“I could tolerate any insurance seminar. For days, I would sit there and listen to them go on and on with a big smile on my face. They’d say, ‘How can you stand it?’ I’d say, ‘Because I’ve been with Del Griffith, I can take anything.’ They’d say, ‘The Shower Curtain Ring Guy?… whoa!’”—Steve Martin, ‘Planes, Trains and Automobiles’
Those famous lines from classic 1987 comedy are enough for this publisher to remember to “keep things interesting” when topics of insurance and investments are covered in NorthBay biz magazine. Of course, our job is to educate and inform our readers, but “whoa!,” it better be entertaining! We like to think that it ought to feel personal to the reader as well.
We’re focused on “money, investments and insurance” in this edition, crafted in such a way to be as personal to our reader as it is to the folks covered in each story. How does one invest new-found money? We’re covering that. How can a small loan change the arc of one’s business career? We’re covering that. How could becoming a franchisee liberate you yet shackle you at the same time? We cover this one, too, and in such a way as to make sure that it’s informative, entertaining and personal.
So, what if there’s a meaningful inheritance or insurance settlement coming your way? We can’t quite suggest how to spend it, but we certainly want you to know your options on how to invest it. Windfalls such as these, especially in communities like ours that have overcome fires, floods and earthquakes, are more common each year. While these circumstances, especially ones that might include the death of a loved one, are most tragic, the windfall itself is both important and (kinda) fantastic!
If you’re a startup guru, or plan on becoming one, a “microloan” might be your pathway to success. These community loan programs fund small business ventures like the ones that have been circling that imaginative brain of yours for years. We cast a spotlight on budding North Bay entrepreneurs who need those final dollars to bring an idea to life.
Thankfully, there are local nonprofits, credit unions and other outlets that believe our community benefits from the first-time successes of budding mini moguls and know how to make money themselves. Juan Hernandez, CEO of Creser Capital Fund, is one of those. Structured as a nonprofit Community Development Finance Institution, or CDFI, Hernandez tacks on 200-plus basis points and a processing fee to the cost of each loan his firm makes for borrowers with $5,000 to $50,000 capital needs. These loans are often accepted by Creser under terms that a traditional bank would rarely allow: zero collateral from the borrower. My little brain doesn’t quite know how this all makes long-term financial success, but I’m guessing it has something to do with taxpayer monies being a part of the risk profile for these CDFIs. Nonetheless, successes do abound for both Hernandez and his client base, especially for Octavio Diaz of Mitote Food Park in Santa Rosa’s mostly Hispanic Roseland area. The two met at a 13-week workshop overseen by Stanford University. When Diaz’s idea for his unique food park was created, Hernandez and Creser were there to fund it.
One gateway to success for entrepreneurs is through the franchise universe, a collection of consumer-specific opportunities we see in each episode of Shark Tank. The Big Boys of franchising, McDonald’s, Chick-Fil-A and Subway get much of the media’s attention—yet there are, literally, thousands of franchise opportunities requiring less upfront capital and, yes, less upfront experience. National franchiser Nothing Bundt Cakes has built its success by partnering with enthusiastic franchisees such as Sonoma County’s Waverly Newton-Kenny. Her mother Jan had become intrigued by the concept years earlier and eventually launched three Bundt Cake locations in her home state of Arizona, before the two partnered to open the popular location at Santa Rosa’s Coddingtown Center in 2021. What a success story, and theirs is but one of several we share in this issue.
So, while I wouldn’t quite agree that a shower-curtain-ring franchise is something for either an entrepreneur or financial institution to pursue, I do believe that it will be from a host of smaller, less capital-intensive ideas that many of tomorrow’s most impressive new businesses will rise. Why not be one of them? And while you’re at it, why not pitch to be an investor in your new idea?
Reach me at Lawrence@Northbaybiz.com.
