Category Archives: Articles

Entrepreneurial journey often misses financial mark

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Guy Gaffney, Vice President of Credit at Los Alamos National Bank; Article by Damon Scott

Business owners and entrepreneurs get excited about their product and the market they serve. But to achieve long-term success, sooner or later they have to focus on a different critical area: their business finances.

Even when grants, initial sales or investments from family and friends have funded an idea from product development to market, most businesses will need financing in order to grow. If cash has been exhausted, the company’s financial position will be strained and its funding opportunities limited.

Guy Gaffney, vice president of credit at Los Alamos National Bank, has seen this situation many times during a decade with the bank. He encourages business owners to start the loan application process while they still have enough working capital to qualify for a loan. But just as important as cash, he said, is that the owner become financially literate. Continue reading →

SEC rules allow everyone to invest in small businesses

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By Karl Dakin, Owner, Dakin Capital Guild LLC

Owners of startups and early-stage businesses can now look beyond traditional financing and equity sources when searching for growth capital. Federal and state laws make it possible for everyone — not just the top three percent of income earners known as accredited investors — to invest in small businesses.

Crowdfunding is the activity of raising money from everyone. Organizations have used it since the late 1990s to obtain a large number of small donations for art and philanthropic projects. Rules adopted by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2015 allow the general public to participate in securities-based crowdfunding. Instead of receiving a tee shirt or other gift of appreciation for a donation, crowdfunding investors get equity in the company they help fund.

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Define Need Before Applying for Business Loan

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Cabra Coffee in Cedar Crest, New Mexico

Cabra Coffee in Cedar Crest financed growth through The Loan Fund

Most New Mexico entrepreneurs can’t start or operate a small business without occasionally borrowing money. And that requires preparation and a methodical approach.

It begins by identifying why the money is needed and the most appropriate loan to fulfill that need. It continues with finding a lender that offers optimal terms and fees for clients with the borrower’s credit score and financial resources and gathering documents the lender needs to review.

Define the need: Businesses may need loans for daily operating expenses or to build reserves, renovate a commercial building or buy equipment. The specific need typically drives the decision about what type of loan to shop for. Continue reading →

New Mexico Set to Celebrate Manufacturing Sector

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Technology Leadership High School students during the Sandia Science and Technology Park Manufacturing Day 2015 tour

More than a third of young people studying for vocational and technical careers have no contact with potential future employers before they graduate, and only 12 percent have seen the inside of a manufacturing facility.

That conclusion, from a 2016 study by the Manufacturing Institute, lends urgency to Manufacturing Day, an annual event designed to educate the public about modern U.S. manufacturing and to attract young people to this fundamental industry.

Manufacturing Day, or Mfg Day as it’s typically known, actually lasts more than a month in New Mexico. Sponsored by the nonprofit New Mexico Manufacturing Extension Partnership (NM MEP), Manufacturing Day introduces students and job seekers to manufacturing careers by inviting them to tour factories and facilities where people make things. Continue reading →

Survival tactics help business owners stay on track

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Entrepreneurship is exhilarating and dynamic, especially in the beginning, as the business plan is set in motion and a product or service begins its path to market. The unpredictability of this journey is part of the reason it’s so stimulating to start and build a business, but maintaining that level of excitement and drive can be challenging when the business’s evolution doesn’t unfold according to plan.

When initial funding from family or an investor runs out before benchmarks are met, a startup owner can worry about his ability to repay investors and stay on track. Even businesses that reach the second stage of maturity can stumble — for example, when a large account goes to a competitor or a product doesn’t find traction. Continue reading →

OSHA consultation program aims to protect worker health, safety

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Photo credit: Jane Phillips Photography

Preventing job-related injuries and fatalities requires companywide safety consciousness and a commitment to spend time and money on workplace safety, but the folks at the New Mexico Occupational Health and Safety Bureau (NM OSHA) say that in addition to supporting a safe and healthy workforce, there are other benefits that make the effort worthwhile.  Increased productivity and lower workers’ compensation and insurance payouts are tangible rewards that affect a business’s bottom line.

To encourage small businesses with 250 or fewer employees to take a proactive approach to workplace safety, federal OSHA provides 90 percent of the funds necessary to run the free and confidential New Mexico State Occupational Health and Safety Bureau Consultation Program. Continue reading →

Economic development bonds let governments help businesses

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Toby Rittner wants to help communities leverage their limited financial resources to solve the needs of business, industry, developers and investors.

Rittner is CEO of the Council of Development Finance Agencies, a nonprofit organization that provides research, training and technical assistance to government entities that want to explore how bonds and other development financing tools can support and encourage public and private investment in infrastructure, redevelopment and other projects that benefit a community’s economy. Continue reading →

Plan for Disasters Before They Happen

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Small businesses are attuned to the risks they face when material costs and interest rates start to rise and competitors make inroads into their market share, but they’re not always conscious of less predictable but increasingly common risks, such as natural disasters. And they don’t always know about the resources available when their city or county is formally declared a disaster area and they become eligible for government assistance.

In April, for example, the U.S. Department of Agriculture declared 12 New Mexico counties primary natural disaster areas due to drought-related crop losses. The declaration enabled qualified farm businesses to access USDA emergency loans. Continue reading →

Chambers of Commerce Offer More than Networking

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Chambers of commerce are trade associations charged with creating a business-friendly environment for their members in the communities where they’re based. They do this by advocating, educating and providing a variety of publicity tools.

While most chambers have a singular mission to support commercial activity, others advocate on behalf of businesses whose members represent segments of the community with special concerns or a unifying social mission. New Mexico has Hispano/Hispanic, American Indian, “green” and LGBT chambers. Some members in these tailored groups identify with the dual mission, while others support the chamber’s advocacy or simply want to do business with those who do. For example, Hispano Chamber members don’t have to be Hispanic to prosper from joining that association. Continue reading →

Business Owners Benefit When the Numbers Become Their Friend

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By Finance New Mexico

Entrepreneurs don’t need to be certified public accountants to start or operate a business, but a basic grasp of bookkeeping principles can help them accurately gauge performance and profitability, keep track of cash flow and make smart decisions about assuming debt or prioritizing payments to creditors based on what the financial reports say.

Though “bean counting” is perceived by some business owners as a time-consuming nuisance, a good accounting system is actually a tool that allows the owner to trace every dollar the business receives from a customer and to monitor dollars owed.When someone pays for a product at the point of sale, the transaction is applied to the appropriate account, where related expenses can be applied to indicate gross profit. When a client is billed on a monthly or quarterly basis, the accounting system can oversee payments to a different account and alert the business when payments are missed so steps can be taken to collect on aging invoices. Continue reading →