This is How to Start a Business

Joshua Arzabala knew he lacked business knowledge, but he had $50 to buy a used lawn mower and the will to forge a new path. Arzabala started Arzi’s Lawn Care, now an eight-person company in Hobbs that offers a wide variety of home services, including landscaping and yard maintenance for residential and commercial customers. Arzabala and his wife, Paloma, received business financing and consulting from the nonprofit business development organization WESST.

Arzabala contacted WESST for help to grow his small business. Meeting with the Hobbs-based team of WESST professionals, Arzabala was able to create a strong business strategy. With the team’s support, business documentation and administration became a breeze, and the new businessman could focus on customers, serving those he had and obtaining new ones. Arzabala worked all day, every day, for the first two years of the business, often at the expense of his personal and family life. With perseverance and business systems in place, he is now enjoying more time with his family and celebrating the milestones of his young daughter’s life.

Continue reading

Loan Request Mistakes to Avoid

Don't go the Wrong Way

The nonprofit small business lender LiftFund has helped thousands of small business owners navigate the funding landscape, and they’ve noticed some common pitfalls along the way. These are the three biggest mistakes LiftFund lenders have seen new business owners make – and how you can avoid them.

Continue reading

Conferences Offer Business Resources, Loans, and Networking

Several June and July conferences aim to offer networking opportunities and equip participants with knowledge about business resources and available capital, including loans and grants. The nonprofit lender and business development organization WESST is offering a half-day Women’s Entrepreneurship Conference in collaboration with Arrowhead Center at NMSU on July 18. The Atomic 66 Convergence of Space, Art, Tech, and Culture takes place June 10 to 13, and the Women Veterans Conference is June 14, 2025.

Continue reading

SBA Loans Offer Low Interest Rates

Popular pies from L’il Willie’s Shenanigans, the Red River ice cream and sweets shop owned by Kelley and Steve Cherry.

Kelley and Steve Cherry were so pleased with the experience of securing a loan to buy one commercial building in Red River that they want to buy another building the same way.

The couple worked with Century Bank to obtain a U.S. Small Business Administration 504 loan to purchase the building they previously leased for their 3-year-old ice cream and sweets shop, L’il Willie’s Shenanigans. They hope to use the same strategy to buy the building from which they’ve operated Shotgun Willie’s Café for the past decade.

The appeal of 504 loans is that interest rates are fixed at a significantly lower rate than traditional banks offer for commercial real estate loans, and borrowers get lots of help from lenders and the certified development companies that evaluate 504 loan packages for the SBA. The nonprofit Enchantment Land Certified Development Company played that role for the Cherrys.

Continue reading

WESST Named NM Microlender of 2025

The nonprofit business development organization WESST has been named the New Mexico Microlender of the Year 2025 by the U.S. Small Business Administration. Known best for its workshops and business consulting, WESST has a loan fund that offers microloans to qualifying businesses that work with its consultants.

Continue reading

Historic Childcare Center to Double Capacity

Christina Kent Early Childhood Center (CKECC), Albuquerque’s oldest continuously operating childcare center, is set to significantly expand its services through the purchase and renovation of a new building, thanks to a community-centered partnership with Homewise. The expansion will allow CKECC to double its capacity, offering critical early education to even more families in the Barelas neighborhood and across Albuquerque. 
 
Established in 1919, CKECC has served the Albuquerque community for over a century, providing high-quality childcare and early childhood education to low-income families. The center, accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), currently serves 62 children in three classrooms and is committed to ensuring accessible education through a sliding scale tuition model that considers both income and family size. Through its participation in the NM PreK program, CKECC also offers free tuition for 3- to 5-year-olds. 

Continue reading

Learn to Use QuickBooks to Manage Business Finances

April is Financial Literacy Month, and for business owners, that means getting business finances in order. The business development organization WESST is offering a workshop in Santa Fe from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm on April 22, 2025, to teach business owners how to use the QuickBooks financial and accounting software.

Continue reading