Friday, January 06, 2006
Lies about starting your own business
I spent the night with J last night. She is doing better. I feel worse, but that's what happens when you sleep in a chair in a hospital room. She is in a much less pain. The doctor seemed to think she could get discharged by this weekend. I now can focus on the other major source of stress- money.
I started the process of opening this store by completing a 6 month fellowship with the pharmacy association. I had no financial plan in place. I knew that my idea was solid and that I was a young, Hispanic woman who would have no trouble securing a loan for working capital. I have since found out that no one wants to loan money to a business less than 2 years old. No one cares that I am a minority or a woman. I have a well developed business plan with realistic sales and cash flow projections. I have letters of reference, photographs, an impressive Curriculum vitae, etc. Yet, I am working with my 3rd bank and my loan officer will not call me back. In 4 days, I have a large draft coming out of my account for medications. In 10 more days, I have another large draft coming out for my computers and shelves. I stand by the mail box every day waiting for insurance checks. They usually pay 4-8 weeks after the patients have received their medication. Of course, I knew all of this when I opened my doors. I have really messed up. I believe my loan officer from bank #2 that we would have a loan before the doors opened. I went ahead and open without the money in my account. So if you are thinking about starting a business make sure that you have a loan first. I don't know what will happen when my account is overdrawn, but we will find out on Tuesday.
I will be spending the weekend at the hospital. I will update on J's status as soon as I can.
I started the process of opening this store by completing a 6 month fellowship with the pharmacy association. I had no financial plan in place. I knew that my idea was solid and that I was a young, Hispanic woman who would have no trouble securing a loan for working capital. I have since found out that no one wants to loan money to a business less than 2 years old. No one cares that I am a minority or a woman. I have a well developed business plan with realistic sales and cash flow projections. I have letters of reference, photographs, an impressive Curriculum vitae, etc. Yet, I am working with my 3rd bank and my loan officer will not call me back. In 4 days, I have a large draft coming out of my account for medications. In 10 more days, I have another large draft coming out for my computers and shelves. I stand by the mail box every day waiting for insurance checks. They usually pay 4-8 weeks after the patients have received their medication. Of course, I knew all of this when I opened my doors. I have really messed up. I believe my loan officer from bank #2 that we would have a loan before the doors opened. I went ahead and open without the money in my account. So if you are thinking about starting a business make sure that you have a loan first. I don't know what will happen when my account is overdrawn, but we will find out on Tuesday.
I will be spending the weekend at the hospital. I will update on J's status as soon as I can.
# posted by Dawn @ 7:24 AM 
