Learn how it works
The school teaches the business and shows you how to use the tools: understand financing options, screen a client, analyze a deal and prepare a loan request. Practice with sample files as you learn.
Extra income or a new career
Your commercial finance business in a box
Learn how to start and run a commercial finance brokerage, then put the lessons to work with the included software, worksheets and checklists. Build toward extra income alongside your current work or a new career helping business owners find financing. Add the website package if you need a broker website.
With focused work and the school tools, you could start your new business in as little as one week*.
Check your state's licensing requirements before working with clients. You must meet the licensing, registration and lender approval requirements that apply to your work. Those steps can take longer than one week.
Open your toolkit. Learn the business. Put it to work.
Set up your practice
Use the software, worksheets, checklists and fee-agreement draft to organize your work. Follow the setup plan, check your state requirements and build your lender shortlist. Use your own website or choose the website package.
Build your income stream
Write a one-page business plan and a 30-day plan for your first clients, build referral relationships and agree on fees for your services. When you meet the applicable requirements, put your training and tools to work on real financing requests.
You build and run the business, including your lender relationships and client pipeline. Income depends on your work and results; earnings are not guaranteed. A website is included only with the school plus website option.
A practical plan for your first week
Use this optional seven-day setup plan alongside the lessons. Each day has a concrete result to work toward. Start with the state requirements; if an approval is pending, continue learning and practicing with sample files before taking clients.
See your seven-day setup plan
- Day 1
Choose your focus and check the rules
Pick the clients and financing types you want to serve. Record the applicable state requirements, regulator contacts and any approvals you still need.
See Module 1 - Day 2
Plan the business and your agreements
List your entity, banking, insurance and operating costs. Draft your service scope and fee agreement, and arrange any required professional review.
See Module 1 - Day 3
Set up your tools and intake
Configure the school tools and a client intake process. Use your existing website or the website option if you choose one, and test an inquiry from start to finish.
See Module 13 - Day 4
Build your first lender shortlist
Research three lenders that fit your focus. Record their criteria and broker requirements in your Lender Matrix, and prepare your introduction.
See Module 11 - Day 5
Practice a first client conversation
Screen a sample business with Loan Finder and the Calculators. Explain which financing might fit, which numbers matter and what documents are missing.
See Module 2 - Day 6
Prepare a sample loan request
Use Package Builder to organize a practice file, document checklist and Loan Request Summary. Check the figures and the lender fit before any real submission.
See Module 11 - Day 7
Review readiness and plan your outreach
Check your approvals, agreements, lender requirements and intake process. If you are authorized and ready, begin referral conversations; otherwise use the remaining steps as your launch checklist.
See Module 15
This is a business setup plan. Keep working through the full course and its three capstone packages to develop your skills. Finding clients, closing loans and earning revenue follow their own timelines.
For extra income, a new business or a new career
- People looking for extra income alongside their current work, or a new career building a commercial finance business. Start with the fundamentals and learn how to use the tools, even if you are new to lending.
- Licensed real estate agents and brokers who want a second income line from the business owners and investors they already talk to.
- People starting a commercial finance brokerage who want a practical path from learning the business to setting up their practice. No prior commercial lending experience is required.
- Mortgage loan officers who know lending and want to move into commercial and SBA financing.
- Bankers, business development officers and branch managers who want to work independently.
- Business brokers who lose deals because the buyer could not get financed.
- CPAs, bookkeepers, insurance agents and financial advisors who want to guide business-owner clients to the right financing.
What you will be able to do when you finish
- Plan your business setup: the entity, the state requirements to verify, the fee agreement, the tools and your website or intake process.
- Sign up with lenders as an approved broker or referral partner, including SBA lenders and the lenders behind state programs, and know what each one wants.
- Run an initial ten-minute screen to identify possible financing fits, questions to ask and missing documents.
- Explain SBA 7(a), SBA 504, conventional, equipment, lines of credit, refinancing, state programs and bridge financing to a client in plain language.
- Run a commercial building's own numbers, income, value, debt coverage and cash on cash, and tell a client when a building does not pay.
- Prepare a loan package for lender review: the financials, the checklist, the sources and uses and the Loan Request Summary, then select suitable lenders for submission.
- Read every document in the file the way the underwriter does, tax returns, personal statements, credit reports, rent rolls and operating statements, and underwrite a conventional, an SBA and a construction request.
- Get paid: fee agreements, fee ranges, and how fees are disclosed on SBA loans.
- Write a one-page business plan and a 30-day plan for your first ten clients, then find clients through referral partners, lenders, your website and steady marketing, within the advertising rules.