The mortgage industry was not staffed for coronavirus any more than anyone else.

Do they have to be exclusive? 

Even if you aren't a service provider in the industry, you could be talking to potential partners or investors.

In addition, if you are self-employed with no full-time employees you may wish to consider opening a Solo 401k instead of a self-directed IRA as it has several advantages over an IRA LLC such as much higher contribution limits, direct checkbook control (i.e. no need to have the account at a specialty trust company), ability to take a 401k loan, exclusion from unrelated debt finance income tax with respect to investment in real estate acquired with non-recourse financing, etc.In addition, please note if you purchase debt-financed real estate with your IRA, unrelated debt finance income tax should apply to the income attributable to debt-financed real estate held by your IRA.

It will impact service industry (disproportionality in heavy travel markets). 

Connecting with a closing attorney to acquire and organize all the legal documents associated with either route discussed in step 3Are these the correct initial steps that I should engage in to get started and gain foundational, learning experiences since I am brand new to the industry and have limited capital to work with?

As an investor, the best thing about them is the network of over 1400 Idaho agents- they network quite a bit so you can find office exclusives or other opportunities that you might not find elsewhere.

Egos are large to be successful in our industry,  conversley, egos can be very slow to admit shortcomings and mistakes. 

I admit I have a spoiled tenant because I would normally go above and beyond and service this unreasonable request, as we too want to be the Chik-fil-a of the industry, but now I’m like, really?

Unless you knowing work with a wholesaler again and you understand their intent is to find an end buyer, just make sure you do not sign an exclusive agreement (like a purchase contract) with them.