Bounce Back Being dropped by your lender may feel like a huge setback, but your business is far from over. Here's how to rise above it.

When Tara Olson learned that her bank wasn't going to renew her business credit line, she felt like the rug had been pulled out from under her marketing research firm, AllPoints Research Inc., in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. And for good reason: Without the line of credit, the $2.5 million company would have difficulty making payroll and paying vendors, unless Olson and co-owner Sherrie Aycock tapped into their personal resources.

"[We] have situations where we'll be working on a project that is worth maybe a couple hundred thousand dollars, but that client, because of their payment policy, is going to pay in two installments and it's going to take them 60 days to process the first invoice," says Olson, 44. "During that time period, we've already started the project. We're spending money. And on something of that size, we need a line of credit to help us cover those expenses while we're waiting for the collection to come in."

Naturally, when their longtime bank announced it was pulling the plug, the news was devastating. "We were operating under the assumption that it wouldn't be a problem," Olson says of the credit line renewal. "We had never been late with a payment. We met all the requirements. It just never occurred to us that they would not be interested in our business."