Run to Help

I am an aspiring runner, somewhat out of necessity. I turned 40 this year, and we recently had our fourth child (yes, I have done the math on how old I will be when the little man graduates). I still have a bit of “baby weight” remaining and need to drop it. As I was struggling through a recent run, Thunderstruck by AC/DC was next up on my iPod. I love the sound of Angus Young jamming away on his guitar; it always releases a bit of adrenaline for me. It helped me finish out the run and reminded me of how much I enjoy working out.

 As I was running, it led me to think a bit about what I love in my job. As a commercial banker, what I enjoy most is helping the people I come in contact with who have a need. These are two instances that came to my mind:

1.  A client I brought on recently had a variety of small business administration (SBA) loans and all of the loans were scheduled to be repaid rather quickly. The income statement said he was doing well, but his cash flow was tight and he was always up against the top of his line of credit. After meeting a few times to understand his situation and what he was trying to accomplish, we re-allocated his debt against his various assets, eliminated the SBA loans from his debt structure, and had a plan in place for future growth. Shortly after coming to the bank, business was strong enough that we were able to help him expand his building and acquire some additional equipment to be more efficient.

2.  A former client I was meeting with had tremendous opportunity to grow, but was challenged by not having a strong enough management team behind him to capitalize on the growth opportunities. A week later, I was having lunch with a relatively new contact who was interested in buying a company, but was a bit torn on what sort of company to try to acquire. Based on his indecision, I mentioned the opportunity with my former client. He was incredibly intrigued! I introduced the two individuals to each other, and fortunately it worked out that they hit it off and teamed up. The two people together have helped the company to thrive.

In both of these cases, I did a relatively modest amount of work to help both of these companies take another step forward.

I truly enjoy helping people and get a great deal of satisfaction in being asked for assistance — especially when I am able to deliver some solution!

Will Deppiesse, CTP, is a Commercial Lender at First Business Bank. Contact me at [email protected] or 920-257-7802.