When you apply for financing and your tax returns and/or personal financial statement shows that you have interests in other businesses or property, the lender will want to review the financials on those other businesses.
When it comes down to it, the Lender has the right to ask for this information.
The question from our client is often, “Why is this germane to my financing request for my business? That other business has nothing to do with the business I’m financing.”
While this may be true, remember that you’re asking the lender to assess the risk of lending money to you and to your business (the one on the application), and if there are negative aspects to your other businesses that affect the financial health of this business, the lender wants to assess that risk.
The good news is that you can control the narrative to an extent. Describe what the other business is via a summary statement and how it interacts with the business you are financing. Especially with regards to debt.
There’s nothing wrong with full disclosure. Get it out of the way upfront. Don’t wait for the Lender to ask for it.
Understand why the Lender wants that information instead of fighting the request.
The Lender has the right to ask these questions. Pushing back is okay, as long as you do so in a gentle fashion. In the end, it’s about achieving your goal of obtaining the financing you need to grow your business with the least muss and fuss as possible.
Download your “HOMEWORK”! You’ll thank us later.
Stop worrying about what's required when pursuing a business loan for your small business. This list will indicate what a lender, bank, SBA, etc. will want to know about you and your small business if you're looking for a business loan.
These are prudent documents that help tell your small business story. Without them, it's difficult for lenders to assess you as a risk when it comes to lending your small business money.
This is NOT SPECIFIC to the SBA EIDL loan.
Do you ever have to prompt your kids to eat something, wear something, do something or go somewhere?
They resist; you persist because you want the best for them.
You’re selling, but you’re able to do that because ultimately you believe it’s best for them because you love them. You are delivering value by showing something that’s good for them.
Your kids are like the general public at large and your business is the parent that is trying to show them something of value.
I’ve been marketing since about the mid 1980’s.But I didn’t know I was marketing.
My favorite course in college was marketing. We reviewed businesses that excelled because they applied business fundamentals that introduced their products and services to consumers.
Then when I joined my father’s insurance agency. My first thought was “I don’t want him to be the best kept secret.” My other thought was “this could take a while. People need to get to know me.”
My mantra became “there’s no immediate gratification in a long term strategy.”
I networked and joined business organizations to meet other business owners. I created events to engage the community.
I grew revenue 800%. He was able to retire when I bought him out and then I sold my shares to my sister six years later.
It was all from marketing.
This was inspired by a conversation with a few of the Board members of an IDS Chapter in CT who brought me in to do a presentation. I asked, “what do you want me to talk about?”
I wanted to do something different from what may be expected.
I didn’t want to beat a dead horse with the obvious platitudes about marketing.
Nor debate about which is better: Facebook vs. Linkedin Posting in the morning or afternoon Writing a Blog or recording a Vlog.
You don’t need me to tell you to post on social media.
It’s been trending for the past decade or more. Being an early adopter has left the station.
They said, “We’re overwhelmed. Many of us are Solopreneurs and doing everything ourselves.”
FEELING OVERWHELMED
Do you ever feel overwhelmed with marketing? I have good news and bad news.
I believe being overwhelmed is an opportunity to learn how to grow in some capacity.
Your business could be at the precipice of growing to the next level.
Being overwhelmed, to me, is the difference between doing the things we want to do and doing the things we think we should be doing. It’s an internal conflict. It’s why we procrastinate and make excuses instead of delegating.
A side effect of being overwhelmed is complacency.
I don’t want to steal my therapist’s thunder, but most of the time, many of us, in general, have the same doubts and fears.
People aren’t paying attention to us as much as we think they are. They’re too worried about their own stuff.
I’ve listened to hours of marketing podcasts where professionals share how they got started and invariably it begins with some fear and doubt as they stumble to figure things out.
Is there anyone here that DOESN’T want to grow to the next level?
Anything I share with you today is nothing i’ve not been through already. I’ve worried. I’ve tried. I’ve failed. I’ve doubted. And I’ve succeeded.
Marketing is not an event. It’s a process. And when it comes to process, we don’t seek perfection, we strive for progress.
Who has a purpose they are trying to accomplish?
Marketing is about understanding our purpose and the goals we set to achieve the fulfillment of our purpose along with the good we want to put out into the world.
Sometimes it feels like marketing it’s not always practical or executable.
It’s too much, we’re too busy. We can always find an excuse. I know I do.
If we’re following our purpose, it’s practical.
If we’ve not achieved all of our goals yet, we must make it executable.
i can talk to you about tactics and techniques, but it’s boring, and you know it already. You can google everything and anything for FREE.You know more than you know.
It’s the motivation, inspiration and creativity that we seek sometimes.
I’ve been saying for years: You have to start somewhere in order to celebrate progress. It’s basic benchmarking.
Rachel Hollis said it better, “You can’t get to great if you aren’t putting “good enough” out in the world.”
Rachel Hollis also wrote a book about the lies she told herself and how she overcame them.
I’m going to share the lies I told myself when I started social media in 2009:
I have nothing to say.
No one is listening to me.
I don’t have an audience.
There is so much noise, no one is finding my stuff.
This is ego hijacking our brains.
Because the truth is:
I was most talkative in high school. So, Duh!
I’ve been hired so people are listening.
I’ve built an audience.
I started with my inner circle & circle of influences to let them know what I’m doing out here in the world.
CONNECTION Remember when we discussed purpose?There’s a reason I didn’t say passion or profit first.
Who doesn’t love financial gain? With profit, sometimes we let our money junk get in the way. Sometimes we charge too little or too much or we procrastinate because we don’t know what to charge or how to charge.
With passion, we keep ourselves mired in minutia because it’s an art or it’s too important and it has to be perfect and we don’t let go.
Purpose allows us to dig deep within ourselves to reveal and share our values.And values have impact. Impact will tempt people to pause and perhaps notice you. And the more they notice you, the more likely they will remember you. When they remember you, they will buy from you when they need your products and/or services.
Your marketing strategy should include your story. People don’t want to feel alone. They want to connect. We’re biologically wired to connect as humans.
Sharing your story, your struggle to make it in this business causes connection. People can relate.
No one cares what you post unless they know that you care. Thank you Theodore Roosevelt.
Let’s talk about the “Judgey Judge Judys” in the world. If anyone judges your content and proclaims it as a failure, thank them. It’s a gift. It’s called feedback. Feedback directs us on how to improve.It’s not about perfection, it’s about progress.
Y’all still with me?
CONTENT Content is king; consistency is key.
It doesn’t have to be all business all the time. The best marketing is when people don’t pontificate all the time with all that they know.
No matter your industry, build in visuals. I don’t want to invite you to my pity party, but I used to post about insurance. Now, with my new business, I post about Business Credit Financing. It’s not very exciting content.
Find the emotion. You’re bringing your product or service to life.
Here are some things you can do to stockpile content for your business.
Photographically document your process, parts of the process, pieces of the process.
Train your clients to know you’ll be wanting their feedback along the process. Ask how they are feeling and why they are feeling that way. Bring them into the process.
Why is this beneficial?
You want to know what they are feeling at all times because this provides relatable events with what other people are feeling. This provides direction on your how your content will reach people who may need you in the future.
Document and/or develop “case studies” to capture akeyword library for you to enrich your content though your clients’ experience.
What is their Pain
What are their Problems
What are your Solutions
What is their Satisfaction
Lewis Howes, renowned podcaster of the School of Greatness said “Create what you would want to listen to if you were stuck, starting out or striving.”
People are paying you for your perspective.They have a problem. You have a solution.
Your job is to find more problems so you can help them solve it.
You are doing a disservice by not sharing your solutions and your creativity.
In my previous business, I amassed 13,000 Twitter followers. When I first started using Twitter, I politely stalked my competition & strategic alliances to see what they were posting and how their content was relevant to a similar audience I was trying to develop.
Let’s go back to feeling and/or being overwhelmed.
Who feels that sometimes, somedays maybe they squander 30 minutes here and there?
Did you know that 30 minutes per day is 182.5 hours which is almost 23 days lost which is more than 3 weeks potentially squandered vs. being productive.
We’re famous here at Aurora Consulting for the phrase, “Growth sneaks up on you!” We’ve written a blog about it and have done a few videos where this notion comes into focus as the reason we are doing the video in the first place.
Even the best-prepared, most-organized, super-efficient Business Owner can find themselves with a new client who’s blowing up the revenue to extraordinary levels, or new orders for products and services that far exceed previous orders and expectations.
We like to say, “One Vehicle leads to 20 Vehicles.”
It can happen that fast.
We believe in your business success story. You are putting in the effort every single day to grow your revenue and live the business life of your dreams. That’s why we also believe that your financial services relationships today are so vital to your business growth tomorrow.
Begin with your Banker relationship. It’s not enough that you know your Business Banker’s cell number; she has to answer it when you need her. It’s not enough that she promises to get it done; RESULTS are the only thing worth talking about.
Both these items are great metrics to help you understand if your Business Banker puts as much value in your relationship as you do. If your Banker is meeting these basic standards, then you’re in good hands. If not, then you should reconsider your banking relationships.
Along the lines of your relationships is thinking about future credit financing. We heartily recommend you invest some time at least once a year, if not more often, to sit down with your Business Banker and review your business’ financials. You want to know if you are positioning yourself in the most favorable way possible to apply and be approved for credit financing when you need to grow from ONE vehicle to 20 vehicles.
Some Business Owners fear exposing their financials to their Banker. Maybe the fear surrounds the Banker questioning the Bank’s commitment to your relationship. We have found the opposite to be true for one reason.
Your Banker’s commitment to you is driven by the motivation to maintain and grow your banking relationships with the Bank. When we say relationships, we mean bank accounts. Bankers are driven to grow depository relationships. That’s their goal. And once they have your business, they want to grow it and make sure you stay with them.
Reviewing your financials with your Banker can only further the Bank’s confidence in you and your business. And it may provide you with cogent advice and knowledge that will help you prepare for that moment when you need 19 more vehicles.
At Aurora Consulting, we are Brokers. We work for you, not for the Bank. And we know the tolerances that Lenders have for financing businesses on a growth trajectory.
We understand the Underwriting guidelines and how your business financials fit into those “boxes” at different Banking institutions. We’re happy to review your financials too and prepare you for the eventuality you’ll need credit financing for more vehicles.
Ever heard of too many chefs in the kitchen? You know how it goes. There’s a bit of chaos, too many people involved in making decisions.
In a perfect world you’d get your credit decision very quickly. From your Banker. You have all your relationships there, with your Banker. You believe they know everything about you and your business there is to know because of those relationships. And you’ve been a loyal customer for many years.
So when you find yourself growing your business and suddenly needing working capital to fuel that growth, your first instinct is to contact your Banker. Because of the relationships. And, knowing the value of your relationships you truly believe your Banker can give your financing request prompt consideration and a quick decision, yes, or no, on the application you’ve submitted. In the banking lingo it’s called a “credit decision.”
A decision based on the entire credit profile—income, cash flow, business plans, credit, debt, etc.—to either approve your financing request or to deny your request. After all, your time is very valuable and your business is growing; you don’t have time to waste if a credit decision isn’t going to go your way.
But there’s an entire system at the bank where it’s out of the hands of your Banker to make that quick credit decision. There are Underwriters and processing staff involved to review your credit profile, to compile notes and compare everything against the Bank’s guidelines for lending.
And still you wonder, “What about my relationship?” Yes, your Banker is your go-to person who have been so valuable to you as you’ve grown your business to this point, guiding you with the right accounts and products. So, why can’t your Banker give your loan request the once-over and tell you, honestly, and based on your longstanding relationship and the bank’s guidelines, if the request will result in a “Yes” or a “No?”
The answer is simple. Your Banker is not permitted to make credit decisions. Any of them. Your Banker wants to help you, wants to maintain the worthiness of your relationships. But your Banker’s hands are tied because she is not permitted to make credit-decisions on behalf of the Bank.
Your Loan Application must go through the system. Later, if the system fails you or doesn’t meet your expectations, even if you are approved for the financing, you may want to blame your Banker and ask, “Why couldn’t they tell me this from the beginning and not waste my time?”
Because they can’t, that’s why. Telling you from the beginning qualifies as a credit decision, and that’s out of their hands.
