More to come!
I thought it would be helpful to talk about my dream team -- everyone who has helped us pull this together.
Phyllis Beer from the SBA/WEDCO: Many of you may have heard bits and pieces of Obama talking about increasing SBA lending, and I am a good example of this in a real-life situation. I was in a place to expand and add on additional staff to meet my long term goals, but needed a building to do it. This made me a good candidate for an SBA loan, which is simplified into three main advantages: a lower interest rate, a longer mortgage (decreasing monthly payments), and the big one, less money down. The downside to an SBA loan is that it's really paperwork intensive, about twice as much as a traditional loan. But Phyllis went above and beyond in making it happen - I truly believe I would have not been able to get through it if she had not been trading emails with me at 7:00 a.m., going out of her way to drop off paperwork for me to sign, and sitting by the fax machine waiting for my approval to come in. I really felt like she wanted to see me succeed and that was so empowering.
Dana Bramhall from WSFS: Dana helped me out on my loan when going into the first studio and she was awesome. Lucky for me, when I needed a loan for theisbuilding I had a strong credit history from WSFS and WSFS was still lending because they were smart enough to never take on any sub prime mortgages. Thank goodness for smart banks.
Nathan LaComb from Potter Anderson: Nathan has always gone above and beyond for me as an attorney, and really has moved past the role of advisor and into the role of a friend. He totally gets my sense of humor (like when I call his very fancy law firm office "Masterpiece Theatre") and worked extremely hard to ensure I was legally protected throughout the entire process.
Vincent Hendrix of AVIR Realty: Funnily enough, Vincent represented the selling agent in this purchase. But in a lot of ways I felt like he was working for me too. His goal was always to close the deal, and that made him in effect go way out of his way to push along required SBA environmental testing, meet inspectors when I was out of town, and provide a lot of much needed humor. With Vincent being so great, and Nathan on my side, I didn't even hire a buying agent which saved me thousands of dollars.
John Piazza of Piazza construction: The first contractor in the history of man to actually run ahead of schedule, even with my last minute additions (i.e. "Hey John, look at the cool doorknob I got at Antropologie! Can we make it work?"). 'Nuff said.
Elizabeth Atlee of Elizabeth Atlee Interiors: Elizabeth and I both have a passion for making a fabulous room look amazing on a budget. She did a great job helping me source new furniture, choose the final colors, and make wallpaper decisions. Like the other people I worked with, Elizabeth is not only a design resource but a friend. She is amazing and such a wonderful, soulful person.
Jackie Ivy: People around Wilmington know Jackie as a creative genius, one of the brainchildren behind Anthropologie's store design, the SoHo house in NYC, and creating the look of the Market Street development project. I am so lucky to have her as a friend, and she has given me some awesome display design ideas I would have never thought of myself. More on that to come soon!
My staff and their families who have been excited, supportive and enthusiastic about the expansion. Change isn't easy but I appreciate the support as I'm driving forward, creating new opportunities for both our customers and the people who work at LNP.
Last, but certainly not least, I wanted to thank my husband John for being so awesome, dealing with this crazy process and assisting me with aspects of it that I couldn't quite understand. I am so lucky to have such a great man in my life! So thank you, John, for marrying me and my business :)
