Personal Equity to Finance Your Dreams and Grow Your Business
A Personal Equity + Financing Case Study
This is a Personal Equity (PEEQ) and Custom Capital Case Study from one of our very successful United States community members: Faith Geiger, LMSW, founder of her own agency: TULLA. We'll be sharing case studies of how Noumena products and services are working in your lives, starting with PEEQ to build your scalable business and fund your business growth. Our financial expert team has a high touch level of commitment to make sure you get the specific support and capital you need, on the terms best for you not just today, but in the long run.
Our team sat down with Faith to talk to her about her experience with Capital Quotient, Personal Equity, and financing.
Noumena: What is your dream that needed funding to grow?
Tulla's mission is to Liberate the Human Spirit. Our vision is: A world in which the human experience is deeply enriching and full of love, creativity, and joy, allowing the full expression of one’s potentialities.
What is your scalable business model?
Online learning courses for personal and professional development, and train-the-trainer methodologies that can be licensed by organizations to use for internal training and development.
How did you put together your business plan?
First, I stayed hyper-focused on the service offerings and their impact on the client. I also shared past success stories to set the stage for the financial request.
The most compelling part of any business plan is our personal story and commitment to the work and the problem your service or product solves – how we improve lives through our offerings.
In my case, I like to focus on the possibilities the service creates for the client.
I also had to ensure that I could back up my business plan with a track record of success and why I am uniquely qualified to do this work in the world. I wanted to show the financing and underwriting team that I was a good steward of my business and clients, demonstrating that I would also be a good steward of the loan.
Finally, I used the book Get Backed to identify key information areas that were important in creating a story about the business model, market trends, and goals.
How long were you working for yourself before you felt you were ready for financing? How did you know?
I launched my first company in 2017, sold it in 2021, and in 2022 I felt ready for financing. I have “boot-strapped” the business until this moment. I knew I was ready for financing when I realized that the only way to scale (with a little more ease) was to get a loan. I was losing cognitive horsepower by putting pressure on myself to do it all (work on and in the business). The financing is out there, so I might as well put other people’s money to good use and relieve some of the pressure I felt to do it all!
What did the Capital Quotient process and receiving your PEEQ valuation of $1.25M mean to you? How did it affect how you see yourself as a founder?
Completing the process was like a vitamin d boost for my sense of self and a wonderful way to look “inside” and reflect on my entrepreneurial journey. I am always thinking about the future, so reflecting on what has brought me to this moment was an enriching experience.
As a coach and therapist, self-inquiry is an essential part of the change process, even if it’s to change your thought patterns. Taking time to look inward and highlight my accomplishments was a great way to change my thoughts from “I have so far to go” to “Wow - look at how far I’ve come.”
Talk to us about taking risks - what did you think about risk previously and its relationship to your ability to grow your business and wealth?
Candidly, I was so focused on managing the risk related to my reputation (ego) vs. focusing on the risk associated with growing and scaling the business. Said another way, I was psychologically and emotionally focused on managing the risk of failing instead of the risks I needed to take to grow my business and wealth.
In the early years of starting my first company, I rigidly focused on working "in the business," which blocked me from being able to plan for the future and, as such, made it challenging to design a scalable model.
I now see risk as a necessary part of growth, even though it still feels uncomfortable.
Once you were ready to expand from "in" to "on" your business, how was the experience working with the Noumena team through the Personal Equity and Financing process? Any particularly noteworthy learnings or surprises along the way?
My experience was great because the Noumena’s mindset and approach to financing really resonates with me which is more important than the mechanics of the terms/transaction. I could have taken a traditional approach, but I am not a traditional thinker and, well, some traditions need to be refined and improved to meet modern-day society. I learned that the Noumena team is in place to meet the emerging needs of freelancers, and to give this population of people access to resources that would typically be unavailable in a traditional model.
My biggest surprise was the terms of the financing agreement which focused on the person being successful, first, and the loan repayment second. While both are equally important, I feel like the Noumena team leads with a human-centered approach which is absolutely essential to me and the work I do. I have interacted with about 10 different people from Noumena and they all made me feel like I was important and part of their team!
Were you offered any other funding options? If not, why did you choose Noumena?
I had not started my search for financing and was hesitant to do so until I met Noumena.
I choose Noumena because of their human-centered approach to financing and the fact that they are finding a new model for financing.
I am all about change in a positive direction, especially if it expands financial access to more people!
What are you going to use the capital for?
Course curriculum design for online personal and professional development courses. I also needed funds to pay for a trademark attorney and legal agreements that would protect my IP.
What advice would you give someone considering external finding to grow their business?
Money and financing can be very sensitive topics for many people, including myself. I did not grow up in a household that taught me how to have a healthy relationship with money, so whatever you do, make sure you understand your relationship with money and ensure that you select financing partners who have your best interest at heart because the growth game can be hard, you don’t want a financial partner to make it even harder. Align yourself with people who care and want to see you soar.
The legal info:
PERSONAL EQUITY VALUATION (”PEEQ”) IS CURRENTLY IN BETA TESTING. YOUR PARTICIPATION IS VOLUNTARY AND CREATES NO OBLIGATION TO NOUMENA PARTNERS, INC. (“NOUMENA”), AND, IN TURN, CREATES NO OBLIGATION OF NOUMENA TO YOU. IT IS CURRENTLY THE INTENTION OF NOUMENA TO FINALIZE THE PEEQ PROCESS AND POTENTIALLY ENABLE PARTICIPANTS TO CONNECT WITH CAPITAL PROVIDERS BEGINNING IN JANUARY 2023, ALTHOUGH THERE ARE NO ASSURANCES THAT THIS TIME FRAME WILL BE MET, OR OF THE AVAILABILITY OF CAPITAL PROVIDERS.
NOTWITHSTANDING ANYTHING HEREIN TO THE CONTRARY, THE INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN AND PROVIDED AS PART OF ANY PEEQ IS FOR ILLUSTRATION AND DISCUSSION PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT INTENDED TO BE, NOR SHOULD IT BE CONSTRUED OR USED AS FINANCIAL, LEGAL, TAX OR INVESTMENT ADVICE OR AN OFFER OR A SOLICITATION OF AN OFFER TO PROVIDE CAPITAL. THE INFORMATION PROVIDED AS PART OF ANY PEEQ IS INTENDED ONLY FOR THE PERSON TO WHOM IT IS DELIVERED.
NOUMENA MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN RESPECT OF ANY PEEQ, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, FITNESS FOR PURPOSE. THERE IS NO GUARANTY THAT THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IN ANY PEEQ IS ACCURATE AND/OR COMPLETE OR THAT IT WILL RESULT IN ANY OFFER TO PROVIDE CAPITAL OR THAT ANY POTENTIAL SOURCE OF CAPITAL WILL NOT WANT ADDITIONAL INFORMATION IN ORDER TO MAKE AN INVESTMENT DECISION. THE PEEQ IS DESIGNED TO BE AN INDICATIVE MEASURE OF THE CUMULATIVE EARNING POTENTIAL OF A SOLOPRENEUR AS OF A POINT IN TIME BUT IS NOT A GUARANTEE THAT ANY SUCH VALUE WILL BE ATTAINED OR THAT CAPITAL PROVIDERS WILL BE AVAILABLE, OR IF AVAILABLE, THAT AN INVESTMENT WILL BE MADE, OR OF THE NATURE OF THE TERMS OF ANY POTENTIAL INVESTMENT. A PEEQ MAY VARY OVER TIME.
