By Karen Converse, New Mexico MEP

After 32 years as president of Jack’s Plastic Welding, Jack Kloepher wanted to see if his company was ready to begin exporting three of its most promising products: stand-up inflatable paddle boards and pontoon boats for recreationists, and rapid deployable spill containment units for the oil and gas industry.

So Kloepher and partner Errol Baade enrolled in the ExporTech class offered by New Mexico Manufacturing Extension Partnership in collaboration with the New Mexico Economic Development Department and other partners.

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By Finance New Mexico

To stand out in a market saturated with consumer products and get the attention of consumers deluged with advertising appeals, an entrepreneur needs to offer a product or service with obvious benefits and unquestionable superiority over the competition.

That isn’t as easy as it sounds. The history of U.S. commerce is littered with countless products whose inventors misjudged the market’s appetite or need.

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By Scott Gray, D’Ann L. Brown Customs Broker

International trade supports about 218,000 jobs in New Mexico — about one in five jobs — at companies of all sizes, according to the New Mexico-based Business Roundtable. While exports bring money to New Mexico producers in an obvious way, imports also bring money to the state by supplying materials that keep the state’s manufacturers and retailers competitive.

In 2010, 1,056 New Mexico companies imported products to sell or use in manufacturing. Nearly 64 percent of these importers were small businesses with fewer than 20 employees. Continue reading →

By Finance New Mexico

Businesses use many tools to keep projects and production on track, and most have used one or another of these with varying degrees of success.

The critical path method is the result of a mathematical approach to decision-making in project management, but it can be used to set deadlines for any business endeavor that includes multiple interdependent tasks. The critical path lists every task on a project trajectory and defines which are mandatory and which are more flexible.

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By Stacy Sacco, associate director, UNM Small Business Institute

When the time came for Albuquerque’s Bosque School to write a three- to five-year strategic plan, it was only natural that the progressive private school would choose to work with students from another innovative environment — the Small Business Institute of the University of New Mexico’s Anderson School of Management.

“We’re an institution that focuses on thinking outside the norm,” said William Handmaker, head of school at Bosque, where students in grades 6 to 12 prepare for higher education. “Instead of going the regular route, here was the chance to work with UNM.”

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By Andrea Holling, New Mexico MEP

Dennis Grubb will tell you that partnering with the New Mexico Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) was one of the best business decisions he ever made — not counting the decision to move his solar products business, Solaro Energy, from California to New Mexico.

Within a year of building a production facility in a business park just outside Socorro, the solar industry veteran had doubled productivity at the plant where his company’s solar powered attic fans and electronic skylights are assembled. He had outgrown his original space, requiring the construction of two more buildings.

Grubb, who designed and engineered every Solaro innovation, applauds the business-friendly environment in New Mexico Continue reading →

By Senator Blanche Lincoln, Chairwoman, It’s My Business coalition

Solo entrepreneurs — some of whom are independent contractors, others just one-person companies with no employees — make up 77 percent of New Mexico’s businesses, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2007 Small Business Survey, and they generate about $4.5 billion in revenue each year.

While at least part of the revenue generated by independent contractors is subject to New Mexico’s gross receipts tax, companies that engage independent contractors are exempt from collecting and paying payroll taxes that would be required if the contractors were classified as employees.

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By Finance New Mexico

Sooner or later, an entrepreneur has to know his limits and acknowledge that some tasks can and should be done by others to allow him to focus on the bigger picture. That requires delegation — trusting others, whether subordinates, partners or independent contractors, to complete an assignment as directed.

As obvious as that sounds, an entrepreneur can have a hard time trusting others with his “baby,” ultimately defeating many business objectives and stunting the company’s natural growth.

Many businesses in New Mexico start small, with the owner doing all the work that’s required to get off the ground. Continue reading →

By Margaret A. Graham, Attorney, Montgomery & Andrews P.A.

Employment discrimination is toxic for the employer, the perpetrator and the victim. It cripples productivity, creates a hostile work environment and hurts employee morale.

If allowed to continue, it can lead to costly lawsuits and damage a business’s image, reputation and brand.

The best way an employer can avoid being found liable for employment discrimination is to make equal opportunity the company standard — from recruitment to promotions, pay, benefits and training opportunities. Employers should know enough about employment law to recognize discrimination and the potential for discrimination when they see it and to ask for expert help if they are unsure.

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The Internet has linked New Mexico businesses with a worldwide web of customers, and it’s also provided a universe of cost-cutting and time-saving tools that are simplifying many aspects of running a business. Better yet, many of these tools are free or affordable.

Many businesses already use social media sites like Facebook and Twitter to advertise products, offer discounts and interact with customers. Even critical comments from customers help businesses by pointing out correctable problems with service or products; they’re a cheap form of damage control and quality control. Continue reading →