Adam Torres and A.J. Lee discuss Mega Mix Expo.
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Show Notes:
Listen to Mega Mix Expo coverage. In this episode, Adam Torres and Andrew Lee, Founder & CEO at Liquidus Funding, explore the upcoming Megamix expo.
About Liquidus Funding
At Liquidus Funding, they utilize their technology, dedicated service, and network to realize the vision of small business owners.
Full Unedited Transcript
Hey, I’d like to welcome you to another episode of Mission Matters. My name is Adam Torres. And if you’d like to apply to be a guest in the show, just head on over to missionmatters. com and click on be our guest to apply. All right. So on the show today, I have Andrew Lee. He’s CEO and founder over at Liquidus Funding.
AJ, welcome to the show. Thanks so much, Adam. Such a pleasure to be here. All right, AJ. So I’m getting excited, man. I know you were referred to us over by Tony over at Megamix Expo. And for those that have been listening to this, series that we’ve been doing for Megamix Expo, we’ve been talking about it.
And I hope everybody’s gone and got their ticket at megamixexpo. com. It’s going to be March 12th and March 13th at the Santa Anita Park over in Arcadia, California. It’s a great day. Beautiful venue. I mean, it’s a horse racing track and then the back of these beautiful mountains. I mean, it’s going to be, it’s a spectacular place.
Got it. Got to ask you, AJ, you getting excited, man? Oh yeah. Oh yeah. I’m very excited for a huge turnout. We always love to meet people face to face, you know just give them, just give them the direct answers to the questions, you know, when it comes to at least business development, have you been in one of these before?
This will be my first time. Yeah, actually I think it was at the previous event that was more towards I think it was Ontario. Yeah. Yeah, that’s great. I’ll tell you one thing. I’ve been, I’ve been covering this conference for a bit now and talking to the different vendors and, and, you know, people in about, the businesses and what, they’re going to be sharing with the audience at the event.
And I’ll tell you, there’s a good crowd coming, man. There’s a good crowd, a lot of business owners, a lot of supportive people. And I feel like I don’t know if you get this field. You get this feel like there’s this community around the event that’s kind of formed. Oh yeah. it’s a beautiful thing.
You know, people helping people. it’s really, that’s it. You know, that’s simple. I know your current company, Liquid is funding where your CEO and founder of, but how did you get into business and entrepreneurship just in general? Like where did that start even before this?
You know, that’s such a good question. Honestly, I never thought I would start a company. So, you know, I never thought I would even have a know how to sell anything or service anything, but life can throw very interesting things at you, but to jump right in, I mean, I’ve basically the past 10 years, I’ve been working from the buy side and sell side of various lending houses.
You know that basically just means like I know how lenders evaluate your business before you know They offer you some money and I’ve also seen the other side Which is basically a lot of times lenders have inside salespeople, too So, a lot of times these lenders are trying to sell a bad offer or a bad loan product when the business could actually qualify for something much better for their own development.
So, you know, the analogy is quite simple. A lot of these folks were essentially hard selling an idea that a square can somehow fit into a round hole. So that was where. I saw a problem, essentially, and another problem is that a lot of business owners, they can really become disillusioned when their bank turns them away for a loan, and, but honestly, it’s just sometimes they don’t know better or simply didn’t have the time.
To realize that there are better options available. And so, you know, recognizing that and seeing that I obviously wanted to make a change and address this gap. And, you know, I did so in a time where most people are just hard selling things into actually serving the interests of the business owner. So that means taking a.
Long term interest of the business success and obviously serving that interest. So, I think primarily my experience basically means as a former underwriter, I can understand how lenders are basically grading your business, right? And then you know, on the flip side of obviously having experience previously working in sales and marketing.
I was able to actually, you know, put that into action, the consultative approach is what I call it. So, just to give you an idea of what that really looks like. That essentially meant I made this company to service, you know, business owners. And that means anyone that’s an entrepreneur who’s looking to start up a company, you know, mom and pop businesses and the list goes on.
Right. So we effectively go top to bottom and that means we start with the best loan options and lenders. We have lenders compete. And so that means you win. And effectively, we’re just flipping the script. Right? So, business owners can actually spend their precious time where it matters. Growing their business.
You know, I’ll say one more thing on this, if that wasn’t clear enough. Effectively, what we have here is a marketplace with over 50 lenders. We offer a full range of options. So that’s, over seven different business financing options, whether it’s through your traditional banks, your private institutions, online lenders, and so on and so forth.
And so basically with just, one application. With no impact on credit, no cost, any business owner can see what options they qualify for with no obligation. So essentially no risk, which is the right way to do business, in my opinion. Yeah. what was it like for you when you decided to go from let’s say corporate America to then going out there and starting your own business?
From the underwriter and working on the other things and then getting out there and starting your own business. What was that like for you? Oh, man, I mean, it’s like what they everybody says, you know I think musk said this where it’s like you’re staring into the abyss eating glass, right? In the beginning, I know that.
Yeah, I’ve heard that would go ahead. That’s great. Wow. Yeah, but you know, the what I believed is just, again, if you serve your clients best interest, and for their long term interest, you know, most people forget this, then It’s almost like, well, then that’s where the trust comes from. If you’re transparent and you deliver them, why would you ever need to lose a client?
Right. And so with that philosophy, it was literally helping one business at a time. Getting referrals and then just growing from there. What’s your favorite part of what you do right now? Like when you’re helping clients and otherwise, like what is your favorite part about what you’ve been able to create?
Yeah, I love it when my clients tell me after we, we’ve delivered the goods essentially. And they, they basically say those things. They say, they appreciate that I wasn’t trying to sell them anything that was inappropriate. It was literally going from top to bottom. And explaining exactly how to qualify and doesn’t mean you have to take anything now, but here’s the steps if, for example, most businesses want an SBA loan or a business line of credit, and it makes a lot of sense, but so they really appreciate the fact of our transparency and our expertise.
Because a lot of times banks will just give a vague reason, they won’t actually tell you what to do, and so a lot of business owners can get very confused, and so the rewarding part is when people actually appreciate the work we do and how we do it, and that always gives me the juice to keep on going.
Yeah, what are some of the common mistakes that people make when business owners make when they’re applying for loans? What are some of those common mistakes? Yeah, Adam, that’s you know, that’s such a good question And I’m gonna say some stuff that can sound counterintuitive But I will explain one of the big ones is a lot of business owners wait until they need money to apply but the problem with that is A lot of times if there’s like a decline in revenue or something that reflects already on paper For example, then you’re already cutting yourself short because lenders will see this for example Banks will look at your year over year trends But a lot of short term lenders or alternative lenders will look at your month to month trend So by waiting until the last minute To do it, you’re actually not going to get as good of an offer as if you were intending to use the money to grow.
So with that being said, though, I completely understand no business owner should ever borrow a cent more than what they need. But the problem is, you know, I’ve done this for a while. So, a lot of business owners. Often underestimate how much they need to complete a project, for example, right? And most make that mistake until we consult with them, right?
And, show them that this would, how the offers would change, for example, if you apply at an ideal time. So try to at least think, not to say that, you know, not every business owner is always in good shape, especially in the beginning. Right, so sometimes, you know, if you just need to keep the doors open, yeah, we can have you covered, right?
but also, I would just advise for anyone listening, That usually when things are going good, you know, it’s a good time to expand. And that’s the best time to apply. Yeah, it a lot of sense. And I, when I think about the education component, about about, and you were an underwriter, so when you think about when people go, the only time people are normally gonna Get educated on that is when they’re going through the process.
And like you said, well, you didn’t say this exactly, but sometimes at that point, it’s too late, right? If you don’t plan, if you don’t do these things in advance then maybe you’re not going to get the best deal. Maybe you’re not going to get what you need, but, you know, things happen.
People are so busy. So I understand it. Right. But , I’m just saying, you know, do yourself a favor and at least right. See what maybe you can qualify for. Even if you decide not to take anything when things are good. Right. And we also have service lots of people. So we know how a lot of different industries can grow and scale.
Right. And so it wouldn’t hurt to at least ask us questions. Amazing. Well, speaking of asking you questions, if somebody wants to well, everybody, of course, I want everybody to come to Megamix Expo and then you can meet AJ in person. I’ll be there as well and be doing some live podcast interviews.
So just go to megamixexpo. com and you’ll be able , to get tickets and to check out everything there. But AJ if people want to follow up other than going to the expo, cause I know they’re coming. If they want to have a conversation, how do people get more information? Oh yeah, of course. You know, there’s two easy ways.
Really just visit our website, so that’s liquidusfunding. com or liquidusfunding. com or give us a call on our main line, you know, 800 557 3085. Fantastic. If everybody watching this, just so you know, we’ll definitely put the links in the show notes so that you can just click on them and head right on over and speaking of the audience, if this is your first time with mission matters and you haven’t done it yet, hit that subscribe or follow button.
This is a daily show each and every day. We’re bringing you new content, new ideas, and hopefully new inspiration to help you along the way in your journey as well. So again, hit that subscribe or follow button and AJ, thanks again for coming on and I’ll see you at Mega Mix Expo, man. Appreciate you.
Looking forward to it, Adam. Have a great one.