Category Archives: Articles

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 →

Businesses Enjoy ROI in Breastfeeding-Friendly Workplace

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Employers who provide a space where employees can express and store milk or breastfeed a baby quickly realize the benefits of doing so.

According to the New Mexico Breastfeeding Task Force, employers who comply with state and federal laws requiring them to provide a clean and private space for lactating mothers and to offer flexible break time so mothers can breastfeed or pump milk experience less absenteeism, lower health care costs and turnover rates, higher productivity and employee loyalty and positive community perception.

In other words, businesses that support breastfeeding employees are improving their own competitiveness and profitability. Continue reading →

SBA 504 Loan has Bakery-Cafe Baked in Success

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by Damon Scott

If you whisk together hard work and passion and then throw in an effective loan program, your chances for small business success will likely be high. Those ingredients came together in Ruidoso, where Steven and Marie Gomez operate the Cornerstone Bakery & Cafe.

Cornerstone serves up a wide variety of bakery items — cookies, muffins, pies, cakes, and New Mexico traditional goods such as biscochitos — along with catering that supplements the full breakfast and lunch menu. The Gomezes were long-time loyal customers of the cafe before buying the business in 2010. Continue reading →

Newcomer maintains small-business tradition with Accion ZipPay loan

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When Nick Harrison couldn’t persuade his mom to let him buy her trophy shop in Oregon, he moved with his wife to New Mexico and bought a complementary business in Albuquerque.

Harrison purchased The Ribbon Place in March 2017. The 37-year-old Albuquerque company makes custom award ribbons, rosettes, sashes, buttons and other promotional items. It employs seven people, including Nick and his wife.

The business is a perfect fit for the Harrisons, who maintain other jobs until the enterprise can fully support them. Just as appropriate was the loan the couple procured to purchase the company: The ZipPay loan offered by nonprofit community development lender Accion, allows Harrison to automatically divert a percentage of every credit card sale to the lender to pay off his loan. Continue reading →

State Program Helps Businesses Clear Loan Collateral Gap

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Collateral support programBy Sandy Nelson, Finance New Mexico

Editor’s Note: This program is now known as the Collateral Assistance Program.

Joshua Grassham recognized a novel approach to supporting small business financing when he saw one. The vice president of commercial lending at Lea County State Bank in Hobbs was the first New Mexico banker to secure a client’s loan through a new state program to help collateral-poor businesses.

The New Mexico Economic Development Department (EDD) introduced the Credit Enhancement Program (CEP) earlier this year as a way to help businesses, especially startups, by purchasing short-term certificates of deposit that businesses can use as collateral for larger loans. Continue reading →

Patent Assistance Is Available for Low-Income New Mexico Inventors

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Patent pending stampBy Finance New Mexico

Inventors know that patents and trademarks offer protection against the theft of their ideas but hiring an attorney or agent to help prepare and submit the patent application can cost more than low-income applicants can afford.

To help inventors clear that hurdle, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Pro Se Assistance Program pairs qualified low-income inventors with patent attorneys willing to work for free. Patent applications submitted through the program are evaluated by a USPTO examination unit dedicated specifically to examining pro se patent applications. Continue reading →