Offering businesses a helping hand CSRA Business Lending, SCORE put businesses on right path By Neil Gordon
More than 10 years ago, businessman Larry Lynn did what smart husbands and business partners do – get good advice from a trusted source. “My wife, Rosemary (co-owner), encouraged me to look at buying our own building,” said the franchisee of Allegra Marketing & Printing and Signs by Tomorrow. “Through good relationships with my bank and the Chamber of Commerce I found CSRA Business Lending.” Lynn was leasing a pricey, shared space at the corner of Washington and Pleasant Home roads when his brand was American Speedy Printing. He applied for a loan to buy a building and received hundreds of thousands of dollars through their CSRA Business Lending’s SBA504 program. Now, Lynn has his own office and warehouse space near the Martinez Post Office. “Having the building secured with the loan has also helped me use a line of credit through the years,” added Lynn. Diane Masters, senior loan officer of the nonprofit CSRA Business Lending, explained that an SBA-504 loan is used to buy a building with a 10 percent down payment from the business owner, 40 percent from CSRA Business Lending and 50 percent from a bank. In mid-June, Masters spoke with about 50 business leaders, entrepreneurs and bankers at a Columbia County Chamber of Commerce event on the topic of the SBA-504 loan. In addition to being used to acquire real estate, the SBA-504 loan can also be used to buy equipment, but cannot be used for operating capital. Benefits of the loan include 20-year repayment periods with fixed rates. In June that rate was 4.59 percent, with bank fees financed in that rate. Jason Rueggeberg, clinic director of Evans Injury Chiropractor, approached Master after the Chamber meeting. “I need to build an x-ray unit now,” he told her. “It will cost $35,000. I am interested in talking with CSRA Business Lending.” Smaller loans that include equipment, start-up costs, working capital and other areas is part of the CSRA Direct Loan Fund and Rueggeberg’s potential loan would fit in that category. His plans are to expand to North Augusta, Thomson and South Augusta next. Trip Derryberry and Reoj English, owners Reliable Equipment Rental, is one of 270 businesses that have received CSRA Direct Loans. Reliable had an opportunity to expand its business and pro-
20 Buzz on Biz July 27-August 30, 2017
Representatives from SCORE and CSRA Business Lending spoke to the Columbia County Chamber about the services they offer to help businesses be successful. Photo by Neil Gordon.
“When you are trying to grow a business you need to make the right choices. We made the right choice when our banker introduced us to CSRA Direct.” —Reliable Equipment Rental vide equipment for major road widening and interstate construction projects. “When you are trying to grow a business you need to make the right choices,” the owners said. “We made the right choice when our banker introduced us to CSRA Direct to help fund our growth.” Money is a small piece of the puzzle needed to be successful, according to two other speakers at the recent chamber program. Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) volunteers Don Burch, a former aerospace engineer, and John Carman, a retired government contractor, said business ownership should start with
a business plan, market research, a financial plan and a coach – or it is likely the business will not succeed. “Seventy percent of startups fail within the first year and 50 percent fail within three years,” Burch said. In 2016, SCORE helped 367 CSRA companies with mentoring meetings, designed to prevent mistakes and to provide a sounding board to owners finding it “lonely at the top.” Burch and Carman have different experiences and, like other SCORE volunteers, meet in pairs to uphold the “two heads are better than one” principle. “When we sit and meet with clients,
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To learn more, visit csrabusiness lending.com and score.org. he’ll bring something to table I don’t know and vice versa,” Burch said of Carman. SCORE is trying to grow business ownership in unique ways. In 2016, 250 inmates in Edgefield County went through an eight-session program called “Simple Steps.” It gave them knowledge on how to prepare for starting a business once they re-integrate into society in the CSRA or elsewhere. “Inmates leave with a certificate of completion, which they can use with their parole boards and to re-set their lives,” Carman said. “There is no mention of corrections on the certificate.” Carman added that Georgia Governor Nathan Deal is interested in curbing the recidivism, so SCORE could soon start helping Georgia inmates as well.