Let me tell you three stories that every St. Petersburg business owner needs to hear.

Story number one. Sam Walton opens the first Walmart in 1962. He has a vision to build a retail empire, but he does not have unlimited personal wealth. So what does he do? He builds business credit. He creates a system where Walmart can borrow money based on its own identity, not his personal finances. When Walmart needs capital to expand, the company borrows it. Not Sam Walton personally. Walmart.

Story number two. Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank start Home Depot in 1978. They have experience in retail, but they need capital to open stores. They could have maxed out personal credit cards. They could have put their homes on the line. Instead, they build business credit for Home Depot. The company grows using its own financial identity.

Story number three. Howard Schultz takes over a small coffee company called Starbucks in 1987. He wants to turn it into a national chain. The expansion requires massive capital. Schultz builds business credit for Starbucks. The company borrows based on its own creditworthiness. Today there are thousands of locations worldwide.

Three different companies. Three different industries. One common strategy.

They all used business credit to grow. Not the personal credit of the founders. Business credit built on the company identity.

So here is the question. If this strategy worked for Walmart, Home Depot, and Starbucks, why are most small business owners still funding their companies with personal credit cards and personal loans?

The answer is simple. Nobody teaches this.

Business schools focus on theory, not practical financing strategies. Banks have no incentive to explain business credit because personal guarantees are safer for them. Most entrepreneurs learn about funding through trial and error, and by the time they figure out there is a better way, they are already trapped in personal debt.

But the information exists. The strategies are proven. And they work for small businesses just as well as they work for big corporations.

The key is understanding your EIN.

Your Employer Identification Number is your business’s identity in the financial world. Just like your SSN identifies you personally, your EIN identifies your business. And just like you can build personal credit tied to your SSN, your business can build credit tied to its EIN.

When you build business credit correctly, you can access funding that has nothing to do with your personal finances. No personal guarantees. No risk to your personal credit score. No putting your house on the line.

This is not a secret. It is just not common knowledge.

On January 22, SpaceLab St. Pete is hosting The 2.1 Trillion Question workshop. This event is designed to teach St. Petersburg business owners exactly how business credit works and how to start building it for their companies.

The name comes from the estimated 2.1 trillion dollars in business credit lines available in America. Most small business owners never access a dollar of it because they do not know it exists or how to qualify.

Walmart knew. Home Depot knew. Starbucks knew.

Now it is your turn to learn.

Details at https://spacelabstpete.com/about