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mmmm 7C BUSINESS/IC)* C^atlotU $ot Thursday, November 10, 2005 More blacks take advantage of business loans Continued from page 8C CommunityExpress loan. Montgomery said the process was “relatively simple” with minimal paperwork. ‘Tou don’t even have to show a business plan,” Montgomery said. “All you have to do is show that you pay your bills and have invested ten percent into your business. The rest is pretty easy It’s good for peo ple with decent credit who want to start a business.” CommunityExpress loans are more liberal than most conventional loans and much easier to attain “These pro grams will consider start-up businesses, which is rare,” said Vince Holloman, director of the Small Business Center at Central Piedmont Community Collie. “This is a wonderful resource for small business owners.” Financial strains are the number one reason most busi nesses fail. Many small busi ness owners find that secur ing loans from traditional lenders can be a daunting, if not impossible task. Lisa Bowers, owner of Loose Endz Hair Salon on Beatties Ford Road, said the process of applying to banks for the funds to open her first salon was “a total disaster.” TiVo, Yahoo join forces Continued from page 8C user base and gain some much-needed new cus tomers. The Alviso, Calif.-based company has about 3.6 mil lion subscribers but it accrued fewer new customers in its last fiscal second quar ter than it did the previous yeai*, according to the compa ny’s financial report released in A\agust. And though the company posted its first prof it in its ^^t-year history during that quarter, some analysts question whether the company can continue to grow as satellite and cable companies develop their own DVR technology that offer lower subscription fees. Meanwhile, Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo, the lead ing destination on the Web, is seeing tremendous growth as more people turn to the Internet for news, entertain ment, communication, and oth^ services. But the Internet giant is also under constant pressure finm rivals Google Inc. and Microsoft Coip. to expand its own offerings. For both companies, TlVo in particular, the ability to let its subscribers access Yahoo’s content finm their televisions marks a signifi- cant development in the com pany’s year-old campaign to expand beyond basic digital video recording services to becoming more of an enter tainment hub, Lichty said. Bringing Internet access to the TV screen is nothing new. Most previous efforts - notably WebTV - were dismal failures. But Lichty thinks the Yahoo-TiVo offering will be diff^:ent. “It’s not about having a Web browser on your TV and hav ing a keyboard on your lap. It’ll stUl be focused on the TV experience and navigating with the remote control,” Lichty said. Flyi files for Chapter 11 Continued from page 8C as an indepaident carrier, the airline’s planes were often half empty despite fare sales as low as $29 one way to some destinations. In recent months the company has drawn more travelers and filled its planes at rates comparable to the industry average. It also earned strong marks on customer service and traveler satisfaction, but the pressure to keep fares low remained intense evai as fuel costs soared. Flyi chief executive Kerry Skeen said the airline suffoed fium bad timing, going inde pendent “in what has been described as the most challenging economic ^viromnent in airline industry history including record high fuel prices and extr^ne revenue weakness. These circumstances have prevented us and virtually aU U.S. airlines fix)m meeting finan cial goals.” The airline said in a news release that it is seeking to establish a court-supervised auc tion to attract a new investor or purchaser. Skeen said in a telephone interview that the company prefers to draw an investor who will keep the airline intact rather than auctioning off the airline’s assets on a piecemeal basis. He said he believes that preserving the air line as an independent low-fare carrier is a realistic option given the "good, loyal fan base” the airline has built in Washington and other smaller markets that had never previ ously had a low-fare carrier. Some of Flyi’s shareholders had argued for the airline to return to its roots as a contract carrier. Skeen said such a move would be risky given the financial turmoil among tradi tional legacy earners. Still, Skeen said “We’re leaking at every thing, and well consider anything that we think adds value and preserves jobs.” Analysts have speculated for months that the airline would file for bankruptcy and its shares have traded at less than $1 for months. Shares closed Friday on the Nasdaq Stock Market at 19 cents. The airline’s two top competitors, United and US Airways, operated under bankruptcy protection for most of Independence Air’s exis tence. The filing occurred in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware. On the Net: wwwflyi/'om Passengers describe pirate attack on cruise ship off Somalia coast Continued from page 8C subsidiary of Carnival Corp. After decking at the Seychelles, passengers boarded two buses for a tour of two of the resort islands and reporters were kept away Most passengers were to continue fi'om the Seychelles to Singapore, com pany officials said, although some who planned to tour Mombasa were to fly there Itiesday aboard a chartered plane. Relieved holiday-makers praised the ship’s captain for foiling the attack that lasted for more than 90 minutes, during which pirates fired their weapons on the bridge and elsewhere in an effort to . cripple the vessel. Some passengers were lucky to escape with their lives, said Charles Forsdick, fix)m Durban, South Afiica. A woman survived an explosion in her stateroom simply because she was tak ing a bath at the time. Others flung themsdves to the floor to avoid bullets that were zip ping through the ship, Forsdick told Associated Press Television News. “I t^ you, it was a very frightening experience,” WWII veteran Charles Supple, ofFiddletown, Calif, recalled by phone after the liner dropped anchor off Seychelles. The retired physician and Worid War n veteran said he started to take a photograph of a pirate craft, and “the man with the bazooka aimed it right at me and I saw a big flash “Needless to say I dropped the camera and dived The grenade struck two decks above and about four rooms further forward,” Supple said. ‘T cotild tell the guy fir ing the bazooka was smil- ing.” Bob Meagher of Sydney Australia, said he climbed out of bed and went to the door of his cabin shortly before 6 a.m. after hearing a commotion outside. ‘T saw a white-hulled boat with men in it waving vari ous things and shooting at the ship - at that stage it appeared to be rifle fire,” he told Aiastralian radio. “My wife said look, they’re loading a bazooka,’ which we later discovered was called an RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) launcher.” “Tha^ was a flash of flame and then a huge boom - a terrible boom soimd,” he said, adding the grenade hit about 10 feet fix)m where they were. The liner had been at the «id of a 16-day voyage fiorn Alexandria, Egypt. Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Monday that the attack ers might have been terror ists. But oth«^ said the attack bore the hallmarks of pirates who have become increasingly active off Somalia, whidi has no navy and has not had an effective central government since 1991. Judging by the legation of the attack, the pirates likely were firm the same group that bracked a U.N.-char tered aid ship in June and held its crew and food cargo hostage for 100 days, said Andrew Mwangura, head of the Kenyan chapter of the Seafarers Assistance Program. That gang is one of three well-c^anized pirate groups on the 1,880-mile coast of Somalia, which has had no effective government since opposition leaders ousted a dictatorship in 1991 and then turned on each other, leaving the nation of 7 mil lion a patchwork of warlord fiefdoms. Somalia’s Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi has long urged neighboring countries to send warships t6 patrol Somalia’s coast, which is Africa’s longest and lies along key shipping lanes linking the Mediterranean with the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean. U.S. and NATO warships patrol the region to protect vessels in deeper waters far ther out, but they are not permitted in Somali territor ial waters. The • International Maritime Bureau has for several months warned ships to stay at least 150 miles away fiom Somalia’s coast, citing 25 pirate attacks in those waters since March 15 - compared with just two for all of 2004. The 440-foot-long, 10,000- ton cruise ship, which is reg istered in the Bahamas, sus tained minor damage, the cruise company said. The liner, which had its maiden voyage in 1989, can carry 208 guests. ‘T had a lot of problems with the bank,” said Bowers. “After doing everything they told me to do, and completing stacks of paperwork the entire process went nowhere.” Bowers applied for loans at several banks and was repeat edly denied, simply because the banks were not willing to lend to start up businesses. ‘T was fiustrated. I couldn’t understand why it was so hard for people to Jfind help getting their businesses off the ground. They wouldn’t even let me get my foot in the door,” she said. Bow«^ learned about the SBA program fix)m an acquaintance who had previ ously been approved and sug gested she apply ‘T down loaded the application online, and in 21 days I had a loan to open my first salon.” Bowers is planning to open another establishment in the future. “Now that I have been given a loan and established a relationship with the SBA, other banks say they are now willing to work with me in the future.” Bowers recommends the pregram to other entrepre neurs. ‘Tt’s a painless process. I don’t even have to worry about my monthly payments, they come directly out of my account,” she said. ‘Tt was just so easy and the people are so nice. They stepped up to the plate and helped me reach my goal and achieve my dream. Everyday I walk through the doors, I am roally proud of what I have done.” The CommunityExpress program is two-fold. In addi tion to helping small busi nesses receive financial sup port, a technical assistance component is added. In order to access funds, borrowers must go throu^i an SBA approved TA provider. This fi:ee consulta tion helps equip business owneiB with the management and plamung skills necessaiy to keep their businesses oper ating. Montgomery, who opened her tile and stone installation business earher this year, said the support she received was a mf\jor help. Montgomery was over whelmed when she realized that she did not have the cap ital to make it througli the first year. She had no idea where to begin, but was referred to \Tnce Holloman, an SBA approved TA provider. ‘'Vince walked me through it all the way He helped me with everything,” she said. “There is plenty of help available to small business es,” said floUoman. “We help them through the entire application process, and afh»r approval we make sure they get the infomiation they need on taxes, marketing and bookkeeping, We provide assistance in about 15 cate- goiies of help topics.” The two SBA CommunityExpress lendere ciurently doing loans in North Cai*olina are Innovative Bank and Business Loan Express Loans are made to minoii- ties, women, veterans, and businesses in nu'al areas. All industries are consideied and start-up businesses can apply Non-profit organiza tions, nightclubs, and gam bling establishments aie inel igible. The two-page SBA Community Express Loan application can be down loaded at www.bxlonline.com. Upcoming Express Loan Workshop dates can be foimd on SBA’s Ti'Aining Calendai* by logging onto WWW. sba. gov/nc. Workshoi) attendees can apply on site. For more infomiation about, the progi’am or how to get started call Holloman at (704) 272-7635. Point your mouse onto the latest news. www.thecharlottepost.com -Say Yes To Success! “Dr. Arrington shows home-based business owners how to add 20-30 people per week, week in and week out without fail, to their businesses. Dr. Carl Arrington, Director of Market Expansion Keep The Door Open One of the biggest obstacles to achieving the success that we may dream of is our unwillingness to accept change. Very often as we discover what it is that we want out of life, we make up in our minds exactly how this success has to happen. But as many of you who have been on the journey to achieve your dreams know, our plans for success do not always work out according to our schedule or our plan. We may believe that we will achieve our goals in three months. But as time moves on and some things do not turn out the way that we may have thought they would, we realize that it may take a year to achieve the level of success that we had in mind. Others also discover that although you may try to plan for every kind of situation, something comes up that completely catches you off-guard. Some people become very discouraged when their jdumeys to success take a different turn from what they expected. They may even consider giving up on their dreams. When they look at what has happened to them, they think that all is lost and that there is no way for them to get what they had been working towards. However, as we travel the road to success, we need to keep in mind that success often comes to us in ways that we may not have imagined. We 'sometimes forget that the dreams that we may have for ourselves can actually be achieved through a variety of ways. For example, a person may desire financial success. He may see this happening through starting a certain kind of business. But as it often happens, the business may not go very well. Indeed, it may very well fold. The owner of the business may become so discouraged that he decides to abandon his dream. However, someone comes along and offers him another way of reaching his dream of financial success. But because it is not what he had in mind at first, he turns it down. Later on he realizes that someone else took up the offer and was able to achieve the financial independence that he had wanted so badly. The problem was that he refused to be open to other ideas. He closed the door on his own success. If you want to be successful, keep in mind that the avenues we take are only channels of our success. The success that we may desire can come through a many different ways. Learn to keep an open mind for opportunities for success. If you do not, you may just be closing the door on the very success for which your heart has longed for years! Discover the Secrets to Success! Contact Dr. Arrington for details. 704-591-1988 cla(& maximumsuccess.com S^aximum (Potentid, Inc... /Tappity into the fou/er of you! .Name_ City I.NF0R.MATI0.N REQUEST FOR .MORE DETAILS » FAX; 704-568-3497 Sireet Address State ZipCode Home Phone Toik Phone Einail Don't Delay, Call Today!
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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Nov. 10, 2005, edition 1
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