Growing demand to become self-employed is certainly nothing new in our space. What we have seen though is a notable shift in how advisers want to build that future and it’s increasingly moving from a one-man band model to a focus on leadership, scale and long-term business ownership.
Recruitment at Just Mortgages in 2025 only highlighted this growing trend. Over the 12 months, nearly 60% of the self-employed advisers joining the division have done so as part of a principal business. Simply put, our senior principal advisers are no longer seeking just independence, they are actively seeking to scale their own operations.
It’s a critical shift in mindset – the perception of self-employment has long been focused on autonomy and flexibility. While these components still remain absolutely essential, experienced advisers want that independence combined with scalability and vital infrastructure.
The principal model
Stepping away from the coalface to build and mentor a team makes this all possible. Principal advisers are able to replicate the strengths of larger firms – whether it’s a bigger headcount, shared expertise, increased administrative support or diversified revenue streams. After all, It’s not just additional mortgage brokers principal firms can recruit, but admin staff, marketing leads and advisers with more niche specialisms – not only driving productivity but client outcomes.
Often, the senior advisers making such moves have already operated within employed or more corporate structures and now want the opportunity to take these learnings to shape their own team, culture and client proposition. But while these advisers may know what they want to achieve, turning that ambition into action requires the right support.
Removing the barriers
Recruitment is easily one of the biggest obstacles. Finding the right people and knowing how to attract them is often outside their previous experience. Furthermore, successful advisers are often too busy doing the day job to invest the necessary time and resources into finding new talent to bolster their team.
Structured support around recruitment is absolutely vital and a key attribute for any adviser looking for a network or brokerage to launch their multi-adviser business with. It’s an area where we’ve continued to place increasing emphasis, hiring an additional recruitment specialist to help principals identify and attract the talent they need to grow. Importantly, it’s something we offer free of charge to our principal advisers, which is something not every brokerage or network can say.
It’s also important to help advisers think more holistically and take a strategic view around recruitment – when is the right time to hire, what roles should be prioritised and what business model best suits their objectives. That’s where pairing recruitment expertise with the knowledge and experience of a senior manager is hugely valuable.
It’s also important to note that many experienced advisers are comfortable operating as a lone wolf and do so at a very high level. That shift into leadership and building, leading and mentoring a team doesn’t come natural to everyone. This too can be a significant barrier to success and why it is hugely important that training is in place to help these principal advisers in building these crucial leadership skills.
Demand for diversification
Another key trend we are seeing is the deliberate expansion into protection. Over the last 12 months, we have more than tripled our number of protection-only advisers within our self-employed division. We have also seen growing partnerships with wealth advisers too.
It’s a clear signal that principal firms are looking to strengthen their propositions and their client relationships, all while maximising their potential revenue streams. It also speaks of an awareness of the regulatory landscape that we find ourselves in with Consumer Duty. Advisers increasingly recognise the need to dedicate time and resources to quality protection conversations, and are looking to expand their teams accordingly.
A strong pipeline of principals
The demand to enter the self-employed space has remained pretty robust. In 2025 alone, we received more than 100 applications to join our division – highlighting the strength of our proposition and the support structure we place around all our advisers. The direction of travel seems clear - rather than working in isolation, advisers are looking to build diverse, scalable businesses.
For networks and brokerages, the responsibility is to respond to this demand, providing the platform to make this possible. That means combining all-important freedoms with impactful infrastructure and support. This spreads far beyond day-to-day assistance to include tangible frameworks that enable senior advisers to become business leaders and build enterprises that deliver lasting value for clients, teams and their own futures.
