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Education

each day, and I knew it was time for me to leave and start
my own ISO. Despite my employer's best efforts to retain
me, I decided to set out on this new journey five years ago.
It has been the most rewarding professional decision that
I have made.

Building a successful ISO in today's competitive market
is no easy task. Nevertheless, we have managed to
build a successful ISO with more than 400 ISO partners
throughout the country, and a number of acquisitions over
the past few years, not to mention the countless lessons
learned along the way.

The rewards multiply
Throughout my journey in this industry, I have made it
my mission to learn something new every day. I have had
the privilege of sitting on both sides of the table, both as a
company executive as well as an ISO, and these experiences
have enabled me to have a different perspective.

I have had to build a sales team from the ground up,
recruited and trained literally thousands of merchant
level salespeople (MLSs) in the industry, managed a
large number of employees, participated in a number
of acquisitions, and started an ISO with minimal initial
investment. Now I manage a very efficient and highly
profitable company that is growing every single quarter.

Community builds success
Now, enough about me: let's focus on the next 12 months.
It is my goal over the next year to share as much of my
experiences as I can with you, while also listening to you
and learning from your experiences. We will cover topics
that will enable you to run your business more efficiently,
lower your attrition rate and restore profitability to your
portfolio.

In our fast-changing industry, the same approach to sales
that worked a year ago may not work today. I will help you
to conduct an honest assessment of your sales approach to
determine if you need to make changes. I certainly hope
that you will also join me in a friendly dialogue in The
Green Sheet's MLS Forum so that I can get a better idea
about the topics you would like me to delve into here.

Aaron Nasseh is the founder and Chief Executive Officer at Finical Inc.
His extensive sales and management experience includes having previ-
ously served as the General Manager of CardPayment Solutions and
Vice President of Sales at iPayment Inc. He may be reached at anasseh@
finicalinc.com or at 818-330-4055.

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