Private vs Public Approaches to Success

By Luigi Rosabianca of Shield Advisory Group

On July 26, 1775, members of the Second Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, agreed…

That a postmaster General be appointed for the United Colonies, who shall hold his office at Philadelphia, and shall be allowed a salary of 1000 dollars per annum: for himself, and 340 dollars per an: for a secretary and Comptroller, with power to appoint such, and so many deputies as to him may seem proper and necessary. That a line of posts be appointed under the direction of the Postmaster general, from Falmouth in New England to Savannah in Georgia, with as many cross posts as he shall think fit.

This simple statement signaled the birth of the Post Office Department, the predecessor of the U.S. Postal Service. Our Founding Fathers appreciated the need for an expedient mail delivery service for the promotion of business and communications. Over the next century, the U.S. Post Office was...

One of the most shocking things that small and mid-sized business owners discover – as with talk with them on a daily basis – is that the bank business loan application process is excessively long. We’re talking several months here, not weeks.

What’s behind the massive delay? It’s that banks frankly don’t want to give business loans to small and mid-sized business owners. They want to focus on larger businesses with deep pockets, and of course, boosting commercial and residential mortgages, selling mutual funds and other investments, and promoting their beloved HELOCs. 

Of course, banks don’t want to come out and tell small and mid-sized business owners to take a hike. It’s not good public relations. And so they’ve made their business loan application process excessively, and in many cases prohibitively long. At the same time, they’ve dramatically hiked their business loan requirement criteria, and the due...