Marie C. Johns, Deputy Administrator, U.S. Small Business Administration
In July 2010, the Census Bureau reported that the number of minority-owned businesses increased by 46 percent from 2002 to 2007. This is good news. These new businesses are creating jobs and driving local economic growth all across the country.
However, this is no time to lessen the commitment or resources available to help minority small businesses grow and create jobs.
J. Roy Miller, State Director, NMSBDC Network
A business doesn’t have to be big to benefit from the advice and expertise of other professionals. A savvy entrepreneur will assemble a board of trusted advisers to provide feedback and suggestions for leading the organization.
Unlike a board of directors, an advisory board comprises people with no legal authority, fiduciary responsibilities or other obligations to the business.
Davin Lopez, President & CEO, MVEDA
A recent Business on the Border luncheon in Las Cruces illustrated that the Mesilla Valley has fared better with job generation than both the national average and New Mexico as a whole — though it’s still behind the peak employment growth numbers of the mid-2000s.
At that luncheon, Christopher Erickson, Ph.D., from New Mexico State University’s College of Business, provided data that the current recession has lasted a staggering 20 months – twice as long as the average for past recessions – and still might not be over. Although it appears the country as a whole is recovering from the current recession, economists predict it will take approximately three years to catch up to pre-recession employment levels.
John Woosley, District Director, SBA NM District Office
Summer is prime disaster season in New Mexico, whether the disaster is a wildfire, flood or tornado. Two years ago saw the Manzano Fire in Estancia, tornadoes in Clovis and flooding in Ruidoso. Three years ago, floods hit Doña Ana County.
For a small business, closing for just one day due to an unforeseen disaster can often mean huge financial losses — especially at a time when small businesses are investing time and money into creating jobs to lead America’s economic recovery.
Paul Goblet, Financial Advisor, NM SBIC
When the New Mexico Small Business Investment Corp. formed in 2001, its founders envisioned the organization directly owning minority stakes in a large number of small New Mexico businesses that had received federal loans from the Small Business Administration or U.S. Department of Agriculture. While this seemed like a good idea at the time, it was a challenge to implement.
After several amendments to the founding statute, the NMSBIC formed cooperative agreements with professional capital and service providers, which the organization considered better qualified and staffed to make equity investments.
Leslie Hoffman, V.P. of Lending and Client Service, ACCIÓN New Mexico ∙ Arizona ∙ Colorado
Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Lena Carr needed money to buy filmmaking equipment and to travel to Arizona to wrap up work on a video about the life of an 18-year-old Native American man — a project she began when her subject was 6 years old.
The owner of Indian Summer Films turned to ACCIÓN New Mexico ∙ Arizona ∙ Colorado, a nonprofit lender, two years ago for her first loan of $500. ACCIÓN approved the loan for several reasons, including the social benefits of Carr’s chosen profession, which also provides her an income through DVD sales. As collateral for that loan, Carr offered a traditional Navajo dress woven by her mother — a sentimental possession that demonstrated her commitment to her business and her lender.
Tom Stephenson, Managing General Partner, Verge Fund
The primary way in which banks make money is through loans. But in today’s economic environment, regulators are requiring banks to increase their reserves – the capital that backs loans – to support an increasing number of loans at risk of default. As banks work hard to reduce their bad loans, many are making far fewer new loans and decreasing the limits on existing lines of credit. Their problem is that they need to make more loans to make money, but they are being pressured to make fewer loans.
For business owners in need of capital to grow or stay afloat, a bank’s problems can become their own. A company that once qualified for a line of credit now might only qualify for a smaller line or no line at all. This is often true for a company seeking its first round of debt financing, but even companies with long-standing relationships with commercial lenders feel the scrutiny. Banks and businesses operate in a vastly different financial world than a few years ago.
George "Twig" Segura, Senior Account Executive, Daniels Insurance
Entrepreneurs do everything they can to control the elements that contribute to their business’s success, but some events are out of their control. That’s where business insurance comes in: to ensure that an unpredictable event doesn’t destroy everything the company’s owner has worked for.
Business insurance — also called commercial insurance — is an umbrella term for a variety of products designed to protect business or commercial interests. Some businesses require insurance that targets industry-specific challenges, but other types of insurance address risks common to all businesses.
Commercial property insurance covers buildings, contents, inventory and equipment against physical loss or damage. It typically comes with “business income and extra expense coverage,” which compensates a business owner for the money that’s lost while the business is closed because of an insured loss.
Commercial general liability insurance protects a business from claims for bodily injury or property damage to customers and clients. It covers claims that result from a customer or visitor getting hurt on the business’s property or from an employee damaging property at a client’s home or business.
Professional liability coverage, sometimes called “errors and omissions” (E&O) insurance, can help businesses that deal with customers who potentially could claim that something the business or its employees did for them was done incorrectly and cost them money or caused them harm.
Workers’ compensation and employers liability coverage is required of all New Mexico businesses — with limited exceptions — that employ three or more workers; for the construction trades, no minimum number of employees applies. This insurance provides benefits in the wake of occupational injuries or disease suffered by an employee, regardless of fault. Benefits include payment of medical services and lost wages, subject to a limit set by state law. Workers’ compensation is the exclusive remedy for the coverage of work-related injuries.
Accounts receivable coverage protects a business when its records are destroyed by an insured peril and the business cannot collect the money owed. The policy covers these uncollectible sums plus the expense of record reconstruction and extra collection fees. It does not insure the physical value of the records themselves, such as the paper, computer disks and tapes on which they’re stored.
Crime coverage and fidelity bonds protect a business from crime-related losses, whether it’s burglary, robbery or theft. Fidelity bonds specifically cover theft perpetrated by a business’s employees who steal money, equipment or other assets from the business (first-party fidelity) or a client (third-party liability)
Given all these insurances choices, a business owner should view an insurance agent as a business partner who can help her tailor coverage to her business’s specific risks and needs.
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Article 144
Monica Abeita, Regional Development Corp. for Northern NM Connect
The New Mexico Small Business Assistance program provides free technical assistance and expertise from scientists and engineers at Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories to New Mexico small businesses facing challenges with testing, design and access to equipment or facilities. Businesses do not have to be technology-based, however, the challenge they face must be potentially solvable using laboratory resources. While individual businesses can request assistance anytime, the program annually considers leveraged projects involving multiple businesses with a shared problem.
Wayne Unze, Director of Business Brokerage at Maestas & Ward Commercial Real Estate
Anyone thinking about buying or investing in a business needs to do due diligence to make sure it’s a viable venture with long-range income potential. But due diligence means more than just reviewing the balance sheets and income statements.
Some other things that warrant close inspection before a buyer signs the final closing documents include: