Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Business Tip: She educates entrepreneurs of color—about equitable access to capital.

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Business Tip: She educates entrepreneurs of color—about equitable access to capital. · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

0:00
Speaker 1: Welcome to my show.
0:01
Speaker 2: I'm Rashon McDonald, a host of Money Making Conversations Masterclass,
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Speaker 2: can uplift your community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or
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Speaker 2: advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Now, let's
0:38
Speaker 2: get this podcast started. My guest is President and chief
0:42
Speaker 2: executive officer of the Business Consortium Fund and try Ad Investments.
0:47
Speaker 2: I am Mission Drivemner and Linda committed to delivering capital
0:51
Speaker 2: to achieve social impact to Community Development Finance. BCF can
0:56
Speaker 2: issue loans as small as twenty five thousand dollars and
1:00
Speaker 2: up to one point five million dollars and is authorized
1:03
Speaker 2: to lend throughout the US. Please welcome to Money Making Conversation.
1:07
Speaker 2: A person I've known a long time and we've had
1:09
Speaker 2: many discussions about this, Sarah Halpern.
1:12
Speaker 3: How you doing, Sarah, I'm doing so great. It's always
1:15
Speaker 3: so good to see you. Sean, so glad to be here.
1:18
Speaker 2: Well, first of all, give every a little background on
1:20
Speaker 2: you so we can really get a clear understanding of
1:22
Speaker 2: your commitment to our community, especially people of color, and
1:27
Speaker 2: that's what attracted to be. I met you at the
1:29
Speaker 2: National Minorities Supply to Development Council, say about four years ago,
1:35
Speaker 2: and we've been You've been on my show before being
1:37
Speaker 2: have an interview, and I've been trying to get you back,
1:39
Speaker 2: and I finally have you back, Sarah. So I'm happy
1:41
Speaker 2: updaters on who you are and what you're doing right now.
1:45
Speaker 3: Absolutely, BCF is a community development financial institution. We have
1:53
Speaker 3: a dual purpose that's built right into our name, blending
2:00
Speaker 3: and community development, Sir Rashan, As you probably know more
2:05
Speaker 3: than anyone else, there are over thirty six million small
2:10
Speaker 3: businesses in America and I'm going to guess most of
2:13
Speaker 3: them have never even heard of a CDFI like BCF.
2:18
Speaker 3: So that is the problem because CDFIs like us exist
2:24
Speaker 3: specifically for the small business owner, right, the small business
2:29
Speaker 3: owner who walked into a bank who got told no
2:31
Speaker 3: and thought that that was the end of their road,
2:34
Speaker 3: and we're here to tell you it wasn't. That's where
2:37
Speaker 3: we come in. Over the past forty years, BCF has
2:41
Speaker 3: put in about two hundred and thirty million dollars into
2:44
Speaker 3: businesses that the traditional system has passed over, and we're
2:48
Speaker 3: trying to get the secret out today that we exist.
2:51
Speaker 3: And when I met you four years ago, I was
2:54
Speaker 3: just at the beginning of this journey of revamping and
2:58
Speaker 3: reinvigorating this company. And I'm happy to say we are
3:02
Speaker 3: well on the path and we are solving so many
3:04
Speaker 3: problems that that small businesses are facing today in this
3:10
Speaker 3: very unique environment, the post COVID environment, the environment of tariffs,
3:17
Speaker 3: of economic contraction and uncertainty. We are here to meet
3:22
Speaker 3: this moment cool.
3:23
Speaker 1: Thank you for that update there, Sarah.
3:25
Speaker 2: Sarah, when you talk about small businesses, you know just
3:28
Speaker 2: there's always issues with a small business because of the
3:32
Speaker 2: fact that you know how you put it together, how
3:34
Speaker 2: you staff, did you have a budget, did you have
3:37
Speaker 2: legal paperwork signed correctly? Do you have accounting or in
3:41
Speaker 2: place so you'll know how to how your money is
3:44
Speaker 2: being spent and all how you can project your money
3:47
Speaker 2: and dealing with small business. Tell us the maybe top
3:50
Speaker 2: three things that you notice the eras the small businesses
3:55
Speaker 2: create that stop them from getting the loan or doing
3:58
Speaker 2: business with you.
4:00
Speaker 3: Yes, so a lot of small businesses, many small businesses
4:06
Speaker 3: are focused on their work right, they know exactly how
4:11
Speaker 3: to run their business. What they're not always thinking about
4:15
Speaker 3: is capital. So what's what One thing that's very important
4:20
Speaker 3: to know is that we meet business owners every day
4:23
Speaker 3: who we call almost loan ready. There may be capital curious.
4:29
Speaker 3: They know they need capital to grow their business, but
4:35
Speaker 3: they haven't set themselves up yet to be capital ready.
4:40
Speaker 3: So we like to help those businesses by by steering
4:45
Speaker 3: them into our technical assistance programs to get them where
4:49
Speaker 3: they need to be. So we you know that and
4:53
Speaker 3: that also goes for these capital curious businesses. But what
4:56
Speaker 3: we also call the pre lending stage, right, we want
5:00
Speaker 3: want to set up these businesses to succeed.
5:03
Speaker 1: That would be really interesting.
5:04
Speaker 2: I always whenever I hear a company like yours in
5:07
Speaker 2: this case you're a nonprofit, you know it lends. You know,
5:10
Speaker 2: you lend a businesses that a bank won't touch. Or
5:14
Speaker 2: can't touch. How do let me say this correctly, Why
5:19
Speaker 2: do you do it? And how can you do it?
5:22
Speaker 3: Hmm, Well, why do we do it? Is a matter
5:27
Speaker 3: of me personally. It's a matter of economic security for
5:31
Speaker 3: people in my community and the communities outside of my community,
5:37
Speaker 3: and all of us need to be thinking about how
5:39
Speaker 3: are we strengthening the American economy so that more businesses
5:45
Speaker 3: that can succeed. And when business, when small businesses succeed,
5:49
Speaker 3: you have the success of the business owner of the
5:52
Speaker 3: people in uh who are who work for that business.
5:56
Speaker 3: But also what we see a PCF and what we
5:58
Speaker 3: find so exciting is we're geting small businesses ready to
6:02
Speaker 3: participate in supply chains of large corporations. So those large,
6:08
Speaker 3: large corporations also benefit because now they have you know,
6:13
Speaker 3: the it person, the grounds person, they have the contract lawyer,
6:19
Speaker 3: they have all of these businesses to choose from to
6:22
Speaker 3: strengthen their economy. So I really see this as part
6:25
Speaker 3: of the fabric of the American economy. You also asked
6:30
Speaker 3: about banks. So often we are working with businesses who
6:38
Speaker 3: have been turned down by a bank, right, and we
6:43
Speaker 3: end up being the bridge between where the business is
6:47
Speaker 3: today and where the opportunity is bringing in those various players.
6:52
Speaker 3: I just talked about local economies, large corporations, and large
6:58
Speaker 3: lending institutions. So a lot of times banks are going
7:02
Speaker 3: to turn have turned down the barrowers we're talking to, right, right.
7:07
Speaker 3: Why do they do that? Mm hmm. There are many reasons.
7:11
Speaker 1: One of the.
7:11
Speaker 3: Reasons that banks have regulatory requirements. They have to follow
7:19
Speaker 3: certain underwriting standards. Right, that's one. Let's just say that's
7:24
Speaker 3: one of the reasons. And when a business older doesn't
7:27
Speaker 3: meet those standards, the responsible bankers are saying, I can't
7:31
Speaker 3: help you today, but let me connect you with somebody
7:35
Speaker 3: who can't like BCF. Right, So, our bank partners are
7:40
Speaker 3: sending us really wonderful clients who have may have had
7:43
Speaker 3: a down year, they may have had two down years,
7:46
Speaker 3: but we see they have a contract, they have promise,
7:49
Speaker 3: they have growth. So when they call us, we are
7:54
Speaker 3: completing the ecosystem. We are connecting the dots. And when
7:58
Speaker 3: a business graduates from BCF, they you know, they've built
8:01
Speaker 3: their credit, they've built their business, they've grown their revenue,
8:06
Speaker 3: they've established a track record. Then they can go back
8:09
Speaker 3: to that bank to get those loans over one and
8:11
Speaker 3: a half million dollars because they're now a qualified borrowwork.
8:14
Speaker 3: So what we see is that everybody can win.
8:17
Speaker 1: What's great. I'm talking to Sarah Helpin. Help her.
8:20
Speaker 2: She's the president and CEO or the Business Consortium Fund
8:24
Speaker 2: and Try and Investments. This is about being able to
8:28
Speaker 2: save the community when people come to you. Because I
8:31
Speaker 2: want people to hear this interview, how can they get
8:34
Speaker 2: in touch with y'all? Would like to get that at
8:35
Speaker 2: early because that doesn't mean everybody going to stick to
8:37
Speaker 2: the end of the interview. So how can one get
8:40
Speaker 2: in touch with you?
8:40
Speaker 3: Yeah? Great, Well, the easiest way to find us is
8:44
Speaker 3: to go to BCF capital dot com. That's Business Consortion
8:51
Speaker 3: Fund b CF bcfcapital dot com. There you can learn
8:56
Speaker 3: about everything that we do, whether you need help getting
9:00
Speaker 3: ready for a loan, whether you're ready to submit a
9:03
Speaker 3: loan package, whether you just want to chat with one
9:05
Speaker 3: of us and get to know you know what we
9:08
Speaker 3: do and how we do it. That's the first entree
9:11
Speaker 3: is bcfcapital dot com.
9:13
Speaker 2: Okay, well, and here you talk Sarah. I'm almost feel
9:17
Speaker 2: like I'm talking.
9:17
Speaker 1: To s b A. You know, what is the difference
9:21
Speaker 1: between s B A and b CF.
9:24
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, there are so many, so many different
9:28
Speaker 3: different different differentiators between uh b CF and the SBA.
9:33
Speaker 3: So the s b A the Small Business Administration, Right,
9:41
Speaker 3: the SBA is a government entity. So as a government entity,
9:47
Speaker 3: it really is supposed to be there to help small businesses.
9:52
Speaker 3: But I'm going to say that it depends. It depends
9:58
Speaker 3: on you know, who is the who the administration is,
10:03
Speaker 3: who is leading the government. The SBA is going to
10:08
Speaker 3: change how they're responding to small business needs depending on
10:14
Speaker 3: who is leading the government administration. Now, BCF is a
10:20
Speaker 3: certified standalone nonprofit community development financial institution. We are funded
10:31
Speaker 3: by private organizations, private entities, mostly banks, and I think
10:37
Speaker 3: a lot of people will be surprised to hear that.
10:39
Speaker 3: So a lot of our funders are the big banks
10:41
Speaker 3: you've heard of there, Wells, Fargo, JP, Morgan, Chase, Fifth
10:45
Speaker 3: Third Bank, Co America, US Bank. These are some of
10:51
Speaker 3: our most important partners. They fund us. Why do they
10:54
Speaker 3: fund us? People may wonder they fund us because there
10:59
Speaker 3: was an Act of Congress back in the seventies that
11:01
Speaker 3: said banks have to make loans in all the communities
11:06
Speaker 3: where they take in deposits, and so these banks rely
11:09
Speaker 3: on CDFIs like BCF to deliver their capital into the
11:14
Speaker 3: communities because we are specialized. We are looking at small
11:19
Speaker 3: businesses from a specialized lens, from a community development lens.
11:24
Speaker 3: So the banks trust us to make loans in the
11:26
Speaker 3: communities where they are required to do business. Now I
11:31
Speaker 3: see a question.
11:32
Speaker 2: Well, there's the first of all, that's I'm glad you
11:35
Speaker 2: are pausing because they see the possibility of doing businesses
11:39
Speaker 2: business with these small businesses. There's a reluctancy. It's a
11:44
Speaker 2: reluctancy because they are traded on the stock market. Is
11:48
Speaker 2: a really reluctancy because they have this this you know,
11:51
Speaker 2: like you said, there are they are there. They are
11:53
Speaker 2: points of why I will give a person loan. There
11:56
Speaker 2: are points of why I won't give a person loan,
11:58
Speaker 2: and so our loan.
11:59
Speaker 1: So when a.
12:01
Speaker 2: Pass that lead over to you BCF, which is a lead,
12:05
Speaker 2: and this relationship you have with the bank, how does
12:07
Speaker 2: that come back? Does that same lead come back to
12:11
Speaker 2: that same bank, or it can go to another bank.
12:14
Speaker 3: It can go wherever, it can go wherever. But the
12:19
Speaker 3: reason that banks aren't making these loans are many folds. Okay,
12:22
Speaker 3: And we could have a whole two hour conversation about
12:26
Speaker 3: why banks aren't making loans to these small businesses, but
12:29
Speaker 3: to encapsulate it. Underwriting small businesses that have had challenge,
12:36
Speaker 3: that have faced and overcome challenges is a very time
12:40
Speaker 3: consuming business. Banks are churning through applications. A lot of
12:45
Speaker 3: things are online. They're not giving the personal attention to
12:50
Speaker 3: these small businesses that's required. They may also may not
12:53
Speaker 3: have the specialized underwriting capacity that we have built so
12:59
Speaker 3: our the running capacity at BCF, we are looking at
13:02
Speaker 3: We're not just looking at your FIGHTO score and saying
13:06
Speaker 3: yes or no. We're not just looking at you know,
13:09
Speaker 3: your cash flow and saying yes or now. We're looking
13:11
Speaker 3: at you as a full entity, with your experience, your partners,
13:16
Speaker 3: what you've overcome. Some of our borrowers we say they've
13:19
Speaker 3: stared into the abyss of you know, the challenges that
13:23
Speaker 3: they've overcome. A bank is not going to look at
13:26
Speaker 3: that and say, Wow, this individual, this entrepreneur has overcome
13:34
Speaker 3: and they still maintain their credit and they still pay.
13:37
Speaker 3: They'll look at the negative. BCF will look at the positive. Now,
13:41
Speaker 3: I do want to talk for a moment about the SBA.
13:44
Speaker 2: Mm hmm, Okay, so who are who are wrongfully compare
13:49
Speaker 2: to the BCF.
13:50
Speaker 1: Let's go and get that. The one said that we are.
13:53
Speaker 3: One hundred percent separate from from the and.
13:57
Speaker 2: But I have to say, this is SBA. I heard
14:00
Speaker 2: of SBA from a marketing standpoint. Why am I not
14:04
Speaker 2: here in the BCL because there are meanings advantages of
14:09
Speaker 2: why I should probably go to you first, befirrest before
14:12
Speaker 2: wasting my time at SBA, which a lot of small
14:17
Speaker 2: business owners of color can be frustrated and then walk
14:20
Speaker 2: away from their dreams because they've been turned down at
14:22
Speaker 2: the SBA. Now let's talk about the differences.
14:26
Speaker 3: I want to focus on the differences that have emerged
14:31
Speaker 3: recently because at the time, the SBA was a good
14:34
Speaker 3: place to go for the small businesses that we serve. Okay,
14:39
Speaker 3: things changed recently. So in June twenty five, the SBA
14:46
Speaker 3: closed the door to using their loans to refinance merchant
14:52
Speaker 3: cash advances. Do you know what if merchant cash advances? No?
14:55
Speaker 3: Do not. Your listeners may know.
14:58
Speaker 2: Hopefully they know, Well, I said, just because I don't know,
15:01
Speaker 2: because I've never needed that cash advance because I'm in
15:04
Speaker 2: the that's normally news needed for people who need supplies
15:09
Speaker 2: people in construction, and I'm not there. I'm in the
15:12
Speaker 2: marketing business, absolutely I will.
15:15
Speaker 3: I'll explain it to you and I'll explain it to
15:18
Speaker 3: your listeners as well. An mc a loan is something
15:22
Speaker 3: that is marketed aggressively to people too small businesses. It's
15:27
Speaker 3: a way to get cash very quickly with a very
15:31
Speaker 3: light underwriting and a very high cost. So if you
15:34
Speaker 3: ever hear you can get you can get cash in
15:38
Speaker 3: three days, you can get cash in five days, right,
15:43
Speaker 3: walk or run, don't walk away from that person, because
15:47
Speaker 3: merchant cash advance lenders are trying to to to provide
15:52
Speaker 3: capital at a very high cost. And if you're desperate,
15:56
Speaker 3: because you need to pay tariffs to to be able
15:59
Speaker 3: to get your you know, your your goods off the
16:02
Speaker 3: boat or you know, off of the you know, into
16:05
Speaker 3: your own hands, you may take a merchant cash advance
16:08
Speaker 3: loan because you're not you haven't you haven't prepared yourself
16:12
Speaker 3: for capital. So they are often used as a lifeline
16:19
Speaker 3: to quick to quick money. But then a business owner
16:22
Speaker 3: will find him or herself stuck. So you're paying high
16:25
Speaker 3: interest rates on a big load of cash, and the
16:29
Speaker 3: SBA is not going to be able to refinance you
16:31
Speaker 3: now or ever. Because you've taken on a merchant cash
16:35
Speaker 3: and advance loan, it's seen as a red flag mm hm.
16:39
Speaker 3: So if you as a small business owner right now,
16:42
Speaker 3: and I'm talking to all of your listeners, if you're
16:44
Speaker 3: sitting on an m c A loan right now and
16:48
Speaker 3: you feel stuck, you are not stuck. There are options.
16:53
Speaker 3: BCF is one of them. Other CDFIs around the country
16:56
Speaker 3: are also uh providing that kind of escape patch. Okay,
17:02
Speaker 3: so now that is one change with the SBAY. Also,
17:08
Speaker 3: you'll see interest rates are going up or down. Their
17:12
Speaker 3: underwriting criteria may titan, may loosen, depending on the administration.
17:18
Speaker 3: Right now is a tough time I think for small
17:20
Speaker 3: business owners to access SBA money. But that's where CDFIs
17:27
Speaker 3: can come in.
17:28
Speaker 2: Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more
17:31
Speaker 2: Money Making Conversations master class. No need for you to
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17:56
Speaker 2: Conversations master Class with me Rashaun McDonald. Well, you know,
18:00
Speaker 2: the interesting thing about this whole process is that Donald
18:06
Speaker 2: Trump administration, that's who made the tariffs, which is now
18:11
Speaker 2: into basically his second year, and no one planned for that.
18:17
Speaker 2: No one saw that. Now then they turn around and
18:21
Speaker 2: said the tariffs were not legal, But doesn't mean that
18:26
Speaker 2: the terrffs that you.
18:27
Speaker 1: Have paid have went away.
18:29
Speaker 2: And so now you have businesses who have taken out
18:31
Speaker 2: these loans that may have not needed to take out
18:35
Speaker 2: these loans, but they had to take out the loans
18:37
Speaker 2: because guess what, they had to get the goods they
18:39
Speaker 2: needed to run their businesses. So you are assuming operate
18:45
Speaker 2: as a counselor too these people who are going through
18:48
Speaker 2: a lot of emotional and mental ups and downs.
18:53
Speaker 1: Is that true, Sarah?
18:56
Speaker 3: Absolutely? An uncertain environment. It is very challenging to keep
19:04
Speaker 3: your bearings as a small business owner right, and we
19:07
Speaker 3: see that all the time. I can give you an.
19:10
Speaker 1: Example, thank you, please do.
19:12
Speaker 3: Yeah, So I'm going to talk about one of our clients.
19:18
Speaker 3: His name is Josh Snard and he has a product
19:23
Speaker 3: that's called the Cut Buddy. It is a shark tank
19:27
Speaker 3: success story.
19:28
Speaker 1: I've heard of that, yeah, a lot.
19:30
Speaker 3: Of people have. And Josh is an amazing entrepreneur. He
19:34
Speaker 3: started when he was very, very young. He is sharp,
19:38
Speaker 3: he is successful, and he got hit with eight hundred
19:43
Speaker 3: thousand dollars in tariff bills almost overnight.
19:48
Speaker 1: Eight hundred thousand.
19:50
Speaker 3: Yes. Meanwhile he's trying to stock the shelves at Walmart
19:55
Speaker 3: and Target and CBS with his product. So how can
19:59
Speaker 3: he do both? What did he do? He turned to
20:02
Speaker 3: a merchant cash advance out of desperation, and he ended
20:05
Speaker 3: up with one point two million dollars in debt. Okay,
20:09
Speaker 3: one point two million. If you can imagine one point
20:13
Speaker 3: two million dollars in debt with a high interest rate,
20:17
Speaker 3: it is tens of thousands of dollars in interest he's
20:21
Speaker 3: paying every month. Okay. But he came to us and
20:27
Speaker 3: we were able to work with our partners and refinance
20:32
Speaker 3: his debt into a manageable five year loan. So he
20:36
Speaker 3: didn't lose his business. He is still growing. And that
20:39
Speaker 3: is just one of the examples of what mission a
20:42
Speaker 3: lined lending looks like in real life. I mean, Josh,
20:47
Speaker 3: he did with a lot of small visitors' owners would
20:49
Speaker 3: do in a crisis. He moved fast, not realizing that
20:55
Speaker 3: these SBA or these MCA loans would create so much
20:59
Speaker 3: trus for him down the road. Luckily, we had a
21:02
Speaker 3: relationship with him already and we're help now.
21:06
Speaker 2: She can say she is the president and shef executive Officer.
21:11
Speaker 2: Business Consortium as BCF is at BCF capital dot com.
21:17
Speaker 2: Is the website BCF capital dot com if you want
21:20
Speaker 2: to find out more information about our company that can
21:22
Speaker 2: issue loans to small businesses of people of color from
21:26
Speaker 2: twenty five thousand as lords that up to one point
21:29
Speaker 2: five million dollars and is authorized. That's why I have
21:32
Speaker 2: on the show, Ladies and Gentlemen. She's authorized to lend
21:34
Speaker 2: throughout the US. Now when we talk about frustration, you
21:38
Speaker 2: talk about bad loans.
21:40
Speaker 1: How did he find out about you?
21:42
Speaker 3: Guys?
21:42
Speaker 1: Again, that goes but that's why you're on the show.
21:44
Speaker 1: You know that, Sarah. We've talked about it.
21:46
Speaker 2: We've sat down at launch talk about how can we
21:49
Speaker 2: tell more and more people about BCF because you're more
21:51
Speaker 2: than a life's line, your friend to the business. I
21:54
Speaker 2: remember when we was at the National Minorities and Flight
21:58
Speaker 2: Development council. You know, you was pointing out different businesses
22:01
Speaker 2: that you not only recently were in business with, but
22:05
Speaker 2: years ago you like kick started these businesses where they
22:09
Speaker 2: are multi million dollar businesses.
22:12
Speaker 1: They're employing over all hundreds of people.
22:14
Speaker 2: When you see that journey, So I'm just giving you
22:17
Speaker 2: guys who are listening or watching this, that her conversation
22:21
Speaker 2: is not a new conversation. Her conversation. She's been there
22:25
Speaker 2: watching these businesses that she initiated loans would grow. How
22:28
Speaker 2: does that make you feel, Sarah? When you see that
22:31
Speaker 2: and like you were casually pointing out these very very
22:34
Speaker 2: successful businesses that you kind of like give them their
22:37
Speaker 2: seed money.
22:41
Speaker 3: You can see the smile on my I mean, nothing
22:45
Speaker 3: makes me happier than seeing these clients succeed and seeing
22:51
Speaker 3: these clients realize their dreams. And that's you know, that's
22:55
Speaker 3: why we wake up every day and do what we do.
22:58
Speaker 2: Let me this question, Sarah, cause I want to sure
23:00
Speaker 2: I get the right name, because I probably should have
23:02
Speaker 2: came to you guys when we had this contract. Their
23:05
Speaker 2: businesses out there are called Factoring Factory. Okay, cool, Okay,
23:10
Speaker 2: let's give my backstory. You know, so we were just
23:13
Speaker 2: like she said, you know, we got this big government
23:15
Speaker 2: contract and we hired a staff because we didn't really
23:20
Speaker 2: have a staff to handle a contract this big. I mean,
23:24
Speaker 2: we was responsible for marketing the entire United States and
23:27
Speaker 2: Puerto Rico recruitment platforms. We had to do one hundred
23:31
Speaker 2: and thirty five events under this contract, and guess what,
23:35
Speaker 2: we didn't have the money. So we went to a
23:37
Speaker 2: factoring country company now and they were able to DISI
23:42
Speaker 2: factoring company works. They give you money and then they
23:44
Speaker 2: take part of the money, and then the money has
23:47
Speaker 2: to go.
23:47
Speaker 1: Through them and they basically pay you.
23:49
Speaker 2: So basically they kind of take control of your contract
23:52
Speaker 2: and then they give you money.
23:53
Speaker 1: So you have a.
23:55
Speaker 2: Contract, but you don't have You do not have control
23:58
Speaker 2: of the flow of the money of the contract, and
24:01
Speaker 2: so how could I are now I understand you, And
24:07
Speaker 2: it's really interesting. As many years I've talked to you,
24:10
Speaker 2: finally realized I should have been talking to BCF because
24:13
Speaker 2: I went to a factory company even though I didn't
24:15
Speaker 2: have the relationship to when I had the contract offered
24:18
Speaker 2: to me. But you exactly what you're saying I should
24:21
Speaker 2: be doing. I should be talking to you a better relationship,
24:25
Speaker 2: had a business model that will give me more of
24:27
Speaker 2: my money than I was giving away.
24:29
Speaker 3: Correct, Yes, that's correct, that you should have talked to us.
24:34
Speaker 3: Now I do want to say that you should talk
24:37
Speaker 3: to factoring companies. You should talk to banks, You should
24:41
Speaker 3: talk to credit unions, and you should talk to BCF,
24:45
Speaker 3: and you should have your You or any business should
24:50
Speaker 3: go to multiple lenders with your financial pitch book that
24:56
Speaker 3: has you know, your most recent banks stamens, your most
25:00
Speaker 3: recent tax returns, and uh the items that paint a
25:06
Speaker 3: financial picture, and see who's going to give you the
25:08
Speaker 3: best deal? Right, So, who's going to give you the
25:12
Speaker 3: longest term debt with the cheapest interest rate and the
25:18
Speaker 3: fewest strings attached? That's what we want. So it could
25:22
Speaker 3: be BCF, it might be the factoring company. Probably not,
25:26
Speaker 3: but it could be right. Right, So you need to
25:30
Speaker 3: go and do your homework and understand what's up, and
25:34
Speaker 3: you need to be the chooser. Right. You want to
25:37
Speaker 3: have all the information and you want to make the
25:40
Speaker 3: choice you want to take. You want to have the
25:41
Speaker 3: power in your hands to make the best decisions.
25:44
Speaker 2: Let me answ you this because now we're talking about
25:46
Speaker 2: not really understand this relationship. Now, when I had the
25:49
Speaker 2: when the factor and company came to us, they wanted
25:52
Speaker 2: a copy ab out contract that we have.
25:55
Speaker 1: Now, if I came to BCF, what would you want
25:58
Speaker 1: from me?
25:59
Speaker 2: Because basically, like I said, they took control of our
26:01
Speaker 2: contract from a financial saying that they didn't do anything
26:04
Speaker 2: wrong with Ladies and Jim first of all, but that's
26:07
Speaker 2: how they do business. They want to copy your contractor
26:09
Speaker 2: they can verify, then the money flows through them, then
26:11
Speaker 2: they take their percentage and they pay us the rest.
26:14
Speaker 2: How would I would have done business with BCF in
26:17
Speaker 2: that same situation, Sarah?
26:19
Speaker 3: The factoring company looked only at your contract. They valued
26:22
Speaker 3: the contract right right, and they said, okay, this contract
26:26
Speaker 3: has legs. You are going to be paid yes, and
26:29
Speaker 3: that means we're going to be paid yes. That's what
26:31
Speaker 3: the contracting company said. When you come to BCF, we're
26:34
Speaker 3: going to look at all you got or we're gonna
26:37
Speaker 3: look at do you have other real estate, do you
26:41
Speaker 3: have other income? What is your uh what's your history
26:45
Speaker 3: of repaying debt? Do you do a good job with that?
26:48
Speaker 3: Are you overextended or are you just right? We don't
26:52
Speaker 3: want to take we don't want to. We don't want
26:56
Speaker 3: to only rely on one contract to be repaid. What
27:01
Speaker 3: we want to look at is you as a whole entrepreneur,
27:06
Speaker 3: and if we can take collateral, we will do that.
27:11
Speaker 3: If we see that your business is throwing off money
27:14
Speaker 3: in these other ways and we feel pretty safe and
27:17
Speaker 3: we know you right, we have a relationship with you,
27:19
Speaker 3: we trust you, we see you, know what you've done
27:23
Speaker 3: to grow your business, then we can we can underwrite.
27:28
Speaker 3: We could underwrite the entire business and not just rely
27:31
Speaker 3: on that one contract, and you'll often end up in
27:33
Speaker 3: a better situation that way.
27:35
Speaker 1: Cool. Well, she's wonderful.
27:37
Speaker 2: She's the president and chief executive offer of Business Consortium
27:41
Speaker 2: Fund and Try Investment. Sarah, thanks for coming on Money
27:44
Speaker 2: Made Conversations and more important, like I said, create a
27:47
Speaker 2: relationship with somebody you could trust and I trust Sarah.
27:50
Speaker 2: Thanks Sarah, Thank you for listening to this episode. No
27:54
Speaker 2: need for you to do me a favor right now
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