Welcome to the six figure business mastery podcast, where every week Kirsten and

Jeannie dive into the essential topics to fuel your business growth, from

copywriting to course creation, mindset to video marketing, they've got you covered.

Tune in for expert guest interviews on all things marketing and

business and learn how to work on your business, not just in it.

So get ready to unlock your business potential and take it to the next level.

Welcome everyone to our newest episode.

We are thrilled that you decided to join us today and we are

thrilled to have a special guest.

Her name is Cheryl Piceu.

Her company is David Allen Capital, and she has a very rich and interesting

history as to how she ended up there.

So welcome Cheryl.

We're excited to talk to you today.

I'm happy to be here.

Thank you.

So Cheryl, I am so excited.

You're here in Florida with me.

We met out networking.

So I know that you have a very interesting story.

About becoming an entrepreneur at the age of 13.

So why don't we start there?

Tell people a little bit about you and why you're so

passionate about business owners.

Absolutely.

Yes.

I was a little country bumpkin and I belong to 4 H and I think a lot of

people know what 4 H is and I wasn't in the animals and that, but I was

in knitting and cake decorating.

My mom was a former cake decorator.

I just took up cake decorating and I absolutely loved it.

And I won.

Grand champion at the fair and with it a huge gift certificate

for the Wilton keg store.

And I bought absolutely everything wedding.

I had fountains.

I had everything I needed way back then.

I had a very successful business and by the age of 16, I had enough

money to pay cash for a used Camaro.

That was a big thing for me, but yeah, I spent my childhood, uh, you know,

decorating cakes, which was disastrous.

I also taught the other 4 H kids and it was an absolute disaster,

but that's how I started.

So I've always been an entrepreneur.

I love

that.

And I think it's so interesting.

Like how cool were you to have the Camaro at 16, right?

To buy that car with your own money, knowing that you had

successfully built a business.

And I'm sure all the brides loved your cakes and that gave you

so much personal gratification.

So how did all that feel for you?

It was amazing.

It was proof back then that we can set our minds to anything and become a success

story because it really isn't easy.

Entrepreneurs, we are a different kind of people.

We just

are.

Jeannie and I laugh.

I used to collect shoes.

I used to be that person that had 250 pairs of shoes.

Now we collect domain names.

So it's crazy.

We've got lots of businesses and started lots of businesses over the years.

And I know that's your story too, but because of the hurricane, you

did something interesting while we were all kind of tucked in the

house with this last hurricane.

Tell everybody what you did and how that made you feel.

I used to hide the fact that I really have dabbled in everything.

I was a legal secretary and I sat in offices where I took a hundred page

brief and yes, I could decipher it.

I sold new medical technology and I actually was part of Henry Ford

Hospital Detroit when they started the robotic surgery program.

And I was in everybody's operating room meeting and educating

patients and learned about that.

And then I moved on to regional sales manager for a big food company.

Detroit and Chicago market.

And there I was doing that.

And I thought, wow, Cheryl, it doesn't look good that

you are doing all this stuff.

And then I was set free.

I was set free when I look, I saw one of the famous astrologer, she

had a look at your birth chart.

And I I'm telling you, I am just a totally different person now.

So it said a restless quest for knowledge and experience

may mean you change careers.

You collect professions like others, hoard designer shoes.

Oh yes, I do.

Definitely one of our people, right?

Absolutely.

Well, let's talk a little bit about what you're doing now.

I know you ended up caring for your mom and that kind of led you to this

new career of helping business owners get the funding that they need to

build the businesses of their dream.

So tell us a little bit about your journey into helping business owners

with capital.

I've always known a lot of people who owned small businesses.

When I was in Michigan, taking care of my mother, she has her angel wings now.

So I'm actually grateful that I spent the time with her,

but there was a silver lining.

So I begged her not to go back to Michigan.

And she did.

I was in Chicago at the time when she moved, she had a stroke.

So I was in rural Michigan, helping her for four years, but I found.

David Allen Capital there.

I wasn't able to do anything full time, but I found David Allen Capital.

And when I met the founder, I knew him from other people that

have accomplished amazing things.

And I thought, wow, this is amazing.

So David Allen Capital has been around since 2015 and I joined in 2018.

It's nice to help businesses.

Not only save money, but access capital when the banks

and the SBA cannot help them.

That is the number one reason why small businesses go out of

business is lack of working capital.

I think it's so amazing because when you were in rural Michigan with

your mom, you still had a lot of friends that owned businesses too.

So that's how you saw the need and started looking for a solution to help them.

Is that correct?

That's absolutely correct.

I think when you've been a business owner, you see the problems that

other business owners have because you've been there yourself.

So tell us a little bit about some of the businesses that you've worked

with to help them gain the capital that they needed and how that

helped them grow their businesses.

I've helped business consolidate.

They had other fundings out there and they wanted to purchase another location.

I helped with that.

And then another, like a restaurant opener in this space, the money is more

costly than money from a traditional bank.

And we do represent all of the top providers out there.

So we do get the best deals, but still some of the money can be pricey.

Cause you never know what is in somebody's financial records to help,

we can never prejudge a business.

There was a business in Michigan that wanted to add a patio and the

money was ridiculously expensive, but you never do not present an offer

because you just never know it was presented and she's like, absolutely.

I'll do this.

Yeah.

And it increased sales so much by having that patio open.

It was paid off.

It's amazing.

And so that's what we do.

It is interesting because if you can't get an SBA loan or a loan through a

bank, then the interest rates are higher than a normal loan for a business owner.

Sometimes you do have to pay to play.

And if you have the ability to know, You said that patio, if that patio is going

to increase revenue exponentially, she has a good profit margin on her restaurant,

then she can definitely pay that loan off.

And I think that's just about understanding how the investment that

you're making into your business, what is the return on investment going to be?

Sometimes you do have to pay a bit of a higher interest rate in order

to get the money that you need.

And I think that, you know, Jeannie and I both living debt free is the dream, right?

Debt free and not having debt is so important to us.

But at the same time, sometimes you do need capital to get your

business to the next level.

Or you may need to borrow money to buy a house or a car.

You can't always pay cash for things.

And so I do feel like business owners should always accept that.

the option of capital, and then make the decision if it's the right move.

And it really does depend on, like you said, even if it's a higher rate,

what is the return on investment?

In some cases, it's a hard no, but in other cases, it's the best way to go.

So I love that

story.

That's what we are in the business of doing.

And we passed a major milestone, a half a billion in funding, and

the average funding amount was 5.

40, 000, small amounts like that can help a business hire another

employee or purchase a marketing company to help them as well.

So

do you help clients figure out how much money they need for their expansion?

Or is that something they do and then come to you and say, I need this much?

This is how this space is different.

The alternative capital space is different.

It's based on revenue.

So they can come to us and say, I need a million dollars, but if

they're only bringing in 20, 000 a month, we can't do that for them.

And then that happens.

So we have to educate them on the difference in this space.

It's usually a percentage of their income.

Sometimes everything else is good.

We can get two times what their monthly revenue is.

So that's how this works.

Do you feel like a lot of businesses don't grow because they're afraid

to have conversations about capital?

100%.

I think the biggest problem is business owners work so hard and they're

hit with something new every day.

They work in their business, but not on their business.

They really don't have the time.

What happens so frequently is lines of credit.

And for example, what's going on right now, businesses are

getting hit and they're not going to have income coming in.

If they would have had a line of credit in place, they would have access.

to capital because they need it right now.

So that's why it's important.

And it's important for us to get out there and educate business

owners, leave a card and just say, if the need arises, I need to do

that.

That's funny, because I heard a long time ago that the best time to borrow

money is when you don't need the money.

So in other words, set up that line of credit when you don't necessarily need it.

So you have it there for the rainy day, or if you have an expansion opportunity

that comes to you rather quickly.

So Does that something you do?

You help business owners proactively set up lines of credit so that

they have the money available for emergencies or for expansion?

Yes, absolutely.

I can do that.

And I have had so many heartbreaking conversations, business owners

that I had previously talked to.

And they're like, oh my gosh, I need money now.

And they've had a downturn.

And since.

This is revenue based.

I mean, that's what our lenders are looking at and I can't help them.

If there are some businesses that I can't do a line of credit for, but the

ones that I can, if they're qualifying, I mean, it makes all kinds of sense.

And again, case in point, what we're living right now, so many businesses.

Need money and they're not going to be able to access it.

And what Cheryl's talking

about is Hurricane Helena.

We are both in Sarasota, Florida, and luckily we didn't have any wind or

rain damage, but we had water, like tide surges, which actually ended up

taking out a lot of the businesses on our islands and a lot of homes.

And I do know that the Columbia said they're not going to reopen in St.

Armand circle.

So that was great.

I

love

that place.

There's an update on that one.

That one, they are going to open because I love that place too.

And I just saw somebody posted.

He said, no, if they're just going to be closed for a little while.

It is

so crazy because you don't really think about when there's a natural

catastrophe like the hurricane is you don't think about all of

your wait staff is out of work.

I saw a post the other day talking about, Hey, There's 250 of us that worked at

businesses that have been wiped out.

It's, we're all looking for employment.

So if you know of anyone, again, for an employer, if you want to keep your

wait staff in this example, because you are going to open the restaurant up in

the future, you may want to find a way that you can cover some of their income

so that they're ready to come back to you when the restaurant does reopen.

So I think that's another advantage to having money available when

things like this do happen.

I love the fact that you are.

Being an entrepreneur and having your own businesses over the years.

And now you're in a position where you get to sit down with business

owners, talk about their situation, their goals, and their dreams for their

business, and then help them find a solution that can help them get there.

So how do you want people to reach out

and get in touch with you?

They can reach me on my cell phone.

I kept my Michigan number.

It is.

2 4 8 9 9 6 3 2 1 0 and my main link for the David Allen capital

funding is www.floridadac.com.

Perfect.

We'll have of people reach out to you.

Thank you so much, Cheryl.

This has been amazing, enlightening, and optimistic.

Thank you so much and I'm looking forward to meeting you in person when

we're all dining at the Columbia.

I'm St.

Armond's.

That sounds perfect.

Thank you so much, Cheryl.

My pleasure.

Thanks for listening to the six figure business mastery podcast.

If you enjoyed listening to this episode and you are ready to leverage video

marketing on all online platforms, or maybe even start your own video

podcast, then you need to check out the done for you and done with you

program at themarketingvaadvantage.

com and take your business to the next level.