A work ethic that never, ever stops
NATASHA BALDWIN can get teary-eyed whenever friends and family compare her with her Dad.
The BNZ acquisitions manager was just 15 when her father Kerry died and when she spoke at his funeral she said she wanted to be just like him when she’s older.
‘‘It’s just crazy the amount of people who now say ‘you’re so much like your Dad’ – I used to think they meant I looked like him but they say it’s my work ethic and how driven I am.’’
The 31-year-old holds down a fulltime job at BNZ, with clients across six stores in the Hutt Valley, works part-time in the locksmith business she and her husband bought in 2015, manages rental properties she owns, and is raising three children, aged 11, six and two.
‘‘Being able to shuffle different roles is something I’ve always been able to do well. I’m used to having a lot on my plate,’’ she laughs.
As her job title suggests, Baldwin helps new and existing small business customers with their financial matters, anything from buying a work vehicle, home or property through to ways to improve their cashflow.
She speaks of one scenario where two of her young clients have turned the existing business they bought into a big success.
‘‘They were in their 20s, they had young families, they purchased an existing business off someone who was very old school and ran the business old school.
‘‘They went through a pretty tough time, it was all a bit of a mess, but they’ve rebranded and now they’re just pumping.
‘‘They are under our BNZ Partners now, I see more of their vans on the road every day, they’re constantly growing.’’
Having been in the banking scene for 13 years, Baldwin has travelled on many a journey with her clients and it’s that face-to-face contact she enjoys most.
Initially she worked in a Work and Income call centre for sixth months before she successfully applied for a ‘‘meet and greet’’ role at the BNZ in Manners St.
There she bore the brunt of many a grumpy customer’s frustrations.
‘‘It happens in all people-focused industries, if someone’s not happy you just have to suck it up and deal with it.
‘‘It’s more just listening to find out what the problem is and then choosing the right direction to take to get whatever the issue is sorted.’’
Two weeks into that part-time ‘‘meet and greet’’ job Baldwin had pestered her bosses so much they took her on fulltime as part of the customer service inquiries team.
‘‘They could see how eager I was – I was in their office at the end of every day asking them to make me fulltime, to give me more duties and to put me on the front desk, and that persistence paid off!’’
It’s been onwards and upwards since then, Baldwin moving on to customer services representative at the Lambton Quay branch before becoming pregnant with her oldest son Jaxon.
‘‘It was pretty scary at 19, but it was all exciting, I went back into the same role after a year off though while I was off I was thinking I wanted to do something different within the bank.’’
Within a month of returning she took up a personal banking adviser’s role closer to home in Lower Hutt.
‘‘I would relationship manage, help customers set up accounts, deal with anything to do with bank fees, I definitely loved that role though it was pretty hard to begin with.’’
At just 21, Baldwin faced the challenge of customers thinking she didn’t know what she was talking about.
‘‘As a banking adviser you are put through a 26-week course. A lot of training goes into it, and I did have life experience and I’d let my customers know that.
‘‘I would tell them I lost my father at 15, I had my first child at 20, I bought my first home at 21, that I’d been through these things that they’ve done too.
‘‘Once I’d let them into my life a bit, they would warm up to me and realise I do know what I’m doing or I wouldn’t be in the role.’’
During her six years as a banking adviser she took another year off to have her second son Kallan, returning to the same role and again keen to pursue her career.
Within six months she had successfully applied for her current role.
‘‘I had always enjoyed the lending side of things, but as a banking adviser you only really deal with personal customers not actual business owners.
‘‘That’s what drew me to this role, I wanted to expand my horizons, to learn how to lend for business facilities.’’
As one of two acquisition managers in the region, Baldwin covers six stores which means she’s often out and about dealing with not only clients but other banking advisers, building those relationships too.
‘‘Yes it is a lot of work but I’ve always been super organised and a very driven person, so the extra responsibility works fine.’’
As if her workload wasn’t big enough already, while off on maternity leave with her third child Indy, Baldwin and husband Kane bought their locksmith business, called Greenridge Locksmiths and Security.
‘‘Being a business manager for a living has just helped with every direction I’ve gone in life, working at the bank has been great.’’
Her personal experiences are also beneficial for her clients.
‘‘I can drop it into conversation that my husband and I own a business, that I understand the pressures of paying suppliers on the 20th of every month and not having customers pay you, you can see them breathe a sigh of relief.’’
What she loves most about her job is making people’s dreams become reality.
‘‘For instance, you have people who dream of their first home or to buy a business, sometimes it is out of reach and it might not be a perfect time right now, but being able to put plans in place to help them achieve their goal in say six months’ time is rewarding.’’
She speaks of a couple who, in the hot property market, kept missing out on homes they put offers on.
‘‘I helped them to reduce the number of conditions and make their offers look more attractive, and when you get an email saying ‘you’re not going to believe it but our offer has been accepted’ it gives you the warm fuzzies knowing you’ve worked that little bit harder to help them realise their dream.’’
But Baldwin didn’t think of going into banking till she left school.
‘‘Growing up I wanted to be a lawyer, but as soon as my Dad died that changed – I knew I’d have to study for a long time which meant I wasn’t going to be earning money and big student loans.’’
At 15, she got herself two parttime jobs, one at the former Old Flame restaurant in Petone and the other at a call centre.
‘‘My sisters were older and didn’t live at home, I didn’t want my Mum to think she had to give me money for this or for that, I didn’t want her to worry.
‘‘I wanted to be self-sufficient – I’m a worker and that’s how I’ve always been.’’
In her youth she remembers setting up little businesses mowing lawns of her Dad’s rental properties, running car washes and keeping a book that would show her expenses and profits.
‘‘Dad was a business owner, he had his own spraypainting business, then he was a real estate agent, he made aluminium fences, he was always self-employed , he always worked hard.
‘‘I have that same trait, I want to earn money, I’m willing to work hard to earn money and I want to prove myself, to myself.
‘‘Yes I’m female, yes I’m young, I was a young Mum and it’s a cool feeling knowing I’m doing well for myself and my family, Dad would be proud of me.’’
Baldwin says she is driven by that life-changing moment.
‘‘When Dad died, he was only 43, no-one expected it but he had sorted everything so we would be okay if anything was to happen to him.
‘‘Now everything I do is for my kids, I want to make sure everything is sorted so my kids are looked after just like my Dad did with us.’’