Nelson, business 'hero,' testifies

In her testimony before Congress this morning, Michelle Nelson described how she got creative with credit to keep business moving.

Nelson, CEO of Blue Strategy + Creative Intl., accepted an invitation from U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Longboat Key, to talk about the challenges faced by small businesses in the downturn. And many of her comments focused on an issue that impacted many Gulf Coast businesses in 2009 — access to credit.

Her business' lack of access to credit was the “largest obstacle” created by the recession, Nelson told lawmakers.

“In good economic times, we planned for the cyclical down times of the economy,” she said. “What we did not anticipate was that the banks would take back our credit lines and double our interest rates.”

The solution: create relationships with vendors and clients that in some ways replaced those credit lines.

“We extended credit to our clients for our services, so their businesses could continue to thrive. We shouldered the burden of our clients' financial limitations by allowing them to make payments over longer periods. We, in essence, became a bank funding the ecommerce we needed,” Nelson explained.

And the decision to take on some financial risk appears to have paid off. The company actually grew its client base, and helped other businesses survive as well.

Click here for a complete version of Nelson's testimony from this morning's events.

From Tuesday:

Michelle Nelson, CEO of Sarasota's Blue Strategy + Creative Intl., will testify before the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday, May 26, to discuss strategies she employed to make her business successful.

U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Longboat Key, extended the invitation to Nelson, as part of Congress' celebration of National Small Business Week. The hearing at which Nelson will appear is being called “Heroes of Small Business.”

“Small businesses play an important role in creating jobs and growing the economy,” Buchanan acknowledged in a release. “As the CEO of a successful marketing firm, Michelle can shed light on what is required to be successful in today's economy.”

Be sure to visit Review.net again tomorrow for Nelson's testimony, which will be made available online immediately following her 10 a.m. appearance.