Growth & Grace

Wesley Knight 0:00
This is a KU n b Studio's original program. The following program is underwritten by Crawford management group and Chris glow and does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 Jaz and Moore the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education even

Music 0:18
better than I was the last time, baby. We back and

we back and we back and we back and we back and we back. And I was the last to eat. That was the

Leaha Crawford 0:43
last time Hey, hey, hey, good morning Las Vegas. Good morning. Julian. How

Julian Rosado 0:50
you doing? I'm doing pretty good, actually. No, no. So I washed my car. Oh, the day before it rained, and then it rained, it crazy. So I wash my car feeling all good and everything, and it rains like cats and dogs. So

Leaha Crawford 1:07
then you gotta wash it again. Gotta wash it again, right, right. While she gets dirty, wash it again. I haven't washed mine. Then be disenchanted again. Well, you want to know what's so interesting, because this weather, this week has been after the rain. It's been beautiful

Julian Rosado 1:22
outside. It felt like it was sleet. It was heavy, heavy rain. I couldn't

Leaha Crawford 1:26
hear it because I was at a convention all week. So I want to say to Nava nation, we were in Vegas this weekend. It was an amazing time to see black excellence. Black excellence. You know, there were almost 1000 students here. Where was it? At ARIA all week. So it was absolutely amazing. I look forward to bringing them on, because they'll be here next year. So bringing them on and getting some hype around and getting some people just involved, because it was an amazing experience. You know, I learned a lot this week, and I'll share weeks to come all the stuff I learned, because today, we have some very special guests in the studio. So for those of you that don't know me, I've been in Vegas now for 21 years, and one of my mentors is Mrs. Jerry Merritt. Jerry gave me my first client in Vegas, and so almost, I wanna say 1817, 18 years ago, and she has taken me under her wing to help me navigate this thing we call Las Vegas. Through her I've met so many people and just being consistent and just doing the business, my business, staying in my lane, I was able to grow my business. I've been in business now for 17 years here in Vegas, and she gave me my first client. So I am honored to have bank of Nevada in the studio with us today, and so in the studio with us today, we have Keith Jackson and Lamont Fitz. Good morning, gentlemen. Good morning. Good morning. How are you?

Lamont Fitts 3:01
I'm doing well. Thank you for having us doing doing wonderful. Okay, so, I

Leaha Crawford 3:06
mean, I don't know if you guys knew that, but Jerry is, I mean, an icon, yes, in this community, the red car, the red suits, the red lipstick. You know, she is absolutely amazing. And what I love is what you see, is what you get. Yes, with her, and when we when I learned about the bank product, I'm like, you want to know what we need to we need to tell everyone. So first of all, tell me a little bit about each of you, your background. So who wants to go first?

Keith Jackson 3:36
Okay, come on. Let's go. I think I know myself. Okay, come on. Just got to Las Vegas about six years ago. Okay, being with Bank of Nevada three and a half years been an amazing journey. I've been in commercial finance just about all my life, 25 plus years, and so my mom and I work together, back each other up, have fun doing that, and we are excited about talking about small business lending. Love

Leaha Crawford 4:05
it. Love it. Okay. So

Lamont Fitts 4:07
I've been in this community a while. I moved here in, I think it was 1985 from New York City. And

Leaha Crawford 4:15
what borough queens? Okay?

Now? Who's from Queens, which, which, who's from? Is it um? Russell Simmons? Russell Simmons is from Queens, okay, I know, I know a little bit. I'm from Philly. I know a little teeny bit about queens, okay, and it's so funny because we had DJ Jazzy Jeff as one of the um DJs this past week. You know, because they do the battles, they do the battles. And, you know, we couldn't beat y'all and rapping, but we come up there. Rapping, but we come up there with the DJ. DJ Jazzy, Jeff did, he did the thing. Well,

Lamont Fitts 4:46
you know, home of the roots, you know it, come on. But I've been in this community a while, and this is kind of full circle. Full circle for me, because I started my banking career, you know, when I was attending classes here, you and. Ov, okay, I worked at a record store right across the street here, Maryland Parkway. It's, it's now, I think, a bagel shop. But you know, someone I worked with and went to school with suggested, said a local bank had a position open and and he got a position. I took the position, and that job turned into a career for me. Nice,

Leaha Crawford 5:24
nice. I love it. I love it. So it's a career small business lending. So, you know, you hear Julian, you have any No, no. Okay, good, okay, all right, small business lending, yes, the big, one of the largest, biggest challenges for small business owners, entrepreneurs, because we hear about it's money out there for us, the easiest, well, not say the easiest. The first time I ever saw it a lot of people get money was during the pandemic, yes, with those different loan packages, right? But normally, it's hard for small business owners to get loans. Yes, lines of credit. It's very challenging, but I hear bank of Nevada is doing something different, yes, yes.

Lamont Fitts 6:09
So we, we are all offering lines of credits to small businesses, and a lot of banks out there are not doing that right now for small businesses. So that's, that's the great part of working with the community bank, base bank, is that, you know, we're trying to work with community and help small business out in our community to grow and and we're based on relationship banking, you know, we we want to be face forward with the clients. We want them to have somebody that they can talk to and and discuss their their relationship with and their business with, and you're not just a number and you're and you're talking to a, you know, an online computer or anything like that. So

Leaha Crawford 6:51
you mean, when I call the bank, I get to talk to a person, okay? You mean I'm not gonna go and push some buttons and I'm gonna talk to a whole bunch of computers on top of computers

Lamont Fitts 6:59
on top. Okay, yeah, yeah. The most important part is that you get to speak to someone

Leaha Crawford 7:04
nice, nice. Now, is it a business bank, or is it I mean,

Keith Jackson 7:08
yeah, I think the operative word Lamont mentioned was the focus on relationships at Bank of Nevada, and so we offer customers a personal touch and commitment of a regional bank, plus its strength and sophisticated resources of a national bank, thanks to our $80 billion parent company, Western alliance bank. And so we're specialized in commercial business banking. Got it, but we also offer consumer products. And what we're about to talk about today, you'll get to it swiftly, is a specific bank product.

Leaha Crawford 7:46
Well, no, well, let's jump right into it. Let's not, let's not waste no more time. I want to hear about that, right? So what is the product?

Keith Jackson 7:52
It's called our streamline product. Okay, so what

Leaha Crawford 7:55
does that mean? Very popular

Keith Jackson 7:58
right now based on you can, we can provide financing up to $250,000 no annual fees, no prepayment penalties, and it's primarily score driven, so we're not asking for Financials up to that dollar amount, okay? And, and that's not to say that that won't be presented based on a customer's profile, but up front, we, we don't require financials, and that's been very appealing to the marketplace. Very

Leaha Crawford 8:36
appealing to the marketplace. Okay, so up to 250,000 give me a contact number, because the two, 250 what's the contact information? My

Keith Jackson 8:43
specific office number is 70226820481, more time, 702-268-2048,

Leaha Crawford 8:54
all right, so let's talk about the product, because it's a special product with no annual fees, no prepayment penalties. Would you would you tell someone? Well, what would you tell someone if they heard this and they were interested?

Lamont Fitts 9:08
Well, there are a couple of things that are important and required. We do require that you are in business for two years, two years, two years, two years. Okay, yeah. And the reason that's important is because anything under two years is considered a startup business. Okay, so I know a lot of people are looking for startup money, and maybe the SBA is, is that route for a startup business? We do have an SBA department, but we are, we are for more established businesses now that two years is not a long time in the business. You know, the first five years are usually the most important, and we

Leaha Crawford 9:44
are a and they fly by. So

Lamont Fitts 9:46
go ahead really quickly as

Leaha Crawford 9:48
a business owner, right? As a business owner, yes, and the most

Lamont Fitts 9:51
important part is, when you do get started and you get established, and you want to grow, you have to have access to capital. And that's what this project. Product and and us as a bank are able to provide I love

Leaha Crawford 10:03
it. I love it. So Lamont, give us your contact information as well.

Lamont Fitts 10:08
So my contact information is 702-252-6304

Leaha Crawford 10:13
Okay. One more time. 702-252-6304 Okay. So let's talk about let's go deeper with the streamline product. What do you base the dollar amount on? Like, because you said up to 250 Yeah, so I just come in, I asked for 250

Lamont Fitts 10:26
so what is really based on is, is need, okay, revenue. Okay. You know, how, how much does, how much is your revenue? How much revenue are you generating? Or, you know, the most important thing is putting you in a product that is right for you, that you're that your business is able to afford yes, that your business is able to pay back, yes, that we put you on terms that match the product and the need of that money right, and, and, and, and the reason we do that in the front end is to put you in the best place as a business, to be able to pay that loan, grow, Grow Your Business, and not put you in trouble. And that's the last thing we want to do, is we want, we want to get you in the right product for you and what you need and what your needs are for your business.

Leaha Crawford 11:09
Got it? No, I love it. I love it. And you because you want them to be successful.

Lamont Fitts 11:13
Of course, we want a long term relationship, so if we, as a bank, can help you in growing your business and getting it to where you want to be, that we've done our job and we've and we've grown a relationship with you God, and that's what we want. What

Leaha Crawford 11:28
does that application look like? What does that I mean? Is it driven by credit score? Is it the business credit score? Yeah. What is that?

Keith Jackson 11:35
Yeah, we have a loan application that's required, but then you have to also provide us with entity documentation. Okay, when you first establish your business, Articles of Organization or articles

Leaha Crawford 11:48
of incorporation. Now what? Now? What if your sole prop, sole proprietor? You don't need those? Well,

Keith Jackson 11:53
you typically sole proprietors are established at the state level as well. Okay, so you would need something

Leaha Crawford 12:01
from the state. From the state. Okay, absolutely, business license. Got it. Okay,

Keith Jackson 12:06
SOS meaning Secretary of State, right? Yeah, sole proprietor. So you just

Leaha Crawford 12:12
want some, you want some documents saying that you are in business. Absolutely, I appreciate that. No, I appreciate No. Because when you when I'm when I'm when I am talking to people, the state of Nevada is one of those interesting states because sole proprietors, there is a business license at the state level for you. Yes.

Lamont Fitts 12:31
And one of the pieces of advice I can give to any business, and one of the challenges we see of businesses, is that, you know, sometimes, as you're developing, you're growing, you go through all kinds of changes and and you may gain a partner, lose a partner, one of the most important things I can tell the business is to make sure you have that documented and that information is filed, so that when you do go to a bank for deposit accounts or any lending, they're going to require that information because you have to show a trail of ownership. And so many times, I think small business owners get into a place where they're trying to do their business and they're trying to make things work, but they're not taking care of all the things they need to take care of. So when they're ready and they need capital, they don't have anything in place or everything in place that they need to to really attack it the way they need to seem

Julian Rosado 13:27
like they struck

Leaha Crawford 13:28
a nerve. Man, they struck a nerve with me. No, it struck a nerve with me. So y'all can't see me in the studio, and if we were on a podcast, y'all can see because I'm throwing my hands in the air because I don't know how many times I preach that to business owners, the documents tell the story. Yes, the documents have to back up what you said. If the documents back up what you said, then it's an easy process. Yes. And people, well, you know, I started this LLC, but I didn't do anything. Okay, you still need to file something if, because you paid Secretary of State stay active. So you did do something. And

Keith Jackson 14:02
guess what? If I can interject, yes, the state helps you, because on an annual basis, you have to, you have to fire, you have to

Leaha Crawford 14:09
file. So you did something, something, right? And even if it wasn't what you thought the business could be, dissolve it. Yes, because that all you know, I know a lot of people that they don't dissolve. You know, I didn't do it. I just let it go. It's automatically revoked. No. Dissolve it. Yes. You know, it's a fee. Yes, small fee. Dissolve it so you can show you're handling your business. Because when you give someone tax returns and they see K ones, because most people are doing LLCs or sold props, they'll see a k1 they'll see a, yeah, k1, schedule, C, and I know the first question I get asked, Well, what happened to this business? And I'm like, Y'all know you need to document it. Gotta document it. Yes, the document tells the story. Okay, so which

Lamont Fitts 14:53
credit score are you looking at? What we want, we don't want to give a credit score.

Leaha Crawford 14:57
No, no, no, no. I know. I. Didn't ask for number. Are you looking for the personal or the business?

Lamont Fitts 15:03
Okay? So there are two scores. When it comes to the streamline, there is a business score, okay? That's generated by Experian, okay. And then we are looking for a FICO score of any 20% or more owner of the business, okay, so it's important to have your business in in in order, but also, as a business owner, it's important to have your personal financials in order to because you're you're you are looking you're coming to a bank and asking for money, and you're asking him to lend you some money, and and have faith in you that that you're going to repay that debt, and, and one of the key parts of that is to show that you can handle your personal finances along with your business finances. So that's why we look at that. And we want any owner to have skin in the game. So that's why we look at both the business score and the personal FICO score of any 20% or more owner of the business. I

Leaha Crawford 15:59
love it. So you're listening to growth and grace. I am Leah Crawford, this is Julian Rosato, and today we are talking about small business lending, and we're really getting into the weeds and talking about a product. The Bank of Nevada is offering a streamlined product that removes that basically helps business owners. It's a streamlined product,

Lamont Fitts 16:19
yeah. And it's a quick way, a quicker way, I should say, of getting an answer for an approval of a loan. You know, if we have everything we need, if you provide us all the the application and formation documentation that we request when we when you're applying for this loan. We can get you an answer within a week, but it's important the most within a

Leaha Crawford 16:49
week. So Monday morning, if I come in and I do this by the next Monday morning, I should have an answer. You should have an answer. Okay, all right, so let's talk about a product mix. So I see that, you know, we what is the product next?

Keith Jackson 17:01
I can answer that. Okay, come on. So with this particular product, under the streamline umbrella, we can do lines of credit. We can share and explain in each one of them, term loans. We can in terms of providing such products a line of credit. That's why we're educational based. We take it upon ourselves to get in front of small business owners, because there is, as you know, having been doing this for 20 plus years, there at times, there's a fear that comes up over business owners in terms of talking about their finances and how they get access to capital, and so we try to diminish that fear by providing as much education in the process to get them to a point where they're comfortable enough talking about their business where We can meet the needs of each of those business owners. And so in doing so, when we break down that barrier, then we start talking about product mix and their profile and how we can match their current business life cycle with a product that suits that need at that particular time, and so it's important for us to engage with them on their specific needs.

Leaha Crawford 18:27
Got it. So let's talk about those different products, though, what types of products are there? Well,

Lamont Fitts 18:32
they're term loans, lines of credit. We offer credit cards, overdraft protection for your checking account. And it's just, it's really based on your need and what you need the funds for. So you know most people you if you're a business owner, and you have friends that other business owner, and they tell you, Well, I have a line of credit for my business. And you think, well, I need a line of credit for my business. And you may, but maybe your need is more better structured than a term loan, because you're buying equipment for your business. Got it. And you necessarily don't want to use a line of credit to buy equipment. Okay? You want to be able to pay that off over time. And and your accountants know it's, it's about the, you know, matching that depreciation cycle too.

Keith Jackson 19:16
Got it. Overdraft protection, pretty self explanatory. No, no.

Leaha Crawford 19:20
Explain it because. And the reason why is I learned a long time ago. We can't assume that everybody understands

Keith Jackson 19:26
absolutely, yeah, I learned our way.

Leaha Crawford 19:31
Yeah, he learned

Keith Jackson 19:32
I was going into that. So when your checking account becomes overdrawn, life happens. Life happens and and so it enters into a negative balance. This overdraft protection sweeps over and covers that negative balance so that you're not incurring fees, additional fees in your checking account. And so that's one of the products credit cards Lamont mentioned. Daily expenses you may be traveling is a great example. On behalf of the business, that credit card helps out with travel expenses and related costs. Lines of Credit, I'll point out this Lamont was mentioned in term loan versus not needing a line of credit. That line of credit a great example would be a manufacturer who's selling a product, makes a sale, but has to pay overhead for that particular month and won't collect on the sale that they made for another 30 days, 45 days or more, right? So that line of credit is gap funding. It's, it's a cushion for you to lean into it pay for overhead, expenses, payroll, whatever it might be, until you're paid.

Leaha Crawford 20:51
And what I Well, let's circle back, full circle. Moment you talked about this being a relationship bank, yes, so as a business owner, I have to be transparent, yes, about what's going on, yes, so that you can give me the right mix Yes, or tell me what the right mix for me is. Let

Lamont Fitts 21:08
me give you an example of that. Let's take it. You know, sometimes I'll get a business and it's a restaurant and and they come in and they won the line of credit. Well, my question is to them is, well, how is your business? How is the the your business, going to repay that loan? Okay, where it may make sense for you to get a term loan, if you need to buy some equipment in your kitchen, or you need to buy some new furniture for your restaurant, that may be better suited for a term loan. But if you're a caterer, and you get a job, and you have to buy your supplies, you have to hire your personnel, you have to prepare for that, and then you get paid at the end. Well, you need some, you need somewhere to pull those resources so, and it's not out of your your your cash right now, and you can advance those funds, and then when you get paid, you pay back that loan, or you pay back that advance on that line of credit, and that profit, and the rest of that goes to your profit. Got

Leaha Crawford 22:12
it so again, I need to be transparent as a business owner and talk about what my needs are, so that we can discuss what the proper mix is for my business,

Lamont Fitts 22:24
yes, and we ask that you trust that we are going to help you get you in the right product. All

Leaha Crawford 22:28
right. So then we got two phone numbers here, so we're going to go through them once again. So Mr. Jackson, can you share your number?

Keith Jackson 22:33
Absolutely, 70226820481 more time, 702268204, 02268204

Leaha Crawford 22:43
okay. And Mister Jack, I mean mister Fitz, it's 70225263041,

Lamont Fitts 22:51
more time, 702-252-6304,

Leaha Crawford 22:56
all right, let me ask you this, though, what's the common misunderstanding that you find that business owners have about bank products, what is our misunderstanding? Both of you can answer it, because

Lamont Fitts 23:11
I the repayment process sometimes is misunderstood. And like I said, especially with lines of credit, how I should as a business, repay that?

Julian Rosado 23:20
Yeah, yeah. The same issue, yeah? Because what

Lamont Fitts 23:24
will happen is you, you'll keep advancing it, and you'll keep advancing it. It's like a credit card.

Leaha Crawford 23:28
You got to pay him back. Lord, got to pay him back. And as

Lamont Fitts 23:31
and on the line of credit, if you're paying interest only each month,

Julian Rosado 23:35
yeah, I didn't realize I was just paying the interest. Yeah, you

Lamont Fitts 23:40
just pay the interest each month without without repaying the principal. And that's on you. That's on you as a business owner. Decide when is the best time to pay down that principle. But you want to put yourself in the best position to succeed, and if you need that line of credit later for another job or another instance where you need those funds, you want to make sure it's available for you? Yeah, so building

Leaha Crawford 24:02
good habits? Great.

Keith Jackson 24:04
Yes, absolutely. I said I would get to it too. Come on, remember the discussion we had earlier about finances? Yes, financial package, us not requiring such, okay, if, in fact, we, you know, pull credit business when we do business personal credit, there might be something in the profile that require us to request financials. Something may come up there where we need to review their financials. So it's not just absolute where every deal where you're not going to be required to provide financials, there's, there's, there's some situations exceptions where we will ask for that, okay, when the need comes up, okay,

Leaha Crawford 24:53
all right, so with your application, well, I'm big on this. If a business has a loss. Have has had a loss in the past three years. Would you deter them from applying no

Lamont Fitts 25:05
no and let me say this, we are talking a lot about this streamlined product, which goes up to 250,000 but as a department that Keith and I work in, we we can lend up to a million dollars for any business or any relationship. So if you, if you need more than that, it's important to have your financials ready. And let's say you, you have a business and now you want to buy a building, we can help you with that, also for your business. So we're here for you now.

Leaha Crawford 25:40
Can you have multiple loans with the bank? Yes, yes, that was quick answer. Okay, I

Julian Rosado 25:46
love it. I love that quick answer. Yes. I said, the more the better.

Leaha Crawford 25:53
All right, if someone is listening and interested again, let's share the contact information again. So Keith, we will start off with you, and then Lamont will go to your number. So Keith, 70226820481

Keith Jackson 26:07
more time, 702-268-2048

Lamont Fitts 26:11
and Lamont. So Lamont fits in. 70225263041 more time, 702-252-6304

Leaha Crawford 26:21
Okay, so we are almost out of time. Are there any I know we didn't, we didn't, we didn't even go get I told you got to come back. Yes, because 30 minutes goes by quickly. Any closing statements? Any anything you want to leave for our listeners?

Julian Rosado 26:36
Yeah, I just have a question. When you guys, before you guys approve a loan. Do you guys look into the business and see if it is even valid, or if it or if it, even if the ideas can even work?

Lamont Fitts 26:52
One of the things I love doing is going to meet a business owner at their business and and in that way, first of all, how many banks are coming to your business to talk to you? And I love the fact that I get to learn about your business. I get to get a business owner to to talk to me about their business, and I love to hear their passion for what they're trying to do. So one of the best things for me is to be able to sit down with you and let's discuss your needs. Let's discuss what you're what you're looking to do, and let me see if I can help you get there. Okay,

Keith Jackson 27:25
Julian, great question. And here's what I'll tell you, in doing this for so long, what we know is businesses love talking about their business. Yes, I do. Owners love talking about their business, and so we would just love to meet the small business owners out there and get to know their business, and we know that they'll share abundantly.

Leaha Crawford 27:50
All right. Well, thank you again for accepting my invitation to come on the show. I look forward to having this conversation again in a couple of months, we do too, all right? And this is a continual conversation of what the banks offering and the different products, and maybe even some, maybe we'll even get Miss Mayor to come on and talk about some best practices. Yeah, as a small business owners, just from some things that you guys have seen over the years. Yeah, with working with small business owners and entrepreneurs,

Lamont Fitts 28:20
and I love what you guys are doing, because it's so important to the community. It is so important that we educate these young business owners, because we need them to grow. We need them to succeed. Yes, we do power in that. So thank you for having us, and thank you for what you guys are doing.

Keith Jackson 28:36
Oh, thank you so much. Enjoyed it. Oh, thank

Leaha Crawford 28:39
you all right. So as always, this is the end of our show. Julian, you have anything you want to add? No,

Julian Rosado 28:44
just the expansion of the Raiders facility. It's,

Leaha Crawford 28:50
it's just, let's just say the expansion of the facility. Yeah, almost out of town. Yeah,

Julian Rosado 28:55
they're expanding the practice facility. Yeah, spend their practice facility. Oh,

Leaha Crawford 29:00
nice. That's good to know. That's good to know. All right, so remember, guys, you've been listening to growth and grace. Growth is what happens naturally. Grace is what you give yourself until next time, until next time. I am Leah Crawford, this is Julian Rosetta. You have a blessed and prosperous weekend. Bye. You.