“People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”

Small Business Owners of America is a full scale business development organization that specializes in assisting individuals with starting companies as well as helping them obtain funding.

Mr. Blanding has 10 years of experience directly working with entrepreneurs and business professionals in the networking and financial industries as well as the faith-based community. Mr. Blanding has assisted in funding close to $2 million in loans for small business owners across the U.S. in his role as Chief Operating Officer/Partner at Small Business Owners of America. His current role as COO at SBOOA allows him to lead this organization with his innovative leadership and high level of enthusiasm. He currently advises clients across the U.S. in the areas of lending options for business owners, providing small business development help, customer acquisition strategies, and sales strategies. He is also a public speaker in the areas of entrepreneurship, goal setting, and relationship building.

For those that don’t qualify for traditional bank financing, they have options available with faster approvals, less restrictions, and without risking personal assets. They can offer a variety of consulting services that are geared to create funding options. They can also provide a variety of products for entrepreneurs seeking investment capital as well as full scale nonprofit business development.

MO: What inspired you to launch Small Business Owners of America?

Trevion: At Small Business Owners of America we are first and foremost Small Business advocates. The inspiration came from a huge problem and overlooked need that me and my business partner James Moore saw from our many years in the small business consulting field. To be straight forward the inspiration came from the fact that it’s very difficult and sometimes impossible for small business to obtain the capital they need to grow. You have to consider that there are currently 2 million businesses in the U.S. with 25 employees or less which account for more than 40% of the jobs in the U.S. economy. This overlooked demographic is constantly getting turned down and rejected by traditional banks and lending institutions because they are judged by their personal credit score rather than by the strength of their business. When these businesses don’t get loans from banks it affects not just that business but it affects the entire economy as well as me and you. We solve that problem at Small Business Owners of America by lending capital to these businesses by way of institutional capital and private funds. By lending capital this way the business avoids lengthy 30-90 day underwriting processes, avoids putting down 20% down payments for the loans and also avoids having to put up real estate and assets as well as collateral. Personal credit score is not a factor with us.

MO: Where does your passion for small business come from?

Trevion: My passion for Small business comes from wanting to give people a chance to be successful. I was blessed early on in my life to have a mentor give me a chance and show me that I can do anything I want if I truly believe in myself and work hard. There is no greater feeling than to help a person start their dream and make it a reality. Showing genuine interest in others is vital in my business and I am passionate about giving people the best possible advice to help them save time, energy and effort. The old adage People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care is something I live by daily.

MO: Can you talk about some of your consulting services that are geared to create funding options for small businesses?

Trevion: The services geared towards helping individuals create funding options are our Business plan Development services this is vital to starting a company because many lenders or investors will want to see your plan prior to giving you money. We have one of the top business plan writers that will create this for you. We also have a Pitch Deck Development service a pitch deck is a 10-12 page visual powerpoint slide or Keynote deck which clearly articulates a business proposition. This is vital to convincing an investor that your ideal is worthy of investment we also create these for our clients. We can also help companies establish corporate business credit this will allow a company to have a solid business credit profile which will give them better rates on financing in the future and it helps the company to look more attractive to investors and lenders. We also have Private Placement Memorandum development service or (PPM) for our clients a PPM is an extremely complex document. The primary purpose of a PPM is to give the entrepreneur the opportunity to present all potential risks to the investor. The PPM protects the entrepreneur in the event that the investment goes sour.

MO: What are some of the biggest challenges you see entrepreneurs facing when it comes to funding and how can they be avoided?

Trevion: The biggest challenges that entrepreneurs face when it comes to funding is that many of them are unaware of their funding options and don’t know where to find the proper financing that they need also most businesses are not realistic in the amount of capital that they should be asking for. Entrepreneurs need to realize we live in a new age where you can no longer walk into your local bank and get a loan or line of credit very easily like you could 10 years ago, you must now seek specialty lending and alternative financing like we offer at Small Business Owners of America. Business owners must realize that you have options you just need to get online and look for them under alternative lending and secondary specialty financing. In regards to dollar amount business owners need to ask for realistic amounts of capital for the business for example if your business makes 100k a year and you are asking to borrow 350k that is not feasible for a lender to give you the money in that circumstance because you likely cannot pay it back. A rule of thumb is for a business owner to ask for 10-12% of the gross annual revenue of the business, this will open up more opportunities for financing.

MO: Can you share some of the benefits of becoming a member of Small Business Owners of America?

Trevion: Benefits of joining Small Business Owners of America is that we create what we call a S.Y.S.T.E.M for each of our members which stands for Save, Yourself, Significant, Time, Energy, Money. Members will work with our team of specialists that are extremely qualified and are passionate about helping business owners take their business to the next level by either creating the documents they need to launch the business or grow the current business or by helping them identify the best funding option for the business.

MO: What are some of the products you have available for entrepreneurs seeking investment capital?

Trevion: The products that are best suited for those seeking investment capital are the Business plan writing service, the Pitch deck development service, as well as the PPM development service. At Small Business Owners of America Our one on one coaching and consultation will also be invaluable because we can advise you on which investment options makes the most sense for your business.