When the Entrepreneur’s “Never Take No for an Answer” Meets the Banker’s “No”
April 8, 2013
By Bob Coleman
Editor, Coleman Report
New York Times blogger Ami Kassar has penned a thoughtful piece reminding all of us that despite the relentless drive to boil everything down to buckets, social media ratings and credit scores, small business lending is still an art.
He writes about his recent encounter with a business owner who refused to acknowledge the death rattle signs of her business that required drastic action.
Ami clearly enunciates the lending principle that loan proceeds must go for business growth and expansion, not be a band aid for past sins that simply delay the day of reckoning.
One of the first lessons taught in Entrepreneurship 101 is to never take no for an answer.
Unfortunately, small business lenders are the one’s that must not only deliver the “no” message, but to do so in clear terms that the applicant to understand. An act that is courageous by the lender, but unappreciated by the entrepreneur.