Today I am presenting another written interview with Duke Lau of SmallBusinessLoanStore.com
The Small Business Loan Store specializes in various forms of alternative lending products, and assists in raising capital for both existing businesses and start-ups. In 2013 The Small Business Loan Store, and it’s sister companies have helped raise $40 million for entrepreneurs, and is looking to double that in 2014. They have helped fund many types of companies from internet marketers, to fast-food restaurants, to jewelry manufacturers, to fashion entrepreneurs, and many more. They are committed to helping as many businesses grow and succeed as possible.
Check out the interview:
1. What got you interested in assisting businesses and entrepreneurs with loans? Share your story.
First off I would like to thank you for giving us an opportunity to share about The Small Business Loan Store with your readers.
My story is a long one and a bit uninteresting to be honest. But I’ll give the short version. I basically started out originating mortgage loans, and noticed that many of our clients were looking for capital to rehab their real estate investments. A light bulb went on in my head, and I realized that there was a big need that needed to be filled within the small business funding arena.
I got together with a few friends and we started talking and throwing out ideas. It turns out that we all knew at least a few people who owned small businesses that needed access to capital to grow, start, or expand. These entrepreneurs were from all walks of life and had very different businesses. Some had restaurants, others had construction companies, some had towing businesses, and others were in the retail sector. However, all these businesses had one thing in common; they all had difficulty accessing traditional financing from banks.
At that point we all decided to utilize our banking contacts, connections, and knowledge and launched The Small Business Loan Store in 2007. Since then we have grown and offer various alternative loan products including revenue based loans, factoring, purchase order financing, unsecured small business loans, unsecured lines of credit, credit repair and diamond retirement funding. I am proud to say that in 2013 along with our sister companies we helped raise $40 million in funding for our clients, and are looking to double that amount in 2014.
2. What are some ways that you stand out from other companies that provide small business loans?
I think we differ in several ways. Most importantly we never charge any upfront fees for our services. In a nut shell, we only get paid if you get funding. Many of our competitors charge upfront fees and can’t deliver.
We also have a very quick funding process. We ask that our clients send us a copy of their most recent credit report, which we then forward to our processing department. Within 24-48 hours, in most cases the same day, we can issue our clients a quote on how much they can qualify for. Once they agree to this, we send them our consulting agreement and application form to be signed. After it is signed, we go right to work on our clients file. In most instances, our clients start receiving their funds within 7-10 business days, sometimes sooner.
Lastly, we take great care with our client’s credit, and treat it as our own. This is important, because if a company doesn’t know what they are doing, and submits a client’s information to the wrong lender-it could not only result in a denial but also put the client on a blacklist with that particular bank.
3. How have you gone about promoting your services online? What’s working for you?
We have only been promoting our services online for the past couple of years. Most of our business has been from word of mouth, but we realized with the rise in technology that we are able to reach far more entrepreneurs than we had been able to in the past.
What works for us is actually utilizing social media. We have a presence on linkedin, and have been getting many clients through Twitter. We also see the value in touching base with bloggers such as yourself, and introducing our business to new audiences.
4. Do you have any success stories to share of businesses you have helped fund and are now successful after receiving funds for their start up?
Yes, we actually have quite a few success stories. We had a girl in Hawaii who needed money to purchase a restaurant, keep in mind this was her very first business venture. We raised $135,000 for her back in 2009. Fast forward to 2014, she doesn’t own that restaurant anymore but she does own 3 other food establishments and grosses seven figures annually.
Off the top of my head, I can also recall a guy in Texas who needed money to get started in the internet marketing or affiliate marketing business. In 2013 we raised $75,000 for him. This enabled him to start placing ads, running traffic, etc. Last I heard he makes a comfortable six figure income.
Lastly, I can remember another girl her name is Jaime from Arizona, who was interested in starting a clothing line. She came to us earlier this year in 2014 and needed money to outsource her work, purchase inventory, create a website, marketing, etc. In February 2014, we were able to raise around $60,000 for her. One of our consultants followed up with her last month, and she is looking to open her own boutique in her local mall.
We are very proud to be part of so many unique success stories, and seeing our clients grow and prosper.
5. What are your future plans for 2014 and beyond?
Currently we are looking to expand and grow The Small Business Loan Store. We are also looking to get more people funded using our most popular loan product, which is our personal funding unsecured line of credit program. It’s very easy to qualify for, and we can fund up to $200,000 with no collateral or financial information required.
In addition, we are working on starting an affiliate funding program. We get asked all the time if we take on affiliates, and are going to be offering this to selected interested parties. As far as a launch date, we are looking to the end of 2014 or first half of 2015.
If anyone is interested in funding, our future affiliate program or has any questions they can visit us at http://smallbusinessloanstore.com or call us at 1-949-423-3939
Lastly, The Small Business Loan Store would like to thank you and your readers for this interview, and we wish you all much prosperity and success.