0 (2s):
Boom, shake the room, Fire Nation, and JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs On Fire brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network with great shows like my first million today, we'll be focusing on how to get funded. After the banks have told, you know, to drop these value bombs. I have brought to Brett Denton into EOFire studios. Brett is the founder and owner of KvellFit.com and AtoZBusinessFunding.com. Brett found himself frustrated and "out of the loop" when he tried to get traditional funding to expand his cash positive business, KvellFit.com. He founded AtoZBusinessFunding.com to help small business owners like himself who are tired of the traditional lenders who deny funding to over 95% of businesses that apply Brett and his partners have funded thousands of businesses with millions of dollars for growth and expansion.

0 (58s):
And today foundation, we'll talk about those businesses that fail because they don't have access to capital. We'll talk about the solution, the most important factors to get financing. The questions that you need to be able to answer before you seek business financing and some alternative options when banks say no. And so much more. When we get back from thinking our sponsors Fire Nation, are you finally ready to publish a book the right way Kevin Anderson and associates can help for a limited time, they're offering Fire Nation a free 90 minute consultation to discuss writing and publishing your book in just six months. Visit KAWriting.com/fire to schedule your free 90 minute consultation today.

0 (1m 37s):
That's KAWriting.com/fire ever wish you had a mentor to help improve your customer experience and scale your business. HubSpot's new podcast, the shakeup with Alexis Gay and Brianne Kimmel has you covered. I love it because it shares how real people are building real businesses in very unique ways. Listen, learn, and grow with the HubSpot Podcast Network at hubspot.com/podcastnetwork. Bret say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree

1 (2m 10s):
With. Absolutely John. And first of all, I am extremely happy to be here and what's up Fire Nation. We today are going to be talking about what I think many people don't think about when they're starting a business. And that is capital. I believe that having access to capital is critical to long-term business success, right? So we can bootstrap it. We can save, we can, penny pinch. We can do all those things. But according to score, which is a small business mentorship organization, they teamed up with the US bank and they did a study and they found that 82% of business failure is because of poor cash management, which again, access to capital and not properly managing or deploying that capital.

1 (2m 52s):
And that's exactly what I'm here to talk about today is how to access capital to grow your business.

0 (2m 58s):
And I'm excited. I said multiple times, I was very fortunate to start off with very low six figures, but I had six figures of my little war chest. I'd built up at the age of 32. And I launched entrepreneurs on fire mostly because of my deployment to Iraq and being able to save a lot of money while I was overseas. And that was my capital that allowed me to launch my business. But without that, I'd never would have been able to if I was living paycheck to paycheck. So I want to start by having you share your background. Now we have a lot to get to, so let's be a little brief here, but I think this is important to really give Fire Nation an understanding of why you do what you

1 (3m 36s):
Do. Bootstrapping standpoint. That's kind of how I grew up. That was my mentality for a long time. And so, you know, going back to the college days, I actually walked on at Boise state. So again, I'm bootstrapping my, my college, my college career, I walked on as a running back at Boise state. I was an internal backup, unfortunately, but I did have one small moment of glory. I had 125 yards against the mighty and vicious Utah state. And then that was on the Smurf Turf, you know, so that when you're watching on TV and your retina, yeah. Oh yeah. That's a, you can't see straight for a few days.

0 (4m 8s):
Why do they do that? Like, what's their justification for that? You know, I have no school colors.

1 (4m 13s):
It is school colors and, and you know, I think they wanted to stand. I think it was a marketing ploy, to be honest with you, I think it was marketing. So I started on that, on that blue turf. And then from there I graduated, I started a business Cavell fitness nutrition. So you can go, you can see what that looks like@cavellfit.com, KV E L L fit.com. And I had a successful business. I was growing, I had cashflow, I was profitable. And so I was trying to get funding. And so I went to bank after bank, after bank and they just kept telling me no, and I didn't understand it. I thought I had everything that I needed. And so I started looking and digging and eventually I found out there is other forms of funding. There is other ways to grow with capital.

1 (4m 55s):
And so that's why I started eight as a business funding.com so that I can help other business owners get the funding they need when they need it. He did already

0 (5m 4s):
Mention this briefly, but you believe because you've read some stuff and you've seen the literature that 82% of businesses fail because they don't have access to capital. Now let's talk about this more, like, why is this such a problem

1 (5m 18s):
When it comes to business growth? I mean, you've been there. You had a stack of cash to help you, which what happens is these business owners get into it and things start to come at them. You have, you know, equipment go out or you have advertising expenses, or you have to start hiring employees, or you're looking to start another facility or your, you know, you just end up needing capital in order to get the needle to move, right. There's only so much that each business owner can do on their own. And eventually when you need to start scaling and growing the gross revenues, you need the capital, you need

0 (5m 55s):
The capital Fire Nation. You literally need the capital. Again, this statistic that I've shared a few times on entrepreneurs on fire, that's particularly scary. Is it like 40% of Americans right now cannot write an unexpected $400 check. Now that is crazy. And of course, how can you start a business that takes capital when you don't have any capital at all? And you don't have access to any capital. So what the heck is the solution for all these businesses out there that need and are being denied, access to capital.

1 (6m 28s):
Yeah. And I'll give you a prime example of where some unforeseen circumstance, like a pandemic came up and people needed capital, and they didn't have the ability, the know how or understand the process. Right? And so that's, luckily the government stepped in with the paycheck protection program and I helped over a thousand businesses get that. But without that, many of these businesses would not have made it through the pandemic. They would not have survived. And so when it comes to getting capital, there's a few things that you need to have, right? So there's three most important things. And what are those most important things? The first one is you have to look like a legitimate business, right?

1 (7m 9s):
So you can't be going with no website and no business account. And I'm using personal credit cards. So you have to look like a legitimate business, right? So we got to get that set up first and foremost. Second, we go into the questions that you need to ask yourself before you seek business funding. So a lot of people come to me and they just say, Hey, I need funding, but they don't understand everything that goes into it. And so I'm going to go through those questions with you. And then the third thing is, well, if I can't get bank funding, that traditional bank funding, what are my options? And again, I'll dig into those three things here today. Furnish,

0 (7m 47s):
You're going to be digging into all these things. Cause there were some really critical factors that you need to know. As far as getting business financing for you, we're talking revenues time and business credit, personal credit business credits. We're going to be going over that. And so much more. When we get back from thanking our sponsors, these days too many businesses let their data exists in siloed solutions and personalized content, productive, prospecting, and exceptional customer service is so important when it comes to scaling and growing your business. When marketing data lives separately from sales data and sales data lives separately from service data teams, lack the context required to effectively communicate. That's why bringing together data across all teams can help ensure there are no lags between what marketing is doing and what sales is doing.

0 (8m 33s):
And it gives service reps, the historical context. They need to help customers and lucky for us with HubSpot CRM platform, you can bring together best in class marketing sales, customer service, content management, and operations software for a crystal clear view of every interaction your business has had with prospects and customers. And with operations hub, you get a unified tool set that apps cleans customer data and automate business processes under one central CRM platform. Learn more about how you can scale your company without scaling complexity at hubspot.com Fire Nation. Do you realize the value being a published author brings to your business? As one of myself, I can honestly say a lot.

0 (9m 14s):
So if you've ever considered writing a book, but feel like you don't have the time writing ability or idea to make it a success, then I've got great news for you. Kevin Anderson and associates is an industry leading all inclusive book writing firm that can help you go from no book to publish author in as little as six months Kevin's team has launched 19 number one, New York times bestsellers and hundreds of national bestselling books. You'll be able to work directly with those who helped launch the careers of the biggest names in the book business, including Bernay brown, Simon Sinek, Robert Kiyosaki, and many more. It doesn't matter where you are in the book. Writing process. Kevin's team will guide you through every step of writing your book and developing a customized publishing strategy to exceed your wildest expectations. In as few as eight hours of your time, Kevin Anderson and associates can gather all the Intel.

0 (9m 58s):
They need to write and publish your book the right way. And as quickly as six months, if you're ready to establish yourself as the authority in your area of expertise, Kevin is currently offering you Fire Nation, a free 90 minute publishing consultation call visit KAWriting.com/fire to schedule your free consultation today available for a very limited time. That's KAWriting.com/fire. So bro, we're back. And as we kind of teased before the break, we're going to really start to dive in now to the nitty gritty that our listeners really need to know in order for them to get business financing. So what are those important factors that Fire Nation needs to become well aware of?

1 (10m 40s):
Yeah. I'm going to fire a lot of information at you here and before I do that, I just want to make sure that I am here to help you. That's what I'm here to do. I'm here to get you capital. So if you're looking for capital one way to get ahold of me and ask any questions you have is just to send me a text at 2 0 8 9 9 1 6 5 3 7, or you can email me at brett@atozbusinessfunding.com. And if you get in touch with me here in the next few months, we are going to give away a thousand dollars cash to somebody. So either way, you're going to get funded either I'll help you get funded or we will get your funding in that drawing. Now here's a few things that you need to look at.

1 (11m 21s):
Okay. So are you a legitimate business or do you look that way to the lenders? And there's kind of four components that, that they look at. So do you have a business bank account? All right. So if you don't have a business bank account, if you're using your personal bank account, it's hard to get business funding, professional website, and then a physical address that physical address can be your house, but we do need a physical address. Are you parking money in an account that is increasing your average daily balance? So if you're a member, lenders really want to fund people who look like they don't need funded. And so you want to do as much as you can to look like you don't necessarily need the money, but it's going to help you grow and it's going to help them get paid back. So are you parking some money and not touching it in a business bank account?

1 (12m 2s):
Do you keep your personal and business expenses separate? So again, the reason that we have a separate bank account and then do you have a rock solid business plan, right? So that business plan is going to be more for a bank lending, but it's good to have that as a backup when they ask, Hey, where are you going? What are you going to be doing with this money? Right? So those four things are going to make you look legitimate in the lenders, eyes,

0 (12m 23s):
Fire Nation. Again, you need to be understanding what is going to make you look legitimate in the lenders and the funders eyes, because they're the people that need to be convinced because frankly their job's on the line, frankly, their business on the line, you know, their safety, their security. So, you know, you can't be overly frustrated with these individuals that hypothetically are trying to do what they think is best. Unfortunately, they don't know you unfortunately don't know how hard you want it, how hard you're willing to work, you know, how much value you're going to give to the world if just given the chance, because you know, there's always bad apples out there. And unfortunately those bad apples are always the ones that are getting all of the media, all of the attention. And although they're a very tiny percentage of this, they're the ones that people think about when they make their final decisions.

0 (13m 10s):
So you went through some things that we really need to be focusing on. Anything you want to kind of follow up on when it comes to revenues, time and business credit, both personal and business, by the way. And then let's really kind of nail down the questions that we need to be able to answer even before we get into the process of seeking the business financing.

1 (13m 29s):
Yeah. So there's a few things that just kind of pop out, right? The more revenue you have, the more likely people are going to want to give you money. So as a business owner, we want to increase revenue. Our lenders want to increase revenue, so let's get our revenue up. Kate, number two, you mentioned their time in business so we can get funding for startups. But generally if you're two years or more in business, you're going to get far more offers. Now the important part here is probably the most important part of this entire conversation is the credit, right? So we have two types of credit. We have personal credit and then we have business credit and I'm going to go through those briefly what they are and how to improve them. So with personal credit, everybody knows what that is. Do statistics on business credit, according to experian.com, 80% of financial resolutions Americans make for the new year include improving their credit score and better handling of their credit card usage.

1 (14m 20s):
So we all know we need to do it right. And then on the business side, according to research by the federal reserve, 86% of employer firms, that's anywhere from one to 499 employees, they relied on their personal credit to seek funding, right? So here's the ways that we improve our personal credit. Three major ways. There's about 10 total, but here's the major things that you can, here's the moves you can make the super moves. So getting review your credit reports from the three big reporting agencies, Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion, and that's easy to just go to annual credit report.com, just plug that in those bureaus and you're ready to go. Now, here's the thing you want to do. Once you get the reports, you got to review those for inaccuracies things like are there late payments that are on there that weren't actually late dispute those, if you have more than one collection account or debt for the same loan or the same credit card, dispute those, if your credit report doesn't show at least two active credit accounts, you need to think about getting a credit card so you can get some credit history on there.

1 (15m 20s):
All right. So, and again, I can help you with all of this. You can just text me at 2 0 8 9 9 1 6 5 3 7 and I'll walk you through it. Okay. The next thing you need to do is you gotta pay your bills on time. I know that's crazy, but we got to pay the bills on time. That is the single most important factor to build credit. So set up an auto pay, set up a reminder in your calendar, do whatever you need to do, get your bills paid on time. And then the third thing with our personal credit, we have to reduce our debt usage. So debt usage is basically how much credit we have and then how much of that we're using. Okay. So at first we want to get that down to 30% initially for all credit cards. So if you can get that down below 30% of debt usage, you're good to go.

1 (16m 0s):
And then eventually, so the people with the highest credit scores, they're under 10% of usage. Now, if you charge, here's what, here's where I got caught before I started learning all this stuff. I paid my credit card. I maxed it out. I paid it off every month, max it out, paid it off. Unfortunately, when the credit cards report that to the credit bureaus, it's after the billing cycle closes, which is before you pay. And so actually what they're doing is they're submitting a high balance, which is going to bring your credit score down. So you want to pay earlier than the billing cycle on those balances to get a lower balance. Okay. And then of course you can ask for credit limit increases, that's going to increase that credit usage, consolidate credit cards with a small business loan, a business credit card, or some other type of loan that doesn't appear on your personal credit.

1 (16m 45s):
So there's some business credit card companies that actually report your credit card usage on your personal credit and your business credit. So for businesses, we're looking only for the ones that are going to put it on our business credit. All right? So those are the big things to improve personal credit

0 (17m 3s):
Nation, a lot to take in there. But again, if you simply send a text to Brett 2 0 8, 9 9 1 6 5 3 7, he's going to get back to you. He's going to be to walk you through this process, because again, there is a lot, and as you can just hear the, what he said, and this is why sometimes can be a little scary, but guess what? Maybe it's worth you being a little scared because the little things done incorrectly can really add up to big problems, but the little things done done right can lead to big opportunities. I mean, you need to make sure that you are reviewing your credit reports for inaccuracies, dispute them, get some credit cards. So you can get that credit history. You got to pay your bills on time.

0 (17m 43s):
And just that process that Brett just shared, I wasn't even aware of and just overall decrease your overall debts and credit like that percentage that you have so that you can look more appealing. So is there anything you want to chat about when it comes to business credit and you know, different questions that we need to be able to answer before seeking business financing before we move on to alternative business financing options?

1 (18m 5s):
Yeah. Let's knock out business credit real quick. Cause a lot of people are not familiar with business credit. Like they are personal credit and business credit is important for a few reasons. So the nav American dream gap survey, which was a survey of business owners found that business owners who understand their business credit are 41% more likely to get approved for a business loan. Now this is likely because they're doing all the right things, right? Commercial credit reporting agencies like, so these are a little bit different. You got dun and Bradstreet, you got Equifax and you got to experience and it's, it's a separate department for them. Some do personal, some do personal and business, but to separate department. And so what they do is they're going to collect your information about how you pay your bills.

1 (18m 45s):
And then they're going to package that into a credit report. And then they use that to create the credit report, a credit scores. So there's two major benefits of a strong business credit. The first one is you have a higher likelihood of qualifying for funding. Okay? And then the second is lenders trust you to pay. And that's often give you better terms. So, you know, you mentioned knowing this stuff is important and you may be able to get funded without knowing some of this. But the important is how much are you paying for that capital, right? We want to pay as little as we can for as much capital as we can get. And so getting these credit scores, both business and personal, where we want them is going to be the key to getting that done right now, how to improve your business credit score.

1 (19m 25s):
Number one, again, we talked about a business structure and making sure it looks legitimate. Preferably we have an LLC and S Corp or a C Corp. Now a side note there particular. So side note, when you're naming your business, if your business ends in holdings, mortgage properties or real estate, it's going to be considered high risk. Those are high risk industries. And so what that means is either you're going to get higher rates or you're not going to get funded at all. So just be careful with those ones. Okay. First step, second step. We're going to go and get ourselves a DUNS number. D U N S. And again, all you need to do there is go to dnb.com. That's Delta, November Bravo, dnb.com. Get a DUNS number. That's free. Third. We're going to open the accounts with suppliers and vendors that report to business credit bureaus.

1 (20m 9s):
Okay. Now, one way to do that is just simply ask your vendors if they do it another way is again, I can help you find some that will then start reporting to those credit bureaus. Okay. We want to get a business business credit card. Okay. That does not again, or B does not report to your personal credit agencies. Again, you're going to need to find somebody who, who knows which credit cards do that and do not do that. Number five, just like with our personal, we have to pay on time. Okay? Now at least half of your business credit score is based on paying on time, unlike personal. So on your personal credit card, you have a little bit of a grace period to pay. Nothing happens negatively to your credit report with business credit cards. One day late is reported as late. So you have to pay those on time.

1 (20m 50s):
And then of course, as we discussed earlier, you gotta monitor that business credit for fraud with, with again, a credit monitoring company. And again, I'm happy to help with all of this. All you gotta do is shoot me a text 2 0 8 9 9 1 6 5 3 7.

0 (21m 4s):
Say that we do need to seek alternative business financing options. When all the banks have denied us, everybody said, no, what are those alt options?

1 (21m 13s):
It was kind of a smorgasbord of options out there. And it really comes back to let's ask these questions first. So we know exactly what kind of funding we're going to go after. And then I'll tell you three kind of options that are good for people who don't qualify for bank funding. So there's just a few questions. So how much money do you need? Right time after time we have people come to me and they just say, well, I just need money. Okay. Well, how much do you need? Cause that's going to determine the type of funding we go after. The second question you want to answer is what are the revenues in your business bank account? Right? 70% of businesses that don't have a business bank account, again, get rejected. And those that have low CA carry low balances also get rejected. They want to see good cash flow, good money coming in.

1 (21m 53s):
And again, a holding of a, of a decent amount of capital in there. Number three, what are your credit scores? We've covered that already. Do you have collateral? So is there something that you can collateralize for the loan, which again, makes that lender feel safer and more comfortable because if they have to, they can use that collateral to get their money back. And then lastly, are your books up to date? Are you keeping good income statements, balance sheets and cash flows? Okay, so now let's get to the funding, right? The fun part here, the funding. So the merchant cash advance is probably the newest and most popular version of this. And there's a few good things about this. Number one, if you don't qualify for bank financing and you have cashflow positive cashflow, you're probably going to be able to qualify.

1 (22m 36s):
Number two, it's very fast. So we can get you pre-approved in 24 hours and funded in two to three days. So this is for people who either are seasonal. You're going to flip that cash fast, or you need money right away. And or you can't qualify for bank funding. There's no physical collateral needed. And then it's only a soft credit pull, or a lot of times there's no pull at all. Because again, it's based on your cashflow. Now there's two negatives to this type of funding. The rates are generally more expensive because it's a shorter term. You need the money faster. And again, they're not kind of digging clear through your dirty closet there. They're just going off of your cash flow. So there's more of a risk to them. Second, it is a daily or weekly payment.

1 (23m 16s):
So instead of monthly, you're paying it more frequently. Okay. So that's, that's the first kind that I recommend for people who can't get big, fancy, the second kind unsecured lines of credit or credit card stacking, what it's called. So basically what this means is you're taking smaller lines of credit instead of just getting one big one, you're taking a bunch of smaller ones. And then that obviously equals a bigger one. Now the goal here is to get 0% credit for up to six to 18 months. So again, we want to flip this cash fast. This isn't our longterm approach, but this is going to get you cash fast and immediately a few pros here, cheapest capital available. You can't get better than 0% gay pre-approval is less than 24 hours. You got monthly payments with this one, which is better than the merchant, a merchant cash.

1 (23m 58s):
And then this one is we talked about startups. This is a good one for startups, because you don't need any history. You don't need to have your business in business for two years plus, and then there's no collateral needed. The only con really on this one is you have to have a personal guarantee with it. And then the last kind that I recommend for people's equipment financing. So if you need any kind of equipment at all, be it even software office furniture, cars, solar, I mean almost anything that you can consider equipment for your business. So the functioning and operation of your business financing as an option, it's a very quick application process and it's an easy approval process. A few cons, the rates can vary widely and the lenders may place like a blanket lien on all of your equipment, just to make sure they can get paid back.

1 (24m 43s):
Those are the three kind of top options that I recommend for people who can't get that traditional phone. So

0 (24m 49s):
Much value here, Fire Nation. So please just remember before seeking business financing, you must be able to answer how much do you need? It seems like an easy question. A lot of people don't have the answer. What's your revenue, your cashflow, your capital. Do you have collateral? Are your books up to date? Do you look professional? Can you talk the talk and walk the walk? And then of course, Brett just went through those really interesting alternative business financing options, giving you the pros and the cons, which is why Fire Nation. If you need some funding, you need to talk to Brett. Now, Brett, give us the one big takeaway. You want to make sure Fire Nation gets from everything that we talked about here today. Any call to action you have for us.

0 (25m 29s):
And then we'll say goodbye.

1 (25m 30s):
Absolutely. The biggest thing that we have to pay attention to is there's a lot of scams out there and then there's really expensive money. So you want to go through and before you just randomly go and apply for business financing at the last moment, you want to start now getting your business and your personal affairs in order. So that then when you apply your ready, your credit scores are where they need to be. You have everything in order, you're going to get far better offers. So you're not putting yourself into a situation where you're paying exorbitant amounts for money that you could have gotten at a much lower rate. And then you're not going to fall prey to all the scammers out there in this industry who may or may not give you the best rates who may, may not give you the money.

1 (26m 11s):
So again, the biggest thing is start now start preparing your business as if you'll need financing down the line, even if you don't need it. Now, now, again, that's exactly what I'm here for. I've spent an enormous amount of time figuring this process out for myself and for others. And so if you need business capital, or if you're just looking for it down the line and you want to start preparing, you can text a text me at 2 0 8 9 9 1 6 5 3 7, or you can email me@brettbrettatatozbusinessfunding.com. And again, we're going to give away a thousand dollars for everybody who just reaches out and contacts me and talks to me on October 1st.

1 (26m 51s):
So again, it's a win-win here. I want to help you. I want to help you grow your business. That's what I'm passionate about. And I know that capital is critical to getting that done varnish.

0 (26m 58s):
And you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with. You've been hanging out with BD and JLD today. So keep up that heat head over to EOFire.com type at Brett B R E T T. And the search bar he's shown us page will pop right up and again, Fire Nation, text 2 0 8 9 9 1 6 5 3 7 or email brett@atozbusinessfunding.com with the word funding, get a chance to win a thousand bucks. Please let me know if you do Fire Nation, I would love for one of you to get that. And man, you're just gonna get a wealth of knowledge from brats even more if possible, than you heard today. Cause it's going to be specific to your situation. So Brett, thank you brother, for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with Fire Nation today, for that we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side.

0 (27m 43s):
Thank you. Appreciate it. Hey, Fire Nation today's value bomb content was brought to you by breaths and Fire Nation. What can three thousands of the world's most successful entrepreneurs teach you? How about how to achieve financial freedom and fulfillment? My first traditionally published book, The Common Path to Uncommon Success is a revolutionary 17 step roadmap that will lead you to a lifestyle that you've been dreaming about. This book took me 10 years accumulating the genius of the world's top entrepreneurs. And you can get all in one place. When you visit UncommonSuccessBook.com, I'll catch you there or I'll catch you on the flip side Fire Nation. Are you finally ready to publish a book the right way Kevin Anderson and associates can help for a limited time, they're offering Fire Nation a free 90 minute consultation to discuss writing and publishing your book in just six months.

0 (28m 37s):
Visit KAWriting.com/fire to schedule your free 90 minute consultation today. That's KAWriting.com/fire. Ever wish you had a mentor to help improve your customer experience and scale your business. HubSpot's new podcast, the shakeup with Alexis Gay and Brianne Kimmel has you covered. I love it because it shares how real people are building real businesses in very unique ways. Listen, learn, and grow with the HubSpot Podcast Network at hubspot.com/podcastnetwork.