March 13, 2025 • 29 mins
"I connect businesses with money." - Syreeta Mitchell
In this episode of Brave New Wealth, host Julienna sits down with Syreeta Mitchell, the “Money Matchmaker” and Founder of Cheez, a boutique commercial brokerage. 🎙️
💰 Syreeta shares her journey of stepping outside her comfort zone to help business owners restructure debt, build business credit, and leverage financial tools like SBA loans.
🔥 Key Takeaways:
✅ Why financial health is directly tied to mental well-being 🧠💵
✅ The power of business credit & how to use it effectively
✅ Success stories of entrepreneurs overcoming financial distress
✅ The role of networking & expert advisors in building wealth Syreeta’s mission is to expand financial education for business owners, helping them make smarter financial decisions and achieve long-term success.
Don’t miss this insightful discussion!
Learn more about Syreeta Mitchell: https://www.linkedin.com/in/symitchell/
Get your questions answered from Cheez: https://makecheez.com/
Thank you to sponsor: Engineered Tax Services: https://engineeredtaxservices.com/
Subscribe for more wealth-building insights!
#BusinessCredit #FinancialFreedom #Entrepreneurship #BraveNewWealth
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:08):
Welcome to the Brave New Wealth podcast, where we discuss wealth from many differentperspectives.
Physical, mental, social, financial.
I'm your host, Juliana.
Bienvenue à tout le monde.
Bienvenido a todos.
Herzlich willkommen.
Everyone is welcome here.
This podcast is sponsored by Engineer Tax Services, a subsidiary of Engineer Tax Advisory.
(00:34):
Our goal is to support
business owners, real estate investors, advisor CPAs with proven expertise, witheducation, with strategies that will help you support your clients and helping them in
lowering their tax burden.
So make sure you get a hold of me, you get a hold of us to help you in that regard.
(00:58):
Today, I'm really, really excited to have a friend and an expert in her field.
to share with us her journey, to share with us her experience helping business owners andalso throughout her adventure.
But I'm going to cheat a little bit because her bio is quite impressive.
So Serita Mitchell is a money matchmaker in her daytime.
(01:22):
She's the founder of Cheese, a rising DFW boutique commercial brokerage offeringtraditional and alternative lending solutions.
She does capital raising, consulting, and basically any financial tools that will help youelevate your business and grow your business.
With more than a decade of industry expertise, she continues to cultivate partnershipswith lending partners, VCs, family offices, and private equity firms to serve her clients.
(01:54):
In addition to funding deals, her Texas Nonprofit Cheese Foundation is committed to herpassion
for educating small businesses on small business owners and investors through curatedexperiences by equipping them with necessary tools, knowledge, and network to help them
make informed decision and to inspire their success.
(02:17):
When Siri is taking a break, she enjoys traveling the world, salsa dancing, practicingSpanish, photography, and exploring the world of book publishing.
She has been a featured guest speaker on the Bloomberg Uncommon Law Podcast, GlobalEntrepreneurship Week, Houston Business Journal, Greater Houston Partnership, and various
(02:38):
other platforms, including her own podcast.
She proudly represents her alma mater as an alumna of the University of Houston.
Serita, welcome.
Now this is very impressive.
This is a very impressive bio.
So I have a little challenge for you.
When you had a networking event or if you have like 30 seconds to see who Sirita is, whatwould you tell our listeners?
(03:07):
Thank you, by the way, Juliana.
I'm so honored to be here.
But to your question, when I'm at a networking event, I lead with being a value connector.
When people meet me, don't, you know, most people tell you blah, blah, blah, this is whatI do.
This is where I've been.
And it's always kind of that same mundane kind of like introduction.
(03:29):
And then people check out on that.
But I get people's attention and say, hey, you know, I connect
businesses with money.
Instantly, when I say that, they get it.
Then I say, okay, think of me as a money matchmaker.
Everyone knows what a love matchmaker is, it's kind of, it's funny, but it's a greaticebreaker to really let people know exactly what kind of value I bring into
(03:55):
relationships.
Absolutely.
And I've seen you in action.
I know that you connect with people in an authentic way, you're easy to relate to.
And so it's, I'm sure it's a pleasure to be around you and to fill that spirit.
So I want to ask you before we dig into what you do, what your passions are, I like toask, what is something you've done recently that is a bit outside of your comfort zone
(04:21):
that you told yourself, I'm going to do this.
I know it will be beneficial.
It's not easy, but I'm going to go ahead and jump.
It can be, you know, in the mental, physical, social, or financial realm.
But yes, if you want to take a few minutes to tell us, you know, what is something thatyou've done lately.
Wow.
I have so many things to share.
(04:42):
I'll share one.
I was in Honduras.
I started the year off in Honduras at the Usha Village, which is Dr.
Sabies, the late Dr.
Sabies Health and Wellness Village.
And while I was there, I mean, it was an intense detox, Juliana, and I literally toldmyself, okay, I need to just take a break, reset.
(05:06):
But then I challenged myself to take
the plunge in and do the duck plant again.
So that was, it was so intense.
It was just imagine, you know, 10 plus hours of purging and just, it was a mental reset,but it was also just a much needed, you know, reset just for my overall health.
(05:31):
And I'm so glad that I did it, Juliana, because it's given me the discipline to stick tomy health and wellness goals.
And that's something that's really important to me, Juliana.
Absolutely.
Well, thank you so much for sharing this, Sarita.
And I saw you before you left and I saw you after you left and I saw the change and I alsosaw your dedication.
(05:51):
And I want to also tell our listener that you motivated me to rethink my own health and bemore proactive about certain things like, you know, going to check certain things, you
know, with the doctors and whatnot.
Sometimes, you know, when we get really busy with work, we have a tendency toprocrastinate on things that are
important.
so even though, you know, I'm good about working out every day and doing all these things,but you really helped me put on the schedule.
(06:17):
When am I going to have that doctor visit?
When am going to do this?
Because at the end of the day, we all know that if we don't have our health, we havenothing.
You know, we can have a thousand problems, but when the health problem starts, that's theone problem.
So taking care of ourselves is so, important.
Yeah.
You're right.
You're so right about that.
(06:38):
And health and wealth, they go together.
Think about that.
How far can you really go?
You can have all the money in the world that you might ever dream of, but where are yougoing if you don't have your health?
Or if you're dependent on medications or if you're not sleeping or if you're taking careof yourself.
that's honestly, that's the first priority.
(07:00):
That is so important.
Yes.
And I think we, you know, most of us in the business world, you know, educated, we knowthese things, but it's so important to be reminded constantly because it's always about
the application of what we know.
I mean, knowledge is one thing.
And I think a lot of us have acquired a lot of knowledge, but to be able to implement andbe consistent in, you know, making, creating those good habits.
(07:26):
thank you for the reminder.
And I think that's a beautiful thing.
Maybe next time I'll join you to, to hunder us.
Sure.
right.
So with that, you know, I like what you put in your bio, what you do outside of work andwe'll come back to what you do on the day to day.
But how did you come to, you know, dancing salsa and, you know, traveling quite a bit?
(07:49):
Cause I know you've traveled the world and that's something you're passionate about.
What motivated you to take a step and do those things?
Wow, what was it?
So I started salsa dancing in 2016 and it was a wonderful way to network.
At that time, you know, I just remember taking salsa dance lessons because I didn't haveto sit in traffic.
(08:11):
The classes were always usually around 5 p.m.
instead of getting in the car and driving, you know, sitting for 30 minutes or an hour.
I just would go and invite friends to go join me and we'd go salsa dancing or we'd have anearly dinner or happy hour.
And that's how it started.
And then as I started traveling, I've been to 17 countries, but as I started traveling, Ifound that that was a wonderful way to create connections outside of the U.S.
(08:40):
You can travel so many countries around the world and you will always be able to findsomeone who's dancing salsa somewhere.
It's just a wonderful way to meet people.
I think everybody should do it.
Plus it's cardio.
It is good cardio.
That's awesome.
I love it.
I love that you found something really fun to do and good for you too, in order to connectwith people.
(09:05):
And I love all the Latin dances.
I did ballroom Latin dance when I was in college.
And then, you know, of course on the weekend it would be club Latin dance.
So I love all the dances.
We'll have to go together someday.
So, and then, yeah, I guess that...
coincide with the traveling and learning about other cultures.
And I do know that you have a passion for that.
(09:28):
So that is wonderful.
Now switching gear a little bit, the finance world is really where you thrive right nowwith helping business owners and early entrepreneurs or even established entrepreneurs
looking at finance a different way.
So I'd like to ask you,
Where you see that maybe the lack of knowledge and education is most obvious when you talkto people and business owners and entrepreneurs.
(09:55):
Where do you see that there is a likeness where you can come in and help them?
Absolutely.
You know, I believe that money is the most, it's a foundation of the business.
If money's not, if there's no money being generated or money to grow the business, mean,again, the business will be stagnant.
So I would say a lot of businesses, you know, they're, the owner usually has a very strongpassion for creating a product or a service.
(10:23):
And oftentimes they're really good at focusing on that.
then
a lot of the other standard operating procedures or the way they handle their money,sometimes that's neglected.
So, and there's not a lot of time, a lot of business owners don't have the time to behonest with you, to just really, you know, have a, you know, heart to heart transparent,
(10:47):
you know, honest conversation about the fact that they just don't know how to manage theirmoney, even in their personal life.
So sometimes that might spill over into the business.
Not a bad thing.
It's just, you know, being able to guide or bridge that gap for clients to be able to showthem, hey, you don't have to be the expert.
You just need to know the experts that can help you navigate this world and help thatbusiness drive to success.
(11:13):
Thank you.
That is so important.
And I think you touched on something very important is the time element, the education andalso having the right advisors around is so important.
That is something that I think everyone, every business owner entrepreneur needs to dovery early on in their businesses to be surrounded by those experts who will be able to
(11:36):
elevate them and show them the hurdles that they can avoid if they have the right peoplearound.
So with that,
Do you have an example of maybe recent or not so recent an example of a business that youwere able to come in and help and you could see really the before and after once you were
able to come in and see what they were able to do?
(11:58):
Could you share that with us?
Absolutely.
And I could, I think we would be on the call all day if I went through every example, butthat's a good thing, right?
Because I'm helping people and it's creating results and impact on the business.
I'll give you an example that happened just before we started this, this interview.
One of my clients came to me, actually, we had a conversation a couple of months ago aboutsome of their struggles.
(12:23):
They were just very convinced, okay, I'm going to handle it on my own.
This particular client.
was drowning in MCA debt, which is merchant cash advance loans.
Think of those as business payday loans that are very predatory.
So this particular client was spending $84,000 in debt service payments to pay just thebare minimum, just because they owed so much interest to these merchant cash advance
(12:52):
lenders.
Now, just to level set this, MCAs have their,
appropriate times to use them.
So it's not that they're terrible.
It's just that a client in this case, they were not able to pay that balance off in full.
They kept trying to keep up those, were getting behind and they were drowning in theinterest that they owed the MCA lender.
(13:16):
So fast forward, this particular client came to me and they said, okay, Sarita, what do Ido?
You know, this is my situation.
I don't want to lose my business.
The business had been around for over 10 years and we're talking
very successful business that hasn't even touched their potential just yet.
So I ended up working with them on a debt restructure program.
(13:39):
so outside of all the things that I do with SBA loans, lines of credit, term loans, allkinds of, you know, all of the things that I do, debt restructuring is just one additional
service that I provide clients that are in the situation where they need help, they needto be rescued from debt.
In this case,
the client was able to reduce, we were able to put them on a plan to reduce their actualpayments, 90%.
(14:05):
That money that they would be saving could be reinvested into their business operations tobe used for their marketing and other operations to bring on other additional talent.
So just think about that for a second, Juliana.
If anybody's listening to this interview, I just want you to know by just saving,
(14:26):
a business from number one, from going out of business through because of debt, you know,there's, there's no price tag on that to take someone from that situation where the house
is burning, you know, or they're drowning and they can't even breathe because the money isjust going out and they don't have a way to, to reinvest that money back into the business
(14:46):
by doing this one simple thing.
Now I've earned that client's trust in this case, but we were able to do other things tohelp that business grow and thrive.
So I would consider that to be a big success.
My client, you know, I care very much about my clients, you know, their welfare, theirstate of mind, their being, this was very stressful for these clients, but now they're
(15:10):
able to sleep at night just by doing this one simple change in their business.
Well, that is a very powerful story and I'm excited for people to hear this because I'msure when you work with a situation, you know that there are hundreds, if not thousands of
similar situations out there.
So hopefully, you know, the right people hear that message and know that there is light atthe end of the tunnel.
(15:36):
So thank you for sharing that.
And I'm sure sometimes when we talk about finance and money and tax, it's very cold.
concept, you know, it's not, I don't know, it's not charity, but at the same time, you aresaving people.
You are saving people from losing their businesses, from having that anxiety constantly.
(15:56):
So in a way, there's a little bit of humanitarian going on there.
It is.
Or saving, optimizing mental health and of course physical health.
It's all connected.
This is why I wanted to do this podcast with the different
aspects of wealth because at the end of the day, it's all connected.
like we were saying at the beginning, if your health is not good, your financial health isnot good, it affects your mental and your physical.
(16:21):
so it's good to work on everything and have it, you know, optimize and do what'snecessary.
So thank you for sharing that.
with all of the things that you're doing, like what are some of the goals that you havefor?
for you, for your business moving on this year, because we also want to support you.
(16:43):
And if there are people listening who want to come to you, what are some of the thingsthat you are personally looking for towards this year?
Wow, this year I'm super excited.
It's already started off pretty quick and fast.
It's moving.
This year, Juliana, I have to say one of the biggest goals that I have is to expand myreach with my education, events, things that will bring people together to have honest,
(17:13):
transparent conversations about money.
I want to educate businesses on the importance of business credit.
Business credit is one of those things that
Most people didn't learn that.
You know, we learn about our personal credit, but most people don't know that, wow, if I'mstarting a business, I should be starting that early.
I want to also educate people on how to leverage the right financial, you know, fundingopportunities, being able to make people aware of opportunities like the SBA 7A program.
(17:41):
A lot of conversations, you just hear funding, but there's so many tools that can bemobilized to help businesses grow.
And it's all about just
quarterbacking those conversations, making people feel safe to talk about theirexperiences, but to let them know that they have a safe place to go that's gonna actually
(18:03):
look out for them.
I really look out for my clients.
I pride myself in creating relationships, but back to the question, I really wanna focuson the education part of building the message and showing people a better way to operate
their businesses.
Thank you.
That's great to know because then, you know, for anyone who hears, they may have thatneed, they may want you to come into their group to educate their professionals about
(18:31):
these kinds of things, which takes me back a little bit about something you said, butcould you explain to our audience what a business credit is, you know, compared to a
personal, how can they obtain that, the business credit?
Good question.
absolutely.
No problem, no problem.
So business credit, know, every business has the ability to, well, let's say, let's juststep back.
(18:57):
Our personal social security number, we all have one of those in most cases, you know, orif you're, it's nine digits.
Well, your business EIN number is also nine digits.
That is, that is.
the number that you could say is your social security, but for your business.
So with establishing business credit, it really comes down to the simplicity of justsaying, hey, instead of creating a profile for your personal, you're actually adding
(19:27):
additional trade lines or accounts that show history of you making on-time payments andkeeping commitments.
This is super important.
There's what you call a paydex score.
for business credit.
Business credit requires you to have a score and a good score is typically 80 or higher.
And that's basically you showing or demonstrating by having accounts, whether those arenet 30 accounts, whatever they may be.
(19:54):
It could be, know, accounts that are unsecured lines of credit.
It shows the lenders and it's a documented process of creating a profile that shows your
credit worthiness and ability to keep on time commitments.
And that score is very different from your personal score.
(20:15):
So your personal score, we all know that 800 is your top score.
Well, on the business side of things, it's evaluated totally different.
We look at utilization on personal credit, but on business credit, we look at more of ontime, timeliness of payments.
So this is such a wonderful tool to leverage.
And again, one of the things that I...
(20:37):
I strive to do is to just show people how you do it.
It's not hard.
And you can book me, obviously, if you want some more information, I can show you and giveyou one-on-one coaching and consultation on this.
But there are ways that you could do it yourself.
But again, if you're busy and you're trying to make money, you may not have the time.
That's why you want to work with experts like myself that can show you and coach youthrough that process.
(21:02):
Thank you.
That's very, very helpful to know.
Yes.
And again, you know, I'm hoping that a lot of people listening to this, to this particularpodcast will see the use and call you to get that support.
And then you also mentioned a different type of SBA loan that's not often, that's not wellknown and not often used.
(21:24):
Could you explain what that one is, that one particular one?
Cause I think, you know, everybody's heard SBA, small business,
know, allocations and then so tell us what's the difference between the one that you werementioning.
Wonderful.
Great, great question.
SBA loans, I really love talking about SBA loans, but we were talking about the 7A loan.
(21:46):
And this particular loan is, you're right, Julian, I have to say, I agree with you thatit's very, it's not talked about, and it should be, but this is a loan that allows
businesses to lend or to borrow up to $5 million to be used for acquisitions.
If I'm buying a franchise or if I'm
(22:08):
buying or expanding.
I'm able to use it for real estate, know, business owner occupied real estate that I'mgoing to be using for the production of my products, for the expansion of my business.
Also can be used for working capital, marketing, equipment, hiring your team, expanding.
(22:28):
So what's so neat about this loan again, you have the ability to have the Small BusinessAdministration
to guarantee that loan.
So that lender that's giving you the loan is typically a bank.
It could be a private lender, but the SBA comes in and says, well, if you meet thiscriteria, that loan is guaranteed.
(22:53):
Meaning that in the event that a person defaults, the SBA will step in and cover thatloan, take the risk to assume a percentage of that loan.
It could be 75%, which is standard.
90 % of a business is an exporting business that has a product or service that theyexport.
What's so exciting about this loan is that most people, when they're starting theirbusiness, they dump so much money that some people will take money out of their retirement
(23:23):
and they'll invest it into their startup costs.
Well, in this case, imagine this, imagine if you had an opportunity to take, to buyanother business, a franchise or another business that's already generating income and
revenue, but imagine if you could
have the SBA loan to help you finance that business, which is already cash flowing,already has an operational team.
(23:47):
You already have everything you need in place without the headache of putting so muchfront-loaded money into the business to start it with only an equity injection of 10 to 20
% on average of what the cost of that acquisition might be.
This is one of the reasons why I'm super excited, Juliana, about this particular loan isbecause, yes, it is a long process to get, but it's so worthwhile.
(24:15):
And if people knew that they had the opportunity to get this type of funding, I think youwould have more people looking to start businesses the right way, the smart way, by buying
an operating business without starting the business and going through the pain of losing.
losing some of their resources.
(24:37):
So hope that answers your question.
Yes, absolutely.
That's great knowledge again.
Hopefully, you get a lot of calls after this.
So tell me what would be the top three qualifier if someone wanted to look at this?
Because I'm sure a lot of listeners have that question in mind.
(24:58):
What do I need to have or to be in order to qualify for this kind of loan?
Excellent.
So real quick, there's a long list, but I'll tell you the most important thing.
If you're a business operating business already, the owner, any 20 % or a greater ownerhas to provide their personal and business tax returns for three years, or at least from
(25:20):
inception.
If you're buying a business, the financials of that seller that's going to sell you thatbusiness, those finances are combined.
So imagine that.
That's going to help you qualify for that loan.
A credit score.
You know, some lenders are different.
You may have lenders that are looking for 680 or higher.
You may have some lenders that would be willing to accept a 660 credit score and I'mtalking about personal credit or higher.
(25:48):
in some cases, there's some really creative ways to structure the loan.
If someone has a business partner, maybe there's a way to average those credit scores.
But typically it's going to be financials and projections.
the business...
you know, the resume, a personal financial statement, you know, your profit and loss andbalance sheets.
(26:10):
So it means that that business needs to come into the conversation with a very organized,you know, data room with all their financials ready to go.
That will speed the process up tremendously to have that.
That's great information, Sarita.
That's good to know.
Now, where can people find you if they want to work with you?
(26:32):
Where do they find you?
Absolutely.
So you can email me or you can call me.
I know I'll be sharing my information.
We'll have that in the notes, all your information, but how do you prefer to be contacted?
(26:52):
guess I should say it.
Wonderful.
So if you're watching this video interview, please scan the QR code and you are welcome tojust schedule a funding discovery call with me.
I typically spend 20 minutes learning about you, the business owner, and your goals.
And then we can talk about what that game plan needs to look like.
(27:14):
And simple.
And from there, we move forward with implementing the plan.
Wonderful.
Thank you so much for taking the time in your super busy afternoon to come and speak tome, to the listener of The Brave New Wealth.
And Sarita, I will see you very soon.
Come and join us for the next time.
(27:35):
Thank you for having me, Juliana.
Thank you for being here.
Thank you for listening to this episode of the Brave New Wealth Podcast.
I am really glad that Sarita Mitchell was willing to come on the podcast and share alittle bit about her journey, her expertise, reach out to her if you need guidance for
(27:55):
your business in the business loan area.
This podcast is
Sponsored by Engineer Tax Services.
If you are a real estate owner, real estate investor, reach out to us.
If you are a CPA, an advisor with clients who have real estate, we want to help you takeadvantage of all the tax incentives available in the real estate area and beyond.
(28:20):
So check out our website, look at our service line.
Also, if you enjoyed this podcast, make sure you leave a comment, like, subscribe, and Ihope I will see you next time.
Welcome to the Brave New Wealth podcast, where we discuss wealth from many differentperspectives.
Physical, mental, social, financial.
I'm your host, Juliana.
Bienvenue à tout le monde.
Bienvenido a todos.
Herzlich willkommen.
Everyone is welcome here.
This podcast is sponsored by Engineer Tax Services, a subsidiary of Engineer Tax Advisory.
(00:34):
Our goal is to support
business owners, real estate investors, advisor CPAs with proven expertise, witheducation, with strategies that will help you support your clients and helping them in
lowering their tax burden.
So make sure you get a hold of me, you get a hold of us to help you in that regard.
(00:58):
Today, I'm really, really excited to have a friend and an expert in her field.
to share with us her journey, to share with us her experience helping business owners andalso throughout her adventure.
But I'm going to cheat a little bit because her bio is quite impressive.
So Serita Mitchell is a money matchmaker in her daytime.
(01:22):
She's the founder of Cheese, a rising DFW boutique commercial brokerage offeringtraditional and alternative lending solutions.
She does capital raising, consulting, and basically any financial tools that will help youelevate your business and grow your business.
With more than a decade of industry expertise, she continues to cultivate partnershipswith lending partners, VCs, family offices, and private equity firms to serve her clients.
(01:54):
In addition to funding deals, her Texas Nonprofit Cheese Foundation is committed to herpassion
for educating small businesses on small business owners and investors through curatedexperiences by equipping them with necessary tools, knowledge, and network to help them
make informed decision and to inspire their success.
(02:17):
When Siri is taking a break, she enjoys traveling the world, salsa dancing, practicingSpanish, photography, and exploring the world of book publishing.
She has been a featured guest speaker on the Bloomberg Uncommon Law Podcast, GlobalEntrepreneurship Week, Houston Business Journal, Greater Houston Partnership, and various
(02:38):
other platforms, including her own podcast.
She proudly represents her alma mater as an alumna of the University of Houston.
Serita, welcome.
Now this is very impressive.
This is a very impressive bio.
So I have a little challenge for you.
When you had a networking event or if you have like 30 seconds to see who Sirita is, whatwould you tell our listeners?
(03:07):
Thank you, by the way, Juliana.
I'm so honored to be here.
But to your question, when I'm at a networking event, I lead with being a value connector.
When people meet me, don't, you know, most people tell you blah, blah, blah, this is whatI do.
This is where I've been.
And it's always kind of that same mundane kind of like introduction.
(03:29):
And then people check out on that.
But I get people's attention and say, hey, you know, I connect
businesses with money.
Instantly, when I say that, they get it.
Then I say, okay, think of me as a money matchmaker.
Everyone knows what a love matchmaker is, it's kind of, it's funny, but it's a greaticebreaker to really let people know exactly what kind of value I bring into
(03:55):
relationships.
Absolutely.
And I've seen you in action.
I know that you connect with people in an authentic way, you're easy to relate to.
And so it's, I'm sure it's a pleasure to be around you and to fill that spirit.
So I want to ask you before we dig into what you do, what your passions are, I like toask, what is something you've done recently that is a bit outside of your comfort zone
(04:21):
that you told yourself, I'm going to do this.
I know it will be beneficial.
It's not easy, but I'm going to go ahead and jump.
It can be, you know, in the mental, physical, social, or financial realm.
But yes, if you want to take a few minutes to tell us, you know, what is something thatyou've done lately.
Wow.
I have so many things to share.
(04:42):
I'll share one.
I was in Honduras.
I started the year off in Honduras at the Usha Village, which is Dr.
Sabies, the late Dr.
Sabies Health and Wellness Village.
And while I was there, I mean, it was an intense detox, Juliana, and I literally toldmyself, okay, I need to just take a break, reset.
(05:06):
But then I challenged myself to take
the plunge in and do the duck plant again.
So that was, it was so intense.
It was just imagine, you know, 10 plus hours of purging and just, it was a mental reset,but it was also just a much needed, you know, reset just for my overall health.
(05:31):
And I'm so glad that I did it, Juliana, because it's given me the discipline to stick tomy health and wellness goals.
And that's something that's really important to me, Juliana.
Absolutely.
Well, thank you so much for sharing this, Sarita.
And I saw you before you left and I saw you after you left and I saw the change and I alsosaw your dedication.
(05:51):
And I want to also tell our listener that you motivated me to rethink my own health and bemore proactive about certain things like, you know, going to check certain things, you
know, with the doctors and whatnot.
Sometimes, you know, when we get really busy with work, we have a tendency toprocrastinate on things that are
important.
so even though, you know, I'm good about working out every day and doing all these things,but you really helped me put on the schedule.
(06:17):
When am I going to have that doctor visit?
When am going to do this?
Because at the end of the day, we all know that if we don't have our health, we havenothing.
You know, we can have a thousand problems, but when the health problem starts, that's theone problem.
So taking care of ourselves is so, important.
Yeah.
You're right.
You're so right about that.
(06:38):
And health and wealth, they go together.
Think about that.
How far can you really go?
You can have all the money in the world that you might ever dream of, but where are yougoing if you don't have your health?
Or if you're dependent on medications or if you're not sleeping or if you're taking careof yourself.
that's honestly, that's the first priority.
(07:00):
That is so important.
Yes.
And I think we, you know, most of us in the business world, you know, educated, we knowthese things, but it's so important to be reminded constantly because it's always about
the application of what we know.
I mean, knowledge is one thing.
And I think a lot of us have acquired a lot of knowledge, but to be able to implement andbe consistent in, you know, making, creating those good habits.
(07:26):
thank you for the reminder.
And I think that's a beautiful thing.
Maybe next time I'll join you to, to hunder us.
Sure.
right.
So with that, you know, I like what you put in your bio, what you do outside of work andwe'll come back to what you do on the day to day.
But how did you come to, you know, dancing salsa and, you know, traveling quite a bit?
(07:49):
Cause I know you've traveled the world and that's something you're passionate about.
What motivated you to take a step and do those things?
Wow, what was it?
So I started salsa dancing in 2016 and it was a wonderful way to network.
At that time, you know, I just remember taking salsa dance lessons because I didn't haveto sit in traffic.
(08:11):
The classes were always usually around 5 p.m.
instead of getting in the car and driving, you know, sitting for 30 minutes or an hour.
I just would go and invite friends to go join me and we'd go salsa dancing or we'd have anearly dinner or happy hour.
And that's how it started.
And then as I started traveling, I've been to 17 countries, but as I started traveling, Ifound that that was a wonderful way to create connections outside of the U.S.
(08:40):
You can travel so many countries around the world and you will always be able to findsomeone who's dancing salsa somewhere.
It's just a wonderful way to meet people.
I think everybody should do it.
Plus it's cardio.
It is good cardio.
That's awesome.
I love it.
I love that you found something really fun to do and good for you too, in order to connectwith people.
(09:05):
And I love all the Latin dances.
I did ballroom Latin dance when I was in college.
And then, you know, of course on the weekend it would be club Latin dance.
So I love all the dances.
We'll have to go together someday.
So, and then, yeah, I guess that...
coincide with the traveling and learning about other cultures.
And I do know that you have a passion for that.
(09:28):
So that is wonderful.
Now switching gear a little bit, the finance world is really where you thrive right nowwith helping business owners and early entrepreneurs or even established entrepreneurs
looking at finance a different way.
So I'd like to ask you,
Where you see that maybe the lack of knowledge and education is most obvious when you talkto people and business owners and entrepreneurs.
(09:55):
Where do you see that there is a likeness where you can come in and help them?
Absolutely.
You know, I believe that money is the most, it's a foundation of the business.
If money's not, if there's no money being generated or money to grow the business, mean,again, the business will be stagnant.
So I would say a lot of businesses, you know, they're, the owner usually has a very strongpassion for creating a product or a service.
(10:23):
And oftentimes they're really good at focusing on that.
then
a lot of the other standard operating procedures or the way they handle their money,sometimes that's neglected.
So, and there's not a lot of time, a lot of business owners don't have the time to behonest with you, to just really, you know, have a, you know, heart to heart transparent,
(10:47):
you know, honest conversation about the fact that they just don't know how to manage theirmoney, even in their personal life.
So sometimes that might spill over into the business.
Not a bad thing.
It's just, you know, being able to guide or bridge that gap for clients to be able to showthem, hey, you don't have to be the expert.
You just need to know the experts that can help you navigate this world and help thatbusiness drive to success.
(11:13):
Thank you.
That is so important.
And I think you touched on something very important is the time element, the education andalso having the right advisors around is so important.
That is something that I think everyone, every business owner entrepreneur needs to dovery early on in their businesses to be surrounded by those experts who will be able to
(11:36):
elevate them and show them the hurdles that they can avoid if they have the right peoplearound.
So with that,
Do you have an example of maybe recent or not so recent an example of a business that youwere able to come in and help and you could see really the before and after once you were
able to come in and see what they were able to do?
(11:58):
Could you share that with us?
Absolutely.
And I could, I think we would be on the call all day if I went through every example, butthat's a good thing, right?
Because I'm helping people and it's creating results and impact on the business.
I'll give you an example that happened just before we started this, this interview.
One of my clients came to me, actually, we had a conversation a couple of months ago aboutsome of their struggles.
(12:23):
They were just very convinced, okay, I'm going to handle it on my own.
This particular client.
was drowning in MCA debt, which is merchant cash advance loans.
Think of those as business payday loans that are very predatory.
So this particular client was spending $84,000 in debt service payments to pay just thebare minimum, just because they owed so much interest to these merchant cash advance
(12:52):
lenders.
Now, just to level set this, MCAs have their,
appropriate times to use them.
So it's not that they're terrible.
It's just that a client in this case, they were not able to pay that balance off in full.
They kept trying to keep up those, were getting behind and they were drowning in theinterest that they owed the MCA lender.
(13:16):
So fast forward, this particular client came to me and they said, okay, Sarita, what do Ido?
You know, this is my situation.
I don't want to lose my business.
The business had been around for over 10 years and we're talking
very successful business that hasn't even touched their potential just yet.
So I ended up working with them on a debt restructure program.
(13:39):
so outside of all the things that I do with SBA loans, lines of credit, term loans, allkinds of, you know, all of the things that I do, debt restructuring is just one additional
service that I provide clients that are in the situation where they need help, they needto be rescued from debt.
In this case,
the client was able to reduce, we were able to put them on a plan to reduce their actualpayments, 90%.
(14:05):
That money that they would be saving could be reinvested into their business operations tobe used for their marketing and other operations to bring on other additional talent.
So just think about that for a second, Juliana.
If anybody's listening to this interview, I just want you to know by just saving,
(14:26):
a business from number one, from going out of business through because of debt, you know,there's, there's no price tag on that to take someone from that situation where the house
is burning, you know, or they're drowning and they can't even breathe because the money isjust going out and they don't have a way to, to reinvest that money back into the business
(14:46):
by doing this one simple thing.
Now I've earned that client's trust in this case, but we were able to do other things tohelp that business grow and thrive.
So I would consider that to be a big success.
My client, you know, I care very much about my clients, you know, their welfare, theirstate of mind, their being, this was very stressful for these clients, but now they're
(15:10):
able to sleep at night just by doing this one simple change in their business.
Well, that is a very powerful story and I'm excited for people to hear this because I'msure when you work with a situation, you know that there are hundreds, if not thousands of
similar situations out there.
So hopefully, you know, the right people hear that message and know that there is light atthe end of the tunnel.
(15:36):
So thank you for sharing that.
And I'm sure sometimes when we talk about finance and money and tax, it's very cold.
concept, you know, it's not, I don't know, it's not charity, but at the same time, you aresaving people.
You are saving people from losing their businesses, from having that anxiety constantly.
(15:56):
So in a way, there's a little bit of humanitarian going on there.
It is.
Or saving, optimizing mental health and of course physical health.
It's all connected.
This is why I wanted to do this podcast with the different
aspects of wealth because at the end of the day, it's all connected.
like we were saying at the beginning, if your health is not good, your financial health isnot good, it affects your mental and your physical.
(16:21):
so it's good to work on everything and have it, you know, optimize and do what'snecessary.
So thank you for sharing that.
with all of the things that you're doing, like what are some of the goals that you havefor?
for you, for your business moving on this year, because we also want to support you.
(16:43):
And if there are people listening who want to come to you, what are some of the thingsthat you are personally looking for towards this year?
Wow, this year I'm super excited.
It's already started off pretty quick and fast.
It's moving.
This year, Juliana, I have to say one of the biggest goals that I have is to expand myreach with my education, events, things that will bring people together to have honest,
(17:13):
transparent conversations about money.
I want to educate businesses on the importance of business credit.
Business credit is one of those things that
Most people didn't learn that.
You know, we learn about our personal credit, but most people don't know that, wow, if I'mstarting a business, I should be starting that early.
I want to also educate people on how to leverage the right financial, you know, fundingopportunities, being able to make people aware of opportunities like the SBA 7A program.
(17:41):
A lot of conversations, you just hear funding, but there's so many tools that can bemobilized to help businesses grow.
And it's all about just
quarterbacking those conversations, making people feel safe to talk about theirexperiences, but to let them know that they have a safe place to go that's gonna actually
(18:03):
look out for them.
I really look out for my clients.
I pride myself in creating relationships, but back to the question, I really wanna focuson the education part of building the message and showing people a better way to operate
their businesses.
Thank you.
That's great to know because then, you know, for anyone who hears, they may have thatneed, they may want you to come into their group to educate their professionals about
(18:31):
these kinds of things, which takes me back a little bit about something you said, butcould you explain to our audience what a business credit is, you know, compared to a
personal, how can they obtain that, the business credit?
Good question.
absolutely.
No problem, no problem.
So business credit, know, every business has the ability to, well, let's say, let's juststep back.
(18:57):
Our personal social security number, we all have one of those in most cases, you know, orif you're, it's nine digits.
Well, your business EIN number is also nine digits.
That is, that is.
the number that you could say is your social security, but for your business.
So with establishing business credit, it really comes down to the simplicity of justsaying, hey, instead of creating a profile for your personal, you're actually adding
(19:27):
additional trade lines or accounts that show history of you making on-time payments andkeeping commitments.
This is super important.
There's what you call a paydex score.
for business credit.
Business credit requires you to have a score and a good score is typically 80 or higher.
And that's basically you showing or demonstrating by having accounts, whether those arenet 30 accounts, whatever they may be.
(19:54):
It could be, know, accounts that are unsecured lines of credit.
It shows the lenders and it's a documented process of creating a profile that shows your
credit worthiness and ability to keep on time commitments.
And that score is very different from your personal score.
(20:15):
So your personal score, we all know that 800 is your top score.
Well, on the business side of things, it's evaluated totally different.
We look at utilization on personal credit, but on business credit, we look at more of ontime, timeliness of payments.
So this is such a wonderful tool to leverage.
And again, one of the things that I...
(20:37):
I strive to do is to just show people how you do it.
It's not hard.
And you can book me, obviously, if you want some more information, I can show you and giveyou one-on-one coaching and consultation on this.
But there are ways that you could do it yourself.
But again, if you're busy and you're trying to make money, you may not have the time.
That's why you want to work with experts like myself that can show you and coach youthrough that process.
(21:02):
Thank you.
That's very, very helpful to know.
Yes.
And again, you know, I'm hoping that a lot of people listening to this, to this particularpodcast will see the use and call you to get that support.
And then you also mentioned a different type of SBA loan that's not often, that's not wellknown and not often used.
(21:24):
Could you explain what that one is, that one particular one?
Cause I think, you know, everybody's heard SBA, small business,
know, allocations and then so tell us what's the difference between the one that you werementioning.
Wonderful.
Great, great question.
SBA loans, I really love talking about SBA loans, but we were talking about the 7A loan.
(21:46):
And this particular loan is, you're right, Julian, I have to say, I agree with you thatit's very, it's not talked about, and it should be, but this is a loan that allows
businesses to lend or to borrow up to $5 million to be used for acquisitions.
If I'm buying a franchise or if I'm
(22:08):
buying or expanding.
I'm able to use it for real estate, know, business owner occupied real estate that I'mgoing to be using for the production of my products, for the expansion of my business.
Also can be used for working capital, marketing, equipment, hiring your team, expanding.
(22:28):
So what's so neat about this loan again, you have the ability to have the Small BusinessAdministration
to guarantee that loan.
So that lender that's giving you the loan is typically a bank.
It could be a private lender, but the SBA comes in and says, well, if you meet thiscriteria, that loan is guaranteed.
(22:53):
Meaning that in the event that a person defaults, the SBA will step in and cover thatloan, take the risk to assume a percentage of that loan.
It could be 75%, which is standard.
90 % of a business is an exporting business that has a product or service that theyexport.
What's so exciting about this loan is that most people, when they're starting theirbusiness, they dump so much money that some people will take money out of their retirement
(23:23):
and they'll invest it into their startup costs.
Well, in this case, imagine this, imagine if you had an opportunity to take, to buyanother business, a franchise or another business that's already generating income and
revenue, but imagine if you could
have the SBA loan to help you finance that business, which is already cash flowing,already has an operational team.
(23:47):
You already have everything you need in place without the headache of putting so muchfront-loaded money into the business to start it with only an equity injection of 10 to 20
% on average of what the cost of that acquisition might be.
This is one of the reasons why I'm super excited, Juliana, about this particular loan isbecause, yes, it is a long process to get, but it's so worthwhile.
(24:15):
And if people knew that they had the opportunity to get this type of funding, I think youwould have more people looking to start businesses the right way, the smart way, by buying
an operating business without starting the business and going through the pain of losing.
losing some of their resources.
(24:37):
So hope that answers your question.
Yes, absolutely.
That's great knowledge again.
Hopefully, you get a lot of calls after this.
So tell me what would be the top three qualifier if someone wanted to look at this?
Because I'm sure a lot of listeners have that question in mind.
(24:58):
What do I need to have or to be in order to qualify for this kind of loan?
Excellent.
So real quick, there's a long list, but I'll tell you the most important thing.
If you're a business operating business already, the owner, any 20 % or a greater ownerhas to provide their personal and business tax returns for three years, or at least from
(25:20):
inception.
If you're buying a business, the financials of that seller that's going to sell you thatbusiness, those finances are combined.
So imagine that.
That's going to help you qualify for that loan.
A credit score.
You know, some lenders are different.
You may have lenders that are looking for 680 or higher.
You may have some lenders that would be willing to accept a 660 credit score and I'mtalking about personal credit or higher.
(25:48):
in some cases, there's some really creative ways to structure the loan.
If someone has a business partner, maybe there's a way to average those credit scores.
But typically it's going to be financials and projections.
the business...
you know, the resume, a personal financial statement, you know, your profit and loss andbalance sheets.
(26:10):
So it means that that business needs to come into the conversation with a very organized,you know, data room with all their financials ready to go.
That will speed the process up tremendously to have that.
That's great information, Sarita.
That's good to know.
Now, where can people find you if they want to work with you?
(26:32):
Where do they find you?
Absolutely.
So you can email me or you can call me.
I know I'll be sharing my information.
We'll have that in the notes, all your information, but how do you prefer to be contacted?
(26:52):
guess I should say it.
Wonderful.
So if you're watching this video interview, please scan the QR code and you are welcome tojust schedule a funding discovery call with me.
I typically spend 20 minutes learning about you, the business owner, and your goals.
And then we can talk about what that game plan needs to look like.
(27:14):
And simple.
And from there, we move forward with implementing the plan.
Wonderful.
Thank you so much for taking the time in your super busy afternoon to come and speak tome, to the listener of The Brave New Wealth.
And Sarita, I will see you very soon.
Come and join us for the next time.
(27:35):
Thank you for having me, Juliana.
Thank you for being here.
Thank you for listening to this episode of the Brave New Wealth Podcast.
I am really glad that Sarita Mitchell was willing to come on the podcast and share alittle bit about her journey, her expertise, reach out to her if you need guidance for
(27:55):
your business in the business loan area.
This podcast is
Sponsored by Engineer Tax Services.
If you are a real estate owner, real estate investor, reach out to us.
If you are a CPA, an advisor with clients who have real estate, we want to help you takeadvantage of all the tax incentives available in the real estate area and beyond.
(28:20):
So check out our website, look at our service line.
Also, if you enjoyed this podcast, make sure you leave a comment, like, subscribe, and Ihope I will see you next time.
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