Relationship Banking, Deal Discipline, and Knowing When to Say No

Josh W: All right. Good day everybody. Welcome back to The Deal podcast. This is such a, a fun podcast where we get to talk about deals with deal makers and, uh, just wanna give a quick shout out to my friends over at FA Mergers. They're, they're the team that I work with every day on, you know, mid-market deals. So, uh, just wanna give a shout out to these guys 'cause they're, they're such a great team to be a part of, and I'm honored to be here.

We're in studio here in Lafayette. They're teaching me how to say it. Louisiana, good job. Thank you. Thank you. And I'm here with a new friend, Edward. Edward. Welcome to the Deal Podcast, man. Thank y'all 

Edward B: for having me. Yeah, happy to be here. 

Josh W: Cool, man. Alright, so let's start with this man, this so the audience could get to know you a little bit.

Uh, who are you and what do you do? 

Edward B: Yeah, so, uh, born and raised here in Lafayette, Louisiana. Um, went to Baton Rouge for a few years for undergrad, but came back for grad school here. Spent some time in New Orleans and, and Houston. Um. I've got three siblings. My mom's one of nine, dad's one of seven. So truly a, uh, Cajun family.

A bunch of first cousins out there. Um, but yeah, came back here. Happy to be in Lafayette. You know, it's a, it's a very small town. Uh, great place to raise family. 

Josh W: Yeah, man. We're gonna get into the, the family tree, 'cause it sounds like very large family tree. Yeah. But tell us about what you studied, you know, you got to spend some time in Texas and the New Orleans.

Mm-hmm. Kind of walk us through your education and, and what did you. What did you wanna do? 

Edward B: Yeah. 

Josh W: And then maybe, you know, how did that shape your well, what, well, what I wanted do, 

Edward B: I started out studying biology. So my dad's a physician, a couple uncles are physicians, both grandfathers were physicians. So that's really all I knew.

Uh, my oldest brother's a physician, so spent a semester doing that and realized pretty quickly it's not what I wanted to do. Uh, so jumped into finance and, and again, finished, um, undergrad at LSU. Still wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do. I was, I was at the time when I finished college doing some insurance and financial planning, but again, wasn't quite sure if that's the path I wanted to take.

So came back to UL here and did grad school, uh, lucked out and got an internship with Iberia Bank, a commercial bank, um, which endowed first horizon. And again, that it's just kind of grown from there. Um, so I really didn't know what I wanted to do, but. Lucked out and found commercial banking. 'cause I think it's a great mix of sales, but you know, you still have got the, uh, the finance piece of it.

Um, 'cause I do like being in front of people. So I've been doing that for about 11 years and it's a, it's a good fit for me. 

Josh W: Yeah. I think a lot of deal makers kind of stumbled their way into the world of deal making. You know, you, you started in biology. Yeah. And, and, and going down that route, how'd you know that that wasn't for you?

Edward B: I think a piece of it was my dad didn't push us down that path. I think he, you know, the grass is always greener, so he's sure he's sitting out there grinding. Um, you know, obviously he, he enjoys what he does, but I think he saw that there was other opportunity out there. So he did a good job of us. Of leading us talking to other people out there.

So when I really didn't love what I was doing that first semester, I just kind of started poking around and, and talking with family friends to see what they do. So I certainly, I wanted to be, you know, have some flexibility in my schedule. I saw how much he worked, weekends on call, that kind of stuff. And in our possession profession we work hard.

But also a big piece of it is, is, is a flexible schedule. So I think. Again, when I saw his, his work life balance mm-hmm. It, it was something I maybe wasn't sure I wanted to do. 

Josh W: Yeah. So you get, you start studying finance mm-hmm. And you like being in front of people and I'm gonna make some, uh, maybe some assumptions and we could roll with it.

Right. You know, I'm, I'm in the world of finance and, you know, dealing with, with companies and investment banking and so I get to see the number side of that, but I look at. P and Ls and I look at financials and that is not my strong suit. My, my strong suit is more on the sales, the people side, the relationship side.

Yeah. Like as you were going through finance and you're looking at this like were you, what were some of your thoughts on going down this path? Were you like, man, am I gonna spend all day in a spreadsheet? Do I get to hang out with people? What were your thoughts? 

Edward B: Certainly did not wanna spend all day in a spreadsheet.

Yeah. But I enjoyed enough to where, again, I think it's a perfect balance for what I do. Yeah. Um. In the world of commercial banking, you know, the, the typical path is if you can start out and be an analyst for a couple years, that's the best thing that you can do for yourself. And, you know, as a, as a young guy at, you know, just get in the workforce, typically you're chomping at the bit to become a banker and be, and you start making deals.

But, um, those, you know, 1, 2, 3, 5 years, however long you may do it, of, of, you know, kind of grinding in a spreadsheet. Will only make you better as a lender. Mm-hmm. Um, so that's what I did, did that for a couple years and then flipped into a lending role where you're still, you're still doing that, you know, a lot of your, your day job is sitting with a business owner and looking at their p and l and helping them think through, you know, how can I get more efficient with my cash flow or, um, you know, where there's some areas in my business that I can, I can improve.

So, um, certainly knew I didn't wanna stay there 'cause there are opportunities to do that in the banking world. Mm-hmm. That is one thing in banking where. There's so many roles within the bank. You, you've got credit officers who are helping lenders structure their deals, but I certainly knew. I eventually wanted to get, get out behind the desk and get out and be in front of people.

Josh W: For sure. So you, you get this role as analyst and you know, you're chomping at the bit to get to lending. Mm-hmm. But you, you know, you saw that as a good experience and you think everybody, you know, if, if they want to get into this world of commercial banking and, and lending, you know, that, that, that, that might be a good path for them to start.

What were some of the things you learned as an analyst that you think helped you, you know, help become a good lender today? 

Edward B: I think structuring deals. Um, there's so many different types of commercial banking transactions, whether it may be buying a piece of real estate mm-hmm. You know, an office building or a rental property, or, you know, a company needs to go build a new widget, uh, or they need a working capital line of credit to finance their accounts receivable.

So I think without spending two, three years of just deal flow looking at. Packages, seeing the full scope of the underwriting process. Mm-hmm. You wouldn't have that, that luxury of really seeing all the different aspects of deals and how every deal's different. It can be structured a different way depending on, you know, all the, all the reasons behind it.

So that has certainly helped me. You know, get creative in my lending role and, and, and, and figure out how to structure deals. 

Josh W: Structuring deals is, is such a vital part 'cause you can have a beautiful deal on the table, but if it's not structured right, it could be bad for both parties. Mm-hmm. For. When you're structuring a deal, you have to find something that's gonna work for the bank and the, you know, the committee's gonna have to wanna say yes to the deal, but it also has to work in the efficiency, like you said, the efficiency of their cash flow and their, their, their financials for the business owner.

Talk to us about maybe some strategies or things that you've learned along the way to structure that deal where it's win for the bank. I mean, you gotta make money too, and then the, the, the business owner. 

Edward B: Yeah, I'd say don't overthink it. Um, having the luxury of, of being at. Two banks in my career, banking can have a lot of red tape.

Mm-hmm. And a lot of regulation. And obviously the bigger you get as a bank, the more scrutiny you have, the more you know, in the fairway you have to stay. So I've enjoyed, you know, being at a smaller bank, it's much easier to not overthink it, you know, if, if you were, were more relationship focused. Mm-hmm.

You know, we got a, a couple guys or girls behind the deal who maybe have other, other ventures. Um, and maybe on this real estate deal, they wanna structure it a little different and maybe they wanna put a little less cash down, but, but we know it's a good deal. We know, we, we know these individuals. Mm-hmm.

Um, it, it makes it less transactional and more about the relationship. So I think, again, just not overthinking it and, and, and it has to make sense for the bank. You know, we gotta make sure we, we're not gonna lose money. We're not in the business of, of losing money. We don't charge enough. Uh, you know, our interest rate spreads not enough typically to cover that risk, but whenever you truly understand the, the people you're doing business with, it allows you to be a little more flexible.

Josh W: Okay. So efficiency of, you know, their finances and their cash flow. Walk me through, like, let's just say, let's do some role play. Uh, let's just say I'm a business owner and I come to you and you know, you're gonna start taking a look at certain things. Now I think a lot of bankers might take the approach or, or maybe my assumption of bankers would take the approach of like, oh cool, you want a loan?

Let me see your credit score. Lemme see your cash flow. Lemme see all this stuff. Cool. Hey, yes, you qualify or don't qualify. You want the money or you don't want the money. But you said you'd take a look kind of at their holistic business to see. So you're kind of coming at it from an advisory standpoint.

Walk me through like maybe some questions you might ask me or the business owner or maybe some things that you look at to figure out. There might be more than one deal. There might be a bigger deal at play. Right. There might be better deal for the, for the group. What's that look like? 

Edward B: Yeah. I think we like to talk about how we look at deals from a global standpoint.

Mm-hmm. Um, it'd be one thing for me to sit down the business owner and say, okay, yeah. Like you said, let me, let me see Your, your profit and loss statement and your balance sheet for your business. Mm-hmm. If I just looked at those and maybe they had a bad year and they lost money, well. I may just say, Nope, it's not a good time for us.

We, we can't, we can't lend you this money to go buy your new vehicle that's gonna allow you to service 10 more clients. But if we, you know, peel the onion back a little bit and say, you know, let's, let's look at your personal balance sheet. Let's look at whatever, whatever else you may have out there, there may be other sources mm-hmm.

Of equity or, or other, you know, income sources or weaken. Again, get a little creative look at the deal from a global standpoint and say, okay. We understand your business may be a little tight this year, but let's look at, you know, some equity you have in your house to kind of help help us get things off the ground and help you take those next steps in your business.

And again, not just focused on. Profit and loss statement, looking at things from more of a global standpoint. 

Josh W: Yeah. And I think that if you're on a automated thing, filling out a line, you know, a form online, you're not gonna get that. You're either gonna get a, you know Yes. Or a rejection. Right. You know, so you're, you're, you're trying to figure out how to, how to help this business owner, right.

So when you approach your job, like what are the aspects of it that you find a lot of joy in? 

Edward B: Yeah. I think being an advisor, like we've talked about, you know, a lot of these business owners, they know their business. Yeah. And you know, they're in it every day, but it's not their job to be a banker. So sometimes they're just looking for guidance like, Hey, I am, I'm ready to take this next step.

I have no idea how to do it. You know, I've been paying rent at this building and you know. I think it's time for me to buy a building. What does that even look like? How much cash down do I need? How far can I spread these payments out? What does that look, look, look like on a monthly basis? How's that gonna change from the rent I'm paying?

So I think I enjoy the the advisor piece of it where they're really coming to you for guidance. Um. Again, 'cause it's not their job to, to truly understand the banking world. That's where we can kind of step in and say, look, you don't have to be the industry expert on, on this piece. This is where we can kind of help you take those next steps.

Josh W: For sure. Now, Edward, when I, when I work with a bank or I'm talking about, you know, these different financial things, that is not an area of strength, even though that's, you know, a heavy part of my job a lot of times, and that's why I love working with a team. But. From a deal maker, just from a being a human.

Sometimes I get really insecure when I'm talking to people and I'm, I'm afraid, like what questions they're gonna ask me, they're gonna, you know, like, am I going to, you know, look like an idiot? You know, when they're asking me, you know, show me your p and l. Well, you know, I have a hard time putting together my own financials for my business.

Right, right. So, you know, it. One thing that I heard you say is it's not their job being a banker. Right. So that there's, there's a lot of comfort in that they could come to you and they could lean on your expertise. Did you ever have any insecurities about it's, you know, how, how could I help business owners and I'm not a business and you might be a business owner, I don't know, but did you ever, did you have to overcome any of that when you're talking with these guys who are, make a couple million dollars a year?

Edward B: I think to twist the question a little bit, yeah. When you're a young banker and you're talking to. Somebody who's owned their business for 30 years and, and you're sitting there going, how can I help advise? He or she, whenever I've been doing this for two years, and I think it took me a little while to get over that and, and realize I am an industry expert, you know?

Being in the banking world for a couple years, you do gain some knowledge where you may not understand their business as good as they do, but you all, you can provide some insight in terms of creativity, of structuring deals in inside the bank. So certainly I feel like at the beginning, beginning of my career, there was times where as a young banker, you maybe didn't feel like you had the knowledge to help advise some of these clients.

But once you realize. Again, it's not, it's not my job to help advise them inside their business as much as it is where, or, you know, now I, I probably could do that a little more, but at the onsite it was more, it was more so how can I help them get a little more creative from their, from their banking standpoint.

Josh W: Yeah. So for future bankers or maybe some, an analyst who's moving into that role, who's listening in and saying, man, I, I struggle with that. Like, how, what am I gonna do? I'm gonna go knock on the door of this big construction company and tell them that I can help them, and they're gonna look at me and they're gonna say, who's this young kid?

Yeah. Right. So what, what advice or guidance or maybe some, even some steps that you can help them catapult their career forward? 

Edward B: Yeah, I think, you know, you brought up a team earlier and, and that's a big piece of it. I think it's who you surround yourself with. Um. I think there's a lot of banks out there.

Banks are always calling on young bankers to come join their team or come, hey, come work for, for me, come produce over here. I think it's who you surround yourself, especially at the beginning of your career in terms of a mentorship is, is super important. And I was very lucky in, in my career on that. My first stop at Iberia Bank.

Had some great senior lenders there who really can, can help bring you along the way. And I think. And of course, where I'm at now, we have the same, we have the same, um, group of lenders who, who can help, you know, help young lenders kind of go along. But I think it's having that comfort knowing, Hey, I got, I got somebody who I can bring, bring on this call with me.

Let me, let me knock this door down and get in the door. But I've got a teammate who's been doing it for 30 years who can help me kind of structure the deal. 

Josh W: Yeah, man, it's, it's such good, it's such good input. And I appreciate you sharing that, Edward. My, um, my temptation is sometimes when someone's talking to me, like the temptation in my head is to go, you know, to prove my worth or to prove how much I know.

Yeah. And so, and then I'll wind up. Talking too much, and then it reveals that, I don't know, but that early approach going, Hey, I'm, you know, I'm gonna diagnose this. I'm gonna take a look at a few opportunities. I'm gonna bring in a, a specialist who works within that specific category. And you know, like that humility is actually closes more deals.

Right? Absolutely. Right. Talk to us about maybe a lesson that, uh, you've learned a along the way. Humility is something that I'm, you know, that. I'll probably wrestle with for a while, but the, the more I clothed myself in that humility, the better the deals get in the long run. Mm-hmm. Talk to us about a lesson that you learned early on in your banking career that you're working through, and when you work on it, it produces better fruit for you.

Edward B: Oh, yeah, that's a great question. I think as a young banker, you, you're so hungry and you wanna make every deal work that you possibly can. But in doing that. You can potentially cause some pain for your client. And I think an example of that is, say you're calling on a prospect and you know you're talking about a deal and you can kind of see there's some hurdles there.

But again, you're, you're hungry, you wanna make the deal work, you push through it and maybe you let the process go on a little too long when you really should have maybe a little earlier said, Hey, this isn't a good fit for us for X, Y, Z. Um, you know. We're just gonna have to bow out. I think being able to, to realize that earlier can not only, you know, obviously save you some face, but it's really, it's for your client's benefit, you know?

Yeah. You need to be able to identify when it's not a good fit and, and which I like to do now is maybe even refer them somewhere else that it, it's a better fit. 

Josh W: I've heard this and I've done a lot of, I've done a lot of deals, but I've also done a lot of deal bad deals. Mm-hmm. And it seems like for every one bad deal, it brings you back like five good deals to recover.

So sometimes the best deal you do is the one you don't do. 

Edward B: We say that in the bank all the time. Yeah. 

Josh W: Yeah. What other bank sayings do you guys have? You know, can you think of any off the top of your head? I know I put you on the spot on that one. 

Edward B: I gotta think on that. 

Josh W: We could always pop back to that.

Yeah. And I'm sure that there's jokes and then, well, 

Edward B: we, we talk about, you know, a lot of times we're sitting with clients, we talk about just doing something on the back of the napkin, like a quick cash flow, something just quick to kinda get a snapshot of what they do. Um, but we do talk about, no joke.

Some of the best deals we do are the ones that we don't. And, and it's something that we've, you know, we have a few new board members. Mm-hmm. And they actually kind of asked that question. We never, we never thought how beneficial it would be for them to not only see the deals we're presenting to them for approval, but, but hey, look, here are the ones we haven't done.

'cause it gives them a better feel for the life, why we didn't do it. Yeah. And you know, as they're out there in the community and someone may come to them and they're not a banker, but, you know, said they're on a board and they're, they're kind of, they're obviously in the bank. It, it helps them. Identify good opportunities or maybe some that are not as good.

Josh W: Man, this is, uh, my, my director Chris, he was talking about, you know, we were working with a client and, uh, he asked a, a really great question, very intuitive. He goes, do you guys have a, a lesson learned doc? A lesson learned document when it, it kind of goes along with what you're sharing. It's like, yeah, here's the deals we did and that's great.

Here's the deals that we did that didn't turn out well, and then here's the deals we said no to, and here's why. 'cause then you, you know, the, the new board members and new lenders could like study this and then go, oh wow, if we would've done this. Look at where the project or the business is at now. You know?

Wow. We could, you know, we saved ourself, our jobs Absolutely. And millions of dollars. Right, right. Um, why do you think now, for me, I wouldn't want my past failures displayed all the time, but I mean, the older I get, I, I, I realize how valuable that is for people. But, you know, why do you think that is such a, um, I think you guys do it as a good practice, but why do you think that that makes you guys unique?

Edward B: Well, I think. We talk about it a lot of time, it's easy to say yes. Um, and a lot of times, you know, there's 20 something banks in Lafayette, there's a lot of competition, right? Mm-hmm. And it, it's, it's easy when you're looking at a deal to kind lose focus on culture and who you are and your credit culture and that kind of stuff.

Um, but, but man, whenever you have one or two. Credits that are giving you some issues. 

Josh W: Mm-hmm. 

Edward B: It puts those things back in, back in, you know, in front of you where that is so much harder to work through than a good deal. Um, so I think once you, once you go through that, it, it kind of refocus things and it, and again, reminds you why we do what we do.

Mm-hmm. Um, and from a, you know, a young lender standpoint. Getting those ad bats is everything. Yeah. Um, and, and maybe kind of going back to the, the credit analyst piece. If, if you aren't an underwriter and you haven't seen those transactions or seen the deals that you don't do, you may not have that experience.

Josh W: Man, that's good. It's like these case studies of like, you know, let's observe this. Let's walk through, through, I ca I, I would think of like a fun game. Maybe you and I will play it one day. So, you know, it's, you know, here's the case. Would you say yes or no to that? Right. And you, the only thing you get to see is what's on this paper.

Mm-hmm. And then you, you make a decision, then you flip over the paper and it's like, oh, you just lost us a bunch of money. Or actually that was a big win. Um. When it comes to that, there's things that you've seen on p and Ls. You know, let, let's just say you're, you know, you're, you're, you're not able to interface with a customer.

All you see is the, the p and l and the financials or something like that. Talk to me about something that you would see on that, that would show as a credit risk for you as an analyst or, you know, now lender, or maybe one day, you know, you're running your own bank or whatever. So talk to me about things that you see on the paper that you would say, ah, not a good deal,

Edward B: man, that's a great question.

I would say when we, you know, we do prospecting, we're looking for new clients all the time, but we're also very strategic about it. Okay. Um, you and I talked before we got in here about, you know, bank's been around for a hundred years. Um, we don't do a ton of marketing out there. It's, it's more, you know, banker focused.

Who, who do you know, who your relationship's with? And so I say that to say if, if I'm. If someone calls into the bank and said, Hey, you know, I'm looking for a deal. Can I, can I run this by you? And maybe I don't know them as well. When I get their, their statement and it shows they have loans with maybe six other banks, it's typically a sign where a man, you know, we're big on relationship.

If, if you already have a relationship with these five or six banks and maybe they can't help you with this transaction, it's probably not gonna be a good fit. Not every time. But that's typically a sign where it may not be one where we're typically going wanna do that. 

Josh W: Yeah. It means that they, they might have gone through those first six banks first and got a bunch of nos where they 

Edward B: should have, right.

'cause that's where their relationships are, you know? Yeah. And a lot of times look, we'll, we'll talk to a client and maybe they already have a relationship with the bank and they bring us a deal and it's a little outside the box. Going back to what I said earlier about kind of identifying deals that are good for good for you or the client quickly.

Typically we say, Hey, did you run this by your bank first? You know, you've been there for a while. They know you, they've lent you money. It's, you know, as much as I wanna do the deal, it probably makes sense for you to at least to have this conversation with them first. 

Josh W: Yeah. Yeah. That's such a. A telling question, right?

Because if, if you're like, Hey, did you talk with your bank? You know, you have six different banks, right? Did you talk with any of your banks? And what did they say and why did they say, why did they say no? And you see them start squirming, right? Like, 

Edward B: well, and, and even more so, it probably just, it probably answers every question you're about to have because like I said, there's, there's 20 something banks.

We do a lot of. You know, similar stuff. Yeah. Well, every bank's different. There are some things that we all do that are very similar, so asking them that question and, and saying, okay, did you have that conversation? And what did they say? Will probably tell me the bulk of what I need to know 

Josh W: for sure. 

Edward B: And it may be, the answer may be, oh, hey, they, they look at it this way.

It may be somewhere. I say, oh, you know what? We actually. Have a different way of looking at it. This, this may be an opportunity for us to help you, but again, it kind of gets you to that answer quicker. 

Josh W: Yeah. What do you think is the best question asking, you know, like, you can't use that one 'cause we just talked about that.

So you're, you know, someone's applying for, you know, some type of financial support and, uh, what, what is one of your go-to questions that might not have been on your training doc as you were, you know, learning how to be a, a lender? Yeah. 

Edward B: Um. I think just talking through what their plan is moving forward, you know, a lot of what banks do is look at historical financials.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. You know, banks don't love looking at projections. Mm-hmm. Um, well look at 'em, but banks typically like to lean on, Hey, what'd you do last year? So I love to kind of talk through, Hey, what's your plans for the next. Five years of your business. And I think what it does is it, it, it shows you how in the business they are, um, 'cause there's, you know, some owners are there with their employees grinding from seven to five.

And um, and it's funny, you can kind of tell, 'cause they'll, they'll come in the bank with dirt on their boots and um, we like those types of business owners for sure. So I think asking that question. Not only obviously shows what their plans are, but it shows how, how much they know their business, how involved they are in their business, which is a big piece of it for us.

Josh W: Yeah. We, when talking with deal makers, we've talked to a few thousand. Mm-hmm. There's the, the, the type that look in the rear view mirror. Tell me what you've done in the past. Tell me, you know, and that, I think that's good for track record. I think that's good for credit worthiness. It's good for showing character or showing how you work through hard things.

But the, the, the, the window in the front is usually a lot bigger, so gauging where their vision is. Mm-hmm. If they even have a vision. Right. I think it's, it is a very smart. Question to ask them. Nice work When it comes to, uh, questions, talking about rear view mirrors, uh, we've interviewed a bunch of people on this podcast, even though this is one of our newest ones.

And one of the, the ideas that, uh, our teammate had is from guests to guests. You get to ask a question. So one of the previous guests have a question for you. Okay. And we're gonna, I wish it was, I wish it were sealed. Then we go, what? And like confetti drops from seal. But anyways, here's a question that was asked, um, by Mr.

Blaze. Um, how do I use my mission and purpose to change the world? So that's your question. How do you use banking? And Blaze asked this, right? How do you use banking and commercial lending to change the world? 

Edward B: Man, I think it goes back to that advisor role. You know, you have these business owners who are very good at what they do.

But if you can come in and help them strategically think about how do I grow my business? You know, in a smart way, you're, you're impacting jobs. And I think what I enjoy about being at a community bank is we work with the small businesses here in town. Mm-hmm. And so we get to see every day, Hey, we go help you with this expansion of your building.

And you're about to go add 10 jobs, that's 10 families that are being impacted. So that's significant. It's, you know, being from a small town and, and, and being able to actually see what you're doing impacting, you know, boots on the ground, that's, you know, invaluable to me. I mean, it's, it's a, a big piece of why I love what I do, um, is again, not only working with the business owner, but seeing how what you're doing for them impacts their employees and their future employees.

Josh W: What's the ideal type of business? Right. So we're in Lafayette, Louisiana. I love saying that now. Like I had to be corrected. Uh, you got it down perfect now. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I could pass as a, a louisianian. Absolutely. Yeah. 

Edward B: Yeah. Nice.

Josh W: We do enjoy the food here, man. You guys have the best food. Good food.

Food. It is, yeah. So, you know. What does a, what's a good the, the ideal deal for you, right. You know, or business or business ownership, like what, what's perfect for you? 

Edward B: Yeah. So, so we're certainly a business focused bank. Mm-hmm. Um, meaning that, you know, my target client is gonna be really cradle to grave in terms of, hey, I can, I can thank you as a, uh, as a business in terms of if you need to go buy a building to house your employees.

We'll help you with that. If you need some financing to buy some trucks, we can help you with that if you need a working capital line of credit. Um, but I think beyond that also, hey, if you need to, you need to buy a house for your daughter who's going to college down the road, we can help you with that.

So I've, I've really enjoyed the cradle to grave aspect of, of banking our, our clients. Um, again, we're. We're business focused, but we, we do want the opportunity to bank that business owner in their personal lives as well, where, wherever it may make sense. 

Josh W: And that's that global view that you were talking about.

So I think, I think as a deal maker, you know, they, they say the riches are in the niches. And I, and I think that that's, that's helpful. But when you work with a, a business owner, you know, and you could work. Hey, you know, personal finance too. Maybe the second house, maybe, you know, some working capital, some equipment, some real estate when it comes to, you know, deal size deals mm-hmm.

You know, deal size and, and timelines. What, what's a good rule of thumb for you guys for community bank? 

Edward B: Yeah, so, so our asset size is about 570 million, give or take, fluctuates. But that allows us to lend up to call it 10, 11 million bucks to a certain individual. Yep. Um. And that includes their business or any personal debt they have with us.

But man, we love the two to $5 million range. I think it's such a sweet spot, especially here in Lafayette, um, the size of our community that allows us to look at the bulk of deal deals here. Mm-hmm. Um, are there some, some clients here that are a little too big for us? Yes. But, uh, the bulk of the clients here and the, and the businesses here fit in that, that window of who we can bank.

Um. So, and it allows us to move quick. You know, it's that, that perfect sweet spot of, you know, big enough balance sheet to, to bank most of the clients here, but small enough to, to move fast and make it easy on 'em.

Josh W: Yeah. Yeah. Some the benefit you know, of a regional bank is, you know, you're meeting with the loan committee, you're meeting face to face with the people who are the decision makers.

Right. It's not getting, you know, I was gonna say faxed. Mm-hmm. It's not getting emailed to, you know, some, some place overseas or wherever. So I think that is. Every, every deal maker and, uh, group has, has their fit. And I think that that makes a perfect fit as you go through this. And one of the things we're gonna ask you at the end is to write down a question for the next guest.

Okay. Alright. I, I don't like to see 'em beforehand, so don't write anything obscene or anything crazy, you know? Okay. I can do that. Yeah. So, uh, as we're going through this, so, uh, one of the things I, I always like to ask 'cause I sometimes I miss the mark in interviewing someone. What questions should I have asked you that maybe I missed the mark and didn't ask you during this interview?

Edward B: Oh man. You did a pretty good job. 

Josh W: Thank you. 

Edward B: Um, did we talk about family? I think we talked about family a little bit and I I was gonna come back to that. Yeah. That's how 

Josh W: I was gonna round out. So you're heading in that right direction? 

Edward B: Yeah. I mean, just, just, I think that's a big piece of, of Lafayette and, and, and myself is family and community.

Yeah. Um, so as you're coming here interviewing people, I think Yeah. Focus, focus more on that or, or ask a few questions around that. 'cause I think we're very proud of who we are and, and again, our community, our culture. Yeah. Because it's a big piece of, of how we live our lives with festivals and there's something every weekend to do.

Yeah. Um, so that's again, just a big piece of kind of who we are. 

Josh W: That's cool. Now let's talk about who you guys are in, in your family tree. One of nine, then one of seven. Yes. Your, your parents. Right, right, right. Right. So that's a lot of uncles, a lot of aunts, lots of right. And even more be fruitful and multiply.

There's a lot of cousins out there. Yeah. What's it like growing up in a small town with, you know, especially being in banking and mm-hmm. You know, strategic finance, having that many cousins, having any, that many uncles and aunts and 

Edward B: man, it's the, it's the best. Um, I think as you grow, not only in your career, but just growing your life, obviously per, you know.

Perspective is everything. Yeah. Um, things happen in your life where it kind of refocus what's important and having that many family members to kinda walk through life with is it's, you can't replace it. Um, very close with my, with my siblings who are here. You know, that's what we always talk about.

There's so much opportunity out there, you know, move to a bigger city, do bigger deals from a banking standpoint. But, you know, I've realized in terms of. What's important in life, family is number one. Um, and so it's, it's, it's allowed me to kind of focus again, where do I wanna be here in Lafayette, you know, working for a community bank that's just the best fit for me.

Josh W: Yeah. Yeah. The, uh, lots of cousins, lots of uncles, lots of aunts lots. Yeah. You, you got an opportunity in your, uh, education to go to Houston and then New Orleans, so you were, you moved away for a little bit. Where you're a little bit more anonymous, right. And then coming back, um, what was the, you know, I think it's good for, for deal makers to see different economies and different, you know, regions and stuff like that.

What, what did you learn over there that you might have brought back to smaller town? 

Edward B: Obviously the deal size, you know, and the complexity of things. Yeah. I spent some time in Houston. It was more oil and gas banking focused for sure. Which was a good fit for me because you come back to Lafayette and we've got a huge oil and gas industry here.

Um, so it was good to go there and really get in the weeds and look at some larger transactions and then be able to come back here and just have that knowledge and the, you know, as you're talking to business owners. 

Josh W: Yeah. Yeah. That's, that's super cool. Then, uh, kind of to put a bow on this, and when it comes to, to family and friends and relationships, you're a relationship banker.

Right? When, uh, we were having conversations with our team right outside the studio here and, and, uh, one of our guys, Scott was like, oh, do you know so and so? And you're like, yeah. And then do you know so and so, and this is your family? And, and you know, there was, there was a conversation that lasted about two minutes, but there was seven points of connections that lasted, you know, within that two minutes.

And I think that's, that's really cool. There's a blessing about being known. Knowing and being known. Mm-hmm. And, uh, I think a lot of times, especially in the world of deal making, how, if you're a good deal maker, if you're a man of integrity or a woman of integrity and, and good character, man, that it really serves you well when it comes to integrity, character, community, relationships.

What's one more parting thought that you think you have to share with the, the World of the Deal Podcast? 

Edward B: Man, I think that that's, it's everything. You know, there's, in every industry there's a ton of competition. Um, how are you gonna separate yourself from the banker down the street whenever you're selling the same product?

We're all selling money here, there, the interest rate may be a, a quarter, half point different here and there, but how are you gonna really separate yourself? And I think it's, you know, your character, um, being an advisor and, uh, just making, making it easy. So. Again, I think it's, it's, it comes back to separating yourself because there's, there's so much competition out there.

Um, and so being able to make things easy, but also being a trusted advisor is, is the difference for sure. 

Josh W: Cool. Edward, thanks for coming on the show. Ladies and gentlemen, in the audience, as always, if you look down below in the show notes, you'll find Edward's contact information. As always, reach out to our guests, say, thanks for being on the show, and if you have a deal or you work on a specific deal type, you'd like to talk about it here on the show, man, we'd love to have you head over to the deal podcast, uh, dot com.

There's a, there's a form at the top where you could contact us and, uh, we'd love to, you know, explore maybe having you as a guest on the show. Or maybe there's a deal that you'd like to talk about and, uh, that, that we do together. So, the deal podcast.com is a good place to go. If you like what you've heard today and you wanna hear more of it, you could send us questions, you could send us, you know, some topic ideas, but also, you know, please consider subscribing and giving us a, a raving review that blesses the team here and lets us know if we're doing a good job or not.

And, uh, till then, man, we'll talk to you all on the next episode. Cheers everyone.