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Partnerships

The simplest money you're not making

Income that doesn't ask you to hire anyone, build anything, or work after dinner. It asks you to notice — and you already talk to business owners all day.

TC
Founder’s Perspective
Trae'Vorris Canady
Founder, Canady Investments

4 min read · Earn on the side

There is a kind of income that doesn't ask you to hire anyone, build anything, or answer email after dinner. It asks you to notice. You already notice — you talk to business owners all day. This is simply what to do with what you already hear.

5 min
To read this
1 sentence
To make a referral
$0
Added to your payroll

The whole idea, in one breath

When someone you know needs capital — to buy, build, expand, or just get through a slow quarter — you send their name to our desk. We do the work. If it closes, you're paid. That is the entire model. Everything below is just detail.

Spot the moment

You don't have to go looking. These sentences are the signal. When you hear one, you have found a referral:

  • “We'd grow faster if cash weren't so tight.”
  • “I'm trying to buy out my partner — or a competitor, or the building.”
  • “Payroll's fine, but this slow season is brutal.”
  • “I need new equipment but don't want to drain the account.”
  • “The bank said no.” Or: “The bank is taking forever.”
  • “We're closing on a property and we're a little short on the stack.”

What now

  1. 1
    Notice it

    Someone says one of those sentences. You don't diagnose or pitch — you just recognize the moment for what it is.

  2. 2
    Send the name

    One message to your desk contact: who they are, and the situation in a sentence. That is your whole job.

  3. 3
    We take it from there

    Diligence, structure, lender, close — high-touch, and you can watch it move from your partner link.

  4. 4
    Get paid on close

    If it funds, your referral fee is paid on a signed agreement. No close, nothing owed — no awkwardness either way.

It's the rare side income with no inventory, no employees, and no nights — you're just getting paid for paying attention.

Why this beats the alternatives

Most extra-income ideas cost you the one thing you can't make more of: time. A second service line needs staff. A side venture needs your evenings. This needs a forwarded sentence. It rides on relationships you already have and a reputation you already earned — and it makes you more useful to your clients, not less.

What it won't do

It won't replace your business, and it isn't meant to. It won't make you a lender or put you on the hook for the money — you're an introducer, not a guarantor. And it won't cost you a client; done right, it makes you the person who knew exactly where to send them.

The plain version

The simplest income is the kind that asks you to do something you already do — listen — and add one step: send the name. Become a referral partner, get your link, and the next time you hear one of those sentences, you'll know just what to do with it.

Begin

Become a referral partner

A few minutes to join, your own referral link, and a desk that turns a sentence into a close. The next deal you hear about could be the first one you get paid on.

Become a referral partner →About the firm