Taking out a small business loan can jumpstart your brand new company or give you the funds to maintain or even grow your business to the next level. Either way, it can feel like you're heading into uncharted waters. But, putting aside your fears can have a huge pay-off. According to Fundera, the average SBA loan amount is $107,000 and the average small business bank loan amount is $633,000.
Don't let your intimidation of getting a small business loan cost you massive funding. Getting a small business loan isn't that scary when you have all of the facts at your disposal.
1.Determine Why You Want A Business Loan
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The first step to take when thinking about acquiring a small business loan, is figuring out why you want one in the first place. It's key to know why you need a business loan for multiple reasons. How are you going to know which type of loan and lender can fulfill your needs? A few reasons to apply for a small business loan include:
- Starting a new business
- Growing your business
- Financing equipment or vehicle purchases
- Day-to-day expenses
- Buying another business
- Build your business credit history
2.Pre-assess Your Qualifications For A Loan
Before wasting your time applying for loans that are out of your reach, assess your current qualifications for a loan. This will help you to determine which loan types and lenders will most likely approve your loan, narrowing your search.
How is your credit score looking?
Most people are familiar with a personal credit score, yet many aren't familiar with a business credit score. If your business is brand new, you'll lack a business credit history, so loan administrators will focus on your personal credit score.
If you're unsure about your personal credit score or business credit score, check your credit report using the three major credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. If there's anything concerning your reports, it's important to resolve these issues to amplify your chance of loan approval.
Do you have the minimum annual revenue?
Most lenders care about your business's annual revenue because they want to ensure you can actually pay them back. Calculate your annual revenue to assess if you meet a lender's minimum annual revenue requirement. Each lender has unique qualifications, but if your annual revenue is at least $100,000, you should be good to go for most small business loans.
3.Determine The Type Of Loan
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There are many loan options for small business owners, but below are 4 options that are pretty common among small business borrowers.
- Term Loans: Term loans are one of the most popular type of loans for small businesses. Small business owners receive a lump sum of cash that is expected to be repaid over a fixed term, while accruing monthly interest on the principal balance. This loan type allows lendees to use their lump sum of cash on a diversity of needs, such as the purchasing of equipment or inventory expenses.
- Small Business Line of Credit: A small business line of credit is comparable to a credit card because borrowers receive a maximum credit limit that can usually be accessed through a checking account. Business owners who have no idea how much funding they may need will benefit from this option because you only withdraw what you need. Plus, you can repay your owed amount, and then withdraw money once again to keep your credit balance low. You're only charged interest for the amount you withdrew, instead of being charged for the entirety of the loan amount like a term loan.
- Small Business Administration Loan (SBA): SBA loans are a perfect match the owner who wants a government-backed loan. These loans entice business owners because of their low-cost, but the application process is known for being excessively long delaying the administration of funding. These loans are great for the business owner who prioritizes low-interest rates and fees over receiving their funds ASAP.
- Equipment Loans: Equipment loans are fitting for the borrower who needs to finance large equipment/machinery/vehicle purchases, but lack the capital to do so. These loans are for purchases that maintain their value, such as office furnishings or laptops. If you can't pay your loan back, your purchases can be held as collateral.
4.Choose Lenders After Comparing Your Options
Before choosing a random lender, shop around to find the best-fit lender. There are a couple of factors to consider. What are the lender's fees? Which lender offers the best APR? How fast will the loan be administered? How large of a loan do they typically offer borrowers with your background?
There are many factors to consider, including the type of lender:
- Banks match the borrower who's been in business for at least two years, has good credit, and the patience to wait for funds. There are several banks to choose from including: J.P.Morgan, Citibank, and Wells Fargo.
- Online lenders are fit the borrower who prioritizes fast funding over low APR rates and higher loan approval rates than a traditional bank. Check out a few of the online lenders that supply small business loans: OnDeck, UpStart, and Credibly.
- Microlenders are an excellent option for borrowers who have a less than stellar credit history, cant receive a traditional loan, or have a new business. A few popular microlenders: LiftFund, Opportunity Fund, and Justine Peterson.
5.Apply For Your Small Business Loan & Submit
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After choosing lenders, it's time to apply! Understanding the application process and requirements is key to approval. Once you understand the application requirements, gather the needed documents. Lenders may require a business plan, tax returns, credit reports, legal documentation, and the purpose of the loan.
After gathering your application documents and filing out the application forms, double check your application. All that's left to do is submit your materials, and wait for a decision. Good luck!
Hopefully after learning 5 steps to getting a business loan, the entire process seems a little less daunting. The only thing left to do is to use the advice and start sending out business loan applications. If you're rejected by a lender, that's OK because you can apply to other lenders or take some time to become a stronger applicant.
Featured image by xavierarnau/Getty Images
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Our much-needed, much-deserved season of ease and soft living quickly metamorphosed into a time of self-preservation and survival. Our motion and economic progression seemed strategically slowed, our light under siege.
The air feels heavier now. The headlines colder. Our Black girl magic is being picked apart and politicized for simply existing.
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We are living at the intersection of liberation and backlash. We are learning to take off our capes, to say no when we are tired, to embrace softness without apology.
And somehow, the world has found new ways to punish us for it.
In lifestyle, women like Kayla Nicole and Ayesha Curry have been ridiculed for daring to choose themselves. Tracee Ellis Ross was labeled bitter for speaking her truth about love. Meghan Markle, still, cannot breathe without critique.
In politics, Kamala Harris, Letitia James, and Jasmine Crockett are dragged through the mud for standing tall in rooms not built for them.
In sports, Angel Reese, Coco Gauff, and Taylor Townsend have been reminded that even excellence will not shield you from racism or judgment.
In business, visionaries like Diarrha N’Diaye-Mbaye and Melissa Butler are fighting to keep their dreams alive in an economy that too often forgets us first.
Even our icons, Beyoncé, Serena, and SZA, have faced criticism simply for evolving beyond the boxes society tried to keep them in.
From everyday women to cultural phenoms, the pattern is the same. Our light is being tested.
And yet, somehow, through it all, we are still showing up as that girl, and that deserves to be celebrated.
Because while the world debates our worth, we keep raising our value. And that proof is all around us.
This year alone, Naomi Osaka returned from motherhood and mental health challenges to reach the semifinals of the US Open. A’ja Wilson claimed another MVP, reminding us that beauty and dominance can coexist. Brandy and Monica are snatching our edges on tour. Kahlana Barfield Brown sold out her new line in the face of a retailer that had been canceled. And Melissa Butler’s company, The Lip Bar, is projecting a forty percent surge in sales.
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We are the women walking our daily steps and also continuing to run solid businesses. We are growing in love, taking solo trips, laughing until it hurts, raising babies and ideas, drinking our green juice, and praying our peace back into existence.
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And through it all, we continue to lift one another. Emma Grede is creating seats at the table. Valeisha Butterfield has started a fund for jobless Black women. Arian Simone is leading in media with fearless conviction. We are pouring into each other in ways the world rarely sees but always feels.
So yes, we are in the midst of societal warfare. Yes, we are being tested. Yes, we are facing economic strain, political targeting, and public scrutiny. But even war cannot dim a light that is divinely ours.
And we are still shining.
And we are still softening.
And we are still creating.
And we are still It.
That is the quiet magic of Black womanhood, our ability to hold both truth and triumph in the same breath, to say yes, and to life’s contradictions.
It is no coincidence that this year, as SheaMoisture embraces the message “Yes, And,” they stand beside us as partners in celebrating this class of It Girls. Because that phrase, those two simple words, capture the very essence of this moment.
Yes, we are tired. And we are still rising.
Yes, we are questioned. And we are the answer.
Yes, we are bruised. And we are still beautiful.
This year’s It Girl 100 is more than a list. It is a love letter to every Black woman who dares to live out loud in a world that would rather she whisper. This year’s class is living proof of “Yes, And,” women who are finding ways to thrive and to heal, to build and to rest, to lead and to love, all at once.
It is proof that our joy is not naive, our success not accidental. It is the reminder that our light has never needed permission.
So without further ado, we celebrate the It Girl 100 Class of 2025–2026.
We celebrate the millions of us who keep doing it with grace, grit, and glory.
Because despite it all, we still shine.
Because we are still her.
Because we are still IT, girl.
Meet all 100 women shaping culture in the It Girl 100 Class of 2025. View the complete list of honorees here.
Featured image by xoStaff
So, we handpicked one hundred It Girls who embody that palpable It Factor moving through us as young Black women, the kind of motion lighting up the world both IRL and across the internet.
It Girl 100 became xoNecole’s most successful program, with the hashtag organically reaching more than forty million impressions on Instagram in just twenty-four hours. Yes, it caught on like wildfire because we celebrated some of the most brilliant and influential GenZennial women of color setting trends and shaping culture. But more than that, it resonated because the women we celebrated felt seen.
Many were already known in their industries for keeping this generation fly and lit, but rarely received recognition or flowers. It Girl 100 became a safe space to be uplifted, and for us as Black women to bask in what felt like an era of our brilliance, beauty, and boundless influence on full display.
And then, almost overnight, it was as if the rug was pulled from under us as Black women, as the It Girls of the world.
Our much-needed, much-deserved season of ease and soft living quickly metamorphosed into a time of self-preservation and survival. Our motion and economic progression seemed strategically slowed, our light under siege.
The air feels heavier now. The headlines colder. Our Black girl magic is being picked apart and politicized for simply existing.
With that climate shift, as we prepare to launch our second annual It Girl 100 honoree list, our team has had to dig deep on the purpose and intention behind this year’s list. Knowing the spirit of It Girl 100 is about motion, sauce, strides, and progression, how do we celebrate amid uncertainty and collective grief when the juice feels like it is being squeezed out of us?
As we wrestled with that question, we were reminded that this tension isn’t new. Black women have always had to find joy in the midst of struggle, to create light even in the darkest corners. We have carried the weight of scrutiny for generations, expected to be strong, to serve, to smile through the sting. But this moment feels different. It feels deeply personal.
We are living at the intersection of liberation and backlash. We are learning to take off our capes, to say no when we are tired, to embrace softness without apology.
And somehow, the world has found new ways to punish us for it.
In lifestyle, women like Kayla Nicole and Ayesha Curry have been ridiculed for daring to choose themselves. Tracee Ellis Ross was labeled bitter for speaking her truth about love. Meghan Markle, still, cannot breathe without critique.
In politics, Kamala Harris, Letitia James, and Jasmine Crockett are dragged through the mud for standing tall in rooms not built for them.
In sports, Angel Reese, Coco Gauff, and Taylor Townsend have been reminded that even excellence will not shield you from racism or judgment.
In business, visionaries like Diarrha N’Diaye-Mbaye and Melissa Butler are fighting to keep their dreams alive in an economy that too often forgets us first.
Even our icons, Beyoncé, Serena, and SZA, have faced criticism simply for evolving beyond the boxes society tried to keep them in.
From everyday women to cultural phenoms, the pattern is the same. Our light is being tested.
And yet, somehow, through it all, we are still showing up as that girl, and that deserves to be celebrated.
Because while the world debates our worth, we keep raising our value. And that proof is all around us.
This year alone, Naomi Osaka returned from motherhood and mental health challenges to reach the semifinals of the US Open. A’ja Wilson claimed another MVP, reminding us that beauty and dominance can coexist. Brandy and Monica are snatching our edges on tour. Kahlana Barfield Brown sold out her new line in the face of a retailer that had been canceled. And Melissa Butler’s company, The Lip Bar, is projecting a forty percent surge in sales.
We are no longer defining strength by how much pain we can endure. We are defining it by the unbreakable light we continue to radiate.
We are the women walking our daily steps and also continuing to run solid businesses. We are growing in love, taking solo trips, laughing until it hurts, raising babies and ideas, drinking our green juice, and praying our peace back into existence.
We are rediscovering the joy of rest and realizing that softness is not weakness, it is strategy.
And through it all, we continue to lift one another. Emma Grede is creating seats at the table. Valeisha Butterfield has started a fund for jobless Black women. Arian Simone is leading in media with fearless conviction. We are pouring into each other in ways the world rarely sees but always feels.
So yes, we are in the midst of societal warfare. Yes, we are being tested. Yes, we are facing economic strain, political targeting, and public scrutiny. But even war cannot dim a light that is divinely ours.
And we are still shining.
And we are still softening.
And we are still creating.
And we are still It.
That is the quiet magic of Black womanhood, our ability to hold both truth and triumph in the same breath, to say yes, and to life’s contradictions.
It is no coincidence that this year, as SheaMoisture embraces the message “Yes, And,” they stand beside us as partners in celebrating this class of It Girls. Because that phrase, those two simple words, capture the very essence of this moment.
Yes, we are tired. And we are still rising.
Yes, we are questioned. And we are the answer.
Yes, we are bruised. And we are still beautiful.
This year’s It Girl 100 is more than a list. It is a love letter to every Black woman who dares to live out loud in a world that would rather she whisper. This year’s class is living proof of “Yes, And,” women who are finding ways to thrive and to heal, to build and to rest, to lead and to love, all at once.
It is proof that our joy is not naive, our success not accidental. It is the reminder that our light has never needed permission.
So without further ado, we celebrate the It Girl 100 Class of 2025–2026.
We celebrate the millions of us who keep doing it with grace, grit, and glory.
Because despite it all, we still shine.
Because we are still her.
Because we are still IT, girl.
Meet all 100 women shaping culture in the It Girl 100 Class of 2025. View the complete list of honorees here.
Featured image by xoStaff