United Bank & Trust Blog

First, we covered the U-M Cardiovascular Center, then the U-M Program for Neurology Research & Discovery, and finally let’s review the importance of C. S. Mott Children’s Hospital and Women’s Hospital.

The leaders and best are about to get even better with the opening of the new University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital and Von Voigtlander Women’s Hospital. This state-of-the-art facility will help us continue to evolve, transform and drive the future of children’s medicine and pregnancy and childbirth care. The goal is to deliver the best in patient and family-centered care for you and your family.

The new hospital, by the numbers:
• 12-story inpatient wing and a 9-story outpatient wing
• 1.1 million square feet
• 348 beds, including 50 private maternity rooms within the Women’s Hospital Birth Center and 46 private NICU rooms for families to celebrate the birth of their new babies
• 16 operating rooms and 2 interventional radiology rooms
• The new hospital features a breathtaking two-story lobby offering entertainment and other activities, opening into an outdoor garden park and reflection area
• In addition to the Ronald McDonald House located around the corner from the hospital, families will also be able to utilize a new in-hospital Ronald McDonald House offering 12 rooms with private baths for families needing short-term lodging to be near critically ill children
• The new facility has its own dining area with food available for both in-hospital dining as well as take-out for families and visitors to take home on busy days
• Families can take advantage of a peaceful meditation space, gift shop, family workout room and an indoor playground!
• Families and visitors will also find Welcome Assistants stationed just off the elevator on every floor to help visitors find their way to clinics and patient rooms

The existing facility will be used to benefit the entire Health System. The space will be used for additional faculty offices, clinic facilities, family space and much more to support the growing needs of UMHS patients.

And these are just a few more of the reasons why it’s important for United Bank & Trust to support Big House Big Heart and for the community to be part of making a difference!

Help raise more money for the Big House Big Heart run. Become a fan of United Bank & Trust on Facebook, and United will donate another $1 for every new fan!

I came across these 10 tips for creating a successful small business – and while I am sure there are numerous top 10 lists with the same subject matter – I thought this did a good job encompassing a lot of things that I as a lender look for when meeting with potential borrowers.

10 Tips for Creating a Successful Business

#1- Understand that you as the business owner are responsible for everything that happens in your business. You cannot delegate that responsibility.
#2- The attitude of the business owner is reflected in the employees working in the business. If you don’t like the attitude you see in your employees – look in the mirror.
#3- Personal growth and business growth are not the same but they are closely related. When you stop growing as a person you stop growing your business.
#4- Know that you don’t know everything. It is not possible. When you come to that realization, investing in trusted advisors makes so much sense and it becomes an easy decision.
#5- Life is short. Enjoy what you do and others will see that and be attracted to you. It is fun to work with and be around someone who is positive and excited about what they do. If you don’t like what you do, find something else to do.
#6- Give others credit for their contribution to your success. Everyone loves to be a part of something bigger than themselves and to be recognized for their contribution to the overall success of the organization.
#7- Know that your success is tied directly to how well you motivate, manage, inspire, sell and encourage people. Your success, especially as you grow your business comes through the performance of others.
#8- If you can’t measure it how do you know it works? Measure everything.
#9- You must understand how the business you are creating will help you create the life you want. There can be no misunderstanding. True success lies in creating a business that is consistent with and supports the life you want to create.
#10- Develop a passion for your work and have fun!

I won’t comment on every item but here are a few of my additional thoughts on some of them.

#2- When I take a tour of a business, be it a manufacturing facility or a restaurant, you can tell a lot by how the employees greet you, how they are walking, talking and interacting with each other. Do they look like they enjoy what they are doing? Do they take pride in what they are doing? How do they interact with the business owner?
#4- As soon as a business owner isn’t willing to listen (or at least consider) advice from his or her trusted advisors, I become worried about the ability of their business to survive. Whether the trusted advisor is an attorney, CPA, banker or (most importantly) an employee, a business owner must know that there is always a better way to do things, and sometimes it’s the key employee or trusted advisor who comes up with the best ideas. No matter how incremental the idea, there is always room for improvement. Feelings of contentedness and complacency oftentimes become the ‘tipping point’ leading to the failure of a small business.
#5, 7, 9- All speak about passion and attitude. People want to follow people that inspire them and want them to succeed. Whether it is a neighbor friend or an employee trying to help people be and do better goes a long way.
#6- In his book, “Good to Great” Jim Collins talks about how great leaders, “…look out the window (at others) when there is a success and in the mirror (at yourself) when there is a failure….” A leader who gives credit out to the team when there is a success is easy. But taking responsibility for the team when something goes wrong is where the rubber meets the road. Without a leader who will support a team in a failure the team will begin to self destruct, point blame, and become dysfunctional.

As an SBA lender in the banking industry, we deal with a lot of start up businesses; and being able to identify some of these characteristics in a potential borrower/business owner adds to the lending decision.