Robert and Teresa Norman are an entrepreneurial couple from Brandon, Manitoba. They are looking to make the jump from managing a family owned painting business to start their own picture-framing store. While they enjoy the profitable painting business, they also seek to expand their growth opportunities in both terms of income and challenge. With the thoughts of this still in mind, Robert ran across a small retail store while in Winnipeg called U-Frame-It. From there the Norman’s have been exploring and researching the possibility of opening up their own store.

After evaluating their business decision, the Norman’s decided against franchising from U-Frame-It, mainly due to the franchising fee of $20,000 and the royalties of 10% of sales they would owe. With further investigating and market research, the Norman’s chose to start-up their own framing store. Robert has estimated the start-up cost for their business to be $100,000 of which $25,000 would be directly contributed from the Norman’s to put into their venture. This left $75,000 to be sought after from a bank loan.

Robert and Teresa prepared a projected income statement for their first year of operation and a description of their financial needs for the bank manager, which left him unimpressed. After pleading and some passed time, the manager ultimately granted them the loan. As the Norman’s began the necessary purchases to start their business they realized that they may have underestimated certain aspects of their financial requirements by up to $10,000. The Norman’s are currently in a bind where they are hesitant to go back to the bank, due to the difficulty of obtaining their first loan, but also realize they will have a hard time obtaining the funds elsewhere.

There are several factors based on Robert and Teresa’s backgrounds that could contribute to their success with the start-up of their