“5 BDMs You Should Meet” - Jim Nash reveals his love for Sunday Roasts to Bridging Loan Directory
24.03.21

by Laura Miller, Bridging Loan Directory

Everyone in bridging tells you the same two things. They love their job because every day is different. And the job is all about relationships.

Business development managers bring these two aspects together in a Venn diagram of what is needed to deal with the daily ups and downs of unpredictable people management to get the deals across the line.

[Jim Nash, National Sales Manager at bridging lender Tuscan Capital, has been doing this longer than most. Read on to learn more...]

Laura Miller: Who is Jim Nash, and what keeps him active outside work?

Jim Nash: I’m 62 and married with four children and two grandchildren (with one more on the way). We’ve also just adopted a cat.

I live in Hertfordshire, having just moved during the Christmas period.

Unusually, perhaps, I support two football teams: Spurs and Liverpool.

My favourite TV programmes include anything associated with wildlife or the planet (David Attenborough is a legend in my eyes) and I’ve twice been to South Africa on safari.

I became an avid reader during the first lockdown (I read more books then than in the whole previous 60 years!) and developed a particular taste for Simon Scarrow’s historical fiction, which is simply brilliant.

My favourite day of the week is Sunday. I always cook the roast dinner followed by football on the big screen at the local pub along with a cool pint of Guinness. How I’ve missed not being able to do that!

LM: How did you get into the bridging industry?

JN: By default. I originally wanted to be a carpenter (my mum still has two tables I made when I was 16). However, I was persuaded to go for an interview with a national bank and was offered the role. My mum, who always wanted me to have a ‘proper’ job, made me take it!

LM: Were there any barriers to entry you had to overcome?

JN: I worked for the bank for 13 years, where I acquired a solid grounding in finance, before joining a brokerage firm. I stayed with them for a few years before moving back onto the lending side. But the time I spent as a broker was to prove invaluable for the rest of my career, giving me as it did a solid grounding and insight in how the brokerage world works.

LM: What is your biggest challenge in the industry right now?

JN: Switching the business - literally overnight - from an office-based operation to a remote working one appeared at first hugely daunting. But I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how successfully we’ve adapted, thanks in large part to the smart tech stuff now available to us.

Speaking personally, however, I can’t wait to get back to the old ways as I thrive on personal contact. I also think our city centres need us back, not just for commercial reasons but because it makes for a more vibrant way of life.

I’m not confident at this time how easy this will be to achieve. A lot of people have got used to ‘WFH’ and will resist a return to the daily grind. But for all our sakes - and not least those young people looking to forge a career in our sector - I think we need to look beyond Zoom meetings and a virtual existence to a time when people can happily shake hands and sit at a table together.

LM: What advice do you have for someone looking to enter the industry today?

JN: It might sound like one straight from the ‘Big Book of Cliches’, but there is no substitute for passion and absolutely wanting to be a part of this sector.

I’ve been involved with financial services for all of my career, and I can honestly say that, along with the genesis of the sub-prime market in the late 1990s, the current bridging scene is an exciting place to be.

Anyone entering now has much to look forward to but much to learn, too. I realised from an early age that to succeed I needed to understand not just my trade - which is selling - but also the component pieces that make up the complete jigsaw, from underwriting and risk control through to portfolio management.

My advice, therefore, is to land a job with an employer prepared to invest in you fully and for the long haul, not just for their short-term advantage.

LM: What do you love most about your job?

JN: When I joined Tuscan Capital in 2019 I was reunited with Colin Sanders, our CEO, for the fifth time in my career. I’d previously worked under him at a number of specialist lending businesses and jumped at the chance to do so again.

I’m also working with a lot of other colleagues with whom I’d previously worked, people like Matt Rogers, Dena Thompson, Andy Reeder and Johnny Craig. It’s like being back with old friends and makes every day at work a pleasure.

Elsewhere, and until the relentless cycle of lockdowns made it near-impossible, I most enjoyed meeting with brokers and the deal-making that comes with it.

I always enjoy discussing lending proposals and obtaining a full understanding of the deal. Very rarely are the clients’ requests straightforward, although the end game they’re looking to achieve is usually clear from the outset.

I particularly enjoy the challenge of helping get the client from A to B, by which I mean from the initial discussion right through to final completion of the deal and getting the funds into the client’s bank account.

Nothing sets me up more for a great weekend then a few completions under my belt!

LM: Do you have any hobbies or a hidden talent?

JN: My main hobby is golf, especially since I hung up my football boots a few years ago.

I’m not sure if it can be described as a talent, but I have an uncanny ability to get lost. On more than one occasion I’ve walked over 10 miles to get home when the actual route is no more than two miles.

So please be advised: do not put me in charge of remembering where we parked the car at the supermarket or airport! SatNavs have been my saviour...

To read the abridged article as appears on Bridging Loan Directory, click here