{"id":1372,"date":"2010-02-01T09:00:03","date_gmt":"2010-02-01T16:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.financenewmexico.org\/articles\/?p=1372"},"modified":"2010-03-31T12:22:45","modified_gmt":"2010-03-31T18:22:45","slug":"knowledge-is-power-when-you%e2%80%99re-looking-for-capital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/articles\/starting-or-growing-a-business\/knowledge-is-power-when-you%e2%80%99re-looking-for-capital\/","title":{"rendered":"Knowledge is Power When You\u2019re Looking for Capital"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1375\" style=\"width: 110px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.financenewmexico.org\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/Paul-Goblet.jpg\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1375\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1375 \" title=\"Paul Goblet\" src=\"http:\/\/www.financenewmexico.org\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/Paul-Goblet.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"100\" height=\"149\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1375\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Paul Goblet, Investment Advisor to the New Mexico Small Business Investment Corporation<\/p><\/div>\n<p>In the midst of the credit crisis, foreclosures and bank closings, it\u2019s certainly understandable that some businesses have a harder time getting a loan than they did 18 months ago. Yet New Mexico has been spared much of the financial pain being experienced in Florida, California and elsewhere.<\/p>\n<p>In many cases, failure to qualify for a loan has more to do with a person\u2019s business or personal credit than it does with the nation\u2019s economy.\u00a0 No one today wants to lend to businesses with these problems:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">A history of being late on interest and principal payments to creditors<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">A prior foreclosure or debt settlement<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Little or no means to support the consistent repayment of the loan<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">No collateral of any merit or value to support the loan<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">A poor debt service coverage or debt-to-equity ratio, which leads to a low credit score<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Compounding the problem is that many business owners don\u2019t know where to turn for information, assistance or training to fix a credit problem.\u00a0 Small Business Development Centers are among the most helpful resources in the state for this type of guidance.\u00a0 Similarly, WESST provides technical assistance and training to business owners and those looking to start a business.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><strong>Sources of savvy<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>With 20 locations scattered around the state, Small Business Development Centers exist to help business owners.\u00a0They have classes on many subjects that can help people manage and run a business more effectively, but they\u2019ll also help a business owner with more basic skills, such as creating a business plan that can help the business owner speak more confidently with a lender about the prospects of his or her venture.<\/p>\n<p>In a time of global competition, information is empowering if a businessperson knows where to find it. One source of basic business information is the Finance New Mexico web site (<a href=\"..\/..\/\">www.financenewmexico.org<\/a>), which features more than 120 articles on business issues written by local experts.<strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Sources of money<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As the commercial banking sector faces new challenges, alternative lenders like the Loan Fund, ACCION New Mexico and WESST are even more valuable to people in need of credit.\u00a0 Since 2004, these organizations have loaned more than $24 million to nearly 1,800 businesses (that translates into 350 loans per year).<\/p>\n<p>All three organizations have excess capital to lend, but they, too, have imposed stricter credit policies to address higher-risk investments.\u00a0 These organizations are willing to lend money when they have a high expectation of being repaid.\u00a0 Business owners can meet that standard if they:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Provide tax records for the past two to three years.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Create a business plan.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Explain why the money is needed and how the loan will be repaid.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Explain past credit problems and how they\u2019ve resolved them.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Are serious, honest, passionate, professional and prepared.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Here\u2019s how to reach the primary organizations mentioned in this article.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nmsbdc.org\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>The Small Business Development Centers<\/strong><\/span><\/a>:\u00a0 800- 281-SBDC<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.loanfund.org\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>The Loan Fund<\/strong><\/span><\/a>: 866-873-6746<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.accionnm.org\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>ACCION New Mexico<\/strong><\/span><\/a>: 800-508-7624<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.wesst.org\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>WESST<\/strong><\/span><\/a>: 505-246-6900<\/p>\n<p>Article 122<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.financenewmexico.org\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/122_Small-Business-Development-Centers-Help-Business-Owners.pdf\">Download 122_Small Business Development Centers Help Business Owners PDF<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With 20 locations around New Mexico, Small Business Development Centers exist to help business owners by providing information, assistance and training.   <a href=\"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/articles\/starting-or-growing-a-business\/knowledge-is-power-when-you%e2%80%99re-looking-for-capital\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9,3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1372"}],"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=1372"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1372\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1376,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1372\/revisions\/1376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}