At the age of 20, I started my first professional career.   I was hired as a residential mortgage loan officer for a large bank in Illinois, Harris Bank now BMO Harris.  I was the youngest mortgage loan officer they had hired at that time.

I had met some amazing people and worked directly under some of the best management In Chicago.  This opportunity taught me so much about lending, banking, and life.  However, for me, my biggest takeaway was my love for helping people.

Helping people understand something so complex as mortgages, and guiding them to the best available options, is what created this life long passion.

This passion continued and I continued to grow in lending and had worked with some of the most well-known banks in the world. These opportunities allowed me to learn more about banking and other banking products and I was on my way to becoming a well-rounded banker.  Then 2008 happened.

In 2008, banking, lending, and our economy were hit hard by a financial disaster.  The lender I worked for at that time closed immediately.  I went to work with another national mortgage lender and they closed their doors, too.  It seemed that every day another mortgage lender was closing.

Uncertain about the future I joined a fantastic mortgage broker that worked with about 40 banks and lenders.  This provided me comfort.  I knew if some of those banks closed, as a result of this disaster, I could still take care of my clients.

Things eventually stabilized and mortgage lending started happening again but something for me was different. The love for helping my clients was diminishing because of all the changes and regulations put in place post “crash.”

This was not fun for me anymore. I decided to exit the mortgage lending space after 14 years.  What I thought would be a life long career had come to an end.

Unsure what to do I  was offered a position with a leasing company and worked with them for about 2 years.  This company had some struggles and eventually shut down.  I was at crossroads.

Over the next few years, I tried other sales paths including auto sales and furniture sales.  I even managed a bar/restaurant.  I gained a lot of skills and have tremendous amounts of gratitude for the opportunities but something was missing.  I missed truly helping people.

While selling furniture one afternoon I met an individual that was the owner of a business lending institution in my area.  He and I hit it off well and he shared with me about his company and invited me to visit the office.

After that visit, I realized that this is what I have been missing.  The ability to help people find the best funding solution for their needs except it was for business owners instead of homeowners.  I  instantly put in my 2 weeks with my current job and started back in what I love, helping people understand finance options.

I began my journey with this company and learned a lot about unsecured funding options for business owners.  I also learned that there was more to helping business owners than just unsecured funding.  The company I worked with only offered this type of funding and if the clients didn’t qualify for this type of funding they had no other solutions.  I was conflicted.  I wanted to help clients and I knew there were other options for them but this company didn’t offer those solutions.

I discovered another organization that said they were a full-service business lender and I resigned from my current company and accepted a position with this new organization.

This company seemed to have everything that I was looking for to support the needs of my business owners. Things started fantastically and I was helping business owners in ways I didn’t know existed at that time.  Loans were closing and clients were getting funded.

After about 6 months with the company, I noticed that there were some issues with upper management and processing.  My deals were not getting the attention they once did and fundings were not happening.

This was concerning and after about a year with this group I decided to separate from them and continue to help clients on my own with the support from the banking relationships I had made.

I was now on my own and funding deals and helping clients.  I realized at that point that I wanted to start my own company.  So with a little help from my friends and business partners, I decided to incorporate and Avery Funding was born.

My next 6 months were spent finding the right funding partners and banks to support the needs of my clients.  Also, I partnered with like-minded professionals to help me with the infrastructure, web design, and marketing of Avery Funding.

Avery Funding was created so that business owners have a place to see all of the funding options available and understand the good, bad & ugly of the options available.  Unfortunately, this is not a common practice in the funding space.  I have personally witnessed lenders directing their clients to loan products simply to fill their pockets knowing this was not the best option for them.

I believe in relationship funding, not transactional funding.  I want to fund your next transaction, your neighbors, and colleagues if they have needs.  Simply put, I want to grow with you and those in your circle for years to come. That’s why we have so many products and services available to support business owners like you.