Season 1: Turning Complex Cases into Yeses: Building a Specialist Mortgage Business with Ross Jones

In this episode of Progress in Practice, Charlie Reading is joined by Ross Jones, founder of Home Financial and Evolve Commercial Finance.

Ross shares how his business was born out of adversity, why he is passionate about helping clients whose income does not fit the standard box, and how specialising in more complex mortgage scenarios has allowed his firm to create real value.

This is a candid conversation about entrepreneurship, mistakes, patience, bravery, and the reality that in most businesses, the biggest bottleneck is often the founder themselves.

If you are building a business, navigating growth, or trying to create more freedom on your own terms, this episode is packed with practical lessons and honest reflections.

Key Talking Points

• Who Ross helps: clients with non-standard or non-permanent income 
• Supporting limited company directors, contractors, sports professionals, and others with more complex borrowing needs 
• Why Ross focuses on turning difficult cases into yeses 
• How niche expertise can create strong referral momentum and organic growth 
• The adversity that led Ross to start his own business 
• Moving from the military into mortgage advice and then into entrepreneurship 
• How a family health crisis reshaped Ross’s priorities and desire for autonomy 
• The reality that starting a business does not instantly create freedom: first you have to build it 
• The advice Ross would give his younger self: be patient, be brave, and make mistakes faster 
• Why failure is not the opposite of success, but part of the path to it 
• The legacy lesson Ross would pass on: don’t leave crumbs 
• Why integrity matters when making difficult decisions 
• Ross’s biggest business obstacle: recognising that he is the bottleneck 
• The importance of empowering others, delegating better, and getting out of your own way 
• Two standout book recommendations: Legacy and 24 Assets 
• Why values and assets, not just leads, should shape the way you build a business 

About the Guest

Ross Jones is the founder of Home Financial and Evolve Commercial Finance, helping clients secure lending where income or circumstances do not fit standard mortgage criteria.

Ross specialises in supporting people with more complex income structures, including limited company directors, contractors, and sports professionals. His businesses are built around creating solutions where others may struggle, helping clients navigate specialist lending with greater confidence and clarity.

Find Out More

• Website: http://www.homefinancialnw.co.uk 
• Linked In: linkedin.com/in/ross-jones-3688584b 

🚀 Resources & Links Mentioned

• Legacy by James Kerr 
• 24 Assets by Daniel Priestley 
• Charlie Reading’s workshop on building a saleable and scalable business:  https://youtu.be/pFigtSmHqTY 

About the Podcast

Progress in Practice is brought to you by The Trusted Team- helping professional service business owners build scalable, saleable businesses while working less and enjoying more.

Find out more: https://thetrusted.team 

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Transcript

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SPEAKER_01 0:05

Welcome to Progress in Practice, where we explore what it really takes to build and sustain a professional service business. The hard letters, the smart moves, the uncomfortable cruise. Because success leaves clues. If you're willing to look for them. I'm Charlie Redding. Let's dive in. So Ross, welcome to the Progress in Practice podcast. I am really looking forward to chatting to you today and to kick things off so that people can sort of know what you do, who you do it for, who you help. I always like to start with the question of who do you serve, how do you help them, and what makes you different?

SPEAKER_00 0:46

Yeah, hi Charlie in there. Thanks for thanks for having me on. Really looking forward to it. So no, yeah. So I suppose who who are we and who do we serve? I suppose Soko. So my name's Ross Jones, as as you know. Um, so I run Home Financial and Evolve Commercial Finance. So fundamentally, we're a mortgage brokers and we certainly serve a range of different clients. I suppose the underpinning thing is we wouldn't necessarily say no to somebody if they weren't our ideal client, obviously. But what I would say is that we where we sort of add our value is helping clients where their income, and you know, if you want to put a pitch around it, is where somebody's income isn't permanent, and that spans a range of different scenarios. So it could be from, you know, like a limited company director through to contractors, and and you know, recently we've we've developed a real good value to be supporting sports and professionals because naturally, unless you play for certain Premier League clubs where your contracts are particularly long, your income is generally on a fixed-term contract. You know, it could be a 12-month contract, it could be a a 24-month contract in football or rugby. But if you're a you know, a cyclist or someone like that, or in a you know, what we would call minority sports, you you probably don't have any stability around your income. So we've we've sort of really tried to add value in that space, really. Um and we've had some great, you know, some good success, which then organically grows the business, doesn't it? You know, from once you've got your your success stories and your referral opportunities, and you I just feel that's where we added our value. So turning no's into yeses, really. Brilliant.

SPEAKER_01 2:27

And so so basically helping people that you know it would be difficult for them to go on a like a like online and find that that lending. So so specializing in that area, which which I love. I I talk a lot about niching down, and and it sounds like you found your niche, which is which is which is brilliant. So, what's the story that best explains why you do what you do?

SPEAKER_00 2:49

I mean, how far back do you want to go? I suppose really my my business was born out of adversity, which I don't think is uncommon, is it? I think there's usually something happens and it makes you think differently, potentially, but my business was born out of adversity. I mean, I was in a very so before I was an Morgsbroker, I was in the military, so I was in the Navy for for just under 10 years. And I came out of the military and it was like, right, what do I want to do? And then somebody gave me an opportunity as a as a trainee. Uh, but it was a very corporate, very corporate environment. So, you know, very, you know, this is what you do, this is how you do it. And I and I needed that in my working life at that stage of my development. And then I got promoted to be a re uh regional manager, so managing mortgage advisors, very naively. I thought that gave me the skill set to to run a business, and because I could manage people, I manage people and I managed relationships with lenders and things like that. So, but my wife got cancer in her eye, and uh I actually have a little tinge of guilt around this now when I actually recall this story. And the reason being is that I threw myself into a little bit of self-preservation in the fact that okay, what when you say the C word, right, you think the worst, don't you? And I just threw myself into a bit of self-preservation around right, what if this escalates, I need and I want to put myself in a position where I can still do what I need to do to earn a living, but on my own terms. And if I take myself back to that time and that thought process, I can't I can't believe how naive I was. Because running a business is not it can be if you if you do it on purpose, right? But I but I don't think it is that when you first started out, you've got to be, you've been all in, you're you're almost a bit of a slave to the business, and it's you've got to build that cis those systems and those people around you that can actually make it a little bit more autonomous. So I suppose going back to like the why I do it, it was because I I almost got that shot across my bow, which made me think, hang on a minute, I want to, I want to create something, I want to to do it on my own terms and have that autonomy. And we and we've learned as we've gone from there, and yeah, you're always learning, aren't you, to to try and to influence things.

SPEAKER_01 5:09

I think it's it's really interesting. You make a very like an incredibly valid point that I actually found myself saying at a workshop I was delivering last week, which is people get taught to do what they do inside the business. So being a mortgage broker, you'll done mortgage exams to learn how to be a mortgage broker and how to do that that stuff. Very, very few people go out and learn how to run a business. And actually, you so you have two roles you have the the founder and you have the mortgage advisor role. Which is more important when you run your own business? Well, it's actually the the founder role that's more important than the the what you do inside the business. Because if you can't run the business well, there's no business to be the mortgage advisor, is there? So I think it it's a it's a really valuable point. And but I also like I love the fact that you got into this to live life by your design, even if it was a negative that drove you to make that decision. Actually, that's the right sort of reason to do it because you know, it's it's a huge privilege to be an entrepreneur, isn't it? Because you can if you want to play golf on a Friday, you play golf on a Friday, you just make it work, don't you?

SPEAKER_00 6:19

Yeah, I think I think you got I think there's balance there, though, isn't there? Like so, yeah, you're absolutely right, it is a privilege, and and sometimes pressure, it's a bit of a cheesy saying, but I like it in the fact that pressure is a privilege.

SPEAKER_01 6:30

Um Alastair Brownlee's words, I seem to remember.

SPEAKER_00 6:34

Yeah, I think I think it's it absolutely is, I completely agree. But I would say, especially in the early days, you've got you've got to earn you've got to earn that right. Because I do think there is a little bit of naivety around it. I certain I certainly had it, so I it's not like I know everything at all. And I certainly had that naivety of thinking it's almost like this whole like where you get pictures of a laptop by a pool, and you're like, I can work from anywhere. Well, I'm like, hang on a minute, I don't want my laptop by the pool. So what so what's that? You know, so I do think there's balance to it, but I absolutely I understand what you're saying in terms of you know, run it with purpose and and try and create something that can can sort of serve you. And actually, you know what, there's mortgage brokerages, and I'm sure other businesses where you know what, I don't I don't necessarily want to grow uh beyond me, and actually I just want to like do my own that job on my own terms. I want to be a one-man back one-person outfit, and that suits me down to the ground, and that's that's cool. And I get get behind that, and sometimes that's what ends up happening anyway. But yeah, design designing the the life that I was sort of wanting to lead is a negative did lead to to the positive, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 7:43

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And and so if you could go back to yourself as you're starting this business, but with all of that sort of naivety and and kind of but but like completely fresh coming into this, running your own business. What knowing what you know now, what advice would you give to your younger self?

SPEAKER_00 8:02

It's probably a few things to be honest. I I'd probably say the first thing that comes to my mind is patience and work with who you and just like you say, work with who you want to work with. So just think about sort of like who do you want to work with, and just believe in the fact that that will that will organically grow. Because I think sometimes we can be guilty and we've probably we've you know probably spent money in places we should never have spent it. But as soon as I say that and I say be patient, I think you've just got to be prepared to just go make the mistakes, like be prepared to make the mistakes. There's a difference between learning from them and going, I'm not I'm not gonna do that again, but if I did do that again, I'd do it slightly differently. Just constantly learn, just go and just go and be brave because you've got to have some bravery. Go and be go and be brave, make the mistakes, build the build the experience bank, but do it as quickly as you can because the quicker you make these mistakes and we all make them, the the the the better, the quicker you'll be better. It would probably be the main thing I'd say. Well I said we've made mistakes and we will continue to make them. I suppose you just we don't want to make them, do we? We've just got to be brave to sort of get that punch in the nose. It's a bit like when we're at school, isn't it? When we're kids, you know, you've got to go through those uncomfortable things that are like you look back and you cringe on them now, you're like, oh, why did I say that? Or why why did I ask that girl out? You know, but we we we we do it and you've got to, and you it's just one of those things, just go and be go and be brave and make the mistakes, but just try not to make them as again and again and again. I suppose that's the key point.

SPEAKER_01 9:33

It's learning from them, isn't it? But also you're completely right in that you know, people think that failure is the opposite of success, but actually failure is the stepping one of the stepping stones towards it, isn't it? So if you can get out there and fail as many times as quickly as possible, you get lots of learning experiences, which is what takes you on the pathway to working out what actually works. So I think I think that's really good. And and if we ex if we sort of expand this thought about the wisdom that you've accumulated, but think about it from a much wider point of view. If you could, I don't, I I don't know whether you've got children, but if you could leave your generation next generation no money, but just one piece of advice, what would it be?

SPEAKER_00 10:12

You know what? Probably quite quite closely linked to that last point, I would say. But there is a there is a quote that I do like, and I can't remember who it who it's from now. You might know, but it's it's it's it's the um don't leave crumbs. So it might even be Matthew Mahonahe or it might say it. Um but don't leave crumbs, and that's sort of stuck with me in the fact that some well, we will always have situations where we need to like make difficult decisions, and that doesn't always people aren't always happy about those decisions that you're making, right? So whether that's like you need to let someone go or you've got to break some bad news, like nobody wants to do those things. And I pick I did pick this up a lot from the nave from the military, what you know, in the navy and and even more so in business is things that you've just got to do, but be able to stand next to someone in the supermarket queue and it not be awkward, I think there's a lot to be said for that, you know. So for example, in 10 years' time, you're you're sat next to somebody on a train or or something and and you've gone through a difficult experience with them, to be able to look them in the eye and be like, you know, how are you? And not not not to have to avoid them and it'd be awkward. Or I mean, obviously, you we're never going to be able to do that 100% of the time, but have that intention to be like, you know what, I I didn't leave any crumbs with that situation. I I think there's a lot to be said for that and have it having that in your as part of your character. And and like I say, there's probably you know, there'd be situations in in everybody's life and career that unfortunately there might be there might be crumbs, but if we can have the intention of actually I I try to do the best in that situation, then we'll be all right.

SPEAKER_01 12:00

I think that's that's that's brilliant advice. And I think you know what what you tend to find is that like for example, financial services, it ends up being a small sector, isn't it? Doesn't it? Yeah, and you know, you trample on somebody one day, and guess what? They end up coming, it comes back to bite you later on, doesn't it? So I think that's that's that's brilliant advice. And so I suppose the the next question I want to ask you is what's the biggest obstacle that's blocking your success at the moment? Is what's the one thing that if you could crack this thing, all goals would be hit forevermore?

SPEAKER_00 12:33

I I laugh, right? Because it's me. 100% is me. Like, it is completely me. I'm I'm absolutely the bottleneck. And I'm I you ask anyone that knows me, like I sit and resting with this all the time, and it's just one of those things where I I asked I have to get out of my own way, like in terms of I'll hold on to a task because I naively think that I'm the best one, I'm the but the person that's best suited to do this task, right? And this task could be a very admin, and I I know the person sat over from the desk of me who I employ to do this task, is more than capable of doing it, but I just end up doing it because I feel like I just need to do it and I can trust myself to do it. But if I was better at empowering, trusting, upskilling, and being able to go, right, I just need you to to do that and take ownership of it and let me know when it's done. And if you've got any problems, let me know. If I was able to do that just a bit better and get 10, 15 hours of my time back, we'd be able to uplift the productivity of everything. And that you know, that's just me being really honest. Like, I'm I just I've got work to do on myself with that, and but I guarantee I'm not the only person that it you know could that can be leveled at, like, especially in our industry, financial services, mortgage brokers, like we've we have this thing, this ego of like, well, I'm the best person that's suited to do that because nobody does the job as well as me. But obviously they do.

SPEAKER_01 13:59

I think that's incredibly honest, and I think it's incredibly accurate. And and in fact, I think the biggest bottleneck in most businesses is the business owner, yeah. And not just like some businesses, like you allude to, or like most businesses, the bottleneck is the business owner themselves. And I think I actually did a piece, which I'll say I'll send you actually. I did a piece, uh a seminar called How to Build a Saleable and Scalable Business. Um, and that's one of the most important things to overcome because when the business owner is the bottleneck, you it usually means you don't have a saleable business or a particularly scalable business. So I'll show I'll I'll send it to you afterwards and I'll put it in the show notes for anyone else that's listening that that wants to pick up on that. So I think that's really astute because actually there's a lot of businesses and business owners that that's the case with, but they don't recognise that that's the case. So I think identifying it is is really important. Um I'm a I'm a big one for I love reading books, watching documentaries, learning kind of from different things as on different sources as to how we can do things better. So, what book or framework or other resource like podcasts have you found yourself returning to and that's helped you on your journey? And and how is it visible in your business today?

SPEAKER_00 15:18

There's there's one that jumps to my mind straight away, but I'm gonna I am gonna mention two if that's all right. Yeah, please do. So the first one's legacy, and that's by James Kerr, who's about the the the all blacks and their their philosophies and stuff. And although, you know, naturally we're not a we're not a rugby team, right? But we're very val values-led as a business. I have values that have always been part of our DNA, but I haven't decided what they are. Our team, and the people within the business have come up with those values, they're not designed by me. I mean, I agree, I agree with them, but we collectively came up with them. It wasn't where I've gone, right? These are our values, guys. This is what you want you to behave by. It's sort of owned by the owned by the team. I think there's a key difference. I think that's that's important. I completely agree.

SPEAKER_01 16:06

I think it's absolutely brilliant when you do that.

SPEAKER_00 16:09

So yeah, congratulations, that's awesome. And then when you're making decisions there that are difficult, you know, when you were talking about not leaving crumbs, if you make those decisions that are led by the values, you don't leave crumbs. So there's a link. So I think Legacy is a great book. If you've not, if you know, people that are listening haven't uh read it or listened to it these days, go for it because it it's it's good use of time. And there's one value in there that if I'm allowed to swear, the no dickhead rule.

SPEAKER_01 16:36

I was thinking I knew that was coming as soon as you mentioned the sparing. So brilliant that that and sweep the sheds are the two values that stand out to me for for just yeah, brilliant, absolutely brilliant. Yeah, I agree, really good book.

SPEAKER_00 16:48

And then there's one there's one that with slots in there as well, it's sort of dovetails with it. It's uh by Daniel Priestley, 24 assets. Yes. But I think the most common one that people generally read are either is oversubscribed or a key person of influence, which are both great books, by the way. Uh, but the 24 assets one made me reframe how we market and how we and how I've sort of designed the business in the fact that if you focus on leads and inquiries coming into the business, it's quite a shallow way of marketing. Whereas actually, if you think about creating assets within your business, you won't need to worry about leads. So, for example, we we sponsor Warrens and Wolves. So Warrens and Wolves are our local rugby league team in the Super League. You'll see play as a Warren Wolves. So Warrenson Wolves and we sponsor them. Well, all of a sudden, that's yes, you could say what's a lead generating activity, but it's not, it's an asset. It's an asset that then we utilize to to become part of our fabric and and something we can then leverage moving forward, which then hopefully will organically develop leads. But then even things like okay, well, how we do things and our values, they're an asset. But that that might attract good people to our business because they want to be part of it, that's an asset, and then that creates leads and relationships, and it just develops out. And the more you get into that as a way of thinking, I think it's quite powerful. I think it's just a slightly different way of looking at things. So I I you know, I I would rec highly recommend that book as well.

SPEAKER_01 18:18

I I completely agree. I think they're two brilliant recommendations. And for those people that are listening, if you haven't listened to those books or read them, I definitely think that they're worthwhile. And I think that you're right, they both reframe your thinking on those topics. And I think they're yeah, brilliant, brilliant recommendations. Thank you. So, where's the best place to people for people to find out more about you? Fe find out more about home financial. What can where can people find you?

SPEAKER_00 18:43

Yeah, so generally I say just connect with me on LinkedIn, probably a great place to start. I think LinkedIn's you know a good place for that. Um by all means, drop me a connection request. And like I say, for the the business, you know, generally speaking, it's just online www.homefinancial nw for northwest.co.uk. But yeah, no, happy to connect with people, happy to accept messages and you know, always open to coffees and conversations.

SPEAKER_01 19:10

Fantastic. Ross, it's been an absolute pleasure chatting to you. I think there's loads of great wisdom in there, great recommendations, great lessons. We'll put the links in the show notes. So a huge thank you for being a part of this. And for all the listeners out there, as a reminder, this podcast is brought to you by the trusted team that helps business owners build a saleable and scalable business. So uh thank you, Ross, and I wish you every success in the future.

SPEAKER_00 19:37

Thanks, guys. Been a great command. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 19:39

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