Hi everyone,

In July and August we said SBA’s fee break for manufacturers ends Sept‌ 30. This year’s terms do end Wednesday, but SBA has renewed the 0% fee for another year and opens it to more businesses from Thursday.

Two more things: the IBJ wrote about OWN last week, and Bloomington is Thursday, Oct‌ 29, with Bill Black.

Forty Years of Starting Over. Bill Black started out washing airplanes at sixteen and hired a kid down the road when one bucket was not enough. He and his wife bought a restaurant to get out of corporate life, and the IT company that finally worked ran eighteen years before he sold it in 2012. Three months later he started FocusPlanit, which he still runs.

What we’ll get into. Buying a business to get out of a job, quitting a steady job on a verbal promise and what he would want in writing today, the ceiling most owners never get past, and how he knew it was time to sell. Jared moderates.

Thursday, Oct‌ 29 · 4:‌30 to 7:‌30‌ PM

BRU Burger Bar, 229 S Grant St, Bloomington

The conversation starts at 5:‌30, with networking before and after. Food and drinks are included, and members get in free. If you know a Bloomington owner who should be there, forward this.

Make a day of it. CICP’s IN AI Roadshow runs 8‌ AM to noon at the IU Memorial Union that morning. It is AMP Bloomington week and IU Homecoming weekend, so book a room early.

Buy one that already cash flows. That was Matt Truty’s answer to the room on Thu Sept‌ 17. The co-founder of BT Pro Solutions has done both.

If you build. BT was profitable from day one only because he started with clients he had already served. Most founders do not start with that, so list the customers who would follow you tomorrow.

If you buy. A turnaround only makes sense if you believe in exactly where you are taking it, so read three years of statements before you believe the pitch.

Check what the numbers hide. Compare five closed quotes to the final invoices; after closing, he found the business had never billed the full amount of any quote. Then rebuild two years month by month with the one-time deals set aside.

Thanks to First Internet Bank, presenting sponsor, and to Ruoff Mortgage Stadium. Nick Ladig moderated.

What changed. Notice 5000-881797, published Thu Sept‌ 3, renews the 0% upfront fee for 7(a) loans approved from Thu Oct‌ 1, 2026 through Thu Sept‌ 30, 2027. It covers loans of $700,000 or less to manufacturers (NAICS 31-33), the food supply chain and businesses located in a rural area.

Who loses Wednesday. This year’s terms covered manufacturer 7(a) loans up to $950,000. A manufacturer 7(a) loan of $700,001 to $950,000 approved after Wed Sept‌ 30 pays a fee it would not have paid this week.

Who gains Thursday. Rural businesses and the food supply chain qualify for the first time: farms and farm services, grocery and farm-product wholesalers, supermarkets, and refrigerated warehousing and trucking. Food manufacturers already qualify as manufacturers.

What it is worth. Normally the upfront fee is 2% of the guaranteed portion on loans of $150,000 or less, which SBA guarantees up to 85%. From $150,001 to $700,000 it is 3%, on a guarantee of up to 75%. At those maximums the break saves up to $15,750 on a $700,000 loan, $7,875 on $350,000 and $2,550 on $150,000.

Building and equipment loans too. Notice 5000-881796 waives “the upfront guaranty fee and the annual service fee” on SBA 504 loans to the same three groups, with no cap stated.

Rural is your lender’s call. Neither notice defines rural, and there is no separate application. Ask your lender to check your location and industry code and to show you the SBA fee before approval. The notice also combines 7(a) loans approved within 90 days and bars splitting a loan to avoid fees.

Sources: SBA’s 7(a) fee notice and 504 fee notice.

Susan Orr’s story ran Fri Sept 25 and covers why OWN started and who is in the room. Read it on IBJ.com (subscriber link).

Membership is $50 a year through Dec 31 and $100 from Jan 1. It covers free entry to every OWN night, the member directory and the private community: Ask the Room, Member Intros, and the Indy and Fort Wayne channels.

The answers decide next year’s events, times and topics, this newsletter and the podcast. We’ll share what we heard.

DWD’s August breakdown, released Fri Sept‌ 18, files 127,700 Hoosiers under “Want a Job (Not Seeking),” and 42,100 of them are “Available to Work Now.” Add the 114,475 unemployed and looking, and DWD gets 156,575 “Potential Workers.” In June: 44,700 available now, 159,676 potential workers.

Why a job posting misses them. They are not in the 3.3% unemployment rate because they are not looking. If you are hiring this fall, start with your WorkOne office and the Gas City item below. DWD’s breakdown

Packaging Corporation of America is closing its Gas City converting plant in Grant County. The state table lists 72 workers and Mon Nov‌ 2. The company’s Thu Aug‌ 27 letter counts “Seventy-Eight (78)” and releases them the week of Mon Oct‌ 26. No newer WARN notices are dated Tue Sept‌ 15 to Mon Sept‌ 28.

Hiring? Call Region 3 WorkOne about production, maintenance and office people available from late October. DWD’s WARN list · PCA’s letter

Greenwood. Amazon’s new plant will add “300 skilled manufacturing and engineering jobs by the end of 2028,” from CNC operators and welders to engineers, at what Amazon calls “average salaries of nearly $100,000 annually,” IEDC announced Thu Sept‌ 24. IEDC’s release

Crown Point. Amazon’s logistics facility, launching in 2027, brings about 500 permanent jobs at “average base pay of about $24 per hour,” with benefits from day one. The InkFreeNews story

Conexus is taking Rising 30 nominations for people in advanced manufacturing and logistics who will be 30 or younger at the end of 2026. Tyler Sidwell of the 2026 class started as a general laborer and floor sweeper; ten years into the industry, he is co-founder and chief of engineering at Fort Wayne Carbon Fiber. If someone on your team fits, nominate them. The 2026 class · The nomination form

Opportunity Zones. Indiana nominated 126 of 501 eligible tracts on Fri Sept‌ 25, the most federal law allows, across all 15 regions. They take effect Fri Jan‌ 1, 2027 once Treasury certifies them. IEDC

Givaudan is putting $215 million into a facility of more than 78,000 square feet in West Harrison, with more than 250 new jobs by the end of 2031. IEDC

IEDC’s new president. Mitch Frazier, president of IBJ Media, starts Mon Oct‌ 5, and Josh Richardson leaves Fri Oct‌ 2. IEDC

State park concessions. Eight DNR concession contracts, including Wyandotte Caves and the Interlake and Redbird ORV areas, take proposals until Mon Nov‌ 2 at 4‌ PM. IDOA

SBA’s Amendment 2, issued Thu Sept‌ 24, widens the FEMA-4933-DR declaration. Cass, Pike and Putnam now qualify for physical-damage and economic-injury (EIDL) loans, and Daviess, Dubois, Gibson, Knox and Warrick for EIDL only. Physical-damage applications close Sun Oct‌ 25; EIDL applications close Tue May‌ 25, 2027. The IRS relief and DUA below still list only the original 21 counties. SBA’s declaration · Amendment 2

IRS relief (IN-2026-01) applies to those who “reside or have a business in” the 21 counties; for a business, the test is the principal place of business. Deadlines from Tue Aug‌ 11 move to Mon Feb‌ 1, 2027, including the quarterly payroll returns normally due Mon Nov‌ 2. Deposits are not covered, so keep making them, and tell your CPA. The IRS notice and county list

Disaster Unemployment Assistance pays up to $390 a week, for up to 28 weeks, to self-employed and 1099 workers in those counties whose work stopped because of the storms. They file for regular unemployment first, and the deadline is Tue Oct‌ 27. Pass it to affected crews. DWD on DUA

The paid family and medical leave credit is “now permanent,” the IRS said: 12.5% to 25% of wages paid during up to 12 weeks of leave, for employees with six months of service, part-timers at 20 or more hours included. It can be figured on premiums or on wages, so ask your CPA to run it both ways. The IRS notice

FleetCor (Corpay) agreed on Thu Sept‌ 17 to pay $100 million that the FTC says “will be used to provide redress to the company’s business customers.” There is no claims process yet; comments run to Thu Oct‌ 22, and the Commission decides after that. Keep your fuel-card statements. The FTC release

AES Indiana adds a 15% bonus to qualifying HVAC rebates in its Midstream and Prescriptive programs “now through Sept. 30, 2026,” for Indianapolis-area businesses. The page does not say whether that is the purchase, install or application date, so call 888-982-7071 before you count on it. AES prescriptive rebates

Update: AES Indiana later extended the 15% HVAC bonus to Dec‌ 15, as we reported on Oct‌ 13.

The sheet. List every customer at 10% or more of trailing-12-month revenue, with their share of revenue, gross profit and receivables, and check it every quarter. BizBuySell’s rule of thumb is that “no single customer should constitute more than 10% of a company’s revenues,” and Wall Street Prep also flags a top five above 25%.

The contract ladder. One sheet with each top customer’s end date, notice period, termination-for-convenience right, change-of-control clause and pricing reset. Stagger renewals so no quarter carries two big ones.

Run this test

Take your largest customer’s revenue out of the last 12 months.

Remove only the variable costs that leave with it, and see what gross profit remains.

If what is left does not cover your overhead, get the longest term they will sign and start working two look-alike prospects this quarter. Never cut the big customer to fix the ratio.

How buyers see it. Mineola Search Partners says a largest customer at 10% to 30% of revenue is common, and that above 30% it “could be suggestive of a business that is simply too ‘easy to kill’.”

Notice 5000-882227, issued Fri Sept‌ 25, makes technical updates to SOP 50 10 8.1 and applies to applications SBA receives from Thu Oct‌ 1.

Quality of Earnings. On Tue Aug‌ 18 we said the QoE report SBA now requires on purchases of $3 million or more could not be prepared by or for the buyer or the seller. The update changes that: “A Quality of Earnings report already prepared for the Applicant may be used if accompanied by a reliance letter or secondary review by a different firm. The report may not be prepared by or for the seller.”

Smaller deals. 7(a) Small and SBA Express loans may fund changes of ownership, and “An internal business valuation is permitted when the Business Purchase Price is $350,000 or less.” The notice

The Fed raised its target range a quarter point on Wed Sept‌ 16. It now sits at 3.75% to 4.00%, and bank prime is 7.00%. SBA sets its 7(a) caps off prime on the first business day of the month and locks them when it receives the application. So from Thu Oct‌ 1, at today’s prime, the variable maximums are 10.00% on loans above $350,000 and 13.50% on loans of $50,000 or less, up from the 9.75% and 13.25% we printed Tue Sept‌ 1.

Your own line. A $1 million line at prime plus 1 goes from 7.75% to 8.00%, about $2,500 a year. Check your note for when your rate adjusts. The Fed statement · H.15 · SBA’s rate rule

Planning Your Next Chapter. MatchBOX Coworking Studio, Greater Lafayette Commerce and IEDC run an exit and transition-planning series for owners, by application, through April. It starts Wed Oct‌ 14 at 9‌ AM at Greater Lafayette Commerce, 337 Columbia St, Lafayette. Details and application

Booth-Kellogg ETA Conference. The Chicago conference for people buying small businesses is Fri Oct‌ 30 at the Hyatt Regency, within driving distance. OWN founder Jared Luegers is driving up after the Bloomington room the night before; reply if you want to carpool. The conference

See a few of you in Bloomington on the 29th. If the SBA item changes a loan you have in motion, reply and tell me what your lender said.

Jared

Jared Luegers, founder, OWN Indiana