Strategic: adj. : Related to the identification of long-term or overall aims and interests and the means to achieve them.

Banking: noun. : The business conducted or served offered by a bank.

Many entrepreneurs have no idea what a strategic banking relationship. Most think that it is having a banker that will help them with financial services and always say “Yes” to a loan request. This is to a STRATEGIC BANKING relationship. This is a preferred vendor relationship.

For some entrepreneurs, this may be all that they are looking for. But for those entrepreneurs who feel they deserve better…. It is out there, you just have to find it. A good commercial banker is one that has the honor of guiding many companies though different business challenges. This experience can be so valuable to an entrepreneur as they face the challenges and uncertainty of business life.

But having the experience of guiding entrepreneurs and coupling that with the ability to apply that experience, strategically are 2 different things.

I cut my teeth in strategic planing in one of the most stressful environments imaginable – in the US Army. First, in the planning and execution of the 2003 invasion of Iraq; then again in 2005 on a deployment to Afghanistan; and finally again in 2008 (after leaving the military for a few years) in another deployment to Iraq.

Check out the video below, as I explain how my military service has prepared me to guide entrepreneurs, and help them transform their banking relationship form preferred vendor status to STRATEGIC BANKING: