From Auditor to Advocate
Jerry Freedman of Freedom Business Financing
For contractors, one of the toughest parts of a project isn’t on the job site—it’s at the bank. Some business owners don’t know SBA loans exist. Others think of financing as personal debt and assume it’s a burden. And many who apply get turned down because they can’t present their financial story the way banks want to hear it.
Jerry Freedman founded Freedom Business Financing in 2018 to change that. After five years as an auditor and later as a CFO, he saw how solid businesses were denied simply because they couldn’t frame their case for lenders. His first client proved the demand: a friend asked him to secure a few hundred thousand dollars, and Jerry came back with nearly a million. That result confirmed the need and set the foundation for the company.
Based in Lakewood, NJ, Freedom Business Financing handles SBA 7(a) and 504 loans, business lines of credit, and equipment financing. Jerry focuses on larger, more complex SBA deals… often several million dollars. His accounting background lets him analyze a company’s financials and present them in a way banks can approve.
As Jerry explained, “We’re not running around to 5,000 banks hoping something sticks. We have a very close network of banks. We know exactly what their credit box is, what kinds of deals they want to do.” That targeted approach has led to a 99% close rate, with very few defaults in seven years.
For contractors, financing can solve real problems. A line of credit can cover the four months between buying inventory and getting paid by customers. An SBA loan can fund the equipment and payroll a dumpster company needs to expand into demolition. As Jerry put it, “In a business, financing is actually a tool to help a business grow.”
This was Jerry’s third year exhibiting at OJBA. While deals often take months to finalize, OJBA has proven valuable in other ways. At a past event, Jerry met one of his current team members and later brought him on board. “It’s great networking,” he said. “People already know me, and sometimes coming to a show puts a face to the name.”
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