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Bank loans and lines of credit aren’t the only ways to access cash. By focusing on the needs of entrepreneurs, Robyn Barrett and sold a business based on factoring, the oldest form of finance.

My career has been a journey of seizing opportunities and pushing past fear of failure. My first “real job” was a financial analyst for a consumer products company. When I recognized the company didn’t prioritize the financial side, I decided to pursue a position with a national alternative financing company in the same building. It opened up a new world of commercial finance and provided great training in finance, planning, budgeting, commercial real estate underwriting, and sales. I found my calling.

When the company filed bankruptcy in 2000, I debated going into banking, but ultimately decided to start my own business. It was a bold move because there were really very few women owned factoring companies in commercial finance at the time. But my husband helped me to believe in myself: “what’s the worst that can happen? You can always start over.”

So, I took the leap and launched FSW to provide factoring, the oldest form of finance and an important vehicle to support working capital needs of businesses. Let’s say a business owner gets a large invoice from Target and needs capital to be able to fulfill the products. Factoring is the ability for the company to sell their accounts receivable to the factor to gain immediate working capital. It's different from a bank offering a line of credit, which is a cash flow loan and most entrepreneurs don't have the cash flow or time in business to meet bank underwriting criteria.

My edge was that I strived to understand why entrepreneurs got into their businesses, often their passions, to get a clear understanding of their needs, and it helped me to build strong relationships and grow. Often, small business owners don’t realize they have financial options, and I enjoy being able to help them. I never felt my business had to be the biggest, but I wanted to be the best. 

I had to learn to go out of my comfort zone and as an introvert, the process of putting myself “out there”, initially, was tough. But people I knew and met along the way helped me tremendously. If I had a problem, I always had people I could call, and I think that's really important for entrepreneurs.

I sold my alternative finance company in 2022 after 21 years to Oxford Commercial Finance, a subsidiary of Oxford Bank, and recently spoke about it on an M&A panel at The International Factoring Association Presidents and Executives Meeting. Not a lot of women in the alternative lending space own companies, and I owned 100% of mine. I didn’t need to sell but wanted to sell a successful and valuable company and look to my next phase.

The ethics and goals of Oxford Bank [and its sister company Oxford Commercial Finance (OCF)] aligned with mine, making it the perfect buyer. It has been exciting to grow the Oxford Commercial Finance Working Capital Group. As part of a bank with a larger presence, OCF is able to attract and retain highly qualified employees and offer unique solutions to businesses nationwide. 

Currently, I am focused on giving back to my industry. In addition to being president of AFA, a member of The Secured Finance Network and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, I co-teach a class every July for the IFA on how to manage collateral for people coming into the industry.

One thing I’ve learned: don’t be afraid of failure. Fear can keep us from doing a lot of things we want to do. What’s the worst that can happen? You fail, pick yourself up. You can always go with plan B.