Kerry Lutz and Herman Dulce, Jr. discussed the critical need for funding in business survival, highlighting that 80% of businesses fail within five years due to insufficient capital. He shared his personal journey into the funding sector, which led to the establishment of Bellison Enterprises, through which he has facilitated over $100 million in funding and helped more than 100 individuals transition from employment to entrepreneurship, resulting in the creation of seven millionaires over the past decade. Dulce emphasized the advantages of business credit cards, including higher credit limits and introductory 0% interest rates, while underscoring the necessity of a solid business plan and responsible debt management to avoid negative impacts on personal credit. He also discussed the potential benefits of transferring personal debt to business credit to lower interest rates and enhance credit scores, advocating for financial literacy as an essential component of business success and inviting attendees to reach out for further financial guidance.
Find Herman here: Bella Sloan Enterprises
Find Kerry here: FSN and here: Inflation.Cafe
80% of businesses fail within the first five years. One of the main reasons to go to the lack of capital or lack of funding, so here are the limits on enterprises we like to teach and help. Small, medium, large businesses, startups get the funding that they need so that they can thrive and survive. You're listening to Carrie Lutz's Financial Survival Network, where you get valuable information you just can't find anywhere else. To thrive in today's trying times, you need the Financial Survival Network. Now more than ever. Go to financialsurvivalnetwork.com and get your free newsletter and gift, Financial Survival Network. Now more than ever. And welcome. You are listening to and watching the Financial Survival Network. I'm your host, Carrie Lutz. Well, if you're looking to fund your business, if you're looking to start a business and get it funded, then you're going to want to hear from my next guest, Herman Dolce Jr. Herman. It's great to have you on the show. So in this day and age, all we hear about is funding, campaign promises, all that. But in the end, funding your business is really up to you, isn't it? Absolutely. Absolutely, Carrie. Thank you so much for having me on the show. First of all, I really appreciate it. But yeah, 80% of businesses fail within the first five years. One of the main reasons because of lack of capital and lack of funding. So I'm here about what's on enterprise is we like to teach and help. Small, medium, large businesses, startups get the funding that they need so that they can thrive and survive. All right. So how did you wind up getting into this kind of niche field here? So short story made long. My wife and I have been married 11 wonderful years. My wife, Janelle, we actually took a baby moon and that's a trip that you take before your first kid comes, right? So had Italy and I had to take time off of work to do that, to take a full two weeks. When I got back, I was telling my brother how disappointed I was because I wasn't able to spend time with my wife afterwards. And he told me, unless you own your own, you'll never be free. So start something. And I was like, what am I going to start? And he was like, that credit you do, stop doing it for free. He was like, they're going to pay somebody. They might as well pay you. So I got a couple of my friends and my family. I fixed their credit for free, posted it on media, got my first clients, went on YouTube University to hold my craft just a little bit more and fell into the business funding space. I learned a lot about it, brought that back to the clients who already got their credit fixed. And then when you start teaching people how to get 20, 30,000, 40, 50,000 in their business name and it doesn't report to the personal, well, then they do those kind of crazy from there. All right. So when you say funding, is this debt equity? How's this work? So this is debt. So just like you can get credit cards in your personal name, because, you know, in American Nobody really teaches you financial literacy, that can be that can be get double edge shorts. Debt was created credit was created to leverage to buy assets or things that make you money. That's its purpose. That's how Instagram will start. It's Facebook, Google, these big companies, you leverage debt to do that. So we teach you how to get the debt in the business name. And then they can invest in their real estate deals, their startup company, t-shirt company, tech company, whatever it is, we got a lot of people from different walks that come to us. And they have a great idea, but they just don't have the capital to do it. And we love helping people get that startup capital instead of using that 10 grand to spend on Black Friday with consumers on, we teach them how to use that same money and invest it. So that's kind of the Robert Kiyosaki, good debt, bad debt. I never said it is something that helps you buy something you really can't afford. And good debt is debt that helps you buy assets that generate cash flow. Exactly, right on the nose. All right. So tell us some of your success stories, love to hear. Oh, wow. So we've been doing this for eight years. And our company Belletstone Enterprises has proudly, we have proudly funded over $100 million to our clients. So we've done really well over the past 10 years. And through our financial literacy company Belletstone Academy, because people like, Oh, can you teach me what you do? We have helped over 100 people with their full time jobs, started a businesses. And we have created 7 million years in the past 10 years. So the resume is really good by people who have taken this information, this education, and have executed on it. And the rest is up to them. They've been doing really well. That's a great record there, to be proud that. So what's the interest rate? So your client's paying for the debt. So the benefit of what I teach is the business credit cards that they're getting, whether it's Chase American Express or smaller credit unions that are in your area, Philadelphia Federal Credit Union. These interests based on these credit cards, we like to teach get cheap money, right? So these are 0% interest for up to a year. So it's a great startup capital that is minimal risk, minimal interest on them. Now, of course, when the 0% runs out, it jumps up to 18, 90%, 20%, depending on your credit score. But by that time, two options. The first option is your business is thriving. You should have paid that money back for the 12 months. And the second option, we teach them how to get even more business credit cards so that they can transfer, do a balanced transfer to another 0% interest credit card. So you buying yourself a little bit more time. Okay, we'll buy that. And so business credit cards, are they different than getting consumer credit cards? They're much different. They operate the same, same swipe, same 0% interest, but you get the same reward, same cashback. But the main reason why I push this and I teach this is for two main reasons. Number one, the credit limits are a lot higher on the business side. So like I have a best buy personal and the best buy business credit card. My best buy personal credit card is about 8,000. My business credit card is about 40,000 because lenders understand that businesses need more capital. So the limits are a lot higher to start with on the business side. And the second most important part is that the debt does not show up on your personal credit report. That's the real beauty of it. So I did a real estate deal with a line of credit that I had. And it was on the business side, we maxed it out to $50,000 to put a down payment and purchase a property, right? Got her money lending to do the rest of it. But that 50,000 didn't show up on my credit work. So my 800 credit score was intact. And I was able to still do what I needed to do without it personally affecting my credit. But we definitely like to hear stories like yours. Yeah. I mean, what's the downside of business credit? Then do you pay any higher rates when you actually have to start paying or you look to refinance at that point? You've gotten enough. Enough credit there, I guess, that you've been able to get on your foot, like you said, and start having a business that they cast. Are we making some money? Yeah, that actually makes money. So absolutely. Well, I've been doing this for over 10 years. So it's not just getting the credit is having a business plan, a marketing plan, and the team around you to help you turn that debt into cash flow. So whatever debt we get, we turn it around pretty quickly. But I like to stress this and I think you're alluding to it being responsible with the debt that you get. Because just like consumer debt could eat you alive, business credit could eat you alive too. Because if you don't pay the debt, charges off, goes into collection, they then put it on your personal credit profile at that point. So anything you want to be responsible with the money, have a plan with it, and execute on it efficiently. So there's a reason that debt is a four-letter word, right? Very good carry. Absolutely. Because the problem with debt, as opposed to equity, is debt's got to be paid back. And if you've got a decent credit score, you can do it. But how do you switch all your consumer debt to business debt? Is there a way to do that? You could actually do that. A lot of my mentees have gotten pretty savvy with it. So say for instance, there are a couple of thousand in debt on the personal side. If you're eligible in the debt on the personal side, it's not too crazy. You will get funded on the business side. So what they do is, just like any credit card with zero percent interest, they balance transfer the debt from the personal to the business side. So now their credit usage decreases even more significantly. Their credit scores go up. And now you've actually helped yourself. It is the debt is a lot cheaper. You're not paying that twenty percent that was on the personal side. It's on a zero percent interest credit card. Interesting. Interesting. All right. Well, I know you people out there are going to want to talk to Herman. Herman, how do we find you? How do we connect with you on the web? Well, we would love to be a service to anybody that's looking for financial literacy at Bellos on Academy, or they need to get their credit together, or they need funding for their businesses. They could reach out to me at info at Bella Sloan Enterprises.com. That is Bella B-E-L-L-A Sloan, S-L-O-A-N, enterprise is E-N-T-E-R-P-R-I-S-E-S, info at bellosoneenterprise.com, or you can follow me on all social media, TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter @ation_CEO, that is H-A-I-T-I-A-N_CEO, where we teach these things every single morning. Apple says 6 AM, information that people could use for free to go and execute and start themselves on a better life. All right. Well, Herman, it's been a pleasure. We really do appreciate you coming on here, because this is, like you said, financial literacy or financial illiteracy is by far the most destructive kind of illiteracy that we have. Right? Andrew, we have that. So anything you can do to help people really understand, to help you understand better, is really important. You'll find a link to Herman's site in the show notes to this interview on financialsurvivalnetwork.com. While you're there, please sign up for your free newsletter. If you've got a question for Herman or myself that we can help you with, please send me an email to kl@carrilettes.com. Herman, sure we'll have you on again. Thanks for stopping by. We'll talk to you soon. Absolutely. Thank you so much, Kerry. Thanks for listening to Kerry Lutz's Financial Survival Network, your solution to today's trying times. For the latest, go to financialsurvivalnetwork.com. Financial Survival Network. Now, more than ever.
