By Finance New Mexico
A business plan is incomplete without a financial section that forecasts how the owner expects the company to grow and how much revenue he believes the company will generate based on his reading of the market for its products or services.
But unless that projection is grounded in reality, it won’t make the desired impression on a lender or investor — or even on a landlord who wants some assurance the business will last as long as the commercial lease. Continue reading
By Julianna Silva, Albuquerque Regional Director, WESST
Entrepreneurs are naturally passionate about providing a service or product, but many avoid digging into the financial aspects of running a small business — perhaps because they don’t have simple tools that can help them understand their finances.
This avoidance can cost a business dearly, because financial success requires that the owner understand the target customer, how to price a product or service and how to keep track of cash flowing in and out of the business. Continue reading
By Claudia Infante, Projects Coordinator, New Mexico Manufacturing Extension Partnership
Any entrepreneur with a product idea or prototype can find someone to build it in New Mexico.
Two companies that do just that for a variety of clients are Marpac, a maker of devices that secure medical tubes and collars, and TEAM Technologies Inc., which designs and fabricates products that require advanced engineering and electronics.
Both Albuquerque companies opened their doors for New Mexico Manufacturing Day activities last fall and plan to participate again this year. Continue reading
By Finance New Mexico
Anyone who operates a business in New Mexico is familiar with the gross receipts tax, or GRT — a tax not on sales but on companies and people who do business here.
Unlike a sales tax, the GRT is imposed on the seller of property or services. It is not a tax the seller collects from the buyer and delivers to the state; it’s due even if the seller doesn’t charge the buyer. Continue reading
By Missy Galle, Operations Officer, Los Alamos National Bank
Major credit card processors are imposing tougher security measures on credit card issuers in the industry’s ongoing efforts to combat credit card fraud.
These global standards — called EMV for Europay, MasterCard and Visa, the companies collaborating on the new system — include embedding computer chips into “smart” credit cards that offer greater security for point of sale (POS) transactions than the magnetic strips on traditional credit cards.
Many chip-embedded cards require a personal identification number (PIN) instead of a signature to complete the POS transaction and close the security loop; these “chip-and-PIN” cards are the norm around the world, though they’ve been slow to catch on in the United States. Continue reading
By Sandy Nelson, Finance New Mexico team member
Managing creative people can be confounding to business leaders who prefer order and structure. But learning how to manage or lead “creatives” is critical to recruiting and retaining the natural nonconformists whose unconventional ideas can lead to transformative products and services.
The trick is to balance a business’s need for on-time, on-budget work with the nonlinear thinker’s need for challenge, risk and meaning.
Some companies have famously figured out how to foster a culture of creativity and profitability, whether they’re producing forward-thinking commodities (think Apple and Samsung), services (Google, Facebook), business models (Virgin Group), operational designs (Southwest Airlines) or manufacturing processes (Toyota). Continue reading
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
By Terry Brunner, New Mexico State Director, USDA Rural Development
Mike and Kathy Mechenbier used to wait until night, when electricity was cheaper, to irrigate their pecan farm near Belen. Now the couple lets the sun create no-cost power to run the pecan farm’s irrigation pumps during the day.
With help from a $107,100 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Energy for America Program, or REAP, the couple installed a 564-panel solar array at the Burris Pecan Farm, which is owned by their Four Daughters Land and Cattle Company.
Because they will receive production credits from Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM) for any surplus energy generated by their 147-kilowatt system, the Mechenbiers hope Continue reading
By Finance New Mexico
Businesses invest lots of human and capital resources into marketing, asset purchases and outreach. Their goal is to generate the best return on every dollar spent, every hour worked and every keystroke made.
Return on investment, or ROI, measures how much money or other tangible benefits the business makes on every investment.
For example, if a business invests in a modern computer system to expand its reach and improve its service to Internet shoppers, the return on investment would measure how many new customers it gained and how much these newcomers spent. Continue reading
By Julianna Silva, Albuquerque Regional Manager, WESST
The Comcast Digital Media Studio at the WESST Enterprise Center is more than the sum of its state-of-the-art parts. Under the direction of managing director Russell Combs, the studio is a hive of business networking and creation.
“We didn’t want this to be just another studio where you can produce a Kickstarter video,” said Combs, who led the Erie Technology Incubator at Gannon University in Erie, Pa., before taking the job at WESST in March 2013. “We want to combine technology and entrepreneurial aspects. And that only happens if we bring together multiple groups, multiple resources and multiple opportunities.”
The studio, which formally opened in October, features video, sound, editing, lighting and streaming equipment that clients can use to produce and distribute multimedia presentations for commercial or educational projects. Continue reading