[KTK]

That's good advise. It's simple, not everybody can go at it as an independent. It takes balls, self discipline, skill, and self motivation. All that completely aside you need to have the funds to back yourself or a money partner to keep the well full.

Just as much as this industry allows an extremely low, almost not existent barrier to entry. It is also as competitive as any industry in existence. Without the proper marketing/lead gen budget your self motivation and skill set can only take you so far.

I'd love to see the numbers, if it were public, on how many independent ISO's exit this industry per month vs how many enter. I wouldn't be overly shocked to learn the exit side is greater than those entering.

[jotucker1983]

I would still be interested to know, what is the company providing you to work "for them" that you can't duplicate on your own independently?

In terms of the requirements of the position, both are the same, you have to go turn the data provided into leads, those leads into applications, and those applications into funded deals.

- Is the company going to provide exclusive data that will make it so that you can produce more leads in quantity, more leads in quality, or both?

- Is the company going to provide an overall "larger" compensation structure due to some special negotiated commission structure that they have with said Lenders that you can't get independently?

- Does the company have some sort of special technology that makes performing the job more efficient?

- Does the company have some sort of access to special pricing, special products, special lenders, etc., that you can't duplicate access to independently?

Bottom line, what is the competitive advantage that the company that you would "work for" providing, that you can't duplicate independently?

If the answer is that there's no competitive advantage, then what is the point of working for someone else to do the same position that you can do for yourself and make more money?

In terms of motivation, paying the bills and keeping food on the table should be all the motivation one needs to stay on schedule independently, just as you would do on W-2 working for someone else.

[HonestPerson]

I would still be interested to know, what is the company providing you to work "for them" that you can't duplicate on your own independently?

In terms of the requirements of the position, both are the same, you have to go turn the data provided into leads, those leads into applications, and those applications into funded deals.

- Is the company going to provide exclusive data that will make it so that you can produce more leads in quantity, more leads in quality, or both?

- Is the company going to provide an overall "larger" compensation structure due to some special negotiated commission structure that they have with said Lenders that you can't get independently?

- Does the company have some sort of special technology that makes performing the job more efficient?

- Does the company have some sort of access to special pricing, special products, special lenders, etc., that you can't duplicate access to independently?

Bottom line, what is the competitive advantage that the company that you would "work for" providing, that you can't duplicate independently?

If the answer is that there's no competitive advantage, then what is the point of working for someone else to do the same position that you can do for yourself and make more money?

In terms of motivation, paying the bills and keeping food on the table should be all the motivation one needs to stay on schedule independently, just as you would do on W-2 working for someone else.

To answer your question, much of the process can be duplicated since all leads are outbound dialer based. The competitive advantage the company offers would be ability to send out deals and also provide in-house offers. ( keep in mind 80% of the deals are funded in-house ). There is definite advantage in having control of the deal and having the option of same-day funding internally even if the rates are high. Also, I keep the commission regardless of performance of merchant after funding, and keep same commission for all renewals.