For Immediate Release

Further Information Simon Brackley 988-3279 simon@santafechamber.com

Nominations are invited for the 2012 Santa Fe Business Awards.

SANTA FE – The Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce is now accepting nominations for the 2012 Santa Fe Business Awards. All local businesses, except past winners, are eligible and self-nominations are encouraged. The Awards will be announced and presented at the Daniels Insurance Annual Business Awards Red Carpet Awards event at the Santa Fe Farmers Market Building on Thursday, June 7, 2012. To attend call 988-3279 or go to www.santafechamber.com.
Four awards will be presented:

BUSINESS EXCELLENCE AWARDS presented by Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce and Century Bank
SMALL BUSINESS OF THE YEAR AWARD presented by City of Santa Fe
FAMILY-FRIENDLY BUSINESS OF THE YEAR AWARD presented by City of Santa Fe and Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce
SANTA FE GREEN BUSINESS OF THE YEAR AWARD presented by City of Santa Fe, Santa Fe Community College and Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce

Also the finalists of the BizMIX Business Plan Competition will be announced.
DEADLINE FOR AWARDS NOMINATIONS IS 5pm, Friday, May 18, 2011

Go to http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/V22WLQ8 to nominate.

“We are pleased to again partner with Century Bank, Daniels Insurance, City of Santa Fe and the Santa Fe Community College so as to be able to recognize these outstanding local businesses.” said Simon Brackley President and CEO of the Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce.

Past Award Winners

2011

Business Excellence Awards

Agapao

Real Food Nation

Santa Fe Brewing Company

City of Santa Fe Small Business of the Year – Kaune’s Neighborhood Market

Santa Fe Community College Green Business of the Year – Newman’s Nursery

Family Friendly Business of the Year – NM Sports Fitness and Physical Therapy

Innovative Entrepreneur Award – Michael Roach – CleanAIR Systems

2010

Business Excellence Awards:

Fam Jam Music

Vista Photonics

Flow Science

City of Santa Fe Small Business of the Year Award – Hutton Broadcasting

Sharp Ideas Award for Young Professionals – Daniel Werwath

Santa Fe Community College Green Business of the Year – Restaurant Martin

2009

Business Excellence Awards:

Davis Innovations

Tumbledown Studios

Santa Fe Sage Inn

Santa Fe Small Business of the Year – CleanAIR Systems, Inc.

Family Friendly Business Award Winner – Paper Tiger

2008

Business Excellence Awards

SantaFeDonations.com

Reflective Images, Inc.

Brian McPartlon Roofing LLC

Santa Fe Small Business of the Year – Big Jo True Value Hardware Inc.

2007

Business Excellence Awards

Pomegranate SEEDS

El Quetzal Inc.

Chapman Homes

2006

Business Excellence Awards

Dinosaurs & More

Wired Nation

Advantage Asphalt and Seal Coating, LLC

2005

Business Excellence Awards

Adobe Interlock

General Mailing and Shipping

Santa Fe Southern Railway

The Lensic

2004

Business Excellence Awards

Thornburg Companies

The Lofts LLC

Pronto Signs and Graphics

The 2012 Santa Fe Business Expo, currently showcasing 72 businesses with available space for 8 more, runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thurs. April 5th at the DeVargas Center, 564 North Guadalupe Street, Santa Fe, New Mexico

Santa Fe, New Mexico (PRWEB) March 29, 2012

Networking and job opportunities are back in Santa Fe once again with the return of the 2012 Santa Fe Business Expo and Job Fair. Scheduled to run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Thursday, April 5 at the DeVargas Center, the event features dozens of local businesses, giveaways, travel information, health resources, a live radio broadcast from a local company Hutton Broadcasting radio station and a fashion show.

This is a Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce Event. Sponsors for this event include Century Bank, the First National Bank of Santa Fe, Hutton Broadcasting / SantaFe.com, New Options New Mexico, The Santa Fe Reporter, Green Fire Times, New Mexico Business Weekly, Encantado, An Auberge Resort, The Santa Fe New Mexican and Comcast.

There are currently eight booth spaces available from the original 80 allotted for the event. Because this is a sell out event every year, the remaining spaces likely won’t last long. Featured businesses for this event include Ad Ventures, Advance Tax Services / Southwest Accredited Professionals, Albuquerque Police Department, AmeriPride Services, AspenBeach Consulting LTD, ATA Services , Inc., Avon – Sherri Campos, B Beautiful Luxury Salon & Spa, Bienvenidos, Canyon Gate Real Estate, Century Bank, CHRISUS St. Vincent Regional Medical Center, Comcast Business Services, Constellation Home Electronics, Dynamic Enterprises, Eclipse IT Solutions, Eldorado Hotel and Spa, Entantado, An Auberge Resort, First National Bank of Santa Fe, Green Fire Times, Hutton Broadcasting / SantaFe.com, Inner Mind Sourcing, Leadership Santa Fe, Marcia Owen Associates, Santa Fe Staffing, Melissa Pessarra/State Farm Insurance, Modrall, Sperling, Roehl, Harris, Sisk PA, Names & Numbers, New Mexico Business Weekly, New Mexico Wine Tours, New Options New Mexico, New York Life, NM Business Leadership Network, Northern Insurance Inc., Payday, Inc., PNM Business Energy Efficiency Program, Presbyterian Medical Services, Rocky Mountain Business Systems, Ruidoso Convention Center, Santa Fe Academy d.b.a. Vogue College, Santa Fe Business Resources, Santa Fe Community College, Santa Fe Community College Business Services and Purchasing, Santa Fe New Mexican, Santa Fe Reporter, Santa Fe Workforce Connection, Sierra Vista Alzheimer’s Community, Silver Sage USA, Small Business Administration, Small Business Development Center, State Employees Credit Union, The Candyman Strings and Things, The New Mexico Center for Therapeutic Riding, Verizon Wireless and Wells Fargo Bank.

For more information about this event interested parties are encouraged to visit the Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce Website or to call (505) 988-3279

About The Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce
The Chamber is the number one business resource citizens look to in the Santa Fe community. The area’s economic well-being is directly related to the caliber of work performed by The Chamber. The Chamber’s number one priority is to help member businesses grow and make Santa Fe a great place to do business, including working with government agencies to develop cooperative programs that foster a positive climate for economic development, supporting the tourism industry which generates millions of dollars in the Santa Fe area, working to streamline permitting processes, bringing together community members around issues affecting business and economic development such as transportation, infrastructure, technology, health care, education, and legislation, working for government policies that promote rather than inhibit business growth, and producing the Santa Fe Business Expo which brings together hundreds of local business in April each year. The Santa Fe Chamber’s mission is to strengthen the local economy and serve as the Voice of Business in community affairs.

Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce
PO Box 1928, Santa Fe, NM 87507
(505) 988-3279

About SantaFe.com
SantaFe.com provides Santa Fe and visitors to Santa Fe alike the most current interactive platform for events, music, arts, business, dining, and lifestyle. SantaFe.com is a division of Hutton Broadcasting, located at 2502 C. Camino Entrada, Santa Fe, NM 87507
Contact Information:
Scott Hutton
SantaFe.com / Hutton Broadcasting
http://www.santafe.com
(505) 471-1067 (Media inquiries only, please)

Entrepreneurs can win start-up funding, coaching from mentors, legal assistance, office space, and other valuable business resources

Santa Fe, NM – March 19, 2012 – MIX Santa Fe and the Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce are announcing the launch of the BizMIX challenge, a business plan competition that connects entrepreneurs with funding, guidance from mentors and valuable business development services.

“Entrepreneurs are the key to creating jobs and growing our economy.  We hope this business plan competition can continue our efforts to cultivate local Santa Fe businesses,” said Mayor Pro Tem Rebecca Wurzburger, chair of the Business and Quality of Life Committee which oversees economic development efforts for the City of Santa Fe.

The grand-prize winner will receive thousands of dollars in start-up funding.  Other winners will receive valuable prizes like workspace and business development services. Judges will give special consideration to businesses that are ready to grow and create high-wage jobs.

We hope to shine a spotlight on some of our start-up businesses and help them get the tools they need to grow and prosper,” said Simon Brackley, President and CEO of the Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce.

The BizMIX Challenge is divided into three rounds with an easy, straightforward submission form. Anyone with a business idea is eligible to submit an initial business plan via www.mixsantafe.com/bizmix until May 1, 2012 at 6 p.m. MDT.  Second-round finalists will be announced at the third-Thursday MIX event on May 17, 2012.

Following their selection, these finalists will work with experts in the field during Mentor Night on May 24.  Finalists will be asked to submit an expanded business plan by May 31 and do a short presentation to the judging panel.

Round-three grand finalists will be announced at the Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce Business Awards on June 7. These grand finalists will then be invited to market their business idea at another third-Thursday MIX event on June 21, where the grand prize winner will be announced.

Sponsors for the BizMIX Challenge include Northern New Mexico Connect, Phase One Ventures, New Mexico Bank and Trust, Future Santa Fe, as well as the City of Santa Fe, the Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce and the Santa Fe Business Incubator.

If you are interested in being a sponsor please contact Kate Noble at kinoble@santafenm.gov or 505-231-2943.

The so-called “living wage” experiment in Santa Fe is headed in exactly the opposite direction. In Santa Fe the labor group, in this case the City Council, has demonstrated little, if any, interest in the business-friendly reputation of the community or the local business climate, little to no interest in the quality of work or customer service, little to no interest in productivity or incentives, little to no interest in the competiveness of the local market and little to no interest in the workplace readiness skills of workers. It appears that the Council is only interested in votes from labor groups.

Santa Fe’s experiment with a locally mandated minimum wage is now nine years old. At this point it is effectively a constantly increasing tax on businesses who add entry-level employees. The mandated wage rises every year. It never goes down. Before the mandated minimum reaches $25 an hour let’s examine its consequences.

A few questions to ask:

• The wage has been sold as a solution to poverty. Is there any evidence at all that local poverty rates have declined? Isn’t the issue financial literacy?
• How many students have been incentivized to drop out of school by the temptations of a $10 an hour starting wage?
• There are dozens of closed businesses in Santa Fe. How many of them would have survived if they could compete with out of town businesses on a level playing field?
• How many layoffs have occurred because of the mandated wage?
• How many people have had hours cut?
• How many businesses have had to cut their charitable contributions?
• How many have cut benefits?
• How many businesses have cancelled plans to expand or relocate to Santa Fe?
• How many programs that employed interns or students have closed or cut back?
• What have been the effects of “compaction”? Higher salaried staff feeling insulted because entry level staff come in at the same level.

The only way businesses can survive is by raising prices. Which leads to a higher cost of living….the circle is complete. How much longer can Santa Fe businesses survive in a environment that prevents them from competing fairly with out of town companies?

In this tight economy the hardest hit are young people seeking their first job. What chance do they have of being hired if they are unable to gain any experience? More and more older people are reentering the workforce. They have experience and the workplace readiness skills that youth need so badly. And, why would anyone start a business that depends on entry level staff if the mandated entry-level wage could easily be $15, $17 or higher in a year or two?

The Santa Fe mandated minimum wage is now 27% higher than the rest of New Mexico. As businesses close, gross receipt tax collections will fall and repayment of bonds will become even more difficult. Santa Fe businesses deserve an opportunity to compete on a level playing field with other businesses.

The Chamber urges an immediate freeze of the minimum wage at the current $9.85 an hour before we lose any more businesses and jobs and encourages a thorough and thoughtful examination of the consequences of the living wage impact on the business economy to date.

We are ready and willing to collaborate with government, labor and the community to find ways to support job creation and career advancement for local people. The Chamber believes that a strong business climate is critical to a strong future for our great community.

In just over a year, and during the worst economic conditions for a long time, Ron Midgett has started New Earth Orchids and made the business turn a profit.

How did he do that?

“It’s a question we’ve been asking ourselves,” Midgett said in a recent interview. “I guess what we’ve done basically is develop a variety of revenue streams. … Not just one stream.”

Midgett also praised the local economic-development organizations — including the Small Business Development Center at Santa Fe Community College, the Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce and Northern New Mexico Connect — for the advice and support they provided him.

Midgett started the business in September 2011 in a greenhouse on Jaguar Drive at Plaza Contenta with a clear mission in mind: He wanted to sell orchids ranging in price from $10 to $3,000 for rare specimens.

“Our mission is to provide Santa Fe and greater New Mexico with the best variety and quality orchids available,” Midgett said. “And to provide information and help to all who want to grow these incredible flowers through our workshops and newsletter.”

Midgett said New Earth Orchids’ retail store brings in about 25 percent of the company’s revenue through retail sales, with the leasing program providing another 25 percent. An additional 15 percent comes through wholesale, and the rest is Internet sales.

The orchid-leasing program continues to grow and develop, Midgett said, both from individuals and businesses.

“We’ve recognized that a lot of the homeowners in Santa Fe are wealthy,” Midgett said. “If we can continue to appeal to that clientele, it will help a lot. In fact, we have developed some business from the affluent customers who keep us busy.”

A major commercial client has been Thornburg Investment Management, a Santa Fe money-management firm, which bought 30 orchids at a company party and gave them away to those in attendance.

Sales also were strong at The Santa Fe Symphony and Chorus’ holiday party at Las Campanas.

“It’s a way for us to reach a segment of the population we wouldn’t normally have access to,” Midgett said. “It was good for our business. And some people bought additional plants at our greenhouse.”

New Earth Orchids also benefits from the fact that Midgett is such a well recognized orchid expert who travels the world to talk about a plant that is growing in popularity.

“Orchids have displaced poinsettias as the No. 1 household plant,” Midgett said. “Sales in the U.S. are very strong.”

Midgett spoke at the Hawaiian Tropical Flowers Association in Hilo, Hawaii, and later was invited by the Taiwan Growers Association as an American Orchid Society judge, one of only 12 society judges to provide judging at the Taiwan International Orchid Show.

“It was a very well-received talk,” Midgett said.

When it came to local business development, “my first contacts were Val Alonzo and Deborah Collins at the Small Business Development Center at Santa Fe Community College,” Midgett said. “Val directed me in setting up a business in New Mexico. It’s a lot more complicated than it was in New Jersey.”

In addition, “Northern New Mexico Connect has provided marketing support and website analysis to help us develop contacts and improve our website,” Midgett said.

Midgett also joined the Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce because it “was a way to get our name out there. We couldn’t have done it otherwise.”

He also hooked up with Clare Zurawski, who provides website optimization at WESST, a local business assistance group.

“I only had to pay 10 percent of the cost,” Midgett said. “The rest was picked up by Northern New Mexico Connect.”

Summing up, “we owe our success to … having worked with all of these groups.”

http://santafe.toolsforbusiness.info/settlement/

Roundtrip air from ABQ

* 7 Nights Deluxe Hotel * 9 Meals * Florence City Tour * Statue of David * Basilica of St. Francis * San Gimingnano * Siena * Chianti Region (optional) * Lucca & Pisa (optional) * Italian Rivera (optional)

Price: 2599.00 per person based on a double occupancy

Contact Bridget Dixson bridget@santafechamber.com or 505-988-3279 ext 16

provided by

Ahhh, retirement. Nine holes in the morning, the beach on the weekends, sunset picnics and… the office for a few hours a day?

Not too long ago, the whole point of retirement was not working. But today’s retirees are increasingly counting themselves among the job-seekers. Roughly three out of four workers over age 50 say they plan to work at least part-time in retirement, according to a 2010 study by the Families and Work Institute; currently about 20% of retirees have a job. Indeed, working during retirement is becoming the “new normal,” the study says.

For some retirees working means an encore, a chance to dive into something they’ve always been passionate about. Others are driven by a desire to stay vital and stave off boredom. But for many people, working past 65 is a necessity, not a luxury. Considering the average boomer couple currently has a retirement savings shortfall of about $30,000, according to a recent study by the Employee Benefit Research Institute, it’s a trend that experts predict with accelerate. “Boomers aren’t as financially prepared for retirement as earlier generations,” says Mary Johnson, a senior policy analyst at The Senior Citizens League, a non-profit senior rights advocacy group.

Regardless of the reason, a post-career job hunt can drastically affect where you’re going to settle down when you retire. That’s why SmartMoney.com’s second annual survey of the best places to retire comes with a twist. Like last year, we’ve analyzed tax rates, cost-of-living numbers and real estate prices to compile a list of less expensive alternatives to several traditional retirement hotspots. But this year we also combed for relatively low unemployment rates and thriving job opportunities for seniors.

In the current economy, of course, finding work isn’t easy in most regions of the country. What’s more, it takes employees over 55 more than 40% longer to get hired than their younger counterparts, according to AARP. Meanwhile, nest eggs are shrinking and retiree income is stagnating. (One recent example: The Social Security cost-of-living increase announced last week is likely to be at least partially negated by rising Medicare premiums, experts say.) That means finding an affordable place to live has become more important — and more difficult. Palm Beach, Florida, for example, has a median home price of $827,300, a cost of living that’s 109% higher than average, and an unemployment rate pushing 10%, according to Sperling’s Best Places. In other words, not a keeper for the list.

Instead, here are seven underrated retirement havens (complete with comparisons to their more expensive alternatives) that are relatively affordable, delightful and full of opportunities for work and play.

Santa Fe, New Mexico

Joel Stein, a corporate bond broker from New York City, and his wife retired to Santa Fe in 1997. The reason: “It’s like a microcosm of New York but without the hustle and bustle,” he says. “It’s a small town but it’s sophisticated — there’s art, opera and hundreds of restaurants. It’s a nice place to retire but it doesn’t feel like a ‘retirement town’.”

Nicknamed “City Different,” Santa Fe is indeed unlike the trendier Sedona, an Arizona town that’s often touted as a best place to retire. Unemployment is just 5.3%, thanks to Santa Fe’s thriving tourism business and government payroll. (Santa Fe is the state capital.)

The arts scene is one of the best you’ll find anywhere. Santa Fe is dotted with 240 art galleries and the home of Art Santa Fe, an international art fair that attracts buyers and tourists from around the globe. In fact, Santa Fe’s art market is the fourth largest in the country in terms of sales, according to the University of New Mexico Bureau of Business and Economic Research. Stein says he and his wife have embraced the scene. He leads historic walking tours of the area and works for pay at the Museum of Natural History; she is a docent at a local art museum.

For retirees who want to work, tourism-related jobs are a good bet, says Steve Lewis, a spokesperson for the Santa Fe Convention & Visitor’s Bureau. In addition, many people retire here to reinvent themselves. “We get a lot of people who have always wanted to be artists and they come here to do it,” he adds.

Medical and travel information: The Christus St. Vincent Regional Medicare Center, which is the regional medical center for northern New Mexico, is in Santa Fe. The Albuquerque airport, which serves 10 major airlines, is about an hour’s drive.

* Zillow real estate data not available for Santa Fe, so Trulia data used here.
** The unemployment rate for Flagstaff, AZ, the closest major locale, 30 miles from Sedona.
*** The unemployment rate in Sedona proper, according to Sperling’s Best Places.