My Business Vision Coming to Life

When my business partner and I started Guidant Financial back in 2003, we said we wanted to change the way people view retirement investing. Over a decade later, I believe we were a driving force behind the way self-directed IRA investing (or at least the marketplace) developed.

In August, we sold our real estate IRA (or more specifically, our self-directed IRA business unit) because our vision has changed drastically over the past five years. Up until that point we had helped thousands of entrepreneurs deploy billions into small business and franchising through rollovers for business startups, SBA loans and more. And, we want to double our efforts in small business so our broader vision has become to increase the number of entrepreneurs who succeed in small business. We’re approaching it in a number of ways:

1. Our company culture. We’ve built a strong team of passionate employees who embrace the vision of helping entrepreneurs. So much so that some of them have even made the jump themselves. In fact, one of our former employees used our services to purchase an existing business and left his role in our company to pursue it. We were okay with that!
2. Our presence in the alternative financing marketplace. We’re the leader in rollovers as business startups (ROBS) and undoubtedly the driving force behind the arrangements maturation. I liken it to HELOCs. In the ‘90s, people said “never risk your home to buy a business,” and then it became one of the most common ways people bought them. We brought ROBS to the masses and look at what we’ve done! Over 8500 clients have used our services, $3 billion in retirement funds have been invested and 60,000 U.S. jobs have been created by the businesses our clients have started.
4. Our additional financing services. There are many ways to finance a small business and we work with entrepreneurs to determine how and where they can access the capital they need. Our programs include, but are not limited to, SBA loans, unsecured credit, rollovers for business startups, merchant cash advances, equipment leasing, and asset-based loans.
5. Our ability and desire to expand. Really, we’re just getting started. As the leader of retirement fund financing, we’ve grown (and will continue to) into a full suite firm that offers more products and services. Put simply: We want to make entrepreneurs lives easier.

It’s exciting to start a business, full of ideas and dreams for what could be. It’s intoxicating to arrive at a place that far surpasses that vision, and realize that there is so much more to do.

David Nilssen is the CEO & Co-Founder of Guidant Financial. Read more tips about becoming a successful entrepreneur in his book, Making the Jump into Small Business Ownership. He can be found on Twitter at @DavidNilssen. The advice in this column should not be considered legal tax advice.