Where Do You Go When the Banks Say No?

July 23, 2012 - PRLog -- It was December 31st 2007 and I was in the Dominican Republic with my family at one of those All-inclusive hotels.  The type of hotel that served the kids virgin Pina Colada’s and had a travelling keg of Presidente beer.  It was a glorious week away and even more glorious close to my business year.  It was a year in which everything was going right.  Business was booming, my kids were growing, things looked up.  Or so I thought.  As I was getting ready for my endless amount of food buffet dinner with my wife and kids I found myself staring into the mirror, saying to myself what a great year, but how I am going to maintain what I just did?  How can I possibly top it and keep growing my business.  In 2007 I could not make enough products to keep up with my orders.  I was selling Digital Arts supplies and the newest craze in electronics, Digital Picture Frames.  I was getting million dollar orders and loving it.  My bank was right down the street from me and whenever I needed more than my company credit line all I had to do was ask.  The salesman hopped in his car brought me the paperwork and gave me just about any money I needed to fill my orders.  Easy as a phone call.

So why was I worried on that December day on vacation in paradise?  I guess you can call it intuition, a “gut feeling” that something was about to happen.  Unfortunately, I was right.  In 2008 my three biggest customers all went bankrupt and my bank couldn’t pull my line fast enough.  Within months we went from getting whatever we wanted to getting NOTHING.  What happened?  The financial world turned upside down.  My company did nothing wrong besides having the misfortune of selling three very large retailers that all happened to declare bankruptcy within one year.  Yet, my bank ran scared and closed their door on us.  I still can’t quite figure out why.

I now had a choice, do I close up shop, because that is what was happening all over the place in 2008 or do I tighten my belt and figure another way.  I was still getting orders, but the fall of 2008 was half as busy as the fall of 2007 was.  2008 was all but a wipe out.  How can I try to re-grow my business in 2009 when I have no bank to lend me money and have just lost my three biggest accounts?  I had no choice but to seek alternative financing.  Of course I tried many banks, but after a year like 2008 there was no bank that was going to help out my small business, they weren’t helping any businesses.  As they say don’t go to a bank when you need money...

I started researching alternative financing and I stumbled upon Purchase Order Financing.  This was exactly what I needed, a finance company that specializes in financing purchases from overseas.  I met with them and got started that day.  Within weeks I had my financing in place and now all I had to do was go out and re-build my customer base.  Within the year I started selling some of the biggest electronic resellers in the world.  I not only had the ability to finance every single order I was able to get, but now I had the safety of using an LC to pay instead of pre-paying the factories and I also had all products inspected as part of the package of using PO financing.  I was building my business back up.  It took a lot of work and with the help of the PO finance company I built my business back up.  I sold products for two years before determining that retail was not the business for me.  I never want to go back to another 2008, so at the end of 2010 I decided to stop selling electronics.  This had nothing to do with the financing or the business itself, it had to do with the fact that I was able to get out while in the black.  My company shifted to web development and built a social network that allows you to add your voice to Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, web spaces, blogs and with our audio QR codes you can even be heard offline, like on a flyer or poster.  No more dealing with retailers who don’t like to pay and at any time can go bankrupt on you and leave you in a very bad position.

In 2011 I wanted to join the PO Finance company that helped me, so I can help them with other small businesses just like mine.  I was fortunate enough to come on board as a Business Development officer and now I help other small businesses learn all about the alternative financing called PO Financing.  For me it is the easiest sell that I have ever had to do in my 24 years in business.  A company that helps grow your business without taking ownership and without having to sign your personal life away.  Companies like RMP Trade Credit that offers businesses the ability to finance the orders they could never afford to pay for.  That is why I now spend more and more time helping introduce PO Financing to the world.

To learn more about Purchase Order Funding Solutions, please visit RMP Trade Credit online at: http://www.rmptradecredit.com/