Jess, what is your business? PM me if you like.
we are seasonal, so a little different. Spring 07 sales were X and considered excellent starting off cold. Fall 07 sales were 3X. Spring 08 sales were 2.5X (spring is a smaller season than fall) and Fall 08 sales are 2X, but due almost entirely to our shipping Spring 08 so late, but certainly the economy is also a big part of it. Sales for better kids clothing are way down for this fall, even with established lines. Our sales reps say we are doing surprisingly well for a young line that missed a ship.
And there is the crux of the situation. If we had shipped on time for Spring, I wouldn't need a loan. this is just a cash flow situation for purchasing our fall production, 50% of which is paid on ship to our customers, rest is paid Net 30/60.
To make the loan worthwhile, and attractive though, it would also cover launching our Great Adventures of Joey & Rex book series/branding play (think Dora the Explorer, just starting off small with books, t-shirts, etc.) to where we could go to serious angel money to realize that dream. Little Traveler, as boy's clothing, will never be more than a $10M company, and that figure is 7-10 years away. Joey & Rex is pretty much unlimited if handled correctly.
And sure, we could also use a few $ to have a website built.
here is our Fall 08 linesheet:
www.littletravelerusa.com/Fall08.pdf