Priscilla Dakin, Dakin Business Group Business Brokerage
Many business owners dream of selling their business at a price that will pay them in retirement what they earned while working. The ones who achieve this goal start planning and preparing well before retirement by saving a portion of personal income from the business in retirement accounts and diverse investments and by managing the business so it’s offered for sale at the peak of its success.
Jim and Gail Greenwood for NNM Connect and TVC
Congress in December voted to continue two federal programs that offer funding to small businesses involved in technology and innovation. The Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR) and the Small Business Technology Transfer Program (STTR) were reauthorized as part of the National Defense Authorization Act, ensuring their funding through 2017.
Betsy Gillette, Director of Market Research & Planning, TVC
Pricing a product really isn’t that complicated, even for high-tech products; it’s just a matter of using educated judgment. Before settling on a price, the entrepreneur must assemble facts about the competition and customer base and know what the product cost to produce, among other things.
Jennifer Craig for WESST Las Cruces
Lenders often find themselves counseling people who are tired of working for others and eager to put their talents and energies into a business of their own. While someone with an entrepreneurial spirit can launch a successful venture even in an unstable economy, he’s more likely to appear serious to a potential lender or investor if he possesses — besides passion and ambition — a business plan and a grasp of the market based on thorough, objective research. He’ll need money to get the endeavor going, and business acumen can minimize rookie errors.
Monica Abeita, Regional Development Corp. for NNM Connect
A $100,000 award from the Venture Acceleration Fund in 2011 helped Santa Fe startup Vista Therapeutics speed up the commercial introduction of the NanoBioSensor, which employs nanowires to measure in real time the multiple blood proteins and other biomarkers the body produces in response to trauma or disease. Biomarker measurement is especially critical for emergency room doctors, who have little time to gauge the severity of a patient’s condition and choose a proper intervention. Benefits continue during recovery, when ongoing monitoring is essential.
As the first commercially available device capable of such on-the-spot analysis, the NanoBioSensor is expected to improve the lives of people and also reduce the suffering of research animals: Pharmaceutical scientists and other biomedical researchers often must sacrifice many animals to obtain sufficient blood or tissue samples for analysis of biomarker changes over time. The sensitivity and rapidity of Vista’s sensor will allow many biomarkers to be monitored with a simple nick of the research animal’s tail or ear.
People who operate seasonal businesses often find that lines of credit make a lot more sense than traditional loans when dealing with the dramatic cash flows that are typical of such ventures. Steve and Tracy Kirkpatrick have operated in Albuquerque for 20 years as Gourmet Specialties Southwest, a Hickory Farms franchise. Before that, Steve was an employee of the Ohio-based company known for its specialty cheese, meats and other gourmet foods.
Each fall the Kirkpatricks activate their bank line of credit to purchase inventory and set up 17 seasonal kiosks and storefronts in New Mexico and West Texas. By the following January 15, they repay the line of credit in full.
Terry Brunner, State Director, USDA Rural Development Agency
An energy-efficient water pump just went online at the San Miguel County ranch of Robert Quintana, and solar panels now power the Lifestyle Medicine office building in the county seat of Las Vegas, N.M. Both projects received partial funding from the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) — a rural development program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that offsets the cost of replacing outdated or inefficient energy technology in eligible rural businesses.
The Quintana ranch’s new electric pump powers a circle irrigation system that provides water to 193 acres of farmland; REAP contributed a $5,439 grant toward the $21,000 system that replaced the old diesel pump setup. Fourteen solar panels were installed on the roof at Lifestyle Medicine in downtownLas Vegas, and they produce enough electricity to reduce the facility’s energy costs. Owner Dr. Bradley Kanode received a $4,854 grant to help install the $19,000 solar-power system.
Ray C. Roberts CPA, Managing Partner, Accounting & Consulting Group LLP
More than 95 percent of New Mexico businesses are defined as small by the U.S. Small Business Administration, and many were founded by entrepreneurs who intend to pass the assets they build to their children. Yet less than half take the steps necessary to ensure their heirs will inherit a viable enterprise.
Whether a business owner plans ahead for retirement or is forced to leave her company by illness or death, a succession plan is the single greatest tool for ensuring that her family and employees are protected. A succession plan can be the glue that keeps a business from breaking apart and destroying the assets an owner has worked hard to build.
F. Leroy Pacheco, President and CEO, The Loan Fund
Tommy Padilla works full time for the state Livestock Board and owns a 2,000-acre cattle ranch near Quemado, a rural community that’s home to 781 people. In 2008, he saw an opportunity to provide a needed service to motorists driving through the town.
Quemado is on U.S. Highway 60 in rural western New Mexico. For decades, the community supported five gas stations and four restaurants that served travelers heading to and from Arizona and California. But after east-west Interstates 10 and 40 were built in the 1960s, Quemado began a slow decline.
Brent M. Eastwood, PhD, Director of Business Advocacy, NM EDD
To launch a business in New Mexico, an entrepreneur needs a legal structure, business name, employer identification number (EIN), state registration, business license and other permits. As complicated as it sounds, it takes most entrepreneurs only a few days to obtain what’s needed.