Pak Chat is where ambition and real conversation collide. Hosted by Blake Thorn, Pak Chat shares real lessons, mindset shifts, and strategies from Australia’s leading minds in property, business, sport, and beyond. From building wealth to navigating growth, it’s real people, real lessons, and making the complex simple. The conversation starts now!
Pak Chat
Claim This Podcastby Blake Thorn
16 episodes
Updated Daily
Accepts GuestsHas SponsorsLocation 🇦🇺
Podcast Overview
Pak Chat is where ambition and real conversation collide. Hosted by Blake Thorn, Pak Chat shares real lessons, mindset shifts, and strategies from Australia’s leading minds in property, business, sport, and beyond. From building wealth to navigating growth, it’s real people, real lessons, and making the complex simple. The conversation starts now!
Language
🇺🇲
Publishing Since
4/28/2025
2 verified contact emails on file for Pak Chat
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Recent Episodes
June 1, 2026
#17 - Clay Brodie: 15 Years, Top 1%, and the Next Chapter at WHITEFOX
<p>Clay Brodie spent 15 years becoming one of the most recognised real estate agents in New South Wales , straight years in Ray White's Chairman's Elite, the top 1% of Australia's biggest network, and director of an office that placed top 10 in the country.</p><p><br></p><p>Now he's putting all of it behind his boldest move yet: building a new office at WHITEFOX Sydney.</p><p><br></p><p>At 35, Clay is starting the next chapter from a position of real strength, 15 years of hard-won experience, a personal brand that's outlasted every business card he's printed, and the clarity that comes from doing the work on himself, not just his business.</p><p><br></p><p>In this conversation, Blake and Clay go deep on what it actually takes to build a long, durable career in sales, not the scripts or the tactics, but the foundation underneath them. They get into why consistency is the only real strategy, why a personal brand compounds for decades, and what it looks like to back yourself completely on something new.</p><p><br></p><p><strong>What you'll learn:</strong></p><ul><li>Why your personal brand will always outlast the agency on your business card and how Clay built his before it was obvious</li><li>What 15 years of consistency actually compounds into, and why almost no one stays long enough to find out</li><li>The Brodie corner: how he built brand awareness before anyone else had a strategy</li><li>How investing in your health and mindset becomes the foundation for your best work</li><li>Why the biggest opportunities tend to find you when you're building from a clear, grounded place</li><li>What's structurally different about WHITEFOX, and why its model changes how agents grow and earn</li><li>What Clay is building in Paddington over the next 12 to 24 months</li><li>Advice for anyone starting out, or backing themselves on something new</li></ul><p><strong>Chapters:</strong></p><p>00:00:00 Introduction and Clay's connection to the Thorns</p><p>00:01:39 From rugby to real estate by accident</p><p>00:03:42 First years: grinding the phones and building a network</p><p>00:08:54 The Brodie corner at East Rugby</p><p>00:11:59 Consistency as the foundation of a 15-year career</p><p>00:13:42 Building a personal brand before it was obvious</p><p>00:16:18 From agent to director: what changes when you lead people</p><p>00:20:12 Pressure, mistakes, and learning from both</p><p>00:22:59 Mentoring others: what he shares from his own journey</p><p>00:24:10 The six-month reset: health, mindset, and a fresh start</p><p>00:27:16 How Clay sells now vs. how he sold at 20</p><p>00:30:24 Authenticity in sales: connecting before pitching</p><p>00:32:30 Recognising when the lifestyle stops serving you</p><p>00:34:19 The move to WHITEFOX after 15 years</p><p>00:37:43 Ray White vs. WHITEFOX: what's actually different</p><p>00:40:31 The collaborative structure that changes how teams earn</p><p>00:43:16 Building in Paddington and the next 12–24 months</p><p>00:48:22 Passion, legacy, and what he wants his daughters to see</p><p>00:50:32 Advice for anyone starting out or backing themselves on something new</p><p>00:54:05 How to reach Clay and what's next</p><p><br></p><p><strong>About Clay Brodie</strong></p><p>Clay Brodie is Associate Director at WHITEFOX Sydney. A former professional rugby union player who entered real estate in 2009, Clay built a 15-year career at Ray White - top 1% of the network, running an office that consistently placed top 10 nationwide. Find Clay on Instagram @thebrodiegroup and at whitefoxrealestate.com.au.</p>
May 25, 2026
#16 - Adrian Bo: $4 Billion in Property, 6,000 Auctions, and the One Trait That Predicts Sales Success
<p>37 years. $4 billion in property sold. 6,000 auctions called. 27 consecutive years of 100+ transactions. Adrian Bo is one of the most credentialled sales operators in Australia and the coach behind the top agents at McGrath, Ray White, and beyond.</p><p>He sits down with Blake Thorn on Pak Chat for one of the most direct conversations on selling, process and team-building you'll hear this year.</p><p>What you'll learn:</p><ul><li>The accidental pivot from stockbroking to property — and what 35 years of reading rooms actually teaches you</li><li>How the internet rewired real estate in real time, and Adrian's honest read on what AI does to the industry next</li><li>The single trait every top performer Adrian has coached shares — it isn't product knowledge, and most agents have it backwards</li><li>Why affability and rapport out-earn technical expertise in almost every client conversation</li><li>The surgeon analogy he uses to teach team leaders what to keep, what to delegate, and what to stop doing today</li><li>Process as a competitive advantage — the pilot's checklist mindset behind every listing he wins</li><li>Why most client relationships are dead before the first proper meeting — and the structured "expectation meeting" that fixes it</li><li>Practical advice for self-employed operators in their 20s and 30s on health, process and closing</li></ul>
May 3, 2026
#18 - Baber Zaka, GM Third Party Banking: What CBA Really Thinks About Brokers
<p>Mortgage broker market share is pushing 80 per cent in Australia. But the Commonwealth Bank executive who runs the broker channel rarely sits down and says, on the record, what the bank is actually thinking. CBA's Baber Zaka just did.</p><p>As General Manager of Third Party Banking at Commonwealth Bank, Baber holds one of the most influential roles in the entire Australian mortgage industry, he controls how CBA, the country's largest lender, works with its broker network. And in this conversation, he's candid in a way bank executives almost never are.</p><p>Blake and Baber go deep on where broking is actually headed: the consolidation coming for a 22,000-broker industry, the value-proposition shift most brokers haven't prepared for, the truth about broker vs. branch channel conflict, and what CBA is building behind the scenes for 2026 and beyond.</p><p>If you're a broker, this is a rare chance to hear what the other side of the desk is planning. If you're not, it's a masterclass in reading an industry before it changes.</p><p><strong>What you'll learn:</strong></p><ul><li>Why the traditional broker value proposition is about to shift and what replaces it when the back end of a loan becomes a five-minute process</li><li>CBA's real position on broker vs. branch channel conflict, straight from the source</li><li>The 22,000-broker stat (and the 22 per cent who are inactive): why consolidation is coming, and what it means for you</li><li>What CBA's platinum tier actually looks like from the inside</li><li>Why process consistency - not rate - is what CBA believes wins</li><li>How a philosophy student became a Morgan Stanley banker, then GM at Australia's biggest bank</li><li>Career advice: why you should apply for the things you don't feel qualified for</li></ul><p><strong>Chapters:</strong>00:00:00 Introduction and Baber's background00:00:52 From philosophy degree to investment banking00:02:06 The Virgin Money deal: one analyst, 6,000-person acquisition00:07:17 Leadership lessons from the hard years00:13:27 Why CBA's process consistency wins00:26:25 Channel conflict: broker vs. branch, the real picture00:34:17 Broker consolidation: 22,000 brokers, 22 per cent inactive00:35:07 The future value proposition of a broker00:48:49 CBA's strategy for 2026 and beyond00:53:20 Career advice: find what you actually enjoy</p><p>Subscribe for new episodes every week: [Pak Chat YouTube link]Listen on the go: Spotify [link], Apple Podcasts [link]Watch next: [related Pak Chat episode]</p><p><strong>About Baber Zaka</strong>Baber Zaka is General Manager of Third Party Banking at Commonwealth Bank, where he leads the broker channel for Australia's largest lender. A graduate of the London School of Economics (Economics and Philosophy), he spent two decades in finance across Morgan Stanley, Royal Bank of Canada and Virgin Money before joining CBA, where he held senior roles including Chief Operating Officer of third-party banking. Connect with Baber on LinkedIn: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/baber-zaka-b059339/" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.linkedin.com/in/baber-zaka-b059339/</a></p><p><strong>About Pak Chat</strong>Pak Chat is hosted by Blake Thorn, Director of Auspak Home Loans - long-form conversations with the founders, agents and operators who've built something. New episodes weekly.</p><p>If you work in or around the mortgage industry, follow Pak Chat and send this one to a broker who needs to hear it.</p>
16 total episodes available
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This podcast updates daily.
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This podcast is available on 4 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.
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