Business Funding in Tom Green County, Texas

When weather shuts the doors but not the bills

Tom Green County sits on the Edwards Plateau, with San Angelo as the county seat. The county was created in 1874 and organized the next year, and the 2020 census counted 120,003 residents across about 1,522 square miles. Goodfellow Air Force Base and Angelo State University, part of the Texas Tech University System, are located in the county. The Concho River, with its North and South forks, runs through the area, and the region has lakes and reservoirs including Lake Nasworthy, O.C. Fisher Reservoir and Twin Buttes Reservoir.

The county's history is tied to water. In 1882, flood waters from the Concho River destroyed the original county seat of Ben Ficklin and drowned 65 people, after which the county seat moved to Santa Angela, later renamed San Angelo. In 2021, during Winter Storm Uri, San Angelo endured 152 hours at or below freezing. The county has also been in the path of several hurricanes and tropical storms over the years.

What a closure costs

When a shop closes for a day because of ice, flooding or a loss of power, rent does not pause. Perishable stock spoils. Staff may still expect to be paid. Jobs are delayed, so invoices go out later. Burst pipes, damaged equipment and roof repairs add to the bill.

Here is a simple model, with round and invented numbers for illustration only. A small restaurant that normally spends $20,000 in a month on rent, labor and food, and closes for a week, may lose a quarter of its sales while most costs stay fixed. The owner then pays repair costs on top. That is a cash gap with an obvious cause and, usually, a known end date.

Four weather events, four kinds of cash pressure

Building a cushion before it is needed

1. Decide how many days of fixed costs you could cover with no sales.
2. Check what your insurance covers, what it excludes and what the deductible would mean in cash.
3. Identify the equipment that would stop your income if it failed.
4. Think about who could be late to pay you in a bad month.

Applying for working capital before an event, rather than during one, gives you more time to compare options and decide on an amount.

Applying

The application takes about five minutes and uses a soft credit pull. You can request $25,000 to $5,000,000, sole proprietors can apply, and funding can arrive in as little as 24 hours. Start your application.