Tag Archives: workshop

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 →

Business Owners Benefit When the Numbers Become Their Friend

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By Finance New Mexico

Entrepreneurs don’t need to be certified public accountants to start or operate a business, but a basic grasp of bookkeeping principles can help them accurately gauge performance and profitability, keep track of cash flow and make smart decisions about assuming debt or prioritizing payments to creditors based on what the financial reports say.

Though “bean counting” is perceived by some business owners as a time-consuming nuisance, a good accounting system is actually a tool that allows the owner to trace every dollar the business receives from a customer and to monitor dollars owed.When someone pays for a product at the point of sale, the transaction is applied to the appropriate account, where related expenses can be applied to indicate gross profit. When a client is billed on a monthly or quarterly basis, the accounting system can oversee payments to a different account and alert the business when payments are missed so steps can be taken to collect on aging invoices. Continue reading →

Workshops Aim to Teach Principles of Lean Manufacturing

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Jennifer Sinsabaugh

Jennifer Sinsabaugh, Operations Director, NM MEP

Michael Tso was 10 months into his job running a high-tech envelope-making machine at Desert Paper and Envelope in Albuquerque when his employer sent him to the New Mexico Manufacturing Extension Partnership’s lean-manufacturing workshop this summer. There with other representatives of New Mexico companies he learned fundamentals of the lean manufacturing philosophy, which aims to improve business operations – and enhance competitiveness – from the shop floor to the front office.

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Private-Public Partnership Brings Export Experts to New Mexico

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Jennifer Sinsabaugh

Jennifer Sinsabaugh, Operations Director, NM MEP

New Mexico businesses interested in exporting their products or services — or expanding their export capacity — can take advantage of special training sessions being offered in Albuquerque by ExporTech, a collaboration of the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the U.S. Export Assistance Centers of the U.S. Department of Commerce. The event is set in Albuquerque because of that city’s central location, but businesses throughout the state are encouraged to attend, even if it means a long drive, to take advantage of the national resources being offered.

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SBA’s Entrepreneur Training Expands in NM

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John C. Woosley

John C. Woosley, District Director, SBA NM District Office

Merlin Herbert believes anyone can run a business if they have the right training. Herbert, the owner of a 19 year-old Bloomfield-based welding company, participated in the e200 Emerging Leaders training program in Gallup last year. “The training helped me become a better manager,” he says.

An initiative of the U.S. Small Business Administration, the e200 Emerging Leaders Program is a national curriculum that provides business owners in underserved markets with training, networking, resources and motivation to grow their business and create jobs.  Now in its fourth year in Albuquerque, the program will be offered in Farmington this year for the first time.  The training, which is valued at over $8,000, is free of charge and will be conducted from April through November, 2011, in both locations.

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