It’s never been easier to start a business with no capital at all. It’s also never been easier to raise millions of dollars for an idea. But what about the businesses that fall somewhere in-between? Whether you’re opening a restaurant, salon, dental office, or auto shop, you’re probably going to need outside financing. There are plenty of options, but a lot of them are very unfriendly to the business owner. The Business Backer is a Cincinnati, OH based company that “is helping small business owners flourish and grow by re-inventing relationship-based lending for the 21st century.” The company is built on the idea of True Relationship Financing, which a unique underwriting process that evaluates risk and customizes a deal in a way that is very different from most other financial institutions.
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Right now I have a shot at winning $1 billion. My bracket is 100% correct… though no games have been finished yet. In case you haven’t heard, Quicken Loans has put up that amount for anyone who gets a perfect bracket (and Warren Buffet backed it with one of his insurance businesses). It sounds like March Madness until you crunch the numbers. There is essentially zero chance that someone will win the prize, yet millions of people entered… and shared their information with Quicken Loans. That’s exactly why the Detroit, MI based company sponsored the contest. New leads are the lifeblood of a mortgage business, even if you’re already the “#1 online retail lender.”
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I often forget that credit cards actually come with a line of credit. To me they’re just a super convenient way to pay for things. The problem is that the convenience is only available to those who have demonstrated a certain amount of financial responsibility. Those who haven’t are left behind in an age where a credit card is nearly a necessity. Luckily, NetSpend is an Austin, TX based company that brings the ability to swipe to anybody who has the money. They offer prepaid Visa and Mastercard debit cards. These aren’t those gift card things that you may have received from an Aunt or Uncle. These are permanent cards that you recharge with funds as they become available.
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I think it’s pretty mind blowing how interconnected the world economies have become during my lifetime. While international trade has existed for many thousands of years, never before have people had to rely so heavily on the production of others half way around the world. I generally think this is a great thing, but many issues come along with the growth. The World Economic Forum is a non-profit organization that was founded in 1971 by Klaus Schwab in Geneva, Switzerland to be “committed to improving the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas.” The World Economic Forum, which also has offices in New York, NY and Beijing, China, is probably best known for its annual meeting at Davos where they bring together some of the world’s most important leaders to engage on some of the most pressing issues.
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As my actions show, I’m a strong believer that entrepreneurship can solve most of societies problems. It’s amazing what you can create with your own labor and a little bit of investment. That’s why I find the microfinance movement so interesting. What I don’t understand is why there isn’t more focus on this kind of lending in the United States. Grameen America is a five-year old non-profit that is changing this. They’re based in New York, NY, and they’re aiming for “a market where any individual with a dream can receive affordable financial products regardless of income, previous credit history, education, or business experience.” Grameen America is attacking poverty head on, and it seems like they’re having some great success.
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When I was job searching after graduating from college, one of my big projects was getting my finances in order. I opened accounts, closed accounts, cashed out savings bonds, started investing, and made sure that I knew where all my money was. I also started using Mint to track everything. It worked well until my bank updated their online banking software and killed Mint integration. It eventually got fixed, but there was no way to merge my old Mint data with my new Mint data (I essentially had to set up another bank account in Mint). This was pretty minor in terms of banking nightmares, but it was still a huge pain. Otherwise, I’m happy enough with my current bank, but I’d love to have a bank that is focused on delivering a superb online experience. BankSimple (also known as the Simple Finance Technology Corp.) wants to be that bank. They’re based in New York, NY and they’re all about customer service and user experience.
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I’m a fly fisherman, so I occasionally get frustrated with living in downtown Chicago. There just aren’t many opportunities to go fishing without a decent drive, and winter seems to last forever (it’s supposed to be spring now, and it’s not). To get through the coldest months I’ll often visit fishing stores, look at websites, and read through catalogs. It’s not much, but it’s enough to get me through the winter. Cabela’s is a company that gets a lot of people through the winter. The company is based in Sidney, NE, and they’re the “largest mail-order, retail and Internet outdoor outfitter in the world.” It all started in 1961 with a tiny classified ad that Dick Cabela placed in a newspaper because he wanted to sell some fishing flies that he purchased while visiting Chicago for a furniture show (since Nebraska is even less of a fly fishing destination than Chicago is). Despite a lackluster response to the original ad, Dick Cabela kept trying. The company grew organically, and now Cabela’s is dominating three major retail channels. The truly amazing part of the story is that Cabela’s has been able to maintain their commitment to customer service throughout all of the growth. I’m not a big customer (I try to support local shops), but I have quite a few friends who are extremely loyal Cabela’s customers because of the quality of products and service.
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When I came across an internship posting for Bling Nation, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I didn’t know if it would be something like Cash4Gold or an online store for pricey hip hop accessories, but it turns out that Bling Nation is something far more reasonable despite their flashy name. They’re a Palo Alto, CA based company that is building an alternate payment platform for in-store purchases. Instead of using cash or credit card, they want you to swipe a tag that is affixed to your mobile phone. It makes sense. Credit card purchases where you sign the receipt seem outdated, and merchants are getting fed up with the processing fees that they have to pay for credit card transactions. PayPal has been the de facto online payment standard for a long time (even though a lot of people hate them), but they do nothing for in-person purchases beyond offering a credit card that links to your account. It seems to me that it’s inevitable that our mobile phones will replace our wallets in the future, but I wonder whether a Bling Nation sticker on the back of the phone will be the way in which we do it.
Bling Bling
So Bling Nation has an odd name and an odd approach to alternate payment processing; however, they have something like $33 million in venture capital funding. Mobile payment platforms are going to be the future, and Bling Nation is positioning itself to be a player in that market. Interestingly enough, they’re building their platform by starting in tiny markets. Instead of attacking New York City or San Fracisco, they’re focusing on a couple of small towns in Colorado. People can get a Bling Nation account going through their local banks, and then they can use their accounts at local merchants who have been outfitted to accept Bling Nation payments. It’s the opposite of how most companies launch, but I like it—it’s an interesting marketing strategy. If you’re intrigued by it, you might want to check out internships at Bling Nation. Right now they’re looking for a Summer Marketing Intern. There’s no word on whether it’s paid or not, but you can apply here.
Links to Help You Begin Your Research
Would you use Bling Nation?
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I grew up in Fairfield, CT, which is next to a city, Bridgeport, that is always aiming for “revitalization.” They’ve talked about a building a casino for years, and they even built a minor league baseball stadium. It’s hard to say whether that has helped or hurt, but it seems that Bridgeport is at least doing a little better than it was a decade ago. I’d imagine that the real reasons for improvement have come from smaller projects that are more in tune with the city’s communities’ needs. These are the kinds of projects that The Reinvestment Fund invests in in cities in the Mid-Atlantic. They are “a 24 year old nonprofit financial lending institution with a strong social mission” and offices in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, DC. They started out as a small community development organization, and they’ve grown to become something much bigger.
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You’ve probably heard of the World Bank, but do you know what it is? Now’s a good time to head over to Wikipedia to find out. The short version is that they’re “an international financial institution that provides leveraged loans to developing countries for capital programs” with the goal of reducing poverty. Bank Information Center is a Washington, DC based non-profit that helps “developing and transitioning countries to influence the World Bank and other international financial institutions to promote social and economic justice and ecological sustainability.” Basically that means that they work at the local level in countries across the world to make sure that the interests of the people are represented in the decisions of international financial institutions. Their aim is to democratize development.
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I’m a big proponent of making personal finance part of your career planning. By managing your money wisely (even if you barely have any as a student), you’re creating a project for yourself that you can use to demonstrate to employers how you’ll be an effective intern. When I need information on personal finance, I always look to Ramit Sethi, the founder of a website called I Will Teach You To Be Rich and the author of a book by the same name
(he also just launched a course on how to make money freelancing and he’s doing a free webinar tonight at 7 PM PST – affiliate links). One thing that he strongly recommends is using online banks that offer high interest rates and great easy to use features. One of these banks is ING Direct, which is headquartered in Wilmington, DE. While you may have noticed that most banks are on a real estate binge as they try to gain customers, ING Direct is doing the opposite. They operate almost entirely “in the cloud.” Since they “believe saving money should be as simple as having a cup of coffee,” they do have cafés in New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Wilmington, Chicago, St. Cloud, and Honolulu where you can ” sip a latte, surf the Internet for free and talk to [them] about how [they] can help you Save Your Money.” And by keeping a low overhead, ING Direct is able to offer better interest rates and fewer fees, which gives them a huge advantage in winning over customers.
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If there’s ever a time to intern at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, it is now. What’s the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency? It’s a bureau of the the U.S. Department of the Treasury that was chartered in 1863 to ensure a safe and sound national banking system for all Americans. How do they do that? They have a nationwide staff that “conducts on-site reviews of national banks and provides sustained supervision of bank operations. The agency issues rules, legal interpretations, and corporate decisions concerning banking, bank investments, bank community development activities, and other aspects of bank operations.” I think that it’s pretty obvious why the OCC has become a lot busier in the past couple of years. So instead of worrying about how there will be no jobs in finance when you graduate, you should see if you can land an internship with one of the government agencies that is dealing with our banking problems head on.
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