Your Story IS Your Niche: How a $34K Teller Built a Community Empire

The Social Media Strategy Every Broker Needs For Growth in 2026

Melissa Gielnik is the Managing Director of Smart Lending Mortgage Brokers, a 25-year mortgage broking veteran, former Deputy Chairman of the MFAA during the Royal Commission, and one of the most decorated female leaders in Australian financial service. She built Smart Lending from the ground up and has spent the last two and a half decades helping clients invest smart and generate wealth. This conversation covers what genuine longevity in the brokerage business actually looks like. Melissa breaks down her three-pronged growth strategy across social media, agents and referrals, why she believes Melbourne is wide open for hungry operators, and how a team with an average eight-year tenure, including an EA who's been with her 19 years, is her most underrated competitive advantage. She also gets into why she's made 2026 her year of visibility after years of staying deliberately under the radar, and what the next chapter of Smart Lending looks like heading into FY27. If you're a broker thinking about building something that lasts, this one is the episode for you. 1:54 — The Pivot That Changed Everything — Downsizing From Nine Brokers and $22M/Month 5:10 — 25 Years of Industry Evolution — Paper Fax Applications to AI-Assisted Processing 7:20 — Smart Lending's Three-Pronged Growth Strategy — Social, Agents and Referrals 10:08 — The 19-Year EA and Eight-Year Average Tenure — Why Team Loyalty Is the Edge 22:40 — The Year of Visibility — Why She Stayed Under the Radar and What Changed in 2026 26:45 — The Melbourne Opportunity — Why the Market Is Wide Open for Hungry Operators 32:20 — AI and Offshore — How Smart Lending Is Using Tech to Do More With Less 37:00 — Stepping Off the Tools — Boundaries, Systems and Getting Locked Out of Her Own Emails 43:47 — FY27 Plans — What Conquering Melbourne Actually Looks Like Learn more about Flint: https://flintgroup.au/ Connect with Christian Stevens: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/propertyfinance/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cmrstevens/ Connect with Melissa Gielnik: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissagielnik/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melissagielnik/

What Every Broker Gets Wrong About Offshoring

Rushmi Shrestha is the General Manager of Flint Engine, running the entire support team behind Australia's fastest-growing mortgage brokerage. Rushmi manages an 80-person team across app docs, loan processing, credit, compliance, HR, training and tech; and is directly responsible for growing headcount 1000% in a single year! This conversation pulls back the curtain on what actually goes into building an offshore operation that works. Rushmi breaks down why culture, not systems, is the hardest thing to maintain at speed, how Flint Engine achieved ISO certification to solve data security at scale, and why she believes most Australian brokers are treating offshore talent as a back-office function when they could be building a fully capable team. If you're a broker thinking about offshore support, or curious what it takes to build a back-end operation that holds together at pace, this one will give you a real picture. Learn more about Flint: https://flintgroup.au/ [https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbUxPSUNqNFNURzM5ZzZxQVZETWhlcEZ2SkhnQXxBQ3Jtc0tseldiQks0XzZUYXhmWmEzdHdZcWt3bmVpeHZic1ZLR2xTTFIteHFYb2lOZUhXS1RzeFM3VEE1WTc5UXRLS1VzUHBDMzV5Q3NKTXF0cGZHRGlNcnpqOWtOY3FUYTlUOTVnT2EyQXdYU2I2YXQ0Y1Z4dw&q=https%3A%2F%2Fflintgroup.au%2F&v=aRm2GJhm4sE] Connect with Christian Stevens:  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/propertyfinance/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/propertyfinance/]  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cmrstevens/ [https://www.instagram.com/cmrstevens/]  Connect with Rushmi Shrestha:  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rushmi-shrestha-1902951b4/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/rushmi-shrestha-1902951b4/] Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_rushmi.s_/ [https://www.instagram.com/_rushmi.s_/]

She Walked Into a Room of 16 Male Brokers. They Asked Her Why She Was There.

Niti Bhargava is the founder and principal broker of GB Financial, arrived in Australia at 20 with three master's degrees, was rejected from 26 jobs before landing a teller role at Bankwest, and spent the next 13 years climbing through CBA from teller to direct lender. But even with all the success she has, Niti left banking in 2020 and started building GB Financial on a tagline most brokers wouldn't dare put on their website: ethical lending, community first. This conversation goes well beyond the loan book. Niti talks about the financial literacy program she runs for migrated women, sessions that started with 60 women from Indian, African, Arabic and European backgrounds in a local MP's office, and now run quarterly with 40-50 attendees, supported by registered translators and local council funding. She also opens up about the cultural weight of being one of two daughters in a family where sons were considered assets and daughters liabilities, why her 16-year-old son is her biggest mirror and motivation, and what legacy actually means to her beyond the business. If you're a broker thinking about community impact, or curious what it looks like to build something meaningful alongside a profitable business, this one's worth your time. 1:05 — From India to Australia at 20 — Three Masters, No Job, and the First Break 3:17 — 13 Years at CBA — Teller to Direct Lender and the Shift to 24/7 Lending 10:14 — Financial Literacy for Migrated Women — How It Started and Why the Gap Is Bigger Than Language 12:14 — The Wake-Up Call Story — A Woman, $650K in Debt and a Husband Who Disappeared 20:01 — The Franchise Exit — Rebuilding From Zero Clients in 2024 23:07 — The Nurse Who Never Looked at a Bank Statement — 35 Years, No Plan, and the Turning Point 27:09 — Awards and Recognition — Governor's Award 2024 and Business Victoria Feature 28:11 — Why She Left CBA — Burnout, Diagnosis and the Decision to Go Alone 34:09 — Owning Your Strengths — Why She Refuses to Apologise for Who She Is 36:15 — What Legacy Really Means — Her 16-Year-Old Son, Accountability and the "Why" 41:39 — Ethical Lending, Community First — Why She Never Wanted to Be "Another Broker" Learn more about Flint: https://flintgroup.au/ Connect with Christian Stevens: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/propertyfinance/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cmrstevens/ Connect with Niti Bhargava: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/niti-bhargava-mipa-afa-92ab79b2/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/niti2857/

Your First Property Should Be the Worst One You Ever Buy

Lauren Franzmann is a finance broker at Flint, based in Newcastle, and a founding member of Sheinvest. At 23, she's already five years deep in an industry where most people take a decade to see what she's seen in two. She fell into broking through a Facebook ad for a loan processing role while studying economics at Newcastle Uni, and is now working alongside one of Flint's top brokers, handling first home buyers, investors and everything in between on a team processing over 1,000 applications a year. This conversation covers how she got here, and where she's taking it. Lauren breaks down what she's learned seeing "everything there is to see" in two years, why time management (not knowledge) is the biggest challenge at this volume, and how Flint's Newcastle office is structured across local and offshore teams aiming for a billion-dollar book. She talks about her own property strategy, targeting blue-chip growth areas with development potential, working alongside a builder partner who can add value most investors can't, and why she tells every first home buyer the same thing: this isn't your dream home, it's your worst one. She also opens up about Sheinvest, the initiative she co-founded to get more women into property investing, why retention, not entry, is the real issue for women in broking, and what the next 12 months of events, webinars and content look like. If you're a young broker wondering what's possible early in your career, or a woman thinking about property but not sure where to start, this one's for you. 1:49 — Two Years, Everything Seen — The Variety That Took Her From 0 to 100 3:19 — Time, Not Knowledge — The Real Challenge at This Volume 8:17 — What Is SheInvest — Inspiring Women Into Property Investing 13:18 — The Property Strategy — Blue-Chip Growth, Development Potential and a Builder Partner 20:50 — FY27 Plans for SheInvest — Webinars, Events and a Daily Content Push 23:13 — Women in Broking — Why Retention, Not Entry, Is the Real Problem 26:02 — Advice for Women Starting Out — Connection Over Competition 28:05 — The $1 Billion Target — Flint Newcastle's Growth Plan and Team Culture 32:33 — Becoming an Advisor, Not Just a Broker — SMSF, Commercial and Equity Strategies 47:03 — Why Your First Property Should Be the Worst One You'll Ever Buy Learn more about Flint: https://flintgroup.au/ Connect with Christian Stevens: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/propertyfinance/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cmrstevens/ Connect with Lauren Franzmann: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauren-franzmann4010999/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laurenfranzmann/

Your Story IS Your Niche: How a $34K Teller Built a Community Empire

Paritosh Wadhwani is the principal broker and director of APW Finance. He’s a migrant from India who arrived with no job, talked his way into ANZ as a part-time teller, and worked his way to commercial lending manager in just under three years. Paritosh breaks down what bankers actually want to see in a submission and why most brokers are presenting deals in a way that makes the assessor's job harder, not easier. He also unpacks how he structures his team across Sydney and India, why he's focusing on clients who want to go from two properties to ten, and what it actually looks like to build a brokerage while running a development business on the side. Paritosh talks candidly about the migrant experience, arriving with nothing, the pressure of building the Australian dream from scratch, and why that background has become one of his biggest advantages with clients. If you're a broker trying to understand complex lending, property investing, or what it looks like to build something real over a long period of time, this one's worth your time. 1:07 — From Scaffolding Sales to ANZ — Why He Took a Pay Cut Everyone Called Stupid 6:05 — What Banks Actually Want — How to Present a Deal So the Assessor Can Say Yes 9:06 — The Indian Migrant Client Opportunity — Why 60% of His Book Is Indian Heritage and What That Means 12:29 — Building an 11-Property Portfolio — The Duplex Rinse-and-Repeat Model and the Mentor Who Changed Everything 14:52 — Buying Interstate in Perth in 2021 — Why He Was Hesitant and Why It Was the Right Call 18:15 — Development Realities — Why Things Never Go to Plan and Where the Numbers Are Breaking Down Now 23:06 — Team Structure — Sydney Office, Three Direct Hires in India and a Marketing Agency 33:17 — FY27 Plans — Scaling the Team, Mentoring New Brokers and Moving to a Strategy-First Model 35:04 — Telling a Client Not to Buy — Why the Right Advice Isn't Always the Transaction Learn more about Flint: https://flintgroup.au/ Connect with Christian Stevens: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/propertyfinance/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cmrstevens/ Connect with Paritosh Wadhwani: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paritosh-wadhwani/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/apwfinance/