For someone who is new, I would get a license and list property for 12 months, know values, know players. 

I found having a website and advertising for borrowers was very tedious and you wasted a ton of time on folks that you needed to educate and or were just shopping you.. by going direct to the known closing attorneys and getting personal intro's to the bigger players we were able to establish some really great relationships with borrowers who appreciated what we could do for them . 

The list goes on and on.The challenge for the incumbent player is that these technologies do often start out small. 

Hi everyone my name is Quinterrius Eatmon I am an ex-NFL player, currently apart of the CFL.

You seem to be on the right path and you very well have located a great source to find those team players and then some.  

Meet the agents who are the big players in that area.  

Hey boss this buyer is a major player he wants me making 20 offers a day etc etc.. the rookies fall for this.. experienced agents tell them to take a hike.I would then ask my agent to invite this so called big shot 20 offer dude in to the office I want to vetter them for you.. usually by the time I was done with them.. the pretenders just kind of slinked out .. the players I took to lunch and golf   LOL...

Location, location, location its ripe for the picking so to speak but there haven't been any major players that I know of trying to snag the deal.

I'd suggest checking out the "communities" tab then scrolling down to events, take a look at the REA's in that area and start networking with the local players.  

I'm considering lending to Hard Money Lenders to i) put some capital to work, and ii) network with other players in my target market (flippers, GCs, attorneys, etc.) that I might work with down the line.As someone still learning the ropes of real estate investing myself, how should I go about vetting potential Hard Money Lenders?