Tag Archives: business assistance

Private-Public Partnership Brings Export Experts to New Mexico

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Jennifer Sinsabaugh

Jennifer Sinsabaugh, Operations Director, NM MEP

New Mexico businesses interested in exporting their products or services — or expanding their export capacity — can take advantage of special training sessions being offered in Albuquerque by ExporTech, a collaboration of the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the U.S. Export Assistance Centers of the U.S. Department of Commerce. The event is set in Albuquerque because of that city’s central location, but businesses throughout the state are encouraged to attend, even if it means a long drive, to take advantage of the national resources being offered.

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Video Studio to Connect Businesses to Resources

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Doug Lee

Doug Lee, Managing Director, WESST Enterprise Center

A digital media studio that opens soon at the 3-year-old WESST Enterprise Center business incubator in downtown Albuquerque will provide more resources to entrepreneurs and small businesses in New Mexico.

When the Comcast Digital Media Studio opens in July, WESST will have a studio to film workshops we can then stream live to all our offices in New Mexico.  This means our workshops will have a uniform message for our resident and non-resident clients, regardless of whether they’re based in Albuquerque or at our satellite offices in Rio Rancho, Santa Fe, Las Cruces, Roswell and Farmington.  Of the estimated 1250 business incubators in the U.S., fewer than six have video studios.

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Bonds Benefit Both Parties to a Contract, Not Just the Client

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Kendra Zacharias-Trujillo

Kendra Zacharias-Trujillo, Rio Grande Insurance Services Inc.

Many contractors — especially those with a demonstrated reliability and good credit — resent that they’re required to be bonded for the work they do and consider bonds an unnecessary expense for something that doesn’t appear to provide a tangible benefit.

But bonds protect the interests of both parties to a contract: They’re a form of credit that helps the contractor attract serious, big-ticket clients, and they assure the client that he will receive money to cover the costs of finishing a project that isn’t completed to contract terms.

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Early Planning Can Help Owner Live Off Assets From Business Sale

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Priscilla Dakin

Priscilla Dakin, Dakin Business Group Business Brokerage

Many business owners dream of selling their business at a price that will pay them in retirement what they earned while working. The ones who achieve this goal start planning and preparing well before retirement by saving a portion of personal income from the business in retirement accounts and diverse investments and by managing the business so it’s offered for sale at the peak of its success.

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Federal Funding Still Good for Small Technology Firms

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Jim and Gail Greenwood

Jim and Gail Greenwood for NNM Connect and TVC

Congress in December voted to continue two federal programs that offer funding to small businesses involved in technology and innovation. The Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR) and the Small Business Technology Transfer Program (STTR) were reauthorized as part of the National Defense Authorization Act, ensuring their funding through 2017.

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Starting a business requires passion, research and a plan

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Jennifer Craig

Jennifer Craig for WESST Las Cruces

Lenders often find themselves counseling people who are tired of working for others and eager to put their talents and energies into a business of their own. While someone with an entrepreneurial spirit can launch a successful venture even in an unstable economy, he’s more likely to appear serious to a potential lender or investor if he possesses — besides passion and ambition — a business plan and a grasp of the market based on thorough, objective research. He’ll need money to get the endeavor going, and business acumen can minimize rookie errors.

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Fund Accelerates Product Commercialization

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Monica Abeita

Monica Abeita, Regional Development Corp. for NNM Connect

A $100,000 award from the Venture Acceleration Fund in 2011 helped Santa Fe startup Vista Therapeutics speed up the commercial introduction of the NanoBioSensor, which employs nanowires to measure in real time the multiple blood proteins and other biomarkers the body produces in response to trauma or disease. Biomarker measurement is especially critical for emergency room doctors, who have little time to gauge the severity of a patient’s condition and choose a proper intervention. Benefits continue during recovery, when ongoing monitoring is essential.

As the first commercially available device capable of such on-the-spot analysis, the NanoBioSensor is expected to improve the lives of people and also reduce the suffering of research animals: Pharmaceutical scientists and other biomedical researchers often must sacrifice many animals to obtain sufficient blood or tissue samples for analysis of biomarker changes over time. The sensitivity and rapidity of Vista’s sensor will allow many biomarkers to be monitored with a simple nick of the research animal’s tail or ear.

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Line of Credit Can Smooth Out Cash Flow Extremes

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People who operate seasonal businesses often find that lines of credit make a lot more sense than traditional loans when dealing with the dramatic cash flows that are typical of such ventures. Steve and Tracy Kirkpatrick have operated in Albuquerque for 20 years as Gourmet Specialties Southwest, a Hickory Farms franchise. Before that, Steve was an employee of the Ohio-based company known for its specialty cheese, meats and other gourmet foods.

Each fall the Kirkpatricks activate their bank line of credit to purchase inventory and set up 17 seasonal kiosks and storefronts in New Mexico and West Texas. By the following January 15, they repay the line of credit in full.

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USDA Helps Businesses Upgrade Energy Systems

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Terry Brunner

Terry Brunner, State Director, USDA Rural Development Agency

An energy-efficient water pump just went online at the San Miguel County ranch of Robert Quintana, and solar panels now power the Lifestyle Medicine office building in the county seat of Las Vegas, N.M. Both projects received partial funding from the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) — a rural development program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that offsets the cost of replacing outdated or inefficient energy technology in eligible rural businesses.

The Quintana ranch’s new electric pump powers a circle irrigation system that provides water to 193 acres of farmland; REAP contributed a $5,439 grant toward the $21,000 system that replaced the old diesel pump setup. Fourteen solar panels were installed on the roof at Lifestyle Medicine in downtownLas Vegas, and they produce enough electricity to reduce the facility’s energy costs. Owner Dr. Bradley Kanode received a $4,854 grant to help install the $19,000 solar-power system.

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Succession Plans Keep Legacy Alive

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Ray Roberts

Ray C. Roberts CPA, Managing Partner, Accounting & Consulting Group LLP

More than 95 percent of New Mexico businesses are defined as small by the U.S. Small Business Administration, and many were founded by entrepreneurs who intend to pass the assets they build to their children. Yet less than half take the steps necessary to ensure their heirs will inherit a viable enterprise.

Whether a business owner plans ahead for retirement or is forced to leave her company by illness or death, a succession plan is the single greatest tool for ensuring that her family and employees are protected. A succession plan can be the glue that keeps a business from breaking apart and destroying the assets an owner has worked hard to build.

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