The Truth About Small Business Banking (From Someone Who Actually Does It)
- 22nd State Bank
- Sep 4
- 4 min read
Preston Reeder
Senior Vice President / Commercial Officer
If you’ve ever built a small business, you know it’s not glamorous. It’s gritty. Messy. Personal. It takes early mornings, late nights, tough decisions, and thick skin. And it’s not always easy to find a lender who gets that.
That’s why I’ve spent my career in community banking. Small businesses need partners who will sit across the table, listen to the vision, challenge their assumptions, and help them move forward. That’s what I do. That’s what 22nd State Bank does for the people who are making it happen in our communities.
As a business owner, you wear many hats.
Most clients don’t walk in with MBAs and a decade of experience. They’re running family businesses, starting side ventures, or buying their first commercial property. They’re hiring neighbors, serving local customers, and making payroll work however they can.
What they need most isn’t a low interest rate. It’s a sounding board. It’s someone who can look at the numbers and the context. It’s someone who will say, “You’ve got a great idea here, but let’s adjust the plan.” Sometimes they walk in thinking they know exactly what they want. But by the time we’ve talked it through, the plan looks completely different—and much stronger. That kind of honest feedback makes all the difference.
Even in moments of crisis, growth is possible.
I worked recently with a business owner who suddenly found himself running the company solo after a tragedy. He didn’t ask for that situation, but he stepped up. The problem was that he was stuck in a tough bank relationship—his line of credit wasn’t flexible enough for the kind of cash flow swings he was experiencing.
We sat down and built a better strategy. We found a way to give him room to breathe, reorganize, and lead the business into its next phase. Today, he’s in a position to expand and integrate operations and is building something even stronger than before. He’s still got more on his plate than most, but he’s no longer just surviving.
That’s what small business banking should do: meet people in the real moments, not just the ideal ones.
It’s the honest conversations with your lender that get you there.
Many of my clients are family partnerships—brothers, father-and-son teams, cousins running a business together. When they come in, the business discussion is rarely just business. It’s personal. Emotions are involved. Ideas sometimes clash.
In those moments, I take the role of an advisor, not just a lender. I’ll tell them what I see, even if it’s not what they want to hear.
I’ve had to step in and say, “Here’s where we went wrong last time, and here’s how we get it right moving forward.” These are not always easy conversations, but they’re necessary. And they build trust that goes a lot deeper than a transaction.
You don’t have to know everything about small business banking, but you do have to be willing to learn.
Here’s another thing I often see: sharp people who were never taught how money works. I’ve met college students in finance who could explain the science behind photosynthesis but had no idea how interest compounds or how taxes are calculated. We’re not teaching financial literacy where it counts, so I try to do my part.
Whether it’s pointing someone toward a valuable podcast or book or showing them how to build passive income on the side through real estate or investing, I want them to leave a conversation with more clarity than they had coming in.
Hypothetically, if one of my clients came in asking about a loan for a real estate flip, by the end of the meeting, we wouldn’t be talking just about one deal—we would be mapping out a five-year strategy that included cash flow planning, long-term wealth building, and an exit plan. That’s the difference between doing a deal and building a future.
Mobile and Baldwin counties are poised for growth.
Mobile and Baldwin counties are catching fire in the best way, especially downtown. We’ve got new hotels in the works, exciting real estate projects, and some of the most resilient business owners I’ve ever seen. And it’s not just big developers. Homegrown operators, restaurant owners, tradespeople, and first-time investors are pushing the city forward. That growth is real, but it needs support. It needs banks that understand the local context and have the flexibility to move with it.
The best small business banking relationship goes way beyond a transaction.
A large bank wants your balance sheet to be perfect. They want your projections clean and your paperwork tidy. And that’s fine for specific situations. But a lot of my clients? They’re mid-project, mid-pivot, or mid-chaos when they come through the door. That’s real life. And that’s where we thrive. We don’t expect perfection. We expect honesty, work ethic, and a willingness to have the hard conversations. From there, we build a plan—and a partnership.
Because when small businesses succeed, our whole community feels it. And I’m here for every part of it. If you're running a business and want someone who’ll treat you like a partner—not just a number—come see us. We’ll sit down, talk it through, and get to work.
