“One of the best-kept secrets*” in the business resource arena is getting better. The Procurement Technical Assistance Program (along with its PTACs – Procurement Technical Assistance Centers) is changing its name to the APEX Accelerator program as it redefines its vision and mission. The program offers assistance to small businesses interested in selling their goods or services to the government, educational institutions, and Tribal entities. The change will help the program increase and improve its program offerings, said Therese Rivera, Program Manager of New Mexico APEX Accelerator.
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State Lowers GRT Again
The New Mexico gross receipts tax rate will decrease by .125 percent effective July 1, 2023. This is the second decrease enabled by legislation passed in 2022, and it affects every business and purchaser in the state. Often thought of as a sales tax, GRT is slightly different because it applies to the sale of services, as well as tangible items.
Continue readingOERF Offers Low-Interest Loans for Building and Renovation Projects
The Opportunity Enterprise Revolving Fund offers low-cost financing for purchasing, planning, designing, building, surveying, improving, operating, furnishing, equipping, or maintaining land, buildings or infrastructure. Eligible businesses must be engaged in a project that increases the inventory of commercial space in New Mexico while creating or expanding economic opportunity in the state.
Continue readingABC Canvas Finds Growth Through Expert Advice
When Cody Waldroup purchased ABC Canvas in 2016 from the company’s founders Jim and Renee Childress, the serial entrepreneur thought the business would fit nicely into his portfolio of revenue-producing investments. After all, the 35-year-old business was well known in Farmington for quality custom canvas, including marine products, commercial and industrial covers, and shade products. What Waldroup did not know is that the founders had other immediate plans and would only be available to ease the ownership transition for one month.
Waldroup, who had no background in manufacturing or textiles, had to quickly learn the company’s products, fabrics, vendors, employees, and operations. “I pretty much had a month of learning,” he said. “I’m still learning today.”
Thanks to his entrepreneurial background, Waldroup knew that he needed to become an unpaid working owner and obtain knowledge and assistance to fill in the gaps of his own experience. That revelation became more acute when some long-time employees retired soon after the ownership transition and employee retention became challenging.
Six years later and still a working owner, Waldroup has expanded the company to serve customers as far away as Texas, streamlined operations, and moved the company into a larger space he recently purchased. ABC Canvas, which had 3 employees during the COVID-19 pandemic, now employs 6, and Waldroup now takes a paycheck.
Continue readingFranchise Model Offers Benefits
The Paleta Bar, a retail store specializing in “fresh gourmet Mexican pops,” started in a small strip mall in Albuquerque. Several years later it boasts 33 stores selling Mexican ice pops in 7 states. The company’s rapid growth can be traced to an aggressive plan to open its own stores in addition to selling franchises — stores owned by others that use the company’s name and retail business model.
Continue readingRCAC Still Offering Pandemic Assistance
Small businesses that continue to recover from the pandemic still have relief options. Among them is the RELieF loan offered by Rural Community Assistance Corporation (RCAC) which provides up to $25,000 to help eligible rural businesses in New Mexico emerge from the pandemic.
Continue readingRCAC Boosts Food Truck “Over the Moon”
Melinda Arquero’s dream of owning a food truck business came true in 2019. Spurred by childhood memories of selling frybread from a roadside tent alongside her mother, the Cochiti Pueblo native purchased a truck to maintain the Pueblo frybread tradition and honor the dream she shared with the mother she lost to cancer 10 years earlier. Her plan was to serve frybread to Cochiti Pueblo residents and visitors at tribal events.
And then the pandemic hit. Pueblo communities were placed on lockdown prohibiting visitors from entering tribal lands where they could pass the virus to Native Americans – a population that suffered virus deaths at one of the highest rates of any race or ethnicity. Arquero’s new Over The Moon food truck was forced to sit idle.
A Chance Meeting
Arquero, known by family and friends as Moon, learned about the nonprofit lender Rural Community Assistance Corporation (RCAC) by chance soon after pandemic health regulations loosened. She was invited to bring Over The Moon to a regional housing meeting at the Cochiti Housing Department. Hosted by RCAC, the meeting focused on RCAC housing and development programs, but conversations revealed RCAC’s work with rural small businesses. Subsequent conversations resulted in a loan and a relationship that has put the business on solid footing and given it more opportunities than Arquero originally envisioned.
Continue readingGovt. Contracting as Path to Increased Revenue
Business owners curious about growing their businesses through government contracting can attend one or more upcoming webinars, workshops, and accelerator programs.
Continue readingHardship Accommodation Plan Aims to Help EIDL Borrowers
Two news organizations reported this week that the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has made changes to its COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan (COVID-19 EIDL) program to help small businesses that have been unable to repay their loans.
Continue readingClearinghouse CDFI
Clearinghouse CDFI is a direct lender financing projects that…
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