Valencia County small businesses and startups have another resource to help them grow their businesses. The Valencia County Business Incubator (VCBI), located at 360 Rio Communities Blvd. in the City of Rio Communities, opened in August 2022 to provide consulting, mentoring, and seminars, in addition to office space and workstations.
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New Mexico Startup Gets Help with Pitch to Potential Clients
Working with New Mexico Manufacturing Extension Partnership (New Mexico MEP) shaved at least a year off the time RingIR president Dr. Charles Harb expected to spend getting his company’s portable gas-detecting product ready for market.
And given the disruption and delay caused by the state’s protracted coronavirus-related shutdown, the value of that time is hard to calculate.
“We were working with (New Mexico MEP) on a business plan just before COVID hit, and everything got shut down,” said Harb, who runs the company with his wife and co-founder, Anna.
The couple launched the business in California in 2013 to commercialize the wideband optical spectrometer Harb had developed at the University of New South Wales in Australia to detect airborne chemicals.
Continue readingWESST Helps Hobbyists Become Business Owners
According to Brad Crowson, a former regional program coordinator at WESST, more than 70 percent of business registrations in Rio Rancho are for home-based businesses. Crowson, who worked one-on-one with new and aspiring small-business owners as a consultant for the nonprofit business development organization, believes the home-based business trend is supported by the widespread availability of high-speed internet, among other factors.
“It’s also, in most cases, fairly low-risk financially and offers significant upside potential for both personal fulfillment and income generation — not to mention terrific tax benefits if structured properly,” Crowson said in a recent WESST blog post.
Many people engage in home-based hobby activities that turn into a source of income; however, to claim tax benefits referred to by Crowson, individuals must demonstrate to the Internal Revenue Service that their activities are intended to make a profit.
Continue readingWhat is an Entrepreneur?
According to Lorena Schott, entrepreneurs pop up in all types of industries and can have widely different backgrounds. “Really anyone can be an entrepreneur, given the idea and the right tools to develop it into a functional business,” she said.
Schott should know. The director of marketing communications at WESST has met thousands of entrepreneurs since joining the business development organization in 2009. WESST is a nonprofit organization that offers business consulting, workshops, financial resources, business incubation, and support to help entrepreneurs start and grow a business.
“An entrepreneur is someone who sees a need and takes on the financial risk to start a business to fill that need,” she said in a WESST blog post. “It may sound vague, but that’s the point; there is no cookie-cutter entrepreneur…”
Schott contrasts the ‘classic’ entrepreneur — someone who creates a business like a new restaurant or a tech start-up — with today’s entrepreneurs. “There has been a shift in the global job market that has opened the door for entrepreneurship to become more mainstream,” she said.
Continue readingMEP Helps Doctor Meet Demand for Healing Products
To deal with the pain of postpartum mastitis, Janine Mahon drew on her knowledge of Chinese medicine to create a soothing topical salve for herself from herbs and oils. In the 20 years since she successfully treated her own breast pain, Mahon, a licensed and certified Doctor of Oriental Medicine, refined the product and shared it with clients at her Albuquerque clinic.
When one satisfied patient asked for a dozen bottles of the healing oil to share with friends, Mahon wondered if there might be a larger market beyond her regular clients. Mahon launched Dr. Janine Mahon’s Rejuvenating Breast Oil exclusively through Violet Grey, a high-end retailer with extensive online reach and sales through its Melrose Place store in Los Angeles.
“I went from no product to a dream store launching it,” she said. “Being in Violet Grey led to other places wanting to carry it.”
Continue readingSample New Tech with New Mexico MEP
New Mexico manufacturers can explore new technology at the Tech Demo room created by New Mexico Manufacturing Extension Partnership. Collaborative robots, 3D printers, and quality control cameras are just a few of the tools available for testing.
Continue readingAn Entrepreneurial Playground
Entrepreneurs are fond of saying that starting their business was the most fun they’ve ever had and the hardest thing they’ve ever done. Several events in the coming weeks aim to offer some fun as they provide the resources, support, and entrepreneurial networks that offer startup business owners a solid foundation.
Continue readingThree EDD Programs to Investigate
The New Mexico Economic Development Department is offering Science and Technology Business Start-Up Grants to eligible for-profit science and technology companies with fewer than 50 employees.
Continue readingNMSBA Program Demystified
Northern New Mexico business owners can learn about the New Mexico Small Business Assistance Program (NMSBA) on December 14 at Project Y in Los Alamos. The event is one of many that have taken place across the state this year and that will continue into 2022. NMSBA program managers provide details about the free business assistance that ranges from testing, research, and development of new products and technologies to manufacturing advice provided by scientists at New Mexico’s national laboratories and NMSBA partner organizations.
Continue readingGEW Events Aim to Spark Entrepreneurship
Tens of thousands of events take place worldwide during Global Entrepreneurship Week November 8 through 14. In New Mexico, GEW takes place until Nov. 19, with workshops, presentations, and other events that aim to support idea generation and new business activity.
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