Author Archives: Admin

Food Trucks: New Path to Entrepreneurship

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Kayla Vallejos has been cooking since she was 13 so it was only a matter of time before she would own a food operation.

Vallejos, the proud owner of Albuquerque-based Taste of Love food truck that launched in the spring of 2021, got her start working at Burger King and then moved on to waitressing and bartending. Along the way, her dream was to work in a kitchen, but she lacked the formal experience necessary to be hired by a restaurant. That was until the owners of a restaurant in her home state of New Jersey allowed her to cook for their patrons.

“A lot of places wouldn’t hire me because I was a woman and I didn’t have a formal background in cooking,” Vallejos said. The restaurant is “where I learned mostly everything, especially making homemade stuff.”

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Building a Scalable Venture in New Mexico?

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ActivateNM powered by CNM Ingenuity offers “office hours” for New Mexico startups and small businesses. Office Hours are a facilitated regular gathering of the growing ActivateNM community of entrepreneurs and mentors who get together to talk about pressing business questions their ventures are facing. The next monthly meeting will take place online on August 20.

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Invention-Con Delivers Patent Information

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The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is sponsoring a free online convention to help entrepreneurs capitalize on their intellectual property. Invention-Con takes place online from August 18 through 20.

Participants will hear from business and government experts about turning ideas into innovations, protecting work, and accessing valuable resources. Keynote speakers Serene Almomen, CEO of Senseware, and recording artist Ansel Brown will share their insights on science, technological innovation, music, and business.

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Increase Sales in the New Economy

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A steady stream of sales is crucial to sustaining or growing a business. How do you increase sales in an economy where consumer buying styles have changed?

Join WESST online from 11:30 am to 1:00 pm on Tuesday, Aug. 17 for the first of four sessions to learn how to engage customers with a new approach to selling that increases revenue and eliminates pressure from the buying process.

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Velarde Winery Cuts Costs with Help from New Mexico MEP

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When the coronavirus pandemic temporarily halted tourist traffic and shuttered restaurants and bars throughout New Mexico, Black Mesa Winery in Velarde had an inventory of wine and hard cider worth $100,000 and fewer avenues to deliver its products to customers. Winery owners Jerry and Lynda Burd were able to keep products moving out the door through online wine tasting events, shipments to wine club members, and creative drive-by tours that kept customers engaged.

The slowdown also gave the Burds time to examine all aspects of their operation and to consider changes that could streamline processes, open new markets, and increase market share when the pandemic ended.

The Burds sought help from New Mexico Manufacturing Extension Partnership (New Mexico MEP), a nonprofit organization that helps businesses transform their operations to improve production, competitiveness, and profitability. New Mexico MEP Innovation Director Scott Bryant worked with the couple and their 12 employees to help them evaluate the entire production line.

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DreamSpring Has Record Year

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Small businesses that were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic were the greatest beneficiaries of services provided by the nonprofit lender DreamSpring in 2020.

When the pandemic hit early in 2020, DreamSpring quickly adapted to a fully remote work model and pivoted from business-as-usual to providing economic triage alongside an array of partners, which included community-based organizations, banks, federal and local government agencies, philanthropies, individual donors, and existing clients. DreamSpring’s ability to serve as economic first responders to the smallest, most vulnerable businesses in the crisis by providing access to Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funds and other resources was crucial to keeping thousands of businesses afloat.

The results are impressive.

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DisrupTECH 2021 to Introduce New Technologies

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DisrupTECH is a celebration of the disruptive technology created by the scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory. At this signature innovation event — now in its seventh year — thirteen carefully selected entrepreneurial-minded scientists will present their ideas with the goal of introducing the latest groundbreaking technology from Los Alamos and their inventors to entrepreneurs, investors, regional leaders, policymakers, and industrial partners. Be the first to see and experience the work of these featured scientists, and have the first shot at engaging in tech transfer opportunities.

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CAP Program Fills Collateral Shortfall

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The Collateral Assistance Program (CAP) helps creditworthy small businesses obtain a loan for which they might not otherwise qualify. To help banks and other financial institutions make loans to small businesses in underserved markets, the New Mexico Economic Development Department can pledge cash to cover a collateral shortfall of a loan to enable commercial financing. Business owners apply through a participating bank or financial institution that can initiate the loan. 

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