A very lovely lady and dear friend is currently with an agency, but she needs a better return than splitting the donation with an agency.  how does she go about getting started as an Independent?  (I'd give her the money for her tuition and school costs myself if I could, but my wife might not be too pleased about it!)
We would appreciate any guidance, suggestions and warnings of pitfalls from other experienced providers.

and she needs to seriously understand that going independent puts a big strain on her time and mental faculties.

 
If she is still interested, then she needs to do up a website, get ads out on the various boards, and sit by the computer and phone and wait for the hoi poloi to respond.

 
She should especially bone up on screening.   Her safety has to be job number one.

Does she already have a TER Profile and reviews?  Does she CONTROL her own profile or does the agency control it?  Leading to ... by all means, try to keep things friendly with the agency as she goes indy.  Some agencies can be nasty during a split. Some are very easy (and even supportive?) during a split. If the agency refuses to give up her Profile (or even delists it), she is back to square one as an unknown. Likewise any P411 Profile.
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One way to split without splitting is to go on a tour. I assume she is in the DC area. Plan an indy tour to NY or Boston or Atlanta.  One day or two days at a time.  The agency shouldn't complain about that and they probably can't or don't want to rep her away from home base. Post ads on the TER local ad boards with links to her agency Profile. These trips can be successful in either or both of two ways: $$ successful and "gaining independence" successful.  At first, she mostly wants to experience indy success, so don't worry about breaking even or a small loss at first. By placing ads on TER only, she should get TER guys only and that should be easier for her to screen.
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There are some agencies that have such good rapport with their staff, that when the girls go indy and leave the area, they still list with the agency when back in the home city.
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Another approach is to find a local DC indy to provide mentoring. It has to be a good match, of course.

she can get the TER change to her.  Its not the first time that a lady leaves an agency.  
Just contact TER and tell them you were working with an agency and wants to go independent. I guess u need to have ur ads, website, p411 and others as well.  
You can contact p411 as well and transfer the act back to you power.  
They have your ID anyways, you can sent it again and prove its you.  

once you have that, you contact ter and explain them.  

Agencies usually don't like it and get pissed when a lady leaves... so, most of the time its not so "friendly good bye"

Just to get your feet wet, consider contacting agencies in other cities. (I have noticed groups of mid-range touring ladies who are AgencyFL in FL, AgencyChi in Chicago and AgencyNY in NY.)  Refer to your great record with your current agency and say that you want to visit NY or Boston or wherever.  Just make sure your details match the agency. If you think you are a 4-digit Escort do not waste the time of the people at the $3 - $4 places. If you are NOT GFE, do not waste the time of an agency that is uniformly GFE or higher. (And vice-versa: the regular girls do not want to pressured by "the new touring girl does it, you should too!")  
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You already know the agency ropes so you'll just have to work out details. After one or two tours, you'll know the lay of the land -- transportation, food, good hotels, bad hotels -- and it will build your confidence to travel on your own.
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Whatever you do, DO NOT BURN YOUR BRIDGES with your current agency.  You might want to go back to them someday if the indy thing doesn't pan out for you.

Being an independent is actually VERY time-consuming, and can also be quite emotionally/physically draining (particularly when doing longer dates). Also, while she may be able to work less, she will no longer be insulated from the huge volume of emails (and texts/calls) that people send... timewasters and clients alike. Legitimate inquiries, reference requests, random questions, hagglers, wankers, scams, attempts to chat, wannabe pen pals, etc. Add that to the hassle of scheduling people who may or may not be serious in the first place, and may give her the run-around to a very significant extent (like, 50+ emails and you never even meet the guy). Screening takes time, too.

She'll need to take great photos (or quality selfies to use in the meantime), build a site of some sort (wix and squarespace offer free platforms, and she can buy a domain name later on). She'll have to join sites, like blacklist sites and p411. She'll need to write copy for her website and ads. She'll need to create and post ads.

To get started, she may want to hire an assistant. The assistant can help her get set up, and screen her emails for a few weeks... the cost will likely be equal to or slightly less than she'd pay an agency, per booking. Once she starts to get a feel for how things work, she can start doing more on her own.

thank you to everyone who responded.