Category: Business Owner Stories

Nav $10,000 Small Business Grant Winner: English for a Lifetime

Nav $10,000 Small Business Grant Winner: English for a Lifetime

Learning English can be a hurdle that hurts immigrants socially and economically. In an effort to change that, Dr. Joel Floyd founded English for a Lifetime, a school that helps immigrants master the English language for personal, workforce and career development purposes. The most recent winner of Nav’s quarterly $10,000 Small Business Grant, Dr. Floyd will use those funds to help build a computer lab and to continue expanding to additional locations.  Eventually he hopes to teach and inspire a… Read More
I Was a Victim Of Business ID Theft: It Can Happen to You, Too

I Was a Victim Of Business ID Theft: It Can Happen to You, Too

There have been 1.2 million complaints of EIDL loan identity theft as of August 2021, according to a report from the Office of the Inspector General titled Top Management and Performance Challenges Facing the Small Business Administration in Fiscal Year 2022. That means over a million business owners believe their business identity has been used to apply for COVID relief loans administered by the Small Business Administration.  I’m one of those victims. Here’s what happened to me, along with steps… Read More
Small Business Financing is Hard: Here’s How It’s Getting Easier

Small Business Financing is Hard: Here’s How It’s Getting Easier

“It was so quick and easy, I was honestly shocked,” says Lolita Carrico, CEO of Forward Media & Marketing in Santa Monica CA, of her recent experience getting financing through Nav's instant financing offer. “To my ultimate surprise, we were funded the very next day,” she marvels.  With the introduction of instant financing, Nav has dramatically streamlined the ability for business owners like Lolita to access capital.  Nav has partnered with Enova SMB to offer instant lines of credit for… Read More
Nav Small Business Grant Winner: Welly’s Real Fruit Ice Cream

Nav Small Business Grant Winner: Welly’s Real Fruit Ice Cream

Turning a converted horse trailer into a New Zealand-style ice cream shop has proven to be a winning recipe for Welly’s Real Fruit Ice Cream, a Port Angeles, Washington-based business that has been awarded $5000 in Nav’s quarterly Small Business Grant Contest.  Cofounders Lillie and Jacob Phillips started planning their business at the end of 2020 after years of saving and brainstorming business ideas. Lillie had spent a year living in New Zealand where she first tasted New Zealand-style real… Read More
Passion and Persistence Propels Herban Frequency to Win Nav $10,000 Small Business Grant

Passion and Persistence Propels Herban Frequency to Win Nav $10,000 Small Business Grant

“It’s so much more than the food. It’s about the love,” says Alexis Allen, founder of Herban Frequency. Blending her background in the music business with her love of creating delicious vegan food, she is growing a business featuring unique flavors. Herban Frequency is Nav’s $10,000 Small Business Grant winner for the fourth quarter of 2021.  “As a true music head and professional audio engineer for the last decade I utilize my extensive background in mixing records and approach cooking… Read More
Roseland Born Logistics: Nav’s 2021 Q3 $10,000 Grant Winner

Roseland Born Logistics: Nav’s 2021 Q3 $10,000 Grant Winner

Starting a business is challenging and takes a lot of courage. Starting a business in the midst of a global pandemic takes the courage and vision like that of Mark Davis and Chris Banks. They started Roseland Born Logistics LLC in April of 2021 because, like a lot of other small business owners, they wanted to be masters of their own destiny and help people with their transportation needs. So far, they have self-funded their startup (named to remind them… Read More