From the people who already know them, then from referral partners who meet buyers first, then from a Google profile with reviews. Not from bought leads, and not from the brokerage.
Every new broker's first clients come from the same place: the people who already know and trust them. Friends, family, former colleagues, the community they belong to, the profession they came from. The first job is to tell all of them, clearly and more than once, that you now arrange mortgages and would like their questions.
The second source is referral partners: realtors, accountants, lawyers, financial planners and immigration consultants who meet a buyer before the buyer needs a mortgage. One or two partners who send files regularly change a first year. The third is a Google Business Profile with reviews, which catches people searching for a broker in your city right now.
What does not work is waiting for the brokerage. We do not hand out leads and neither, honestly, does anyone who says they do at scale. What a brokerage can do is carry processing, compliance and hard files so your hours go to the twenty conversations a week that build a book.
We onboard licensed brokers only and do not sponsor initial licensing. There is no formal ninety day programme and no named mentor guarantee. There is a team chat where new and experienced brokers answer questions around the clock, a Deal Desk for the file you cannot place, and head office carrying processing and compliance so your first ninety days are spent on conversations. We do not hand out leads.
The full guide, with the detail and the numbers.
Your first 90 days as a new mortgage brokerUpgrade from Level 1 to Level 2 in Ontario: 12 months licensed, the Private Mortgages Course, no FSRA fee, and what Level 2 lets you do.
Step by step: the course, exam and sponsoring brokerage you need to become a mortgage broker in Ontario, BC or Alberta, plus the cost and timeline.
What mortgage agent and broker jobs in Canada actually are: commission not salary, licensed through a brokerage, and what to compare before you join one.
Bring your questions to a discovery call and a broker owner will answer them directly.