Florida Business Forum Podcast

Unleashing Unique Financing Options with Esta Crompton, CEO of EJN Financial

• Sam Yates, Yates & Associates, Public Relations & Marketing • Season 2 • Episode 51

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Esta Crompton, CEO of EJN Financial shares some very unique and some very traditional financing options for Florida business owners with Sam Yates, Host, The Florida Business Forum Podcast.

From Harnessing the Power of Your Credit Score, Crompton's online book,  to exploring Asset Based Funding and Bridge Loans Florida's Number One Business Forum Podcast takes a dive into the dollars and sense of venturing off the mainstream when seeking ways to fund or expand your business. 

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Sam Yates, Host, Florida Business Forum, Florida's Number One Business News Podcast:

Hello everyone and welcome to another informative episode of the Florida Business Forum Podcast. Let's open the Florida Business Forum floodgates and let the information begin to flow. Here's your Florida Business Forum information guru and Anchorman Sam Yates. Hello, everyone, the information floodgates are indeed open and information is flowing. Right here on another episode of the Florida Business Forum. Now the Florida Business Forum is filling a void that has been created not just here in Florida, but all over the nation. But specific to Florida. We're taking a look at business news, and not for profit news that impacts our business communities because no one else is covering it like we are. And we're proud to be the number one business news information podcast in the state of Florida. And we do have business news for you. Today. Our special guest is Esta Crompton. She is the founder and CEO of EJN Financial and you're probably going wow, we're gonna get some financial news today. You betcha. We are. Welcome to the program, Esta.

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Thank you, Sam. It's nice to be here. I've been in lending for over 30 years, I started as a real estate investor. And then I got into lending. In 2020, when COVID happened, I realized that I had to expand in the industry due to loss of jobs and you know, career changes and just what was going on in the world. And I got into more acid based lending, asset based lending where they're looking at someone's experience, their cash flow, this is for real estate. And the credit score doesn't have to be that high. The good news is they're not looking at tax returns. Because due to COVID, a lot of people struggle, you know, with their income. I also specialize in helping businesses expand, or just help them get more working capital, whatever is going to work for them. So there's a wide range of things that I cover. It depends upon credit history, there's there's usually a program for everyone. It just depends upon the scenario.

Sam Yates, Host, Florida Business Forum, Florida's Number One Business News Podcast:

What are you seeing more of right now when it comes to people that are saying, Can you help me what what is the the biggest push that you see right now?

Esta Crompton, EJN Financial:

Granted? Um, I have someone who does credit repair, that does it pretty quickly. I see that or I can give them advice of how they could get their credit off. I see that, um, that's a big struggle.

Sam Yates, Host, Florida Business Forum, Florida's Number One Business News Podcast:

Okay. From a small business standpoint, will you serve all of Florida fair to say that?

Esta Crompton, EJN Financial:

Yes, I do serve all of Florida. Okay.

Sam Yates, Host, Florida Business Forum, Florida's Number One Business News Podcast:

For that small business person right now, who's listening? What do they need the funds board? Are we seeing anything that's trending or just overall? Why would a small business need funding right now?

Esta Crompton, EJN Financial:

Or expansion? More equipment? Maybe they need more space? I'm hiring more employees marketing. I'm just a number of things.

Sam Yates, Host, Florida Business Forum, Florida's Number One Business News Podcast:

Yep, cash flow is one that I when I talk to other business people. They seem to be sounding the blues over cash flow times are not bad, but the cash flow just doesn't match. Perhaps sometimes what they need is that always a good reason to make sure that you have a lending relationship with someone. It

Esta Crompton, EJN Financial:

is important and when you talk about cash flow, one thing I do too, is invoice factoring, where if someone's waiting on invoices to get paid, I could help them get funding for that. Whether it's a contract or waiting on an insurance company, you know, it just could be so many different things.

Sam Yates, Host, Florida Business Forum, Florida's Number One Business News Podcast:

How does that work? Um,

Esta Crompton, EJN Financial:

I would get their invoices, and I'm calculated and we could get up to 90% of their invoices. Oh, wow.

Sam Yates, Host, Florida Business Forum, Florida's Number One Business News Podcast:

Well, the thing about Florida as anyone who has gone outside and tried to make it to an appointment on time, at least in the last few weeks seasonality We have all of our winter visitors here. And that's good for those in the the restaurant and retail industry, hospitality industry. Do businesses see a huge need to match that ebb and flow of seasonality in Florida from your experience? I

Esta Crompton, EJN Financial:

see that yes, because they have to get prepared. Um, you know, whether it's a restaurant, you know, have more employees, their stores, because people are shopping from, you know, here from up north, the beaches. So, you know, you definitely need to be prepared for that. Definitely.

Sam Yates, Host, Florida Business Forum, Florida's Number One Business News Podcast:

A lot are moving to Florida. Some are right now, not just visitors, they are becoming residents? Are you seeing a lot of wealth moving into the area and perhaps starting new businesses? And if so, could you share some information on what you're seeing? I

Esta Crompton, EJN Financial:

do see a lot of new growth in Florida, you know, I'm in Vero Beach right now. And it's really booming. I am from Tampa Bay of 30 years, and a lot of people are coming from up north, because they could get a lot more here than they can for their money. You know, some people who have had restaurants before, are looking for that I'm working with someone right now looking to get a car lot. A lot of people, you know, do sell online to, and, you know, for them to be here in Florida, and to still have their online business going that that's an opportunity and to have a storefront, you know, so they could operate from that. So I see that the

Sam Yates, Host, Florida Business Forum, Florida's Number One Business News Podcast:

business climate certainly has changed post COVID. And you touched on that a little bit. Is there anything that really stands out from the business contacts that you're making that people are saying, Wow, I didn't expect this to happen? Post COVID?

Esta Crompton, EJN Financial:

Yeah, yeah. Because it was beyond their control. And the banks will look at, they just look at, you know, two years tax returns agency decline. They don't care that, you know, well, COVID happening. And, you know, so that's the good thing about me is a non asset based loan is strictly on their cash flow on their business. So I help with that.

Sam Yates, Host, Florida Business Forum, Florida's Number One Business News Podcast:

What information do you need earlier, you said you did not need necessarily the tax returns or other things, what do you need to facilitate that type of load,

Esta Crompton, EJN Financial:

I will send them an application that they could fill out, I do not pull a credit report because I don't want to have a hard inquiry. I asked them to send me a report from their favorite credit monitoring company, whether it's Experian, um, whoever their favorite company is, and I'll ask for bank statements, six months bank statements. And you know, if they're doing invoice factoring, I'll ask for the history for the past 90 days.

Sam Yates, Host, Florida Business Forum, Florida's Number One Business News Podcast:

switch gears a little bit, as we have chatted, prior to the program today, and even just a few minutes ago, one of the areas that I am connected with my clients for public relations and marketing is, of course, home builders and commercial builders. construction right now is picking back up as far as momentum. For Buyers, who may be interested in purchasing as well as those who are doing the actual construction. You have loan opportunities there. Yes,

Esta Crompton, EJN Financial:

for the builders, contractors, investors, I could do, fix and flip, fix in whole new construction, I'll go up to you know, on a fix and flip, I'll go up to 100% of the rehab 80% 85% of the sales price. As far as new construction, I'll go up to 70 to 75%, of what the house will be worth after construction. And for a builder. The only qualifications they need is to show that they build at least five houses in the past three years. And for an investor we'd like to see that they've done at least three fix and flips. I mean, if they don't have it, they could always partner with someone, you know, to add them on. There's different scenarios, different ways to do things. But I see that market. Very good right now with the fix and flips and new construction when you go to a bank, so let's save Going about me is when you go to a bank, they they're only going to loan so much. And then it has to go to the committee. And if the committee doesn't like it, you're not going to get a loan were with me is completely different. Like I don't capsule on it. Okay, well, you have to just do this one wait a year to do another one. If they want to do 234 At one time they can.

Sam Yates, Host, Florida Business Forum, Florida's Number One Business News Podcast:

That's pretty awesome. Because I know that a lot of people have their eyes on Florida right now. Are you seeing any investment groups? You mentioned Vero Beach, the Vero Beach Treasure Coast, Martin St. Lucie down through the Palm Beaches into at least the outskirts of the the Broward County area seems to be a hot place to to, for our residents and builders alike right now. Are you seeing any investment, larger investment firms coming in trying to buy up residential properties or even commercial properties in the region in this region? They

Esta Crompton, EJN Financial:

are and it's more in those areas that he talked about, just because there's so much opportunity, so much new construction. I know, here the prices are, you know, a lot less than they are, you know, in the Tampa Bay area. So people are trying to grab up grab those opportunities. I know in time Vero Beach, Port St. Lucie, Broward, I mean, it's all going to be worth a lot more money, it you know, the prices are low right now. So people lower than the West Coast, Tampa Bay, so people are grabbing that up, you know, so they could, it will be worth their investment.

Sam Yates, Host, Florida Business Forum, Florida's Number One Business News Podcast:

You know, as we're talking about all of these different opportunities that you are offering, the one thing that jumps out, I have asked you how people can get in touch with you, how can people reach out to you?

Esta Crompton, EJN Financial:

They could call me 727-481-4337. That's my direct line, they can send me an email Estella at EJ n financial.com. And that's how they can get a hold of me.

Sam Yates, Host, Florida Business Forum, Florida's Number One Business News Podcast:

When someone does reach out, how long does it take you? I would imagine you respond immediately. But how long does it take you to gather the information and allow let's say it's a buyer or an investor and to allow them to move on something that if they have to wait, it may go away? But what's your timeframe?

Esta Crompton, EJN Financial:

I if they get me when I need I will know in a day. And on a fixed template I could close in 10 days, I close one in Sanibel that was in the hurricane in 10 days. So as long as someone gets me what I need pretty quickly, and I can close quickly, so I could go as fast as they go.

Sam Yates, Host, Florida Business Forum, Florida's Number One Business News Podcast:

Is that one of the big differences between brokers and banks, and you touched upon the bank with the committee and then this step this step? But because you're acting independently, you get to do things a lot quicker? Yeah,

Esta Crompton, EJN Financial:

because I'm acting as a broker, I could go a lot quicker. I mean, I've worked. I've been a lender, I've been a broker, I'm in a lender. And I just see right now being a broker, I have more opportunities to help people because if God forbid, something went wrong, I can just go to the next one, where if you're at a bank, or a lender, you know, if something went wrong, you're done. So that's a benefit for people to

Sam Yates, Host, Florida Business Forum, Florida's Number One Business News Podcast:

Well, I don't want to get into what you charge, because that certainly is going to vary. But how cost effective is it as compared to going to a bank or an SBA? How does that compare?

Esta Crompton, EJN Financial:

It is very cost effective, you know, the race and what the point will be, depends upon, you know, the, the experience the credit score, but we're really competitive. I try to not have people go SBA unless they really had to, just because it takes a long time. And, you know, time is, you know, people don't want to wait, if you have an offer, or you really want something you want to be able to do it within a couple of weeks. And you can't do that with the SBA. But going back to the points in the fees really, really fair. You know, I look at people as a long term business, not just one deal. So I'll do what I have to do to help them

Sam Yates, Host, Florida Business Forum, Florida's Number One Business News Podcast:

it's building that relationship. I think that so many people miss these days, it's you become impersonal, you become a duck. I've seen the commercials that say well, you're a cuppa. And when you're working with someone, they're not just a number, they're a real person.

Esta Crompton, EJN Financial:

They are I mean I've been down the road of you know, the buying and selling the building and you know, I and even with the business I've sold on Amazon, you know, I know what it's like to have an online store. I know what it's like to have a storefront and they know how organisers to count on to funds, when someone tells you they can get you a loan, you know, you count on that you make, you know, arrangements for whether it's inventory, you know, you go into contract. It's just really important to have that relationship. And I don't stop at five if someone needed me, at night or on the weekend on there.

Sam Yates, Host, Florida Business Forum, Florida's Number One Business News Podcast:

That's great to know. We've covered a lot of material. And I know that our business communities are always looking for that extra edge. And EJ N, or EJ financial, EJ N, did I get that? Right? Yeah, yeah. EJ n, you know, is an alternative to some of the roadblocks. I like to call them that people run into. And one of the questions that they're gonna say, Well, are you always successful? Do you always find a way?

Esta Crompton, EJN Financial:

I do, you know, I'll know right away if I can't find a way and tell them what they need to do. You know, you don't have control over some things, you know, like an appraisal or, you know, some things are just out of your control. But, you know, you can always rework numbers and figure out a way for instance, I'm closing on one right now we're at the appraisal came in 40,000 less, and so we had him lower his construction budget, you know, from 180 to 140. You know, there's different ways of doing things so you could always, you know, guide people and help them what to do. Alright,

Sam Yates, Host, Florida Business Forum, Florida's Number One Business News Podcast:

so I want to say thank you for being on the program today is ready thing that we have not touched upon, that people should know before we wrap our program up

Esta Crompton, EJN Financial:

today. Now, we covered everything. Thank you.

Sam Yates, Host, Florida Business Forum, Florida's Number One Business News Podcast:

All right. Esta Crompton, EJN Financial. My pleasure to have you on the program. And quick question, could you come back at some point in the future if we have additional topics to cover?

Esta Crompton, EJN Financial:

I would love to. Thank you.

Sam Yates, Host, Florida Business Forum, Florida's Number One Business News Podcast:

Thank you very much. So if you need a funding source, and you're looking for a different funding source, I think we found the solution for you today. With that, I want to say thank you again esto ad for all of our audience. Have a great day everyone. The Florida Business Forum is dedicated to showcasing Florida businesses and CEOs of all sorts to promote their business or not for profit in the only business forum of its type in Florida. Thanks for tuning in. And remember, the Florida Business Forum is now accepting guest applications. Have a great day everyone and stay tuned for more business