Taking Credit
Should you pull out the plastic to finance
your startup?
Who: Mike Nikolich, 47, and Susan Nikolich,
49, husband-and-wife founders of Tech Image Ltd., a technology
PR firm in Buffalo Grove, Illinois
Year started: 1993
Startup debt: Secured $100,000 in credit, but only used $10,000
2005 sales projections: $2.5 million
Mike says, "I was not able to
secure a commercial line of credit off the bat, [so] my wife
and I applied for 10 different
cards. When a commercial bank approved me for a line of credit
[in our third month of operation], we cancelled all the credit
cards. I completely forgot about [them] until a credit report
revealed that two of the cards were still active [with no balances],
and we quickly cancelled those cards. Since I'm uncomfortable
with debt, it might seem out of character for me to use credit
cards to finance a business. Quite honestly, those credit cards
bailed me out at a time when banks wouldn't consider loaning
me the money. I'd do it again, and I'd do it the same way."
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