# Uplift: Business Consortium Fund Capital offers loans exclusively for Business Owners of Color.

An episode of [Money Making Conversations Master Class](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1264705641), 19 Mar 2025, 28 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/b1db7263-d1a3-4d00-8976-af62012aab44/31743557-5b50-405b-9ba8-b0c701184d44/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=35a10561-3e1b-4d05-a529-af62012aab6a

Money Making Conversations Master Class with Rushion McDonald is America's premier entrepreneurship, business leadership, financial literacy, and wealth-building podcast featuring successful entrepreneurs, executives, founders, celebrities, and industry experts sharing actionable insights for professional and financial success. Business Podcast Entrepreneurship Small Business Business Growth Financial Literacy Wealth Building Black Entrepreneurs Minority Business Leadership Executive Leadership Business Funding Marketing Strategies Personal Development Startup Advice Sales Training CEO Interviews Founder Stories Professional Development Economic Empowerment Business Success Networking Brand Building Innovation How to start a business Small business funding Entrepreneur success stories Business leadership podcast Wealth building strategies Black entrepreneur podcast Minority business development Marketing for small businesses Business growth strategies Startup funding opportunities Executive leadership training Financial literacy education Success mindset podcast Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald, interviews Sahra Halpern. She is president and chief executive officer of the Business Consortium Fund and Triad Investments. She has created innovative and responsive lending programs throughout her career in community development finance. She drives BCF toward a more significant impact in our communities by expanding capital reach to business owners of color. Since 1987, BCF has originated 228 million dollars in loans and financed 950 minority business enterprises or MBEs. #STRAW #BEST See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:05] Speaker 1: Welcome to Money Making Conversations.
[0:06] Speaker 2: It's the show that she has the secrets of success
[0:08] Speaker 2: experience firsthand by marketing and Brandon expert Rashan McDonald. I
[0:12] Speaker 2: will know he's giving me advice on many occasions. And in
[0:14] Speaker 2: case you didn't notice, I'm not broke.
[0:17] Speaker 1: You know.
[0:17] Speaker 2: He'll be interviewing celebrity CEOs, entrepreneurs and industry decision make
[0:21] Speaker 2: because it's what he likes to do, it's what he
[0:23] Speaker 2: likes to share. Now it's time to hear from my man,
[0:26] Speaker 2: Rashan McDonald money Making Conversations.
[0:29] Speaker 1: Here we go.
[0:29] Speaker 3: Wow, welcome to Money Making Conversation Masterclass. Thank you, thank
[0:33] Speaker 3: you for listening, Thank you for being here. I am
[0:36] Speaker 3: your host, Rashan McDonald. I host this weekly money Making
[0:39] Speaker 3: Conversation Masterclass show. The interviews and information that this show
[0:43] Speaker 3: provides offer everyone. Let me get that straight. It's time
[0:46] Speaker 3: to start reading other people's success stories and start.
[0:49] Speaker 1: Living your own.
[0:50] Speaker 3: On today's show, I'll be speaking with Sarah Harpin. She's
[0:53] Speaker 3: the president and CEO of Business Consortium Fund at BCF.
[0:57] Speaker 3: They offer her loans exclusively for business owners of a color.
[1:00] Speaker 3: Like I said, you can only hear these interviews. On
[1:02] Speaker 3: the Money Making Conversation Master Class show. Now it's time
[1:05] Speaker 3: to get started. My guest is Sarah Hoppin. She is
[1:09] Speaker 3: the president the chief executive officer of the Business Consortium
[1:12] Speaker 3: Fund and TRYAD Investments. She has created innovative and responsible
[1:16] Speaker 3: lending programs throughout her career and community development finance. She's
[1:21] Speaker 3: responsible for the driving BCF towards greater impact in the
[1:24] Speaker 3: communities we serve by expanding capital reach to business owners
[1:28] Speaker 3: of color since nineteen eighty seven. Now, since she's been
[1:31] Speaker 3: there since nineteen eighty seven, BCF has originated two hundred
[1:35] Speaker 3: and twenty eight million dollars in loans and financed nine
[1:38] Speaker 3: hundred and fifty minority business enterprises are mbes. Please welcome
[1:42] Speaker 3: to the Money Making Conversations Master Class. Sarah Hawpin.
[1:45] Speaker 4: How are you doing, Sarah, I'm doing great.
[1:47] Speaker 5: Thanks for having me.
[1:48] Speaker 1: I tell you I have been waiting on this call.
[1:51] Speaker 3: We met at the Financial Summit and we hit it
[1:54] Speaker 3: off because we were like minded people. But it was
[1:57] Speaker 3: at the end of the day and we got to
[1:59] Speaker 3: you had to fly, and I said, well, can I
[2:00] Speaker 3: get you on my show to talk about what you do?
[2:02] Speaker 3: So let's kick it off and just educate my audience
[2:05] Speaker 3: on exactly what do you do when your company does
[2:07] Speaker 3: at BCF.
[2:09] Speaker 5: Yeah, absolutely, thanks for this opportunity. BCF is a nonprofit lender.
[2:14] Speaker 5: We are a community development financial institution and we exist
[2:19] Speaker 5: to serve We're not a bank. What makes us different
[2:23] Speaker 5: from a bank is that we provide loans, but we
[2:27] Speaker 5: work with our borrowers very closely to ensure success. And
[2:31] Speaker 5: where when a bank has a client who runs into
[2:35] Speaker 5: any trouble or you know, has trouble repaying the loan,
[2:39] Speaker 5: they are forced to write it off pretty quickly, but
[2:43] Speaker 5: CDFIs like BCF are not required to do that. We
[2:47] Speaker 5: will work with our client to ensure that that client
[2:51] Speaker 5: can repay and that the client can really move on
[2:55] Speaker 5: to experience growth and success as an enterprise.
[2:59] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[3:00] Speaker 3: Now, this is the first time I've heard of a
[3:01] Speaker 3: community developed financial institution. Are they are locating in certain
[3:05] Speaker 3: parts of the country and they are located in every state?
[3:08] Speaker 3: Tell me a little bit more background in the history of.
[3:10] Speaker 5: These Yes, so, community development financial institutions or cdfive are
[3:16] Speaker 5: located across the country. There are about two thousand of
[3:19] Speaker 5: us around the country, and I think that we are
[3:22] Speaker 5: one of the best kept secrets, and we should no
[3:25] Speaker 5: longer be a secret. We are actually designated by the
[3:30] Speaker 5: US Department of the Treasury. We receive money from banks
[3:34] Speaker 5: and nonprofits, and about half of us work in the
[3:38] Speaker 5: small business space and half of us work in the
[3:40] Speaker 5: affordable housing space. Everything we do is to lift up
[3:44] Speaker 5: communities and to help community thrive and grow.
[3:47] Speaker 3: Okay, now this is of course, it gets exciting because
[3:51] Speaker 3: you're saying that people who come to you, it's more
[3:54] Speaker 3: like a partnership. You know, you're trying to first of all,
[3:57] Speaker 3: provide revenue or capital so they can fund business. But
[4:00] Speaker 3: also you're not as quick to like pull the rug
[4:03] Speaker 3: out from underneath them if it doesn't go as it
[4:06] Speaker 3: as planned. How do you assist these potential applicants a
[4:09] Speaker 3: loan of people who've been secured loans to get over
[4:13] Speaker 3: those rocky moments in their business?
[4:14] Speaker 5: Sarah, Yeah, absolutely, so, as as as you and some
[4:20] Speaker 5: of your audience might know, there is certainly a great
[4:24] Speaker 5: deal of perhaps reluctance and wariness in communities of color
[4:28] Speaker 5: to engage in financial systems. And it's you know, it's
[4:32] Speaker 5: not without good reason. There has been discrimination. There has there,
[4:37] Speaker 5: you know, and there and it still exists, and so
[4:40] Speaker 5: a lot of our clients are coming to us really
[4:42] Speaker 5: for the first time. Even even as successful a business
[4:45] Speaker 5: person as he she they may be, they may be
[4:49] Speaker 5: engaging in the financial market for the first time, and
[4:52] Speaker 5: there is a lot of education that needs to take
[4:54] Speaker 5: place to ensure that that person is set up for success,
[4:57] Speaker 5: to be able to repay the loan, to be able
[4:59] Speaker 5: to grow busin and repay the loan. And so we
[5:02] Speaker 5: set up that trusting partnership from the get go. We
[5:07] Speaker 5: want to know everything about our clients. We want to
[5:09] Speaker 5: help them through the rocky beginning often and then towards success.
[5:15] Speaker 5: But every business experiences ups and downs of a business cycle,
[5:19] Speaker 5: whether it be like interest rates increase that are happening
[5:22] Speaker 5: right now or supply chain shocks that happened during the pandemic.
[5:27] Speaker 5: All businesses experience ups and downs. And we because we
[5:32] Speaker 5: have established that relationship of trust, our clients are willing
[5:37] Speaker 5: to talk to us about what they need and how
[5:40] Speaker 5: we can help them throughout their business cycles.
[5:42] Speaker 3: Wow, I'm talking to Sarah Halpin. She's the president and
[5:45] Speaker 3: CEO of the Business Consortium Fund and Try and Investment
[5:49] Speaker 3: to BCF met her at a financial Summit, and at
[5:53] Speaker 3: that's financial Summer, she was meeting individuals who will come
[5:55] Speaker 3: in there and the seeking advice and seeking opportunity to
[5:59] Speaker 3: seek ways that they can grow their business or how
[6:02] Speaker 3: they can be advised to grow their business. And I'll
[6:04] Speaker 3: be honest when I in my world and I think
[6:07] Speaker 3: I'm a knowledge of personal, knowledgeable person. Sarah, you know,
[6:10] Speaker 3: I know by the credit union, I know by the bank.
[6:13] Speaker 3: I had never in my life heard about the Community
[6:15] Speaker 3: Development Financial Institution. Now we always hear the word leary
[6:19] Speaker 3: or always hear you don't know. Why don't I know
[6:21] Speaker 3: about this?
[6:22] Speaker 4: Why?
[6:22] Speaker 3: You know, in my life of trying to went to college,
[6:25] Speaker 3: I consider myself educated.
[6:27] Speaker 1: I went out there.
[6:28] Speaker 3: I've got my calls finance, I've got home finance, I've
[6:31] Speaker 3: got businesses finance. Why am I not hearing about CDFI.
[6:37] Speaker 5: Why are you not hearing about CDFIVE? Well, we probably
[6:40] Speaker 5: don't do a very good job marketing ourselves. We are
[6:43] Speaker 5: non profits.
[6:45] Speaker 1: Okay, okay, okay, at least you're admitting it.
[6:47] Speaker 4: At least you're admitting it.
[6:48] Speaker 3: At least my fans of my my listeners will understand.
[6:51] Speaker 3: They want to call in and talk to you. They
[6:53] Speaker 3: can call in talk to the stranger who's out there
[6:56] Speaker 3: helping communities of color to get business business capital.
[7:00] Speaker 5: Correct, that's right, And not a lot of us focus
[7:04] Speaker 5: on communities of color either. So we are the only
[7:08] Speaker 5: CDFI out there that one exclusively serves business owners of
[7:14] Speaker 5: color and that's in our charter. Yes, thank you, thank you.
[7:17] Speaker 1: Now, this location is based.
[7:18] Speaker 5: Where we have physical offices in New York, but we
[7:23] Speaker 5: lend nationwide. We we lend primarily to businesses operate who
[7:29] Speaker 5: are who have a B to B model, So a
[7:31] Speaker 5: business providing a good or service to another business and
[7:35] Speaker 5: in that business, there was likely to be a contract, right,
[7:38] Speaker 5: a contract between your small business and uh the local government,
[7:42] Speaker 5: or your small business and Walmart. And that's where we
[7:46] Speaker 5: come in to help these small businesses make good on
[7:50] Speaker 5: their contracts, to help them hire the people, buy the materials,
[7:55] Speaker 5: and whatever it is that they need to to deliver
[7:59] Speaker 5: on their content.
[8:00] Speaker 3: You know, people, all people drop in and out at
[8:02] Speaker 3: different times of the show. At this time of the show,
[8:05] Speaker 3: can you tell people how they can reach out and
[8:07] Speaker 3: find more information about you know, BCF and what you
[8:11] Speaker 3: guys are doing for the community, the outreach and the
[8:14] Speaker 3: opportunities to get capital for their businesses.
[8:18] Speaker 5: It's so easy. All anybody would need to do is
[8:22] Speaker 5: go to b cfcapital dot com. That's b AS in business,
[8:27] Speaker 5: see us in consortium and FS and fund bcfcapital dot
[8:31] Speaker 5: com and apply for a loan there or simply put
[8:34] Speaker 5: in your information and one of our lending staff will
[8:38] Speaker 5: reach out to you. And the great thing about BCF
[8:41] Speaker 5: we are community led. We are one hundred percent staffed
[8:43] Speaker 5: by people of color. We are people who understand what
[8:49] Speaker 5: the needs of the small business owner are and we'll be,
[8:53] Speaker 5: you know, standing by, ready to respond and to to
[8:56] Speaker 5: help you out.
[8:57] Speaker 1: Great.
[8:57] Speaker 3: Well, this this is great now always I'd always like
[9:01] Speaker 3: to get a little background on individuals because you seem
[9:03] Speaker 3: to be passionate about this. It seems to be something
[9:06] Speaker 3: that you bonded to. Does your background lend yourself to this?
[9:10] Speaker 3: Can you educate my audience on a little bit about
[9:12] Speaker 3: how you started in the financial community before I go
[9:15] Speaker 3: into the more questions and dan led and how did
[9:17] Speaker 3: you wind up at BCF.
[9:19] Speaker 5: Yeah, well, I never thought I was going to have
[9:22] Speaker 5: a career in financial services. I'll just start there. But
[9:27] Speaker 5: the way that I got there is as like a
[9:31] Speaker 5: little girl. I always understood that where I was born
[9:37] Speaker 5: and the opportunities I had had so much to do
[9:39] Speaker 5: with luck. And part of that is my mother came
[9:44] Speaker 5: to the United States from Trinidad and Tobago when she
[9:47] Speaker 5: was in her early twenties and she was trying to
[9:51] Speaker 5: flee from a pretty bad situation. And she got to
[9:55] Speaker 5: the United States and met my dad and she was
[9:58] Speaker 5: able to how and make a life for herself right
[10:03] Speaker 5: because people helped her along the way. And that that's
[10:08] Speaker 5: how I understood that without people helping each other, I mean,
[10:12] Speaker 5: I wouldn't be here, my mother wouldn't be here. And
[10:15] Speaker 5: I started doing work in human rights, and that took
[10:20] Speaker 5: me to economic and being interested in economic development. I
[10:25] Speaker 5: actually worked at Charles Schwab for fifteen years. I never
[10:28] Speaker 5: thought I'd work for a bank for that long, but
[10:31] Speaker 5: when I was there, guess what I was doing, or Sean,
[10:33] Speaker 5: I was making loans to CDFIs like, Wow, why I
[10:38] Speaker 5: did that for fifteen years before I got to lead
[10:40] Speaker 5: this company.
[10:41] Speaker 1: Yeah, we know.
[10:43] Speaker 3: The beauty of your conversation is that it's about opportunity.
[10:46] Speaker 3: And what I try to do on my show is
[10:50] Speaker 3: I find so many people who are filled with doubt.
[10:52] Speaker 3: So many people are filled with disbelief that what people
[10:56] Speaker 3: say isn't real, what people the work. I think that
[10:59] Speaker 3: what we especially in the minority community, is that nothing's
[11:02] Speaker 3: ever easy.
[11:03] Speaker 1: You know.
[11:04] Speaker 3: I wish you could just fill out a single piece
[11:05] Speaker 3: of paper and your dreams would come true. How what
[11:08] Speaker 3: is the process of walking through the front door and
[11:12] Speaker 3: the paperwork that one would have to fill out all
[11:15] Speaker 3: the background because do you have to have fantastic credit?
[11:19] Speaker 3: I don't want to start too far into the conversation,
[11:21] Speaker 3: but can you walk us through the process of sitting
[11:24] Speaker 3: down or contacting cd A, cd IFI in this case BCF,
[11:30] Speaker 3: which is Business Consortium Fund and try and Investments.
[11:33] Speaker 5: So the first thing I would say is put your
[11:37] Speaker 5: fear in your self doubts, you know, put them aside
[11:41] Speaker 5: before you walk in the door. Put aside your preconceived notions,
[11:46] Speaker 5: and also put aside your maybe desire to put everything
[11:51] Speaker 5: in the best light, because when it comes to capital provision,
[11:56] Speaker 5: we need to really know you, and that means knowing
[12:00] Speaker 5: your strength and your weaknesses as a business owner. Because
[12:02] Speaker 5: we want to help and we do what we do.
[12:06] Speaker 5: Look for paperwork, we want three years of tax returns
[12:09] Speaker 5: We do look at your credit score, we do look
[12:11] Speaker 5: at your business success. We do look at your bank
[12:15] Speaker 5: statements and your cash flow. And the reason we do
[12:17] Speaker 5: that is we want to make sure that any loan
[12:20] Speaker 5: that we provide is a path to growth and that
[12:24] Speaker 5: it's not another headache for a small business loader. Imagine
[12:27] Speaker 5: a predatory lender. They don't care, right, They're just gonna
[12:30] Speaker 5: They're just gonna give you money until you pay it back,
[12:33] Speaker 5: and if you don't, there is serious consequences for us. Yeah,
[12:36] Speaker 5: we want, we want you to pay the money back,
[12:38] Speaker 5: but we want to help you understand how you pay
[12:40] Speaker 5: the money back and how this loan and how this
[12:43] Speaker 5: capital leads to growth for your company. So it's paperwork,
[12:47] Speaker 5: But don't be afraid, that's what I would say.
[12:50] Speaker 3: Well, you know, that's that's the key fear. Now we've
[12:53] Speaker 3: noticed recently, Sarah, they have been raising interests, interest just
[12:58] Speaker 3: to be our friend. Now they may raise an interest
[13:02] Speaker 3: because they say they're trying to curtail the inflation. Where
[13:04] Speaker 3: are how are the decisions on interest made on the
[13:08] Speaker 3: loans that you're giving out to potential mbes.
[13:14] Speaker 5: Yes, one of the barriers is affordable capital. Yes, one
[13:19] Speaker 5: of the barriers to success is affordable capital. And yes,
[13:23] Speaker 5: rates that have been rising, and a lot of CDFIs
[13:25] Speaker 5: are raising their rates, but many of us have really
[13:29] Speaker 5: solid bank partners who have extended money to us at
[13:32] Speaker 5: low rates. So we borrow money from a bank. This
[13:35] Speaker 5: is how it works. We borrow the money and then
[13:38] Speaker 5: we put an interest. We add a little interest to
[13:41] Speaker 5: the money we have to pay back to the bank,
[13:43] Speaker 5: and that's we charge the client so that we can
[13:45] Speaker 5: cover our own costs and that we can also pay
[13:48] Speaker 5: the bank back. Right now, we are lending around still
[13:54] Speaker 5: eight to ten percent interest or maybe eleven percent interests
[13:58] Speaker 5: at the higher end, and that is very much in
[14:01] Speaker 5: line with what banks are doing, but some are much
[14:06] Speaker 5: higher than that right now, and we have not increased
[14:10] Speaker 5: our rate in the face of these interest rate increases
[14:13] Speaker 5: of the past year and a half.
[14:14] Speaker 3: Well, we're about to go to break be right back
[14:16] Speaker 3: with the incredible Sarah Howprom she is the president and
[14:19] Speaker 3: CEO of the Business Consortium Fund and try and investment.
[14:23] Speaker 1: Don't go nowhere.
[14:31] Speaker 6: We'll be right back with more money making conversations. Masterclass
[14:34] Speaker 6: with Rashaun.
[14:35] Speaker 7: McDonald HBCUs represent Black Excellence. If you attend or are
[14:40] Speaker 7: an alumnus of an HBCU, We want to hear about
[14:43] Speaker 7: your story. The My HBCU Story digital Library will allow
[14:47] Speaker 7: current HBCU students and alumni to share their stories. Registration
[14:52] Speaker 7: is open to everyone. More information is available at HBCU
[14:56] Speaker 7: college day dot com. Click my HBCU Story. Next, you
[15:00] Speaker 7: can upload a photo. The photo can be recent or
[15:03] Speaker 7: from when you attended your HBCU. Then share your academic
[15:07] Speaker 7: or social experience at your HBCU, which can be your
[15:10] Speaker 7: favorite class, hangout, joint homecoming game, student center, on or
[15:15] Speaker 7: off campus party, greek show, and how attending an HBCU
[15:19] Speaker 7: changed your life. We also want to hear stories if
[15:22] Speaker 7: you pleasure a fraternity or sorority. The goal is to
[15:25] Speaker 7: use your my HBCU story to promote and uplift the
[15:29] Speaker 7: HPCU brand. Your HBCU prepared you for success and now
[15:33] Speaker 7: we want everyone to read about your black excellence. More
[15:37] Speaker 7: information is available at HBCU college day dot com. You
[15:41] Speaker 7: can click my HBCU Story to share your story.
[15:46] Speaker 6: Now, let's return to Money Making Conversations Masterclass with Rashaan McDonald.
[15:52] Speaker 3: That's right, Rashwan here as talking to I'm gonna call
[15:54] Speaker 3: it my friend. I'm calling my friend because she's a
[15:56] Speaker 3: friend of the show. She's she You know. The the
[16:00] Speaker 3: thing about it when I invite people to come on
[16:01] Speaker 3: the show, I love it when people are excited to
[16:04] Speaker 3: share information and information that can change your lives is
[16:07] Speaker 3: what we're talking about right now. We're talking about a
[16:10] Speaker 3: person you can call. This is not a charge to
[16:13] Speaker 3: call this company or this individual to find about how
[16:17] Speaker 3: you can get educated. I think that's what hurts a
[16:20] Speaker 3: lot of small businesses. They have you know, you have
[16:23] Speaker 3: the SBA, you have a lot of platforms out there,
[16:26] Speaker 3: But this is a financial platform that's set up and
[16:29] Speaker 3: able to a CDFI. And again, this is the first
[16:32] Speaker 3: time I heard of a CDFI when I met her,
[16:34] Speaker 3: And so I'm bringing it on my show. And I
[16:36] Speaker 3: talked to a couple of my producers offline and I
[16:38] Speaker 3: asked them, have you.
[16:39] Speaker 1: Heard of as CDFI anyway?
[16:41] Speaker 3: Nope, And so that means that this is information that's
[16:44] Speaker 3: new to the community, and its information that we should
[16:46] Speaker 3: take advantage of it. When I'm talking to you, Sarah,
[16:50] Speaker 3: am I being naive when I say that. Not a
[16:55] Speaker 3: lot of people I know. I mentioned it on the
[16:57] Speaker 3: other break but how can I help you or help
[17:00] Speaker 3: get the word out? Because in our community, the more
[17:02] Speaker 3: we know, the more small businesses we can create within
[17:06] Speaker 3: the community, more taxes we can create within the community,
[17:09] Speaker 3: the more and people we can plow within the community.
[17:12] Speaker 3: More and more of our communities within the educational because
[17:15] Speaker 3: you know, that's how taxes are done for education.
[17:18] Speaker 1: They tax houses, they tax businesses.
[17:20] Speaker 3: Which means that the educational structure within the community is stronger.
[17:23] Speaker 1: What can we do as a team?
[17:25] Speaker 5: I love the question. I'm smiling that you asked it,
[17:29] Speaker 5: And what can we do? It is all about word
[17:32] Speaker 5: of mouth. It's very true. We are on LinkedIn, we
[17:37] Speaker 5: are on social media. You can find us there. But
[17:40] Speaker 5: really it's all about talking to your friends talking to us.
[17:45] Speaker 5: We have some wonderful clients who tell their friends about
[17:49] Speaker 5: us after they've had success, and their friends come to us,
[17:52] Speaker 5: And it really is all about word of mouth, especially
[17:55] Speaker 5: in the community that we serve, and it is about trust,
[17:58] Speaker 5: and it is about, you know, helping people overcome that
[18:02] Speaker 5: reluctance and wariness of the financial services industry. That's really
[18:06] Speaker 5: what it's about. So you have to hear about it
[18:07] Speaker 5: from your friends and your family.
[18:09] Speaker 3: You know when one comes into see you, and I
[18:13] Speaker 3: know sometimes on this show, I'll.
[18:15] Speaker 1: Be honest with you, sir, I get frustrated. I might
[18:18] Speaker 1: get too emotional because I want people to see it.
[18:21] Speaker 1: I want people to get it.
[18:22] Speaker 3: I want people to run out there and just take
[18:24] Speaker 3: advantage of the opportunity. You know, and you say, you
[18:27] Speaker 3: know for fifteen years you've basically doing this at Charles
[18:30] Speaker 3: Swab before you came over here and did it for
[18:33] Speaker 3: as the CEO and the president of BCF.
[18:38] Speaker 1: So what frustrates you.
[18:39] Speaker 3: I know that has to be some degree of frustration
[18:42] Speaker 3: that comes out of this because you want to make
[18:45] Speaker 3: a difference, and you have financing that can make a difference.
[18:49] Speaker 3: I guess I said, that's the question. Are enough people
[18:51] Speaker 3: knocking on your door?
[18:53] Speaker 5: No? No, enough people are not knocking on our door.
[18:57] Speaker 6: Now.
[18:57] Speaker 5: One thing about BCF is that we have some really
[19:01] Speaker 5: wonderful new news, but we're also overcoming our own our
[19:06] Speaker 5: own past. We have a lot of capital available right now,
[19:10] Speaker 5: but we didn't a few years ago. So we are
[19:13] Speaker 5: reintroducing ourselves to the community, We are re engaging with
[19:18] Speaker 5: the community, and we are here really to serve this community.
[19:23] Speaker 5: So the are there enough people knocking on our door.
[19:26] Speaker 5: Not quite yet, but you know what there will be
[19:29] Speaker 5: as we continue to make loan by loan by loan,
[19:34] Speaker 5: and our community understands that we're here for everybody's benefit.
[19:39] Speaker 5: We're here as a community development financial institution.
[19:42] Speaker 3: Well, you know, I smile and a laugh and as
[19:45] Speaker 3: you said, you are smiler when I asked that question,
[19:47] Speaker 3: because you know it is it is. Sometimes you have
[19:50] Speaker 3: to your patient. Sometimes you have to understand that we
[19:54] Speaker 3: all want everything to jump off real quick. But yeah,
[19:57] Speaker 3: we know you know you want to do you want
[19:58] Speaker 3: to open the door and run past you like they
[20:01] Speaker 3: do on Black Friday, you know, but it doesn't happen
[20:06] Speaker 3: that way. And and and the process is is knowledge.
[20:10] Speaker 3: It is also is networking. It also is people. And
[20:14] Speaker 3: sometimes you know, the part that I that annoys me
[20:18] Speaker 3: about a good secret is that people don't want to
[20:21] Speaker 3: share it. Sometimes, you know, they're they're shared with their
[20:24] Speaker 3: little group or they might have a little Facebook group
[20:26] Speaker 3: online they share within that little group and things like that,
[20:30] Speaker 3: and it is winning for them, but it's not winning
[20:33] Speaker 3: for enough people. And that's the purpose of the community
[20:35] Speaker 3: develop a financial institution. It's called community, which means it's
[20:39] Speaker 3: setting place for the community to have an opportunity to
[20:42] Speaker 3: grow their businesses within the community. With that being said,
[20:46] Speaker 3: what are three financial secrets for all business owners seeking
[20:50] Speaker 3: to grow their enterprise or their business?
[20:54] Speaker 5: Okay, I would say one is know the industry that
[20:59] Speaker 5: you want to serve. And this is specifically for the
[21:01] Speaker 5: B to B companies that we serve. Right, So, if
[21:04] Speaker 5: you're a if you're a catering company, for example, and
[21:08] Speaker 5: you are serving the tech industry, well, you might have
[21:12] Speaker 5: certain insurance requirements that you need. And I say tech industry,
[21:15] Speaker 5: I'm actually located in California, so it comes to mind.
[21:19] Speaker 5: You might have certain insurance requirements, you might have certain
[21:24] Speaker 5: legal or compliance requirements that you need to be aware
[21:28] Speaker 5: of and comply with in order to serve that industry.
[21:32] Speaker 5: So really knowing the industry that you serve is really
[21:35] Speaker 5: really important. Another on just the personal side, know your
[21:39] Speaker 5: credit score. Everybody needs you can go to you know,
[21:43] Speaker 5: there are so many free opportunities to get to know
[21:48] Speaker 5: your own credit score. I always say, know your credit score,
[21:51] Speaker 5: know yourself, right, And it really is about knowing ourselves,
[21:56] Speaker 5: knowing what our strengths and weaknesses are, and also working
[21:59] Speaker 5: on our weeknd is your credit is something that can
[22:01] Speaker 5: be It can go up very it can go up,
[22:03] Speaker 5: it can go down, but it can go up and
[22:06] Speaker 5: people need to know that and not you know and
[22:08] Speaker 5: be and be willing to uh to fix that. Another
[22:11] Speaker 5: one is don't take on debt you can't repay.
[22:14] Speaker 1: Amen.
[22:15] Speaker 5: Sometimes people come to us and they say, well, what
[22:17] Speaker 5: loan size can you give me? And we say, that's
[22:20] Speaker 5: not how you think about it. What you need to
[22:22] Speaker 5: think about is what kind of cash flow your business
[22:27] Speaker 5: is throwing off and whether that cash flow can cover
[22:30] Speaker 5: the principle and interest on alone. And you'll also want
[22:35] Speaker 5: to know do I have collateral? What things can I
[22:38] Speaker 5: do to support a loan? Most people know about mortgage
[22:41] Speaker 5: lending and small business lending, frankly is is similar in
[22:44] Speaker 5: a lot of ways. There's an asset, right, it's your business,
[22:46] Speaker 5: and there's cash flow, which is your income, and you
[22:49] Speaker 5: need to know that you can repay that loan and
[22:51] Speaker 5: that is going to help your business grow, not that
[22:53] Speaker 5: it's going to keep you up at night.
[22:55] Speaker 3: Great Karen and Karen's Online Karen, Welcome to Money Making
[22:59] Speaker 3: Conversation Master. Ask you speaking to ru Sean McDonald, Sarah,
[23:01] Speaker 3: what is your question.
[23:03] Speaker 4: Thank you, I appreciate it. My question is how can
[23:07] Speaker 4: you display three years of taxes when you own a
[23:12] Speaker 4: food truck business that's seasonal. You know, the pandemic was
[23:16] Speaker 4: you know, it was weird. So how do you deal
[23:19] Speaker 4: with the three year tax returns when it's it's so
[23:23] Speaker 4: unpredictable when you put in your your application for a loan.
[23:27] Speaker 5: Absolutely, it's a great question. And we where as we
[23:32] Speaker 5: you know it's required. We do need the tax returns.
[23:35] Speaker 5: We need to understand, you know, what your apporting to
[23:37] Speaker 5: the government. We look at the pandemic as a special situation.
[23:42] Speaker 5: A lot of our clients had down times in the pandemic.
[23:46] Speaker 5: We try to look to the future as well. We
[23:48] Speaker 5: want to look to the path we to show performance.
[23:51] Speaker 5: We also want to look to the future. We want
[23:54] Speaker 5: to see what your future. You know, what this loan
[23:56] Speaker 5: can provide in terms of future earnings. So we love
[24:00] Speaker 5: got pandemic times with a special lens and we're willing
[24:04] Speaker 5: to overlook.
[24:04] Speaker 3: You know, so you're basically down, so the downtime. First
[24:09] Speaker 3: of all, you gotta fire your taxes every year. I
[24:11] Speaker 3: gotta get your taxes in every year to be able
[24:13] Speaker 3: to consider that we understand the pandemic was an odd period,
[24:17] Speaker 3: but more importantly, since twenty one, twenty two, number and
[24:21] Speaker 3: twenty three, what are your sales looking like? That's what
[24:24] Speaker 3: she's talking about. Are you projecting?
[24:26] Speaker 1: Are you are you?
[24:27] Speaker 3: Are your sales flat versus what happened in twenty two?
[24:30] Speaker 3: We expect in twenty one the twenty two should have
[24:33] Speaker 3: increased over twenty one. We're gonna look at if you're seasonal,
[24:36] Speaker 3: there are no seasonal periods that you're open. What are
[24:39] Speaker 3: your sales matching day to day, month to month, month
[24:42] Speaker 3: and all these things? What was your what was your
[24:44] Speaker 3: expenses versus your income? Those things that that's the part
[24:48] Speaker 3: of the business that frustrates small business owners because you
[24:51] Speaker 3: have to do the math, and sometimes the math doesn't
[24:54] Speaker 3: add up. But what Sarah is saying is don't let
[24:57] Speaker 3: that stop you, because it's important that you start talking
[25:01] Speaker 3: to somebody who knows how to handle money, and if
[25:04] Speaker 3: you're not handling it correctly, they can advise you, especially
[25:07] Speaker 3: if you're trying to get a loan from them, and
[25:09] Speaker 3: help you correct maybe the way you're doing business, or
[25:12] Speaker 3: advise you. If you do this, then you can be
[25:14] Speaker 3: considered for this, which may be a key moment in
[25:17] Speaker 3: running your business. So I feel it's important that when
[25:21] Speaker 3: I'm on the show, when she's a person like hers
[25:24] Speaker 3: on the show, even if you don't or can't afford
[25:27] Speaker 3: the loan, call these banks and find out or these
[25:30] Speaker 3: community development financial institutions so they can set you in
[25:34] Speaker 3: the right course to think about budgets, to think about planning,
[25:37] Speaker 3: to think about that path to success. Do you think
[25:40] Speaker 3: that when I'm saying it's correct, Sarah.
[25:42] Speaker 5: The relationship is so important, Sean. Absolutely, you need to
[25:46] Speaker 5: have the relationship before you think you need financing because
[25:52] Speaker 5: it takes some time to get to know the lender
[25:54] Speaker 5: and for the lenders to get to know you, first
[25:56] Speaker 5: of all. Second of all, you don't know when an
[25:57] Speaker 5: opportunity is going to fall in your love. You may
[25:59] Speaker 5: think I don't need credit. You may think I got it,
[26:02] Speaker 5: I got this. I don't I don't need help and
[26:05] Speaker 5: I don't need cash. But the day may come, and
[26:08] Speaker 5: it could be tomorrow when you have an opportunity that
[26:11] Speaker 5: you need an additional amount of money to make good
[26:16] Speaker 5: on and to deliver on.
[26:17] Speaker 3: I want to thank you Karen for calling in to
[26:19] Speaker 3: the show. It's important that she called because she got answered.
[26:23] Speaker 3: But an important Karen is about their relationship. So it's
[26:27] Speaker 3: about the information you're trying to get. And other Karens
[26:30] Speaker 3: in the world out there are Brian's in the world
[26:33] Speaker 3: or Bills in the world out there. They need to
[26:35] Speaker 3: really start getting answers to your business in order to
[26:38] Speaker 3: move forward, and stop praying about it, stop holding about it,
[26:41] Speaker 3: stop putting it all in faith, and start putting it
[26:43] Speaker 3: in to the pen to the papers.
[26:45] Speaker 1: They say, Sarah, I.
[26:46] Speaker 3: Want to thank you, thank you, thank you for coming
[26:49] Speaker 3: on Money Making Conversation master Class. I know you're busy,
[26:52] Speaker 3: but can I get you on the show once a quarter?
[26:54] Speaker 1: It's that too much to ask.
[26:55] Speaker 5: I don't think that's too much to ask, because you
[26:57] Speaker 5: know why this man more people know need to know
[27:00] Speaker 5: about CBFI. I'm happy to come on and do that. Well.
[27:06] Speaker 3: Thank you deal energy with fantastic your education and the
[27:09] Speaker 3: tools you're going to bring to the table game. Sarah Hoppin,
[27:12] Speaker 3: President CEO of BCL Business Consortium Fund. Please tell them
[27:16] Speaker 3: how to get in touch with you as I wrap
[27:18] Speaker 3: up the show.
[27:19] Speaker 5: Www dot bcfcapital dot com. Come see our website, come
[27:24] Speaker 5: get in touch and we would love to talk to you.
[27:27] Speaker 3: Thank you for coming on Money Making Conversation mastic Lands.
[27:29] Speaker 5: I appreciate you fantastic, take care Okay, thank you everybody, bybye.
[27:40] Speaker 6: Thank you for joining us for this edition of Money
[27:42] Speaker 6: Making Conversations Masterclass. Money Making Conversations Masterclass with rough Shan
[27:48] Speaker 6: McDonald is produced by thirty eight fifteen Media Inc. More
[27:52] Speaker 6: information about thirty eight fifteen Media Inc. Is available at
[27:56] Speaker 6: thirty eight fifteen media dot com. And always remember to
[28:00] Speaker 6: lead with your gifts

Shows are listed from Apple Podcasts' charts and directory, and Podcast Index where it is used. Every show and episode belongs to its publisher and plays from the publisher's own feed; this site hosts none of them.