I own a funeral home.
I also own a tech company.
Seems natural, right?
And to make matters more absurd, twelve years ago I was an aspiring screenwriter in Los Angeles. I had an agent and a manager and I had written many spec (speculation) scripts; three of which went out for sale and none of which sold. I had been “aspiring” for ten years. I was a married and my wife worked very hard as a PR executive, fully supporting us on her salary.
Then, we had a son.
I will say there is nothing more sobering and/or life affirming than a baby looking up into your eyes and connecting on some deeper level:
“Daddy, are you gonna be a loser your whole life?”
“Daddy, what does line 22 of your IRS form 1040 say? It seems kinda… small.”
It was all the motivation I needed.
My wife and I made the decision to stay near her family on the West Coast and find a regular job. A friend of the family was a mortician and told me it was a great business. We luckily found a funeral home with some “hair” on it, turned it around, and I had a solid vocation.
Then, the babies kept coming.
So, I kept expanding, buying other funeral homes and starting others. Each time I expanded, or bought new equipment, I had to do the same thing: gather three years personal tax returns, three years business tax returns, fill out a Personal Financial Statement (PFS) and take it to as many banks as I could so I could obtain the best terms: the mortgage rate, number of years to pay back the loan, the down payment required, and how much the bank wanted to “close” the loan, or closing costs. Then I would decide on the bank I would work with not based on anything more than who offered me the best terms.
This was a simple business decision and I said to myself, “This will be my largest bill every month for the longest time; let’s go get the best (cheapest) rate possible to secure the long term success of my business.”
I was lucky; I had excellent credit and a solid business.
I did this seven times in a nine year period; each time doing the same thing: gather three years tax returns…
Then, at lunch one day, I told a friend of what I went through each time I went to get a business loan. He said, “There has got to be an easier way, I’ll find you a site on the Internet and call you tomorrow.”
He called me the next day and said, “Get to my office!”
He said, “It doesn't exist, but give me forty-eight hours.”
And in forty-eight hours Magilla was born.
Now we have spent many arduous months since then, but this is how a funeral home owner, nay an aspiring screenwriter, and a land developer became tech company owners…
We couldn’t find it, so we built it. We built an easier way.
www.magillaloans.com - Anonymously applying for business loans, having multiple banks compete for your business, all in one spot. For free.
