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From his humble beginnings navigating the complexities of the mortgage industry to emerging as a luminary in lead generation and growth consultancy, Gary Das’s journey is a masterclass in resilience and strategic evolution.
In this exclusive interview, we delve into the transformative milestones that shaped his trajectory, exploring his pivot from reliance on third-party leads to becoming a proponent of content marketing, and his mission to empower fellow entrepreneurs through strategic insights and lifestyle-centric business practices.
Give us an overview of your entrepreneurial journey, from the time you first cut your teeth in the mortgage game to becoming a lead generation guru and growth consultant.
I first joined the mortgage industry in 2003 and in working for several different firms I realised that lead generation was a key issue for the sector. Around 2005, Money Supermarket first launched, and a lot of brokers then leveraged this to purchase leads via the platform.
In 2006, I knew I could build a successful business having helped my previous employer build monthly turnover to £100K in the bad credit mortgage sector, and told my Dad that I knew how to get a lead, name and a number but just needed £2.5K to get started. Thankfully he leant me the money.
From then on, I became self-employed but between 2006 – 2015 did absolutely zero marketing and relied solely on buying leads from third party companies. This means I had to rely constantly on outbound calls to get enquiries, was spending around £20K per month on low quality leads and ultimately ended up building a business that hated.
The turning point was when my bank said ‘no’ to me for the mortgage I required in 2015. I saw this as an opportunity to get back into the mortgage sector and focus solely on helping the self-employed market and so I reduced down the business from 15 staff and a £750K turnover to just me and my PA with a focus on rebuilding in the right way.
In January 2016, I leveraged social media for the first time. By June 2016 I started creating my own advice led videos and in November 2016 I committed to 30 Facebook lives over 30 days. In understanding the value I was able to create for others through content marketing, I wrote my first book – ‘The Self Employed Mortgage Guide’ – in 2017 and launched it as a downloadable eBook in 2018.
I quickly realised that if I understood how to generate consistent, quality leads then I would always be able to build a business and since 2016 have invested heavily in my own personal and professional development in learning lead generation, marketing, sales, and business development.
By 2019 the mortgage broker industry started asking me for help and so I began coaching other brokers with the skills required to build and grow their own businesses and extended my offering into growth consultancy for the service-based business sector.
I have since launched my own growth community – Success Circle – and teach all my mentees and clients that there is a repeatable process to building a 6 or 7-figure business, where the main difference between them is the quality of leads generated and level of resource in the business able to both respond to them.
A big aspect of what you do is helping business owners build a fun and profitable lifestyle. Can you explain how you do this?
When most people start and build their own business, more often than not they end up becoming a busy fool and commit 100% to their company, resulting in them having zero work life balance.
I teach all business owners to focus on their lifestyle first and encourage them to really think about the level of personal income and profit required to give them what they actually want and then reverse engineer. This means taking the time to outline what their turnover needs to be, and then breaking this down into sales and expenses to generate the desired end result.
What advice would you give to an entrepreneur working their sock off now with the intention of buying the house of their dreams later in life?
Essentially everything listed above – always start with the end in mind and ensure you are constantly working with key questions in mind, such as: What does the dream house and lifestyle look like? What level of profit and income is required to achieve this? What number of leads are required to achieve this turnover and profit level?
Overall, all business owners need to know their numbers and work both strategically and logically as opposed to emotionally to achieve their ultimate end goal.
You’ve founded a business community and have a podcast to support businesspeople increase their companies’ sales. What are the common concerns you are hearing and how have you been addressing them?
Over the years it’s clear that there are 6 common problems or concerns that business owners and entrepreneurs have when it comes to scaling and growing their company. These comprise of:
Lead generation: The vast majority of businesses have a lack of consistent leads being generated on a monthly basis, with too much reliance on referral and world of mouth. No one is able to really scale a business without an impactful lead generation strategy in place.
Lack of systems and automation: Many business owners struggle to implement clear and consistent systems and processes, which drive the efficiency and scalability of a business.
Having a clear business growth strategy: Too many business owners are stuck in the day-to-day running of the business and do not take a step back to look at the bigger picture and implement a clear strategy for growth.
Financial constraints and cashflow: Regularly reviewing monthly management accounts, budgets and cashflow ensures a business has the financial resources to grow, yet so many business owners fail to review and focus on this on a consistent basis.
Personal confidence and development: It’s commonplace for business owners to struggle with imposter syndrome and feel overwhelmed with the sheer volume of the tasks in hand. To overcome this, all business owners need to focus on their own personal confidence and development and enhance their own leadership and delegation skills while taking the time to really know their numbers and finances.
Time management and work life balance: Everyone needs ‘me time’ yet when running a business, it is difficult to maintain any form of work life balance. However, this does and can come if business owners are able to get all 5 other areas sorted first.
Forecasting over the coming year, are there any pressing events, legislation, or economic concerns you have that will impact the UK’s business community, that they should be aware of and preparing for?
Well, there is obviously happening in the political landscape with a big election coming up which could certainly impact SMEs. Although interest rates are coming down, they are still volatile and the cost of living remains quite high.
Despite all of this, I always say control the controllable – take consistent action, market and sell better and then any looming threat won’t become a concern.