Mark Bouris is without doubt a true
innovator, a self-confessed ‘challenger of the status quo’. Taking on the big
four banks and their ever-present dominance in Australia is not what many would
find simultaneously enjoyable and challenging, yet for Bouris it is clearly
where he has carved his niche and found his element. Having done famously well
with Wizard Home Loans, which he founded as a start-up in 1999, and then sold
five years later to General Electric for a cool $500 million, Bouris then shot
to mainstream celebrity when he hosted the Channel 9 reality TV show The
Apprentice in 2009.
Bouris’ profile has undoubtedly risen
exponentially in recent years. With an extensive mainstream media presence, a twice
published author, frequent radio appearances and a regular keynote presenter on the
speaking circuit, Bouris has capitalized on his prominence to launch his
multi-pronged financial services venture, Yellow Brick Road (YBR).
Unlike many high-profile entrepreneurs,
Bouris’ businesses acumen wasn’t honed selling lemonade out the front of his
house as a youngster. He says that like many, running his own business came
from an opportunity that presented itself at the right time.
“I never really thought about it, it just
sort of happened. When I was working for others in Legal and Accounting Firms,
I was working as a partner or a consultant, so I guess I was running my own
race from early on. Working for somebody was never really my bag, though the
Wizard business was definitely the first time I stepped out of my comfort zone
into something I really knew little about.”
Bouris doesn’t credit his experience
working in financial and professional services to the skills he needed to run
Wizard. “My working background didn’t specifically help, but I did have a
Masters Degree in Capital Markets which definitely helped, and I had to have
that understanding to be able to run a business such as Wizard. In fact, my
final paper for my Masters was on residential mortgage-backed securities, where
I studied the US model. It was quite interesting going into the Wizard business
having studied the specific area that I had. I guess it was a curiosity for me
and it sparked my interest.”
Start Up Challenges
Wizard Home Loans grew quickly through its capitalization
on the gap of non-bank lenders in the home loan market and Bouris was quick to
spot the opportunity and seize it. Though like many small business owners
experience, managing a growing business is not without its major hurdles.
“Capital is always a problem. In the early
days you chew a lot of money up, and if you don’t have enough capital you can’t
attract the right kind of people to work for you. You’re always playing
defensive, which means you don’t grow. You need financial and human capital.
Fortunately in those days it wasn’t as hard to get as it is today.”
Yellow Brick Road, established by Bouris in
2007, brings together a range of financial service offerings including
insurance, mortgages, advice and planning via its network of branches. YBR
seeks to give the best advice regardless of its client’s income or assets.
Starting over again with YBR seems like a task of mammoth proportions, though
Bouris is clear about his motivation for doing it and what he hopes to gain
personally from the venture.
“At a personal level, it’s just to prove it
can be done and to prove to everyone who says you can’t ‘beat the banks’. To do
what everyone thinks can’t be done, can. I want to show that a small business
can actually take market share from a bank. To the people that say our model
doesn’t work, I want to prove them wrong. Personally, I do it to prove a point,
I tend to like to argue everything, which can be misinterpreted at times.”
“To execute it at a business level we have
to provide a superior service than the rest and provide a better offering than
the others can. We’re transparent, we have a fee-for-service business. If you’re
running a small business and you come into our offices I will guarantee you
will walk out knowing more about your business than you came in with, because we
know the questions that need to be asked, and business owners need to be pushed.
They need to be challenged, and to be asked the tough questions, much like what
10x probably does with its clients.”
Growing Through the GFC
Setting up a business during the height of
the GFC seems like a bold move, but as Bouris recounts, having a healthy dose
of hope has enabled YBR to grow and thrive.
“Fortunately we didn’t have a really great
problem here through the GFC. Whilst problems were evident, we didn’t get
desperate, like much of the rest of the world. We have despaired as a country
in the past, such during the recession ‘we had to have’ in the late 80s and early
90s, and it is true that you can’t recover unless you have hope. To set up a
financial services business (YBR) in the middle of the GFC, you’re either
stupid or you can see something that is going to come about. I didn’t know that
the GFC wasn’t going to become a major problem for Australia, but I did hope it
would be ok. I know that cycles work their way out eventually. If you have hope
and you hang on, you will get there. It’s a message we instill in our clients,
staff, shareholders, and everybody we deal with!”
Looking at the future, Bouris notes that there
certainly will be more cycles and major economic changes. “They happen every
ten years or so, at least things are changing now because of the changes in our
communities and how we receive information. The cycles may be further apart now
but when they happen they are much more volatile. Because of information
systems, the way we find out about things now causes us to react upwards or
downwards much more violently. We get our information so rapidly and it is
shared so profusely – look at social media. So we create the cycles. We all
follow the same thing, and there really isn’t enough weight given to behavioural
economics and how we react as a society.”
Shaking Up the Banks…Again
With an oligopoly seen again now post-GFC
by our big four banks, Bouris believes that surpassing their less-than-desirable
service levels and grabbing back their market share will be more than possible
to achieve.
“Banks talk about service because that’s
the only thing they want to differentiate themselves on. They spend more money
on promoting their said ‘good service’ than they do on actually providing the
service. The people at the bank aren’t getting paid to give good service. I go
to the bank in this building (a building which I own part of!) every week to
draw money out, and get asked for ID every time by the same guy! And I think, ‘What
are you doing, you’ve got MY money!’ The service you get from a bank is the
same as you get from a supermarket deli counter, you take a number and wait to
get called. There is no such thing as a personalized service at one of our big
four.”
Changing the Status Quo
Obviously starting over with YBR isn’t what
keeps Bouris awake at night. With 30 branches already up and running and an
aggressive growth strategy, he is paving the shiny yellow path back to becoming
a serious competitor again to the banks’ offerings and is hoping to shake
things up along the way.
“We are looking to grow to 150 branches
nationally. At the moment we are concentrating on the East Coast but we have
recently opened in South Australia, and will continue opening branches over the
next year. I don’t really see any difference in establishing YBR afresh, it’s just
the same deal and we are setting up again and just reestablishing a valuable
brand. I enjoy challenging everything. I love disruptive technology, anything
that disrupts the status quo. To me that isn’t like work, it’s what I get my
kicks from.”
Though like any new business offering an
innovative model, one that differs from how things have always been done, the
concept of having several financial service needs met via one provider is a
challenge faced by YBR, and to an extent there is a mindset that needs to
change.
“Yes you do have to educate. Some people
don’t want all the services we offer, some want two or three, and really we
haven’t got many customers that want everything, yet. It’s going to take time,
and over time we work the different services and products into the relationship
we build with the customer, depending on their needs. We don’t want to be a one
size fits all. But we want to offer all sizes from one shop, so our customers
can pick and choose as they go through the various stages of needing certain services
or products.”
The Business Wizard
In 2009, Bouris’ profile was lifted after
he hosted the Channel 9 reality show, The Apprentice. Many now recognize him
from the show where he played the same role as Donald Trump in the US version.
“It’s funny hardly anyone asked me much
about The Apprentice after I did it in 2009. I didn’t think The Apprentice did
much for Yellow Brick Road at the time, but now I get asked about it all the
time when I am interviewed about Yellow Brick Road. The wanted me to play this
Donald Trump character and be all like… ‘You’re Fired!’, but there was no way I
was going to do that, I had to do it as myself.”
Outside his business pursuits, Bouris loves
his sport. “When I’m not working I love my Footy, I’m on the board of the
Roosters. I love the State of Origin. I also like gardening and growing my own
vegetables. I like to have something from my garden each day. Work really is my
passion, because to me it’s not work. I know there is drudgery in part of it
but the challenge is what I love, it’s like a pastime for me. I’m also on the
board of a lot of other companies… I love technology and innovation. All of us
have something we like that we know nothing about. It fascinates me all that
stuff, design, technology and science. That and footy!”
Standing Up for Small Business
When we discuss small business in
Australia, and what is needed to help this sector thrive, Bouris understands
well the challenges faced by so many in their early stages.
“It’s a big issue and I had to address this
to the NSW parliament recently, and I said whoever wins the election should
introduce an incubator fund for small business, as well as setup a hub like
area for small business. It would be like going into an Apple store, and
perhaps you would have business mentors, such as 10x coaches walking around
going, ‘Hi, how are you going today?’”
“At Apple you get all these free sessions on
how to design websites, or edit your photos, and essentially you become a ‘Mac’
for life. I reckon the government should have a system like the Mac system, where
they offer pods for people with different skills, bookkeepers, marketing,
designers etc, and people there helping you with areas you need. It would give
business owners the opportunity to ask questions like, ‘How do we do this?’ or ‘Are
we doing the right thing with our business?’ And I do think the government
should pay for this!”
The Role of the Mentor
Getting help during those early stages is
something Bouris believes is crucial. “I do think at an early stage and
starting up, it’s really important to have someone there that is going to ask
you the tough questions, and challenge you about why you are doing the things
that you are. Most advisors are more compliance driven and I think that an
advisor in a SME business is really important. Just to have somebody there to
ask the hard questions. In family business often people get too close to things
and are proud of something, and while they are busy defending what they are
doing, usually that’s where problems are occurring.”
“In a nice way, that’s why an external
coach or mentor can ask those questions. Someone outside of your business makes
you stop and think about what you’re really doing and why!”
“Think about what were like as a little
kid, really, today you are just the same person. Inside you is that same person
today, and you are still that person with your clients and colleagues.
Nothing’s changed, and I reckon all of us have to go back and understand who
you were and not try and be somebody else, because that is what you are best
at. Too many people think they need to be someone else, particularly in
business, and usually that just doesn’t work. As a kid I was always asking
questions. My brother actually asked more questions than me as a kid and today he’s
still doing it, in my business!”
“I have a saying in business, that to be
successful you need two parts. And you can’t be both parts. One person cuts,
and the other person sews. You can’t have two people cutting or two people
sewing. For me, I cut and my brother sews. It’s always been like that. The
cutter can sometimes make a mess, so the quality of the stitching must also be
good! I think as a person to be good, you have to have the opposite around, you
can’t have a solid partnership without one or the other.”
By Brianna Power
Read the latest issue of Spark Magazine at www.sparkmag.co