The New Mexico Finance Authority, which manages the state’s Small Business Recovery Grant program, is accepting applications until December 7, 2021.
The pandemic recovery grant program was authorized by the New Mexico Legislature in the 2021 regular session to assist businesses that suffered financial hardship during the pandemic. Grants are tied to job creation, and funds must be used as reimbursements of rent, lease or mortgage payments.
Continue readingActivateNM powered by CNM Ingenuity offers “office hours” for New Mexico startups and small businesses. Office Hours are a facilitated regular gathering of the growing ActivateNM community of entrepreneurs and mentors who get together to talk about pressing business questions their ventures are facing. The next monthly meeting will take place online on August 20.
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When the coronavirus pandemic temporarily halted tourist traffic and shuttered restaurants and bars throughout New Mexico, Black Mesa Winery in Velarde had an inventory of wine and hard cider worth $100,000 and fewer avenues to deliver its products to customers. Winery owners Jerry and Lynda Burd were able to keep products moving out the door through online wine tasting events, shipments to wine club members, and creative drive-by tours that kept customers engaged.
The slowdown also gave the Burds time to examine all aspects of their operation and to consider changes that could streamline processes, open new markets, and increase market share when the pandemic ended.
The Burds sought help from New Mexico Manufacturing Extension Partnership (New Mexico MEP), a nonprofit organization that helps businesses transform their operations to improve production, competitiveness, and profitability. New Mexico MEP Innovation Director Scott Bryant worked with the couple and their 12 employees to help them evaluate the entire production line.
Continue readingThe Collateral Assistance Program (CAP) helps creditworthy small businesses obtain a loan for which they might not otherwise qualify. To help banks and other financial institutions make loans to small businesses in underserved markets, the New Mexico Economic Development Department can pledge cash to cover a collateral shortfall of a loan to enable commercial financing. Business owners apply through a participating bank or financial institution that can initiate the loan.
Continue readingThe Rural Economic Development Toolkit, created by the Outdoor Recreation Roundtable, outlines best practices for building an outdoor recreation economy. Outdoor recreation offers opportunities for sustainable economic and community development, and most communities need help implementing those ambitious plans. The toolkit contains a list of federal grants and technical assistance programs that can support communities in securing funding and services, along with many other resources.
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Ron Edwards knew he would start his own business one day, but the path to launching Santa Fe’s Focus Advertising Specialties was paved with a variety of jobs and small-business ventures.
The most influential of his early occupations was his overseas service in the Marines, Edwards said. Thirteen weeks in basic training and four years in the military “challenged me in different ways,” he said. “I learned that I can go further than I think I can.”
Working within fixed budgets also taught Edwards how to keep operations tight.
Those lessons in endurance and efficiency prepared him for the challenges of civilian life. Edwards started a wood-finishing business and restaurant in Crested Butte, Colorado, and then moved to New Mexico. After suffering a debilitating back injury at a construction site in 2002, his days of working physically demanding jobs was over.
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Students touring Insight Lighting in Rio Rancho. Article by Roger Makin.
Manufacturing is a key contributor to New Mexico’s economy, producing state-of-the-art electronics, industrial and residential building products, food and beverages, and a variety of everyday and seldom-seen components.
Economic developers are keen to attract manufacturers to the state because of the well-paying jobs that are created. Local leaders anticipate increased tax revenue, especially when local products are exported beyond city limits and bring new money into the community to enhance public services. Continue reading
A decade ago, Roberto Mendez was broke, his real estate business wiped out by a devastating recession and his wife sidelined by a debilitating stroke. Today he runs a thriving family business built on his favorite snack food: popcorn.
“Ten years ago, life was hell,” said the owner of Albuquerque-based Cornivore. “We were trying to survive, so we would make a couple of hundred bucks here and there” selling homemade gourmet concoctions created in a kettle corn popper to friends and acquaintances.
Cornivore was a bootstrapped business, started with Mendez’s limited resources, as no one would lend to him at the time. First, he found a niche market—people willing to pay several dollars for a bag of fresh popcorn coated with natural flavors. Then he expanded his clientele beyond friends and family, experimenting with wholesaling and concession sales before landing a ready-made sales force in the fundraising market. Continue reading
By Paul Hamrick, Executive Director, CELab
The economic development field is rapidly changing and increasing in complexity. The New Mexico Basic Economic Development Course is designed to help community leaders understand legacy economic development approaches and become current with new program initiatives and best practices.
Held on the campus of Western New Mexico University in Silver City every July, the course is one of several offered by the New Mexico-based International Academy for Economic Development that prepares participants for professional certification by the International Economic Development Council.
The five-day course covers the core components of economic development, including business retention and expansion, recruitment, workforce development, real estate, finance, marketing, and ethics. Continue reading
No one likes to feel hustled while shopping, whether it’s in a retail store or trade show booth.
To attract customers without brazen hawking or downright pushiness, businesses need to refine the art of the soft sell. That begins by making the store or trade show booth an intentional destination for people who are truly interested in what the business sells.
Create relationships
While any business would like to sell at least one product to every person who walks in the door, that’s the type of unrealistic goal that can turn sales reps into apex predators.
A long-term perspective toward potential customers focuses on developing a relationship that lasts longer than one transaction. It lays a foundation through attraction rather than persuasion. Continue reading