Monica Abeita, Regional Development Corp. for Northern NM Connect
When Scott Laidlaw and Jennifer Harris created Ko’s Journey, a game designed to teach math in middle schools, they weren’t sure how to get it into the marketplace. With help from MBA students participating in a summer internship program at Los Alamos National Laboratory, they are now better prepared. The students helped them target interested schools and made recommendations to market their product on the Internet.
Sandra Taylor Sawyer, Director, NMSBDC at Clovis Community College
Cash-flow imbalance is the leading cause of business failure in a healthy economy, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration. So when the economy is sputtering toward its prior vigor, it’s more urgent than ever to maintain a balance between what’s flowing into the business and what’s flowing out.
In business, cash is king. It’s used to pay short-term bills, cover unexpected emergencies and invest for future business needs. Savvy business owners look beyond income and expenses by keeping an eye on cash to manage all cash inflows and outflows.
Stacy Sacco, MBA, VP Marketing at WESST
Small-business owners focused on increasing sales sometimes turn to prospect lists – names of potential customers researched on the internet or purchased from a marketing firm. Even if the selection criteria are finely targeted, “cold calls” made from these lists result in fewer sales than calls made to people with whom there is a personal relationship. The key is to turn unknown potential customers into personal connections.
One approach is to generate an ongoing prospect list from public announcements about people who have won industry awards or reached achievements of note, and use the announcement to make a personal connection by sending a letter of congratulations. The letter should be written and addressed by hand, and suggest how doing business together can make the award-winner become even more successful.
Don Bustos, Director, NMSBDC at Luna Community College
Almost half of U.S. businesses are based in the business owner’s home, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration, and that number might grow as more people decide to go into business for themselves.
Those planning to launch a home-based business in New Mexico need to understand the zoning laws that apply in their area. Depending on where one lives in the state, zoning laws are enacted by city or county officials.
Monica Abeita, Regional Development Corp. for Northern NM Connect
This year marks the tenth anniversary of the New Mexico Small Business Assistance program, created by the state Legislature in 2000 to provide technical help from Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories to small businesses throughout the state.
At the 2011 NMSBA Innovation Celebration, held April 7 at the Indian Cultural Center in Albuquerque, laboratory officials recognized 12 small businesses that have participated in the program. The businesses are in both urban and rural communities of New Mexico, and include agricultural companies, medical technologies and an irrigation district.
Tom Stephenson, Managing General Partner, Verge Fund
Specialization is common within the equity investment world, with investors generally focused on specific stages of business development. A “seed” stage investor, for example, has a different specialty than a firm that provides expansion capital.
An entrepreneur who knows the terms used to describe development-related types of equity financing is more likely to seek the investor right for her venture and increase the chance of obtaining funds.
Most investor specialization terms fall close to the following:
Seed-stage venture capital refers to investments made in firms with products under development or recently introduced to the market. Continue reading
Gena Wilimitis, Volunteer, NM Coalition for Financial Education
Too many New Mexicans are novices when it comes to handling their money, making them easy pickings for predatory lending companies, expensive check-cashing services and other scams that can easily be avoided.
The fifth annual Summit on Financial Education is set for 8 a.m.-3 p.m. April 15 at the Hotel Albuquerque, 800 Rio Grande Blvd. N.W. The free conference aims to increase the financial knowledge of New Mexicans so that they can make sound decisions about their money and avoid fraud and questionable investments.
John E. Barraclough, Jr., CPA
It is more than a matter of semantics to the Internal Revenue Service when a business owner determines that the people who work for him or her are independent contractors rather than employees.
If an individual is a genuine employee, the employer must withhold and pay Social Security and Medicare taxes, withhold income taxes, and pay unemployment taxes on the wages. An employer also might offer benefits such as health insurance, vacation pay, and retirement incentives.
If an individual is an independent contractor, the employer does not have to withhold taxes or offer benefits or retirement incentives. The independent contractor must file an income tax return and pay income tax as well as self-employment tax to cover his or her own Social Security and Medicare liabilities. Continue reading
John C. Woosley, District Director, SBA NM District Office
Merlin Herbert believes anyone can run a business if they have the right training. Herbert, the owner of a 19 year-old Bloomfield-based welding company, participated in the e200 Emerging Leaders training program in Gallup last year. “The training helped me become a better manager,” he says.
An initiative of the U.S. Small Business Administration, the e200 Emerging Leaders Program is a national curriculum that provides business owners in underserved markets with training, networking, resources and motivation to grow their business and create jobs. Now in its fourth year in Albuquerque, the program will be offered in Farmington this year for the first time. The training, which is valued at over $8,000, is free of charge and will be conducted from April through November, 2011, in both locations.
Tom Stephenson, Managing General Partner, Verge Fund
Anyone looking for a business investor must examine their personal goals before looking for funding – different reasons for starting a business mean different ways of finding money.
Venture capitalists classify entrepreneurial businesses into two groups: growth businesses and lifestyle, or legacy, businesses. Only growth businesses will be attractive to venture-capital firms.
Lifestyle businesses are those started by people who want to have control over what they do and how they spend their time. These businesses tend to be focused on a local market, and entrepreneurs expect to own and run the business indefinitely. Continue reading