With the economy growing and businesses looking to grow and new ones to develop it was only a matter of time before crowdfunding became more mainstream. Crowdfunding allows you to invest in startups you love and believe in. It allows you to take control and it’s easier than you think.
There are a lot of crowdfunding like P2P and even real estate projects. Today let’s take a look at a very unique one SMBX, which offers you the chance to invest in local business with up to a 9% return.
SMBX is a marketplace connecting everyday investors like you with small businesses to invest in. A Bond is like a loan, but instead of borrowing funds from a bank, a business borrows from everyday investors just like you
As always with higher returns comes higher risk. Please do your own research and don’t invest any money you can not afford to lose.
SMBX The Ins And Outs

SMBX allows you to Earn up to 9% interest while investing in small business.

I love that you can invest just 10$ at a time and earn passive income from supporting small businesses. Below you can see these are just some of the bonds you can choose from. By clicking on each one it gives you more details and the story behind the business.

SMBX has made setting up an account very simple. You can start by either having an individual account or a company account. I went with the individual account.
Next, you disclose your salary, net worth, and confirm that you understand that you might not get your money back. Remember when I said don’t invest money you can’t lose? This is always something to remember. After this, they will email you a confirmation email.
One-click later and I have an account and ready to link my bank account. Linking the bank account is also simple and very user-friendly because SMBX uses PLAID to link your bank account. Which was refreshing to me not to have to go back and look at my account number and routing number.

Now it’s time to choose what bonds we want to pick. The first thing I notice is the below screen with all the options formatted very nicely. They have the picture, name and even the bonds return. It also tells you how much is small business has raised and if they are completed or not. SMBX did a very good job with this as it’s user-friendly and very aesthetic.
The only downside is there is not a lot to choose from. Right now SMBX offers 19 local businesses to invest in. I’d like to see if they get a filter system as the amount of business to choose from grows.

I don’t know about you but I really like to know the details and the numbers. By clicking one we can see that and even the story behind it all. I really like that they have to story as it makes it feel more personal to me. It makes me feel more attached and part of the project.

Wing It On Wheels caught my eye right away. I love wings and really liked the story behind the business. It tells me here that they are trying to raise $40,000 and at a minimum $10,000. The Bond duration is 48 months and you will receive an 8% return.
Below is the story of how the business started. This makes it so personal and relatable. Very unique of SMBX to do this.
Wing It started as a dream of Co-owners Justin Valencia and Manuel Duarte in 2019. Justin and Manny consider themselves not just chicken wing lovers but wing enthusiasts. They were tired of driving over an hour to Sacramento with their wives just to get a good wing. As they started to brainstorm, they combined their marketing, IT, and entertainment backgrounds to launch “Wing It,” the only authentic wing-based restaurant in all of Amador County, California. When you don’t know where to eat for lunch or dinner what do you do? Just “Wing it”.
Once you click on “Buy Bonds” you enter the amount you wish to invest. This page as you can see will show you your interest, your investment, estimated total return, and estimated monthly return. Another nice feature that I like is the estimates that show how much you will earn. Especially the monthly return, as this to me shows a passive stream of income every month. It’s nice knowing even when you sleep you are earning money.

The next page is where my order is confirmed! It goes over what I ordered, the amount I invested, and the yield I will receive. Lastly, it goes over the risk associated with investing just like any other investment. You can also go to your profile and share with others what you just invested in. I can see how some would like that feature and enjoy it. For me, I would not use it.

Here is a tasty project that funds raised from this offering will be used to refinance existing debt, saving over $1,500 a month. These savings will then be reinvested back into the business for use as working capital. The remainder of the funds will be used to open its newest location in 2021.

Humphry Slocombe Ice Cream wanted to raise $250,000 and they completed that goal. Their yield is 8% over 60 months. This ice cream business is very new as it started in 2008 and has taken off.
Here is an excerpt from the website. “Humphry Slocombe has roughly 300K followers on social media and was recently named one of “San Francisco’s Most Delicious Instagram Accounts” by 7X7 Magazine. It has also attracted attention from the national press including feature articles in The New York Times Magazine and Bon Appetit and several television appearances, such as the “Top 5 Ice Creams in America” spot by Food Network.”
Talk about a solid reputation and mind you I love ice cream.
Final thoughts on SMBX
I really enjoy using the platform. Everything flows very nicely and they make every step easy to understand and move to the next process.

It’s intuitive, edgy and dare I say fast to invest in any small business that they offered.
It’s nice to be able to invest just $10 at a time while earning above-average returns while really helping small businesses. SMBX really hit it home by capturing each business story. It was nice seeing the story behind what I invest in as it makes it personal.
Unlike just investing in index funds or another large tech company. The only downside was the amount of business to choose from on the platform. Yet I know as the platform grows so will the option on it.
Click here if you would like to buy bonds from local small business on SMBX.
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