Loeffler says she visited roughly 40 states over the past year, meeting entrepreneurs who are expanding, hiring and manufacturing domestically. Among them was Lisa Winton of Winton Machine in Georgia, one of the women Loeffler points to when discussing the strength of female leadership in American manufacturing. “I’ve met so many incredible women builders of great businesses,” Loeffler says, citing Winton and other female manufacturing leaders she has encountered. “And they’re expanding and growing.” For an edition devoted to Women Building the Future, those encounters carry particular significance. Women may increasingly occupy leadership positions across construction, manufacturing and the skilled trades, but Loeffler understands that ambition does not always erase the uncertainty that comes before beginning.
For a contractor looking to finance equipment, a manufacturer preparing to expand production, or a business owner trying to move beyond the limits of personal capital, those resources can become a bridge between where a company stands today and where it is capable of going next. “What do they need to hire those workers or to add that plant and equipment?” Loeffler asks. “They need capital.” She points to SBA loan guarantees, revolving credit programs and financing designed to support builders and manufacturers as practical tools for companies preparing to expand. Loeffler’s conviction that government should understand the realities of entrepreneurship was shaped by her own experience. “I have been a business owner. I’ve built businesses. I’ve grown them. I’ve succeeded and failed at them. I bought and sold them,” she says. “So, I understand. And that’s why I’m so passionate. It’s a very personal issue for me.” It was also part of what drew her into public service. “We need people in Washington that understand the realities of running a business, of signing the front of a paycheck, of paying taxes, being subject to massive regulations,” she says. For the builders, contractors, suppliers and manufacturers who make up much of Built America Magazine’s readership, Loeffler’s message is particularly direct. “America is a nation of builders again,” she says. “We know how to build things. We make things. And you can’t innovate if you can’t build.” That belief has been reinforced as she has traveled across the country meeting the people behind American companies.
She has stood in that place herself.
For women considering starting or scaling a company, her advice begins with the fundamentals: understand the market, test the concept, surround yourself with people capable of executing the vision and build a team you can trust.
“I can’t say enough about having the right team in place to help execute, ” she says.
Then comes the part no business plan can completely solve. “At the end of the day, there’s never a perfect time to start a business.” It is a truth familiar to nearly every entrepreneur. There will always be another uncertainty, another risk, another condition that could be better.
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