Small Business Awards…

Secret to Success: Surround yourself with brilliant people…

For the third time in my career, I’ve been honored as the SBA Financial Services Champion of the Year (2006, 2010, and now 2013), and this kind of recognition never gets old. Of course it feels good to win awards and to get the attention that goes along with it, but it also gives me a chance to brag on the people I work with — the people who make up the Mercantile Family, as we like to call it. These people work terribly hard, and I’m terribly proud of the blood, sweat, and tears they’ve all poured into this wonderful company.

504 refinancing gets new life…

The CREED Act will reinstate the SBA 504 refinance program…and it needs our support.

Since the beginning of the year, I’ve been saying that we’re going to see a decrease in small business loans this year, likely in the 20 to 30 percent range. The primary reason for my gloomy outlook is that both the SBA 504 Refinance and FMLP programs expired last September. It turns out, however, there’s a Senate bill that will again make it possible for small business owners to refinance their commercial real estate with