When he started a t-shirt business in his dorm room, Blake Milam had no idea he was really building a multi-faceted business that would help other entrepreneurs — he just wanted an outlet for his creative talents that would also bring in money. 

Milam originally founded his t-shirt printing company, Guapaholics, from his college dorm room in Clarksville, TN. Like most entrepreneurs, he had to be scrappy. “I would screen print in the living room and dry shirts in the oven,” he says. As sales grew, he invested profits back into the business. 

While “guap” is a slang term for money,  Milam uses it as an acronym for “Generation United Around Profit,” adding that “everyone must make a profit to survive.”

Like many small business owners, Milam has faced intense challenges, and one of the most serious came in the form of a deadly EF3 tornado that ripped through Clarksville in December 2023, damaging hundreds of homes and businesses, and taking the lives of at least 7 victims. 

Milam’s recording studio, which was housed in his cousin’s apartment, “got demolished” and he had to “start all over as far as recording and buying cameras,” he explains. 

Shortly after the disaster, FEMA and the U.S. Small Business Administration were in Clarksville offering help, and Milam applied. “There was a lot of information they needed,” he explains. They asked if his business was incorporated. They wanted tax returns. “I’m good at keeping documents,” says Milam. “So I had all the documents that they needed.” 

He was prepared in another way, he says, with the business credit history he had been building with the help of Nav. “I had already signed up with Nav,” he says. As a result, he had two tradelines reporting to his business credit profile. 

Milam uses Nav Prime to check, build and monitor his business credit. Nav Prime provides his business with a tradeline submitted monthly to major business credit bureaus. He also uses the Nav Prime Card* to manage his spending, which provides a second tradeline. 

The first time Milam applied for an SBA loan, he was turned down due to lack of trade credit references. This time around, his credit was stronger, and it made a difference, he says. 

“When the SBA looked at my business, they actually saw that I was making on-time payments and I had some tradelines. So, that was able to get me to the next step to get a grant,” he explains. He quickly received a $5,000 grant that he has reinvested back into the business. 

Another tool Milam uses regularly is Nav Cash Flow Health. It helps him keep close tabs on his cash flow. “It motivates me,” he says, because it reminds him how important it is to stay focused on marketing and sales when cash flow takes a dip. “It’s just user friendly.” 

Milam’s grandfather taught him the value of hard work. At a young age, he’d help him chop down trees, and watched him loan money to others while keeping careful records of payments and interest. Working with his grandfather, he says, learned the value of a dollar.

Milam is taking several steps to continue expanding his business. He’s created Pro Prints to provide screen printing to other businesses and he’s bidding on government contracts at a nearby military base. One of his next goals is to get into a commercial space, and to purchase a commercial automatic screen print press. 

He also provides marketing services, including videography and business coaching, to other businesses. He continues to work on building his business and his business profile to give him as many options as possible. “Nav Prime gives me an extra level of credibility,” he says. 

Milam is also dedicated to helping his community, by teaching other business owners how to start a business and establish business credit like he did. “I want to be an example to my community,” he says. “We’re all capable of great things,” he says. “We just got to have a plan.”