After five years as a personal trainer, Nick Irons was ready in 2010 to open his own fitness studio in Bethesda. His search for financing took him from behemoth HSBC to community lender EagleBank. Problem was every bank he approached turned him down. ¶ Irons was bewildered. ¶ “My business was successful before I decided to open a studio, but most banks looked at it as if it were a brand new start-up, not an extension of an existing business,” he said.