Full Transcript

Sari  
The bigger your dreams, the bigger your goals, the more support you need, not less. Every great entrepreneur knows they need experts, they need a community to help support them, and connect them to really get that momentum going. If you find yourself in that start, stop, start, stop struggle, where you have an amazing idea, something you make in your home kitchen, it can be a food item, beverages, pet treats, or even body care. And you just can't seem to get it off the ground or you haven't been able to make a profit yet, I want to offer you a free workshop. It's called Whip Up a Business You Love. And in it, you're going to learn the foundational pieces of having a business that works. An idea is not enough, a desire is not enough. We need to have a foundation and a plan for your next steps. And in that workshop, you're going to get my startup checklist. We're going to talk about your product, about pricing, what that investment looks like, how to really know if you have a solid idea or a business plan that's going to work. And I make you an incredibly delicious offer to join me in Food Business Success at the end. Go foodbizsuccess.com and in the right hand corner, you will see where to register to get that free workshop. And then I hope I will see you inside Food Business Success and on one of our Fuel calls very soon. Welcome to your Food Business Success. This podcast is for early stage entrepreneurs in the packaged food industry ready to finally turn that delicious idea into reality. I'm your host Sari Kimbell, I have guided hundreds of food brand founders to success as an industry expert and business coach. And it's gotta be fun. In this podcast, I share with you mindset tools to become a true entrepreneur and run your business like a boss, interviews with industry experts to help you understand the business you are actually in, and food founder journeys so you can learn what worked and didn't work and not feel so alone in your own journey. Now let's jump in! Hello, and welcome back to the podcast. All right, we are still talking about money this month. And last week's podcast with Michael was all about going in for investor money raising seed rounds. Like really that VC money, right? Taking your business to the next level. But what do you do when you are very early stage, when you have just started and you're like, I need some money? I need more money than what I have available to me in my personal life and how do I go get that first initial round of capital? You guys know if you've come to any of my workshops, I often talk about CPG package business in that stairstep model, right? So every time at whatever stage you're at, let's say you're starting at Cottage Food, or you're starting with farmers markets, that has a relatively low barrier to entry and a low barrier monetarily to entry. So a lot of times people can get started on ecommerce or farmers markets with a relatively low investment. Now, there's always a combination and in the Whip Up a Business You Love workshop, which you can still get for free. If you go to the website, you'll see up in the top corner, you can register for that. But I did actually a scorecard. And because I've always been trying to figure out how do I explain this formula to people of like, when they ask me how much is this going to cost me? There's this formula that runs through my brain where I'm like, well tell me this, tell me this, tell me this. And then I can spit out a number, right? And so in the workshop, I actually give you some, like some rankings where I want you to score yourself in three different areas. And then your number, whatever number you come up with where you spit out, will tell you a lot about how much investment this business is going to take just to get started, depending on your goals, depending on the product, depending on your sales channels. So that's a really cool thing that I did this year that I feel like I explained it better than I ever have before. But in any case, there's going to be some number and some you're going to need more money than others and every time, you know, we're at the bottom of the stair step. And again, less money, less investment to get started. But then when you want to go to the next level, that's going to be another, you're going to hit a wall where you're like, I can't go beyond this without doing another investment round, without more capital to go to the next level. And so as you're going climbing the stairstep, right, so maybe you're going from cottage food to now you need to be in a commercial kitchen. Or you're, you know, farmers markets and now you want to do wholesale. Or you really want to maybe want to go on Amazon, or you really want to expand your ecommerce piece, maybe on do food service, right, maybe you're going to, you need new packaging and a brand refresh, and better website, and all of these things that are going to come with going to that next level, or maybe it's production and manufacturing. But in any case, every time you go up that stair step, it's going to take more money, and you're going to need to prepare for it further in advance, right? It's going to take longer. And so I invited Marie from B Side Capital. I'm not going to tell you how long ago we did this interview, it was a while ago and I feel bad. But honestly, it worked out perfectly because it fits so nicely right into this money month of February. And so she's gonna talk about how you can get that capital when you're at the early stages of your business, and what are some ways whether it's through a traditional bank or through a nonprofit lender, like B Side, and some other ways that you can look at raising the capital that you need. All right, let's jump into this interview with Marie. And I hope you get so much out of it so that you know how to get the money and how to be ready for the money.

All right, Marie, I am so excited to welcome you to the podcast today. Thanks for being here.

Marie    
Thanks for having me.

Sari
Marie Peters is the fund director of B Side Capital and B Side Fund. In her role, she manages direct lending programs that are designed for under resource small businesses. Previously, Marie worked with small business through her role as an associate state director of the Colorado Small Business Development Center- love them, big fan! Marie also serves on the Habitat for Humanity Colorado Board of Directors, the Rocky Mountain Finance Institute's growth loan review committee, and she's a member of the inclusive Capital Collective Rural Capital Collaborative, and the Colorado Inclusive Economy. And what I think you will learn about Marie very quickly is that she just loves helping entrepreneurs, and really loves fostering inclusivity and community and helping people bring their dreams to life. Well, let's jump into you telling us a little bit more about B Side Capital and B Side Fund.

Marie 
Thank you. Thank you so much. Yeah. Well, first, I can start about the organization. So B Side Capital and B Side Fund for many years, we've been, we're formerly known as Carta Lending Source. So we're a nonprofit entity, we've been around for more than 30 years, we really started off in the US Small Business Administration loan programs, where we help small businesses purchase commercial real estate. And the idea behind that program is, a lot of times that can be inaccessible for people. But if people want to purchase owner occupied real estate, that program allows folks to do it for as low as 10% down. And so it really opens the doors for folks to be able to do that a lot more. And the idea is, if you don't have to save quite as much, then you can use that extra operating cash to people to hire more people. So it's really, really a job creation program. So that's what we've been doing for more than 30 years. And then over the years, we got more involved with the other SBA 7A guarantee loan program, mostly because our bank partners asked us to get involved there. Because if you think about big banks, like they have the internal expertise in departments to be able to handle SBA, but some of the smaller community banks or credit unions, that may want to offer an SBA loan product but don't necessarily have a department for that, they can then partner with us. We act as a lender service provider and basically walk them through the process because we're really those experts on SBA and allows some of those smaller banks to compete with the larger banks. And so that's what B Side Capital does. It's really our audience, there's the lenders. The B Side Fund, that's where we're really housing all of our direct lending programs. And so what we noticed just being in this sector was there were still smaller dollar loan amounts that were getting picked up by banks for various reasons. Maybe it's age in business, maybe lack of collateral, all sorts of things that were not meeting the bank's requirements. And so us, like other mission based or certified development financial institutions, also known as CDFIs, kind of play that role where we try to help businesses obtain that financing with the hope that eventually they'll be able to, quote unquote, graduate into the banking system. And so that's what we do on B Side Fund, really were focused on underserved, under resourced entrepreneurs that really can't get their financing anywhere else.

Sari   
Yeah, it's such a cool program, and I met you at a Colorado Food Works event. And you were representing sort of that lending side, we had venture capital there as well. And kind of everything in between and when people start to go, you know, they want to really invest in the next level of their business, they've kind of proven the concept, or, and maybe you can share, like, what stages is funding appropriate because if I'm just starting out, right, with my amazing cookies, or salsa, or whatever it is, but you know, there is a certain level of capital investment, even if it's, you know, $10,000, just to get started all the way up to, you know, I need to get my own space, and I need equipment and things like that. And I think that the limitation for a lot of people to go to a bank is that I need to be in business for two years. Is that typically the threshold?

Marie 
Yes, yes, typically banks will need two years of business tax returns. And the one thing I'll say about that is the banks have five different regulatory agencies that are making sure they're doing all of these things. And so the banks really don't have a choice but to be in the business of risk management, right? And so the statistics for startups are not that great, unfortunately. And they have to operate on that. So again, that's what's creating the gap. I know that the banks want to help the clients and customers that come through their doors because they have their depository relationships. So but going back to your question on where to get started and when it's appropriate. It's so different for each business. So I hate saying it depends, but there are some entrepreneurs that are able to use some of their own savings to just get started, or they have the family and friends that are willing to invest. But not everybody has access to that. So there are different resources depending on the different stages. You know, I can plug another loan program called Kiva, it's kiva.org. It's a crowd lending platform and so when people are in the very beginning stages, and they don't have access to be able to put in their savings or have funds from family and friends, that's a platform that can allow you to raise up to 15,000. And it has a 0% interest rate, and no fees.

Sari  
Yeah, I love Kiva. I've had a couple of clients use it. They're very successful on it. So I love that that's there.

Marie
That is really, really wonderful to hear. Because again, it's more about telling your story, what you're trying to build. And then you have, you know, lender, individual lenders that go on there, and they can make $25 loans. And that can aggregate all the way up to that 15,000. And so what you're doing, there's also you're getting buy in, right, from the community, and you're getting support. And so the next step after that, if a small business wanted to go to a traditional lender or a nonprofit lender like us, if they've had a successful Kiva campaign, it's showing us that they're supporting the community behind that business. And so I think that's a really nice stepping stone. It's definitely doesn't work for everybody. But in the sense that some people just want one loan and don't want to say like on the platform, but I always, always, always encourage folks to check that out as an initial step.

Sari 
Yeah. I love that you brought that up because there is a pretty low barrier entry, need some photos, tell your story. You know, the thing you have to be mindful of is that if you, if you don't reach the full amount then it doesn't fund and so there is some time involved and some, you know, reach a lot of reaching out to friends and family and but it's hassle, and it's kind of that, you know, legwork that you can do ahead of time, and does it help to kind of show that you can pay back loans and that kind of thing from your side?

Marie  
Yes, I think it definitely helps to build credit. I don't know for sure what kind of reporting requirements Kiva does have. But showing that you've been able to take out a loan and repay, I think is super important. And the other part about reaching that fundraising goal is there are a lot of institutional investors on there as well, that care about these underserved categories. So sometimes there might be larger banks or corporate sponsors that are on there, that will automatically match dollar for dollar for women owned, or BiPAP owned. And so sometimes you only kind of have to reach half your goal. And then it kind of puts people over the top, but it does demonstrate that there are entrepreneurs willing to get out there and start asking some of their inner circle, own network, which then kind of gets multiplied out. 

Sari 
Yeah, and I think it really, for an entrepreneur, really proves to themselves like they're in it. They're, they're, like, committed, they're now taking people's money and like they need a plan, come join Food Business Success to help you with that plan. But that they are like in, right, it's one thing to kind of be like dreaming about it. And like, oh, wouldn't it be nice, but when you take that action to like, now you have a loan, and you're paying it back and friends and family money is on the line, and you know, strangers as well, which is so great about the platform. So anyway, I love Kiva, I think just talking about it, I do think that there's a certain amount of like investment, if I'm an entrepreneur's side, that they're like, I'm in it, I'm committed.

Marie 
A hundred percent. And then I would say if they need, when small business owners feel that they need a larger loan amount, that can be signaled in a few different ways. You know, typically, businesses will be putting together a business plan, right, with your help or perhaps another like resource partner, or like, and setting out those milestones, right? Of when I hit X amount of sales, I'm going to need to add this equipment or increase my inventory to this, or maybe I'm going to hire somebody, right? So kind of thinking through what those milestones are, will allow business owners to be able to plan, here's when I will need to start my financing journey, because I'm going to need it maybe two months down the line or something like that. What often happens is that business can start growing, and then they'll have that working capital crunch, and then they'll need money immediately. And then that will limit their options to maybe more expensive lending tools because they need a quicker turnaround. And so I love to encourage people to kind of think through that and start that process earlier than you may think you need it. So then the funds are there when you actually do need them.

Sari 
I'm so glad you said that. Because every time I always describe that I have a visual model of like a stair step, right? And so for people in the food industry, a lot of times people started out cottage food or just very minimal investment. So maybe you only need up to $5,000. And you can get that from friends and family. And so you kind of start out that first one or borrow from your own savings. And then every time you scale up, right, now I want to go into commercial kitchen or I want to go into co packing or get better equipment and hire and those kinds of things like now I'm scaling up. So now there's this new level of investment. And every time you go up in that stair step, like the planning time gets so much longer. And so being aware of that, and I love what you said like what are those milestones?

Marie 
Yeah, that's super helpful. And then I guess the other piece that I would think through is, what are the funds can be used for? So talking through those steps that you said, some of them are going to be equipment, right? That's kind of a more of a longer term thing so it makes sense to have a term loan where you have one monthly payment that you're paying over a  time. The other tool that I think makes sense for this specific industry is a line of credit, right? Very similar to a credit card in the sense that you have a total limit. And then you can draw on it when you're purchasing inventory ingredients, packaging, all of that. And then once you have your full product, right, then you're selling it, and then you could pay that down. And so you're only paying for that when you use it and so that's an easy, easier, I should say, tool to kind of line up in advance because you're basically getting that set up but you may not be using it. It could sit there until you actually need it.

Sari 
And those kinds of differences are called like capital investment versus working capital, right? Where you're paying for inventory and labor and where you're going to have those big outputs to get the product in. I mean it's just, it's the way that a product business is set up versus a service business, right? Like we have to create products ahead of time to sell and cash ahead, and then we can pay down those loans. So I think banks often, you know, when they walk into a traditional bank, and they're under two years, and they don't have the right pieces that they need to show, banks often say, like, you know, get a line of credit on your house or use credit cards, you know, or I love the idea that Kiva similar that you can use those funds for working capital.

Marie 
Exactly, exactly. It's super flexible.

Sari 
Yeah. And there are some loans that just are only equipment, right, or only properties. So.

Marie
It's depends on the lender on what they're able to provide. You know, sometimes they're specifically just for equipment. Sometimes they're working capital where it's really for any business use. So having those conversations with your lender, we always recommend that you start with the bank that you already have a relationship with. So likely, if you are starting, you're going to have a depository relationship somewhere, that's a really, really good place to start. And you may even ask if they have an SBA division because those folks might be more ready to talk about kind of smaller dollar loans. And if they're unable to help, that's where this whole community development, financial institution, CDFI, kind of mission based lending world exists because those institutions are the ones that want to help in that beginning that on ramp in those early stages, so that the business can then have the opportunity to show repayment ability and that show that they're increasing their sales or managing their cash well, and then once they hit that, those that two year mark, a bank may be interested and, you know, refinancing or getting him into a different product. So it's, again, kind of that early stage piece of it.

Sari 
So good. And I do want to just mention, I mean, you know, I offer a lot of these services. But the Small Business Development Center is such a great place for people to start. And oftentimes, they don't have somebody that specializes in the food industry but at least that there's Coaches and Consultants there that can help with business plans, and some of the QuickBooks and financials and kind of get them ready, people ready for those loans.

Marie
Yeah, I think that's their wonderful resource. We refer to them a lot. I do think with this specific industry though, there are a lot of nuances. Once you start working with distributors or getting products into stores and stuff like that. And so having somebody specialized, you know, in this particular industry, I would, I would certainly highly recommend. 

Sari  
Yeah. I love working. I used to consult for, for one of the for the Fort Collins, Larimer. So, they were fortunate to have like, a special specialized consultant for a little while but there aren't very many. Margins are different. You know, it's different than a restaurant, it's different from a lot of things. So, yeah, having somebody who knows this industry. But so well, first of all, can you just clarify is B Side Lending, is it only available for people in Colorado? Or is it national? Or how do people find national resource? 

Marie 
Yeah, so on for B Side Capital, we do SBA loans, we can work on commercial real estate loans in Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona. And then we can do 7A Loans nationwide, which is really exciting so can help lenders do that. On the B Side Fund where we're doing direct loans. We are just in Colorado right now. But we are looking to expand shortly in those same states. So Utah, New Mexico, Arizona. So we're kind of just like lining up that growth plan right now. Because we would want to mirror the same territory. So we can offer those tools to the lenders in those communities as well.

Sari  
Make sense. So how would people go about finding other you know, I have a lot of people all over the US listening. So what would they be searching for if they were trying to find a similar organization outside of Colorado?

Marie
Sure. Great question. So there is a membership organization. It's called the opportunity finance network. So OFN. And they actually have a directory of all CDFIs that are members of that organization. So you can actually search by state and you can also search by purpose. So if it's working capital versus another purpose. So whenever I get kind of inquiries about, you know, businesses in other states, which happens pretty often, that's where I will pull up a list and know that if they're part of that network, there are CDFI. 

Sari 
Great, I'll put that link in the show notes, too. That's super helpful for people looking for that resource. Yeah. Because I do love how these nonprofit programs and lending sources can help bridge that gap. Would you say that the like, what can people expect from terms or interest rate? Is it fairly similar to bank loans? Or is it a little more expensive? Like what what can people expect?

Marie
Great question. So I would say on average, there are going to be different programs especially since there's a lot of COVID Relief out there. But generally speaking, I would say CDFIs are a bit more expensive than the banks. The reason for that is there's a high transaction costs and doing these smaller dollar loans, which makes them more expensive to provide. And then we're also nonprofits, so we just need to cover our costs. And a lot of times, nonprofits like us are borrowing money, then re lend out to the small businesses. And so even if the business pays us back or not, we still have to pay back our funder, right? And so we have to kind of build in for that. And so that's why we always, always, always recommend going to your bank, first, you're going to get the best rate likely there. Again, the CDFIs can help bridge that gap in the beginning with the idea that it could then be paid off, or refinanced with a big loan down the line where you can get a better interest rate. As far as terms, it really runs the gamut. I think a lot of working capital loans are typically between three and five years, I would say that it's typical banks, as well as other CDFIs, we do have longer terms of seven years, what we wanted to do with that is by stretching it out for a longer period of time, it lowers that monthly payment. And so when people are kind of in those early stages, they'll be able to just make some more affordable, right, if that monthly payments lower. And so that's just something to consider when people are shopping around is what's the interest rate? But also what's that term? Because that's the actual outflow monthly, that that's going to have right and again, that's the difference between that term loan where you have a regular monthly payment versus the line of credit, or potentially using a credit card where there's options just to pay interest only until you sell all of your inventory, and then you can pay it off in full. And so thinking through those cash flows that will help determine which one seems more of a fit. But that's generally how those terms work for those different products or by institution.

Sari
So what does the process look like when I come? Maybe I've gotten a Kiva loan, I've done farmers markets, and I'm proving the concept. And I'm like, okay, I'm ready to get my own space. I know you worked with Rob with More Kombucha maybe it's an example. I think he shared his story of working with you guys. So I feel like he'd be okay with saying that, but you know, somebody like him where he's like, I'm ready to go into larger distribution and get some equipment and get a space. So you're ready to go to that next level, you don't have the qualifications, the things that you need for a traditional bank. So what are the things that I need to provide? And what should I anticipate in the process?

Marie
Sure, yeah. So I'll talk about process first, and then I'll talk about some of the required documentation. So for us personally, but I think it would probably be pretty similar with us, with other institutions like us. We have a quick eligibility check on our websites, we just ask a few questions. And we will then kind of send them to different pathways, right? Because some folks that are coming to us they weren't would want commercial real estate, sometimes, like you said, maybe they just need working capital to bring their business to the next level. And so depending on the dollar amount, what they're going to be using it for, we'll kind of wrap them in the right direction. On the direct lending side, if it seems like we would be a good fit for this small business, we would then provide them a link to our online application where they can answer a bit more in depth questions, and that's where we ask for documentation to be uploaded. So typical things that a lender is going to want to collect would be two years of personal tax returns for any owners that own the business 20% or more, sometimes that includes the business tax return, if they're filing a Schedule C, which is common I think with a lot of cottage food industry. And then, but if they are filing a separate tax return, we would need two, three years of that. If they're a younger business, we just want interim financials, right? So same thing might be in business just for six months doing farmers markets, we would want still financial statements. So an income statement and a balance sheet. There are a lot of tools out there. You know, QuickBooks is a software that's commonly used by small businesses. And depending on where they are in the phase of their business, we can see what kind of financials they're able to provide, we just want to see what's that cash flow like? Are you generating income? What are your expenses? Are you covering those expenses, etc.? We also want to collect a personal financial statement for any owners of 20% or more, that just gives us a financial picture of the owners themselves. Anytime we're evaluating a business, we want to make sure that the business can pay back the loan, that's our primary goal. But, you know, there is a personal guarantee that is associated with a lot of these smaller dollar loans. And that's true for CDFI, mission nonprofits, and also banks. And it's really that promise to repay, if the business can't, for whatever reason. And so taking a look at that. And then as far as like the planning and going back to those milestones, we do want to collect a business plan, we can collect that in multiple formats, sometimes people put slide decks together, or a small business canvas, I've just heard about this new model called the Growth Wheel, that kind of puts things out quarterly. So whatever format the small business owner or entrepreneur uses, we can take a look at that. What we're really looking for is, what is the business doing? Why does it exist? Who's the management? What do you have any key employees? Or do you have a advisory group that you are or mentor that you're working with, to help make some of these larger decisions as you grow, right? We want to understand how the business is operating and what product and service that they're selling in the marketplace. So sometimes that can just be an executive summary if they've already been in business for a while. And then projections. So we understand that projections are just an estimate. But it's really for the entrepreneur to think through that process of okay, if I'm going to be bringing my business to the next level and I want to borrow X amount of dollars to achieve XYZ, we want to see what the impact is going to be of the loan being injected into the business. So maybe they're able to hire people, add equipment. What's effect is that going to have on sales? How is that going to affect your expenses and your cash flow? And there is no way that that entrepreneur is going to get the projections, right? But it's more of an exercise, right?

Sari   
If we had a crystal ball, right?

Marie 
If we had a crystal ball. So a lot of people get intimidated on that piece. And it again, it's more of understanding what you think is gonna happen. So you have a bit of a roadmap, and you can check yourself along the way of, oh, I didn't hit this revenue mark, why, right? Might not doing so many farmers markets or, for some things rained out, and we had to cancel some events or so it really just is the exercise to go through that. But it also gives us a tool to understand and show that the business is gonna be able to repay the loan because once we gather everything, we put it into a package, we actually have to present it to our loan review committee. And this is also true of banks, and get that approval. So any information that that entrepreneur, small business owner can provide us allows us to have the information that we need to be an advocate when we are pitching it, then to our internal board to get their approval.

Sari   
I so agree with you that people get so intimidated, and I'm hearing so much more of just like, I'm not good at the numbers, or the numbers scare me, which is why I created Master Your Business, it really is taking the tools inside Food Business Success, and then giving people more structure and kind of forcing them, quote unquote, to do this work, because I don't want you showing up at the bank not being prepared. I know so many people that are walking into the co packer or walking into a bank, and they're getting an onslaught of questions, and they don't know the answer to those. And then it can feel terrible and intimidating. And you're like I don't know how to feel better about my numbers. And that is so much of the reason why I started Master Your Business. So if anybody's interested, you can get on the waitlist, we're closed right now. But highly recommend that program. If you really want to be prepared for this next level of getting funding for your business. I want you to walk into that bank, like a badass and know all of your numbers and know, you know, what is future forecasts? And what are my projections? And how am I supporting that? And here's how I got this, here's how I got this loan, and you're feeling confident and ready. That's what you want when you're walking into any kind of bank for money. And it's also really good for people to keep in mind how good it looks on paper when you do have advisors, when you do have coaches and mentors and programs that you're not just operating in a vacuum, and that you are seeking outside counsel. I think that that goes a long ways for people considering lending you money to say this is somebody who's learning, who's coachable, who wants to get it right instead of being right, and just being like, I know everything right, but they are getting support. I just think that that speaks volumes about the type of entrepreneur and their level, their rate of success.

Marie  
Yes, exactly. And it's just pulling from people from your network. And I think people will be surprised, like if you ask for the help people are willing to provide it. And so you just have to ask. And it does, it demonstrates that a small business owner is willing to ask for that help. Because I think if we have people that are like kind of like a lone wolf, and they think they can all do it themselves. That's impossible. It's impossible. You need partners in this journey, whether it is a consultant, or your customers and clients or distributors, right? You always having to be working with people. And what I see is entrepreneurs who are seeking out all of those resources are willing to take that help. And those are the ones that are also pivoting along the way and making their business better, right? Because they're open to that feedback and they're actually seeking it out. And so it just signals to lenders. If you were working with various resources, and consultants in that sort of thing, then you are willing to take your business to the next level.

Sari 
Yeah, I do agree that that lone wolf entrepreneur, like I can just figure it all out myself. It's just, you know, and that's why we have Colorado Food Works. That's why I always encourage people, wherever they live, to find networking organizations because you cannot do this alone. And that's why we have great community inside my program. And it's just, you need all of those things. Like, takes a village, for sure.

Marie 
Yes, it takes a village and then talking about yeah, like membership groups like that were there it's for a specific industry. Or maybe you take a class along with other entrepreneurs. What I find so valuable about that is, again, it's kind of cliche, but you don't know what you don't know. And sometimes they'll be topics that come up and other entrepreneurs in the room that are in a similar business life cycle, or maybe they're further along or behind you. They're asking questions that maybe you haven't thought of, and it's still helpful to you, right? And so, again, I find that incredibly valuable to be talking to other small business owners in the industry as well.

Sari 
Yes, so good, glad you brought that up. I think it's the only way that you're really going to have true success. I mean, I've worked with lots and lot, you know, hundreds of people and I can pretty much be like, oh, they're gonna they're gonna be really successful in you know, however, they define success, but they're gonna make it. And I think so much of it is that difference between, I'm willing to, I'm willing to be open to all resources and all answers, and because when I find when people are very closed off, like, I know it all, I can figure it all out, it's just like, they're, at some point, they're gonna reach a block that they're not gonna be able to get through without other people. And so it can really speed things up for people. And just as on the flip side, I find like, you know, because we have all stages of people in, in our, in my program, and it's like, I think there's a real reward of helping others of when you're a little farther along to, and you get a lot of satisfaction from like, hey, I figured it out. And I, you know, I leaned on other people when I was coming up, and I still have people above me that I'm leaning on, but now I can start to give back. And I think that that's just a side reward of being part of community.

Marie 
A hundred percent. Yeah, I think, people, it's so wonderful to see. And, you know, sometimes we have similar businesses that come through our programs. You know, we had an empanada business, right? And she was just starting up, and she was out on the western slope. And we had a Metro Denver entrepreneur business in there. So you know, we saw them come in, and we connected them, right? Because one business owner was already down that path. And she would be able to provide that advice. And she was always willing to, right? And so could even connecting within those networks, I think is huge.

Sari 
And this is not directly related to lending. But I just thought that that was such a good thing to throw in there that, you know, those advisors and mentors and community are all going to support you in your efforts as you scale your business. All right, Marie, what else do you want to add to this conversation that we haven't touched on yet?

Marie  
I would say, I think it's really important to shop around again, to figure out exactly what you need, and also don't get deterred by the no's. It's going to happen, even with the whole CDFI world where there's flexible underwriting standards, each institution organization operates a little bit differently. And so if one person says, or one institution or organization says no, that doesn't mean all of them are going to, right? And I think, specifically in Colorado, I can speak to it. All the partners are very collaborative. And so if you're not going to be a fit for one organization, we always try to refer out to each other. And I think we know each other's programs really well so that we can point people in the right direction. And that's part of like, something that we've built into our processes. If we're not going to be a good fit, we provide those resources because we never want to give somebody like a hard no, it's a no but or no and. Here are the homework items that would make sense for you to do to accomplish and reach to be able to apply with us. Or based on XYZ, these other partners might be a fit for you. Go see if they're able to help and if they're not, come back, we could talk more. And so I realized that it can be an intimidating process but going through the thought process of the business plan and projections, that's going to help you as business owners be prepared, right? And for those conversations with the lenders, and just to kind of keep, keep going and keep at it is what I would say.

Sari 
Which is another reason why planning is so important, right? Like, because we might get some no's and we might have to pivot and we got to try this other thing or do some homework and come back. And so starting that process earlier than you think, and not when you're so squeezed, that you're like, I can't. I can't keep going.

Marie
Right, exactly. And then and here's the other thing, we've had small businesses come to us, we weren't able to say yes, at that time, we gave him some pointers on things that were obstacles. And then they tackled them. And they came back. We had a women minority business owner who was selling juices and she wanted to do it out of, I think, a van or something like that. But it was gonna be really expensive to do the van in the beginning. Well, you know, fast forward, she was able to get just like a small kiosk in a larger marketplace. And that was a lot more cost effective for her. And we were able to help her do that. And she's doing great. So it's just, again, having these conversations, getting the feedback, treating everything as a learning experience, right? And not getting deterred by some of those early no's because you, you're gonna learn from those on what to change for the next conversation that you have. And, you know, it is definitely a hard journey. But if you have a support network around you that is supporting that, I think it's important to build that up as well.

Sari 
We actually were talking about getting more no's in our group call yesterday and because I talked about like, I mean, what if you need to get 100 no's, right, to be successful, whether it's in sales or banks, or you know, anything like this. So the faster we can not make no's mean anything about us personally, and not sit in the drama of it and just go okay, what do I need to learn from this? What can I change? What can I do? You know, like, let's just keep going. I mean, an entrepreneur is basically just a problem solver. And the faster you can solve problems, I mean, like, okay, it's a no, here's why, let me learn from that. What can I do? Maybe try a different source, like keep going, I mean, you're only going to fail if you quit. So keep going.

Marie  
Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

Sari  
Thank you so much, Marie, for being here. Your voice just kind of helps us all feel calm. And it feels like when I talk to you like, yes, it is possible to go find this money and it's doable for the average person. And yeah, you gotta go learn some new things, right? This isn't just about making your product. You can't just be a maker but if you're willing to put on that entrepreneur hat, come join me in Food Business Success or Master Your Business, where we will do that financial work of being the CFO, being the CEO of your business. But yes, it is possible to fund your dream to get it to the next level so that it actually works, and that you are making money, that you're profitable, that it's a business that works for you, not against you, meaning it doesn't suck all your time, all your energy, all your money, right? When it's at that small scale and that often can happen where you are in the middle of your business too much. And we got to be able to fund the business so that we can remove you just a little bit so you can look at the higher level pieces of the business. So talking with you Marie has really given all of us hope that we can go get that funding that we absolutely do need, and that people are out there that want to support entrepreneurs.

Marie  
Wonderful. And so yeah, and if anybody ever has any questions, we're always happy to answer those. Put people in the right direction. We want to be a resource. Yes, we're lending organization but we also see ourselves as providing a lot of education as well. And we really just care about job creation in our communities. And so even if we're ultimately not the lender but we're helping businesses create jobs, we are all about it.

Sari  
Well, we are all so fortunate to have you as a resource and an advocate for small businesses. So again, thank you for being on today's episode. It was a great one and I really appreciate your time today. 

Marie  
Thank you so much for having me.

Sari  
All right, that's all I have for you today. I hope you're feeling inspired and hopeful that you can go get the money, the capital that is needed, but we can't just do it flippantly. We can't just be like, yeah, I need some money. You got to do some work ahead of time to be ready and to be that entrepreneur. Alright, until next time, have an amazing week!

The smartest thing you can do as an entrepreneur is to invest in a who to help you with the how to speed up your journey and help you skip the line. When you are ready for more support and accountability to finally get this thing done. You can work with me in two ways. Get me all to yourself with one on one business coaching, or join Food Business Success which includes membership inside Fuel, our community of food business founders that includes monthly live group coaching calls and so much more. It's one of my favorite places to hang out and I would love to see you there. Go to foodbizsuccess.com to start your journey towards your own Food Business Success.