My name in Vinay Gehi and this is my story.
I am married to my wife, Nerida, we’ve been together for 12 years and have a beautiful son, Cedric, who is 2.5 years old. I have been broking for 1.5 years and prior to that worked in the hospitality industry for 18 years…18 long years. I had some amazing experiences, I got to eat the best food, drank incredible wines and met a lot of great people. They were formative years that helped me develop an important skill – the ability to talk to anyone.
I didn’t choose hospitality, it chose me. At 21 I was living in Mumbai with my family when I was offered the opportunity to go to Paris to work in my aunt’s restaurant. I didn’t speak French very well and had no friends there but I was on the top of the world because, well, it was Paris. I had no restaurant experience so had to learn quickly. I was to be in charge of the bar, preparing drinks and bills, which were all hand written at that time. I also started taking some French lesson to learn the language.
My days were busy, I started at 10 am, finished the lunch service at 3.30pm, closed the restaurant for the afternoon and begin to prepare for dinner service at 6.00pm. My days didn’t finish until midnight or 1 am when the restaurant closed. I worked 6 days a week – it was hard but I loved it.
I put a lot of effort into learning French, attending lessons during my afternoon break twice a week for 3 months. I also used to go to local parks and speak to older Parisians to practise my French as they tended to speak slowly and were always willing to help because I was making the effort. I also never missed an opportunity to speak to clients in the restaurant once I had a bit more confidence in my French.
I used to get a small salary which didn’t bother me because the sense of freedom meant more than money and after all, I was working for my family and I trusted them. I worked for them for 6 years, 6 days a week and never ever complained about a thing. Life was great as I had so many friends who were a mix of French, Irish, English, Australian and German. A really good friend of mine owned an Irish pub near the Moulin Rouge and I used to DJ there for free every Friday and Saturday night from 1 am till 5.30 am. I never paid for any drinks and I never wanted him to pay me any money as he was my mate and he had just started his business and I wanted to support him. Once he was established he started giving me 100 euros, plus free drinks, which was obviously brilliant.
After 6 years working with my aunt, I wanted to try something different, so I moved on. She wasn’t happy with my decision and told me I would fail if I worked for someone else. When I told this to one of my friends he told me the reason she didn’t want me to go was because she wouldn’t be able to find someone who would work for peanuts and do the number of hours I did. It made sense, if I wasn’t good enough why would someone offer me a job running their bar?
After that, I worked in a few different hospitality roles which helped me grow in confidence and develop my people skills. I met my Australian wife in Paris in 2005. We moved to London in 2007 where I worked as a contract catering manager in football and cricket stadiums. I managed the Shed end at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea’s home ground, managed food units at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium, and worked at Fulham Football Club, Twickenham and Wembley Stadium.
Being a huge cricket fan, the highlight was working at Lords, where I managed the Warner Restaurant and the 100/100 bar at the Oval. Being able to talk cricket all day with the fans, players and commentators was a dream come true. My wife and I decided that we wanted to start a family in Australia so we made the move to Melbourne in December 2012.
I had dreams of opening my own restaurant and did lots of work preparing business plans, registering business names and planning menus. But while I was managing the Meat and Wine Co in Camberwell, I met a mortgage broker who told me what he did and that I should consider it as it would be good fit for my skills, he meant my ability to talk. I laughed and thanked him.
Later that evening when I came home I did some research on the net and was fascinated by what I found. I started to speak to other brokers and BDMs about a career in broking, it did sound like a great fit for me. I realised I wanted a break from hospitality, to try something new. My family were very supportive of my career change so I took the plunge.
The rest is history, I’ve been a mortgage broker for 1.5 years, and love every minute of it and have achieved the targets I had set for myself. For me success is measured on how you are as a person, what do you do everyday to improve yourself and what can you give back to society.