Small-Business Champion Brings Lessons From Her Own Business Experiences

Posted on May 3, 2015 by Taura Costidis

By John Woosley, New Mexico District Director, U.S. Small Business Administration

Julianna Silva was a small-business advocate well before she joined the staff of WESST and became the Albuquerque regional manager of the nonprofit business-development organization.

After earning a bachelor’s degree from the University of New Mexico’s Anderson School of Management, Silva worked in marketing for various nonprofits, including the Trust for Public Land in Santa Fe. In 1996, she left that job to help her husband with his handcrafted furniture venture. “I got my MBA by building that store,” she quipped.

On May 12, Silva will receive the Small Business Administration’s New Mexico Women in Business Champion of the Year award in recognition of her work at WESST helping other New Mexicans start and sustain businesses of their own. Continue reading →

U.S.-Backed Loan Program Helps Businesses Buy Growth Assets

Posted on February 15, 2015 by Taura Costidis

By Norma Valdez, Community Development Director, The Loan Fund

Small companies often lease space before buying or building a property that allows them to expand or modernize. When they’re ready for that leap of faith, the U.S. Small Business Administration can help by underwriting a significant portion of any loan they need.

The SBA’s 504 loan program is a public-private partnership administered through a Certified Development Company (CDC) that helps small, independently owned companies secure the fixed assets — such as land, building and equipment — that they need to grow and be competitive. Continue reading →

5S System Simplifies Production to Improve Profits

Posted on February 8, 2015 by Taura Costidis

By Jennifer Sinsabaugh, Operations Director, New Mexico Manufacturing Extension Partnership

Companies can cut production time, eliminate waste and improve profitability by carefully studying, critiquing and refining the steps involved in manufacturing a product. They can even get better at processing invoices, orders and other paperwork using the same procedure. The nonprofit New Mexico Manufacturing Extension Partnership, or New Mexico MEP, helps companies refine this flow on the manufacturing floor and in the business office.

One tool we use to help businesses improve workplace organization and standardization is a workshop on the “5 S” system. This system deconstructs production into its individual parts to see what steps add value and which waste time and resources.

The five S’s in the plan’s name stand for sort, set in order, shine, standardize and sustain. Continue reading →

New Mexico Businesses Start Big with Franchise Ambitions

Posted on January 25, 2015 by Admin

Olo Yogurt Studio

By Finance New Mexico

Multinational franchises like McDonald’s and KFC started small and worked their way up the food chain over decades. That methodical approach to growth seems too slow for the owners of two Albuquerque businesses.

Before Olo Yogurt Studio opened its first store in 2010 and WisePies served its first pizza in 2014, the owners of both ventures planned to become franchises — and to waste no time doing it.

Olo Yogurt opened a second store — a carbon copy of its colorful original — within three years and was strengthening its brand for further expansion. Continue reading →

Bloomfield Businesses See Benefits of Lean Inventory Management

Posted on December 14, 2014 by Taura Costidis

By Claudia Infante, Projects Coordinator, New Mexico Manufacturing Extension Partnership

Irene Salasar of Twin Stars Ltd. and Cari Drake of Air Star Inc. had a business-to-business relationship for years but didn’t meet in person until both attended an October class on inventory control sponsored by the New Mexico Manufacturing Extension Partnership.

Salasar is the warehouse manager at Twin Stars, and Drake owns Air Star with her husband, Kenneth. Both Bloomfield businesses supply parts and services to the oil and gas industry, and both began working with Denise Williams, MEP’s local representative, to improve their inventory management systems.

Interventions began with site visits; separate classroom sessions on lean manufacturing principles helped managers and employees compare the inventory management ideal against their internal procedures. Continue reading →

New Mexico MEP Helps Wood-Floor Manufacturer Expand Business’s Reach

Posted on November 2, 2014 by Taura Costidis

By Ron Burke, Center Director, New Mexico Manufacturing Extension Partnership

When the 2000 Viveash Fire burned through 17 million board feet of timber on his family’s homestead above Pecos, David Old drew on his experience as a sawmill owner-operator to make the best of overwhelming misfortune.

The company David Old built from the ashes of his family’s fire-damaged forest is now a top-drawer manufacturer and global exporter of fine wood floors made from reclaimed wood harvested from private and public lands using environmentally sound forest-management standards.

Sheer grit and entrepreneurial flexibility helped Old and his family-owned enterprise transform crisis into opportunity. In recent years, the Las Vegas, N.M.-based venture welcomed technical and training assistance from the New Mexico Manufacturing Extension Partnership, a nonprofit organization Continue reading →

State Funds Give Businesses Access to Capital

Posted on October 12, 2014 by Taura Costidis

By Russell Cummins, Executive Director and Investment Advisor, New Mexico Small Business Investment Corporation

Lots of small-business owners need cash to get their companies off the ground or pursue opportunities to build their client base. But some of those businesses can’t get loans from traditional sources that focus on established businesses.

These are the clients that the New Mexico Small Business Investment Corporation exists to serve. Since its creation by the Legislature in 2001, NMSBIC has distributed money from the Severance Tax Permanent Fund through its lending partner network to small businesses statewide.
Partner organizations apply their own underwriting standards when deciding which businesses to back, but they generally serve clients with a solid business plan, an ambitious owner or management team and a venture that seems likely to create jobs. Since 2004, the network has approved more than 3,000 loans to businesses in nearly every New Mexico community. Continue reading →

Liability, Strategy Concerns Help Business Owners Pick Structure

Posted on September 7, 2014 by Taura Costidis

By Finance New Mexico

The form a new business should take isn’t always obvious. Though many self-employed entrepreneurs begin as sole proprietors, an individual can structure her business in many other ways. The best structure is the one that fits her business’s strategy and size and offers the greatest protection from liability and taxes.

Flying Solo

A sole proprietorship, the simplest business form, is logical for many startups or solo professionals, such as consultants, private investigators or freelance writers. Continue reading →

New Creative Industries Startup Accelerator Welcomes Statewide Applicants

Posted on August 17, 2014 by Taura Costidis

By Tom Aageson, Executive Director, Global Center for Cultural Entrepreneurship

New Mexico is home to the first U.S. startup accelerator aimed at entrepreneurs in the Creative Industries. That Albuquerque-based business, Creative-Startups <www.Creative-Startups.org>, is accepting applications through the end of August for its inaugural class of startup candidates. Acceptance into the accelerator includes six online classes modeled after the Stanford University curriculum and a five-day “deep dive” with mentors.

The new accelerator aims to bring business sensibilities and savvy into fields dominated by “creatives,” including the fields of advertising, architecture, crafts, design (fashion, graphic, product), film, music, the performing arts, photography, publishing, games and apps creation, television and radio.

Taken as a whole, these sectors of the economy are among the most vibrant, judging by a 2013 United Nations report, Continue reading →

Doing Business With State Benefits Government, Private Contractors

Posted on August 3, 2014 by Taura Costidis

By Lawrence O. Maxwell, State Purchasing Agent and Director, New Mexico General Services Department

To serve the people of New Mexico, state government relies on goods and services provided by private-sector businesses. To ensure it spends taxpayer dollars responsibly and gets the best products at the best price, the state uses a competitive purchasing system.

Thousands of businesses each year participate in this $5 billion economy, selling the state everything from cars, trucks, pencils and supercomputers to support services for crime victims, architectural services and museum exhibits.

These businesses all start by learning how to navigate the procurement system — a set of procedures designed to protect public resources. The process isn’t complicated, but it can take time. Continue reading →

Resource Tool for Start-up and Small Businesses in New Mexico