Pros
Camaradie of the people in the company. Though everyone was self-employed, people rallied round to help one another to progress the ranks. Everyone, at some point would have experienced whatever it is you are going through and therefore can share some of their personal stories of encouragement. The culture was one of learn by doing, which for me is the best method of learning. One is able to demonstrate practically the do's and dont's of running your own business. With a history of 30 years tried and tested model in the USA, there is a wealth of experience to be tapped into.
Cons
Due to the self-employed nature of working at Citisolutions, there is no real accountability. Each person/business is accountable to itself. The processes and structures for control are lacking or not up to what you would expect from a structured environment. Due to the fact that the business model accommodates people from all works of life, you are sometimes working with people who are very different in terms of educational background and may sometimes find it difficult to engage in what I would call 'intelligent conversation'. The operations division was not very competent due to a lack of consistent staff or better still revolving staff and postal mail concerning compensations went missing regularly