{"id":10565,"date":"2020-08-25T10:21:44","date_gmt":"2020-08-25T16:21:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/?p=10565"},"modified":"2020-08-25T10:26:49","modified_gmt":"2020-08-25T16:26:49","slug":"lenders-loyalty-sustains-business-growth-for-disabled-vet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/articles\/obtaining-a-loan\/lenders-loyalty-sustains-business-growth-for-disabled-vet\/","title":{"rendered":"Lender\u2019s Loyalty Sustains Business Growth for Disabled Vet"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Ron Edwards knew he would start his own business one\nday, but the path to launching Santa Fe\u2019s Focus Advertising Specialties was\npaved with a variety of jobs and small-business ventures. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most influential of his early occupations was his\noverseas service in the Marines, Edwards said. Thirteen weeks in basic training\nand four years in the military \u201cchallenged me in different ways,\u201d he said. \u201cI\nlearned that I can go further than I think I can.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Working\nwithin fixed budgets also taught Edwards how to keep operations tight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those\nlessons in endurance and efficiency prepared him for the challenges of civilian\nlife. Edwards started a wood-finishing business and restaurant in Crested\nButte, Colorado, and then moved to New Mexico. After suffering a debilitating\nback injury at a construction site in 2002, his days of working physically\ndemanding jobs was over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Three years later, Edwards and his wife, Kathryn,\nopened Focus Advertising to design and produce promotional products and logos\nfor businesses, nonprofits, organizations and individuals. \u201cWe are in this to\nadd value to your company,\u201d he said. \u201cWe make products that have use and value\n\u2014 that people will remember you by. That (product) is your unspoken approach to\na person\u2019s life, so it better have quality.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clients can bring their own logos and artwork for the\nproducts they want inscribed, or Edwards and his crew can produce or refine the\nartwork in house and send it to a vendor for finishing. This process takes\nweeks off the turnaround time typically involved in ordering directly from\nproduct vendors, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the business grew, Edwards needed capital to\nexpand. In 2007, he approached a Santa Fe bank for a loan but was told his\nbusiness was too young and untested and had no inventory to put up for collateral.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bank urged Edwards to contact The Loan Fund and\nhelped set up a meeting with a loan officer from the nonprofit organization.\nEdwards secured a short-term loan and paid it back on time. It would be the\nfirst of several loans that The Loan Fund extended to support Focus\nAdvertising\u2019s multiple expansions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve always been there for us,\u201d Edwards said of The\nLoan Fund. \u201cWe love doing business with them; they are like a family.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Business\ngrew steadily until 2018, when it boomed for a year. \u201cWe grew 33 percent that\nyear,\u201d Edwards said. \u201cBut we lost a lot of business in the last six months with\nthe pandemic.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Ron & Kathryn Edwards, owners of Focus Advertising Specialties<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The couple recently started a new company to produce\nbiodegradable sanitary products for people with mobility limits, no permanent\nhome or concerns about using public restrooms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This innovation ties in with another of Edwards\u2019\nlongtime passions: helping homeless veterans. In 2007, the entrepreneur, who is\nalso a jazz pianist, wrote a song to highlight the problem, and two years later\nhe performed \u201cYou Have Forgotten Me\u201d at the Veterans Administration Stand Down\nevent in Santa Fe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In September, Edwards will receive the 2020 Veteran Small Business Champion of the Year award from\nthe U.S. Small Business Administration\u2019s New Mexico District Office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To learn more about Focus Advertising, go to https:\/\/www.focusadonline.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Loan Fund is a nonprofit community development financial institution that serves small businesses in New Mexico. This year alone, The Loan Fund has provided nearly $6 million in loans to New Mexico businesses that have created or preserved more than 500 jobs. Visit https:\/\/www.loanfund.org\/<\/a> for more information. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Article 673 by Sandy Nelson <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ron Edwards knew he would start his own business one day, but the path to launching Santa Fe\u2019s Focus Advertising Specialties was paved with a variety of jobs and small-business ventures. The most influential of his early occupations was his … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[447,445,19,123,446,138],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10565"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10565"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10565\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10571,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10565\/revisions\/10571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}