some agricultural property just by going to five different banks. The first banker laughed him out of the office, the second banker listened to his story for five minutes and the third for ten minutes. By the time he got to the fifth bank, he knew what questions the banker was going to ask and was ready with some solid answers. The banker was impressed and he got the loan. In fact, for this very reason, its not a bad idea to try a longshot bank first and the most likely one last. (See Chapter 10 for ideas on how to present your business plan to bankers.)     Example:Sue Lester tried all the usual sources to get the $20,000 she needed to open a piano school. One person she talked to was her Aunt Hillary, who had loaned her money to go to school several years before. This time Aunt Hillary said, "Sorry, but no." One afternoon a few months later Sue ran into Hillary at her nieces birthday party. Hillary asked how she was doing with plans for the school. Sue told her she was still short $10,000 and was going to try the Small Business Administration as soon as she made one or two changes in her business plan. Aunt Hillary asked about the changes. Sue told her that an experienced teacher had suggested she charge slightly more per hour, start with a good second-hand piano instead of a new one and try to work out a referral arrangement with a local piano store. This way she could pay herself more salary and wouldnt need to take another job to make ends meet. Hillary asked to see the changes when they were complete.     After Sue showed the revised plan to her Aunt Hillary, she offered to lend her the money. Sue was both delighted and curious. When she asked, Aunt Hillary said there were two reasons for her change of heart. First, she was pleased that the more realistic sales projections left Sue enough money to live on so she would be able to keep her enthusiasm for the hard job of creating a new business. Second, she had sold a small piece of land for more than expected and now had the money to lend. F. Secondary Sources of Financing for Start-Ups or Expansions     Lets assume you have tried all of the primary sources of financing small businesses at least twice, and have been turned down each time. Is it time to head for the showers? Not if you really want to start your business. If everyone turns you down, you have no choice but to get creative. Remember Knute Rocknes exhortation, "Winners never quit and quitters never win." Here are some suggestions.     1. Small Business Administration     Many years ago Congress recognized both that small businesses provide most of the employment and growth in the country and that they have a great deal of trouble borrowing money because large corporations tend to hog too much of the loan money from banks. As a result, Congress created the Small Business Administration (SBA) and several other government organizations specifically to help small businesses compete with larger corporations for loans.     While the SBA can make direct loans to small businesses, it usually guarantees loans from commercial banks. The SBA will guarantee 85% of a bank loan up to $750,000 if the loan meets SBA criteria. These criteria are not as difficult as some readers may think. Typical requirements include that the borrower show profits for at least two years, that the borrower work in the business full-time and that the borrower have some real or personal property available to offer as collateral.     Some bankers are strongly interested in working with loans guaranteed by the SBA since the bank can make a fee by processing the loans and later selling them to other financial institutions. Since the banks fee is based on the size of the loan, such banks are typically only interested in processing loan requests for more than $50,000.     Many banks treat SBA loan origination as a profit center and aggressively seek out borrowers.