We have our holiday party coming up that you have to attend!

Seems to be an issue with 3rd party processors  

Sorry, I'm late to the party.  

I am wondering if my first steps (past the education part) is to build a network of people who know, like, and trust me through posting content like newsletters, articles, podcasts, doing webinars, going to events (aka build my brand), or, should I first find a deal and then raise capital?

We have our own team for our properties and we don't manage for third parties, but I do see the cost. 

I prefer driving for dollars and use my mailers from a 3rd party company after building my list.

Readers: a broker is not the contractual party who is responsible to deliver the file and it's contents to you.

In terms of structuring the deal you can do it however you want as long as it is legal, ethical and agreed upon by both parties.

While this may take a little more time/effort on your part, I believe it produces much better results.

Using borrowed money to lend to another party does not change the parameters of what your CoC is for that loan.