore?
Speaker 1:And I think I just got to a point where it wasn't and I just wanted to explore something different. And it was no reflection on the company at all. They were really good and still very good friends of of mine, but I think I just wanted something more. I wanted to explore something more and I thought about it for a while. But when you think about things, you can either take two routes, car you can either just become quite complacent and stay where you are, or you can act upon it, and and I acted upon it and I think it was probably the best move that I've ever done really so when you say you were thinking about things differently.
Speaker 2:Well, as in, you were contemplating whether or not you even wants to remain in mortgages, or just the being aligned to a company on an employed basis. That was something which you were thinking. I could do this myself. How taught me through that, that mindset shift? What happened there? What was the catalyst for you to be able, you know, to move on, for example, from that, from that period?
Speaker 1:I think, working in that organization, I just got to a point where I didn't or couldn't go any further.
Speaker 1:Um, and I think with that come when you, when you're working amongst other people, um, you get frustrated, and when you get frustrated, unfortunately it impacts on you and it certainly impacted on me as an individual and that then affects you and your work-life balance. And I don't think. I think I just got to a point where I didn't want that anymore. I wanted to feel, I don't know like I mattered. What I did mattered, and I know the job itself and the clients mattered, but I just felt like I wanted to do something for me and build something for me, and I felt that I'd got as far as what I could go within the organization and I wanted to explore something different.
Speaker 1:And I think I got to a point where, if I didn't do it, I'd always wonder what if? Yeah? So, and I think you can get to that point quite easily in life where you start to think and overthink about things and you have to take a bit of a leap of faith in yourself. If it hadn't have worked out, what would the worst thing have been? I'm sure I would have probably gone on and saw employment elsewhere, or maybe even returned to the organization, who knows? But I think I needed to just give myself the benefit of the doubt and have a go at something, and it proved to be yeah, very good not having a go at something was going it alone.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So setting up your own business? Essentially, yeah. So what were the choices at that point? You know, did you not think about going, say, directly authorized, as a mortgage broker? Or, obviously, coming underneath Foster De Novo is moving into an ecosystem, isn't it, where you're supported with an infrastructure wrapped around you. Coming underneath foster de novo is moving into an ecosystem, isn't it, where your support is um, with an infrastructure wrapped around you technically, like a, an appointed representative or a registered individual, right? So what were just what were your choices at that stage and why, why did you then choose foster de novo?
Speaker 1:I chose foster de novo because it's obviously a wealth management company I built of you know some fantastic advisors. Their top performing advisor is actually based in Sheffield. So you know, I know Andi. He's been a great mentor for me and I just like the idea of belonging to an organization that was maybe bigger, that would create more opportunities for me as an individual and build some really good relationships, which I have done, and that has gone on to create a significant number of opportunities for me.
Speaker 2:Talk to me about that. Then Talk to me about the opportunities that it's created for you. How has the infrastructure helped you develop as a mortgage broker?
Speaker 1:I think creating alliances with some of the financial advisors within Foster De Novo means that we're both equally able to help one another with referrals, and that's what business is about. It's about creating those alliances and building on the foundations of what you've already got, and you can do that in Foster De Novo. They allow you to do it. They're very, very supportive. You know they're there to help. They're really very good. The mentorship that I've had has been quite astounding and they want you to do well. They really do want you to do well. They want you to grow. They want you to be part of something, and being part of FD is, you know, I think, is really really good.
Speaker 2:When we think about mortgage advice it sounds transactional, wealth management, financial planning. You build assets under management and recurring income. Now if someone was considering a route down the mortgage brokerage route as a career, how can they build levels of recurring income within that?
Speaker 1:So for me, since coming to Foster De Nerv denver, that is something that I wanted to do.
Speaker 1:I wanted to have um passive income, if you like, so you can do that with the protection side of things, you can take um, you know, a commission on a non-indemnity basis, um, which creates that constant passive income, which is what I wanted, because I like the idea of that. You know, like you've quite rightly said, sam, it's all about getting the commission. It's transactional, it stops and then you see those clients again. You know, in the future, I think for me, because I've built those client relationships and they do come back to me in the future, I'm very, very good with client retention, but I also wanted to have that constant income that would just generate itself. So if in the future, you know I wanted to reduce my working hours, or you know, I want to be able to work closely with Millen, who's my dedicated support in helping her go down her choice of career progression, I'm going to be in a position where I can actively mentor her, like I've also been personally mentored since I've been with Foster DeNova.
Speaker 2:Tell me a little bit about Millen, then. What part does she play in your business? She's just brilliant.
Speaker 1:She is absolutely fantastic. Um, so she's my dedicated support and she just does everything. Anything that I I ask of that girl, she will do for me. She is brilliant. She literally keeps the whole business working in the background. She's a constant prompt for me. She reminds me of things that I need to do. Her service level is fantastic. She's just a gem. She's an absolute gem.
Speaker 2:I would not be without her so definitely required for someone like you? Then, yes, definitely. Where did she come from? Did you hire her or did foster de novo help you?
Speaker 1:no, I hired her um and she'd got some experience of working within the industry but wanted to progress and wants to progress. She's a young girl, she's 21, but knows that this is the career path for her. She'd gone to do her A-levels and knew that the university route wasn't going to be something that she wanted to pursue. And she wants to get that experience and she knows that this is a route that she wants to take in the future. And I think you know we kind of work together very well because I'm able to give her something. It's a transactional relationship really. I'm able to give her something. She knows she's not quite ready yet, but she will be in the future and then I'll do everything that I possibly can to get her where she wants to be.
Speaker 2:That's amazing. So, in respect of your practice, we call it your practice. Yeah, is it a Foster De Novo branded practice or do you have your own brand?
Speaker 1:name. No, it's Foster De Novo.
Speaker 2:And when it comes to building a team, which is something you're gradually doing by the sounds of it I don't know whether or not you have aspirations to grow any bigger. If you want to hire more mortgage brokers, for instance, what part of foster de novo actually play in that? Are they paying the salary for your staff, or are they or are you paying it? How does that work? Because you can imagine a mortgage advisor is probably listening to this now thinking this sounds really great. You know I can join foster de novo and they'll help me build a team out. What's the realities, you know. What part do you play in the the paying of that salary, in the training and development? How much of your time and energy? What part of foster de novo playing supporting you build a practice?
Speaker 1:so foster de novo. So when I joined foster de novo two years ago, initially when I came over um, I worked alone for the first five months and actually it was good, you know, I think, being away from that office type environment, working from home, it just felt quite calm because it had been quite fraught, especially post-COVID, and I think it just gave me the opportunity to really just take a view on what I wanted from the business. Really, you know, did I want to go as far as I possibly could? Did I want it to be a little bit calmer? Really just take a view on what I wanted from the business. Really Did I want to go as far as I possibly could? Did I want it to be a little bit calmer? And actually when I moved over those clients, they were there, they needed servicing straight away.
Speaker 1:So I had to deal with changing companies, going on my own, being on my own because I'd been in an office full of, you know, 10-15 people day in, day out um. And it got to a point where I just I really just got too busy and I needed dedicated support and, whilst FD do provide that, I needed more than what they had available. I needed someone who could be with me. That you know, I don't want to say it's lonely when you work from home on your own, but in reality I think that you need a sounding board. You need somebody to be there that can, you know, be your eyes and ears for when you're not there. Um, and that's exactly what what she is. So she came to join me in the July um of the year that I joined Foster de Novo. So she works for me personally, I pay her salary and I'm responsible for her personal development.
Speaker 1:So she's currently doing her own CMAP training, at the moment of which I'm mentoring and putting her through, and she will be a fantastic advisor. She will definitely be a brilliant advisor at the point when she's ready to do that. But I think the one thing that Millen will have over and above other advisors I think these days it is quite often to sort of buy the dream of being a mortgage advisor. You do the CMAP course, you can do it intensively over the course of two, three weeks, and then there's your qualification off you go. But in reality, I think the most successful advisors come from learning the learning, the role, learning the administration side of the role, learning how to paraplan for that role understanding knowledge of lenders and I think when you've got all of that foundation, you will then make a really good advisor. It's not just about going straight into something. You need to understand everything about it. I personally think knowledge is power, and she'll know that.
Speaker 2:So prior to this podcast we had a bit of a deep chat, didn't we on Teams, and you expressed you were a bit of a workaholic and you're quite competitive. Can you just tell me a little bit about that and how that has perhaps affected your career in a positive or negative way?
Speaker 1:I would say it's affected my career in a very positive way. Maybe from a home life, work life balance perspective, maybe a little bit negative, but I think since I've transitioned to FD, it's something that I've been able to get a hold of quite well and feel a lot more balanced. I think when your children are young and you're in the midst of your own career development and you are a competitive individual, that's really hard and just leads to burnout, and I think I didn't recognise that soon enough and I think it's something that I've subsequently come to realise. So I take a different view and a different route now. So it doesn't mean that I'm less busy. I'm probably busier than I've ever been in my entire life, to be fair, but I just manage it more holistically. So I do a lot more things for myself.
Speaker 1:These days.
Speaker 1:I take that time. That's aided by the fact that my children are older and you know they can be at home on their own and I can go out and do that run or, you know, do whatever I choose to do. Working from home also enables me to manage family life, or, you know, far easier, um, but I think, to do this job successfully and to put the the numbers in. You have to have an element of being a workaholic, really, because it is not a nine till five job and anybody who thinks it is it is going to be mistaken. You're not gonna. You're not going to get the rewards and the benefits of this type of job role if you think that you can work nine till five minutes a Friday, because that's not the reality of it. So I think I've come to learn that actually being a bit more flexible with my working hours and understanding that actually during the day people are not available and then just filling that time with other things that need to be done, has actually led to a far better work-life balance for me.
Speaker 2:I love that. So you're going from, like, an employed environment into a self-employed environment. You're still working hard, you're still, but you're choosing to work smarter with the hours that you absolutely got. So you wanted to take two hours during the day because you know it was down time to do something else. You could drop what you're doing and maybe do something on a personal basis. Yeah, personal, like maybe go to the gym at a certain time that suits you. Yeah, you're quite competitive as well, are you quite competitive?
Speaker 2:yeah, very very is that with yourself?
Speaker 1:Both. Yeah, yeah, I think, um, as I, I think I've always been quite a competitive person, you know, and I mirror exactly what you say. If I go for a run, I'm never just going to plateau. I always want to get faster, I always want to beat that pace. I always want to, you know, do a sub 50, 10 K or, you know, whatever it may be, I always want to and I think you should always strive to to work harder, um, because the accomplishments that come from that are more than just, you know, a medal or a trophy.
Speaker 1:It's kind of mindset, isn't it? You know, um, I think, because I've got two daughters, uh, the teenagers, and I want them to aspire to be, you know, hard workers, because you don't get anywhere without hard work. You really don't, you know, and I think that I don't. I want them to recognise that you have to put the hard work in. And I think I've often questioned, you know, would I be a better mum if I didn't work as hard? But then, you know, I work hard to be able to give them the lovely things in life that they have and the lifestyle that they have, and they appreciate that Now they're older, they appreciate it. So that's why I think you have to look at things a little bit differently and just try and work really hard on the work-life balance so that you give them the time, but equally, they see that you know you're working really hard to be able to give them all the things that they want being present in the time that you have with them.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, it's hugely important you know and you know, I look at myself and I don't go out the weekends and go and get drunk with my mates or anything like that. I gave up all that years ago. So when it does come to the weekend and I got that precious time in my family I do spend that with them. I am, I am present. So, um, I always find that um, reassuring and it was definitely something that my dad didn't do with me, you know, and I'm pleased that I that I do that, and I also look back on with fondness and respect to when isabella was little.
Speaker 2:Um, she used to get dropped off at my office when I, when I had the recruitment business and she was like the office baby, like you'd have an office dog, right, she'd come in at like one o'clock dropped off and I had her from one o'clock all the way through to the evenings.
Speaker 2:My wife worked um afternoons and evenings. So I look back and I think that self-employment definitely gives you that flexibility, right, yeah, and it gives you the ability to kind of drop your tools when you want to drop your tools, yeah, and when you, it gives you flexibility to focus on the areas that need focusing on, absolutely, but it's still you still have to have that self-regulation, because when you, when you are self-employed right, I don't know about you, but there is that feeling of utter pressure upon yourself to deliver, because you always kind of have this fear that everything is going to be taken away from you at one point absolutely, and I think, for me, the the beauty of the business that I've created and the portfolio of clients that I've built up is that it is remortgage business 90% of what I do, and people always need mortgages.
Speaker 1:So I feel quite accomplished in that that I've got that continuation of income. I've got Millen, who's with me and who helps me. She's an invaluable support. I really would struggle with that without her.
Speaker 1:You know, and I think that you just, I think, since I've joined foster de novo, I've just probably grown as a person and recognize what it is that I need to be able to to provide my family with what it is that they need, and I've just balanced that so much better, yeah, so much better, but while still trying to remain competitive, but not competitive with other people, just competitive with my own potential, because I feel like I have got a lot of potential and, yeah, I want, I really want that to be reached. Yeah, you know, I don't want it to be limited, you want to go on and and that's why I put myself in this position reached. I don't want it to be limited, you want to go on, and that's why I put myself in this position so that I can build those relationships with these financial advisors in an organization that they want to work collaboratively with you, which is great. That's what we want.
Speaker 2:Do you feel as well? You are leaning into that ecosystem of Foster De Novo and it's sort of feeding you with energy that you require to push yourself further than you would do if you were on your own.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's given me so many possibilities it really have.
Speaker 2:The way I look at it is and I've coined this term, I'm going to take it, it's probably not been coined by other people but you're an entrepreneur yeah, why not be an intrapreneur? Entrepreneur, yeah, um, why not be an intrapreneur? So when you come into an environment such as foster de novo, you're not going it alone just on your own. You're coming into an ecosystem where it's there to support you. Technically. You're like an intrapreneur, you know. It's like having a team of mentors that you can tap into if you choose to tap into it. Because you could still go into an ecosystem like foster de novo, right, and you can still bury your head down. You still feel like you're just doing it on your own. You have to be willing and ready to ask for help or to meet somebody or to network with that person to see how you can help that person within that ecosystem. How can you work together to create more business for each other? Is that what you experience? Is that the kind of way you look at it?
Speaker 1:yeah, yeah. And I think that when I left the company where I used to work, going from being employed to then going self-employed, it would have been quite overwhelming for me to have thought of doing that on a directly authorized basis, mainly because of the red tape that goes with, uh, you know, applying for something like that, I think, coming under the you know umbrella of foster de. It gives you the support and it creates those opportunities and those relationships that you can have with people. Accountability there is a level of accountability. They want you to do well. They don't want you to be complacent, they don't want you to come in and just plod along. They want you to do really, really well. So I think, from a transitional perspective, for me it was an opportunity that presented itself at a time when I did wonder where, where can I go? And? And it was there, and it's probably the best thing I've ever done you've never thought about becoming a financial planner.
Speaker 1:I have, I have um, but I like what I do.
Speaker 1:You like what you do. I really like what I do, and I'm not saying that I wouldn't like that, but the clients that I've had and that I've got I've had for years and years and some are, you know, really good friends and I feel like I'm almost on a long-term journey with them, because people don't like to talk about money it is a taboo subject, you know and I think they trust you, you know, and I and I don't want to abandon them to go on to something else, because actually I really do enjoy what I do, and it's nice and reassuring to go back to those individuals every couple of years and remember what we did, why we it and what's the end goal, where do we want to go. And that's nice. It's nice to have those relationships with people and create them solutions and get them where they want to be.
Speaker 2:Talk about end goals then. What's yours? Where are you heading? What does the next couple of years and the rest of your career look like as a mortgage and protection advisor?
Speaker 1:So, moving forward, I think that millen will naturally progress, um, hopefully, to be an advisor, you know, with me within foster de novo will probably take on, you know, for the staff. Hopefully that will support us, um, and you know, other advisors if they present themselves. It's not something that I'm actively seeking, because actually we do. We do enough, you know, for for where we are currently and for what we've achieved so far. It's a lot and you know hard work's gone on, gone into that and continues to go into it, but we just work really really well together. So who knows what the future it sort of holds in that perspective. But I don't foresee that. I don't think I'll go anywhere else. I think everything that I need is certainly in-house at Foster Minerva. There's, you know, everything that I need here the people, the men, the mentorships there. Um, so, long term, I think we'll just continue building on what we've we've built already, and long may it continue so you wouldn't say you've reached your full potential yet.
Speaker 2:As an individual mortgage and protection advisor, with million, for example, you feel like there's so much more to do before absolutely having this idea that you must have 20 people working I don't feel the need for that.
Speaker 1:I think the for me, my competitiveness, is my own potential, as I said before. So I want to realize that it's not about other people, it's about you know, what can I, what's my potential? What does that look like? Does that involve other people? I don't know as it stands, because actually we're doing really well with with just us alone at the moment. Um, I guess in time, potentially that may create more opportunities as my children get older, but they're only 13 and nearly 16. So you know, I don't want to compromise this time with them at my own sort of expense, when I feel like I've really got that balance just right now.
Speaker 2:Obviously, you spoke about your kids quite a bit throughout this and on this final note, you know mortgage, mortgage advice as a career, self-employed. How does that benefit the lifestyle of a mother?
Speaker 1:um, I think it's created me with a very good lifestyle, um, I think it's. I think you determine that really, as an individual, you know what do you want, what do you want to give to them? And I, you know, like most mums, I want to give my children everything I possibly can. I want to give them opportunity, I want to provide for them, I want to be there for them, I want to give them time and I that that's. That's very difficult to get that balanced, um, but I think for me as a you know, as a woman working in finance, I think it's created a very good lifestyle, um, not through lack of hard work, because it has been hard work, but I'm okay with that yeah, I feel, like you know, speaking from experience of running a business on my own, being self-employed, to going into the environment now where I am actually employed.
Speaker 2:Right, I'm very grateful for that. But I would a hundred percent say, if you're looking for that balance, that family life balance, self-employment all the way, if you can make that work, yeah, it works, a hundred percent, you know, and you can have a far more balanced lifestyle. I'm just learning it in a different environment now how do I manage that in this environment over here? But I would definitely say, as long as you're doing what you need to do, you're disciplined and you're focused, the the true balance lies within self-employment, once you get over the tough part and you know that you can make money. So those that are thinking like can life be different? I would always say try self-employment if you are truly ready for it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I would agree with that fantastic.
Speaker 2:So, um, foster de novo have their own podcast called foster de novo talks. So if anybody's listening to this episode right now and they want to learn a little bit more about foster de novo, what it's like to work here, the types of people that work here, um, I sort of advise anybody to go onto spotify or apple or youtube and find foster de novo talks and you can deep dive into the career stories of those that work at foster de novo. And, uh, they should have you on, so you don't expect I think so probably they will do thank you so much for your time today.
Speaker 2:Thanks for a deep dive into your career, and definitely I need more people who have set up their own mortgages businesses on here, because not only is mortgage a great transition into financial planning, but it's a standalone business in its own right and it's got some super successful people in it who find it very rewarding career. So thank you for sharing yours.
Speaker 1:No thank you Great.
