Sean Liu
Tell us a bit about you
I’m a rising sophomore and I joined LEND fall of my freshman year. I’m majoring in mathematical methods in the social sciences, and I’ve always been interested in consulting and the quantitative side of business. I grew up in San Diego so moving to the Midwest was a big jump – Illinois is so flat! Outside of LEND, I’m involved in Club Ultimate on campus
What do you do at LEND?
At LEND as an account manager, I help onboard new clients. This usually involves conversations to understand their business and see if we can offer them a loan, business training support, or both. We help owners draft business plans so they can apply for grants from the city or apply directly for a loan from us. I’m involved every step of the way which involves guiding and advising through the process, putting together financials and helping create the loan packets that are presented for board approval. Once the loans are disbursed, I provide additional consulting support as needed and help businesses to figure out how to best allocate their new funds.
What inspired you to join LEND?
My friend pointed out LEND’s booth to me at the first Club Fair, and it seemed like a great opportunity to step out of the NU bubble and get to know Evanston by working hands on with its businesses.
What are you doing this summer?
I am working with Secret Treasures (an antique shop) and Evanston Grill (a Vietnamese restaurant). With Secret Treasures, we’ve been helping with website design to boost web traffic; they did not have an online presence pre-Covid so branching out into e-commerce and social media is unfamiliar territory. Similarly, for Evanston Grill, we’ve helped build out a website, expand Facebook reach, and evaluate local food delivery services. They ended up signing with Hngr (https://hngr.co), a local Evanston delivery service.
What has been your biggest learning while supporting small businesses?
A lot of clients, when we started working with them, may not be financially inclined or great at bookkeeping but they know their business inside out. They have been working in their fields for so long that it was impossible to not learn, especially about intangible topics such as understanding customer needs and providing customer service. It is a lot less number-driven on some aspects and what distinguishes great businesses is often outperforming other businesses in these aspects on individual interactions. From a technical skills lens, going through bank statements is helping me learn about finance and accounting. I even took up some Quickbooks training to learn more about these areas.
How can an outsider help support LEND?
The best way to help would be to help get the word out. A lot of people are not aware of the services we offer even though we saw an influx of applications due to Covid-19 and support from the City of Evanston. We are always looking to build our pipeline organically so people can find us whenever they need.
Wrap up: How do you spend your free time these days?
I try to stay active to stay sane, so I’ve been going on a lot of hikes. I’m re-watching Breaking Bad at the moment and I play video games sometimes. Recently, I’ve been cooking more in preparation for apartment life this coming fall.