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It’s 2021. So What? (Inspiring Women, Episode 29)

February 12, 2021 by John Ray

Inspiring Women PodCast with Betty Collins

It's 2021. So What? (Inspiring Women, Episode 29)

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It’s 2021. So What? (Inspiring Women, Episode 29)

On this edition of “Inspiring Women with Betty Collins,” Betty discusses her 2021 life statement, the difference between strength and courage, and more. “Inspiring Women” is presented by Brady Ware & Company.

Betty’s Show Notes

It’s a new year and it’s a new day.

But it’s the same stuff right now. It’s just a new year.

In the past, a new year generally meant new beginnings.

You reset.

It was this big sigh of relief.

But I think right now, it’s different.

In my reading over the holidays, I came across something. I decided to have my first life statement.

And I even went so far as to get a customized wall hanging of this statement. It’s in a big frame in my home office, where I spend about half of my time now. It’s a focal point when you walk in.

Being strong speaks of strength, but being courageous speaks to having a will to do more.

Last year was hard and exhausting. It seemed like everything was exhausting. But being strong portrays that you are confident. And you’re resilient. It’s an instinct that just kicks during all of those circumstances.

So I look at being strong. It speaks of strength. But being courageous speaks to having a will to do more and overcome.

The reality of 2021, nothing is different. That’s why this episode is titled as it is.

It’s just a different day.

This episode explores more about my 2021 life statement.

Betty Collins, CPA, Brady Ware & Company and Host of the “Inspiring Women” Podcast

Betty Collins is the Office Lead for Brady Ware’s Columbus office and a Shareholder in the firm. Betty joined Brady Ware & Company in 2012 through a merger with Nipps, Brown, Collins & Associates. She started her career in public accounting in 1988. Betty is co-leader of the Long Term Care service team, which helps providers of services to Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and nursing centers establish effective operational models that also maximize available funding. She consults with other small businesses, helping them prosper with advice on general operations management, cash flow optimization, and tax minimization strategies.

In addition, Betty serves on the Board of Directors for Brady Ware and Company. She leads Brady Ware’s Women’s Initiative, a program designed to empower female employees, allowing them to tap into unique resources and unleash their full potential. Betty helps her colleagues create a work/life balance while inspiring them to set and reach personal and professional goals. The Women’s Initiative promotes women-to-women business relationships for clients and holds an annual conference that supports women business owners, women leaders, and other women who want to succeed. Betty actively participates in women-oriented conferences through speaking engagements and board activity.

Betty is a member of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) and she is the President-elect for the Columbus Chapter. Brady Ware also partners with the Women’s Small Business Accelerator (WSBA), an organization designed to help female business owners develop and implement a strong business strategy through education and mentorship, and Betty participates in their mentor match program. She is passionate about WSBA because she believes in their acceleration program and matching women with the right advisors to help them achieve their business ownership goals. Betty supports the WSBA and NAWBO because these organizations deliver resources that help other women-owned and managed businesses thrive.

Betty is a graduate of Mount Vernon Nazarene College, a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and a member of the Ohio Society of Certified Public Accountants. Betty is also the Board Chairwoman for the Gahanna Area Chamber of Commerce, and she serves on the Board of the Community Improvement Corporation of Gahanna as Treasurer.

“Inspiring Women” Podcast Series

This is THE podcast that advances women toward economic, social and political achievement. The show is hosted by Betty Collins, CPA; Betty is a Director at Brady Ware & Company. Betty also serves as the Committee Chair for Empowering Women, and Director of the Brady Ware Women Initiative. Each episode is presented by Brady Ware & Company, committed to empowering women to go their distance in the workplace and at home. For more information, go to the Resources page at Brady Ware & Company.

TRANSCRIPT

[00:00:00] Betty Collins
So, here it is, it’s 2021. So what? It’s a new year, and it’s a new day, sure, but all I see is that we went from ’20 to ’21. It’s the same stuff, right now. It’s just a different time. To me, though, in the past, a new year generally meant new beginnings. You reset. It was this big sigh of relief. I think, right now, it’s a different time.
[00:00:28] Betty Collins
All the circumstances of life are the same, which we’re not going to talk a lot about today, so don’t worry, but COVID-19, and politics … I’m in tax season, and women are still not running the world. I mean, I could go on and on. I’m not a resolution person. They really don’t work, and I think they’re really irrelevant; even more now. Did you take all the time and energy to compile them, and execute a plan, and get excited. You’re all motivated, and it’s January 3rd, and you tell the world you’re doing it on all your social media. Let me ask you, have you already broken them, and given up? Probably so, because it’s February.
[00:01:08] Betty Collins
In my reading, I came across something between the holidays, where I could get away, that just really got hold of me. So, I decided to have my first life statement. I’ve always seen people do that around me. I thought, “Why do they have a life statement? That’s just too much for Betty Collins.” But, I said, “New tactics, results, and maybe some new good things.” I said, “Okay, I’m going to have a life statement.” I even went so far that I got a customized wall hanging, and made it. It’s big, framed, and it’s in my home office, where I spend about half of my time now. It’s the focal point when you walk in.
[00:01:51] Betty Collins
The first half of the statement is really about 2020, and then the second half is 2021. Here is the statement, and it’s not really mine. I stole it from someone else, and I don’t even know who I stole it from; it’s just somebody had it in their stuff … “Being strong speaks of strength, but being courageous speaks to having a will to do more.”
[00:02:14] Betty Collins
Strength, at some point, ends. We all get tired. It’s like the treadmill. We’re strong. We’re going. We’ve got it up on 4 to up a hill, but at some point, your strength runs out. I mean, you tire. But not your will. If you really want to finish the lap, the will’s what gets you through. So, strength was all about 2020, right? You had to have strength to get through that year. You had to be strong, but being courageous is going to go to a new level, and I think that’s what 2021 is all about. Again, your strength ends at some point, but your will does not.
[00:02:50] Betty Collins
As women, moms … We’re wives. Some of us are business owners, or in business; maybe you’re accountants, professionals. We all have to be strong. We all really had to be strong, again, to survive last year. It was hard and exhausting. It seemed like everything was exhausting. Being strong, though, portrays that you have this big competence, and you’re resilient. It’s an instinct that just kicks in under all of those circumstances. It speaks of your strength. Being courageous assumes also that you are strong, and confident, and resilient, and it’s about having the will.
[00:03:26] Betty Collins
So, an example – if you’re a shareholder, and you now became the business owner, you’re actually an owner, but now you’re on a board of directors making key decisions for your company. All that speaks of strength, and confidence, and resilience, and you made it there. But a courageous shareholder will vote no, when necessary. A courageous shareholder will talk about what nobody wants to talk about in the room, possibly.
[00:03:52] Betty Collins
I’m not going to get really political, but I will state this – in the midst of all the turmoil around this election, I’ll give two men credit about being courageous, and one of those was Mike Pence – one of the most loyal supporters of

President Trump – but when it came to certification day, he was courageous. He stood up; he did the certification. He probably didn’t want to do the certification. He probably didn’t want to say that Joe Biden had been certified, but he did it because that was what he was supposed to do as a vice president, and the president of the Senate.
[00:04:27] Betty Collins
On the same token, I look at Ted Cruz, who I don’t listen to a whole lot, and actually, my Bernie Sanders-loving son said, “You need to listen to this Ted Cruz speech,” because he also stood up courageously in the Senate. Somebody from the House, and the Senate said, “No, we need to have a debate.” That’s courageous. That’s courageous.
That’s not just being strong, and we’re here, and we’re in the Senate, and we do our job. So. I look at being strong speaks of strength, but being courageous speaks to having a will to do more and overcome.
[00:05:08] Betty Collins
The reality, nothing is different. That’s why this is called “It’s 2021. So What?” It’s just a different day. We’re going to talk about some of those things, about this life statement, about the things that I could spend my entire podcast on that life statement – and I may do one in the future for it because there’s a lot to that. How am I going to deal with 2021? What do I do with it? Well, it’s my story, and I’m going to control the content, and the narrative. That’s a definite. On 12-30-21, when I am having a really good dinner, probably at the Capital Grille. Somewhere having a really good steak. I’m going to say, “This was 2021. My story.”
[00:05:50] Betty Collins
I categorize my life like all good accountants, and hopefully, you do, too, because it’s a good thing. I usually do at the beginning of the year – I get it in order, but it’s a constant evolving document. It’s not just … These boxes change, and get bigger. Some get smaller – whatever you want to call it – these categories. I do it into four things. First is your spiritual life, your emotional life, your physical life. The fourth box is the routine of life. It just happens because the first three are done and thought through.
[00:06:22] Betty Collins
I choose a theme, and then I drill down because I want to accomplish each category and do it well, because they all balance my life. I keep it simple, believe it or not. It doesn’t have to all be done today, or by the end of tax season, even. It doesn’t have to be all in order and makes sense. It’s always certainly subject to change, especially in the environment we live today. You’re going to constantly pivot.
[00:06:50] Betty Collins
So, I’m looking at 2021 as my story. I control the content, and narrative. I’m going to box my life into these four categories. I’m not going to talk a lot about spiritual life. I think it’s very personal. In my spiritual life, I want- I’m a believer in God Almighty. The sun comes up every day, and it sets, and Betty Collins has nothing to do with that. I just want to turn chaos into order by doing that- let God do the super, and let Betty Collins do the natural. That’s enough. Done. It’s pretty easy, right?
[00:07:21] Betty Collins
Physical, my physical eating pie; eating bagels with cream cheese – all the things I want to do. I’m going to stop talking, and do the work. So, I’ve come up with different things. I did buy one of those [inaudible] for under my feet at work, so I can just keep moving, somehow, because, guess what? I don’t go to the gym. I have a membership, and I don’t go. I’m going to stop talking about it. It’s just time to take care of it. And I’m not going to get into a big plan, and write this, and have apps, and make it crazy. I’m just going to stop talking about it and do what I need to do.
[00:07:53] Betty Collins
Emotionally, and this is probably my biggest challenge, and I think it’s women’s biggest challenge, emotional … This is my theme: “Know the difference between branches, and sticks.” I am going to do a podcast on that. I made that decision because I’ve had more of people resonate to that line. What does that really mean? Well, I’ll give you the scenario small – the branches are connected to a tree, which is rooted. So, there is real life there. You’ve got to know what gives life to you and is something that will energize you. Sticks, they’re on the ground. I have them all over my yard because I love trees, and they’re good for firewood. That’s what they’re good for. They’re dead. They don’t have any more life in them. We have a ton of those twigs in our life. So, emotionally, I don’t need that.
[00:08:44] Betty Collins
Then, the routine of life. If the three things of spiritual, physical, and emotional are in order, it’s just the logistics. That’s all it is. So, when you are looking at your three things and you know that you’re successful, and routine of life is working, go back and look on your calendar for the last week, and it will show what you did. It’ll show how you were. What would a perfect day, or week look like? Write it down, and then work towards achieving it. Then again, look back on your calendar, because that’s going to tell you if you’re successful.
[00:09:21] Betty Collins
So, spiritual, physical, emotional, and then just routine of life – it all comes together. That’s how I’m going to deal with 2021, and that’s how I’m going to write my story. Hopefully, it will be a celebration at the end. What does this

have to do with business? Well, if Betty Collins is not in order, it has a lot to do with business. And I would tell you this – this podcast is to inspire women. It’s to keep learning, growing, and advancing, and it’s about enhancing your communication skills, building leadership, growing your business, and feeling inspired.
[00:09:50] Betty Collins
So, I would encourage you, as this podcast is called, “It’s 2021. So What?” I also have a podcast called “Now What?” It was two series, and it really breaks down your business life of getting that in order, and the things that you have to continue to do. The biggest thing, of course, is ask the question: Now what? It’s a question you’re always going to probably be asking and should be asking. My theory in life now is if you don’t ask questions, you will not have answers. That’s how I’m going to deal with this year.
[00:10:23] Betty Collins
When I go back to two things, just to give you a snippet of the branches, and the sticks, an example of that – in our environment, today, there’s a lot of twigs that you need to identify in your life. I will use this as an example. Again, I don’t mean to be political, but I think it’s good. There are people who truly have an adoration, and there are people who truly do not like, in fact, hate President Donald Trump. Do you understand the obsession either way is a twig? We’re going to talk more about that because if it’s taking from you, it’s dead on the ground, and needs to go in the fire. It’s great firewood. If it’s giving you life, great. Those are things that I think will be key to success in your challenging year that’s coming- that’s here.
[00:11:20] Betty Collins
So, challenges for all of you – two things to help you get through … Stretch goals, get them in your life. I just spent a two-day retreat with Brady Ware, and the guy kept saying, “Stretch goals.” I’m like, “Is he talking about, like, stretching, or is he talking about stretch goals?” It kind of speaks for itself. He made it very clear – only have two, or three, or maybe even just one, but something that is going to stretch you. It simply is a target that’s above what is expected to be accomplished.
[00:11:53] Betty Collins
There’s really a lot about stretch goals on the internet when you Google it, so when you’re trying to get the four components in your life together, and balanced, and defined, and all those things, I would also challenge you to get some stretch goals in your life. And it’s going to be about productive discomfort. It’s going to be about building confidence because you’re achieving things, so your confidence goes up. It’s helping to avoid the catastrophic, that unexpected. Then, it’s that sense of control, bringing that order into chaos, which I talked about.
[00:12:32] Betty Collins
The other thing, when I’m telling- when I’m challenging you to set some things in front of you and keep it simple – two to three stretch goals, maybe – small things can generate into big things. My goal this year is to not lose all my weight by tax season’s over, so I can just go have a fun vacation and eat all summer. That is not my goal. My goal is that if I take 52 weeks, and say 30 pounds – I want to talk about my 30-pound weight loss next December. That’s just small things, all year, that will accomplish a big.
[00:13:04] Betty Collins
Here’s another great example of the small things generate big things. Maybe that’s where you need to be, right now. I think of a really good example of that is Niagara Falls cable cars. There’s a car, if you’ve ever gone up there, that goes across Niagara Falls. Well, back in the 1800s, they decided – we’re going to build a cable. We’ve got to get something from one side of the Falls to the other. This is the late 1800s. They didn’t have the things we have today. So, they started with a very small concept.
[00:13:42] Betty Collins
I think it actually was a young person who said, “Let’s fly a kite across, and the wind will take it over, and let’s see if we can get it somehow across. We’ll be on the other side to catch the kite.” They mastered that – simple as flying a kite. They said, “Well, if we can get the kite to work like that, let’s modify the kite, and let’s add some cable to it; something that’s heavier than string.”
[00:14:08] Betty Collins
They kept modifying it til the right cable was going to be able to get across. Well, now we’ve got to have parts go across. So, then they had to have kites with the right cabling to get the part across. Slowly, over time, these little things all ended up being a cable across Niagara Falls, in the late 1800s. That was just taking some small things that, at the end of the day, generated some big things.
[00:14:35] Betty Collins
So, I would tell you, in doing all of your categorizing, and stretching, think of small things that can do it. Today it’s 2021. So what? It’s your story. Control the content. Control the narrative for the year by using these very simple, simple tactics. It’s one day at a time. I’m Betty Collins, and I’m so glad you joined me today. Inspiring women, it’s what I do. I leave you with this – “Being strong speaks of strength, but being courageous speaks to having a will to do more and overcome.”

Decision Vision Episode 103: Should My Company Borrow Money? – An Interview with Bill McDermott, The Profitability Coach

February 11, 2021 by John Ray

Decision Vision

Decision Vision Episode 103: Should My Company Borrow Money? - An Interview with Bill McDermott, The Profitability Coach

00:00 /

Decision Vision Episode 103: Should My Company Borrow Money? – An Interview with Bill McDermott, The Profitability Coach

Bill McDermott, Profitability Coach and ex-banker, speaks with host Mike Blake on when and how business owners should borrow money for their business. Bill also breaks down how bankers assess business borrowers and make lending decisions, various types of debt, one type of business loan he considers predatory, and much more. “Decision Vision” is presented by Brady Ware & Company.

Bill McDermott, The Profitability Coach

Bill McDermott is the Founder and CEO of McDermott Financial Solutions, serving as a profitability coach to his clients. When business owners want to increase their profitability, they don’t have the expertise to know where to start or what to do. Bill leverages his knowledge and relationships from 32 years as a banker to identify the hurdles getting in the way and create a plan to deliver profitability they never thought possible.

Bill currently serves as Treasurer for the Atlanta Executive Forum and has held previous positions as a board member for the Kennesaw State University Entrepreneurship Center and Gwinnett Habitat for Humanity and Treasurer for CEO NetWeavers. Bill is a graduate of Wake Forest University and he and his wife, Martha have called Atlanta home for over 40 years. Outside of work, Bill enjoys golf, traveling, and gardening.

Connect with Bill on LinkedIn and Twitter and follow McDermott Financial Solutions on LinkedIn.

Mike Blake, Brady Ware & Company

**Mike Blake, Host of the “Decision Vision” podcast serie**s

Michael Blake is the host of the “Decision Vision” podcast series and a Director of Brady Ware & Company. Mike specializes in the valuation of intellectual property-driven firms, such as software firms, aerospace firms, and professional services firms, most frequently in the capacity as a transaction advisor, helping clients obtain great outcomes from complex transaction opportunities. He is also a specialist in the appraisal of intellectual properties as stand-alone assets, such as software, trade secrets, and patents.

Mike has been a full-time business appraiser for 13 years with public accounting firms, boutique business appraisal firms, and an owner of his own firm. Prior to that, he spent 8 years in venture capital and investment banking, including transactions in the U.S., Israel, Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus.

Brady Ware & Company

Brady Ware & Company is a regional full-service accounting and advisory firm which helps businesses and entrepreneurs make visions a reality. Brady Ware services clients nationally from its offices in Alpharetta, GA; Columbus and Dayton, OH; and Richmond, IN. The firm is growth-minded, committed to the regions in which they operate, and most importantly, they make significant investments in their people and service offerings to meet the changing financial needs of those they are privileged to serve. The firm is dedicated to providing results that make a difference for its clients.

Decision Vision Podcast Series

“Decision Vision” is a podcast covering topics and issues facing small business owners and connecting them with solutions from leading experts. This series is presented by Brady Ware & Company. If you are a decision-maker for a small business, we’d love to hear from you. Contact us at decisionvision@bradyware.com and make sure to listen to every Thursday to the “Decision Vision” podcast.

Past episodes of “Decision Vision” can be found at decisionvisionpodcast.com. “Decision Vision” is produced and broadcast by the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX®.

Visit Brady Ware & Company on social media:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/brady-ware/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bradywareCPAs/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BradyWare

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bradywarecompany/

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:02] Welcome to Decision Vision, a podcast series focusing on critical business decisions. Brought to you by Brady Ware & Company. Brady Ware is a regional, full service accounting and advisory firm that helps businesses and entrepreneurs make visions a reality.

Mike Blake: [00:00:20] Welcome to Decision Vision, a podcast giving you, the listener, clear vision to make great decisions. In each episode, we discuss the process of decision making on a different topic from the business owners’ or executives’ perspective. We aren’t necessarily telling you what to do, but we can put you in a position to make an informed decision on your own and understand when you might need help along the way.

Mike Blake: [00:00:41] My name is Mike Blake, and I’m your host for today’s program. I’m a director at Brady Ware & Company, a full service accounting firm based in Dayton, Ohio, with offices in Dayton; Columbus, Ohio; Richmond, Indiana; and Alpharetta, Georgia. Brady Ware is sponsoring this podcast, which is being recorded in Atlanta per social distancing protocols. If you like this podcast, please subscribe on your favorite podcast aggregator, and please consider leaving a review of the podcast as well.

Mike Blake: [00:01:08] Today’s topic is, Should my company borrow money? And, you know, talk about borrowing and lending, it’s automatically a charged topic. And so much of our consciousness, I think, revolves around debt. And I don’t know if it’s always been that way. Certainly throughout history, people have talked about debt, usually from the dangers of debt. Of course, “neither a borrower nor a lender” attributed to Benjamin Franklin. And, of course, you know, there’s a whole ton of discussion around medical debt, student debt, the national debt. There are individuals that have made, frankly, fortunes and careers advising people against the dangers of debt, Dave Ramsey is probably the most important one, but there are several others, of course.

Mike Blake: [00:02:12] And I see that this mentality does bleed over into the corporate world to some extent. And there are a lot of funny things about debt, you know, one, it has a mystique to it. I think, because when debt works well, it works great. When it works badly or when the outcome is bad, the outcome is usually spectacular. And even our most recent past president – you know, there’s at least a lot of suspicion. We don’t know his full financial position – the prevailing suspicion or understanding or belief – I don’t want to use suspicion in a pejorative sense. That’s not the intent – but the belief that our own president has built an empire on debt and that he’s still very heavily leveraged. But in spite of that fact, he doesn’t appear to be financially hurting.

Mike Blake: [00:03:12] So, you know, debt can be somewhat paradoxical. And I think when debt fails, it fails badly, it fails in a lot of ways publicly. And who doesn’t love a good car crash, as long as you’re not in it. You know, I think that generates a lot of attention. And I’m not a debt expert at all. I have much more experience on the equity side than on the debt side, which is we have a guest coming up that does know what he’s talking about. But, you know, it’s understanding that debt is a power tool. And a power tool, you know, take a circular saw as a great example. If you know what you’re doing and you respect the power of the tool, the circular saw, you can build amazing things, right? You can build furniture. You can build a shelter, you know, effectively with a circular saw and a few other tools. Not that I’d ever do it. I’m incompetent. But I’ve seen people do it and this seems to be the way that it happens.

Mike Blake: [00:04:17] Conversely, if you don’t know what you’re doing, if you put your hand in the wrong place, the next thing you know, your name is Lefty or The Claw or whatever. But the saw itself isn’t bad. It’s simply a matter of the capability and the emotional intelligence of the person using it. And so, as a consequence, you know, I do think that, of course, there are companies that use debt irresponsibly. And we’ve had an interview on a podcast with Tom Rosseland of Bodker, Ramsey talking about, you know, should I enter into a workout? So, we’ve covered that part. And eventually we’ll cover bankruptcy as well. I just haven’t really found the right guest for that.

Mike Blake: [00:05:00] And we’ve talked about SBA lending in a very sort of particular finite discussion. But we haven’t had a far ranging strategic discussion about debt, how it works. You know, the world of debt is much more expansive than simply SBA lending. SBA is a great program. Don’t get me wrong. It’s one thing that I think our government actually has implemented pretty well with a lot of the desired effect. But there’s a lot more to it.

Mike Blake: [00:05:31] So, I want to give this topic, frankly, the amount of depth and breathing space that it is due. And helping us fill that breathing space is my friend Bill McDermott. Bill and I have known each other for over a decade. He is a graduate from Wake Forest University and launched a career in banking that spanned 32 years. And in spite of knowing Bill for a while, as I’ve said previously on this program, I’ll dig into some of his bio. And I learned something that I did not know. And I did not know that he first started out as the repo man for Wachovia Bank in their management training program. And he later moved to Peachtree Bank, which later became SunTrust. You all know the deal, SunTrust is something like the product of 9,000 mergers. And that’s how banking works, I guess.

Mike Blake: [00:06:22] You know, he was a great producer of both loans and deposits for the bank. Climbing the ranks to ultimately become a group vice-president for the commercial banking division. And in 2001, Bill’s group won the SunTrust Cup – the highly coveted, I imagine, SunTrust Cup – for being the highest performing commercial bank group in the company. He worked in community banking, becoming a top producer for Ironstone Bank, et cetera, et cetera. So, Bill really knows what he’s talking about. Over the last 11 years, Bill has been the profitability coach. A recovering commercial banker, he has served over 200 clients in the last year by delivering results – I don’t know if it’s last year or not. He’ll clarify it. I think it’s more than that – by delivering results oriented insights, helping them to make financial – to take them – sorry – from financial confusion to financial clarity.

Mike Blake: [00:07:15] Bill currently sits on the board of directors for Pinnacle Bank. He also hosts a monthly podcast, ProfitSense, which features stories of successful business owners and the professionals that advise them. When Bill is not working, you can find him on the golf course, gardening, spending time with his family, and leading a small group at his local church. Bill McDermott, welcome to the program.

Bill McDermott: [00:07:37] Mike, thanks so much for having me. I’m excited about talking about the topic. And, yes, the repo man spent time either collecting payments at the local furniture factory. I did move to Kinston, North Carolina, which is tobacco country. So, back in the day, I was known to collect past due car payments from some of the tobacco workers coming out of the field. I had a cash receipt book and collected those payments. Or I did have to repossess a car, too, in my day. So, back then, they thought you had to figure out a way to collect loans before you could make them. So, I did survive that, by the way, as proof of me being here, right?

Mike Blake: [00:08:26] Yeah. You know, otherwise, I have to say, this podcast is sponsored by Weegee. So, clearly you’re here to do it. But, you know, when we were talking off air, you told me something that I thought was fascinating that makes all the sense in the world to me. And that is, you said that before they let you lend money, you’d have to collect it.

Bill McDermott: [00:08:47] Yeah. And so, essentially as a banker, you have to know the characteristics of a good loan from a bad loan. And so, you learn the bad loans first. Unfortunately, you learn what not to do before you learn what to do. And the perspective of a banker in lending money from a banker’s point of view, everything is about risk. A lot of people don’t really understand that a bank really only makes about a 4 or a 5 percent gross margin. They’re leveraged about 10 to 1. So, they don’t really have much room to make mistakes given that margin and given that leverage position. So, it is risky to be in the money lending business. Plus, they’re not loaning their money. They’re loaning their depositor’s money. They have to be sure that they get that money back so that can take care of their depositors as well.

Mike Blake: [00:09:49] You know, I’m probably going to set a record here, I’m going to rip up the script before I even get to the first question. But that is, you know, I think what that would teach you, they talk about the C’s of borrowing. I can’t remember if it’s four or five C’s, but I recall that one of them as character. And that must teach you a lot about the character part. And I wonder if some of that is getting lost. You know, banking, like everybody else, is now in data analytics. But, you know, it’s hard to do that with character. And I’m curious if you have a view as to whether or not maybe that one of the C’s is now getting lost a little bit because, one, they’re not making people learn how to collect money and see borrowers face-to-face before they lend it. And, two, if they were so focused on analytics where, you know, maybe sometimes we go a little bit overboard.

Bill McDermott: [00:10:42] Yeah. And so, I think another point – so I think you’re spot on in what you’re saying – character, the average banker right now that is interfacing with a business owner client typically has not had any form of credit training. And I’m generalizing here, but most bankers below the age of 40 may not have had any formalized credit training. And so, they might be able to evaluate character, but they also may not. The other thing is, there was a time when the banker you met with face-to-face had the authority to approve the loan. Now, the approval process is the salesperson meets with that business owner, gets the financial information, takes it to the credit approver. Well, the credit approvers kind of like the Wizard of Oz behind the green curtain, pulling all the levers, but never himself or herself gets the opportunity to determine the character of that borrower.

Mike Blake: [00:11:53] And I mean, you know, you really can’t know it. We try to get a view of it, of course, with credit history, but that’s only one piece of the deal. But anyway, we do need to get through these questions. But, you know, I just love talking about this stuff, and I could for a long time, but we do need to get into it. So, I’d like to start at a very basic level. And that is, you know, talk about what you see currently as what is more or less a typical borrowing process. And does that vary a lot or can you generalize it fairly widely that most lending programs or lending entities, including banks, follow that?

Bill McDermott: [00:12:32] Yeah. At a high level, there are some commonalities. I think the first thing is, a business owner has to put together a loan package. That loan package is generally going to have three years worth of historical financial information. It may have the most recent interim financials. You know, we just finished January, so a January balance sheet and an income statement. It will include a personal financial statement of any owner that has more than 20 percent ownership. Because a bank looks at the people that make up the ownership of the business. Yes, they are loaning to the business. But, generally, that business is a reflection of the people that are running it.

Bill McDermott: [00:13:23] So, first part is the loan package, Mike. The second part, generally, a credit interview. Again, as I mentioned, banks are looking at everything in terms of risk. So, they will have analyzed those financials. They’re going to have some underwriting questions, what’s going on in the business. But, yeah, to your point about the C’s, there are 5C’s as they’re going through that interview. They’re going to be evaluating the character of the borrowers. They’re going to be looking at the cash flow. Does the business have the ability to pay it back? They’re going to be looking at credit score. Generally, the business owner’s personal credit score is the proxy for the business. They’re going to be looking at collateral. Do they have the ability to secure the loan?

Bill McDermott: [00:14:10] And then, the last thing has nothing to do with the business or the business owner. But they’re looking at conditions, specifically economic conditions. So, we just are, hopefully, on the tail end of a pandemic. But the economic conditions and the economic uncertainty have played a big role in bank’s willingness to loan money in the current economic environment. And so, credit has tightened because conditions of economic uncertainty have tightened. But that’s generally the process, one package, credit interview, evaluating the 5C’s. It’s really important for the business owner to have a clear request. And it’s also very important for the business owner to have a compelling case. Why should the bank loan them money? How does the company present itself in terms of risk? And if there are any risks, can those risks be mitigated to help the bank approve the loan?

Mike Blake: [00:15:14] So, I’m curious because you’ve talked about banks tightening lending standards. And a lot has been made around Fed policy, not just now, but really starting in 2008 when we entered the quantitative easing phase and, all of a sudden, quantitative easing entered the jargon. And as a person who’s a trained economist, that scared the living you know what out of me, because you’re not supposed to be able to do that. It turns out, at least for now, you are. But there’s a paradox that’s happened, I think, and I’d love you to comment on it, which is, things like quantitative easing, things like lowering the discount rate, i.e., the Fed rate, is supposed to make more money available for lending. But, you know, it’s one thing to make more money available. It’s another for the bank to feel comfortable. They’re going to actually get that money back, right? And those two things don’t always flow together and cooperate the way that, I think, policymakers would like.

Bill McDermott: [00:16:19] Yeah. And so, let’s go back to 2008, 2009. Quantitative easing was to make more money more available. But, frankly, banks had capital calls. They had liquidity calls. There was a huge devaluation of real estate. Banks had to actually reset their portfolios. And, frankly, Mike, there were a lot of bank failures because of that. They were undercapitalized. There were cease and desist orders. Banking is a highly regulated business to protect the depositors, of course. And so, you had to record bank failures. So, even though banks are supposed to always be healthy, the level of real estate lending caused a lot of banks to become undercapitalized. And so, the quantitative easing really didn’t help, primarily, because it was the banks that were in poor financial position at that moment, which created a huge consolidation during that phase.

Mike Blake: [00:17:25] So, I’m going to combine kind of two questions here, because I think it just flows better. And that is, you know – well, actually, let’s do it this way. So, my next question is, when you’re lending money, do banks care as to the reason – you know, are they going to ask what you want the money for? And if so, does the answer matter as long as, maybe, there’s enough collateral cash flow or whatever? And what are some good reasons to borrow money and what are some not so great reasons to borrow money?

Bill McDermott: [00:18:04] Yeah. So, that’s a great question. And the answer is, do banks care about what the money is being used for? Absolutely. Unequivocally, yes. As a matter of fact, banks have very specific lending policy that says, I will loan into these situations. I will not loan into these situations. So, for example – you know, appropriate reasons for borrowing money. And I’m going to go back to your circular saw, which I thought was a great example. Circular saw used well from a banking point of view, having a line of credit for a business eases the cash flow bumps. You know, all business owners have generally erratic cash flow. It can either be feast or famine. Having a line of credit helps those famine times by having cash available to insert into the business’s purchasing fixed assets, a business that may need equipment, may need vehicles.

Bill McDermott: [00:19:11] Fixed assets also include real estate, a lot of businesses will buy a building and lease it to their company. So, all of those things – one more, acquisition. You know, one company wants to buy another company. So, certainly those are things that banks would say yes to and are good reasons to borrow.

Bill McDermott: [00:19:34] Two things that come to mind reasons you wouldn’t want to borrow money – and banks would probably not look favorably on that – is, you don’t borrow money to fund losses. If your business is losing money, borrowing money to fund losses is like pouring gas on a fire. It’s an accelerant. The other thing is, there are business owners that like to look at their business as their own personal cookie jar. They take a lot of distributions. And so, banks are not really interested in loaning money to fund the business owner’s lifestyle. So, those would probably be two reasons why a bank wouldn’t lend money to either fund losses or fund distributions.

Bill McDermott: [00:20:23] Another thing would be, banks probably wouldn’t finance anything that they consider to be of speculative nature. And, again, coming from a very conservative point of view, based on the leverage and the gross margin that I mentioned, what I would define as speculative as an entrepreneur and what a banker defines as speculative are really two different things.

Mike Blake: [00:20:48] So, I imagine you have too, but you tell me, you do run into people that are just ideologically opposed or even borderline phobic of debt, right? And they’re proud of the fact that their balance sheet has no liabilities to it. And, you know, what do you think of that attitude? And is that a healthy attitude? Or is that attitude actually creating costs of its own?

Bill McDermott: [00:21:16] Yeah. So, I have a client who’s a professional services provider, she is totally opposed to borrowing money. As a matter of fact, now that I think of it, I have two clients. They don’t believe in using debt. If there is a capital call in the business, they’ll fund it out of their own pocket or fund it out of profits. And so, I’m not really sure. It’s kind of a choice. I would say it’s a little unhealthy and the reason is, primarily, there is a cost associated with that. All businesses need to have access to capital from time to time. And so, for a business to be opposed to debt, they’ve just taken one thing off the table in terms of having access to capital that they won’t use.

Bill McDermott: [00:22:12] And then, the other thing, I think, not having access to that capital, their ability to grow is going to be limited to how much internal cash that they can generate in order to accommodate that growth. So, yes, there is a cost to that attitude. I think it can be limiting. But as far as whether it’s healthy or not, I certainly respect people’s choices. But I think, as with anything else, choices have consequences.

Mike Blake: [00:22:40] So, a term you used earlier today that I want to make sure that we talk about, because you can’t really have a discussion about debt without it. What is the difference between a loan and a line of credit? And when is one more appropriate than the other?

Bill McDermott: [00:22:59] Yeah. So, a loan, in its purest sense, is really a sum of money that is put out there. And the structure of that loan really determines the difference between a loan and a line. So, there are actually three types of loans. The line of credit is one, you borrow, repay, reborrow. And it’s great for handling short term cash flow. The other two types, of course, there’s a term loan. Term loans you use to borrow for equipment. And then, the third is a mortgage loan, Mike, which are used primarily again to purchase real estate, which then is leased back to the company. So, loans fit into three categories really just depending on what the money is used for and then how it’s structured for, short term versus long term.

Mike Blake: [00:24:01] Okay. Now, banks aren’t the only lenders. I think, a lot of people, when they think loans, they think of banks. Or, you know, they think of the loan shark who has the big fur coat is going to break your kneecaps if you don’t pay back. But there’s a lot in between those two, isn’t there?

Bill McDermott: [00:24:22] Yeah. There really is. So, you know, if I’m going to walk down a balance sheet for a business owner, I’m always going to look at bank debt first. Because the accounts payable are a way of financing the business. But as far as actual bank financing or non-bank financing, it’s the cheapest source of capital, the interest rates are lower. But banks are basically loaning against the balance sheet and the income statement of that borrower. If they lost money last year or their balance sheet is leveraged generally more than about $3 of debt to every $1 of equity, they’re going to have a hard time. They can get a loan, but generally not beyond that.

Bill McDermott: [00:25:15] So, for somebody that lost money last year or has a leveraged balance sheet, there are asset-based lenders. Asset based lenders don’t care about the balance sheet. They don’t care about the income statement. All they care about is the collateral. And so, if you have $100,000 in accounts receivable, you should be able to loan or borrow about 75 to 80 percent of that. But it carries a high interest rate. Generally, there’s 1 to 1-1/2 percent per month service charge and then there’s money usually at about prime plus two, prime plus three on top of that. So, 1 percent a month for 12 months is 12 percent interest, prime plus three is another 6 or 6-1/2, so all of a sudden, it adds up quick. Mike, that’s an 18-1/2 percent loan you’re up to credit card rates.

Bill McDermott: [00:26:12] Also, I’m going to say there are some – what I’ll call – payday lenders. Honestly, I think they’re borderline predatory lenders. There are some people that will loan you money, but they ask you to pay a piece of it back every day. And sometimes the annual percentage rate on those loans can be in the 30s, even in the 40 percent. It’s absolutely borderline criminal, in my view. Not to say anything disparagingly about those lenders. I’m sure they serve a purpose. But at such high interest rates, it’s incredibly difficult for a business owner to sustain their business. Because a lot of times. those interest rates exceed the gross profit that the business is even generating.

Mike Blake: [00:27:02] Yeah. And, you know, payday loans and their ilk are kind of interesting. I mean, I’m generally a free market guy, but I also enjoy studying the psychology of decision making. It’s why I do this podcast. And one of the things I’ve learned about decision making in crisis – and it almost doesn’t matter if it’s a financial crisis or physical crisis or something else – I’ve seen empirical studies that show that when a person is in crisis, the average person has a functional IQ reduction of between 10 to 15 percent in the midst of that crisis.

Mike Blake: [00:27:44] So, in effect, when you’re in a crisis, most people become dumber because the nature of the crisis makes you tunnel visioned. It makes you focus on how do you solve the problem today the most painlessly, even though you’re creating a problem ten times bigger that you have to confront a week from now. But the psychology of crisis leads you into that decision. So, you know, whether that means that’s predatory, I’m not sure. And I’m not afraid to say, this in my view, it does call for some regulation because you’re selling to what is effectively an impaired market. It’s fine to say that people are free to make their own decisions, but when there’s data that shows that your market, by definition, is cognitively impaired by the very thing that’s leading it to come to you, there’s a clear conflict of interest.

Bill McDermott: [00:28:43] Yeah. And I think at that point, the business owner in crisis has ultimately a concern that his or her business is no longer viable. And so, they will go to almost any length in order to make sure that their business stays viable. And so, I’m a big believer in the good, fast, cheap – pick any two. If it’s good and if it’s fast, there is no way it’s going to be cheap. But I do think predatory lending goes to the end extreme. It’s not really good, it is fast, but you’re paying exorbitant interest rates for that speed.

Mike Blake: [00:29:29] Yeah. And, frankly, in that kind of scenario, you really should be looking at equity, right? And you talked about funding losses. It’s not as if there isn’t a financial vehicle out there to help you. It’s just that debt is the wrong tool. If we take the circular saw, if you’re in crisis, you’re basically trying to cut a ham sandwich with a circular saw. And all you’re going to do is get a messy kitchen if you try to do that. But on the other hand, if you’re using equity, you’re using a nice little Wusthof knife to cut that sandwich, yeah, it’s going to be more expensive, but it’s the right tool for the right job.

Bill McDermott: [00:30:09] Yeah. No question. So, the nice thing about debt, debt magnifies gains, but the downside is debt also magnifies losses. So, people that use debt are able to grow quicker. But people who use debt when they’re funding losses, it magnifies those losses as well, because you’re basically borrowing money that you can’t pay back and the interest expense pushes your breakeven point even higher. So, you’re, in effect, borrowing into your future when your future is actually trending negatively.

Mike Blake: [00:30:48] So, you know, there are nonbank lenders out there, and not just the asset based lenders, but there are mezzanine lenders. And maybe you’re talking about the same thing – if you are, feel free to correct me. But, you know, lenders for subprime borrowers, I think, if I’m not mistaken, there’s a group out there that they’re not payday lender types, but they’re also are credit that’s available at a higher interest rate that is not bankable from a banking standpoint. Right? So, you know, what are those groups like? And, you know, are they legit? Is interfacing with them similar or different from that with a bank? What does that world kind of look like?

Bill McDermott: [00:31:38] Well, necessity is the mother of invention. Access to capital for business owners has been critical. We went through a period of time where banks were somewhat unhealthy. I think banks are healthy now. But over the last ten years, quite a few nonbanks have entered the market. Possibly the benefit is, they don’t necessarily have to chin to the same regulatory environment that banks do. And so, yeah, I think there are some viable entities out there that can provide capital. They actually require sources of funding. They probably go to the public markets, borrow that money, and then loan it back out on a spread. But, no, I think there are viable options out there that nonbank lenders provide and have kind of helped give business owners access to capital that banks either can or can’t provide, given whatever the prevailing economic factors are.

Mike Blake: [00:32:51] So, once you get into the lending world and all the financial world at all, you’ll start to hear terms like senior debt, junior debt, subordinated debt, can you quickly give us a vocabulary lesson. What do those things mean relative to one another?

Bill McDermott: [00:33:05] Yeah. So, first, senior debt is in the senior position, so it’s the highest of the debt positions. Typically, senior debt is predominantly bank debt. There are a lot of growth companies out there that have lending requirements behind that. Then, generally, junior debt means that it is subordinate to the senior debt. That junior debt is also mixing terms here. But subordinated debt, it’s actually debt that exists under the senior debt. It accomplishes some great things. First, for that growth company, they get access to capital. The senior debt looking at that junior subordinated debt underwrites that debt as if it were equity.

Bill McDermott: [00:33:59] And so, for a senior lender’s point of view, that junior debt gives them extra comfort that there’s cash behind their debt that is also capitalizing the business. From the junior subordinated debt, they provide a very viable access to capital that the senior debt holder is unwilling to provide. But, yeah, all you’re really doing is looking at banks in the senior position. Junior debt and subordinated debt are those institutions that provide capital subordinate to that senior position.

Mike Blake: [00:34:42] So, I wonder if this is true or I’m speculating here, is there also kind of an emotional comfort component that if you’re a senior lender and you know that somebody who’s willing to come in and be a junior lender, that it just sort of validates your judgment?

Bill McDermott: [00:35:00] Yeah. Absolutely.

Mike Blake: [00:35:01] It’s not out there on a limb, right?

Bill McDermott: [00:35:03] Yeah. And the the other thing is, if for one reason or another, that senior debt holder decides that maybe they’re wanting to exit that credit, there is a junior position behind them who may be willing to take them out if they decide to exit. So, it really gives the senior debt holder an opportunity to be taken out, if needed, from the junior subordinate. It gives them the opportunity, potentially, by taking that out, they become the senior debt holder and then that allows other juniors to come in under them.

Mike Blake: [00:35:47] I want to switch gears here, you know, I’d like to talk about the intersection and interdependence, if there is any, on personal credit versus corporate credit. I mean, there must be at some point, I guess, but you tell me where it is. You know, where is the point where lenders make a distinction or stop making a distinction – maybe that’s easier – between the company as a borrower and the owner as a borrower? You know, is there a separation between the two? Or as far as lenders are concerned, are the buyer and the company the same thing? And so, you know, does the credit score of one impact the other? How are those two things linked, if at all?

Bill McDermott: [00:36:40] That’s another great question. So, generally speaking, a closely held business where the ownership is closely held, usually concentrated in anywhere from, maybe, one to three or four partners, the personal credit score of either that individual or individuals, in effect, is the business credit score by proxy. And so, the credit worthiness of that business is, frankly, dependent on the credit score of those individuals. When you get to businesses that aren’t closely held, the ownership is widely dispersed. Publicly held companies, for example, where the ownership is widely dispersed, they have access to sources of capital outside the market. Those businesses usually have their own credit score. If they’re publicly traded, they’re going to have a rating by S&P or Moody’s. They may have a rating by Dun and Bradstreet. So, in those cases, those businesses have developed their own credit score, no longer relying on the ownership because it’s so widely distributed. So, the intersection is, once a closely held business becomes publicly held, the owner’s credit score is no longer.

Mike Blake: [00:38:07] So, sometimes I hear from borrowers that they’ll say, “Well, you know, the bank wouldn’t lend me money if they didn’t think I can repay.” And, to me, that sounds like a little bit of a dangerous statement, because I think you’re kind of offloading too much responsibility to the bank to make the right decision for you. But I like you to respond to that. I mean, can you take some comfort even if you, yourself, have, maybe, misgivings? And maybe we’ll take that person that’s kind of debt-phobic as a good example. Is the very fact that a bank is willing to lend money to you, is that somehow self-validating for the company?

Bill McDermott: [00:38:48] Yeah. So, when I was in banking, the knock on bankers to your point was, “Oh, gosh. Banks just loaned money to businesses that don’t need it.” And so, that is a prevailing thought out there. However, the reality is 80 percent of a bank’s income comes from lending money, Mike. So, if banks don’t loan, they can’t. So, bottom line, I think someone who says that could be maybe that person that got declined, primarily because there was a factor within those 5C’s. You know, maybe they didn’t have sufficient cash flow. Maybe their balance sheet was a little too leveraged. Maybe they were wanting to borrow the money for a speculative purpose. And it just made the sum total of those things unbankable.

Bill McDermott: [00:39:53] Also, I will say, because of COVID, there are a lot of good businesses in a good economic environment were able to borrow money, but not able to borrow money in a COVID type environment. So, the economic conditions also play big into that decision.

Mike Blake: [00:40:15] I want to go back to kind of the personal versus company kind of debt profile, if you will. How do personal guarantees work? Are most business loans to a small business going to require personal guarantee? Can you talk a little bit about how they work? And if I’m a borrower, should I be expected to provide a personal guarantee and what that looks like?

Bill McDermott: [00:40:42] Yeah. So, I got to take you back to my Peachtree bank days. So, I graduated from being the repo man, just beginning to do small business lending. And so, my boss, because the subject to personal guarantees came up, his comment to me was, Mike – and it really resonated to me – he said, “Bill, if a business owner isn’t willing to stand behind his or her business, why should I?” And so, part of that personal guarantee is, yes, a closely held business, 9.9 times out of 10, it’s going to require a personal guarantee for that very reason. If the business owner won’t stand behind their business, then why should the bank stand behind it?

Bill McDermott: [00:41:38] Interestingly, though, just yesterday, I had an email from an owner that I worked with. So, he was offered a six figure line of credit. It was at four percent. There was a 2-1/2 percent origination fee, but it was unsecured and unguaranteed. Now, it was not a bank. It was a nonbank, but the rate was attractive, the fee was high, but unguaranteed. I mean, that really kind of caught me off guard. So, I guess it is out there, but I have not seen it at a bank.

Mike Blake: [00:42:23] So, bottom line, be pleasantly surprised if you’re not asked for a personal guarantee. And maybe a question to think about before you even start the borrowing process is, be prepared for that question, right? And if you’re not prepared to make that personal guarantee, it may not be a good use of your time or the banks to even pursue the discussion.

Bill McDermott: [00:42:43] Precisely. You’re spot on.

Mike Blake: [00:42:45] Okay. So, how can borrowers evaluate their own attractiveness to potential lenders? Are there any kind of self-assessment tool that the borrowers can use to understand where they might lie and maybe try to improve their profile or their attractiveness before they start this process?

Bill McDermott: [00:43:10] Yeah. Such a great question. So, a lot of times, I talk to my clients that I’m working with about what it means to be bankable. And so, the quick answer is, if you lost money last year, you’re going to have a hard time borrowing money this year, because banks believe the best indicator of the future is the past. And if you lost money last year, you’re going to lose money this year. They won’t believe you until you’ve gone through a full year and made a profit. So, self-assessment, profitability. Absolutely.

Bill McDermott: [00:43:47] The second thing is leverage. How much skin in the game do you have in your business versus how much skin in the game your creditors have? If you have more than $3 of debt to every dollar of equity, a bank will consider you highly leveraged and that could cause an issue with your ability to borrow.

Bill McDermott: [00:44:11] So, probably the other things in a different profitability and leverage, if you consistently have low liquidity, not much cash on hand, the bank is going to have some concerns. The other thing is, if you’re not good at collecting your receivables and, frankly, you’re borrowing money to replace receivables that you’re either unwilling or unable to collect, banks are going to have a hard time doing that.

Bill McDermott: [00:44:41] So, I have a little acronym that I call PALL, Profitability, Asset Quality, which is how are you turning your receivables in your inventory, Liquidity, and Leverage. And so, a self-assessment going through PALL, which I do for my clients, I provide a business financial checkup. You know, each one of us gets a physical every year, but often business owners don’t put their business through one. So, we provide that as a service so that they know once a year what’s going on in their business. And it also helps them understand whether they’re bankable or not.

Mike Blake: [00:45:20] We’re talking with Bill McDermott, the profitability coach. And the subject is, Should I borrow money for my company? And, Bill, I just had a couple more questions before we let you go. But a question I do want to get to is, you know, so much of the economy now is a service firm, which means that they’re unlikely to have the kind of collateral that a manufacturing firm has. And I think it’s something that the banking industry is really wrestling with quite a bit. Can service firms borrow money or are there certain conditions under which they can or can’t?

Bill McDermott: [00:45:56] Yeah. And I think that is something that, maybe, has evolved over time. Mike, historically, service firms versus firms that deliver a product, it is a little more nebulous to understand the delivery of a service versus a delivery of a product. You can actually determine when that product has been delivered versus service. I think that has changed over time. I worked with a lot of professional services firms, architects, engineers, I have an interior designer, I have a psychology practice. All of those are providing services, but yet banks are willing and able to loan them money. So, the risk from the bank’s point of view is it’s easier to determine delivery of a product than it is delivery of a service. But I do think the banking industry has gotten comfortable with loaning money to service firms over the years.

Mike Blake: [00:47:00] Are there times when you work with clients that are thinking about borrowing and you tell them, “You know what? Skip it. Just put it on a credit card.” And if so, what does those look like?

Bill McDermott: [00:47:11] Yeah. You know, I would say for a newer business, just getting started, there’s really no credit history. General rule of thumb is to get a bank line of credit. They like to see at least three years of history to loan money. So, yeah, for somebody who’s just getting started, I would suggest get a business credit card. I know when I started, I got a company card through American Express. I do think it’s a great idea. Don’t do it on a personal card, primarily, because when it comes to borrowing money, you want a clear audit trail as far as loaning money for your business versus – excuse me – borrowing money for your business versus borrowing money personally.

Mike Blake: [00:48:06] Bill, this has been a great conversation. There are more questions I could ask, but we have limited time. Would you be willing to answer questions of people that may have a question that we didn’t get a chance to cover here? And if so, what’s the best way for them to contact you?

Bill McDermott: [00:48:24] Sure. And I would love to. Probably the best way to do that is go to theprofitabilitycoach.net. There is a prompt in there if they want to contact me. The other way is phone number, 770-597-3136. I always pick up the phone and answer unless I’m in front of a client. But, Mike, I launched this business with the goal of helping business owners become better financial managers. And so, first, I want to applaud you for even bringing up the topic. There is a lot of mystique around it. But the goal is, I want to give business owners financial clarity out of all of the chaos of what the options are and which is best. So, I’m always happy to help any business owner that wants to contact me.

Mike Blake: [00:49:24] Well, thank you. That’s going to wrap it up for today’s program. I’d like to thank Bill McDermott so much for joining us and sharing his expertise with us.

Mike Blake: [00:49:32] We’ll be exploring a new topic each week, so please tune in so that when you’re faced with your next business decision, you have clear vision when making it. If you enjoy these podcasts, please consider leaving a review of your favorite podcast aggregator. It helps people find us that we can help them. Once again, this is Mike Blake. Our sponsor is Brady Ware & Company. And this has been the Decision Vision podcast.

Decision Vision Episode 102: Should I Hire a Virtual Assistant? – An Interview with Essie Escobedo, Office Angels

February 4, 2021 by John Ray

Decision Vision

Decision Vision Episode 102: Should I Hire a Virtual Assistant? - An Interview with Essie Escobedo, Office Angels

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Decision Vision Episode 102: Should I Hire a Virtual Assistant? – An Interview with Essie Escobedo, Office Angels

Essie Escobedo, Founder and “Chief Executive Angel” of Office Angels, joins host Mike Blake to discuss the ins and outs of hiring a virtual assistant and how to manage a virtual assistant to create scale in your business. “Decision Vision” is presented by Brady Ware & Company.

Essie Escobedo, Chief Executive Angel, Office Angels

When Essie Escobedo majored in physics, she had no idea that she would apply her knowledge about how the universe works to the world of business. Essie launched Office Angels® in 2000 after a 25-year career as a successful small business owner. During that time, she honed her gifts of exceptional interpersonal skills and a sharp intellect, while gaining hands-on knowledge about successful business management.

Twenty years ago, Essie presciently observed that a large and growing number of credentialed, seasoned individuals with outstanding skills and proven track records had left corporate America and saw a stellar opportunity. These professionals may have left the full-time workforce, but they wanted to continue working — on their schedules. Essie realized these professionals could bring expertise and a level of professionalism to assist small businesses at rates they could not otherwise afford.

Compelled by her strong entrepreneurial character and drive to help people succeed, she developed a unique business model that addresses two needs: Office Angels helps small business owners focus on business priorities, while Angels perform a range of essential but often-neglected “back office” operations in areas such as administrative support, bookkeeping, and marketing. At the same time, Office Angels provides meaningful work to highly experienced and trained business professionals who wish to work on a flexible, part-time, freelance, or project basis.

A supreme networker, Essie is a well-known and highly respected member of the greater Atlanta business community. She has served on the Boards of the Atlanta Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), the Atlanta Women’s Network (AWN), and the Professional Women’s Information Network (ProWIN). She currently serves on the Advisory Boards for ProWIN and Access for Capital Entrepreneurs (ACE), is an active member of the Georgia Consortium for Personal Financial Literacy, and mentors on starting and running a successful business with The Edge Connection.

The North Fulton Chamber of Commerce named Essie as a Business Person of Excellence for 2018. She was a finalist for the Chamber’s 2018 Small Business Person of the Year award, was honored by ProWIN with a Business Builder Award, and was nominated for a Turknett Leadership Character Award.

Essie has been featured in various business media, including the Atlanta Business Chronicle, VoyageATL, “Atlanta Business Radio,” “North Fulton Business Radio,” and Newstalk 1160.

Essie holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics from The American University and served as Adjunct Professor of Business at Lanier Technical College. In addition to her business acumen, Essie has been a beloved mentor, coach, and trainer to her Angels, clients, and friends. Her calm, proactive, practical, and gracious style brings out the best in people and creates winning outcomes.

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