Mountain Pallet | Application Preview
Mountain Pallet is seeking government grants to enhance its operations and expand its market reach. The funding will be allocated for a dry-klin to enable in-house heat treatment of raw materials, a larger facility for improved production capacity, new vehicles for efficient local deliveries, and upgraded machinery to handle increased volume.
The business aims to transition from relying on a third-party provider for heat treatment to managing this process internally. With a larger space, Mountain Pallet plans to integrate robotic machinery to enhance production speed and efficiency. This upgrade will allow them to manufacture various products, such as skids, crates, and specialty pallets, which can be sold both domestically and internationally. By handling deliveries, they can reduce costs and foster strong customer relationships, relying on word-of-mouth for business growth.
The applicant emphasizes resilience, sharing a personal journey of overcoming challenges, including past addiction and incarceration. This determination fuels their ambition to succeed and drive the business forward. The applicant believes their unique background and approach to business, marked by collaboration rather than competition, will provide a solid foundation for success.
Mountain Pallet differentiates itself through financial and operational strategies, a commitment to customization, and a collaborative mindset in the industry. As a younger female entrepreneur, the applicant highlights the need for support to overcome barriers and capitalize on opportunities in a male-dominated field.
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General Information
Business Registration Number: 813042924
Location: Cedar Bluff, VA, United States
Length of Operation: 6-10
Number of Employees: 11-25 Employees
Annual Gross Income: $250k to $500k
Annual Gross Expense: $250k to $500k
Open to Loans: NO
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Funding Usage
Dry-klin, larger property, new vehicles, upgraded machinery
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Business Plan
In order to provide our customers with the convenience of shipping internationally we must heat treat all of raw material products. Currently, we pay a third party to do this for us. I would like to be able to purchase a dry-klin and heat treat our products in house. In doing so, it would take not only the monetary resources but the physical room to grow that we don't have at our current location. A larger facility would also give us the opportunity to incorporate robotic machines into our building process for improved speed and efficiency. With all that being said, everything I have listed will increase my customer base and sales so we would have to integrate more complex, larger saws and sharpening machines into the initial manufacturing operation so we can to handle the extra volume of wood coming in to be cut down and manufactured into our final product, whether it may be a skid, crate, or speciality pallet; all of which can be sold in the states or aboard. Finally, as a way to keep pricing affordable to our local customers we like to handle those deliveries ourselves. Just as you guessed, an upgrade to our overhauled trucks would cut costs on breakdowns, save time, and avoid delayed deliveries. All the while keeping our customers satisfied and creating long-lasting business relationships, which brings us full circle in networking without the cost of advertisements. Taking advantage of the old adage, word of mouth can make you or break you. My plan five year plan for this business is to monopolize my local market and I need the afore mentioned resources to do just that. To sum it up in one word, Survivor; I am a survivor. I don't take no for an answer and I will keep trying until somebody tells me yes. When I decide to do something I don't just do it half-way, I put 1000% and all of my energy into succeeding my said goal. In my younger years I took my life and freedom for granted and I swore if I ever made it out of that situation that I would turn it around and makeup for everything I lost, missed, and wasted. I'll share the cliff notes version of my story just to prove my determination and perseverance. Over the past fifteen years I've fought drug addiction and won. I'm an convicted felon who has received back all of the rights that were once taken from me. I've beat our countries recidivism rate and became a statistic of the few who actually reform. I am the needle junkie turned successful business owner. I have a drive in me that will not let me quit and I will win or die trying. So investing in me is a sure thing because I've been tossed away before and here I am back to fight another day and I won't only survive but exorbitantly thrive.
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Self Identified Competition
I don't prefer to use the term "competitor" as we've never been in competition with each other, instead we have chosen to work with one another. I have respectful working relationships with my peers. As I mentioned earlier, the third party who currently provides me with a means to provide heat treated products to my customers, is another pallet fabricator near me. I know that may sound strange for a business owner to say but really it's not when you look at how I run my business. In my opinion, a high moral compass is the key to any successful business and I've found it's much easier to work with someone than against them. Financial resources, location, and specializations makes me different. I'm a younger female, with a smaller business, so I don't have the means available to me that an older male whose been in this indusrty for thirty plus years longer than I have, nor do I receive the opportunities that has been offered to him. Distance plays a hugh role in our differences as we're sixty plus miles or more away from each other. Finally, I specialize. Most fabricators in my industry choose to provide only the most popular and vastly purchased sizes but not me. If you want an odd sized pallet, an extremely large, heavy-duty skid, or a heat treated crate with a lid, then I will build it for you. There's no job I'll turn down and that's our biggest difference.
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Contact Applicant
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