AndyMark.pdf - The Fighting Pi

Before you approach a bank for a loan,
whether it’s for a car loan, a mortgage or
to start a business, you have to do your
homework. You have to prove to the
lending company that you will pay them
back. They want to see your business plan
and they want to see your three year
projections of income. They want to see
your financial picture in detail.
Andy’s dad suggested that we should
FIRST approach locally owned banks. His
point was that a locally owned bank is
more apt to work with a small business,
and they can usually cut a lot of the red
tape small businesses have to deal with.
There are also other funding sources
small businesses can investigate. In some
instances both state and federal grants are
available. Small Business Innovation
Research Awards (SBIR) and stimulus
money are both out there. Just remember,
there are strings attached! If a small
business is looking for investors they may
also want to consider Venture Capitalists
(VCs) and Angel Investors.
Banks want to draw interest from the
loans companies use, so they want to
keep loaning you money. However, banks
don’t like surprises. We have been able to
accurately forecast our sales and growth,
and our bank appreciates that.
VCs and Angel Investors can also
provide capital, but they often want a
percentage of ownership of the company,
or they want a lump sum of cash after a
planned company sale after a few years.
We have not sought out VCs or other
investors for our business growth.
Small businesses need to watch all of
their costs carefully. They need to know
when to spend for quality and when to
pinch pennies. Many employees forget
to be frugal when travelling on business
or paying for meals and hotels because
the company pays. We can’t afford to
spend much in these areas, so we strive
to get the lowest travel rates.
This is also true for parts and service
sourcing. We look for low cost suppliers
of fabricated parts and professional
services. However, we also believe that
we get what we pay for, and if we are
always paying the lowest price, our
quality suffers. So, there is a fine line
between working hard to find the lowest
price and paying enough for a quality part
or service.
………………………………………………
………………………………………………
………………………………………………
………………………………………………
………………………………………………
………………………………………………
………………………………………………
………………………………………………
………………………………………………
………………………………………………
………………………………………………
………………………………………………
………………………………………………
………………………………………………
………………………………………………
………………………………………………
………………………………………………
………………………………………………
………………………………………………
………………………………………………
………………………………………………