Tag Archives: small business

Veterans Get Help in Business

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Lloyd Calderon, Director, New Mexico Veterans’ Business Resource Center, and Director, VBOC

When Freedom Construction of Edgewood was hired by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to upgrade the electrical system at Conchas Dam, the job was the first federal contract the company had been awarded. One of the reasons Freedom’s owners, Mark Beasley and Steven Tenorio, got the $1.1 million job is because they know what many veteran-owners of businesses do not: Federal laws set aside 3 percent of federal contracts for businesses owned by veterans who were disabled during the course of their military service.

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Investments Nurture Businesses to Create Jobs

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Paul Goblet

Paul F. Goblet, Financial Advisor, NM SBIC

As financial markets gyrate, legislators argue about the national debt ceiling, and people lose homes to foreclosure, it’s hard to believe the economy is improving. Few words can convince those unlucky enough to remain jobless; but numbers are beginning to tell a slightly better story, at least in New Mexico. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that New Mexico made strides in improving its July jobless rate over the same month last year – second only to Nevada, a state with one of the highest unemployment rates in the country.  New Mexico’s July, 2011, unemployment rate was about two and a half points lower than the national average, as it has been throughout the recession.
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Associations Take Members Beyond Networking

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Carol Wight

Carol Wight, CEO, NM Restaurant Assn.

Professionals sometimes make a critical mistake in their careers: they neglect to join their industry associations. After investing time and money in a university education or training program, they disregard the value of continued education, advocacy and other assistance that associations provide. With so much at stake in these difficult times, why would anyone want to go it alone?

Associations were created by people who saw the need for banding together to fight for common values and interests affecting their industry. While this is still the primary reason most people join, modern associations provide much more than they did in their early days.

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Entrepreneurs Beware the Valley of Death

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Richard T. Meyer

Richard T. Meyer, SCORE

Business owners know it takes money to make money; production expenses must be paid before products are sold and revenue is received. Entrepreneurs with a business idea have an even greater need for up-front cash. They must have enough capital to cover negative cash flow in the early months or years of new business creation and growth. Without adequate initial investment, they risk falling into the so-called valley of death – the deep and wide gulf that separates a company’s need for capital and investors’ willingness to supply it.

Also known as the grand canyon of capital need vs. availability, the valley can be shallow or deep depending on the amount of money needed to develop the idea or product. Continue reading →

Don’t Risk Business Success With a Poor Presentation

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Bay Stevens

Bay Stevens, DTM, District Governor, Toastmasters Int'l District 23

Entrepreneurs looking for startup capital, expansion funding or customers are often the best spokespeople for their business or idea. Knowledge of their business plan or product is deep, and they are passionate about their business.

But not all entrepreneurs are good communicators. And when it comes to speaking in front of a crowd, few are born with the skills needed to keep an audience engaged. Fortunately, effective public speaking can be learned.

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Be Ready When Banks Step Up Lending

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Paul Goblet

Paul F. Goblet, Financial Advisor, NM SBIC

Tight credit markets of the past few years have made it difficult for business owners to obtain loans to expand their business. Getting a loan is still as hard as ever, even though most financial institutions have plenty of capital to lend. With the interest rate charged banks by the Federal Reserve Bank at almost zero, it’s surprising so little capital is moving around.  Loans, as a percentage of deposits, are very low.

Credit will loosen eventually because banks can’t survive long-term without making loans. Stung by losses when loans defaulted, banks are understandably more conservative; but they need interest revenue from loans to grow.

Recent financial activity suggests money might be starting to flow again. Continue reading →

Grant Expands New Mexico Education Success

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Monica Abeita

Monica Abeita, Regional Development Corp. for NNM Connect

When Taos-based Imagine Education received a Next Generation Learning Challenge Grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates and William and Flora Hewlett Foundations this summer, the award was not just a triumph for middle-school students struggling to learn math. It also marked an achievement for theNew Mexico programs that grow the state’s economy by helping small New Mexico businesses.

Imagine Education’s founders credit economic development initiatives with helping them win the grant, one of nineteen awarded nationwide for innovations in teaching literacy and mathematics. The grant will allow Imagine Education to pilot its educational math game, Ko’s Journey, in ten middle schools nationwide.

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Candy Company is Sweet and Lean

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Jennifer Sinsabaugh, Operations Director, NM MEP

When Clovis-based Leslie Candy Company was purchased by Greg Southard in 2002, the 50-year-old company was using trusted manufacturing processes and recipes to create peanut patties, brittles and haystacks for distribution to supermarkets, convenience stores and specialty boutiques throughout theUnited States.  Southard invited New Mexico Manufacturing Extension Partnership into the organization to review how things were flowing on the manufacturing floor.

Today, Southard still uses the company’s savory recipes and traditional cooking methods, but he now runs a lean shop with streamlined operations. “New Mexico MEP came in, watched our processes and provided feedback and solutions,” said Southard. “Based on their recommendation, we implemented an incentive program for our frontline employees, which resulted in a production increase of 25 percent, while lowering overall operating costs. New Mexico MEP helped us to look at our processes in a new way,” he said.

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Small Business Publicity: Writing Effective Press Releases

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Julianna Martinez-Barbee

Julianna Martinez-Barbee, Director, NMSBDC at Northern NM College

Professional publicists recommend press releases to deliver business news to the media for broadcast to potential customers. Publicity of this kind is free and can often be done by a business owner or someone who works for her company. If the media publish the story, the business stands to gain the goodwill of existing customers and attract new ones. The result can be increased sales at a cost of only the time it takes to write and distribute the release.

But the average newsroom receives hundreds of emails and faxes every day, only a fraction of which are published. Competition for print space and airtime means press releases need to be creative, factual and informative. They must provide content the media believe its readers, viewers and listeners want.

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Government Contracting: A New Path to Increased Revenue?

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Elaine Palin

Elaine Palin, Advisor, PTAP at Santa Fe Community College

In times of economic upheaval when private sector output slows, government contracts may mean the difference between running a company at profit rather than loss. The Procurement Technical Assistance Program, set up by the New Mexico Small Business Development Network in 2009, is a non-profit organization that helps small businesses obtain government contracts.

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