Author Archives: Taura Costidis

Students Get Small-Business Experience

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By Carole Rutten, Deputy Director, Los Alamos National Laboratory Community Programs Office

Highlands University natural resources management professor Edward Martínez, right, talks with Eliza Montoya about her research poster at Research Day 2015; photo by Margaret McKinney/Highlands University

New Mexico Highlands University natural resources management professor Edward Martínez, right, talks with Eliza Montoya about her research poster at Research Day 2015; photo by Margaret McKinney/courtesy NMHU

Preparing college students for a career involves more than just filling their heads with knowledge. It includes giving them a realistic idea of what employers will expect from them once they graduate.

Several students at New Mexico Highlands University (NMHU) are getting this well-rounded perspective as part of a workforce development initiative of the university’s Achieving in Research, Math & Science (ARMAS) Center, the Las Vegas/San Miguel Entrepreneurial Network and Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Community Programs Office.

The collaboration supports small businesses in San Miguel County by providing meaningful work experiences for undergraduate students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees at NMHU. Continue reading →

New Mexico Film Conference Sheds Light on Entrepreneurial Opportunities

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By Belle Allen, State Outreach Coordinator, New Mexico Film Office of the New Mexico Economic Development Department

The film industry in New Mexico offers numerous opportunities for entrepreneurs to get in on the “lights, camera, action!”

To share information about state resources and growing industry trends with filmmakers, producers, accountants, studios, vendors, crew, actors and emerging media innovators, the New Mexico State Film Office is hosting the 2015 New Mexico Film and Media Industry Conference Oct. 29-31 at the Isleta Casino & Resort in Albuquerque.

Established players in the state’s vibrant film industry aren’t the only ones who could benefit from the workshops and sessions being planned: The event is a setting for savvy creatives and go-getters to find a niche in established service areas and to learn about unmet needs their products, properties and talents might fill. Continue reading →

Small-Business Lending Bears Fruit Throughout New Mexico

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Russell Cummins

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

The owners of Montoya Transportation in Silver City, Enchanted Smiles in Belen and Santa Fe Thrive in New Mexico’s capital city run vastly different businesses in separate parts of the state. But each of these entrepreneurs has borrowed money from the pool of capital managed by the New Mexico Small Business Investment Corporation (NMSBIC) and made available to borrowers through NMSBIC’s network of lenders.

Loans similar to these are among the 473 approved in the fiscal year that ended June 30. Those loans, totaling $8.1 million, supported 1,308 jobs throughout the state.

Since 2004, NMSBIC’s lending partners — including The Loan Fund, Accion and WESST — have delivered funding for 3,524 loans to virtually every community in New Mexico, including areas underserved by traditional lenders. These loans, totaling $56 million, have supported 9,379 jobs. Continue reading →

Consultants Help Yarn Cafe Owner Raise Business Profile

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By George Kenefic, Director of Enterprise Empowerment, The Loan Fund

About a year after she had secured a small-business startup loan through The Loan Fund, Deborah Grossman got a visit from two consultants who work for the nonprofit lender. The pair — Joaquin Amador and Andrew Carrabus — dropped by Grossman’s Santa Fe store, Yarn & Coffee, to ask if she needed help with marketing, financial record keeping or any of the other tasks involved in starting and sustaining a business.

The timing was fortunate. “I was trying to figure out how to get more people in the door,” Grossman said of her shop, where people can buy yarn, knitting and crocheting tools and accessories, patterns and books or take a needle-craft class — and enjoy a cup of coffee, tea or cold drink at the same time.

Grossman strives to create a community atmosphere at her business housed in a stand-alone building tucked behind the Pantry Restaurant on Cerrillos Road and Fifth Street. Continue reading →

Evolving Business Returns to Accion for Commercial Real-Estate Loan

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By Justin Hyde, Accion Market Manager

By Justin Hyde, Accion Market Manager

Cathy Schueler approached Accion, a nonprofit lender, in 1996 to secure her first business loan for her nascent business — a microloan of around $3,000 — to buy equipment and supplies for her private psychotherapy practice in Rio Rancho.  At the time, Schueler was a sole proprietor who wanted to build her new business.

By the time Schueler returned in 2015, she was planning to purchase a home for her thriving S corporation, Bosque Mental Health, in central Albuquerque.

“Cathy’s a great example of how a client can grow with us,” said Metta Smith, vice president of lending and client relations. “We’re able to work with a wide range of entrepreneurs — from those needing startup capital to launch, to the well-established business owner hoping to purchase a home for his or her business.” Continue reading →

New Mexico to Join National Celebration of Manufacturing

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By Claudia Infante, projects coordinator, New Mexico Manufacturing Extension Partnership

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

While emerging economies get a lot of buzz for their growing role in manufacturing, America remains a global leader in product innovation and fabrication. To draw attention to the industry’s continuing contributions to the domestic and world economies, the nation’s manufacturers invite the public once a year inside the 21st century “factory.”

Manufacturing Day began in 2012 as a coordinated industry effort to generate interest in manufacturing careers. At the time, U.S. manufacturing was in the second year of record job growth — a pace last seen in the 1990s — that added more than 700,000 jobs by 2015.

In nationwide events planned on and around the first Friday of October, manufacturers and their advocates get a chance to raise concerns about the shortage of skilled labor and to excite young people about engineering, design and production jobs. Continue reading →

Knowing When To Hire an Accountant Matters for Small Businesses

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Businessman writing in an accounting ledgerAt some point in the life of most businesses, finances become complex enough that the owner decides to delegate financial oversight to someone with the training and expertise to provide more than basic bookkeeping or tax preparation services.

If the business is being audited, for example, the owner might hire an enrolled agent to represent it. Enrolled agents are tax-law experts authorized by the U.S. Treasury Department to advise and represent individuals, businesses and other organizations in such situations. Continue reading →

Hire Right the First Time

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By Amy Lahti, Consultant and Trainer, WESST

By Amy Lahti, Consultant and Trainer, WESST

Entrepreneurs and owners of small businesses are accustomed to doing everything it takes to move their business forward. But there comes a time when even the most efficient entrepreneur must call in help. For most startups and small businesses, hiring workers is the only path to growth.

Many early-stage entrepreneurs outsource work or find contract employees among friends and family. Even if a first employee is a friend of the owner, the business is subject to the laws governing employee-employer relationships as soon as the first paycheck is written. If the business thrives, the first employee will be one of many workers hired in the life of the business. Continue reading →

Perfect Pitch: How to Avoid Common Presentation Pitfalls

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By Finance New Mexico

By Finance New Mexico

If you’ve ever had to pitch a business or product idea to an investor or potential partner, you know the presentation can make or break the deal.

Because the stakes can be high, serious entrepreneurs quickly learn what to avoid when giving a presentation, whether it’s a 30-minute speech before a peer group or six-minute proposal to Demo Day investors. Continue reading →