Have you heard about The Influence Project? It’s something that Fast Company is doing to find the most influential people online right now. Here’s what they have to say about the idea:
Influence is not only about having the most friends or followers. Real influence is about being able to affect the behavior of those you interact with, to get others in your social network to act on a suggestion or recommendation. When you post a link or recommend a site, how many people actually bother to check it out? And what’s the likelihood of those people then forwarding it on? How far does your influence spread?
The way it works is that you upload a picture to their site, and they issue a personal URL which is used to vote. For instance, my personal URL is http://fcinf.com/v/aedn. When you click on that link, you will cast a vote for me, and Fast Company ranks everyone based on how many clicks/votes they get. Everyone who participates will get their picture in the November issue of Fast Company and the larger a person’s influence, the larger their picture.
Here’s where you come in. If you’re a friend/fan of me or Mercantile on Facebook; if you follow us on Twitter; if you’ve watched any of our videos on YouTube or at theMCCoffice.com; if you’ve ever left a comment here on this blog; in short, if you’ve ever been moved to action by something I’ve suggested or mentioned, then I’d like to humbly ask for your vote. All you have to do is click here: http://fcinf.com/v/aedn.
Many thanks for doing this!
Speaking of all that social media stuff, I have two new videos on our YouTube channel and I posted one of them to our Facebook page. It’s a re-do of my “You Might Be an Entrepreneur If…” quips from an award acceptance speech a few months back. I originally delivered these in a speech when I received the SBA “Financial Services Champion” Award in May, but the audio from that video was pretty bad. This one should be easier to understand, and I think you’ll enjoy it. It’s my homage to entrepreneurs everywhere, so please forward it to any entrepreneurial-types you know who might need a little pat on the back (as we all do from time to time).
Dedicated to Your Continued Success,
Chris
P.S. If you sign up for The Influence Project yourself, leave a comment below with your personal URL and I’ll make sure you get a vote or two from my end as well. Many thanks again for your votes!
P.P.S. Don’t forget we’re working hard every day, providing loans for America’s amazingly-resilient business owners. Be sure let me know when you or someone you know is considering a commercial property purchase. Call me at 1-866-622-4504 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 1-866-622-4504 end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 1-866-622-4504 end_of_the_skype_highlighting, email me at ChrisHurn@MercantileCC.com, or simply leave a comment below. I really appreciate the introduction.
Tags: Fast Company, SBA 504 Experts
Charles Coan says:
Chris, Here is some feedback on your company.
Your company turned me down for a 504 SBA 1st. loan for $455K on a $710K building, when I had excellent credit, a strong business plan and SBA support pre-approved.
I was kindly told by Mercantile’s loan officer that Mercantile does not loan to start up fitness centers.
I think you can take me off your email list now if you can’t walk the walk.
You can put this update on your Blog . . . here is a good lead in title: “Mercantile rejects 504 loan to a Alabama Veteran Owned Neighborhood Fitness Center with excellent credit . . . Why? The fitness industry is to risky”.
Just wondering if you agree?
Chris Hurn says:
Chuck -
The health club industry IS risky – ask any banker or landlord, for that matter. And we’ve rarely done financing for start-ups. That is nothing new from us. Frankly, my belief is that start-up businesses need to preserve their precious capital to develop their position in their marketplace, and THEN a few years down the road, they should contemplate buying their commercial property. I think this is the best use of their capital. When we finance a start-up, it’s most often only for a franchise and only for one that has to involve real estate.
I’m sorry you were turned-down by us, but we do not approve everyone that applies with us for a whole host of reasons. Hopefully, we turned you down quickly and did not waste your time like so many other lenders do these days. There are lenders out there that will finance start-ups, don’t have an “issue” with a start-up using their capital to purchase their property rather than focusing on proving themselves in their marketplace, and who don’t have an “issue” with special-purpose property like fitness centers or with that industry itself. Unfortunately, we are not one of them . . . we DO “walk our talk” on most other projects, and certainly with the ones that are good “fits” for us.
To take a shot at us on your isolated incident isn’t correct. Even when I say publicly that we rarely do start-ups or aren’t interested in projects from the fitness industry, my experience is that most people do NOT listen and take that to heart (for example, we’ve never financed raw land or multi-family projects, but there isn’t a single day that goes by without us getting inquires for each of these types of financing REGARDLESS of how often and how many different ways I say, “We DON’T do those.”). Now, having said that, lending is both science and art – there’s a lot of “gray” areas, so we HAVE financed fitness centers in the past and will probably finance one in late September as well. Neither were start-ups, however, and both had successfully operated previous centers. Those are significant mitigants that your project did not have.
Lastly, I’m glad you’re a veteran and I appreciate your service to our country, which is why we’ve again put our “money where our mouth is” and supported veteran causes corporately and personally for many years with tens of thousands of dollars and services donated by my companies.
We’ll remove you from our list (which you put yourself on). And I have no problem posting your comments to our blog, as well as this reply to you.
Best of luck to you.
Chris
Timothy Sharpe says:
I enjoy reading your updates, keep ‘em coming.
Mike Giles says:
Hey Chris,
I checked this out recently. Thought it was a pretty cool concept, but questionable value for me. (only because I have no shot at winning)
Anyway, I don’t have to rely on Fast Company to tell me how truly influential YOU are!!!
Just for kicks, I went back (via Your influence) and my url is: fcinf.com/v/dqsk
Keep up the great work!
~Mike
Frank Ioppolo says:
Done. Good luck.
Michael Gerber says:
Sorry this was missed – too short of a notice. Wish you all the best.
Chris Chestnut says:
Your site says it’s no longer taking anybody Thanks again.