What it Takes to Secure & Quickly Pay Off a Business Loan

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Introductions

(0:05) Thank you, Gabriela, for joining me today. 

(0:08) Today I have here with me Gabriela Wong, who is co-founder and co-owner of Innovative Gears, (0:14) a Fiji-based family business with her and her husband Ivan. 

(0:18) So today I'm going to interview Gabriela on how she was able to secure a business loan, (0:24) manage it and pay it off quickly.

 (0:28) Before we begin, Gabriela, can you tell us a bit about yourself and (0:32) your business, just for those that have no clue what you do and what you're all about? 

(0:40) Hi, so my name is Gabriela, I'm 34 years old, I'm married with three children and (0:46) I currently run Innovative Gears, a logistics company based in Suva, Fiji. (0:52) And we haul domestic, commercial, dangerous goods, anything that fits our two-ton truck as well as (0:58) trailers so we can haul up to four tons. (1:02) We have one truck, we started off with one truck in 2017 and through COVID and all the (1:08) challenges we've slowly established contracts and now we have drivers for two trucks.

(1:15) So we have a two-ton and an eight-ton truck which we are currently operating from Suva. (1:23) Okay, great. So we'll just get straight into your business loan side of things.

 (1:31) So what was the loan for and can you just tell me a bit about the term and you don't need to (1:38) tell me who you got it from, but just a bit about the loan itself. (1:43) Okay, so the business loan we received during COVID was for the operational and running costs, (1:48) for wages, because fuel also, so our truck is an LPG gas so the gas, (1:58) price of gas was going up and up and up during COVID. So we had to deal with that (2:06) and alongside the truck I just had a newborn baby so for us managing a small family and the (2:15) truck was a challenge.

We went from 2017, we were running full throttle and in over 100k but (2:30) when COVID happened it, our incomes dropped all the way down to say $500 a week. So when that (2:40) we reached out to the various commercial entities and they provided an 8k loan to help us (2:48) sort of stay on path with expenses.

Okay, so for just the viewers, can you share, (2:56) especially for those that are starting out in business and those that are currently running (3:00) their small business, can you just share with them the steps you took to pay off that loan? (3:07) So the steps I had to take to pay off that loan, so the opportunity, we were given a grace period (3:17) of two years, so we had to look at it backwards rather than going for the 8k.

We had to break (3:28) down the 8k amount over the next 24 months for two years so that when we hit, when we finished (3:37) the grace period, we would have already been ready with the payments or even double it. So (3:45) by the time, so we applied for the loan in 2021 and we started paying it off in 2023 (3:52) and instead of our projection was to pay it off for five years and that was allowed by the (3:58) commercial entity, we paid it off within a year. So we worked very, very hard. 

(4:07) We looked for various ways to change how we were servicing the clients. So instead of (4:18) showing up one time, we would show up 15-20 minutes early instead of just making an (4:27) appointment online and showing up. We sort of sent out reminders a week in advance, a day in advance, (4:34) just to give the clients the benefit that we are serious about what we do.

We're not like any other (4:41) truck. You just go to the market in Suva and pick up.

Innovating to Deliver Exceptional Customer Service

And I remember in the second year, (4:52) we were challenged with getting insurance. 

So we looked for contracts where it was (5:00) dependent on insurance because once you get insurance, you get the contract and the contract (5:07) is, it shows cashflow and it's very consistent. So that also helped us branch out into other (5:15) avenues rather than phone call provider service. We looked for contracts, we applied for tenders (5:23) and received our tender in 2022.

Okay. So you found that by being more innovative, by (5:30) diversifying, that helped you increase sales and contributed to paying off your loan quicker. (5:37) Yeah.

So I attended a lot of online courses, a lot of online networking training sessions with (5:46) various businesses who knew about these opportunities. It didn't come to me from (5:52) the newspaper or from online feedback. I had to go out and sort of, because the trucking industry (6:01) is very different.

They don't just post everything on the newspaper. It's by word of mouth and it's (6:06) a cutthroat market. So I reached out to even our competitors and asked what sessions are (6:13) they attending? What trainings are they undergoing? And they said, Hey, look, we just go for coffee (6:18) and then we just meet up and yeah.

And we also follow through like when we say we're going to (6:26) meet up and then we say we're going to meet up again the next time we actually follow through (6:33) and remind each other whether we want to or not. So for me, that was very uncomfortable and (6:39) I found peace in being uncomfortable with the other business owners and yeah, just (6:47) sort of taking the next step with whether I saw it develop in my business or not. (6:53) Not all changes helped us along the way.

There were a few struggles, but we've managed to (7:01) deal with it. Okay. Would you be able to give me just one or two of the challenges that you faced (7:07) along the way and how did you manage to overcome it? So a lot of the contracts they see when we (7:21) go for the interview, even though I'm the owner, I can see their body language is facing my partner (7:31) director and I take him in case that happens.

Oh, because you're, is it because you're female? (7:42) Yes. And he directs them to me by saying she's the boss and she's the one who actually drives (7:50) the trucks and she's the one that's contacting you and has been emailing me. So that's one of (7:55) the challenges I used to face.

And now people are realizing women drivers are more safer and (8:06) more courteous. Yeah. Yeah.

And you follow through. And is that when you do that? (8:14) Yeah. No, I developed my hashtag when I saw this Chinese lady in New Zealand driving a semi-trailer (8:21) and I'm Chinese.

So I decided to, yeah, it just came to me all of a sudden one day and I said, (8:28) you know what, I'm going to make a hashtag because it's the trend at that time. Hashtags (8:33) were a big thing coming out. So that also helped me stand out.

It's great. And I have a bit of, (8:39) yeah. So with that hashtag, I faced a lot of, a second challenge was the criticism online.

 (8:48) There was a, so marketing online, there is a good side to it and there is a bad side. So someone, (8:56) I think who might've been a competitor was questioning why I use Chinese and why can't, (9:01) why use lady and why can't I just use truck driver? And I said, and in my mind, I was trying (9:09) to think of a good way to respond without being offensive, but I didn't have to do anything. (9:14) The public did everything and they destroyed this lady all the way from across the country, (9:20) who she doesn't know who we were and how we hustled.

So that's the second challenge I faced (9:29) when reaching out into different avenues of marketing and social media. (9:37) But bad advertising or bad posts is free advertising for my company because following (9:43) that I got a lot of requests for appointments, questions, and people get motivated too. (9:52) And they come your way to use your service.

Yeah. That's great. That's a good lesson for everyone (9:58) to learn.

Don't necessarily get yourself down when there's bad posts because you have clients (10:04) that who read those bad posts and had great experience with you will come in and basically (10:10) have your back, you know, and then in your case, you'll, you've got more clients just (10:15) from that one bad post, which is which is excellent. Did you seek any professional (10:22) advice or support during, you know, your, your journey in trying to, you know, pay off your debt (10:30) and all that? And did you have to sacrifice anything personally to help you pay off that debt? (10:40) We sacrificed our Monday, Thursday and Sunday evenings for six months. (10:49) Okay.

It's good for viewing. We don't get to see our children from 5am to the next day of 5pm (11:04) because we're on the truck, we get off and then there's like a two hour, we have to clean the (11:09) truck, we have to stop take, we have to take the rubbish out. So by the time we've been doing all (11:16) that, you can actually see them across the street and they're getting ready for school.

And that's (11:21) what we had to sacrifice was because we are a family oriented business. It's yeah, that's one (11:31) of the challenges we faced previously, but that's no longer an issue for us now. Yeah, because that (11:38) that you just needed that short time to get to where you need to be.

And you did that. Yeah. (11:43) Great. 

Yeah. That you got, you know, with such a huge family base, you got many babysitters (11:50) that help. Yeah.

One, one advice you'd like to give the viewers out there. (11:59) What advice would you like to share with them? I so one advice, if you can have a man and a woman (12:14) team on leading the team, that's very, it's very well balanced. (12:22) Men are strategic thinkers and women are more operational.

So when you have that hand in hand, (12:29) it's sort of, it flows after some, after you hit the speed humps. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. I can agree (12:37) for me and my husband. Yeah.

I don't know how to put this in a line, but keep on going. (12:46) Yeah. Yeah.

Well, thank you very much for taking that your time out today from (12:52) driving your truck and, and having this short interview with me. (12:58) Thank you. You're welcome.

Wish you all the best and we'll keep in touch every second week. Yes. (13:04) All right.

Thank you. Thank you, Gabriella.