By Finance New Mexico
People start businesses to make money, but that’s not enough motivation for growing numbers of entrepreneurs who want to make a positive impact while turning a profit.
These self-described social entrepreneurs feel constrained by traditional structures that put a company’s fiduciary responsibility to shareholders ahead of social or environmental considerations. But some also feel boxed in by the nonprofit approach to social change. Continue reading
Joe Justice, Loan Officer, The Loan Fund
Los Angeles-based entrepreneurs Paula and Matthew Pope and Tom and Precious Haines knew they didn’t stand a chance convincing a bank to lend them startup capital for a build-it-yourself frozen yogurt “creative space” in Albuquerque. Besides their distance from the business’s home, none of the four had prior experience in retail.
So the couples pooled all their savings with investments from a few family members to open their first Olo Yogurt Studio in the Nob Hill neighborhood near UNM in 2010.
The store did so well that the partners made plans to open a second store in 2013 in a West Mesa shopping mall. But they hadn’t reached the three-year threshold that most traditional banks require of businesses before they’ll lend. Continue reading
By Julianna Silva, Albuquerque Regional Manager, WESST
Many business owners feel a sense of urgency and peer pressure about creating a social media presence before they’re ready because they assume they’re losing business to more tech-savvy competitors.
But panic is a poor driver of decisions, and that’s why the entrepreneur needs to begin with a set of clear business objectives that will guide his use of these versatile tools.
When it comes to business and marketing planning, strategy comes first and tools second. Continue reading
By Denise Williams, Innovation Director, New Mexico Manufacturing Extension Partnership
About 18 months ago, Aztec Machine and Repair of Bloomfield sent its management and supervisory personnel, as well as its production floor workers, to a class in the fundamentals of lean manufacturing given by the New Mexico Manufacturing Extension Partnership, or MEP – a nonprofit agency that helps small and midsized U.S. businesses create and preserve jobs by implementing money- and time-saving production and administration measures.
Aztec – which provides machining and fabrication services for the many oil, gas and mining industries in the Four Corners area – had two goals for the training: to increase the lean manufacturing literacy of its work force and to generate momentum toward its next goal of becoming ISO registered. Continue reading
By now, most Americans have seen a QR code, even if they didn’t initially understand why these two-dimensional matrix bar codes were suddenly appearing on products, advertisements and business cards.
Called QR for “quick response,” the codes were created in 1994 by Japanese automakers to track parts. Now companies around the world use them to link consumers directly to their websites, where they can shop and find coupons, special offers and product information. Continue reading
By Harry Buysse, Consultation Program Manager, New Mexico Occupational Health and Safety Bureau
While employers in New Mexico are required to provide safe, hazard-free workplaces, they don’t have to hire expensive consultants to identify and eliminate potential dangers.
The New Mexico Occupational Health and Safety Bureau has compliance specialists who work with small businesses, trade groups and unions that want help establishing worksites that are as risk-free and healthy as possible. That goal of such cooperative programs is to reduce industrial injuries and illnesses and lower the costs associated with workplace hazards, including workers’ compensation claims and loss of business productivity.
These consultations are voluntary and confidential, and they cost the employer nothing. On-site consultants don’t issue citations or penalties during their visits, and they don’t report to the bureau’s inspectors the unsafe or unhealthy conditions they discover. They only require a commitment from employers to swiftly correct any safety hazards or dangerous practices identified in the visit. Continue reading
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 Joe Justice, Loan Officer, The Loan Fund
Jose Ocampo launched his Santa Fe Exclusive Honda and Acura auto repair and parts business 13 years ago in a small building in the New Mexico capital. He outgrew the space within three years and moved to a larger facility nearby.
As his business continued to grow, Ocampo started looking around for “a building with better parking and more room” that would be better to meet his customers’ needs and comfort.
About a year ago he found an ideal spot on Siler Lane with a metal building with 2,000 square feet of warehouse space. The lot was particularly attractive because it could accommodate construction of a 2,000-square-foot workspace addition. 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