Own the SBA deal instead of referring it out.
Business owners need capital in every market. This is the packaging work that lets you keep the file, charge for it, and become the person the lender calls back.
A past client calls about a building.
They’re buying commercial property for the business. Their bank mentioned SBA. They call you, because you’re the one they trust with money questions.
You know the guidelines are a different language. You know underwriters ask for calculations you’ve never had to run. You know one structural mistake kills the file at committee.
So you refer it out, collect a referral fee, and plan to learn the rest later.
You were the relationship. Somebody else became the capital partner.
Most declines are a packaging problem.
Credit boxes tighten and loosen. What stays constant is that files arrive at the bank incomplete, and incomplete files get declined regardless of the deal underneath.
- Cash flow isn’t analyzed the way SBA requires. Net income gets submitted where normalized cash flow belongs.
- Tax returns are read but not interpreted. Add-backs go unclaimed, and the borrower looks weaker on paper than they are.
- Global debt service never gets calculated. The lender runs it, finds the gap, and the conversation is over.
- Collateral, guarantees, and structure aren’t presented. The committee has to assemble the story itself, and it declines rather than guess.
What the market pays for this work.
Packaging is compensated in two parts: a fee for building the file, and a success fee at closing. Certification covers how to set, justify, and collect both.
| Model | Structure | On a $500K loan |
|---|---|---|
| Essential | $2,500 packaging + 1.0% at closing | $7,500 |
| Professional | $3,500 packaging + 1.5% at closing | $11,000 |
| Premium | $5,000 packaging + 2.0% at closing | $15,000 |
Figures are industry fee structures drawn from the SBA Broker Fee Schedule Blueprint, shown to illustrate how packaging work is priced. They describe market rates, not earnings you should expect. Lender policies cap broker fees, and every fee must be disclosed on SBA Form 159.
The work, in the order you’ll do it.
SBA Deal Foundations
Which deals fit SBA and which don’t. How brokers are compensated, where you sit in the transaction, and what the lender expects from you.
Financial & Tax Analysis
Reading returns and financial statements the way SBA lenders read them. Normalizing income, identifying add-backs, calculating global cash flow.
Credit & Risk Presentation
Evaluating borrower strength past the score. Positioning weakness so a lender can approve around it rather than decline on it.
Packaging & Submission
Building a complete, lender-ready file. What belongs in it, what stays out, and how to present the borrower’s story in the order the bank reads.
Negotiation & Lender Management
Managing conditions, document requests, and restructures. Keeping a live file moving toward closing once underwriting starts asking.
Your Packaging Business
Turning the skill into a repeatable offer. Fee structure, engagement letters, scope of work, and positioning in your market.
Who this certification is built for.
This is for you if
- You broker mortgage or commercial deals and want income that holds through a slow cycle
- Business owners already call you, and you’ve been referring the SBA work away
- You want a skill-based revenue line that doesn’t require a new license
- You’re willing to learn a framework before you charge for it
This is not
- A lead source — you bring the relationships
- A shortcut past the analysis work every file requires
- A guarantee of placement, approval, or income
- A substitute for the lender’s own credit process
See how the material works first.
The SBA Broker Fee Schedule Blueprint is the compensation module, pulled out and sold on its own. It covers:
- The four ways packaging work gets compensated, and when each one applies
- Three fee models with the math worked out across loan sizes from $250K to $1M
- Scripts for presenting fees and answering the cost objection
- Sample engagement letter, scope of work, and advisory retainer agreement
- Fee protection practices, including written lender confirmation and Form 159 disclosure
SBA Broker Fee Schedule Blueprint
Structure, justify, and collect your fee on every SBA deal — with the agreements to back it up.
Get the Fee BlueprintThe next call like that one is coming.
Certification takes you from referring the deal out to running it yourself — the analysis, the file, the lender conversation, and the fee.