{"id":8634,"date":"2016-07-10T18:00:12","date_gmt":"2016-07-11T00:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/?p=8634"},"modified":"2016-08-01T14:46:24","modified_gmt":"2016-08-01T20:46:24","slug":"woodworking-business-gets-startup-help-from-accion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/articles\/obtaining-a-loan\/woodworking-business-gets-startup-help-from-accion\/","title":{"rendered":"Woodworking Business Gets Startup Help from Accion"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Metta Smith, Vice President of Lending and Client Services, Accion<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Ohel<\/a>

Ohel Chillon; photos courtesy Antigua Woodwork<\/p><\/div>\n

It\u2019s a common conundrum for startups: The business needs money to grow, but it\u2019s too new and untested to qualify for a loan from many traditional lenders.<\/p>\n

But, as Regina Baca and Ohel Chillon of Antigua Woodwork discovered three months after starting their business in 2014, Accion is willing to take a chance on fledgling enterprises like theirs. The Albuquerque couple took out a loan in December of that year to purchase equipment critical to their operation.<\/p>\n

The company specializes in custom hand-crafted woodwork, including cabinetmaking, furniture making and fine woodcarving. The business is the main source of income for the couple, who have a son.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we started our business in 2014, it was a slow but steady start,\u201d said Baca, who manages the business while Chillon does the woodwork. \u201cWith our first Accion loan, we purchased some quality equipment and hustled to get clients. I remember driving two hours out of town to give estimates, stopping at every new construction property we saw, emailing every contact we made over and over and running specials every month.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Kitchen<\/a>

Kitchen cabinetry by Antigua Woodwork<\/p><\/div>\n

She and Chillon did everything that first year. \u201cAs we got busier and busier, we needed more room and more help. We moved to a bigger warehouse, hired a couple of employees and\u00a0purchased a much-needed trailer.\u201d<\/p>\n

The couple received a second Accion loan in May 2016.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany banks will not work with businesses that are less than two years old due to the risk,\u201d said\u00a0Gabriela Marques,\u00a0loan officer and operations impact associate\u00a0at Accion\u2019s Albuquerque office. \u201cBut 40 percent of our loans go to brand-new businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Accion has a loan program designed for\u00a0businesses\u00a0at any stage, whether pre-launch or well established.\u00a0The organization will lend as much as $100,000 to startups at an annual percentage interest rate near those of traditional banks.<\/p>\n

Traditional lenders typically want to\u00a0see criteria such as substantial owner equity and strong historical financial performance\u00a0before lending money to a business.\u00a0But Accion is able to work with businesses that don\u2019t meet traditional criteria because part of the nonprofit organization\u2019s mission is to help small-business owners acquire financing to become economically self-sufficient and create jobs.<\/p>\n

To qualify for an\u00a0Accion\u00a0loan, applicants need a minimum credit score of 550 and no active bankruptcies or foreclosures in the prior 12 months.\u00a0The business must show a steady\u00a0cash flow\u00a0or, in the case of a start-up,\u00a0the entrepreneur needs to demonstrate an ability to support monthly loan payments and offer collateral.<\/p>\n

For the owners of Antigua Woodwork, the hard work of launching a business is paying off.\u00a0\u201cProducing\u00a0a quality product at a fair price has been what’s worked so far,\u201d Baca said. \u201cWe\u2019ve had return customers as well as referrals from\u00a0their\u00a0family and friends and have been fortunate enough to make some contacts with a few contractors who keep us busy.\u201d<\/p>\n

To apply for an Accion loan, contact\u00a0505-243-8844\u00a0or contact https:\/\/us.accion.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Download 458_Woodworking Business Gets Startup Help from Accion<\/a> PDF<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Metta Smith, Vice President of Lending and Client Services, Accion It\u2019s a common conundrum for startups: The business needs money to grow, but it\u2019s too new and untested to qualify for a loan from many traditional lenders. But, as … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8634"}],"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\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8634"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8634\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8703,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8634\/revisions\/8703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}