The nonprofit lender LiftFund is offering a step-by-step checklist for starting a business. Join LiftFund online on Tuesday, July 11, 2025, to learn how to set up your new business and get the tools for business growth and success.
Continue readingTag Archives: small business loans
REAP Program Guarantees Small-Business Loans
The Rural Energy for America Program helps agricultural entities and rural small businesses develop renewable energy systems or implement energy efficiency upgrades by making capital available. While the grant-making portion of REAP is closed until at least October 1, 2025 (and perhaps longer depending on Congressional funding), the loan portion of the program is open and accepting applications on an ongoing basis.
Continue readingSpecial Assistance for Rural Businesses
Entrepreneurs and business owners in rural areas can get business assistance from the nonprofit organization Rural Community Assistance Corporation. The nonprofit lender, known as RCAC, offers workshops, business consulting, and loans to entrepreneurs and businesses in western communities with less than 50,000 people.
Continue readingThis 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 readingLearn About SBA Microloans
New and aspiring business owners can learn about SBA microloans and small business loans offered by the nonprofit lender and business development organization WESST on June 26, 2025. The workshop is offered online or in person at the WESST Enterprise Center, 609 Broadway NE in Albuquerque.
Continue readingMeat Processors Targeted for Assistance
Do you make beef jerky at home? Or maybe homemade sausage in your garage? Aspiring meat processing entrepreneurs can get business assistance and loan advice from the Biz Sprint program Arrowhead Center.
Continue readingLoan Request Mistakes to Avoid
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 readingConferences 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 readingSBA Loans Offer Low Interest Rates
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 readingPrepare for a Small Business Loan
Clearinghouse CDFI is hosting a webinar at 12:00 pm on Wednesday, May 28, 2025, to help businesses, developers, and nonprofit organizations prepare to apply for a small-business loan.
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