Oz:
Everyone we have Jacque here with me today. She’s one of our successful students within the program and she has an amazing story, and I wanted to bring her on to ask her some questions so you guys can get your questions answered not only by me, but by someone else who joined the program and also I want you guys to hear from someone else besides me and see what it is possible with being in this industry, Merchant Cash Advance and Alternative Lending. So Jacque thanks for joining, I appreciate your time. I know you’ve been running around but you made time for yourself and you’re actually joining from a hotel room so I appreciate it.
Jacque:
Happy to be here.
Oz:
So Jacque many people who join the program or who have talked to me about joining, they all come from different backgrounds but there are some commonalities either they thought about becoming an entrepreneur, or they’ve tried it before or maybe they had a job for a long time but always at their eye and just doing their thing and being independent. So you kind of fit that story too so can you tell us how you got in to make a decision to get into this business, or get in any business pretty much leaving what you were doing before?
Jacque:
Sure. I have worked in the medical field for years did hospice care and just prior to joining your club I was in Florida and I have an adjusters license, I was down there to do some adjusting for some storms and I decided to do something different. So came back to Dallas and I did some research. I knew I wanted to do something I just wasn’t sure what it was.
Oz:
Yeah, and I know it’s a big deal to get your license as an adjuster. What is it that you didn’t like about that, so you wanted to get into an industry like this?
Jacque:
Well, when there’s a catastrophe for instance the hurricanes that hit last year Harvey and Dennis Florida, you have to crawl under people’s homes, you have to get up on the roof and it’s a very difficult time for them. It’s high stress and it just was very intense.
Oz:
Got you.
Jacque:
I needed to-
Oz:
So how did you find out about the industry before you decided to join? Did you know about this? Or did someone want to recommend that you get into this industry?
Jacque:
I didn’t know anything about it and I’m still learning but I answered an Ad actually.
Oz:
Okay.
Jacque:
That was in Craigslist of all things, I was just looking around trying to decide what I wanted to do and I answered an Ad.
Oz:
That’s how you found out about this industry altogether? So prior to that you didn’t have any exposure?
Jacque:
None, zero.
Oz:
Well, what is it that you liked about them that you decided to be a part of it prior to joining my program?
Jacque:
Well, I know that their businesses always need money, I had no idea that they had such a difficult time borrowing money from banks, and given that scenario all the businesses that we have in the US they need money, and I knew that I could find them but I just wasn’t sure how.
Oz:
Yeah, I mean the product is super hot, right? It will never go out of fashion of businesses, especially small businesses they need money to grow, prosper, survive, grow out of their current striation by multiple businesses so that the product itself is super attractive. It’s just a matter of offering, getting in front of them and being the right consultant for them. So then you somehow came across our program maybe through one of our Ads, do you remember how that happened?
Jacque:
I sure do. I was looking for different ways of trying to find businesses that needed money, and I was looking online asking questions if I needed money how would I do it? And I love YouTube, I go on YouTube all the time. So I checked there and I saw you, and I saw your website and I read everything and I watched all the videos at least a few times and I watched some other videos. I was actually in training with the company that I was going to work for or with should I say, and I did go through their training it just wasn’t enough. They gave you the highlights and just some ideas how to market and how to find customers, it just wasn’t enough for me I needed more.
Oz:
Okay.
Jacque:
I needed a little bit more structured.
Oz:
You came through the training then you decided to join, then how was that different from the training that you were getting from this other company, versus what you found out after you joined our training?
Jacque:
How much is it different or what are the differences?
Oz:
Well, what are the main differences that you’ve noticed?
Jacque:
This is much more in depth, we can have our questions answered which is… I didn’t expect that at all. It tells us so many different ways to market, so many things if you want to get online or if you want to do this or if you want to do that, there’s just so many options and one of those things will fit everybody, but for me at least three of them are going to be good for me.
Oz:
Okay, and so what kind of transformations that you had since you joined? So you learn about product, you join our training system, you’re going through it. So I know that you found it ideal, so let’s talk about what happens and your commission’s and how did it all work out?
Jacque:
Well, I found a client, a merchant who needed money right away and I submitted his application through the company I was working with and it was declined and I thought that that was just it. I didn’t know what else to do for him, I thought well if they’re not going to do it I don’t know what else to do. Maybe we’ll wait three months and see if your credit gets better or whatever, and we’ll try to find somebody else or… not find somebody else but maybe resubmit it. When I got into your program it was a whole world opened up, oh, I could do this and I could do that. It was a thrill because I didn’t know that all those options were available. I didn’t have to stop there with being declined.
Oz:
Yeah. Well, people who might not be familiar… so the backstory is normally when you… so when it comes to getting your training at being an ISO or being an Alternative Lending Specialist, there are really few options and most of them come from the lenders themselves. So whether they’re the direct lender or they’re the large ISO’s, they do provide training to people but what happens is when you get your training from them they asked you to exclusively work with them, which is okay. But the problem is that when you send deals to the lenders if they do not approve it, then the students have the wrong idea that that’s just the end of it all. That deal is done, shot dead and you can’t really do much.
Oz:
Well, since we’re dealing and working in the alternative lending space, this is not like traditional banking. So if you go through national banks their approval process is very similar to each other because they’re highly regulated. So no one can go out of their way to approve a deal if other bank shot it dead, and it was total no, no.
Oz:
In our industry in alternative lending that’s sometimes the total opposite, you can submit a deal to three lenders and they can get a flat no, you can send it to fourth one then it will be worth and it will be funded. So that’s the problem that Jacque was having that she was… she generated a bunch of leads and tried to close that, and she got a no from the underwriter and she thought well this is it then. This are not fundable then we talked about option [inaudible 00:07:46] not really. The reason we teach then you’d have to have a portfolio of lenders for specific scenarios is that you submit it to one of them and that’s exactly what you did, and so I’ll let you explain what happened after that and the large merchant that you funded.
Jacque:
Well, I took the information in the blueprint and I found another lender and I submitted the paper there, and he was given… my merchant was given a pre-approval and we had to gather some other documents and things but he was funded, and it really came at a great time because this merchant his oven stopped working that day, and so did his air conditioning and this was a restaurant you can’t run a place of business like that without air conditioning, especially in Texas and it’s 120 degrees outside.
Oz:
Yeah.
Jacque:
Yeah, so it was really very timely too.
Oz:
How long did it take for him to get his money from the point that you got the pre approval to the point that his bank account was funded?
Jacque:
Well, through no fault to the lender the merchant it took him a long time to get documents, and I actually had to work with him quite a bit. In fact, there was a time during that time of getting his documents I thought that he just wasn’t interested anymore and I let you know about that, and I said, “I’m just not going to call him anymore.” And you said, “No, you should call him and call and check on him often.” And so I did and I found once I did talk to him, I saw that there was a big misunderstanding between us both. He thought I was doing something and I thought he was doing something and it just… it ended up it worked out, I finally had to go to his place of business and have him sit down with them and get his documents for him, because he just-
Oz:
Yeah, I remember that conversation very vividly with you, because that’s usually what happens because you feel like that you were bothering the customer, because they already heard from you and you don’t want to be this pesky salesperson just to… badgering him with the phone calls, but on the other end most of them think that you’re working on something, because they don’t really know the structure of the approval process. It’s especially if they try to get an approval from a bank, they know there’s a very lengthy process. You send documentation, someone sends us to the underwriter somewhere else and totally different state, you wait for an answer, it can take weeks and that’s what was happening in your case too. He thought that you were working on something and you thought that you might be offending him by calling him too much, but when you just reached out to him you found out that he was dealing with a totally different problem at his business and still needed the money very much, and was counting on you for that to happen.
Jacque:
Exactly.
Oz:
So once you guys resolved that he got the money in account and he was happy obviously, he’s a happy camper he took care of the problem that he had and you were happy but you really was not… you were not sure how much we’re going to get paid out of this deal, right? [crosstalk 00:10:36] but I know that you had bonuses and things like that too. So what did it total up to be after all said and done, what was your total commission from this deal?
Jacque:
Well, one was… the first commission it was 6,800 and change.
Oz:
Wow.
Jacque:
And then about three weeks later I received a bonus of over 1,600 dollars.
Oz:
Okay, so that’s what? Close to a little more than $8,000 on that deal. So what has changed-
Jacque:
It’s actually almost 9,000 [crosstalk 00:11:07]
Oz:
Yeah. So, since then I know you made some major changes one of them is you decided to quit your job, right? Which is a very courageous behavior. How did you get to that decision? Because I know that’s not an easy decision to make relying on a business that you recently started, but obviously you see the potential. What was going through your mind and why did you make that decision?
Jacque:
I quit my job because I was working nights and I had to, I wasn’t sleeping enough and I wasn’t able to spend enough time working on this and that’s what I really want to do.
Oz:
Okay, so you found out that you wanted to work on this more. Yeah, perfect. So right now you’re focusing on this full time, you made the transition obviously you’re your own boss and then try helping businesses out. So we have people… a good percentage of people who come through the webinar, the [inaudible 00:12:00] or the videos, I have a lot of videos as you know. Some of them immediately join some of them have questions and obviously we live in the age of internet and there are people out there who claim to be gurus and experts and things and they’re not, and people naturally are on defence because they see this character online let it be me or another person, they can’t really verify if a person is a real deal or not. That’s why I wanted to bring you on obviously you are a real person and you are funding deals, so what would you say to someone who might have their questions and naturally doubt us? I’m never offended in anything like that, but what would you tell someone? What would they be getting if they joined the program especially if they’re committed to being in this industry.
Oz:
If they’re still like they’re not sure if they want to do this that’s a whole different story, but they want to be in the industry but they’re so doubtful that they should do it. Get the support from my training or not, what would you tell that person?
Jacque:
I would absolutely… I would have paid a lot more for this too, I don’t want to say that too loud but… yeah, I just… it’s meant the difference between A and Z. I’m sorry, tell me the question again.
Oz:
Yeah, so someone who already made up their mind about starting in this industry, right?
Jacque:
Yeah.
Oz:
If someone’s comparing one industry to another that’s a whole different conversation, but they made up their mind but they’re not sure if they should join my program or they should just go on and have a shotgun approach and try to figure it out themselves. What will be the comparison, what would your recommendation be to that person?
Jacque:
I did try to figure it out myself and I do have resources, and I can tell you that it’s… there’s a big difference between trying to find all the things that you need and the resources and the things that work on your own. You can do that it’ll take a lot of time and it will take a lot of energy and there’s no telling on how much money you’ll spend, versus joining or becoming a part of this. It’s like we’re a group and the difference… I mean I can remember watching your videos and thinking, “Yeah, he sounds pretty good, but yeah I mean what if he just sends me a piece of paper and it’s got some instructions on it or something.” You don’t know if it’s going to be a rip off or not.
Oz:
Right.
Jacque:
It took me a while it did. It took me a while, but one of the things that I knew was going to work you used your own strategy on me and it worked, and so I knew that you were good. I just… I wanted to learn what you were doing or how you were doing. So I can say that I would definitely… I would have paid more for this. I’ve told my own friends about this, I have friends that see me doing this and they’re interested in doing it. They want to wait a little bit, they’re still on the fence but they’re saying, “Well, are you going to let me go through his training?” Oh, no, they have to sign up too cause it’s a whole different world.
Jacque:
I mean it’s almost like you’re holding our hand through things the people that need it. There are some people in our group that… like myself and a few other people we [chime 00:14:59] in quite a bit because we have a lot of questions, and then there are the others I don’t know how much they might email you or anything but you get back to us, and I really didn’t expect the one on one that you provide for all of us and that’s been a big deal for me. I wouldn’t have funded that deal in particular had you not have gotten back to me I would have just let that go.
Oz:
I appreciate it thank you. Yeah, that this is a passion of mine as you know and I want to see people succeed, because I’ve been through the same process. I had a corporate job and I was making pretty good money but then I was not happy with the amount of hours I was putting in, and I wasn’t making decisions on what would happen to my career if someone let me go a couple of years later, or if I didn’t… if I wasn’t in line with the decision making process of the business that I was working under which is what happened. I had disagreements with the ownership but that did not make a difference, because I was one of the 3,000 employees they had at the time. So there was no way they would hear my voice, so that… and I made a transition and I know the fears and [war 00:16:00] with that and how much frustration people might go through sometimes sleepless nights.
Oz:
Decisions are important but at the end of the day I want everyone to do what feels right and this is a great product, very lucrative and businesses do need it. Unfortunately there are not enough number of people who do it the right way. People sometimes… especially if they go with what they read online, there are a lot of resources created by lenders who just want you to submit your paper through them that doesn’t reflect the truth. When someone starts the industry they think that they need to be a type of [inaudible 00:16:38] Wall Street guy or someone who’s telemarketing out of their basement, and just dialing 300 times a day to badger people and take advantage of them, this is far from it.
Oz:
Starting a business is very difficult and you are… if you’re passionate about helping people, these small businesses need funding. Especially after 2008 they’re not getting the funding they need from the banks that they’ve been trusting for many, many years. It might not be the bank’s fault I don’t really know how the mechanics work, but they can’t get the funding they need and the programs under alternative lending allows people to do that, right? And when you become a consultant for them they just welcome you, and as you know it doesn’t take a lot of clients to create a healthy lifestyle within this because people come back and get more funding.
Oz:
So there’s a lot of referrals involved, repeat customers and things like that. So it’s a matter of choosing that or choosing to go back and do what you’re doing although you might not be happy. What I see is a lot of people are doing things just to make money, although whether they’re happy or not is a secondary because they need… they’re in survival mode and I want to make sure that we put together something, and it’s not just me as you know we have veterans in the group who jump in and help out. That’s the only time that I’ve seen this in the Merchant Cash Advance industry in years that I’ve been. Usually if you’re looking outside of our community people are taking each other’s deals even within the same company. I have large clients that sales reps just grabbing deals from each other’s desk and calling on them and close them within the same company, and we have veterans who are just helping each other out and helping you close deals, and [Renee 00:18:21] and a bunch of other people.
Oz:
So that’s why I wanted to make sure that it was clear that our intention is to help people build a business, not just share a couple of closing strategies or do this and it will work and things like that. No, this is a comprehensive program for people who want to build a business and I appreciate you joining me today to help people kind of see that, and I know that you’re working really hard even if when you’re away you have your computer with you and kind of you’re dialing in and making things happen and plugging yourself into the system. So what’s next for you? What’s your goal within the next 30 to 45 days to accomplish by utilizing the system that we have in the training?
Jacque:
Well, actually I have gone through the modules several times.
Oz:
Mm-hmm (affirmative)
Jacque:
Sometimes when I’m just driving I listen to them. I’ve listened to our training calls because I always pick up something, and I would like to set a goal for myself between four to six deals a month as far as working to find client’s merchants. I think that I’m going to be utilizing two or three of your strategies.
Oz:
Mm-hmm (affirmative)
Jacque:
That’s what I really love about your program. I mean it is comprehensive like you said, it’s not just this is what you do and this is what you say. It’s a whole program, it’s from beginning to end and you even… I mean you give us more content that is so much more than I expected. Honestly, it’s a good program.
Oz:
What do you think about our Facebook group? I know when you first joined we did not have that. So, your one of the phenomenal members of the Facebook group, and I love it myself because there was just so much going on. Well, did you benefit from that?
Jacque:
Absolutely. I can jump up there and ask questions, and if you’re not there right away somebody else that knows will… or people just chime in and I think we’re all trying to help each other. It’s nothing more than we’re just all trying to help each other to do the right thing, and it’s not just trying to sell something and just trying to make money. It’s actually we’re trying to help people, we’re trying to help businesses when they need help. There are other groups on Facebook I’ve noticed that are, they’re a little bit different than this one and I just assumed I don’t even go on that page anymore… those pages, but yeah this one it’s a good one and it’s [inaudible 00:20:43] There are some things that you taught us that I don’t know that other people would learn maybe on their own, maybe when it’s too late. You’ve taught me the… I don’t know what you call it when the things that you’re supposed to do and the things that you could get away with, but you better not do because this will happen.
Oz:
Mm-hmm (affirmative)
Jacque:
There’s a lot of that too, and I appreciate that. That not only comes from somebody who has experience and like yourself who’s been in this business a while, or by being in your business… in the business a long time and making mistakes before seeing other people do it.
Oz:
Oh, yeah. That’s the best learning [inaudible 00:21:13] you make a ton of mistakes, you face the consequences and you teach yourself, “Well, yeah let’s not do that again.”
Jacque:
I think I’d rather learn from other people’s mistakes I don’t-
Oz:
Yeah, yeah, and just like you said you can’t… at some point if you give it enough time you can figure it out, but why? Why would you do it yourself? The most successful people Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Tony Robbins they all modeled someone else because it just shaves off many years of failures pretty much. You also fail at things but not at the proportion that you would if you were to do it by yourself, that’s how everything is built so that’s what we’re trying to emulate here. We have a ton of resources and this is going to be seen by the members as well, and for those I want more people to be plugged in and ask questions. Honestly that’s the only way I know that people are actually using the system, because there’s no way that I can cover everything 100%. So if you’re going through a specific situation, you’re going to naturally have questions. So that’s kind of my measuring stick, the more questions we have the happier I get because I know something is going to happen out of those questions.
Jacque:
Oh, yeah.
Oz:
Someone’s going to fund something, but I know you’re very busy so I don’t want to hold you long. I appreciate you doing this with me today, I’m sure people will benefit from this and this will be posted on our YouTube channel. So yeah, with any questions that someone who… whoever’s watching this you can definitely ask your questions and get back to us. There’s going to be a link below this video, but Jacque thank you again for being with me today.
Jacque:
Thanks Oz.