SBA Goes Green With Loans for Small Businesses

February 5th, 2009 by Alternative Energy Foundation
http://www.alternativeenergyfoundation.org/releases/2009/sba-green-loans-small-businesses/

Small business owners thinking of incorporating green technologies at their facilities are now eligible to borrow more money to make it happen. The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is now offering special financing to small business entrepreneurs who go green through their SBA 504 Loan Program.

(Vocus/PRWEB) February 5, 2009 — The SBA 504 Loan Program has been assisting small business entrepreneurs for over 25 years by providing fixed rate, long-term financing for the purchase, construction and renovation of commercial real estate. SBA 504 loans provide a source of long term capital with typically only a 10% down payment from the small business borrower. The rest of the financing is arranged by a Certified Development Company (CDC) securing an SBA 504 loan for up to 40% of the project costs and a lender providing the remaining 50% of the project funding.

The maximum amount of an SBA 504 loan is normally $1.5 million unless a project meets a specific public policy goal such as assisting a business in a rural area or a minority, veteran or woman-owned business. If a project meets a public policy goal, then the SBA 504 loan can go higher. The good news is that as part of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, Congress added three new public policy goals to the SBA 504 Loan Program to assist businesses willing to invest in going green.

For existing small businesses wishing to purchase or construct facilities incorporating energy saving technologies or retrofit existing facilities resulting in a 10% decrease in energy consumption, they are now eligible to obtain SBA financing of up to $4 million for the project. The total cost of a “green project” can go as high as $9 million using the new public policy goal since the $4 million cap on the SBA 504 loan represents only 40% of the project cost. Some of the most common ways to achieve a 10% decrease in energy consumption now include improved insulation and lighting, improved HVAC, energy efficient windows and a number of other design features. New energy conservation technologies continue to be developed to make buildings and businesses more energy efficient so even more options will no doubt become available in the future.

In addition, small businesses generating renewable energy such as solar, biomass, hydropower, ocean thermal, geothermal and wind are also eligible to finance their real estate purchase or construction project with up to $4 million from the SBA 504 loan program. Generating renewable energy does not need to be the company’s primary business activity, just a method of meeting its own energy needs. Projects in any industry could, for example, purchase solar panels for their own use and qualify for an SBA 504 loan of up to $4 million.

The last type of small business projects that qualify under these new green business incentives are those small businesses that incorporate sustainable design into their facilities as defined by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards and the Green Building Certificate Institute. Working with qualified architects and engineers to create a “green building” will make a small business eligible for an SBA loan for up to $2 million in SBA 504 financing.

This is great news for small business entrepreneurs who have been considering the purchase or construction of a facility with an eye toward energy conservation. Incorporating energy efficient technologies today qualifies these businesses for special financing now as well as saving money in the long term.

About the National Association of Development Companies (NADCO)

Created in 1981, the National Association of Development Companies is the trade association for America’s Certified Development Companies (CDCs). Certified by the U. S. Small Business Administration, CDCs are community-based economic development organizations that serve their local communities and states, and are dedicated to the promotion of small business expansion and job creation through SBA’s 504 Loan Program. In addition to the 504 program, many CDCs also provide small businesses with access to other Federal, state and local economic development loan programs.

Based in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., NADCO provides legislative and regulatory support for the 504 Loan Program on behalf of CDCs, the program’s lending partners (including first mortgage lenders, attorneys and others allied to the industry), and 504 small business borrowers. For more information, please call (703) 748-2575 or visit www.nadco.org.

 

RISE 2009 – I’m a Session Host

Starting today, there is a great entreprenurial conference, RISE 2009.  I speaking at the conference for two different sessions.  Come out and attend some sessions.  They are free.

Aligning Marketing and Sales in an Economic Downturn – March 3rd

The Impact of Corporate Culture on Performance – March 4th

It’s a great honor to speak.  I’m looking forward to meeting others in the community.  My hope is that I can be a resource to those who attend my sessions.  While I’ll never consider myself a pro at public speaking, I am passionate about small business and entrepreneurship, so I’m excited about my sessions.

See you all then,

Jason

 

About RISE 2009:  From March 3-5, aspiring entrepreneurs may attend free RISE Sessions led by successful members of the Austin business community.  Co-hosted by MPOWER Foundation and the Acton School of Business RISE is a non-profit initiative with no cost to participate.  Through RISE expertise is exchanged as entrepreneurs from multiple industries and backgrounds connect with each other as well as members of the academic, financial, non-profit, and government sectors.  Unlike a traditional conference, RISE Sessions are limited to 25 participants and take place all over the city in areas where entrepreneurs naturally congregate. From board rooms to coffee shops, from office parks to Zilker Park, entrepreneurs gather to learn, share and recharge.   http://www.riseaustin.org

 

Fill Lent with God, not stuff

http://www.statesman.com/life/content/life/stories/faith/02/21/0221lent.html

KESTER SMITH: YOUR WORDS

Saturday, February 21, 2009

 

Why does God hate stuff? That’s the question I was asked once as the season of Lent approached. Lent is a season in which Christians give up stuff for the 40 days leading up to Easter. So the question goes; if the stuff I’m giving up isn’t bad stuff (and, if it is, shouldn’t I give it up for more than 40 days?) then what’s the point of giving it up?

It’s a fair question, and one worth answering with the season of Lent upon us – it begins Wednesday with Ash Wednesday.

First of all, God doesn’t hate stuff. God isn’t opposed to earthly pleasures, in fact he infuses them with a foundation for meaning. Calls to fasting aren’t meant to deny ourselves of physical things so that we can concentrate on “spiritual” things, but so we can redeem the physical things as spiritual things. Food can become more substantive and enjoyable; so can entertainment, relationships, sex and other pleasures.

Going back at least to the time of Augustine is the concept of a “God shaped hole” that exists in all of us. Augustine argued that every human being was created with a place inside that can only be filled by the presence of God. He went on to say that humans make the mistake of trying to fill that hole with other things, the things that make them “happy.”

Blaise Pascal, the French mathematician and philosopher, argued that the God-shaped hole in the human heart is, in fact, an infinite and terrifying abyss that we try to cover over with all sorts of façades. Then when, eventually, a crack appears in the façade, and we see through it the well of eternal nothingness plunging down forever, we hurl ourselves back in horror. We will do anything to fill that empty space.

So we pour alcohol through the crack in the façade in the hopes of filling the abyss and removing the horror. Of course, any recovering alcoholic will tell you this doesn’t work. Not for long.

Sigmund Freud said in “Civilization and Its Discontents” that no mood-altering chemicals ultimately perform this job satisfactorily. For a while, Freud thought that cocaine could safely do this and had to learn the hard way, through his own personal experience, that in the long run it worked no better than alcohol.

So we reach for money or sex or power or security. And we discover, either by witnessing it or through firsthand experience, these things don’t fill that space either.

Only that which is infinite and completely transcendent, Pascal said, could fill such an infinite abyss.

The Bible says that we cannot love both God and mammon. Mammon is just a word for “stuff” or things. God is to be loved and things are to be used. And it is increasingly important that we love God and use things, for there is much in our gadget-minded, consumer-oriented society that is encouraging us to love things and use God.

When Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness (this is where the 40 days of Lent comes from), He was tempted by Satan with provision, wealth and power. The pursuit of happiness. The American Dream. But we are called, as Christ was, to pursue holiness. Jesus’ words to Satan are, “man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” Jesus knows where his blessings come from. His time in the desert has been a reminder of that. He knows to put the giver before the gift.

So, in this season of Lent, we follow the example of Christ in the wilderness and make a conscious choice for emptiness.

Now there are many schools of religious thought that teach an embracing of emptiness as the key to happiness. That we must die to ourselves. That a denial of our physical selves will, in and of itself, redeem our spiritual selves. That the physical is bad and the spiritual is good. That is not what Christians proclaim.

We proclaim the physical and spiritual are connected, and we witness that in the incarnation of Jesus. If we deny ourselves, it is only so we can take up the cross of Christ. If we die, it is only so we can live again. If we embrace emptiness, it isn’t with emptiness as the end goal, but as a means to an end, experiencing the fullness of God. If we stop grasping at stuff, it is so we can grab hold of God.

I encourage you to give something up this Lenten season. Something you really like. Something you’ll miss. Something that you think keeps you from being empty, from facing that abyss. I encourage you to ask God into that time and that place that you normally fill with television or chocolate or shopping. Let this season of Lent be a time when you embrace emptiness in order to better understand the sacrifice of Christ and to be more filled with the spirit of God.

Kester Smith is the pastor for the Immanuel Austin Community (www.immanuelaustin.com) and blogs at www.pastorkes.blogspot.com.

 

What do you want to do when you grow up?

Remember that question from your parents when you were growing up?  I still ask myself that question?  As far as a career, I’m still not sure.  I’ve got lots of interests and have had jobs in many industries.  I have many strengths and have used them in many roles, but I still don’t know what I want to do with my life, with regards to a job.

In the end, it doesn’t really matter what I do for money that’s important.  What do I want to do when I grow up?  I want to have an impact on people in my community, in my family and my day to day life.  Come to think of it, I’m already there and I’m doing it.

I have two kids and a wife that I spend alot of time with.  I’m an active member of my church.  I volunteer to speak at conferences.  I’m active in local politics.  I coach my son’s sports teams.  I mentor at my office (although she may not know it).

In the end, I’ve chosen a life of service and never really thought about it.  The biggest joy I have is seeing others achieve.  That’s not to say that I don’t have my own goals but service is the key to achieveing my goals.

Put more time in with the family.  Put more time in to develop my relationship with God.  Put more time in volunteering in the community.  Giving my time and using my gifts is what I’m here to do on this Earth.

You want to know something?  I actually enjoy it.  Of course, I still need to have a job and want to do something that I enjoy, but even there I serve others.

I remember asking my Dad how to set a good example as a Hispanic man  He said, “That’s not the point.  The point is to do more than you talk about doing and then everyone will see you and not your race.” 

Wasn’t it Woody Allen that said” 90% of life is just showing up.”

What do I want to do when I grow up?  I’m already doing it.  I’m leading by serving.  That’s awesome!

 

The Vision for Central Texas Is Clear

I’ve been meaning to make this post for a while.  My impetus for this post was the breakfast I attended on Wednesday sponsored by the Austin Business Jounal for their Advisory Board for the 50 Fast Growing Companies in Central Texas.  Pike Powers gave the headline talk and posted an editorial in the Austin American-Statesman earlier this week.

The origins of Austin’s high tech economy is the confluence of two things, the University of Texas Engineering Department and its abundance of research and those business people who saw what Austin could be (see MCC and Sematech).  Enter the chip manufacturing industry and job training programs supported by UT and Austin Community College.  It rallied for along time and then eventually the internet boom came to town.  Money and brains stayed and came Austin, only for the internet bust at the beginning of the century. 

The decline of chip manufacturing has been coming for a awhile, but Austin has an opportunity to revamp its tech industry and reinvent itself and save and enhance its culture, by supporting renewable energy technologies. 

Wind, solar, and new battery technology is not just the wave of the future.  It’s here now and if we are to lead then we need to start investing now in training, attracting and supporting business that support those new technologies.

A public-private partnership can’t merely be talk, but it must plan and act together as any business.  The current Mayor, Will Wynn has done well to start some of the initial discussion, but the next Mayor will surely have to hit the ground running.  Brewster McCraken, current City council member and candidate for Mayor, seem to be  of a similar mindset of those who are pushing for renewable energy economy, as per his leadership in the Pecan Street Project. 

This is a great first step, but it’s up to the people of Austin and it’s great legacy of entrepreneurship to step-up to the plate once again and start those small businesses.  That’s what sets Austin apart from other cities, its people.  Smart, creative and determined to make a change in their community.  I can name others cities that share a similar vibe, Cambridge, MA specifically where I lived and went to school, but Silicon Valley and San Francisco have appearance of progressiveness but none of the moxy of Austin.

For it’s size, Austin has the greatest resources available to it.  As for me, I’m trying to figure out what role I can play in Austin’s transformation.  Will I start that great new business?  Maybe?  But I have faith that regardless of where I’m at, Austin will do it’s best to keep on doing the right things.  And that’s not to say that there won’t be challenges, but when you go around town I know that you all have a sense that someting great is about to happen to an already awesome town.

Just don’t take this great town for granted.  Make it better by doing what you do best, whatever it is.

 

social networking

So I’m on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, You Tube and I have a blog.  I use my blog as a journal where I can flesh out thoughts in a more formal fashion and include video.  The post tend to be more personal to me and allow me to explore my own beliefs.  Facebook is what I consider to be an online yearbook of friends from high school, college and grad school mostly.  I post there and my conatcts are updated.  LinkedIn is essentially a professional network that also posts my resume.  Also, good as a job board.  You Tube -  Ihave a few of my own videos.  I’m not sure if I’ll ever be a heavy maker of my own videos, but I do save alot as my favorites and use the interface to post videos I like to my blog and Facebook.

Now for Twitter, I haven’t quite figured it out.  It’s a social and professional network but you have to have a body of work to understand what people are really like and what they are passionate about.  Of all social networking sites, I love to Tweet on Twitter.  Maybe it’s the ease of short messaging and stream of consciousness fell, but I’ve really taken to it.  I can see it’s place to help others understand you and how that may lead to business purposes, but in Austin, it almost seems that who a person is defines your business than in almost any other place theat I have in lived in before.

Did I mention that I love Austin?

 

reflections on our interview for my son’s school

You heard me right!  My son is applying to private school for first grade and we had to interview today.  We also had a to write series of essays as well.

There are no guarantees that he’ll even get in, but the process really does reveal what one thinks is imporant and valuable in one’s life.  I actually liked seeing my wife get emotional about our son’s education and his spiritual life.  If anything, today’s interview was just an affirmation on our view of what our responsibility is to our children.

I believe that our children are a blessing from God and we have the resposibility to educate them so that they can not only be productive members of our community, but also as Christians we are on a mission to make sure that our children are educated about God and his love and will for them. 

I know God has good things in store for our family.  All things won’t be easy and there will be challenges, but in the end there is the hope and promise of God and Jesus that his will be done, so consider everything a blessing be it good or bad in our eyes.

Today was a great day for my wife and I!   Maybe I am growing and maturing?

 

okay…I’m not very good at staying up with this blog

So my life at work is decidedly technology oriented with Salesforce.com, WebEx, Twitter, email marketing and sales ops.  I have a PDA/Cell Phone, laptop and cling on to my iPod.

Whether I’m in the office or out of the office, people can almost always get a hold of me.  I guess that’s the price of success.

So guess what happened this weekend?  I forgot my cell phone charger and I locked up my laptop and went to Fredericksburg with my family for a little wine tasting.  My PDA/phone was dead and at home, so I had a day of silence.

 I have two young kids so my evenings are usually spent tech free but even they know how to use a cell phone and computer.  This time it was whole day unplugged and when I got back to the office, it was as if it didn’t really matter if I had checked in.

All the pressure I put on myself to perform seems to be all in my head.  It’s easiest to see when I come home and my kids just want me to spend time with them.  They don’t care that I’m accessible on the phone or via email.  They just want me to be present.  I’m not saying that I don’t make myself available for my kids or that I shouldn’t be accountible to the employees of my firm, but letting go is sometimes the best medicine for getting back in the game with the right focus.

This realization didn’t just start with this weekend.  Rather, I’ve tried to stop beatting myself up about some of the things I’ve said or the choices I’ve made.  Those things are gone and Christ has forgiven me for those things anyway.

So I live for today.

 

Workout

Squat: 110 lbs + bar
Bench Press: 105 lbs + bar
Row: 90 lbs + bar
Dips: 10, 5, 4 (yeah, that right, I said 10)

 

Been a while

I’ve been lifting weights again over the last two and half weeks and doing pretty well with eating right.

I have a new You Tube channel.  I’m going to start making more videos.