It's great to have an idea for a small business, but sometimes making it a reality can be a bit overwhelming. The planning is easy, it's the execution that offers so many pitfalls for a first time potential business owner. There is a Catch-22 in opening a new business. Banks don't want to lend money for a brick and mortar business if you don't have a location & landlords don't want (& actually neither do business owners) to negotiate a lease if everything isn't in place, which includes money to open the business.
Luckily for us we found an amazing resource through Montgomery County's Department of Economic Development (http://www6.montgomerycountymd.gov/dedtmpl.asp?url=/content/ded/sbs/toolbox.asp). While I'm sure certain aspects of the program may have changed, in 1993 the assistance we found was a saving grace. We might eventually have found our way, but I suspect it would have taken us much, much longer. This free service to residents of Montgomery County provided us a counselor who helped us hone our business plan so that it was "bank ready". The Small Business Development Center also served as a sounding board to make sure that whatever the business idea was, it had a high potential to be successful.
We had purchased a computer program that walked us through the steps needed to create a business plan. It asked the questions we would need to answer, but didn't really provide information on how to get those answers. I think we would still be brainstorming to this day! I wish I could remember the names of the wonderful people at the SBDC who answered our questions, lead us to the information we needed, edited our BP & kept us on track. JoAnn, Nan and I were great in the planning, but sometimes got hung-up in the details. Lofty is easy!
Once they determined we had a business plan ready to present, their support continued in a very concrete way. At the time, the SBDC presented a monthly "speed dating" event for potential small business owners to meet with banks looking to loan money. Copies of our BP were presented to the banks most likely to be interested in our venture. Then on a single day all of the parties were brought together. Brief introductory meetings were scheduled between banks that had expressed a return interest and the hopeful entrepreneurs, allowing the banks the opportunity to ask for clarification and size up the loan applicants. In addition, during the lunch break, banks set up small tables so that loan seekers could meet with banks that might not realize that yours' was a business they should invest in, so hadn't requested a meeting. Montgomery County's "Shark Tank".
We met with 3 banks. In some ways a strangely informal introduction, but I think the easy atmosphere took much of the anxiety away, so we were able to clearly present our idea to the scary bankers and loan officers. We also met with a couple of other banks during lunch and ultimately were offered 3 loans (2 we had meetings with and 1 from lunch). We accepted Potomac Valley Bank, establishing a long term relationship which we maintained until they were absorbed by PNC and lost the small bank qualities we had come to appreciate.
Waygoose Redux & it's earlier iteration The Waygoose are micro businesses. So whenever you hear politicians, pundits, journalists talking about small business, they generally are not talking about us. A small business typically has over 50 employees, the closest we got to that was when both Rockville and Bethesda were open when we hit 25 (summer & holiday help & many very part-time employees). It is often very difficult to get anyone to pay attention to the micros, much of the time an owner is the only full-time employee, making it difficult to join local organizations or lobby for attention. I suspect that most of the small businesses you patronize are really micro businesses and need your loyalty even more. To have the kind of resource available through the SBDC is an invaluable tool and we were lucky to find them.
No comments:
Post a Comment