Financing Tips: Perspective — Loan Broker Versus Certified Consultant

By Parag Nevatia

Is the glass of water half full or half empty? You know the answer: It depends on who is looking at it, and what their situation is. Perspective.

We live in a world where we cannot judge what is right and what is wrong. If understood, both are right and the glass is half full. If not, both are wrong and the glass is half empty. I am sure you have tried to make someone understand your perspective, your approach, or your business model.

I am, many times, in that situation where someone who does not understand my service, considers the glass half empty. I want to share with you an experience which I face every day as a business person, and don’t doubt that it will not continue.

If one does not know what my company provides, what I provide, they will assume I am a broker. I’ll take that as an offense, thank you very much. This here is my highest point of frustration at work. I wonder why people do not pause to read, listen, think, or understand before assuming what I do for a living.

In the earlier stages of my being a business person, I spilled this frustration on someone who actually acknowledged my work. It was an attorney, and he said I am not a broker, I am consultant. The residential companies are brokers. They broker deals to larger banks and get paid from them after the loan closes, while charging the client a minimal fee as well.

Only at that point I realized the value of my work—the certifications, representing the client, packaging documents to analyze and underwrite them, preparing proposals before taking them to a lender. I took it to one lender, not five  lenders, explaining what needs to be done to make the project work, and personally nurturing and experiencing the entire loan process as if I am the Lender.

I continued to remind myself that I am not a broker. A broker does not increase the chances of approval. However, I do all this as a consultant first, and then play a broker’s role.

I shared this experience in hopes to make my reader understand that the glass with water in it is not what it seems with one quick look. If you have the thirst, the glass is half full, otherwise it is half empty if you do not need it.

That is my way of realizing the perception of others in terms of how they understand my services, my business, and me. As I continue to experience this, I become better at understanding your perspective, your approach, and your business model.

I pause to read, listen, think, and understand you and your business before assuming or concluding. This distasteful experience has kept me in this business so far, and will continue to enlighten me every day,

With that being said, you must have learned the difference between a consultant and a broker. Now let us take this back to financing and see how a Small Business Administration (SBA) Certified Consultant can help you get access to financing.

Parag Nevatia is president of EZ Funding Solutions. There is a better way to approach business financing. EZ Funding Solutions is an SBA-certified project finance consulting and business loan advisory company serving entrepreneurs and professionals in business and industry. With over 20 years of banking and lending experience we assure you, we are not just loan brokers or packagers, but also highly skilled formal Lenders who prepare you and your business to become bankable.