Tag Archives: WESST

WESST: Trailblazers in the WBC Movement

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Diane Barrett, longtime owner of Diane’s Restaurant in Silver City.

There are currently over 100 Women’s Business Centers across the United States, but in the late 1980s, there was a scarcity of female entrepreneurs and role models. Spurred by the growing interest among women to chart their own business and financial path and seeking to provide appropriate the resources, WESST was established in 1989 and became a leading pioneer in the movement across the country.

WESST is currently among a handful of economic development organizations across the country that hosts a network of Women’s Business Centers. Each of the six regional Enterprise Centers located throughout New Mexico offers special training and consulting programs geared to aspiring or established women business owners. Continue reading →

Coworking Space Helps Vet Build Gourmet Popcorn Business

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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 →

Cash Flow: WESST Workshop Teaches Business Essentials

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Julianna Silva is Managing Director of the WESST Enterprise Center. Article by Sandy Nelson.

Keeping track of the money flowing in and out of a business is challenging even in the best of times — when cash is flooding in and the outflow is a comparative trickle. But any business that wants to stay in business needs to master cash flow management.

To help small-business owners get a handle on this essential skill, WESST in Albuquerque is conducting a workshop, “Learn the Language of Your Business Finances,” that includes demonstrations of how businesses can manage their finances, including cash flow, by having participants work with a spreadsheet for a fictitious venture.

The exercise gives tangible examples of the costs that businesses can expect to pay —advertising, supplies, raw materials, loan payments, payroll, rent, insurance premiums, and so on — and the revenue they can anticipate for a given period. The hypothetical example shows trouble looming as bills come due and the revenue falls short of what’s needed to meet obligations. Continue reading →

Startup Weekends Turbo-Charge Business Ideas

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Startup Weekend Albuquerque is Feb. 22 – 24, 2019 at WESST Enterprise Center.

Launching a business can take years — or it can take 54 hours of intense teamwork with experts and entrepreneurs who share a hunger to develop ideas into profitable enterprises.

Startup Weekends are just the place for such collaboration, and the next one planned for New Mexico happens Feb. 22-24 in Albuquerque.

Organized by small business development organization WESST, CNM Ingenuity, ABQid and with support from New Mexico Mutual Insurance, this Startup Weekend is a global project of Google for Entrepreneurs and Techstars. The goal is to create a supportive environment where budding entrepreneurs can pitch and fast-track a business idea through realistic feedback from peers and experts. Continue reading →

Even a Small Management Team is Essential to Startup Success

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Article by Sandy Nelson

While it’s normal for the owner of a new business to go the do-it-yourself route, either for lack of money or sparse human resources, no one individual can perform every task associated with nurturing a startup and do all of them well.

The person who sets the idea in motion might not have a clue how to keep books and end up avoiding this essential skill in pursuit of more interesting or gratifying activities, such as networking and prototype creation. Continue reading →

WESST’s online courses help women entrepreneurs build dreams

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WESST’s DreamBuilder online business course; Article by Sandy Nelson

Not everyone has the resources to go to college for an MBA, but anyone with an internet connection and some self-discipline can learn business basics through the DreamBuilder program offered by the nonprofit small-business development and training organization WESST.

DreamBuilder targets women who want to start their own businesses or need additional support to increase profitability. It’s one of a growing number of massive open online courses (MOOCs) that offer busy people a way to explore subjects that interest them — and often to earn credit for their efforts. Continue reading →

Entrepreneurial journey often misses financial mark

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Guy Gaffney, Vice President of Credit at Los Alamos National Bank; Article by Damon Scott

Business owners and entrepreneurs get excited about their product and the market they serve. But to achieve long-term success, sooner or later they have to focus on a different critical area: their business finances.

Even when grants, initial sales or investments from family and friends have funded an idea from product development to market, most businesses will need financing in order to grow. If cash has been exhausted, the company’s financial position will be strained and its funding opportunities limited.

Guy Gaffney, vice president of credit at Los Alamos National Bank, has seen this situation many times during a decade with the bank. He encourages business owners to start the loan application process while they still have enough working capital to qualify for a loan. But just as important as cash, he said, is that the owner become financially literate. Continue reading →