Author: J. Erika

If you’re looking to buy a business in New Mexico, you may have found few options that check all your boxes. Many buyers begin with a list of “must-haves”: high profit margins, minimal competition, low staff turnover, and a stable history of growth. Ideally, they want a business that doesn’t depend on the seller’s expertise, allowing them to work fewer hours or even run the business remotely. Such criteria makes perfect sense, but rarely will a...

The market of buyers for small Main Street businesses, not only in New Mexico but throughout the United States, is dynamic and steadily evolving. Over the past decade, demographic shifts, broader economic trends, and evolving buyer motivations have had an effect on the types of businesses sought out. Just as before, buyers look for businesses that have strong and reliable financial performance, but an ever-growing pool of buyers look for opportunities that they can bring...

BizBuySell just published its latest quarterly Insight Report. According to this market watcher, 2024’s third quarter posted its fifth consecutive quarter of year-over-year gains, representing a 5% growth over 2023 but slipped 2% from the last quarter. This decline is attributed to business sellers waiting to see the outcome of the upcoming election and hoping to take advantage of further anticipated interest rate cuts, something we’ve been observing as well. While more intuition than anything...

It’s easy to see why buyers focus on a business’s finances during due diligence. But P&Ls and balance sheets only tell part of the story—they show how the business performed under the previous owner’s watch. Now it’s your business, and you’re the X-factor. With so much activity leading up to getting to the closing table, it's often easy to get swept away in all this activity and not give much thought into what happens next....

Teya Vitu for The New Mexican writes: A San Francisco Bay-area boutique hotel chain with a dozen properties is expanding in Santa Fe. Redwood City, Calif.,-based Concept Hotel Group bought the Guadalupe Inn bed and breakfast at 604 Agua Fría St. on Dec. 14. The chain first entered the Santa Fe market in 2017 with the Sage Hotel. It acquired the Super 8 in late 2019 and remodeled it into Coyote South, reopening in June 2020, and...

New Mexico is a land of diverse people, cultures, and economic opportunities. Over the years, the state has become an attractive market for a profound landscape of industries that are flourishing and continuously expanding. The growth of many emerging industries has increased job opportunities and attracted numerous high-tech companies to the region. Renewable energy, Film and Digital Media, Tourism and Hospitality, as well as Agriculture and Food Processing are four industries that have especially seen...

After a rocky end to 2022, this year kicked off with favorable market trends and signs that demand for acquiring small businesses is rebounding. BizBuySell, a leading online businesses-for-sale marketplace, recently found in its analysis of sales data and survey of business brokers around the country that a rise of 4.8% in the volume of small business acquisitions in Q1 2023 over Q4 2022 shows promise of a recovering market after three consecutive quarterly declines....

On Wednesday, the Fed raised interest rates a quarter point, making it the eight time that they’ve adjusted the bank rate in the last 12 months, and putting interest rates at their highest level since 2007. The banking industry anticipates more increases totaling an additional three-quarters hike by the end of 2023. The Fed’s main if imperfect tool to combat inflation, higher interest rates come when many business owners are ready to exit their business and...

The business world is abuzz about ChatGPT, an AI-based conversational agent that is innovating how large and small businesses interact with customers. Other AI-based technologies are streamlining content development for marketing and outreach. While this technology is still new, small business owners in both the service and retail sectors are moving beyond the experimentation phase and integrating it into their operations. The South Bend, Indiana hair salon Hair Crafters uses a ChatGPT bot to automate appointment...

The Training and Transition phase can be vital for helping a business buyer get off on the right foot once they have closed on the purchase of a business. It’s one of the most immediate and important steps for setting them up for success, but it often comes as an afterthought for both the buyer and seller. Why? A business buyer doesn’t know what they don’t know, and a seller can be challenged to come...

Simply put, there is no one-size-fits-all answer. A confluence of factors affects when your business might sell, and it’s best to go in this process with realistic expectations. There are things outside of your control, but there are also actions that you can take before you list that will help you better the odds. What Are the Market Conditions? The market is dynamic and variable as demonstrated by the past few years. When the global pandemic shut...

Santa Fe Restaurant Week kicks off on February 20th and lasts through March 3rd.  After a two-year hiatus, this popular annual event resumes with 31 restaurants participating. Anchoring Santa Fe's winter schedule, it's an opportunity for local chefs to showcase their talents with prix fixe dinners and lunches. Featuring a range of price points, Santa Fe foodies as well as those just looking to socialize with friends get to partake in a range of cuisines...

Santa Fe beat out Boulder, Colo., Key West, Fla., Boulder, Colo. and Fresno, Calif. to earn Airbnb's second place ranking as one of the most hospital destinations for digital nomads. According to Airbnb's North American Digital Nomad Index, one in five guests used the rental marketplace to work remotely while traveling, earnings hosts a combined $2 billion in long-term stays. Read more at The Thrillist....

In its 2022 rankings of America's best small towns for art, Travel+Leisure magazine shined the spotlight on New Mexico's funky and eclectic Madrid.  "The old mining town was reborn as an art colony, and a hippie vibe prevails at the many galleries and boutiques. In addition to an abundance of artisan-made jewelry, the galleries feature ceramics, sculptures, paintings, and photography." Read about the other small towns that artfully punch above their weight at "9 Best...

Santa Fe has long been celebrated as a destination for the arts, rest, relaxation and great food, attracting visitors from around the US and abroad for years. This hasn't gone unnoticed by readers of Travel+Leisure magazine, who year after year propel the City Different into the top three slots for the magazine's annual "15 Best Cities in the U.S." Emerging from the pandemic's stay-at-home routine, many frustrated travelers have been eager to hit the road...