Icarus and the lightning bolt
Well, Rob and I got the minimum amount we were told we needed to get an SBA loan. I copied all the paperwork, filled out all the financial forms. I SPENT $10 just on the photocopies and that did NOT include our 28 page business plan. But in the meantime, our advocate, Ryan Curtis, left Comerica. We liked him, he knew us, he knew our business and was on our side. The new person we wound up with looked at us with dollar signs in her eyes and handed us the paperwork for an unsecured Comerica loan.
I did not take that well. We didn't spend 3 years building up our business and getting what we were told we needed to get handed an "unsecured" loan packet. But Ryan had given us the SBA paperwork online some time ago so I used it and mailed it to the bank as I was off to visit my husband. (Add another $6.50 just to mail this monster.) It got turned down for applying for a location in Ohio from a bank in Michigan. Seriously?
So I seek out a bank in Ohio. I drive 2 1/2 hours one way to meet the guy and discuss the business and what we need. He tells me to come back once the packet of information gets sent back to me. I get it after I arrive home from my visit with my husband. I drive another 2 hours one way to have the guy pull out 2 pages and tell me that my projections are too high and that if we already had a store worth $100,000 he MIGHT loan us $25,000. Really? REALLY? I waste 2 days and $100 dollars in gas to have the guy utterly brush me off?
The next few days left me in a real funk. We have been working towards this goal for THREE YEARS and just get told to "keep at it"? Really? The business is carrying no debt, the projections are based on the numbers our competitors make, some of them don't even run credit cards! And my projections are "too high"? So if you see the news telling you the banks are still lending to small businesses, it is a lie. Or at least they aren't working with new businesses.
Just when we thought we were ready to fly, we get hit with a lightning bolt. So what now? Well, we will be able to get a convention vehicle in November and I think we will get a nice car wrap and brand it. We will continue to hit the larger conventions and I will work on my book, the card games we have sitting in the wings, and get a better paying, part-time job for the next 2 years and move in with my husband in Ohio. At the end of that we should have enough to do something more. And if anyone knows Ryan, please let me know if he is at another bank. I'd rather follow him than use anyone else for getting a loan.
When my husband and I can stop paying for 2 living locations we will actually be doing pretty well. But money later isn't money now to the bank. Even with increasing our sales 28 fold over 3 years in a bad economy isn't enough to show it is a good risk. I had tried to beat Mercury Retrograde to get the loan process started but failed. I'm sure it didn't help but losing our advocate hurt the most. We miss you, Ryan!
I did not take that well. We didn't spend 3 years building up our business and getting what we were told we needed to get handed an "unsecured" loan packet. But Ryan had given us the SBA paperwork online some time ago so I used it and mailed it to the bank as I was off to visit my husband. (Add another $6.50 just to mail this monster.) It got turned down for applying for a location in Ohio from a bank in Michigan. Seriously?
So I seek out a bank in Ohio. I drive 2 1/2 hours one way to meet the guy and discuss the business and what we need. He tells me to come back once the packet of information gets sent back to me. I get it after I arrive home from my visit with my husband. I drive another 2 hours one way to have the guy pull out 2 pages and tell me that my projections are too high and that if we already had a store worth $100,000 he MIGHT loan us $25,000. Really? REALLY? I waste 2 days and $100 dollars in gas to have the guy utterly brush me off?
The next few days left me in a real funk. We have been working towards this goal for THREE YEARS and just get told to "keep at it"? Really? The business is carrying no debt, the projections are based on the numbers our competitors make, some of them don't even run credit cards! And my projections are "too high"? So if you see the news telling you the banks are still lending to small businesses, it is a lie. Or at least they aren't working with new businesses.
Just when we thought we were ready to fly, we get hit with a lightning bolt. So what now? Well, we will be able to get a convention vehicle in November and I think we will get a nice car wrap and brand it. We will continue to hit the larger conventions and I will work on my book, the card games we have sitting in the wings, and get a better paying, part-time job for the next 2 years and move in with my husband in Ohio. At the end of that we should have enough to do something more. And if anyone knows Ryan, please let me know if he is at another bank. I'd rather follow him than use anyone else for getting a loan.
When my husband and I can stop paying for 2 living locations we will actually be doing pretty well. But money later isn't money now to the bank. Even with increasing our sales 28 fold over 3 years in a bad economy isn't enough to show it is a good risk. I had tried to beat Mercury Retrograde to get the loan process started but failed. I'm sure it didn't help but losing our advocate hurt the most. We miss you, Ryan!