Business Loans?

MyLuvBugs wrote: Do any of you own your own small business? If so, did you take out a small business loan? Was it difficult?

C&K*s Mommie replied: Count me out.

Are you trying to start your own photography business, as in officially??

luvmykids replied: We do, it was difficult at first because we were a new company, they wanted a few years of financials and tax returns. They also base it on your personal financials and tax returns and credit. But talk to your bank anyway, if they can't do it they can usually refer you to another company or bank that specializes in small business lending. Good luck!

A&A'smommy replied: I have been looking at some business grants for small business I haven't found anything yet but they seem to be the better way to go at least for equipment and stuff like that. Have you thought about looking into anything like that?

MyLuvBugs replied:
Yep.

I joined a Canon Digital Photography forum for advice, and I'm now realizing that I need all new equipment (upgrades ), and if I'm going to really do this....then I need to do it all the way and the right way. KWIM?

We have about $5000.00 worth of equipment that we'll be upgrading to, plus I need a new car (not just for personal, but business also). So, we're going to need a pretty descent loan.

I have to get to the bank here in a little bit, to ask them some questions. We'll see....

MyLuvBugs replied:
Yep. We've been doing some research on the SBA.GOV site....We'll get our equipment from B&H photo, but just need advice on how to start, where to start, what finances are they going to need, etc....If they're going to look at our personal finances were totally screwed.

luvmykids replied:
If you're looking for less than 50K then you may want to try just financing the car regularly, through a dealer, and then getting a small personal line of credit for 5K or something that may be a little easier. Try looking online too, I think citifinancial and capital one have personal/small business lending programs for "less than perfect" credit.

Then even though you'd be financing the stuff personally, it would still be tax write offs for your business.

TheOaf66 replied: I used to be a loan officer for a bank so I can tell some things about it. It all depends what type of business you are going to be wheather it is a sole propriortership, or and LLC etc. It also depends on how much of a loan you are looking for and what your credit rating is like. There are a lot of things that are factored in so you kinda have to get a plan at first. You can let me know if you have any other questions.

holley79 replied: A friend of mine has been trying to start her own small business. She has been having a time with it. Good luck though.

C&K*s Mommie replied: alot of information to digest, and to come up with, but I wish you well. KUP.

MommyToAshley replied: We own a business but didn't take out a loan. So, not much help there.

But, the good news is that the new tax laws will allow you to write off all of the equipment that you purchase as an expense instead of amortizing it over the life of the equipment (up to about $100,00, I think). You just have to make sure you don't purchase more than 50% of it in the last quarter. (I think it is 50%... you might want to confirm that) Sorry. that was off-topic. Just thought you might want to keep that in mind when making your purchases.

Good luck! Congrats on taking the plunge. It's a scary step to take, but worth it in the long run!

MyLuvBugs replied:
Well, we have good/excellent credit, it's just that we have no money coming in really. So, a lot is hinging on DH getting a new job as to what we'll be able to do. KWIM?

It'd definately be less than 50K for the loan, and the bank today said they'd could get us a Business Credit Card which would cover the equipment.....But the care is a different story. We'll have to see. Can't get anything until we get a Tax ID and register the business, which we can't do until we talk to a lawyer (DH's uncle), and we can't do any of that really until we find out where we're going to live. UGH! I really need to make a list.

MyLuvBugs replied:
Ok....So, we're thinking about doing an umbrella company and having my photo biz, DH's website Biz, and DH's digital video editing biz under that umbrella company. We'd like to do an LLC b/c we don't want to be taken for EVERYTHING that we own, just business stuff if a law suit should occur. KWIM?
The bank guy today tried to explain to me that for them that's a little riskier than an INC.??? Do you know anything about that?

What do you recommend for a PLAN? I'm reading a thing on the SBA site now, that talks about creating a business plan, but I'm not sure if that's the same thing that you mentioned.

luvmykids replied:
I'm not sure why, if it's just our line of work or what, but our accountant was adamant that we be incorporated and not LLC. I have an awesome accountant, if you want I can ask him some questions for you. At the time, we were so small that we really wanted to do LLC but as we've grown are very grateful that we're INC.