Help needed with financing my first deal and path to scale -Stuck

[Ope Akanni]

Hello everyone

I will lay out my current situation and hopefully get some experts to advice on how to go about things.

I bought my primary residence home in June 2021 (new construction home) and building and closing won't be completed until June 2022.

I'm looking to finance my first deal (fix and flip or brrrr) using hard money lenders and I've been told by the hard money lenders that they have to pull my credit before giving me a loan. I'm reluctant to do this because I dont want to hurt my score before closing on my primary residence. I have some cash but I also dont want to put all my cash in one deal for the sake of risk management and all. What options do I have? Id there a way around it without pulling my credit? I have a credit score in the 700s but I just dont want to hurt my score before closing my primary residence.

I also just set up an LLC but been told by the hard money lender, they wouldnt lend to the LLC but only to me as an individual.

Lastly, for those that have do more than 5 deals a year, do you then have to pull your credit on 5 occasions?

Appreciate any guidance as to how people have gone about this.

Thank you