Description:
In this episode I am joined by Bob Hunter. Bob is the founder of Oxford Pierpont and MyBusinessCredit .com. Oxford Pierpont is designed for larger corporations and My Business Credit for smaller businesses needing funding under a million dollars.
The conversation starts things off by talking about his background and journey. Bob was diagnosed with Sickle Cell Disease which took his right eye vision and his left ear hearing. This forced him out of a job he loved and lead him to starting his own companies. This story quickly transforms into a story of recovery and inspiration. His strength of character and perseverance are unquestionable.
From there we talk about his passion. Selling money! He helps businesses, big and small, get funding and financing. We talk about how to get funding, how to improve ‘business credit’ (the differences with business credit and personal) and how to approach it all. His expertise is helping businesses do the right things to improve their credit and get the funding they need. GREAT conversion.. one of those I personally didn’t want to end. Enjoy!
Bob Hunter
In 2015, Bob became the Director of Operations Development at LMI Solutions. Heading the creation of amazing business development solutions for companies that varied wildly from building ERP software for the company, to establishing entire departments, all in the name of growth.
Unfortunately, Bob was diagnosed with Sickle Cell Disease – a serious and disabling blood disorder – which took his right eye vision and his left ear hearing. After losing his job and struggling to learn how to read again with his remaining eye for 6 months, Bob founded the entity known as Oxford Pierpont.
For over half a decade now, He has worked to provide incredibly polished and efficient business development services to small business owners and multi-national corporations alike.
THE MEAT OF IT!
- Intro
- His story and background.
- Building departments every 90 days.. doing well.
- But has sickle cell anemia .. and it caught up with him.
- Blind in one eye .. and deaf in one of his ears.
- Caused by strokes.
- Lost his job over that.
- Was heavily invested in that job.. wasn’t sure what to do next.
- Unemployment wasn’t going to cut it.. needed more money.
- Started first major company – Oxford Pierpont, business consulting.
- Pandemic hit ..
- Doing a lot of consulting and marketing .. unfortunately these are the first to go with companies.
- How do we survive pandemic?
- Law and mortgage/banking .. was their biggest clients.
- Why don’t we sell money?
- That’s how got into the business financing thing .. in 2020
- Corporate brand at Oxford Pierpont..
- Created MyBusinessCredit .com for smaller businesses and needs .. less corporate branding.
- Helping people get pre-qualified ..
- Satisfying the basics.
- Help figuring out ‘why you cannot get financing'..
- Circling back ..
- About Sickle Cell
- His leg up was his experience from his job.. what he helped build, translated.
- Build a business around a skillset you already have.
- The people that go after random things .. I know nothing about it, but I’ll try anyway.
- Learning by ‘doing’ .. he breaks something on purpose at least once a week.
- Experience builds up ..
- His 2nd podcast today ..
- The 100 rule.
- Doing things a 100 times .. benefits.
- Taking his own advice.
- Used to being behind the scenes ..
- What’s the worst things that can happen if you fail?
- Learning the importance of building at team
- Was on an island at his job..
- Kept starting over .. clicking buttons were difficult.
- Would give someone a promotion and move on to the next thing.
- Brought the bad habits with him when he started his business ..
- When he tried to sell the business he learned he couldn’t be wearing all the hats.
- No one will buy your company if you need 14 people to replace you.
- Context of time.
- Exchanging money to buy other people’s time.
- The fun of starting something .. but once it’s going, losing motivation or not wanting to wear other hats you need to be wearing.
- What did it look like when the pandemic hit and they hat to pivot.
- Took to about June to realize .. took a few months; wasn’t temporary.
- Common sense kicked in → people saying MONEY is the issue then let’s sell money.
- Why did he go after the small business market with the new website/brand?
- People that don’t know ‘how’ .. big gap of information.
- You have a great idea.. the bank cares about how your business is organized and structured.
- Smaller businesses don’t have people in-house or advisors to guide them.
- Funding a business .. being allergic to debt.
- The fear of debt .. the mental barrier.
- Personal debt vs business debt.
- What pays the debt ..
- Business loans are buying ‘assets’ ..
- Building business credit.
- Having a track record.
- Prepared to get money w/out putting yourself at personal risk.
- How do you get business credit?
- The fun part! Not as hard as you might think..
- Business gas card.
- Uline – vendor account
- In general, think about all the things you spend money on.. could I have gotten a line of credit or card?
- Cash .. Certificate of Deposits.
- Line of credit secured by CD.
- All can be done by brand new people.
- The fun part! Not as hard as you might think..
- Leveraging paying expenses to build credit?
- If possible, put on biz CC. Pay one time.
- When to use checking account – payroll.
- Anything you are spending money on.
- If we give you money – will you give it back? The history.
- How long does it take to build credit?
- Lowering the risk of default.
- Bad credit management habits.
- The avenues to get funding?
- Banks ask less questions.. vs an investor.
- The datapoints they measure.
- Having money that isn’t touched.
- Bank rating – average daily balance. 10k not touched.
- Unstable businesses..
- When you get a loan/debt.. do you pay it?
- Profit First – Matt’s example .. Profit accounts.
- Money should always be working.
- When do you look for a venture capitalist ..?
- Work with someone with the network ..
- Go have a steak or go golfing ..
- Convincing an investor – you deserve it
- Same fundamental questions as the bank.
- Buying more into the IDEA behind the numbers.
- VC firms .. wouldn’t go there for less than a million.
- You don’t have to feel bad about funding!
- How do you spend that money? (more when he’s on again..)
- Every dollar should bring back at least a dollar.
Check out these related Episodes:
- Episode 91: Ozan Bilgen – His Story, Solving a Big Problem with His A.I/Machine Learning Solution, The Future of A.I!
- Episode 90: Michelle Nedelec – Her Story, Partner with Others to Take Care of the Tech, Automation
- Episode 88: Nicky Billou – Serve Don’t Sell, Dial in Your Message, Own Your Value, Invest in Yourself
