Tag Archives: small business loans

New Digs for Farmington Dog Groomer

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Greta Wilson and Harmony Brown launched Suds & Snouts LLC in Farmington in 2026 to create a great pet grooming experience for both dogs and their owners. The company operated out of Greta’s home until July, when the pair moved into their own building with help from The Loan Fund.

Greta said that when it was time to take the leap and form their own business, expand their inventory and equipment, and move into a storefront, she found The Loan Fund during an online search.

The Loan Fund is a nonprofit Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) that provides flexible financing to small businesses and nonprofit organizations across New Mexico. It specializes in supporting those often overlooked or turned down by traditional banks and lenders.

“We did try our bank in town, but they wouldn’t do a startup loan,” said Greta. Harmony added, “But (The Loan Fund) officer was extremely helpful and very communicative. They made the process extremely easy for us.”

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CDFIs Expand Financing with Partnerships

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Banks and community development financial institutions (CDFIs) each play important roles in financing projects that strengthen communities. While most borrowers are familiar with traditional banks, many are less familiar with CDFIs. Banks and CDFIs operate independently, and their relationships take many forms. Sometimes partnerships are directly visible to borrowers, and other times cooperation happens behind the scenes. Either way, it isn’t unusual for financial institutions to collaborate on behalf of borrowers.

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Grants & Loans Can Jumpstart a Business

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Explore federal, state, and local grants, loans, and guarantees that are available to qualified businesses to fund the growth of their companies. The nonprofit lender LiftFund is hosting a one-hour webinar to help small business owners and entrepreneurs determine which option is best for their business before spending time researching irrelevant programs. The event takes place online on Wednesday, October 14, 2026, at 10:30 am MDT.

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Small Business Lender Expo

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The New Mexico Veterans Business Outreach Center is teaming up with the nonprofit lender DreamSpring to help aspiring and existing business owners explore low-cost financing options. The Small Business Lender Expo takes place at the DreamSpring Albuquerque headquarters from 1:00 to 4:00 pm on Friday, October 9, 2026. While the event focuses on resources for veterans, non-veterans are welcome to attend.

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RCAC Helps Prados Beauty Outperform

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Cece Meadows started Prados Beauty from her home.

When Cece Meadows walked into rooms filled with prospective investors, she knew they saw a red flag.

During the height of the pandemic, her company, Prados Beauty, had donated 50 percent of its sales — not profits — to buy protective gear for Indigenous communities. To your typical venture capitalist or big-bank lender, that looked like a liability.

But for Meadows, a Xicana of Yaqui descent, that was the entire point. Meadows lives by her grandmother’s advice, which translates as “Everything you do with a good heart can never go wrong.”

Today, that model has a proven return on investment. Prados Beauty is the top-selling independent color cosmetics brand at JCPenney, moving products in 609 stores and becoming the first beauty line ever sold at the Smithsonian.

The brand reached these heights, in part, through Meadows’ partnership with the Rooted Relative Fund offered through the nonprofit lender Rural Community Assistance Corporation (RCAC). Fund managers viewed Meadows’ commitment to community not as a “risk” but as the secret to her success.

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How to Find Your Best Customers

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Business owners often look at their marketing budget and wonder whether it’s working. They spend money on marketing and advertising without always having a clear picture of what’s bringing people in. The DreamSpring Resource Library has a new post that aims to give owners and entrepreneurs insight into finding their best customers. The library post offers marketing tips alongside a free Customer Acquisition Tracker.

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A Business Loan Is Not Rocket Science

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One of the obstacles most commonly reported by entrepreneurs — particularly first-time business owners — is the difficulty of obtaining a business loan. Many start with their local bank, but if their borrower profile doesn’t match the bank’s, they stop with the first ‘no.” Getting a business loan doesn’t need to be difficult if a potential borrower knows where to look. And lender terms and requirements are not rocket science. The nonprofit lender and business development organization WESST is aware of how intimidating it can be to ask for a loan. That’s why it is offering a workshop to introduce business owners to its lending program.

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Find Out if You’re Capital-Ready

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Business owners and entrepreneurs can use a new online tool to determine if their planned project, expansion, or purchase is bankable. The Capital Readiness Checklist is a confidential application that doesn’t want to know your name, email address, or any other personal information. Its purpose is to help users understand if they’re ready to apply for financing.

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Business Growth Summit Features Access to Capital

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The nonprofit lender and business development organization WESST, which offers consulting services and resources to small-business owners, will be on hand at the Business Growth Summit on Thursday, August 6, 2026, in Albuquerque to discuss how entrepreneurs can access capital for their startup or established company.

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