I am the owner of a small business which I started in 2004. I am really struggling financially. I mortgaged my home for the start up financing and re-mortgaged in 2006 into a subprime adjustable loan and put all of my personal financing resources into the company to keep the business going, thinking that I would be able to obtain small business financing later. With the nation?s financial crisis, my credit rating decline, and the housing market crisis, my options for obtaining small business financing seem to be non-existent. I?ve gone to my bank asking for help but can?t really get anything tangible except to contact SBA which just refers me back to SBA Lenders.

The challenges seem to be that every business lender will only finance based on a personal guarantee. The problem with this is that I have poor credit?not necessarily because I haven?t been able to pay my obligations but because I owe so much money because I put every personal resource into the company, and can only show actual income from my regular job.

I am working on fixing my subprime mortgage and personal credit situation and am waiting to see what options are open to me with the new programs to help with mortgage, credit problems, and small business help but I am finding it very difficult to find any information.

Company Background: We roast coffee and market almost primarily to non-profit organizations. We giveback 20% of the net proceeds from our coffee to the farmers who grow, pick, and process our coffee. We giveback 10% of the net proceeds from our coffee to our Customer Organizations for Community Outreach and giving. We also create additional fundraising for our non-profits. In 2007 the company had over $250,000 in gross sales. In the current economic downtrend and without any operating cash to grow the business sales have dropped to an estimated $125,000 for 2008. We are a very small grassroots company, mostly volunteer based. Orders are internet based and our customers pay by check (30 day net) or via Paypal.

I?m looking for any information or advice that could help me continue my business.

Thank you for taking the time to listen to my story.