Expand Seasonal Family Business with off season production
| Listing Information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Amount: | $15,000.00 | Status: | Loan created |
| Grade: | AA | DTI: | 17% |
| Lender Rate: | 10% | Borrower: | g3machine |
| Finished | State: | WA | |
| Funded: | 100% | Group: | (No Group) |
| Loan Information | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loan Status: | Paid | Origination Date: | 2007-05-25 | EricsCC ROI: | 9% |
| Status History | |
|---|---|
| May 25, 2007 | Current |
| Oct 16, 2008 | Payoff in progress |
| Oct 22, 2008 | Paid |
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It has come time for the next generation to take up the reins of the family business. My Grandfather started a boat repair business in the 1960?s and as a sideline he made a few personal boat docks. My Father took the dock design and customer base and improved on it and began a full time business with it in the 1980?s. This business has since increased sales volume continuously. It suffered a slow down following the fall of 2001, but is still surviving. I have grown up around it and began seriously working there as early as 12. I learned to weld at 16 and was the main production welder and special projects welder from 18 to 20. Right after High School I attended college for Machining and Manufacturing Technology, and Small Business Management. I was successfully able to compress seven semesters of classes (two degrees plus some classes of additional interest) into five semesters and graduated with two Associates Degrees in December 2004. I then set out to gain some personal experience away from the family business in Michigan and moved out to Washington. In early January I was working as a CNC machinist in Seattle. In my first (and lowest paying) job I recovered my total college expenses in six months. I changed companies twice to move up in duties, environment, and pay (by 39%). I have worked at my current employer for 18 months and everyone around me including my boss is disappointed to see me go. In my time in Seattle I have saved up a personal cushion for moving back and taking over. But beyond that the business has hit a critical tipping point a bit earlier than I expected. It has come time to restructure the business from an expanded full-time hobby to a professional business entity. I am currently in Seattle and scheduled to move back right as the main season winds down. The largest change that makes the difference is our production schedule. Currently we produce when we receive orders, this worked well when our volume and employees were lower. Now we cannot keep up the just-in-time model and meet our seasonal spike. The best solution considering all the factors is to extend the production season based on a percentage of the expected volume. I expected a couple more years before this happened but the last couple of years have seen unexpected growth in our diversification. This is the critical year to have the resources to extend our production beyond our season. I am doing this as a personal loan because the business is already extended in the diversification investment, but now needs extended operating expenses creating a time lag that this loan will bridge. I would normally prefer to do things through a bank, but a bank only crunches numbers and cannot consider things that are not on their spreadsheet. I sought a personal loan but they would not back a loan with the short length of my credit history. They were extremely impressed with my credit rating, but without more time behind it they couldn?t do anything for me. So I come to my Angel Investors. Those who can look at more than credit history. Those who can look at personal history, and know a good bet when they hear it. My deepest gratitude to all you bidders. My most sincere thanks to Prosper for making such an opportunity available. KJ |
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