Mathew Patterson’s first taste of the broking industry was as head of branches and broker at Great Southern Bank. 

“You meet a lot of people, make a lot of friends. It’s fundamentally relationship building, which is very different from the branch perspective at a bank,” Mathew says.

He loved the industry, and over the years flirted with the idea of becoming a broker but somehow the timing was never quite right.

When the eldest three of his four children has graduated from school, Mathew could see a way forward to becoming his own boss. And he knew Aussie was the brand he wanted to align with.

“Through my banking career I worked with aggregators and had high level contacts – CEOs and managers. I knew each brand really well, the platforms, the software, the ins and outs of all of them,” he says.

“Aussie is a massive brand; I had exposure to the brand, systems, support model and people. Everything is done so I could just step in and not worry. 

“Of course there’s a cost, to all this and it’s one I’m happy to pay,” he says.

Buying an existing business with a book of loans

Rather than start from scratch and build up a book of loans, Mathew focused on buying a ready-made franchise from Aussie. And all the cards fell in his favour when he discovered the nearest franchise to him – Erina on the New South Wales’ Central Coast – was for sale. 

“The book size was quite compelling; it was the right investment, the previous franchisee was an ex-copper who was ready to transition into retirement; I drew a lot of comfort in all of those things,” Mathew reveals.

He enquired in January 2025, and by April he was working in the business and setting up approvals and lender accreditations.  

Mathew had been on the bank’s national lender forum and so had industry insights at his fingertips. 

What he learned was how to run the business on the operational side – without a full support team, which he was used to at the bank. 

“From day one, the priority is writing loans, so the operational side doesn’t happen at the same rate as you’d like,” he says.

What he did have was an experienced broker, Lisa, who had worked in the business for the last two franchisees.

And as well as the systems and support from Aussie, there was the peer network.

“I’m part of a group of bigger franchisees and we catch up every quarter. Through that process I’ve redocumented my own knowledge and learning processes so these are now locked down.

“Support from bigger franchisees has been phenomenal. They’ve been doing this for 15 years, and there is so much assumed knowledge,” Mathew says.

Thanks to a tip from the catch-up group he has recruited casual staff to take on customer-facing admin, and a part-time admin assistant in Manila. 

Organic growth has driven the business

The business has two primary growth avenues, the existing book –  which accounted for 70 per cent of business this year –  and then incoming leads. 

They have served him well this year, with the store settling home loans close to $100 million.

“Growth has largely been organic and it has exceeded my expectations – writing $100 million in the first year with just the two of us.

“We just concentrated on the customer base and servicing those clients the best we could. It was about listening and understanding what they want,” he says.

Mathew will leverage this to build on the success so far, and bring more of a growth focus to the year ahead. 

His target is to double the book’s value within five years, and he sees customer communication, retention and referrals as crucial.

“We need to lean into this more, and then you have the new leads on top of this,” he says.

Growing the team, engaging with community

The business now has the capacity to do proactive marketing and is fortunate in its newest broker’s marketing experience. 

“The books are at a point Lisa and I needed someone to come on and do new business. So we recently onboarded an additional broker, who previously led the local area marketing team nationally at Aussie head office,” Mathew says.

Community engagement kicked off with local surf club and cricket club sponsorships and Mathew has plans for activations – both in sporting settings and using digital screens at local shopping centres.

He is also looking ahead to a succession plan, with the hope the business can become a family affair.

Already one son is trying out the industry for size.

“He works for Aussie, out of my store, on the Accelerator program to become a broker, and he can see a huge opportunity ahead,” Mathew says.

“For me, at 52, thinking about my future, I want a lot more control. I get that as an Aussie franchisee. This is about having more surety over my future, and a clear and direct plan,” Mathew says.