Speaking to this publication, Nathan Blissett (pictured), founder of Dwello Mortgages and professional footballer, said that he initially got into broking because of his own positive experience buying a property with his wife.
“I was always aware of that when I started professionally. So, when I bought my first house with my wife, that was when I first thought of broking as the mortgage broker we had was amazing.
“The way he handled us was really good, we didn’t know anything about buying the house, and we really felt looked after and cared for. I was like, this is what I want to do and have that job satisfaction that comes of it,” he explained.
Blissett continued that with a professional footballer’s career there’s an “exit point that’s going come thick and fast”, so it was best to be prepared for that.
He said that he went to a seminar held by the Professional Footballers Association about job opportunities post-football career and he went to a shadow day for a financial advisory firm.
Net gains: From football to finance
Blissett explained that he wanted to see which would be a better fit, financial advice as a whole, or specifically mortgage advice, and said that he felt the mortgage side was “more for me”.
He added that the pandemic gave him the opportunity to pursue a career in mortgage broking as professional football had been paused, so he underwent a fast-track course in January 2021, became qualified in five and a half weeks then started his first role at AFP Partnership in March.
Having been a self-employed broker at AFP Partnership for around a year, and then Concept Financial Services for just under a year, he was approached by two former clients, Simon Lloydbottom and Oliver Wadlow, about what his next steps would be.
Blissett explained that he had worked on quite complex cases with the two of them, with some taking around a year to complete.
“It was always the goal to be my own boss and work for myself in my own business, but that was probably two to three years in the future for me. I felt it was fairly early but with their backing to help win the business and for me to be the advisor,I’ve kind of got the perfect storm of the team around me for it to flourish.
“The opportunity was too good to turn down. If I turned around and said no, I don’t know how long it would have taken me to get to this point by myself,” he added.
Blissett said that whilst he had been his own boss as a self-employed broker, running his own business gives him more “freedom”.
He noted that being self-employed with another broker firm he wasn’t able to place business as it “did not fit with their model”.
“I felt quite pigeonholed where I just couldn’t do what I felt was right and what I needed to do; they were very stringent. So doing it this way allows me to work how I want to work fully.”
Saving the self-employed is Dwello’s goal
Blissett added that Dwello Mortgages was a specialist in self-employed and directors, who typically have struggle in evidencing income as it can “fluctuate quite drastically”.
“Sometimes it’s hard to prove that to lenders, whereas I feel if we’ve worked with the team we have, we can really implement certain structures that allow us to show and present to a lender better than most,” he noted.
However, he said that whilst he had helped his business partners and some of his teammates get mortgages the “most job satisfaction” he got was from working with people whose “financial situation has gotten away from them slightly”.
“They don’t have bad credit, but they need some guidance, not just in buying a house, but in a situation whcih they may nee dto get out of?
“We’re definitely financial advisors in that scenario, as being able to advise people in structured deals that alleviate stress and can give people a bit more freedom for themselves without having to worry about finances every month, that brings me the most job satisfaction,” Blissett explained.
He added: “We’re tenacious in what we do, we don’t want to take no for an answer and if it’s a no the first time, we’ll make sure it’s not the second.”
Building from the back
Looking ahead for the business, Blissett said that while it was still early days Dwello Mortgages “want to be noticed first and foremost and obviously we want to scale”.
He said that the firm was planning to bring on new staff later this year, either at the end of Q3 or start of Q4. He added that he would be initially looking for mortgage administrators.
Another area that Dwello will look at is building “different revenue streams” and one area is via M&A, so “buying small books from people looking to exit the industry”.
“We would give them an option instead of just winding down their book, we want to be able to possibly look at those kinds of businesses and offer them a proposition where we can work together to, obviously merge businesses or take over their business and build that way,” he explained.
He noted that if there were people from the merged business who wanted to come on board that would also help build out the team.
Blissett added that it was aiming to build gradually through referrals but was also looking at building relationships with solicitors, estate agents and accountants.
Another aspect that Blisset wants to build out is “growing our own talent and giving back”.
He explained: “That will benefit us because we want as many people to come on board that have the same approach as me in the way they do business.
“It is very client-focused, very customer-focused, very tenacious to go to lenders and ask the questions that many would turn around and say, I can’t be bothered with, so we want people that want to get their client in the door.”
Skills to pay the bills
When asked what transferable skills being a professional footballer brought to mortgage broker, Blissett said: “Broking is selling yourself and I’ve done that for the last 11 years in terms of football performances”.
“Every performance every Saturday, I’m selling myself to my manager, to my teammates, to the fans, to the leagues I played in, so selling myself is quite natural in terms of ‘I have to perform’,” he said.
He continued: “Once I have a client, I have to perform for them and that that is probably my one big driving force. If I’ve taken a client on, I believe I can do something for that client. Now I’ve got a back it up, and as a footballer you have to back up what you say on the pitch.”
Blissett said that the “ability to be in front of thousands of people and deal with that pressure” also helped build mental strength.
“There’s still pressure because you’re dealing with people’s lives, but I feel like that [being a professional footballer] has enabled me to do that and have that mental strength even when something’s gone wrong or doesn’t feel like it’s going to happen,” he added.
Blissett said that he also enjoyed a challenge and “fighting for your client to get that mortgage”, especially if they had more complex income, was very satisfying.
