SBA Loans Exposed: What 24 Years in Banking Taught Me with Kendro Benjamin

Amos So I've been looking forward to this one. Just wanna let you know that, and that's not me just saying that. Mm-hmm. Even though it is just me saying that. Mm-hmm. But not really. I've been really looking forward to this one because Ken, name is well known. Like those that know you. Thank you.

Amos That may. Thank you. Yeah, it does. And I feel like there are more people that need to know you or people in your position and there are so few. I don't

Kendro think there are that many. Yeah, right. you can say that, right. But I guess at the end of the day, it's education and, knowing what, programs that are out there or what the SPA allows.

Kendro Okay. Before we

Amos get, yep. Sorry. Sorry. I know where you are. Obviously. No, everybody knows me. Who are you?

Kendro So my name is Kendra Benjamin. I've been in banking for somewhere around 24 years now. I specialize in SBA lending. For those who don't know, SBA is small business administration. So I've been doing that for a majority of those years that I've been banking, and [00:01:00] I absolutely love it.

Kendro My

Amos God. So I'm gonna dive right into it. There's so many business owners out there. Mm-hmm. So many people that are aspiring to go into the entrepreneurship lifestyle. Mm-hmm. Or look at scale. I think so many people, they still don't know much about the SBA. Know much about Linden. What makes it a mystery for people?

Amos I'm just curious. Why is it a mystery? Why don't people know?

Kendro Yeah. I mean, it's, like I was saying earlier, it's, it's really education, right. a small percentage of the population knew about SBA prior to the PPP and, idle. Okay. Right. It only took. Yeah. Yeah. It only took, you know, a national disaster, international disaster disaster, you know, but yeah.

Kendro I mean, SBA previously were, three letters that not too many people were familiar with prior. Mm-hmm. But even to this day, right, when people mention the majority of folks revert back to PPP and, [00:02:00] and Idol, which was, you know, the first of its kind. And hopefully. We don't go through that experience again.

Kendro Again, that was, that was a bit much.

Amos But I'm curious then how would the, the layman or the typical person find out about SBH?

Kendro Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I'll answer that by what the SBA allows, right? In terms of funding the SBA does allow for startup businesses, okay? Right. You have a, concept, you have an idea, and You wanna make a business out of it. Right. The SBA does allow for that in multiple ways. Uh, small business lending, you know, in terms of, you can get a microloan, you can get a, you know, a microloan showing anything $50,000 and less. Okay. Or you can get, you know, a small business loan in. Is anywhere from, you know, $5,000 thereabouts to $5 million.

Kendro So it all depends on what stage, one's business is, at.

Amos if you look at the [00:03:00] companies, I'm not talking C Corps and all these Vanessa, but just in general, when you go down the street, you see a, a line of businesses. What percentage of them would you guess were established through funding

Kendro or self-funded?

Kendro Yeah, I'd probably say the majority of it, of those businesses probably came about through SBA financing. Even though SBA is there, there are several other avenues in which you can go down to fund your business. Okay. You know, inheritance could be, or it could be just, you know, savings.

Kendro Sellers note something along those lines. So there's, multiple ways to fund a business, right? But depending on what stage, you know, you're at, would, depend upon, you know, the percentage, right? So if the business is already established, going down that, road, if that's fine, right?

Kendro There's multiple ways you can, get there, especially from startup nature. Okay? but if you're looking to, outgrowing your space, right? [00:04:00] And you wanna buy a building, then. There are less options that are out there. You know, so you can get conventional lending.

Kendro SBA lending, I mean, you can't do a seller's note, but those are far and few between.

Amos I say that was a little rare. Yes. Where does the SBA have the advantage compared to going conventional?

Kendro Yeah, right. Great question. The number of primary advantages, the equity contribution. Nowadays you're looking at 25 to 30% down on the acquisition of real estate, whereas take a step back.

Kendro Yeah, sorry. Okay.

Amos I just wanna make sure everyone's following you. So yeah, I wanna buy this building we are in right now. Yes. Conventionally yes. I would normally put down,

Kendro so you normally put down anywhere from 25% to 30%.

Amos Wow. So if it's a million dollars, I'm putting out a quarter a million. Yep. And then if I'm going SBA, that would differ for half.

Amos So

Kendro part majority of it would be 10% equity contribution. But that also depends too, if you're a [00:05:00] startup in nature, okay, then you gotta put an additional 5%. Okay. And that also depends too on if it's a special use building, like a car wash, you know, or something along those lines, then you gotta put in an additional 5%.

Kendro But for the far majority of people that get SBA loans to, you know, buy real estate, they're generally putting down 10%. And,

Amos and for the most part, you have to be on the occupied, I'm assuming. Yeah. That's

Kendro one of the biggest caveats is you have to be owner occupied and, what I mean by that is the business has to own 51% of the more or really use 51% of the, more of the square footage.

Kendro Yeah, yeah, yeah. So 51% or more, and that can include common areas. Yep. Utility closets. Yeah. Yeah. Boiler rooms. Anyway. Also too, it also depends too, you can also use outdoor space, you know, if you, if you're a landscaper, right? And, you can use that space, [00:06:00] what you'll probably run into more is if you are in the city, you're buying a building let's just say to Square, right?

Kendro And it's straight up and down. Mm-hmm. Right. So your first floor, right, you're utilizing the basement and then there's apartments, right? Which makes it a mixed use building apartments on the second and third floor. If that building comes with outdoor space that the restaurant utilizes, then that's part of the 51% or more.

Kendro Ah,

Amos so there's, there are many ways to really get this done, essentially. It's not like,

Kendro yes, yes. Nothing is ever cut and dry with the SPA. Yeah. Yeah.

Amos So you've already touched on some of the dues. Yes. Right. You've gotta own 51% and so forth. Or occupy. Yep.

Kendro Yep.

Amos What are more common news and common donors?

Kendro Yeah.

Kendro I mean, one of the things, like I said, I mean the SBA does allow for projection based financing. Okay. Now I think about, I don't know if I said that before, But with that, right, you need to have a solid business plan. it's gotta make sense. Right? [00:07:00] And one of the things that.

Kendro That the SBA does not allow for is rental income. So back to that, example with the mixed use property, the business has to be able to show the ability to repay the debt without the use of the rental income that you get.

Amos So the example you gave was a mixed use, right? Mixed use, correct. And then what if it were multiple businesses?

Amos Same

Kendro thing. Same

Amos thing. Same thing.

Kendro Yeah, yeah, yeah. The SBA deems anything that's kind of, you are not, you have to provide a service, let's say you can't just, you know, collect a check per se. Okay. In, in that scenario, the SBA deems it as speculative. Okay. Right? And, and that's the category that. That that would fall into,

Amos yeah.

Amos Yeah. Yep. This isn't another way to buy a property. Yes,

Kendro yes, yes, yes, yes. For active businesses. Yeah.

Amos Now, now you are primarily focused in New York? [00:08:00] We are in New York, obviously. Um, but in terms state to state, does it vary or. Like a blanket rule on how you qualify.

Kendro Yeah. So I'm tri-state area, right?

Kendro You gotta do your homework. So every time. Yes, yes, yes. So the only thing that really, so SBA it, it's governed by the SOP Right? Which is standard operating procedure. It's pretty much the Bible of the SBA. Mm-hmm. So one thing, it's a federal program show, everything, right? That's applicable in that. Covers every state.

Kendro Okay. Okay. The difference is, and I'll give you New York and New Jersey, for example. So with New York we have mortgage recording taxes. Okay? Right. So if you own a home and if the bank. We're looking to take a mortgage out on your home, right? It could be secondary, excuse me. It could be a primary, secondary, tertiary.

Kendro You would have to pay the mortgage recording tax [00:09:00] on the amount that the bank is filing on your home. Okay? In addition to that, depending on if you are in the five boroughs, if you are in Nassau, you're in. Suffolk County, that tax varies. Okay. But if you're in New Jersey, there really is no mortgage recording tax.

Kendro So it's easier, it's, it's cheaper to get a principal's real estate in Jersey because it's, it's cheaper. 'cause there is no, no mortgage recording tax.

Amos So are you seeing people deliberately dumb down their businesses in Jersey, for example? No. Not for that. No.

Kendro No, no. Not, not for that. Yeah. No, not for that.

Kendro Not for that.

Amos So are you seeing the SBA more involved in or in new ventures, or is it more on existing the scaling or expanding?

Kendro So the SBA doesn't get involved. Okay. Right. So, so they, they really don't, the purpose of SBA is really to back. Banks, financial institutions to [00:10:00] provide loans to help businesses expand.

Kendro Right. 'cause the backbone of America are small businesses and should anything happen. Mm-hmm. Right? As long as these boxes were checked that everything was done according to plan, then the SBA would make good on that guarantee if someone was the default. If somebody was a default. Correct. Okay.

Kendro So it's really to help. Fuel lending for businesses where, you know, they might not necessarily meet the conventional lending criteria.

Amos Okay. That makes a lot of sense. Yeah. So then that begs the question, is there a situation aside from not qualified? Mm-hmm. Is there situation where SBA doesn't make sense?

Amos I'm

Kendro biased. Yeah. Yeah. But yes. Right there, there, there would be a situation, you I can't necessarily think of one now, right? Because when, when I look at, as I think about it, if it's for, for anything outside of real estate acquisition, right? Debt refinance, working capital, business [00:11:00] expansion, business acquisition, all that stuff, the SBA, you are allowed to go out.

Kendro 10 years. 10 years meaning 10, so, so the amortization and the term would be 10 years on the load,

Amos kind of like taking the Yes, yes,

Kendro yes, yes, yes. Now, right, because there are inherent credit deficiencies. Mm-hmm. Right? For the most part. Not every situation, but you know, your rate is a little bit higher. Right.

Kendro So on some loan programs, right? The max that a bank can charge would be 300 basis points over prime. Okay? So if we were to close today, you're looking at about 10.5%,

Amos okay?

Kendro Some being seven. Yes. Seven. Seven and half. and then the three you add to it some banks, right? They can do that.

Kendro Fixed based pricing. Most banks don't. Right. So they do it on a variable, on a variable rate. Now with when it's good or bad, like how it, it depends, [00:12:00] right? you know, coming out of, of what we've came out of most recently, you know, I mean, it was bad because, prior to or, or as the pandemic Yeah.

Kendro Right. Happened the government cut rates. Mm-hmm. Right. So. If you were a business getting a loan around that time, your rates were low. Okay. But then, you know, as it skyrocketed, so a lot of people's payments doubled, you know? So pay off. Yeah. A lot of, yeah. Yeah. Yep, yep, yep. So that makes a little time. Yes, yes.

Kendro But if you warrant. If that wasn't in your projections, right. If you weren't expecting it, not too many people were. And then the cost of everything goes up, you know, and the rates go up. it hurt a lot of small businesses.

Amos So some of the dangers we under service of the deposited, there's so, so many people that have now found out about it.

Amos They have the applications and they haven't applied. [00:13:00] Why people don't, yeah,

Kendro I mean, look, a lot of people are hesitant. You know, to go into debt. they don't want to kind of do it until they know that, all right, I'm going to be successful. Yeah. But it's, tough, right?

Kendro Because you don't know things can happen, you know? So I've always been a believer you use your cash and lost your leverage. Yes.

Amos Yes. You leverage. Yeah. So is the environment today favorable? For people that wanna borrow money, is it

Kendro No. Is it, I would say this, Regardless of what's going on in the environment, right.

Kendro And higher interest rates. If your business is such where you can, scale. Mm-hmm. Right? You can, buy more inventory to get a better discount to sell it. And, Those margins outweigh the cost of, of the financing, right. and I'm a big component of buying real estate.

Kendro Okay. You know, if you are able to buy real estate right, and [00:14:00] get out of renting and paying somebody else's mortgage and really controlling your future. Right. Not even your business future. 'cause you can always sell the business, but the building, but that building's it collect rent. you know, I have some, some old clients that, that was their retirement plan, you know, so

Amos putting money away to retirement plan the building, was it?

Kendro I don't say Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And their, their retirement plan is the rent that they're collecting. From the off the building over time.

Amos Yeah. So now I have a question. I've been wondering, right. I always kind of wanted to ask you this. I guess there's two ways of asking that, right? Okay. Is entrepreneurship at the highest level, lowest level, and then the next, the second part of it is it's the American Dream Store alive.

Kendro So when you say entrepreneurship, what? What do you mean

Amos people going into business for themselves? Right. You've been in the industry over two decades, are you seeing more people say, Hey, I'm going out my own, doing my own business? [00:15:00] Yeah. Or you seeing people dial down,

Kendro so, in my humble opinion, right, I've seen people kind of dial down and I think a byproduct of that is rates.

Kendro Right. Okay. So even today, I speak to people today and what's the rate, 10 point a 5%. Oh, wow. That's, that's a lot. You know? Yeah, no, I mean it's really coming from environment, so. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. Exactly. Okay. You know, and, and people are still expecting rates to be in the three, 4%. Yeah, no. You know, so, but if you look at, rates as a whole, I mean, we're lower now than I believe the average, you know, has, been.

Kendro Yeah. Yeah. But so is American Dream still alive? I mean, yeah. you know, dream right is outside of buying a house, to me it's, it's just. The tenacity and, and willing to do business [00:16:00] and, yeah. still there In general. That's in general, yeah. Yeah.

Amos Finding more success though in specific

Kendro pockets, like certain industries?

Kendro No. it's not, at least in my experience, pocket or industry driven. Mm-hmm. Right. It's entrepreneurialship, which isn't for everybody. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But the people that are entrepreneur, they'll figure it out. Okay. You know, they'll, they'll figure it out in the essence of an entrepreneur, right?

Kendro Yes.

Amos You everything you figure it out. Yes. Yep. That's, that's, yeah. That I've noticed about just entrepreneurship in general and the environment. Um, it goes back to that question on the industries, right? So are there specific industries that are just not getting funding? Right. Guidance in general, just kind of like,

Kendro yeah.

Kendro Right. I'll answer that, but I, do want to, I, I wanna say something to make it kind of right. I, I think. Help take out [00:17:00] some of that mystery with SBA. So banks provide right? SBA financing and each bank does it differently, okay? Right. You go to Chase HSBC and T, whomever. It's not to say that. They all do what?

Kendro The same, every bank does it differently. We're talking large banks, community banks, commercial banks, right? Online banks. Everybody does it differently. Everybody has their own particular appetite. Okay? Right. So to answer your question, overall yes, generally. Banks tend to shy away from restaurants.

Kendro Okay. You know, car washes, laundromats. They do. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of it, again, depends on, on management, but nonetheless, I mean with that stuff, right. And even gas stations, it's the potential environmental issues that can, [00:18:00] come with it. Maybe less so than with car washes and dry cleaners than back in the day.

Kendro Oh, laundromats. Yeah. Back in the day, they were known for having environmental issues. Really? Yeah. But you know, that science behind it has come a long way. And they use different detergents now, and the machines are better and all, that other stuff. All friendly environment. Yes, yes, yes.

Kendro But each bank again is you. You'll find some banks that that's all they do. That's all they do. They'll do car washes, they'll do dry cleaners and laundromats. Yeah. Yeah. And, and that's just their niche.

Amos You know, you expect them to expect like a higher rate if you are going to a

Kendro more specialty situation. I mean, it depends if, if we're talking to SBA specific mm-hmm.

Kendro SBA does kind of cap. Okay. Right. the spread that you're able to make. Okay. You know, and that kind of depends on the loan amount. So, but you know, on the larger loans, you'll see it [00:19:00] capped, you know, on a larger seven a loans at 300 basis points. Okay. Yeah. Yes, yes. Yeah. Yeah.

Amos always kind of toyed with this book, right?

Amos So franchise versus studio. I,

Kendro I, yeah, yeah. I mean, like the difference, right? Franchise. You know, for the most part, right. They have a concept. Right. It's been proven you needed, there's a lot that they needed to do to get to that stage, correct. Right. and they might have better tools with regard to demographics and market research and all that other stuff.

Kendro They

Amos do the legwork ahead of

Kendro Yes. But there's a cost for that. Correct.

Amos Right. Part, I'm always, is it worth the cost? You know, depending on the

Kendro business, it, it depends. I mean, there's so many factors. You know, one thing I, I can say, right? Going back to the educational piece, every state, right? Mm-hmm. You know, a lot of counties in these states, a lot of areas have what they would call small business development centers.

Kendro Okay. S BDCs, [00:20:00] or. Like in New York, we have a score, you know, and their services are free, but they're just business advisory services. So they'll help you with the business plan, putting projections together. They have research at their fingertips, so if there's questions Yeah, they have that. They have that.

Kendro So do for yourself. They can tell, you can still do all of it on yourself. Right. Don't just take, it's not, yeah. Right. I cringe when somebody comes up to me and they're like, oh, okay, well what, you know, what industry is the most profitable? Right. I don't know. You earned. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. It's not, that's not how it works, right?

Kendro Because, you know, there'll be ups and downs and, you gotta find something you have a passion for. Okay. You know, I don't need to tell you. Right. Your successful. Your own. Right. And And why, right. Is it because it's a lucrative industry and anybody can do it? No, no, [00:21:00] I know. But you have a passion. You have a passion of helping people.

Kendro You know

Amos when someone comes to you and they say, Hey, I'm gonna borrow money and I'm gonna go through all my options. Okay. And you've seen so many walks of life. Mm-hmm. So many types of people. Are there certain characteristics? Or there certain parts of their plan that gives you an answer that this person will probably be successful.

Amos Like their vision is solid. They're focused. Yeah. Or is it, yes. Sometimes it's just happen steps that the person's successful.

Kendro Yeah. there are several types of people that I speak to on a regular basis, right? Mm-hmm. So the ones that are like, I kind of wanna do it because I have nothing else to do, or a friend of mine does it and yeah.

Kendro And yeah, seems like you're going and they're gonna help me out if they need help. And you know, that to me it's like, oh, you know, I wish you the best of luck, but maybe you should keep your day job. You know, conversely, if I have somebody who's like, Hey, [00:22:00] look, this is what I want to do.

Kendro Like I eat it, I sleep it, I breathe it. Like this is, this is my passion, this is my life. Those types of people are the ones that I would want look to. Okay. Because you're, they're the most successful in my, again, right. in my years of doing this, that's what I. Yes. That's what I see.

Amos So in terms of, let's say I'm that guy, right?

Amos Yes. Super ready to go. I need this, I read this. Mm-hmm. Research. Mm-hmm. I don't have proof of concept

Kendro yet. Well, their research should be that proof of concept. But there's, now, now mind you and I, I take it back. Sorry. Let me, lemme take a step back. So, so it's, it's not like, okay, this has been done before.

Kendro Right. It's kind of, hey. I know the people, I know my customers. Mm-hmm. Right? I know my suppliers. This is what I can get for, this is what I can sell it at. You know that to me, [00:23:00] and, you've might've done it. previously at, for a competitor, you might've worked at the business doing, you've worked in the industry, you know this, you know that.

Kendro Mm-hmm. So you have inside information, which always helps. Yeah. You know, I see what you're saying. Or if you've run a business and now you want to, you run a business for somebody else mm-hmm. Who been absentee or something along those lines. If you want to go out and, do it on your own.

Kendro Mm-hmm. Hey. that's great. But what

Amos if it's the situation where you've got all the gusto, all the, all that, but you haven't made a sale yet, but have the plan together

Kendro with the market. Yeah. The SBA does allow for that. Okay. Yeah. The SBA does allow for startup businesses and, as simple as it might sound, what I'm gonna say next, but it's hard is when you're doing your business plan, you're doing your projections, It has to make sense. Like it has to make sense, you know? It's Right. And you would think, but it's, [00:24:00] it's harder because not only do you have to be passionate and you are in it. Mm-hmm. You also gotta take a step back, right. and say, okay, does this make sense? Like, am I seeing the total picture or am I am, am I just laser focused in one thing?

Kendro You know,

Amos mean laser focus could be dangerous if you're not seeing

Kendro you got Yes. Right? Because, because part of projections is you gotta factor in the intangibles, like stuff that you might not have necessarily thought about, you know, so what if, right? And it's tough to say trade wars because you know, but hey, look, what if that affects it?

Kendro Right? What? You know, am I charging enough money, right. That if my product, if it's costing me more, more money to can I absorb that? at what level can I, you know, that's a, and also too your customer base, or they going to be willing to pay more. Hmm. Maybe, maybe not. Is it, is there a lot of competition that's there?

Kendro You know, [00:25:00] so those are some things that. You know, you, you should think about. But again, right. I would say you are doing yourself a service by reaching out to a small business development center. Like in, New York where we're at, there's, you know, Stony Brook and Farmingdale, you know, Google, Google them.

Kendro Yes, yes, yes you can. So you can find a local one. But there, are resources that are out there.

Amos it does amaze me how many people, even when they find out about options, they still choose not to and they still go self-funding. And I do understand having the extra debt in your head. But I always found it risky. What happens if you utilize all your cash? You go for a rough patch, then you go into the consumer debt. Which is typically signifi significantly higher.

Kendro It's higher and it's, it's less, you know, I don't know of anybody who's really gotten a consumer loan for 200,000, you know what I mean?

Kendro Like outside of a house, [00:26:00] you know? Yeah. Home equity fund. Right. But you know, and those credit card, the rates are. you know,

Amos most likely if you're in that situation, you might not have the best credit score. They're gonna

Kendro Well, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And that's one of the number one reasons why small businesses fail is that they don't have enough capital.

Kendro So yeah, my opinion would be seek SBA lending. Right. And it's great that you, you know, you have cash on hand, right. You are gonna have to put some of that cash into the project, correct? Correct. But some banks have a post-closing liquidity requirement. Okay? Right. So in essence, what that means after the loan is closed, they want to see that you have money in the bank.

Kendro Did anything come up? So that that include what you borrow or No, no, no. It gotta be Most banks aren't gonna want you to borrow that. Okay. Right. So let's say for example, you have somebody who has cash in a bank and you know, they have an [00:27:00] IRA account or, or something along those lines where Oh, okay.

Kendro They can kind of borrow against that. Right. And let that be the down payment. But still they're say, okay, that cash that you have in the bank mm-hmm. Right In your savings, you know, leave that for after we close, so if anything comes up, bam. You can take it out. You know, outta that. Like those, like the first 24 months out the business you are running in the red, you know?

Kendro So you gotta have Yeah, yeah. Yup, yup. You're building your brand. Yeah. So

Amos we lost. One couple things that I'm, curious. So, uh, we've been talking about setting up a, uh, a cowork space, right? Mm-hmm. More for creatives where we'll have a bunch of podcast rules and so forth. We have properties that we need to do software, so mm-hmm.

Amos That's the idea to come up with, right? My first step. Now we put the business plan together just for our purposes. Okay. The next step off the be. Seek out like an SBDC or to [00:28:00] seek out someone like yourself to talk about funding options. Yes. That would be the next step. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We've already done the market research ourselves.

Amos Yep. We already what we expect. Mm-hmm. Easy. I always like to end every conversation. By asking what are five gems? Like if you were listening to this Yes. And you may be thinking about the your own thing, you may not be. Mm-hmm. What are five things you would wanna walk away with? Yep. Say I got this from this, and then I can implement.

Amos What are those fives? Yeah. So fives a lot.

Kendro I'll see you. I'll try and get there. I'll try and get there. Right. So I would say the most important thing, right? What I tried to allude to earlier was every bank is different. Mm-hmm. Right? So if you have a concept, if you have something that you need to financing for, you go to a bank and they decline.

Kendro You find out why. Right? See what the problem is or what it might be, and then. Go to another bank. [00:29:00] Right. And maybe not have them pull your credit, but just have a general about that. Yeah. Yeah. But you didn't, but

Amos like if I, if you go to the bank Yeah. And you wanna get an idea about funding. Yes. They normally give you like a runaround arm.

Kendro here's the thing, right? It's important. So in at my bank, right, I've got three letters that are attached to my name and that's SBA, right? So if you, you, yes, your best bet is to call a bank, stop into a branch and ask if they provide SBA financing. And if they do, who does it? Right in the bank.

Kendro Okay. Some banks, you have somebody who's a regional person. Mm-hmm. Some banks, you have somebody like, my financial institution where SBA, like I'm a relationship manager. Mm-hmm. So I go out, you know, and I speak to, you know, people, prospects, just like I'm speaking to you now. But anyway.

Kendro Right. Tri-state area, you know, again, so, so that's the thing. Right. So don't get. [00:30:00] Discouraged. Yeah. Right. So try and understand what the issues might be, assuming you get declined and try and work on that, you know, for the next like

Amos three gens, honestly.

Kendro Yeah. Alright. Good. In, in, in doing so, right when.

Kendro Are comfortable with the bank. Right. And you feel like they can provide you the level of service that you need mm-hmm. and you've had a good conversation. You're comfortable and they've given you some type of inclination of, of approval, right? Or, or being able to get the deal done. At that point, you would want to submit an application and have them run your credit.

Kendro But also too, before they run your credit, you should have an idea of what your credit looks like. Because if it's a hot mess and you think it's a hot mess, it's gonna be a steamy mess for the bank, you know? So, You know, you've gotta do your homework, right? So, and part of that is, trying to understand what your credit looks like.

Kendro which is important. Okay. Yeah. Another [00:31:00] thing, another gem Yeah, please. Right. Would be, again, what I was saying earlier. every bank is different. So you gotta try and, and get comfortable with that also. Yeah. Like, like I was saying before, right? Check your credit, do your homework.

Kendro You know, I mean, just make sure you know that business plan up and down and sideways, because if you are asked questions, you, you don't want to be like, I didn't think about that. You know? And, To that point, know how much money you want. Right. I They even say they offer too little. They do. Yes, correct.

Kendro But a lot of times too, they're like, well, why don't you tell me how much I can get approved for? That's not how that works. I can't tell you how much money, you know what? Zero. You know, that's the research that you have to do. And what Amos said, look, I mean.

Kendro Yes. You kind of wanna be conservative. You don't wanna be crazy, but make it make sense, right? So if you [00:32:00] think, you need working capital of three months, right? Hey, make it four months, make it five months. If you have too much money at the end of the day and you're not gonna cover off the ball, use that money to pay down to the loan.

Kendro Mm-hmm. You know, you can do that. as long as the term is, you know, if it's a year term, there's no prepayment penalty. Okay. So you'd much rather have, you know. Cash available to you to help. Right. And if, again, business is doing well, pay the loan down. Okay. Alright.

Amos Yeah,

Kendro yeah.

Amos Maybe you lost words you wanna give up, man.

Kendro Yeah. I mean, you know, back to the American dream entrepreneurialship. so many businesses were funded initially through SBA. Mm-hmm. You know, and, and I'm going, I believe Nike was Sam Adams. You know, Samuel Adams. I don't drink beer. But yeah. So I mean, there's, there's a lot of businesses that are there, but you know, don't, yeah.

Kendro Yeah. Not to share Every [00:33:00] business is gonna be there, but, you know.

Amos Yeah, man. You'll be up there. Is up there,

Kendro man. Like all the greats.

Amos I appreciate it. I appreciate it, man. You've giving. Great, Jim. Thank you. Hopefully people are able to take some things that they can implement and I think that's the key, right?

Amos Mm-hmm. We learned, we started this conversation by talking about. The education. Yes. There really isn't a lack of education. Sometimes we don't seek it and sometimes when we do find it, we don't implement it. Yeah. Yep. So the hope is everyone was able to walk out with something that they could implement for themselves.

Amos Appreciate you coming by today, girls. Thank you. Thank you.

Kendro Alright. Be well guys.

Amos Appreciate you, man. Yep. You got it. Thank you.