$35,000 For Your Business?

By Joel Block

The banks got billions of TARP (Troubled Asset Recovery Program) dollars over the past 9 months. And now, the Small Business Administration has announced that TARP dollars will start flowing through to small businesses across the country.

Each small business that has suffered "Economic Injury due to the Recession" is eligible for this "disaster relief" just by filling out a few simple forms at the local bank. $35,000 is waiting for your business if it made money in one of the last two years and if you have bills piled up this year due to the slowdown.

Sounds great. Entrepreneurs are finally going to share the wealth and get some interest free government assistance.

Now stop reading and run to the bank because the program ends when the allotted funds run out or September 2010, whichever comes first. Be sure to come back and finish reading after you visit your bank.

Welcome back. Did you get the money? I didn't think so. The banks don't want to make these $35,000 loans. Why not? First, $35,000 is a small number for a bank. Second, the bank is not allowed to charge fees or points for making the loans. (Caution: some con artists are already on the internet illegally charging processing fees to help you prepare your loan documents.)

Bank of America, the bank that was highest on the list of recipients of TARP dollars, has announced that they will not make ARC (America's Recovery Capital) Loans to small businesses. Many other banks have also declined customers who need this money.

Business owners need to storm into their local banks and demand that these banks accept their application for an ARC loan. Read about it on the SBA website: http://tinyurl.com/mw7l4c.

Tell your banker to call my firm if they don't know about these loans or if they don't know how to process them. In our effort to continue to advocate for entrepreneurs, we have set up a Banking Services Division that is well staffed and ably prepared to process the ARC loans for the banks. Several banks are preparing to become customers of ours at this time.

I want you to get one of these loans if you need it. I just hope that a TARP recipient will help you to make it happen. Now go out and make it happen.

If you have an opinion or thought on this topic, please write a comment by entering your thoughts in the form below. Let us know what you think and if my thoughts resonate with yours. Our readers enjoy reading what others think. Send a link to this blog to one or more of your friends and get them to become one of our subscribers. This will help us to expand our circle of influence and allow us to share this and other great material with your friends.

Thank you for being one of our loyal readers. We appreciate you and we are rooting for your success.

About Joel G. Block

Often dubbed a "Growth Architect" by his clients, Joel Block advises companies on explosive growth strategies by driving revenue and sales. Well known in the capital markets, Joel is a successful entrepreneur, speaker, advisor and faculty member of the iLearningGlobal community. To bring Joel into your company, please visit http://www.joelblock.com or http://www.growth-logic.com. Also, be sure to check out our newest project: a blog to organize the blogs that cover entrepreneurship - http://www.entrepreneur-hub.com. And finally, for film makers: http://www.filmfundingblog.com - our newest project.

   _   _