About Emerald Edge
INTRODUCTION
Since 1996, Phil Rice, ACL holder and founder of Better Business Coach and Emerald Edge, has witnessed the mortgage broker industry's evolution. Enhanced compliance, Best Interests Duty (BID), and professional standards have strengthened the industry, fostering trust and competence. However, these advancements have come at a cost, significantly increasing brokers' administrative burdens. Over the past decade, paperwork has surged tenfold, with brokers managing complex aggregator and bank software, entering client data, and overseeing the entire loan process—effectively acting as bank representatives. Beyond compliance, brokers face mounting expenses, including marketing, personal assistants, clawbacks, and operational costs, straining their time, work-life balance, and income predictability.
Recognizing these challenges, Phil and his team sought innovative solutions to empower brokers. Recent advancements in AI and automation inspired the creation of Emerald Edge, a game-changing platform designed to alleviate administrative burdens and allow brokers to focus on client acquisition and business growth. However, Phil identified a deeper issue: while compliance and mentoring provide foundational support, brokers lack dedicated business coaching and development mechanisms to build thriving, sustainable businesses. Better Business Coach fills this gap by offering expert guidance to help brokers develop successful businesses. Paired with Emerald Edge, a comprehensive business management platform tailored for brokers, it automates time-consuming tasks, streamlines operations, and creates a true saleable asset.
Developed with an experienced SaaS team, Emerald Edge not only saves brokers valuable time but also offers revenue-generating add-ons and consolidates multiple subscriptions, making it a cashflow-positive solution. This dynamic combination empowers brokers to reclaim their time, enhance their work-life balance, and build prosperous, scalable businesses with confidence and efficiency.
Emerald Edge is crafted exclusively with brokers in mind, empowering them to achieve true independence and build thriving businesses. Designed as a front-of-house platform, it complements aggregator systems for seamless data transfer while remaining entirely independent, distinct from aggregator platforms, which are primarily focused on back-of-house loan processing. This autonomy allows brokers to move between aggregators effortlessly, with no business downtime or stress from learning new systems under pressure—your business stays fully operational during transitions, with your CRM and other critical mechanisms in-tact and secure. Emerald Edge is the ultimate broker business management and operations platform, offering unmatched flexibility and functionality. No other platform comes close to delivering the tools and freedom brokers need to succeed on their terms.
Meet the team
Meet PHIL RICE.
Phil is an ACL Holder,an Industry veteran of over 29 years, owned a variety of businesses including 2 current brokerages, Broker Mentor, CEO of the Business Advice Agency and Better Business Coach, a Certified Professional Business Advisor (CPBA) and visionary behind Emerald Edge. It's Phil's unwavering VISION to provide an effective platform to help brokers drive and scale a more profitable business through education and access to leading Ai driven tools!
"I've been searching for a platform like Emerald Edge for years and no one was getting it right! - I know brokers and i know what they need" Phil said. - "Emerald Edge is a revolutionary step forward for brokers, helping them succeed and scale with ease, cutting out many of the tedious pain points".
Phil is surrounded by business experts, from different fields, within the BAA group. These experts bring different perspectives and experience to the overall BAA & BBC experience. Below, are some of the key experts/executives who contribute to brokers success within the Emerald Edge community.
JOE CICALA
BBC Divisional General Manager, Seasoned & Certified Professional Business Coach/Advisor
NOEL CURRIE
BAA Group General manager, Seasoned Executive Business Owner & Certified Professional Busines Advisor/Coach
SUSAN SHEEHAN
Executive Business Coach to the Stars! Mindset & Motivation Guru.
TONY MANTO
Nationally recognised, Sales Trainer & business growth expert.
KRIS ZELKAS
Award winning marketing expert and marketing coach.
Broker's increased responsibilities addressed through Emerald Edge
Over the past decade, the mortgage broker industry has faced increasing challenges due to heightened compliance requirements and the administrative burden placed on brokers by banks and lenders. While brokers enter the profession seeking a professional, autonomous career that involves helping clients achieve their goals while earning a competitive income, they are now tasked with extensive responsibilities, including entering client information into bank portals and managing documentation through to settlement. In contrast, some banks offer accountants or referrers a commission, such as 0.5%, for minimal involvement, such as providing a name and contact number, without requiring further work or exposure to clawback provisions. Emerald Edge is addressing this imbalance by reducing the amout of work tasked to brokers.
Emerald Edge has been specifically designed to tackle these challenges by streamlining processes and alleviating the administrative workload for brokers. This innovative solution empowers brokers to reclaim their time, allowing them to focus on delivering exceptional client service and growing their business.
"Effectively, Emerald Edge performs the tasks of an online personal assistant (literally saving brokers money from employing an assistant). Ai assisted and automated services collect, collate and prepare client documents for the broker's perusal and action, just like a personal assistant!"
These integrated processes represent just ONE of the high-level benefits of the Emerald Edge platform
EMERALD EDGE IS A PART OF SOMETHING BIGGER
Better Business Coach (BBC) advisors and coaches are certified by the "INSTITUTE of ADVISORS" as Professional Business Advisors. Very few organizations in Australia have this level of mandated experience within their organization. BBC have insisted on providing the absolute best in business coaching services, which really sets BBC apart in the business coaching industry.
The Better Business Coach team brings extensive expertise from both within and beyond the finance sector, equipping us with a deep understanding of brokers' unique needs. Leveraging our strategic connections, Better Business Coach has crafted an exceptional solution—the Emerald Edge—to empower the broker community. Our innovative platform and unparalleled support enables brokers to thrive in their businesses, maximize profitability, and reclaim the rewarding lifestyle the industry offers. With dedicated business advisors and coaches, we provide the tools and guidance to drive transformative success.
The Business Advice Agency (BAA) is the backbone of the entire group, established in 2019 to bring honesty and real, certified Business Coaching to the Australian business community. BAA opened it's doors after three years of extensive research and development (R&D) to provide a refined business advisory and coaching mechanism, unmatched by any other organization. Offering over 200,000 online courses, access to business experts from different fields, an invaluable phone hotline, online Q&A and networking platform (Wiilson) and much more. The different Divisions within the BAA group provide a holistic "one-stop-shop" for business owners, to help them in their entrepreneurial career.
COSTS SAVINGS
We know all the costs associated with running a broker business.
Mandatory yearly subs to industry bodies and AFCA, monthly aggregator fees, commission splits with Aggregators/ACL Holders and referral partners, Clawbacks, Additional tools like Quickli, Sherlock, BankStatements.com, Equifax, a personal assistant or loan writer, marketing expenses, office expenses, car and phone expenses, ASIC fees, PI Insurance, meetings at cafe's.... the list just keeps going on!
If you were to sit down and write down everything you spend on your broker business a month (and year), you will be very suprised about what you actually spend on your business.
We get it!
Emerald Edge consolidates and replaces multiple subscriptions, (like docusign, redaction tools etc.) delivering significant savings. For instance, while some brokers pay $14.00 per Equifax credit check, Emerald Edge reduces this to just $8.00. Beyond cost efficiencies, our platform unlocks new revenue streams through exclusive partnerships, such as with a leading national conveyancing firm. Through our seamless "Tick & Flick" automated process, brokers earn approximately $100 per settlement with zero additional effort or client interaction. Emerald Edge automatically offers clients quotes for services like conveyancing, forwards leads to trusted referrers, and ensures brokers are paid effortlessly upon settlement. With its innovative automation and potential to be positively geared, Emerald Edge empowers brokers to streamline operations, boost profitability, and focus on what matters most—growing their business. Try your 14 day free trail TODAY!
