Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Sahra Halpern is financially assisting Black and Brown businesses.

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Sahra Halpern is financially assisting Black and Brown businesses. · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Money Making Conversations.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: It's the show that she has the secrets of success
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  Speaker 2: experience firsthand by marketing and Brandon expert Rashan McDonald. I
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  Speaker 2: will know he's giving me advice on many occasions. And in
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: case you didn't notice, I'm not broke.
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  Speaker 2: Rashan McDonald money Making Conversations.
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  Speaker 1: Here we go. Wow, welcome to Money Making Conversation Masterclass.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you, thank you for listening, Thank you for being here.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: I am your host, Rashan McDonald. I host this weekly
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  Speaker 1: money Making Conversation Masterclass show. The interviews and information that
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  Speaker 1: this show provides offer everyone. Let me get that straight.
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  Speaker 1: It's time to start reading other people's success stories and
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: start living your own. On today's show, I'll be speaking
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  Speaker 1: with Sarah Harpin. She's the president and CEO of Business
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: Consortium Fund at BCF. They offer her loans exclusively for
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  Speaker 1: business owners of a color. Like I said, you can
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  Speaker 1: only hear these interviews. On the Money Making Conversation Master
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  Speaker 1: Class show. Now it's time to get started. My guest
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  Speaker 1: is Sarah Hoppin. She is the president the chief executive
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  Speaker 1: officer of the Business Consortium Fund and TRYAD Investments. She
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  Speaker 1: has created innovative and responsible lending programs throughout her career
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  Speaker 1: and community development finance. She's responsible for the driving BCF
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  Speaker 1: towards greater impact in the communities we serve by expanding
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  Speaker 1: capital reach to business owners of color since nineteen eighty seven. Now,
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  Speaker 1: since she's been there since nineteen eighty seven, BCF has
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  Speaker 1: originated two hundred and twenty eight million dollars in loans
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  Speaker 1: and financed nine hundred and fifty minority business enterprises are mbes.
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  Speaker 1: Please welcome to the Money Making Conversations Master Class. Sarah Hawpin.
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  Speaker 3: How are you doing, Sarah, I'm doing great.
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  Speaker 4: Thanks for having me.
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  Speaker 1: I tell you I have been waiting on this call.
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  Speaker 1: We met at the Financial Summit and we hit it
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  Speaker 1: off because we were like minded people. But it was
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  Speaker 1: at the end of the day and we got to
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  Speaker 1: you had to fly, and I said, well, can I
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  Speaker 1: get you on my show to talk about what you do?
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  Speaker 1: So let's kick it off and just educate my audience
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  Speaker 1: on exactly what do you do when your company does
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  Speaker 1: at BCF.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely, thanks for this opportunity. BCF is a nonprofit lender.
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  Speaker 4: We are a community development financial institution and we exist
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  Speaker 4: to serve We're not a bank. What makes us different
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  Speaker 4: from a bank is that we provide loans, but we
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  Speaker 4: work with our borrowers very closely to ensure success. And
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  Speaker 4: where when a bank has a client who runs into
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  Speaker 4: any trouble or you know, has trouble repaying the loan,
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  Speaker 4: they are forced to write it off pretty quickly, but
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  Speaker 4: CDFIs like BCF are not required to do that. We
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  Speaker 4: will work with our client to ensure that that client
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  Speaker 4: can repay and that the client can really move on
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  Speaker 4: to experience growth and success as an enterprise.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. Now, this is the first time I've heard of
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  Speaker 1: a community developed financial institution. Are they are locating in
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  Speaker 1: certain parts of the country and they are located in
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  Speaker 1: every state? Tell me a little bit more background in
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  Speaker 1: the history of.
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  Speaker 4: These Yes, so, community development financial institutions or cdfive are
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  Speaker 4: located across the country. There are about two thousand of
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  Speaker 4: us around the country, and I think that we are
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  Speaker 4: one of the best kept secrets, and we should no
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  Speaker 4: longer be a secret. We are actually designated by the
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  Speaker 4: US Department of the Treasury. We receive money from banks
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  Speaker 4: and nonprofits, and about half of us work in the
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  Speaker 4: small business space and half of us work in the
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  Speaker 4: affordable housing space. Everything we do is to lift up
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  Speaker 4: communities and to help community thrive and grow.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, now this is of course, it gets exciting because
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  Speaker 1: you're saying that people who come to you, it's more
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  Speaker 1: like a partnership. You know, you're trying to first of all,
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  Speaker 1: provide revenue or capital so they can fund business. But
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  Speaker 1: also you're not as quick to like pull the rug
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  Speaker 1: out from underneath them if it doesn't go as it
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  Speaker 1: as planned. How do you assist these potential applicants a
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  Speaker 1: loan of people who've been secured loans to get over
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  Speaker 1: those rocky moments in their business?
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  Speaker 4: Sarah, Yeah, absolutely, so, as as as you and some
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  Speaker 4: of your audience might know, there is certainly a great
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  Speaker 4: deal of perhaps reluctance and wariness in communities of color
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  Speaker 4: to engage in financial systems. And it's you know, it's
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  Speaker 4: not without good reason. There has been discrimination. There has there,
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  Speaker 4: you know, and there and it still exists, and so
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  Speaker 4: a lot of our clients are coming to us really
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  Speaker 4: for the first time. Even even as successful a business
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  Speaker 4: person as he she they may be, they may be
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  Speaker 4: engaging in the financial market for the first time, and
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  Speaker 4: there is a lot of education that needs to take
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  Speaker 4: place to ensure that that person is set up for success,
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  Speaker 4: to be able to repay the loan, to be able
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  Speaker 4: to grow busin and repay the loan. And so we
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  Speaker 4: set up that trusting partnership from the get go. We
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  Speaker 4: want to know everything about our clients. We want to
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  Speaker 4: help them through the rocky beginning often and then towards success.
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  Speaker 4: But every business experiences ups and downs of a business cycle,
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  Speaker 4: whether it be like interest rates increase that are happening
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  Speaker 4: right now or supply chain shocks that happened during the pandemic.
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  Speaker 4: All businesses experience ups and downs. And we because we
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  Speaker 4: have established that relationship of trust, our clients are willing
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  Speaker 4: to talk to us about what they need and how
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  Speaker 4: we can help them throughout their business cycles.
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  Speaker 1: Wow, I'm talking to Sarah Halpin. She's the president and
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  Speaker 1: CEO of the Business Consortium Fund and Try and Investment
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  Speaker 1: to BCF met her at a financial Summit, and at
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  Speaker 1: that's financial Summer, she was meeting individuals who will come
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  Speaker 1: in there and the seeking advice and seeking opportunity to
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  Speaker 1: seek ways that they can grow their business or how
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  Speaker 1: they can be advised to grow their business. And I'll
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  Speaker 1: be honest when I in my world and I think
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  Speaker 1: I'm a knowledge of personal, knowledgeable person. Sarah, you know,
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  Speaker 1: I know by the credit union, I know by the bank.
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  Speaker 1: I had never in my life heard about the Community
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  Speaker 1: Development Financial Institution. Now we always hear the word leary
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  Speaker 1: or always hear you don't know. Why don't I know
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  Speaker 1: about this?
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  Speaker 3: Why?
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  Speaker 1: You know, in my life of trying to went to college,
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  Speaker 1: I consider myself educated. I went out there. I've got
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  Speaker 1: my calls finance, I've got home finance, I've got businesses finance.
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  Speaker 1: Why am I not hearing about CDFI.
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  Speaker 4: Why are you not hearing about CDFIVE? Well, we probably
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  Speaker 4: don't do a very good job marketing ourselves. We are
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  Speaker 4: non profits.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, okay, okay, at least you're admitting it.
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  Speaker 3: At least you're admitting it.
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  Speaker 1: At least my fans of my my listeners will understand.
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  Speaker 1: They want to call in and talk to you. They
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  Speaker 1: can call in talk to the stranger who's out there
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  Speaker 1: helping communities of color to get business business capital.
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  Speaker 4: Correct, that's right, And not a lot of us focus
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  Speaker 4: on communities of color either. So we are the only
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  Speaker 4: CDFI out there that one exclusively serves business owners of
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  Speaker 4: color and that's in our charter. Yes, thank you, thank you.
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  Speaker 1: Now, this location is based.
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  Speaker 4: Where we have physical offices in New York, but we
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  Speaker 4: lend nationwide. We we lend primarily to businesses operate who
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  Speaker 4: are who have a B to B model, So a
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  Speaker 4: business providing a good or service to another business and
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  Speaker 4: in that business, there was likely to be a contract, right,
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  Speaker 4: a contract between your small business and uh the local
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  Speaker 4: government or your small business in Walmart. And that's where
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  Speaker 4: we come in to help these small businesses make good
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  Speaker 4: on their contracts, to help them hire the people, buy
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  Speaker 4: the materials, and whatever it is that they need to
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  Speaker 4: to deliver on their content.
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  Speaker 1: You know, people, all people drop in and out at
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  Speaker 1: different times of the show. At this time of the show,
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  Speaker 1: can you tell people how they can reach out and
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  Speaker 1: find more information about you know, BCF and what you
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  Speaker 1: guys are doing for the community, the outreach and the
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  Speaker 1: opportunities to get capital for their businesses.
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  Speaker 4: It's so easy. All anybody would need to do is
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  Speaker 4: go to b cfcapital dot com. That's b AS in business,
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  Speaker 4: see us in consortium and FS and fund bcfcapital dot
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  Speaker 4: com and apply for a loan there or simply put
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  Speaker 4: in your information and one of our lending staff will
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  Speaker 4: reach out to you. And the great thing about BCF
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  Speaker 4: we are community led. We are one hundred percent staffed
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  Speaker 4: by people of color. We are people who understand what
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  Speaker 4: the needs of the small business owner are and we'll be,
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  Speaker 4: you know, standing by, ready to respond and to help
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  Speaker 4: you out.
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  Speaker 1: Great. Well, this this is great. Now always I'd always
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  Speaker 1: I'd like to get a little background on individuals, because
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  Speaker 1: you seem to be passionate about this. It seems to
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  Speaker 1: be something that you bonded to. Does your background lend
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  Speaker 1: yourself to this? Can you educate my audience on a
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  Speaker 1: little bit about how you started in the financial community
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  Speaker 1: before I go into the more questions and dan led
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  Speaker 1: and how did you wind up at BCF.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, well, I never thought I was going to have
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  Speaker 4: a career in financial services. I'll just start there. But
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  Speaker 4: the way that I got there is as like a
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  Speaker 4: little girl. I always understood that where I was born
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  Speaker 4: and the opportunities I had had so much to do
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  Speaker 4: with luck. And part of that is my mother came
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  Speaker 4: to the United States from Trinidad and Tobago when she
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  Speaker 4: was in her early twenties and she was trying to
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  Speaker 4: flee from a pretty bad situation. And she got to
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  Speaker 4: the United States and met my dad and she was
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  Speaker 4: able to how and make a life for herself right
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  Speaker 4: because people helped her along the way. And that that's
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  Speaker 4: how I understood that without people helping each other, I mean,
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  Speaker 4: I wouldn't be here, my mother wouldn't be here. And
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  Speaker 4: I started doing work in human rights, and that took
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  Speaker 4: me to economic in being interested in economic development. I
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  Speaker 4: actually worked at Charles Schwab for fifteen years. I never
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  Speaker 4: thought I'd work for a bank for that long, but
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  Speaker 4: when I was there, guess what I was doing, or Sean,
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  Speaker 4: I was making loans to CDFI's like, wow, why I
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  Speaker 4: did that for fifteen years before I got to lead
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  Speaker 4: this company.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, we know. The beauty of your conversation is that
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  Speaker 1: it's about opportunity. And what I try to do on
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  Speaker 1: my show is I find so many people who are
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: filled with doubt. So many people are filled with disbelief
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  Speaker 1: that what people say isn't real, what people the work.
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  Speaker 1: I think that what we especially in the minority community,
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: is that nothing's ever easy. You know. I wish you
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  Speaker 1: could just fill out a single piece of paper and
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  Speaker 1: your dreams will come true. How what is the process
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  Speaker 1: of walking through the front door and the paperwork that
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  Speaker 1: one would have to fill out all the background because
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: do you have to have fantastic credit? I don't want
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: to start too far into the conversation, but can you
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  Speaker 1: walk us through the process of sitting down or contacting
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  Speaker 1: cd A, cd IFI in this case BCF, which is
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  Speaker 1: Business Consortium Fund and Try and Investments.
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  Speaker 4: So the first thing I would say is put your
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  Speaker 4: fear in your self doubts, you know, put them aside
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  Speaker 4: before you walk in the door. Put aside your preconceived notions,
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  Speaker 4: and also put aside your maybe desire to put everything
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  Speaker 4: in the best light, because when it comes to capital provision,
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  Speaker 4: we need to really know you, and that means knowing
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  Speaker 4: your strength and your weaknesses as a business owner. Because
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  Speaker 4: we want to help and we do what we do.
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  Speaker 4: Look for paperwork, we want three years of tax returns.
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  Speaker 4: We do look at your credit score, we do look
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  Speaker 4: at your business success. We do look at your bank
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  Speaker 4: statements and your cash flow. And the reason we do
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  Speaker 4: that is we want to make sure that any loan
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  Speaker 4: that we provide is a path to growth and that
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  Speaker 4: it's not another headache for a small business loader. Imagine
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  Speaker 4: a predatory lender. They don't care, right, They're just gonna
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  Speaker 4: They're just gonna give you money until you pay it back,
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  Speaker 4: and if you don't, there is serious consequences for us. Yeah,
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  Speaker 4: we want, we want you to pay the money back,
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  Speaker 4: but we want to help you understand how you pay
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  Speaker 4: the money back and how this loan and how this
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  Speaker 4: capital leads to growth for your company. So it's paperwork,
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  Speaker 4: But don't be afraid, that's what I would say.
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  Speaker 1: Well, you know that that's the key fear. Now we've
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  Speaker 1: noticed recently, Sarah, they have been raising interests, interest just
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  Speaker 1: to be our friend. Now they may raise an interest
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: because they say they're trying to curtail the inflation. Where
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: are how are the decisions on interest made on the
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  Speaker 1: loans that you're giving out to potential mbes.
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  Speaker 4: Yes, one of the barriers is affordable capital. Yes, one
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  Speaker 4: of the barriers to success is affordable capital. And yes,
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  Speaker 4: rates that have been rising, and a lot of CDFIs
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  Speaker 4: are raising their rates, but many of us have really
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  Speaker 4: solid bank partners who have extended money to us at
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  Speaker 4: low rates. So we borrow money from a bank. This
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  Speaker 4: is how it works. We borrow the money and then
• 13:38
  Speaker 4: we put an interest. We add a little interest to
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  Speaker 4: the money we have to pay back to the bank,
• 13:43
  Speaker 4: and that's we charge the client so that we can
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  Speaker 4: cover our own costs and that we can also pay
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  Speaker 4: the bank back. Right now, we are lending around still
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  Speaker 4: eight to ten percent interest or maybe eleven percent interests
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  Speaker 4: at the higher end, and that is very much in
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  Speaker 4: line with what banks are doing, but some are much
• 14:06
  Speaker 4: higher than that right now, and we have not increased
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  Speaker 4: our rate in the face of these interest rate increases
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  Speaker 4: of the past year and a half.
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  Speaker 1: Well, we're about to go to break be right back
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: with the incredible Sarah Howprom she is the president and
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: CEO of the Business Consortium Fund and try and investment.
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: Don't go nowhere.
• 14:31
  Speaker 5: We'll be right back with more money making conversations. Masterclass
• 14:34
  Speaker 5: with Ushawn McDonald HBCUs represent Black Excellence.
• 14:39
  Speaker 6: If you attend or are an alumnus of an HBCU,
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  Speaker 6: dot com. Click my HBCU Story. Next, you can upload
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  Speaker 6: you attended your HBCU. Then share your academic or social
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  Speaker 6: fraternity or sorority. The goal is to use your my
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  Speaker 6: HBCU prepared you for success and now we want everyone
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  Speaker 6: HBCU Story to share your story.
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  Speaker 5: Now, let's return to Money Making Conversations Masterclass with Rashaan McDonald.
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: That's right, Rashwan here as talking to I'm gonna call
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: it my friend. I'm calling my friend because she's a
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: friend of the show. She's she You know. The the
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: thing about it when I invite people to come on
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: the show, I love it when people are excited to
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: share information, and information that can change your lives is
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: what we're talking about right now. We're talking about a
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: person you can call. This is not a charge to
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: call this company or this individual to find about how
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: you can get educated. I think that's what hurts a
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: lot of small businesses. They have you know, you have
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: the SBA, you have a lot of platforms out there,
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: But this is a financial platform that's set up and
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: able to a CDFI. And again, this is the first
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: time I heard of a CDFI when I met her,
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: And so I'm bringing it on my show. And I
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: talked to a couple of my producers offline and I
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: asked them, have you heard of a CDFI anyway?
• 16:41
  Speaker 4: Nope.
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  Speaker 1: And so that means that this is information that's new
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: to the community, and it's information that we should take
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: advantage of it. When I'm talking to you, Sarah am
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: I being naive when I say that. Not a lot
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: of people I know. I mentioned it on the other break,
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  Speaker 1: But how can I help you or help get the
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  Speaker 1: word out? Because in our community, the more we know,
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: the more small businesses we can create within the community,
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: more taxes we can create within the community, the more
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: and people we can plow within the community. More and
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: more of our communities within the educational because you know,
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: that's how taxes are done for education. They tax houses,
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: they tax businesses, which means that the educational structure within
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: the community is stronger. What can we do as a team?
• 17:25
  Speaker 4: I love the question. I'm smiling that you asked it,
• 17:29
  Speaker 4: And what can we do? It is all about word
• 17:32
  Speaker 4: of mouth. It's very true. We are on LinkedIn, we
• 17:37
  Speaker 4: are on social media. You can find us there. But
• 17:40
  Speaker 4: really it's all about talking to your friends talking to us.
• 17:45
  Speaker 4: We have some wonderful clients who tell their friends about
• 17:49
  Speaker 4: us after they've had success, and their friends come to us,
• 17:52
  Speaker 4: And it really is all about word of mouth, especially
• 17:55
  Speaker 4: in the community that we serve, and it is about trust,
• 17:58
  Speaker 4: and it is about, you know, helping people overcome that
• 18:02
  Speaker 4: reluctance and wariness of the financial services industry. That's really
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  Speaker 4: what it's about. So you have to hear about it
• 18:07
  Speaker 4: from your friends and your family, you.
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: Know when one comes into see you, and I know
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: sometimes on this show, I'll be honest with you, sir,
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: I get frustrated. I might get too emotional because I
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: want people to see it. I want people to get it.
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: I want people to run out there and just take
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: advantage of the opportunity. You know, and you say, you
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: know for fifteen years you've basically doing this at Charles
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: Swab before you came over here and did it for
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: as the CEO and the president of BCF. So what
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: frustrates you. I know that has to be some degree
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: of frustration that comes out of this because you want
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: to make a difference, and you have financing that can
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: make a difference. I guess that's said. That's the question.
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: Are enough people knocking on your door?
• 18:53
  Speaker 4: No? No, enough people are not knocking on our door.
• 18:57
  Speaker 5: Now.
• 18:57
  Speaker 4: One thing about BCF is that we have some really
• 19:01
  Speaker 4: wonderful new news, but we're also overcoming our own our
• 19:06
  Speaker 4: own past. We have a lot of capital available right now,
• 19:10
  Speaker 4: but we didn't a few years ago. So we are
• 19:13
  Speaker 4: reintroducing ourselves to the community, We are re engaging with
• 19:18
  Speaker 4: the community, and we are here really to serve this community.
• 19:23
  Speaker 4: So the are there enough people knocking on our door.
• 19:26
  Speaker 4: Not quite yet, but you know what there will be
• 19:29
  Speaker 4: as we continue to make loan by loan by loan,
• 19:34
  Speaker 4: and our community understands that we're here for everybody's benefit.
• 19:39
  Speaker 4: We're here as a community development financial institute.
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: Well, you know, I smile and a laugh and as
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: you said, you are smiler when I asked that question,
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: because you know it is it is. Sometimes you have
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: to your patient. Sometimes you have to understand that we
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: all want everything to jump off real quick. But yeah,
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: we know you know you want to do you want
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: to open the door and run past you like they
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: do on Black Friday, you know, but it doesn't happen
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: that way. And and and the process is is knowledge.
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: It is also is networking. It also is people. And
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: sometimes you know, the part that I that annoys me
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: about a good secret is that people don't want to
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: share it. Sometimes, you know, they're they're shared with their
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: little group or they might have a little Facebook group
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: online they share within that little group and things like that,
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: and it is winning for them, but it's not winning
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: for enough people. And that's the purpose of the Community
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: Development Financial Institution. It's called community, which means it's setting
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: place for the community to have an opportunity to grow
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: their businesses within the community. With that being said, what
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: are three financial secrets for all business owners seeking to
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: grow their enterprise or their business?
• 20:54
  Speaker 4: Okay, I would say one is know the industry that
• 20:59
  Speaker 4: you want to serve. And this is specifically for the
• 21:01
  Speaker 4: B to B companies that we serve. Right, So, if
• 21:04
  Speaker 4: you're a if you're a catering company, for example, and
• 21:08
  Speaker 4: you are serving the tech industry, well, you might have
• 21:12
  Speaker 4: certain insurance requirements that you need. And I say tech industry,
• 21:15
  Speaker 4: I'm actually located in California, so it comes to mind,
• 21:19
  Speaker 4: you might have certain insurance requirements, you might have certain
• 21:24
  Speaker 4: legal or compliance requirements that you need to be aware
• 21:28
  Speaker 4: of and comply with in order to serve that industry.
• 21:32
  Speaker 4: So really knowing the industry that you serve is really
• 21:35
  Speaker 4: really important. Another on just the personal side, know your
• 21:39
  Speaker 4: credit score. Everybody needs you can go to you know,
• 21:43
  Speaker 4: there are so many free opportunities to get to know
• 21:48
  Speaker 4: your own credit score. I always say, know your credit score,
• 21:51
  Speaker 4: know yourself, right, and it really is about knowing ourselves,
• 21:56
  Speaker 4: knowing what our strengths and weaknesses are, and also working
• 21:59
  Speaker 4: on our weeknd is your credit is something that can
• 22:01
  Speaker 4: be It can go up very it can go up,
• 22:03
  Speaker 4: it can go down, but it can go up and
• 22:06
  Speaker 4: people need to know that and not you know and
• 22:08
  Speaker 4: be and be willing to uh to fix that. Another
• 22:11
  Speaker 4: one is don't take on debt you can't repay.
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: Amen.
• 22:15
  Speaker 4: Sometimes people come to us and they say, well, what
• 22:17
  Speaker 4: loan size can you give me? And we say, that's
• 22:20
  Speaker 4: not how you think about it. What you need to
• 22:22
  Speaker 4: think about is what kind of cash flow your business
• 22:27
  Speaker 4: is throwing off and whether that cash flow can cover
• 22:30
  Speaker 4: the principle and interest on alone. And you'll also want
• 22:35
  Speaker 4: to know do I have collateral? What things can I
• 22:38
  Speaker 4: do to support a loon? Most people know about mortgage
• 22:41
  Speaker 4: lending and small business lending, frankly is is similar in
• 22:44
  Speaker 4: a lot of ways. There's an asset, right, it's your business,
• 22:46
  Speaker 4: and there's cash flow, which is your income, and you
• 22:49
  Speaker 4: need to know that you can repay that loan and
• 22:51
  Speaker 4: that is going to help your business grow, not that
• 22:53
  Speaker 4: it's going to keep you up at night.
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: Great Karen and Karen's Online Karen, Welcome to Money Making
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: Conversation Master. Ask you speaking to Rau Sean McDonald Sarah,
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: what is your question?
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: Thank you, I appreciate it. My question is how can
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: you display three years of taxes when you own a
• 23:12
  Speaker 3: food truck business that's seasonal. You know, the pandemic was
• 23:16
  Speaker 3: you know, it was weird. So how do you deal
• 23:19
  Speaker 3: with the three year tax returns when it's it's so
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: unpredictable when you put in your your application for a loan.
• 23:27
  Speaker 4: Absolutely, it's a great question. And we where as we
• 23:32
  Speaker 4: you know it's required. We do need the tax returns.
• 23:35
  Speaker 4: We need to understand, you know, what your apporting to
• 23:37
  Speaker 4: the government. We look at the pandemic as a special situation.
• 23:42
  Speaker 4: A lot of our clients had down times in the pandemic.
• 23:46
  Speaker 4: We try to look to the future as well. We
• 23:48
  Speaker 4: want to look to the path we to show performance.
• 23:51
  Speaker 4: We also want to look to the future. We want
• 23:54
  Speaker 4: to see what your future. You know, what this loan
• 23:56
  Speaker 4: can provide in terms of future earnings. So we love
• 24:00
  Speaker 4: got pandemic times with a special lens, and we're willing
• 24:04
  Speaker 4: to overlook.
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: You know, so you're basically down, so the downtime. First
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: of all, you gotta fire your taxes every year. I
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: gotta get your taxes in every year to be able
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: to consider that. We understand the pandemic was an odd period,
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: but more importantly, since twenty one, twenty two, number and
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: twenty three, what are your sales looking like? That's what
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: she's talking about. Are you projecting? Are you are you?
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: Are your sales flat versus what happened in twenty two?
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: We expect in twenty one the twenty two should have
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: increased over twenty one. We're gonna look at if you're seasonal,
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: there are no seasonal periods that you're open. What are
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: your sales matching day to day, month to month, month
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: and all these things? What was your what was your
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: expenses versus your income? Those things that that's the part
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: of the business that frustrates small business owners because you
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: have to do the math, and sometimes the math doesn't
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: add up. But what Sarah is saying is don't let
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: that stop you, because it's important that you start talking
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: to somebody who knows how to handle money, and if
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: you're not handling it correctly, they can advise you, especially
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: if you're trying to get a loan from them, and
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: help you correct maybe the way you're doing business, or
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: advise you. If you do this, then you can be
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: considered for this, which may be a key moment in
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: running your business. So I feel it's important that when
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: I'm on the show, when she's a person like hers
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: on the show, even if you don't or can't afford
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: the loan, call these banks and find out or these
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: community development financial institutions so they can set you in
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: the right course to think about budgets, to think about planning,
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: to think about that path to success. Do you think
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: that when I'm saying it's correct, Sarah.
• 25:42
  Speaker 4: The relationship is so important, Sean. Absolutely, you need to
• 25:46
  Speaker 4: have the relationship before you think you need financing because
• 25:52
  Speaker 4: it takes some time to get to know the lender
• 25:54
  Speaker 4: and for the lenders to get to know you, first
• 25:56
  Speaker 4: of all. Second of all, you don't know when an
• 25:57
  Speaker 4: opportunity is going to fall in your love. You may
• 25:59
  Speaker 4: think I don't need credit. You may think I got it,
• 26:02
  Speaker 4: I got this. I don't I don't need help and
• 26:05
  Speaker 4: I don't need cash. But the day may come, and
• 26:08
  Speaker 4: it could be tomorrow when you have an opportunity that
• 26:11
  Speaker 4: you need an additional amount of money to make good
• 26:16
  Speaker 4: on and to deliver on.
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: I want to thank you Karen for calling in to
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: the show. It's important that she called because she got answered.
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: But an important Karen is about their relationship. So it's
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: about the information you're trying to get. And other Karens
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: in the world out there are Brian's the world or
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: bills in the world out there. They need to really
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: start getting answers to your business in order to move forward,
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: and stop praying about it, stop holding about it, stop
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: putting it all in faith, and start putting it in
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: to the pen to the papers. They say, Sarah, I
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: want to thank you, thank you, thank you for coming
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: on Money Making Conversation master Class. I know you're busy,
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: but can I get you on the show once a quarter?
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: It's that too much to ask.
• 26:55
  Speaker 4: I don't think that's too much to ask, because you
• 26:57
  Speaker 4: know why, man, more people know need to know about CBFI.
• 27:04
  Speaker 4: I'm happy to come on and do that. Well.
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: Thank you the energy with fantastic your education and the
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: tools you're going to bring to the table game. Sarah Hoppin,
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: President CEO of BCL Business Consortium Fund. Please tell them
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: how to get in touch with you as I wrap
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: up the show.
• 27:19
  Speaker 4: Www dot bcfcapital dot com. Come see our website, come
• 27:24
  Speaker 4: get in touch and we would love to talk to you.
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: Thank you for coming on Money Making Conversation mastic Lands.
• 27:29
  Speaker 4: I appreciate you fantastic, take care Okay, thank you everybody, bybye.
• 27:40
  Speaker 5: Thank you for joining us for this edition of Money
• 27:42
  Speaker 5: Making Conversations Masterclass. Money Making Conversations Masterclass with rough Shan
• 27:48
  Speaker 5: McDonald is produced by thirty eight fifteen Media Inc. More
• 27:52
  Speaker 5: information about thirty eight fifteen Media Inc. Is available at
• 27:56
  Speaker 5: thirty eight fifteen media dot com. And always remember to
• 28:00
  Speaker 5: lead with your gifts