I was interested to read that a legislative committee has held hearings on whether it is difficult for Maine small businesses to get loans in the current environment. Here is the article in Tuesday’s Portland Press Herald.
I have written about the relationship that Maine Outdoors and other small businesses have with our local banks in the past. You can see what I said last March here and more than a year ago here. Both of these posts led to me being included in an article in MaineBiz on the topic last April.
The banking industry maintains that there is always funding available for well written plans whenever the topic comes up. As part of my Small Business Seminar for Guides I discuss funding options available. I do know if at least two graduates who have written business plans and gotten the funding they need to start their businesses. That is a very small percentage of my graduates. Given that nature based tourism is frequently brought up as the wave of the future in a bunch of government studies. I wonder if no one told the banks, the future is not really there or that the local banks are simply stuck in an old paradigm and not willing to leave it. I was interested to note that one of the businesses that testified at the hearing that they could not get funding was another guide service trying to expand.
All fascinating thoughts to consider as I begin my annual review of Maine Outdoors and consider plans for the coming year, which just might include trying to expand significantly.
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