Trevor: 0:12

And welcome back to another episode of when Leaders Connect, a Corporate Connections podcast where we talk to our members from across the country and find out a little bit more about them and who they are and what makes them tick. Hi, my name is Trevor Botkin. I am the National Director of Corporate Connections, Canada, and today I'm thrilled to be joined by Luigi Infranchesco, a dynamic leader and seasoned mortgage broker with Orbis. Luigi is not just a professional in the mortgage industry. He's a connector, innovator and someone who deeply committed to building strong relationships that drive meaningful results. With his expertise at Orbis and his passion for leadership and strategy, Luigi has made a significant impact in his field. In this conversation, we'll explore his role at Orbis and the valuable lessons he's learned about leadership and collaboration, so get ready for an insightful discussion about the power of connection and his path to success. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Luigi. Good morning sir.

Luigi: 1:12

Good morning, trevor

Trevor: 1:12

How are you

Luigi: 1:13

Very well. How about yourself?

Trevor: 1:14

I'm good, thanks. So this is our first podcast of 2025. So excited to start the new year off with you and find a little bit about you and your journey. So you're one of our newer members into the community, as a member of Montreal too, but you've been with us a couple of months now and maybe if you can just take us back and give us kind of a little Coles notes on your journey and what brought you to where you are today.

Luigi: 1:38

so, as every great story, it actually happened by accident.

Luigi: 1:43

I'm a charter professional accountant by training. I got out of school, started working at a large transportation company where they hired 100 CPAs right out of the gate, and essentially I was in accounting for five years and at a certain point I realized that I really liked the marketing side of things. I was always fascinated about real estate and I figured why not combine my accounting knowledge with marketing and real estate at the same time? So at that point that's where I accidentally was renting an office from a mortgage broker at the time because I was doing bookkeeping and corporate taxation on the side a mortgage broker at the time because I was doing bookkeeping and corporate taxation on the side and I had rented an office from a mortgage broker for tax season. And then I realized I liked what the mortgage broker was doing actually a lot more than what I was doing as work. So he tried obviously to get me to become a mortgage broker and over time I decided you know what, let's make the jump. And that's how I got into mortgages.

Luigi: 2:50

I started working at a big six financial institution directly as a mortgage not a mortgage broker but a mortgage specialist and it's six or seven years. I was doing that. However, I was only doing that on the residential side, and then it came to a point in my career where it was essentially groundhog day, basically doing the same thing over and over, and I wanted a different challenge. I have that CPA background, I have that accounting background and I thought, well, why not go into commercial mortgages, because I do have the expertise for it and I do have the lending expertise on the residential side. So now it's been two years that I went on my own, I started my own team and essentially now we're focusing on commercial mortgages. So it's a story that's still being written. However, at the same time, I'm having fun in the process.

Trevor: 3:42

That's an amazing story and interesting journey. It's funny when I talk to a lot of younger people, or I talk to people in SageUp who are trying to figure out what they want to do, or even younger, a little bit older, and I always say, look, if you're happy or you're comfortable with numbers, if you like numbers, be a CPA, because it doesn't matter where you go, what you do, whether you're an accountant or not, math is math and numbers are numbers. And you know, figuring out a company's cash flow or doing a pnl, any of those things are tools that will serve you well, regardless if you're an entrepreneur, if you're an employee, if you're middle management, if you're senior management. I think that background and some of the most successful entrepreneurs that we have in our community actually have CPAs titles attached to their name or that was their background of that.

Trevor: 4:34

So it's fascinating that you started off as a CPA so many do and then see and it's funny, how many of them kind of look at somebody else during their business. I'm like I can do that, I could, I could run that business and are more interested in running a business than managing the books of that business. So it's it's funny that that you've. I guess you got off for good behavior from being a cpa, but I assume you never. I, I guess it never goes away like. Do you still look at your business today through the lens of a CPA?

Luigi: 5:07

I always do, because my niche is essentially finding financing solutions for entrepreneurs. So that's where the tax background, that's where the accounting background complements my services as well and that's how, when I do commercial financing, I don't only look at the business itself. I can look at it from a personal aspect as well, depending if they want to get commercial financing for investment purposes or commercial financing for their business to buy a property that they will occupy for business purposes. So that's where the accounting is Basically. The accountant is still in me, even though that's not my title. I don't do any accounting anymore, but the accountant is still inside me at that point.

Trevor: 5:47

But I guess it gives you a very different paradigm to look at it through against a regular mortgage broker or an average mortgage broker who maybe doesn't have that finance background, the opportunity to re-leverage something in the way that you would understanding kind of the financial backbone of a business, which is, you know, cashflow, tax and all these other pieces that I think most business owners either willfully disregard or don't want to understand or assume that their accountant is. That's why they have an accountant or a CFO to manage that for them.

Luigi: 6:22

Exactly, and that's my differentiation strategy, because there are thousands of mortgage brokers in Quebec and the rest of Canada and even fewer commercial brokers. However, at the same time, it's still a big pack to differentiate ourselves from. So that's my differentiation strategy I don't only bring the mortgage know-how, I basically combine my mortgage knowledge with my accounting knowledge and give the final product to our clients.

Trevor: 6:47

So, two years into this part of the journey, what's been the biggest surprise for you?

Luigi: 6:52

I would say when I made the switch, it was at the same time that the rates were going higher. It was probably the worst time to make the switch. In the last it's eight years I've been in mortgages and out of the eight, I would say I made the switch at the worst possible time for the market. However, now looking back, it's been one magnificent ride, and in 2025, 2026, the rates are expected to lower even more. So this is the year that business should be peaking, and for me, it's the journey itself. And the journey is not finished, it's only started.

Luigi: 7:29

But at the same time, if I look back to where I was two years ago and where I am now, I see a different version of Luigi. I see a different version of the entrepreneur where, coming out of the gate, I had a team of five mortgage brokers that were under my leadership, whereas I never had management experience, or maybe I had management experience with one or two people at that point. So it's a learning curve, but not only on the business side, on the personal side as well. How do you deal with the pressures of starting a new business when the market is not hot, and how do you take that home as well. How do you take care of your health? How do you take care of your personal relationships? So the last two years has been a real learning experience.

Trevor: 8:17

So just help me understand that. So you didn't just start this as a solopreneur, as most sane people would. You went out and hired a team, and so there's six of you, or six mortgage brokers was there support staff as well? Or the six of you?

Luigi: 8:31

so everything again happened by accident. Uh, what happened was essentially, as I was making the jump, I had done a social media posting I'm becoming a mortgage broker, I'm joining Orbis, I'm looking to start a team. I just said it like that. And then I had somebody contact me and he goes well, luigi, I'm becoming a mortgage broker. I'm like, oh, that's great. He goes no, you don't understand. I'm joining Orbis. I'm like that's amazing, we're part of the same agency. I'm like, if ever you have like part of my team, like, listen, I'm. I didn't even pass my probation period yet. I was thinking of starting a team eventually, but I'm not even there yet. So at a certain point he ended up joining the team and I spoke to the vp at the agency and she goes uh, well, luigi, there's some other people that would like to join the team as well.

Luigi: 9:27

So, out of, I was still on probation because when you become a mortgage broker, essentially you're a mortgage broker in stash for the first three months. However, by that time I already had, I think, four mortgage brokers under my team and I couldn't even pull out my own credit bureaus. I had to ask the mortgage brokers to pull the credit bureaus out for me because I didn't have access for the first three months. So that's how it started. And then, after that, fast forward.

Luigi: 9:55

A few months later on social media again, I had an old high school friend reach out and say I was looking for admins. And she goes Luigi, I'm currently looking for something part-time. Do you need any administrative help? And I'm like, actually I do. So she started a few hours a week and then I got to a point where she was okay, luigi, she basically gave me the ultimatum. She was either I go full time or I have to find something else. So my business wasn't where it had to be yet. But I'm like you know what, let's go for it. So I hired her full time. Now it's actually a year and a bit that she's full time.

Luigi: 10:34

And then it kind of put my back against the wall and said, okay, well, look, I have to pay this additional salary because the mortgage brokers are on commission base. There wasn't any overhead expense at that point. But when you start adding payroll, that's when it's like okay, well, you have to make sure that the pays are there every two weeks. So that put my back against the wall. I'm like, okay, now I really have to produce, and essentially that's what pushed me to the next level, and I realized that every time my back was against the wall and every time I felt uncomfortable, that's when I grew the most, and so, to answer your question right now, basically we restructured the mortgage brokers. There's two mortgage brokers that are commission-based. However, I have a full-time operations manager and a part-time marketing coordinator that takes care of all my social media and stuff, so we're currently a well-oiled machine.

Trevor: 11:29

That's incredible. It shows a level of maturity. It also shows that you're a good person, that people would just kind of jump and say, yes, I want to follow you into this fire on that. And it shows that people are looking for a leader, right, you know. So it's one thing that people want to be employees, but it's also another thing when someone puts their hand up and says, no, this is mine, I'm going to run with it. What would be the dream for you? Where do you think you can take this and how big do you want to make it?

Luigi: 11:55

Well, the crazy thing is that it's crazy, but I'm going to find a way to make it happen is I want to get to a point where I'm an international mortgage broker. Okay, to the sense that you have to finance a commercial project in Europe, you have to finance a commercial project in the US, canada, wherever it is, I can take care of the financing, access and basically taking down the geographical barriers. So right now, basically, I am licensed in Quebec and Ontario. Through the agency, we could do financing all over Canada. I also got accredited, my license to do financing in the state of Florida in the US and, through the agency as well, we could do financing in the US as well. So already, north America, we're starting to get traction and once that step is done, then we'll start looking at our geographical areas. But in 10, 15, 20 years from now or maybe even less for those, uh, that's the plan. If I can become an international mortgage broker for commercial and and residential financing, but mainly for entrepreneurs, that's my end goal okay, that's lofty.

Trevor: 13:07

I love it. No one ever got anything done by setting small goals, and we talked a little bit about or you mentioned earlier about balance and also having a balance. What's the other side of the coin for you in terms of your support system back at home?

Luigi: 13:23

So I'm back at home, I'm the dreamer out of the couple, and then I have my wife that's a financial planner. So I'm the one with the big dreams, I'm the one that's very optimistic, and then she puts the brakes. She goes okay, I love your idea. However, let's plan it out. Is this sustainable? Does this make sense? And there's times where we have to have hard conversations that basically, there's ideas that I think would absolutely work. And then she puts her input and I always listen to her input.

Luigi: 13:55

However, even if I do decide to go with the original idea I thought I was going to implement in the first place, it kind of brings me a step back and allows me to investigate further and just ensure okay, if I am doing this, what are the reasons I'm doing this for? And in cases where I tell her this is my idea and she goes yeah, I like it, go for it. It's getting that validation from somebody that I respect and that has very solid knowledge of business background as well. So she's not 100% on board with all my business decisions and she's not 100% on board with all my business decisions. However, just having that sounding board does help and in times where, like any entrepreneur, we go through our ups and downs to have your biggest cheerleader there and also your biggest critic at the same time. It's something that keeps me uh humble and it keeps me on track how long have you been married?

Luigi: 14:56

uh, well, now it's uh two years that we're together. Two years, yeah, and we've been friends for five, six. I actually met her at um, where I was working previously, believe it or not in the in the trucking or in the the finance banking? Yeah, in the banking so we won't hold that again.

Trevor: 15:15

So she helps people save money, I help people spend money, and we met in the middle yeah, but you also help people spend money in a way that it's increases their asset value, right, so it's, it's. It's one of those things and I think most people don't understand that that a good mortgage broker isn't just about, you know, spending the least amount possible for the best property, but it's also looking at from an investment standpoint and going it's a long-term investment.

Luigi: 15:40

That and tax perspectives as well.

Trevor: 15:42

That's right, and so, and, and, and it's, and. It's amazing. You know, obviously, our work and we have members who are in commercial real estate and I think of susan is one example and it's not. It's not as reactive as I always thought it would be in terms of real estate, because it again in um, most of us, our paradigm is, uh, residential, right, like we buy and sell a house.

Trevor: 16:06

When we're ready to buy and sell the house, and it's, it's out of necessity in business, it's far more strategic, right, you don't want to start looking for a new building as your lease is coming up, um, that's too late, you know. You don't want to start looking for a new building when you've run out of space, um, and there's no more for desks. That's too late, because then you're stuck with what's on the market. And so, having a real estate agent, a mortgage broker, on your team who's looking six months a year out and leveraging that as a business strategy, as a growth strategy, or looking in times of contraction as a way to mitigate costs and and, and you know, can we, can we bring a tenant in as a sub renter for this and and get six months to cover some of these costs. You know that's invaluable for a business owner to think with and I think most businesses they don't, they don't, they don't look at it as a way to leverage what they have as an existing way.

Luigi: 17:08

So super interesting, really, really really interesting and just to add to that as well. So now I've done both sides of the coin, the residential and the commercial side. You'll see, on the residential side, the decisions are based on financials. However, they're also based a lot on emotions, Whereas on the commercial side, yes, there's always a tiny bit of emotion there, but it's 99% numbers at that point and how is it going to impact the business and what's the growth strategy? Whereas residential, some people especially during the 2020-2021 boom, some people are like I'll overbid for a house just because I love this house, Whereas on the commercial side, it's more okay. What's the ROI? Does it make sense for our business to occupy this residence? Or, if you're buying an investment property, does it make sense for us to invest in this and what's our returns? So there's a different ideology there as well.

Trevor: 18:02

And what's the cost of, obviously, the mortgage and what's the cost of not doing it in terms of future expansion? That as well, oh, fascinating. And again something that you said earlier and I just want to kind of circle back to it this idea of when the rates were so low, I think anyone was in real estate, everyone felt like they were going into real estate and being mortgage brokers and a lot of people made money in those years where you know you're getting very, very, very low rates, so that you started and have found success at a time when a lot of people are getting out of the business or really suffering in that business. I think is a testament to you, to your probably integrity as a business owner and how you run your business, but also to kind of your, your fierceness and following your passion and doing exactly what you said you're going to do and and going about and figuring out a way to do it, which is, it's, inspirational.

Luigi: 18:59

Thank, you, trevor, we try, we try. Like I said the, the story is still being written, but we're having fun in the process. Fantastic. So, if, if, I, if story is still being written, but we're having fun in the process Fantastic.

Trevor: 19:07

So if I asked one of your team members to describe Luigi, what would they say?

Luigi: 19:12

Basically ambitious, hardworking, always tries to think outside of the box. I think the person I speak to the most, and even more than my wife, would be my assistant. I think we talk half the day at least, nonstop, and we're always like running ideas by each other. And what I've learned as well is that I've been doing this for a year, so there's a certain way that I like my processes and there's a certain way of doing things. However, when you empower your team around you to maybe provide alternative ways of doing certain things, just hearing them out and seeing if that makes a difference in your day-to-day and the fact that I started being a lot more open has allowed us to innovate. So what was the question? Oh, yeah, basically, yeah, ambitious, hardworking, easygoing and analytical as well as we have to be for our clients. So that's pretty much Luigi in a nutshell 2025.

Trevor: 20:16

If there's one, if I could give it to you or grant you that wish, what's one skill as a leader that you would love to acquire or hone or shape in 2025 for yourself? That's a very good question um yeah, I started off with the easy ones. I'm working my way to the tough ones that's a very good question.

Luigi: 20:40

I um um, well, look, perseverance, it's something I've always been doing. But just to go to the next level, like any entrepreneur, it's just be aware of and intentionally put myself in situations outside of my comfort zone and keep doing it. So as a leader, it's basically, I guess, take out that fear I already you know everybody has, I guess, a bit of fear or just like to get out of their comfort zone. But I guess it's just be persistent with that and just keep going over the barriers.

Trevor: 21:22

Yeah, I love that idea of of, of perseverance and and just getting more done. That's something I also look at this year is is just how do I get more done with maybe less effort, cause I don't want to add effort. It already feels like I work a lot or spend a lot of time working, and so, kind of one of the things I really wanted to look at was how do I just get more effective? Yeah, with my time and and and and I was looking at it kind of the end of the year going. You know, should I take things less personally? Because I do, um, and, and I think that's also part of a sign that I care and whether or not I care too much or or not it's. It's something that I I say I'm okay with caring and taking things personally and I'm okay with it because it's also what pushes me, which is what drives me, it's what, what's what gets me excited. That makes sense.

Trevor: 22:20

Luigi, first off, thank you, um, thank you for making a decision a couple of months ago to join our community. I know it's never an easy kind of immediate thing when making the investment, not only financially but, I think, time wise, because I think the cost of being a member in CC oftentimes more than the finance is the time to do it properly. It is an investment in the relationships and the people, so I want to thank you for your trust and your confidence in that, and I'm excited to see what you do with us in NCC and specifically in your chapter in Montreal too, but also to see what you do with Orbis and your growth over the coming years.

Luigi: 23:03

Trevor, thank you very much for having me and thank you for allowing me the opportunity to join this amazing family. Just the wealth of experience and the knowledge and just the community itself. You could really tell that people in the community are there to look out for each other and to assist each other in whichever way they can, and I'm really excited for 2025.

Trevor: 23:26

And thank you for allowing me to be a part of this family 2025 is going to be wild, and I want to thank everyone for turning into another episode of when Leaders Connect. Luigi, it's been an absolute pleasure to have you with us on here today. Your journey from CPA to finance and, most recently, your work as a commercial mortgage broker over the last two years is to me, and I hope, to everyone else it's both inspiring and insightful. So I love this idea of adaptability, continuous growth, perseverance, that paths aren't linear, that sometimes we start going down one road and we go. You know what? I'm going to try this other road, and I love that sort of courageous attitude as a as an entrepreneur. So, once again, thank you and congratulations.

Luigi: 24:11

Thank you very much, trevor, and thank you again for having me today.

Trevor: 24:13

Of course, and to all our listeners stay connected, stay curious, keep leading with intention and, as always, this is where leaders connect.