The 3 Things You MUST Do To Capture SBA Loans, In Good Times And Bad

Yooooooooooooooooooooooo hoooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, SBA. Here we are! Thousands upon thousands of small businesses need your help. Where aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaare you?

The Small Business Administration's fiscal year ended in September, showing a drastic drop in 7(a) loan approval -- fewer than half as many loans were approved in 2009 than just two years earlier.

Half. Drat it, that's a lot. Even in a bad economy that's a lot.

So if you feel the pinch of not being able to get SBA loans, you are in good company. My guess is that slews of great small businesses cannot get SBA loans right now. And that's not good.

So what do we do? There are no miracle answers. But when you need an SBA loan, you need an SBA loan, so try some of these:

1. Write a very good business plan. "Spectacular" isn't needed. "Professional" isn't needed, and is often counter productive. But "Good" will get you a long way, and "Very Good" will likely hit a home run. Entrepreneurs have simply forgotten how important written business plans are to banks, and how to write them. So if yours is very good, it will stand on the top of the stack.

2. Get an experienced bookkeeper or accountant to review your projections. Entrepreneurs tend to be optimistic, so get the real scoop from someone else -- and listen to their advice.

3. Document, document, document. Bankers by nature are conservative. It is a gene they carry. That means they aren't going to take your word for much of anything. The more you can document your stats, the better off you are. If you can include testimonials or establish a strong advisory board, those are really big plusses too.

Look to alternative funding as best you can. The more you can garner from elsewhere, the less you have to go begging to the SBA to provide. Odds are that you will still need a solid business plan, but your odds of success increase exponentially as you draw in more sources of funding.