Unveiling the Essence of Entrepreneurial Finance: Ami Kassar and Lynn Ozer on Navigating Challenges and Cultivating Culture

Strap in for a whirlwind tour of entrepreneurial finance with special guests Ami Kassar and Lynn Ozer from MultiFunding. We're peeling back the layers of the economy, finding the hidden truths behind the data, and grappling with the real-world problems entrepreneurs face from supply chain nightmares to pandemic aftershocks. It's not all about the numbers; listen and learn as we dissect the resilience of retail over the holidays and the seemingly insatiable appetite for discretionary spending that defies the odds.

But it's not just the economy we're unpacking. Dive into the heart of what makes MultiFunding tick—a beacon of client-centric culture where honesty and integrity are not just buzzwords, but the foundation stones. Lynn's journey from a rigid corporate life to the refreshing embrace of MultiFunding's entrepreneurial vibrancy paints a picture of a company that's more than just loans and interest rates. It's about empowering entrepreneurs, sharing knowledge, and thriving through the ups and downs with the right people and principles at the helm.

Ami Kassar, author of The Growth Dilemma, guides entrepreneurs on financing, debt restructuring, and wealth creation. As CEO of MultiFunding, he's a nationally recognized speaker, columnist, and trusted advisor shaping the future of business financing.

linkedin.com/in/amikassar
instagram.com/akassar18
facebook.com/akassar
twitter.com/amikassar
youtube.com/@amisights2495

Lynn Ozer, President of MultiFunding, is a strategic financial executive with expertise in small business lending, SBA loan policies, and advocating for small businesses. She excels in leadership, sales, and relationship-building, consistently exceeding goals. As the first woman to chair the board of NAGGL, Lynn remains committed to advocating for small businesses on a national level.

linkedin.com/in/lynn-ozer 
twitter.com/sbaqueen

This episode is brought to you by MultiFunding Business Loan Advisors, Fund Your Vision, Fuel Growth. Go to MultiFunding.com to learn more.

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Transcript

Announcer: 0:00

Entrepreneur, author and financial consultant, Marc Bernstein helps high-performing entrepreneurial business owners create a vision for the future and follow through on their goals and intentions. Ang Onorato is a business growth strategist who blends psychology and business together to create conscious leaders and business owners who impact the world. Founders Forum is a radio show podcast sharing the real stories behind entrepreneurship as founders discover more about themselves, while providing valuable lessons and some fun and entertainment for you. Now here's Marc and Ang.

Marc Bernstein: 0:35

Good morning America. How are you? We are here live, not live. We're actually recording in Philadelphia today, in Bala Cynwyd, beautiful Bala Cynwyd, pa, on a cold winter day, and I say good morning because I hope it's morning whatever time. You're listening to this podcast or show, wherever you are in the world, I hope it's morning with new beginnings for you.

Marc Bernstein: 1:01

I've been thinking on the way into the studio today about the economy and I've had several instances with it over the last couple of days and I observed that if you look at the numbers and you look at the economic numbers in the United States at least, the economy is pretty strong. If you look at the voting polls, it's not strong. The perception is that it's not strong. If you talk to individual business polls, it's not strong. The perception is that it's not strong. If you talk to individual business owners, it really varies.

Marc Bernstein: 1:29

I have a manufacturing group I was with yesterday and almost every owner had a slightly different perception of the economy, because they have to look at world events. They have to look at what's going on in their industry. They have to look at supply chain and all different kinds of issues. They have to look at what's going on in their industry. They have to look at supply chain and all different kinds of issues. So it occurs to me that you know the economy, the whole idea of judging the economy by numbers may almost be a faulty mechanism, or at least a deceptive mechanism, and I wonder what you think about that, Ang.

Ang Onorato: 2:08

And then I want to ask our guests today what they think of it. You know this is a topic I've been talking about with friends and family since the holidays, where we've been hearing for many years now that even before COVID, that the retail space, traditional shopping malls, are going away right and they're closing in record numbers and online. You know whatever and I'm not a big Christmas person, you know that but the few malls that I did go to this year for Christmas, I could not believe how crowded they were. I mean, it was been years since. I remember having not being able to find a parking spot again and just the long lines and it just.

Ang Onorato: 2:38

I don't know if that was because people were excited to be out and about, but I came home with a perception that said I think people have more discretionary income that they're willing to spend right now that we're admitting, or at least you know. I don't know what's driving people, but it was just something that was really palpable for me and I thought I don't know, these numbers might not be exactly what's happening. The malls look robust and people are spending money. Who knows?

Marc Bernstein: 3:00

Okay, so our guests today are Ami Kassar and Lynn Ozer of Multifunding. I will formally introduce them in a minute, but either of you, whoever wants to go first, tell us your thoughts on this, ami.

Ami Kassar: 3:16

Lynn's pointing at Ami. I think the economy is just really difficult to read these days.

Ami Kassar: 3:20

I think we are living through an unprecedented time of what I call COVID dominoes. There's no time in history that I'm aware of where countries around the world, including us, printed trillions of dollars to keep people alive, to keep people off food lines to, et cetera, et cetera, to keep banks solvent, and it created a huge shock, not just financially, but socially and culturally and politically, and it creates so much unpredictability that we're still living through. And so I just try to keep my head down and keep moving forward, because there's so much noise out there that it's very difficult to read.

Marc Bernstein: 3:59

So you think this is unique to this time. The only thing I would say is if you go back to 08, 09, the great financial crisis which had ripples all around the world, you know it was similar. You know it was a long time before we could figure out what was going on, and it seems like these events are occurring more often than they had in the past. I don't know if that's just perception or that's reality.

Ami Kassar: 4:21

I just don't know if there's a playbook for this. I would not want to be the Federal Reserve right now.

Marc Bernstein: 4:25

Right, sure Right Would not want to be Jerome Powell, right yeah.

Ami Kassar: 4:29

I just don't know how you, I mean. Sometimes people ask me when I make presentations around the country. I mean what do you think interest rates are going to be next year, right?

Marc Bernstein: 4:45

Well, you never know that, but, especially now, you wouldn't be doing this. If you did, I'd be lying on the beach, so with that. So since you mentioned that, that you speak around the country, let me formally introduce you and your partner, lynn. Ami Kassar is founder and CEO of Multifunding and the author of the Growth Dilemma, and he has earned a national reputation as a thought leader in business finance. As he mentioned, he's an in-demand speaker, trusted advisor to growth-focused business leaders. His work has helped create tens of thousands of jobs. He gives back to the entrepreneurial community through free webinars, consulting, masterclasses, and I'd be remiss if I didn't say he's the president-elect. He's the president now of EO of Philadelphia and I am a member and Ami, in fact, was the one who inspired me to join EO, which is a great organization, and he's a regular. He's featured in national media, including the New York Times, huffington Post, wall Street Journal, entrepreneur, forbes, fox Business News, et cetera. He's advised the White House Federal Reserve Bank Treasury Department and he speaks a lot about credit markets, markets, and he talks a lot about entrepreneurship.

Marc Bernstein: 5:50

Lynn Ozer, who I've known even longer than I've known Ami, is a personal friend, as is Ami, and she is who I think I found out. Ami coined this. I thought I did Not really, but I heard she was known as the SBA queen and she's a strategic, highly accomplished financial executive with vast expertise in lending and training, and she trains aspiring lenders on SBA loan originations policies procedures. She really knows more than anyone else I know about the SBA and besides, omni as well, of course and she was the first woman to chair the board of the National Association of Government Guaranteed Lenders, naggl, and she continues to instruct lenders for the NAGGL and many others in the industry.

Marc Bernstein: 6:43

And I remember when you were president of that. I remember the fun you were having with all that. So they are here today and we want to really tell the story of multifunding AMI's story, really from the beginning. You know your life and how you got to found multifunding, how you got together with Lynn and what's happened since then, and then we're going to talk about challenges in the future and before you know it, the show will be over, because the time runs really fast on this show. So tell us, ami, about your humble beginnings and how you got to where you are today.

Ami Kassar: 7:21

So I used to have a big fat corporate job before I started multifunding. I was a chief innovation officer for the largest issue of credit cards to small businesses in the United States. We had a million customers, about 1,000 employees and a billion dollars worth of market cap, and we completely decimated in the Great Recession. Before it was my turn to be let go, I had to help let 960 people go hands down, the toughest professional thing I ever went through and never hoped to go through again. And it wasn't a surprise. My turn came on a Friday and I was terminated by the bankruptcy trustees and I started multifunding on Saturday, sort of saying never cry with spilled milk.

Ami Kassar: 8:07

What I wanted to do is build a service that business owners and entrepreneurs could, in a completely transparent manner, find out the best loan options and alternatives for them, for their growth aspirations and their plans. And a little green-eyed and naive, we started our revenue. In the first year it was $13,000. It took 10 or 11 months before we closed one loan. And here we are today February 1st, we'll have our 14th birthday.

Marc Bernstein: 8:38

You talk about your revenues today compared to where you were. Stop a little bit. I'm sure it's a it's up a little bit. I'm sure it's up a lot more than a little bit.

Ami Kassar: 8:47

Last year we did, I think, about $110, $115 million of SBA 7A loans around the country and we expect to significantly increase that this year, full disclosure, our business March Forward.

Marc Bernstein: 9:03

my LLC is a new business. I'm a co-founder and partner with my partners and multifunding did our funding both for the business and for our real estate, which is still under construction, by the way. So we're still living out of our Zoom machines at home, whatever devices we're on. So obviously you had a challenge that brought you into the business. What kind of challenges have you had in the business along the way, ami?

Ami Kassar: 9:32

Well, you know, I like to say that building a business is like running a. I used to say it's not a sprint, it's a marathon, but I don't like that comparison anymore. It's more like running a what is the word? A triathlon? Or when you go water, bike and running Ironman, ironman, yeah, and there are going to be times along the way where you're going to stop and vomit and think you're not going to survive and you're going to go through some ups and downs and changes of terrains along the way.

Ami Kassar: 10:04

So of course, there have been different challenges as we've moved forward, but I think what holds us together and why I feel so honored to do multifunding, is that the core vision of who we are and our purpose, which is to do right by entrepreneurs and treat entrepreneurs as we would want to be treated and to never BS anybody, is just as true as it was in the beginning as it is true today. And we have and continue to manage to uphold those principles as we've grown and we will continue for as long as I'm in the reign of the company. And we have and continue to manage to uphold those principles as we've grown and we will continue for as long as I'm in the reign of the company.

Marc Bernstein: 10:48

We've never spoken about this, but that's very similar to my business, in fact, which we don't usually talk a lot about on the show, but the same kind of thing. We're very client-centric. We're ultimately about getting the client what they want, without any preconceived notion of products to sell them or services to offer other than planning services, and you know. So I completely get that and I think that's been a strength of ours as well, through different economic environments as well. So I completely get that, and you guys do serve, and there's always a need for your services throughout any kind of economy, which is the other thing as well. So let's talk about how Lynn joined the business.

Ami Kassar: 11:27

So I was lucky enough to meet Lynn early on and convince her to have coffee and lunches with me a couple of times when I needed someone's brain to pick. And when we started we didn't know really anything about SBA lending and we it was a few years ago I forget, were you doing more than SBA lending back then?

Marc Bernstein: 11:49

Were you just doing small business loans? We?

Ami Kassar: 11:50

still are not exclusively an SBA. Again, we're not a lender, we're an advisor and a broker. So our promise is that we're going to give you the best solution, whatever is for you in the market. In our work today, that lands up being the SBA about 95% of the time, but we're not exclusively an SBA shop. When we started, like anyone, we would take anyone for a client. We were trolling the Internet for clients. But our SBA expertise has certainly learned in our focus as we've come to learn that how excellent a product and the suite of product is with the right lender for a client. And how long has it been Lynn Like three, three and a half years now, I can't remember.

Lynn Ozer: 12:37

February 1st will be three years. Oh wow, the anniversary.

Marc Bernstein: 12:40

Don't forget that day.

Lynn Ozer: 12:41

Thank you.

Ami Kassar: 12:43

And Lynn was going through a career transition and I said is there any way I could convince her to join multifunding? That seemed like an impossible task and usually when I decide that I want to try to do something that seems impossible, I go for it and I'm successful a lot. And hi, lynn.

Marc Bernstein: 13:02

How are you? That was a good catch, because I was surprised too. It was pretty cool. So, hi, lynn, hi, what do you want to say about yourself?

Lynn Ozer: 13:11

Well, I'm very happy to be celebrating my three-year anniversary and you know they say timing is everything and exactly that's what happened. And, as Ami said, I did meet him when right when he was starting his company, which quite frankly was a really difficult time at the beginning of the recession. But when I think back on it, on some levels it was an excellent time because SBA really is counter cyclical to the economy, is counter-cyclical to the economy. We do much better when the economy's not as good Not that it's not helpful all the time it is, but it's really better because when the bank's credit boxes shrink, the people that fall off the center of our box get larger. So we have a big box that does SBA lending, but there's even things SBA lending can't do, so that box is pretty fixed. But then when the economy's bad, we do seem to get better and more customers in the beginning.

Lynn Ozer: 14:17

But back to when I was joining AMI I was. It was during the pandemic when my job was eliminated after like 40-some years of running SBA lending departments and I was going through a big change and I was mentally unprepared for it. But fortunately enough for me, I did have job offers to start other lending companies and local banks, which was flattering. But you know, I had been spending some time with Ami. I think he actually called me to do his podcast or something. And I said, oh, as soon as I'm, you know, unrelated to this bank, I'll do anything you want. And we kept meeting in his brand new offices and he goes well, what's it going to take for you to come work for me? I said, oh, I don't know. I mean, I needed to think about it, but anyway, it was through the years I had spent some time in Ami's office and I was always like, wouldn't it be nice to work here? You know, there's like no rules.

Announcer: 15:22

Look how they're dressed.

Lynn Ozer: 15:23

They're having fun. They're helping people, no more corporate structure.

Lynn Ozer: 15:28

There was no corporate background, but anyway, the timing was right. We worked out a deal and he said to me listen, I know you want to spend your whole summer at the beach. He goes, you can spend your whole summer at the beach and have this job. I said, okay, where do I sign? And there wasn't even anything to sign, which was even more fun. So here we are three years later and it's been nothing but wonderful. At the time, I think AMI was trying to expand more the AMI sites or our webinars and our training, and it was right up my alley because, as Marc said, I've been involved in the National Association of Government Guaranteed Lenders forever, where I do training, and instead of training lenders, we could just flip that and train entrepreneurs on the benefits of SBA lending. And boy it's so rewarding to see what we can do and it's fun.

Marc Bernstein: 16:23

Well, I know you've told me how much fun you're having and how much you're enjoying this, and this is just in time for a quick commercial break and we'll be right back.

Announcer: 16:31

Since 2010,. Multifunding has helped businesses achieve their biggest growth goals through creative and personalized funding solutions, including SBA loans and other funding options. Our team works with entrepreneurs to expand their businesses in ways they never thought possible. We leverage loans and other funding options. Our team works with entrepreneurs to expand their businesses in ways they never thought possible. We leverage our relationships with hundreds of lenders across the country to find you the very best business loan available. Benefit from our team's diverse experience and robust network to fund your next great idea. Create wealth, build a legacy and make a measurable impact. Call or email us for a free consultation at 800-276-0690 or info at multifundingcom. Everyone has a story. We want to hear yours.

Marc Bernstein: 17:32

We're back on the air with Ami Kassar and Lynn Ozer and Ange. Honorato and Ange, I know, as Lynn was talking about the environment at multifunding, I know you have questions around that.

Ang Onorato: 17:40

Yes, you know, culture and leadership is my favorite topic. Yes, you know, culture is one of my culture and leadership is my favorite topic. But I also have to say that I am also a recipient. My business received an SBA loan two years ago and it wasn be, you know, as robust in terms of how to run our business, how to scale it, how to get the support and the money that exists. And it can be a very scary thing when you sign on the dotted line.

Ang Onorato: 18:15

I got the loan and now, what right? How do I make sure I don't screw this up over the time? So so, with that, you know, I think that it's also really important to have a company and a culture and all the people that the touch points that your clients might be interfacing with, to give not just good information but to hold them when they're nervous and they're fearful about taking out a big loan. So tell me how you have built the culture over 14 years, especially, ami, because I also come from big corporate and then did the entrepreneur thing. So how have you built a culture that is, you know, supportive of that, taking processing, maybe from corporate and bringing it into a way that serves, you know, your client base?

Ami Kassar: 18:54

now, so I think it's more art than science and it's evolving, but if I think what holds it together is what I say is, building a company is hard and difficult, and If the company is not being run and lived according to the values that I want it to run by, then I might as well go back and work for the man or the woman, and so we work diligently to find people that fit within who we are and what we want to be. And what's interesting about multifunding is that, with one or two exceptions, people either never leave or they last like two months, and so if you're a great fit and you fit in, people don't want to leave.

Ami Kassar: 19:52

Or if it's a bad fit or not a connect you're typically gone pretty quickly, and I think that says something about it. The other thing that I think is just true in our blood. There's plenty of adjectives to describe this, but we totally live by a no-jerk rule.

Ang Onorato: 20:17

I need to write that one down.

Marc Bernstein: 20:18

I have other words that I could use.

Ami Kassar: 20:24

We're on the radio, I'm going to be on the radio, but we don't have employees who are jerks. We don't have banks who are jerks. We don't take customers who are jerks. We don't have partners who are jerks and we've fired a bunch of people over the years. If you act like a jerk, we don't do them out. We think that what we do is super important and hard and if people just don't treat each other well, we throw them out of our ecosystem super fast.

Lynn Ozer: 20:57

That's brilliant.

Marc Bernstein: 20:58

That's great, lynn. Do you have any comments on that, because you've been in different types of cultures than this in the past?

Lynn Ozer: 21:04

Yeah, I've had my share of jerks in my life, but going from corporate to entrepreneurial is a huge switch. I've been fortunate enough to work with entrepreneurs throughout my entire career and have always loved entrepreneurs and the entrepreneurial spirit and the passion. And I do believe that entrepreneurs are business artists. I mean, that's the way it is. They're just as creative as you know painting and sculpting and music and so forth but it's in their passion for their business. And then, when I came to multifunding, everyone is passionate about what they do for the company, whether they're on the marketing side or on the loan side, the technical side, which is, is more where I hang.

Lynn Ozer: 21:56

But the people are really, really smart and they just really care. I think that's what it is. I mean, there's never a client who doesn't know that they're being very well taken care of. And I think that that comes through in everything that we do and it comes from Ami, and Ami treats everybody like he wants to be treated and you know, it doesn't really seem like there's much of a hierarchy. Everybody just seems to be kind of flat and Ami floats around in between everyone. But it's not. Everyone loves what they do and that's really why I think it works so well.

Ami Kassar: 22:42

Sorry, but it's not. Everyone loves what they do, and that's really why I think it works so well. Sorry, mark, go ahead. We care about people, right, and if you don't and I think Adam Grant has a book called Givers and Takers or Give and Take, I don't remember exactly what it's called and we're a culture of givers. Takers don't last in our company. They don't make it. And we're a culture of givers. Takers don't last in our company.

Marc Bernstein: 22:58

They don't make it so, ami. It's a great testament to the culture you've built. So, speaking of entrepreneurship, you know I love EO. I'm a member of EO, but I'm also a student of the strategic coach, who I'm sure you're familiar with, dan Sullivan, and I ask a question on the show, which I don't always give credit, but it's now called the Dan Sullivan question, which is a three year vision question. So if we were, if we were sitting here January 20, 27, which we may well be, and we're looking back on the last three years what would have to happen, ami, for you to feel and you can talk about business, you can talk about personally what what would have to happen for you to feel that that was a successful three-year period in your life?

Ami Kassar: 23:44

It sort of reminds me a little bit of the question. I did something like I don't know why, but like the Titan 100 Awards or something in Philadelphia, and they asked me to do this video interview and they said who's your business hero? And I don't think they knew what to do with my answer because it didn't make it to the main screen. But I said it's the guy at the Exxon Mobil in our neighborhood who I dropped my cars off at. There's no question of trust and I just drop the keys off. He doesn't have to tell me what's wrong with the car and when they call me to tell me it's ready, and I pick it up and I pay the bill and no one ever thought that I got screwed and that's my business hero. And that's how I think people feel about multif-funding today. And if people feel that way for the next three years, as we continue to evolve and grow, great, it's harder as the company builds and grows to keep that culture. But I'm determined to do my best to do it.

Marc Bernstein: 24:48

So your three-year vision is maintain the culture.

Ami Kassar: 24:50

Anything you'd add to that, anything in terms of growth expansion, I'm sure, we're going to grow and expand and try new products and do new things. We are going through growing pains right now. We've added five people in the last six months, so we've gone from 11 to 16. Okay, that's, that's a lot of pain, okay, and so figuring all that out and how to integrate them and this and that and the other, and we'll continue doing it. But I don't know specifically if in three years we're going to be, we might still be 16 people, we might be 30 people, we might be 100 people, we might do 300 million, 700 million, a billion, I don't know. But as long as we uphold our principles, it will be good.

Marc Bernstein: 25:30

Well, it's worked for you so far, so I'm sure it will continue to work for you. Well, one last question, because we're almost out of time. Believe it or not, if you were giving advice to your younger self, what would you say to you?

Ami Kassar: 25:46

Just why I think I'm exceptionally lucky. And again, it was sad when the big corporate job I had blew up and I'm sorry for all the people it hurt but I would have probably done that for the rest of my life because it was so easy and so comfortable. But if you find something you're passionate about, I don't think I would want to build a business like making shoelaces or something. It just wouldn't be fun. What I feel so lucky about is to have build a business like making shoelaces or something. It just wouldn't be fun. What I feel so lucky about is to have found a business that my passion in life is helping entrepreneurs and I can do it, you and me both, and Ange for that matter.

Marc Bernstein: 26:30

Real quick, Lynn, what would you? We have very short time, but what would you say to your younger self? Would you have gone into entrepreneurship earlier?

Lynn Ozer: 26:38

It's so funny because I always thought that I did want my own business, and I wanted to do that when I got out of high school and my parents forced me to go to college.

Lynn Ozer: 26:49

So um and get it and, and you know, have a major. And then I. It was just a long story about why I ended up doing small business, but it's just so. Sometimes you just think things happen for a reason and I would tell my younger self don't sweat it, it's all going to work out. And I feel blessed that I've had a career that I've been passionate about and it never felt bad to go to work. That's great.

Marc Bernstein: 27:15

Well, listen this has been a delightful show. Great to have you both here's great. Well, listen, this has been a delightful show. Great to have you both here. We probably could do more and maybe we'll do a part two someday, but in the meantime, thanks for being here. Thanks everyone for listening, and see you next week on Founders Forum.