How Ben and Jerry Stayed in Business

February 27, 2018
Mike Dolpies

Over the weekend my daughters found a little stock-pile in our freezer of mini Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream containers.

If you know Ben & Jerry’s… you know the ice-cream comes in small containers, but these containers are even smaller.

My daughter, Marissa said… “These are so cute!” She ate like four of them over the weekend!

It’s OK… she’s more active in two days, than most kids are in a week.

Anyway… Ben & Jerry’s is a big deal.

In their early days they scared the big companies like Häagen-Dazs and then became just as large.

Ben & Jerry’s started as an ice-cream shop selling single scoops in Burlington, VT.

Their first year in business, things were looking bleak in the dead of winter.

If it weren’t for two things they would have shut down and my daughter would not have had Ben & Jerry’s this past weekend…

  • They had a business line of credit. Known as an LOC… these lines are like credit cards but better. For one, LOCs are not tied to your person credit (like many small business credit cards).Sure, LOC’s are backed by your personal credit, but they do not show up on your report as personal debt.  They are tied to your business, and they are secured with business collateral and sometimes they are collateral free.  These lines can be used to supplement cash-flow during downturns.

 

  • The other thing Ben & Jerry used to survive is the power of asking. Things were so tough, they had to ask their local bank to allow them to defer payments until the busier season came.

The rest is history.

What I’m amazed at is how many businesses do not utilize the real business credit that is available to them. I guess, many business owners do not know where to begin.

The best idea is to begin with your bank.

And…a little secret….

A nice clean, tax return makes the application process simple.

About the author

Mike Dolpies Mike Dolpies (aka Mike D.) owns “Ocean View Publishing, LLC” - a diverse media/Internet Marketing and Consulting Company. He started his first business when he was just 18 years old. By the time he was 23 that business had generated well over a Million Dollars in sales and was consistently in the top 20% of its industry. He's the Author of 6 different books. His first book, “Motion Before Motivation, The Success Secret That Never Fails,” became a bestseller on Amazon.com He's been a guest on the Fox Morning News several times and has been written about in many newspapers. His work has also appeared on Entrepreneur.com and Fox Businsss.com

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