Part of the portfolio that I inherited as a new loan officer was a series of loans to an airplane exporter in Eagle Pass on Texas’ border with Mexico. Each ninety-day loan had financed a specific crop dusting plane and had been approved by the loan committee when it was presented to them to last no longer than six months. In other words, only one renewal. Out of eight loans in the portfolio, three had been ‘rolled over’ more than twice, meaning they were part of my predecessor’s problem – and now mine. While reviewing all of the documentation I discovered that insurance certificates on two had expired, so I called the exporter to introduce myself and asked that his insurance agent se
Of course. I even fired myself a couple of times. It is my belief that being fired at least once when you didn’t deserve it and once when you did is an essential part of learning to run a fast growing company. It forces you to assess not only your work abilities but also your ability to play the politics of working and competing in a tough entrepreneurial world.
Since this is my first blog, I'll keep it simple. Recently I was certified as a mentor for SCORE, an SBA partner that specializes in mentoring and guiding small businesses. Surprise! There are around 11,000 mentors in the U.S., 128 in the Houston area alone, that come from every imaginable background and industry. We all serve as volunteers and our help and guidance is free for the asking at https://SCORE.org. Most are retired, but not all. Unless the mentor is an attorney or CPA the only thing we don't counsel clients on is legal or tax matters. But at recent SCORE meetings I have met attorneys and CPA's galore that I can refer my clients to. Many of the local mentors are bilingual (alt