By Luis Duran, Functional Site Manager, New Mexico Workforce Connection, Santa Fe office

Rose Marie Law first used the employment screening services of the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions even before she became director of human resources for Jemez Mountain Electrical Co-op, a nonprofit utility started in 1947 to serve residents of Jemez Springs and now generating electrical power for Rio Arriba, Santa Fe, San Juan, McKinley and Sandoval counties.

While the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Union Local 611 provides journeyman electricians through its apprenticeship program, Law is responsible for hiring clerical and warehouse workers for the utility’s offices in Jemez Springs, Cuba and Española.

When jobs come open at the utility, the Department of Workforce Solutions helps Law assess the skills and abilities of her top candidates with a WorkKeys test. Continue reading →

By Carmen Martinez, director, Small Business Development Center at San Juan College

Business owners don’t need a degree in accounting, but they do need to know how to read basic financial statements and when to ask the accountants who prepare them to explain what they don’t understand.

No one wants to be like the business owner who believed she was making a profit because her checkbook had a positive balance. But even business owners who diligently record financial transactions using basic accounting software don’t always comprehend the reports their CPA generates based on these records.

That means they’re not using the expertise they pay for, and they’re not using the numbers as tools to build their business.

The three financial reports every business owner should understand are the profit and loss statement, the balance sheet and the cash flow statement. Continue reading →

By Lisa Adkins, Director of the BioScience Center

“Crowdfunding” is a way that startups can raise money to get a project or enterprise off the ground without company founders having to surrender ownership, secure a loan or approach foundations for elusive grants.

Earlier incarnations of the practice didn’t have the advantage of instant access to a global fan base that can grow exponentially through social media. The Internet created that access, and crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter.com and IndieGoGo.com created platforms where people could pitch their projects.

Aqua Research, a resident company in the BioScienceCenter incubator in Albuquerque, is using IndieGoGo to raise $50,000 by May 10 to finance production of its H2gO water purifier, which can turn up to five gallons of unsafe water at a time into potable water using a solar-powered rechargeable cell-phone battery. Continue reading →

By Denise Williams, Innovation Director, New Mexico Manufacturing Extension Partnership

Henry Production Inc. of Farmington puts a premium on training. The 51-year-old company is a one-stop oilfield service company, selling and maintaining compressors and pumps used in the oil and natural gas industry, servicing and overhauling engines and fabricating skids and piping, among other things.

Because machine technology is always changing, the company sponsors a 16-week class once a year to ensure its newer technicians understand the mechanical systems they’re working with. Even seasoned techs take refresher courses to stay on top of technological advances.

Continue reading →

Renata Golden, CEO, Golden Ink, Inc.

Businesses, like people, need to grow to stay relevant — even if the owner wonders where she’ll find the hours to devote to something that already consumes every hour she’s not sleeping.

Golden Ink reached that pivotal moment in 2012, when I had to decide whether to build it or to prune and risk killing it.  The 100-hour workweeks had become unsustainable, but I was loath to stifle the natural expansion of a business I’d worked so hard to build and hoped one day to sell.

Continue reading →

Carolyn A. Wolf, Attorney at Law, Montgomery & Andrews P.A.

New Mexico’s gross receipts tax might make many business owners grumble, but the tax code contains provisions to help entrepreneurs compete with out-of-state rivals who aren’t subject to the tax. Taxpayers that sell services to out-of-state buyers when the product of the service is initially used outside the state and the product is delivered to the buyer outside New Mexico may be eligible for a deduction.

For transactions to be deductible, certain guidelines must be met.

Continue reading →

By Paul Choman, Regional Manager, WESST Enterprise Center in Farmington

Deciding what direction to take a business is isolating for the owner of a small business — especially a sole proprietor. Relatives and friends can offer advice and opinions, but they often lack the expertise to provide the informed, objective counsel the entrepreneur needs.

That’s when a mentor is handy. A mentor is both coach and sage — someone who’s versed in the challenges of running a company and ready to share knowledge with others who need help with business strategies, resources and goals. The best mentors empathize with the people they’re helping and aim to empower them to anticipate and overcome obstacles.

The junior partner in this arrangement isn’t a passive disciple, and the mentor’s word isn’t gospel. Continue reading →

By Fidel Gutierrez, Sr. VP, Los Alamos National Bank

In an age when many products sell in cyberspace and the buyer and seller never meet, creative crooks are finding new ways to defraud businesses — especially web-based businesses and individuals selling items through online platforms.

One scheme involves counterfeit versions of a time-honored currency – the cashier’s check.

Scammers commit cashier’s check fraud using an authentic-looking cashier’s check to buy a product. The seller deposits the check and her account is charged for the amount when the check bounces back to the bank as a fake. Continue reading →