The Greenhouse Odyssey: Sixteen - One Small Step for Womenkind
By Lorraine Miller
We’d barely gotten settled in our new greenhouses when the neighbor who lived on the opposite side of the ‘little house’ from Phranques Gallery asked me to buy her house.
Her property was in foreclosure. She was unable to pay her property tax and she was scared. She asked me to pay off the balance of her mortgage and she promised to pay off the liens. Of course, I wanted the property. It was an opportunity almost too good to be true, certainly too good to pass up. If someone else bought the property, I may never have a shot at it again. Or if the shot came, the mark would surely be much higher. I was only two years into my first SBA loan and I was concerned the bank would consider it too soon to refinance. I had to try.
The opportunity to buy a third property sent my mind in a spin. I was evolving from the thrill of growing plants to the lofty concept of growing a small business. It was undeniable and perhaps, inescapable.
I could easily see moving the office into the newly acquired property and demolishing the ‘little house’ to add more parking. (Yes, there would still be a billboard in the middle of it). Cactus & Tropicals would gain another deep backyard to build more greenhouses if and when they were needed or to add outside plants to the inventory.
The bank that carried my first loan had changed hands. Richard Gray, my first banker, was no longer there. I invited his replacement to visit Cactus and Tropicals. I was asking him to refinance my SBA loan to include this third piece of property and also to allow me to demolish the ‘little house’ that was collateral on the loan. I hoped to show him what we had accomplished and what we could do with additional parking.
He came on a good day. The current eight space parking lot was full and a semitruck from Florida was in the driveway. Several staff members were at the tail end of the truck unloading plants. I showed him the Garden Wall gift shop first, explaining that my current SBA loan included money to remodel the shop from an old chinchilla shed. He arched his eyebrows. We walked through the greenhouses and I pointed out the two additions, describing how we increased the interior plant maintenance service to pay for them.
Then we walked around to the front yard of the ‘little house’ and I pointed out the neighbor’s house, the house I hoped to buy. I explained the critical importance of demolishing the ‘little house,’ as we had demolished Phranques Gallery, in order to add more parking.
This banker did not see or share the vision. A few days passed before he called to let me know he’d have to turn me down. He couldn’t loan money on property that would be demolished. I was disheartened. He was the bank’s SBA loan officer.
The purpose of the Small Business Administration, an independent agency of the U.S. government, is to assist small businesses and help them stay in the game. They offer a variety of programs, from counseling to classes to loan guarantees. In order to get an SBA loan, the process must start with a bank. If the bank likes the prospect, it takes the loan to the SBA for approval. The SBA does not loan money, but if the borrower qualifies, the SBA guarantees the loan, taking the risk away from the bank. In other words, the bank and the banker are in no jeopardy.
SBA loans have a higher than 90% success rate, but getting approval is not easy. It requires pages of paper work and weeks of waiting. Hopefully, a bank’s loan officer is committed to helping the small business owner by shepherding the loan through the SBA process. This particular loan officer didn’t have that spirit. All he could see were the difficulties.
The minute the banker turned down my loan request, I went in search of Richard Gray. I believed Richard would see the dream, the potential, and the commitment. I believed Richard would see the dream and the potential of the expansion.He would understand the business opportunity for Cactus & Tropicals to attain this third piece of property. I knew he would use all his professional skills and passion to help. I finally found him at another bank. We met and he agreed to look into it.
It took several months to get liens cleared and the property appraised and inspected. During that time, I had no assurance I would get the loan, but I knew Richard was working to make it happen. That gave me confidence. In the meantime, the owner wanted badly to get away from the property. She asked me to rent until the loan was approved and the sale could move forward. I crossed my fingers and took the chance. Another leap of faith under the rule of ‘forge ahead.’
In October 1992, I was named one of six ‘Women of Achievement’ by the Salt Lake City YWCA. The other categories were Arts/Communication, Government and Public Service, Human Services and Science/Medicine/Technology. This was one of the first years the award went to a woman in business. The keynote speaker was Shirley Chrisholm, the first black woman to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives and the first black woman to run for the presidency. She was known for challenging the inequities in our system, as a great civil rights leader and as a troublemaker. I was inspired by her story of overcoming poverty and discrimination and ultimately running for and winning political office. I was inspired by the success stories of the other honorees. If I were sometimes called a ‘trouble maker,’ my spirit came from powerful role models.
I wasn’t sure I should be at the table. I was in the midst of struggle, struggle to secure loans, to receive lines of credit, to be accepted as a female boss, to be taken seriously as a businessperson. There were so many hurdles for women to jump in order to become successful, and I was still jumping. Still, it felt good to be recognized for what I had done and I felt like I represented so many other women business owners.
Four months later, I was elected president of the Utah Association of Women Business Owners, UAWBO. After roughly ten years, our membership had grown substantially, although the size of our business varied greatly. Some owners were grossing several million dollars while others were just opening their doors. The businesses included real estate, catering, concrete cutting, construction, accounting, insurance, office furniture, auto painting… the list went on and on.
While we were not always of the same voice, with some women more reticent to speak out than others, our numbers had reached a critical mass. Our biggest shared difficulty was acquiring bank loans. Several of us had been denied.
One of our members was told by her banker, “You’ve got pretty legs, but they’re not going to get you any money.” Many bankers still asked for a husband’s co-signature or advised women to use credit cards.
To address the problem, we held ‘Banker’s Round Tables.’ We invited bankers from several local and national banks to meet with us. Our conversations were open and direct. We expressed our frustration with failing to obtain loans. They expressed their opinion that most women were not knowledgeable in understanding financials and weren’t able to fill out the financial forms. This was prejudice and gross condescension.
The shortcomings they ascribed to women apply to almost any budding entrepreneur who is more dazzled by the dream than the financials. For almost anyone, the ‘numbers’ aspect of business is mind-numbing. Of course, understanding income statements and balance sheets are critical. Financial reports are business scorecards. But business is not a private club. One shouldn’t need special credentials. All comers should be welcome. All must learn and all must teach, especially bankers.
By the end of the afternoon, the smart bankers in the room surely recognized they were sitting with some excellent prospective banking clients. Did any wonder if they’d missed the boat viewing this market in such a dismissive way? Did anyone understand that women wanted and deserved loans? Could they see how important women were in a growing economy? UAWBO was hoping to shine some light on our banking difficulties, crack open some doors, and make the banking system more inclusive. It wasn’t long before many of the banks opened Women’s Financial Centers. Tiny steps that would eventually build momentum for flying leaps in the future.
In September, I got a call from Richard. The liens were cleared, the deeds recorded, the loan papers were ready to sign. All I had to do was pack up home and office, move, demolish and expand. I’d done this once before. I could do it again.