Category Archives: General Business Advice

Fabricator Has Long-Term Commitment to Lean Manufacturing

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Jennifer Sinsabaugh

Jennifer Sinsabaugh, Operations Director, NM MEP

When David Smith, owner of Taycar Enterprises in Albuquerque, phased out the use of paper in his sheet metal fabrication and assembly plant, it pushed some office workers beyond their hard-copy comfort zones.

Going paper-free was just one part of Smith’s efforts to bring the principles of lean manufacturing to the business his father started in 1983, but it was harder than the changes he instituted to make his job shop operate more efficiently. Now the business stores all its records electronically and conducts all its correspondence by email.

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WESST Offers Global Program to Home-Grown Businesses

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By Julianna Silva, Albuquerque Regional Manager, WESST

By Julianna Silva, Albuquerque Regional Manager, WESST

WESST brings a global business initiative to New Mexico in a five-part series of workshops designed to empower small-business owners to make sound financial decisions.

HP Learning Initiative for Entrepreneurs — or HP Life — is a global program sponsored by Hewlett Packard that trains the owners of microenterprises to apply information technology and business skills to establish and expand a job-creating venture.

WESST sponsors the workshops at its Albuquerque Enterprise Center.

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Quest for Perfection Can Be Profitable

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Jennifer Sinsabaugh

Jennifer Sinsabaugh, Operations Director, NM MEP

New Mexico businesses that want help becoming more efficient frequently call on the New Mexico Manufacturing Extension Partnership — a nonprofit agency of the U.S. Commerce Department that helps small and mid-sized U.S. businesses create and preserve jobs, become more profitable and save time and money. In New Mexico, where most businesses are small, MEP services are used by doctors’ offices, machine shops, small farms and agricultural operations, and businesses that serve the oil and gas industry.

MEP uses multiple techniques to help businesses increase profits by standardizing production and administration to provide continuous improvement that eliminates waste and strives for perfection.

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Two Programs Reimburse Employers for Training New and Veteran Workers

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Sara Haring, Manager, JTIP

Sara Haring, Manager, JTIP

Job creation is on the minds of many as the economy continues its slow but steady climb from recession. In New Mexico, job creation has been on the agenda of the state Economic Development Department since 1972, when the New Mexico Job Training Incentive Program (JTIP) was launched to help businesses defray the cost of hiring and training new employees.

JTIP is one of the most generous training incentive packages in the country, funding classroom and on-the-job training for new jobs in businesses that are expanding in New Mexico or moving here. The department supplemented JTIP in 2005 with STEP-UP to help qualified companies train their existing workforce in new technologies or skills.

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IRS Allows Latitude, Safe Harbor in Cases of Worker Misclassification

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Julie K. Fritsch

Julie K. Fritsch, Attorney at Law, Montgomery & Andrews P.A.

Misclassifying an employee as an independent contractor isn’t always an intentional attempt by an employer to avoid paying payroll taxes, unemployment insurance and other employee benefits. Although the correct classification of a worker may be difficult to determine in many work relationships, employers are nonetheless responsible for classifying workers appropriately.

A determination by the IRS or Department of Labor that an employer has misclassified a worker or class of workers can have serious consequences for employers, including government audits and significant penalties. Nevertheless, safe harbors that can reduce or eliminate assessed penalties are available to employers.

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Depreciation Prevents Expense Spikes That Can Unsettle Investors

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Jimmy Pendergrass

Jimmy D. Pendergrass, CPA, Partner, Accounting & Consulting Group LLC

The Internal Revenue Service stipulates that businesses must capitalize expenditures for big-ticket items and recover that cost over several years – a practice known as depreciation – to avoid dramatic changes in the financial statements of a business from one year to the next. Knowing when to depreciate and when to claim a special one-time expense deduction is critical for entrepreneurs.

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Lunches Give Businesswomen a Chance to Find Clients, Make Contacts

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Jennifer Craig

Jennifer Craig, Regional Manager, WESST Las Cruces

Networking is a form of marketing that exponentially increases the influence that a professional or business owner can have when searching for new markets or clients. WESST, a nonprofit that helps build small businesses in New Mexico, used the occasion of Women’s History Month in March to teach women entrepreneurs how to use this powerful tool: The organization’s Las Cruces enterprise center started an Empowering Women in Business Networking lunch meeting so clients and other women could mingle, share ideas, get acquainted and help one another.

The gatherings started small — about three dozen women — but that number nearly doubled by June, suggesting that WESST had tapped into an unmet need.

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Employers Who Mislabel Employees Risk Penalties

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Suzanne C. Odom

Suzanne C. Odom, Attorney at Law

Under competitive pressures, some employers are tempted to label workers “independent contractors” rather than employees so they can avoid paying benefits, matching Social Security and Medicare taxes, paying federal and state unemployment taxes and following employment laws, such as the Fair Labor Standards Act. This practice of misclassification has created substantial problems for affected employees and for the United States Treasury, the Social Security and Medicare funds, and state unemployment and workers’ compensation funds.

As a result, the U.S. Department of Labor and Internal Revenue Service signed a memorandum of understanding in September 2011 so the agencies could work together and share information to reduce employee misclassification, close the tax gap and improve compliance with federal labor laws.  Continue reading →

TED Conference is Incubator for Innovative Ideas

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Tim Nisly

Tim Nisly, Founder, TEDxABQ

The adage that business success is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration hit home for me through TED, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the spread of inspiring ideas. Established in 1996 by magazine publishing entrepreneur Chris Anderson on the basis of a 1984 gathering of leaders in the fields of design, technology and entertainment, TED aims to provide a platform for the world’s most innovative thinkers, visionaries and teachers to help people gain a better understanding of the world’s most serious problems and hear some ideas about how to solve them. The Sapling Foundation, TED’s parent organization since 2001, has supported projects that use these tools to create sustainable change in areas such as global public health, poverty alleviation and biodiversity through such organizations as the Acumen Fund, OneWorld Health, and PATH.

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Prepare Early When Planning a Business Sale

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Ray Roberts

Ray C. Roberts CPA, ACG Capital Advisors

Because selling a business is the most important financial transaction of an owner’s life, he should think carefully about his exit strategy before it’s time to leave.

The choices are many: He can transfer the enterprise to a family member or sell to a strategic partner and retain some involvement. He can take it public or sell and move on. Most exits follow this path.

To maximize the sales price, owners should begin preparing their company for sale well before the transaction. That requires understanding what buyers look for when acquiring a business and making sure these elements are present.

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