Coworkers by Choice: Shared Workspaces Draw Solo Entrepreneurs

By Finance New Mexico

CoworkingThe dramatic increase in freelancers, especially technology industry soloists, is driving a new trend called “coworking” — the sharing of workspace on the basis of a desire for community that its proponents see as a basic human need.

“Never before have we been so isolated,” Convivium Coworking’s Deborah Reese said of the growing army of solo entrepreneurs and self-employed people who populate the U.S. work force — either because the recession undermined their faith in working for others or because the internet and other mobile technology freed them to work anywhere they wanted.

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Access to Capital Unites State’s Entrepreneurs

Russell Cummins

By Russ Cummins, executive director, New Mexico Small Business Investment Corporation

On the surface, Albuquerque’s Clínica la Esperanza, a medical clinic, has little in common with Desert Aire Copy & Fax Services, a convenience store and copy center that serves residents of the isolated border colonia of Chaparral. And it apparently has nothing in common with SSC Construction, a Native American-owned construction company based in San Felipe Pueblo that builds homes on tribal lands throughout New Mexico.

Yet all of these businesses got an early boost with loan funds that originated with the New Mexico Small Business Investment Corporation (NMSBIC) and were channeled through its network of lenders.

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Hire Power: Laws Set Path for Employment Relationship

Joy J. Forehand, MPA, deputy secretary of the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions

Contributor Joy J. Forehand, MPA, deputy secretary of the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions

By Finance New Mexico with assistance from Joy J. Forehand, MPA, deputy secretary of the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions

A business owner might find the paperwork involved in hiring an employee to be intimidating, which is why many delegate those duties to a payroll service if they have enough workers to make the expenditure worthwhile.

According to Joy J. Forehand, deputy secretary of the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions, “entrepreneurs who do not outsource their payroll to an outside firm and choose to do it on their own need to know what state and federal laws apply to the employer-employee relationship.”

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MEP to Showcase Products Made in New Mexico

Claudia Serrano

The New Mexico Manufacturing Extension Partnership is taking the “buy local” concept to a broader level with its New Mexico Made program.

The initiative aims to promote the companies that create and fabricate goods in New Mexico, where manufacturing is a $5.9 billion industry representing 7.4 percent of the total gross state product, according to the National Association of Manufacturers.

It does so by certifying qualifying businesses on the New Mexico Made website directory, raising the profile of the state’s manufacturers and giving participating businesses access to promotions and networking opportunities.

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Starting a Business Means Getting All the Right Permissions

Permit Required

By Finance New Mexico

Everyone who starts a business in New Mexico expects to fill out lots of forms. Besides the application for a Combined Reporting System, or CRS, the business owner might need special permits to handle food or alcohol sales or to operate in specific industries.

But other permissions are required for a range of business activities that might not be as obvious. And it’s the duty of the business owner to know what they are. Continue reading

Revitalizing New Mexico’s Historic Centers of Commerce

Economic development in New Mexico is often a joint effort of individual communities and the state’s Economic Development Department (EDD), which oversees multiple programs designed to bolster the state’s infrastructure and support the entrepreneurial ambitions of New Mexicans.

Three high profile initiatives are the New Mexico MainStreet Program and two programs that fall under its umbrella: the Frontier Communities Initiative and the Arts and Cultural Districts Program.

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Businesses Turn Accounts Receivable Into Quick Cash

By Finance New Mexico

By Finance New Mexico

Accounts receivable represents money a business will get when — and if — the client pays his bill. It’s not money in the bank, but it’s money the business expects to collect within 30 to 60 days.

While waiting, many businesses that are owed large amounts of money — either because of generous or traditionally slow payment policies or foot-dragging clients — can struggle with cash flow shortfalls and be unable to pay their employees and vendors on time. Continue reading

USDA Program Helps New Mexico Farmer Turn Milk and Honey Into Money

Terry Brunner

By Terry Brunner, State Director, USDA Rural Development Agency

Daven Lee got much more than money when she received a $12,500 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development program in 2010.

After eight years of selling her handmade soaps and lotion bars at the Santa Fe Farmers Market and other local outlets, the owner of Milk & Honey Soap wanted to go from retail to wholesale. But first she needed a business plan – complete with financial projections – that could attract big investors.

“The funding allowed me to bring in a business adviser,” she said of the funding that matched her own $12,500 investment. “I wanted a road map.” Continue reading

Law Opens Investor Pool for Small Startups

FNM-logo-redesign

By Finance New Mexico

A crowdfunding campaign to finance a movie about TV character Veronica Mars recently set a record — $2 million in 10 hours — on the Kickstarter platform. The backers were fans of the show and wanted to see a movie based on the character. In return for this donation, the contributors will get rewards, such as DVDs of the movie or other swag.

That’s a far cry from the typical crowdfunding project, which usually aims at a smaller target. But it suggests the possibilities of micro-financing vehicles that use the global reach of the internet to support projects unable to secure more traditional loans. Continue reading

Los Alamos Connect Helps Inventor With Irrigation Management Breakthrough

By Kurt Steinhaus, Director of Community Programs, Los Alamos National Laboratory

By Kurt Steinhaus, Director of Community Programs, Los Alamos National Laboratory

Plant physiologist David Groeneveld started the Santa Fe consulting firm HydroBio 14 years ago to help farmers optimize their use of energy and water — two resources that are increasingly scarce and expensive.

Using data he collected over years as a consultant, Groeneveld devised a way — using satellite data and software-based technology — for farmers to precisely monitor and control how much water their mobile center-pivot irrigation machines emit, reducing energy and water costs and boosting yields.

Groeneveld’s trademarked innovation — Targeted Irrigation Management, or TIM — is a software program that allows a farmer to remotely direct pivot machines to follow a water schedule customized for specific crops, soils and climates. Continue reading