Dawn Facka, Regional Manager Janelle Henry, Regional Program Coordinator Alyssa Begay, Native Women Rising Business Consultant and Trainer Rhonda Lane, Business Consultant and Trainer
Phone: 505-566-3715 Fax: 505-566-3698
San Juan College Quality Center for Business
5101 College Blvd., Suite 5060
Farmington, NM 87402 GOOGLE MAP »
Available in person or by telephone M-F, 8:00 am-5:00 pm, or by appointment on evenings and weekends REGION MAP »
Omie’s Nizhoniful Mess is locally and Native owned by Naomi Greymountain, a Navajo woman who blends traditional Native work of beading and jewelry making along with inspiring floral designs. Nizhoniful in Navajo means beautiful, giving meaning to Naomi’s collections in which each are unique and handcrafted. Each piece of work is created and crafted in Naomi’s Navajo culture and traditions. Naomi started making jewelry in 2019 to earn extra income during the pandemic and was encouraged by her family and friends to start her own business. However, she was very shy, hesitant, and in need…
A Strategic Location that Encourages Entrepreneurship
We are conveniently located on the campus of San Juan College, within the Quality Center for Business (QCB) building. What makes our location strategic? Aside from being situated in Farmington, the economic hub of the Four Corners region, the WESST Farmington Women’s Business Center is located inside a regional business incubator housing many entrepreneurial ecosystem partners: the incubator itself, Four Corners Economic Development (the regional economic development agency), the New Mexico Manufacturing Extension Partnership, and the Small Business Development Center (SBDC).
WESST’s Farmington office is committed to serving emerging and existing small business owners in three counties in Northwest New Mexico including San Juan, McKinley and Cibola counties. WESST is unique in that our services are not limited by county or even state borders. We also serve the 26,000 square mile Navajo Nation — from southern Utah to northern and eastern Arizona, as well as its sovereign portions of New Mexico. From individual artisans to diversified service and retail companies, we are proud to encourage the men and women who accept the challenges of starting and successfully operating a business.
Clients and Services
We work with businesses in all market sectors including service, technology, energy, retail, manufacturing, and wholesale sectors — in any phase of development. We’re here to provide guidance through all aspects of planning, operating and growing a successful business. Visit our Client Success Stories page to read about some of the entrepreneurs in our service area who have benefited from our small business assistance programs.
Small Business Loans to Help Turn Your Plans Into Reality
WESST is focused on our clients' success. We can help small business owner determine if she needs a loan and what amount is best for the business. We help business clients with their loan packages including financial projections and provide information about various loan sources within the community including our small business loan program. In addition to having our own loan program to help entrepreneurs finance a startup or grow an existing business, WESST is also a participant in the SBA’s microloan program. The Microloan Program provides small short-term loans to help eligible borrowers start or grow a business. We are one of only a few SBA-approved microlenders in the state of New Mexico with loans ranging from $250–$10,000 for start-up businesses and up to $50,000 for existing businesses.
We are one of six WESST offices housing a Women’s Business Center Program (WBC), funded in part by the U.S. Small Business Administration. The WBC program was founded to foster the growth of woman-owned businesses by providing access to education, training, mentoring, business development and financing opportunities to women throughout the United States and its territories. The Women’s Business Center Program at WESST Farmington offers a variety of training and consulting services geared to, but not limited to women. We understand the unique opportunities and challenges faced by women entrepreneurs and have designed special programs accordingly.
Why WESST?
At WESST, we have developed a process for helping our clients truly understand what it takes to start, grow and build a thriving, sustainable business. We start with "strategy first, tools second" to help our clients implement financial, marketing and organizational systems that support the entrepreneur AND the business. Our talented employees undergo a rigorous hiring process in order to provide only the best business advisors and trainers. Our employees are 100% committed to providing the best opportunities for our clients to succeed.
WESST staff are all dedicated to our Mission, Vision and Values and will work with anyone who is committed to the process of exploring, developing and living entrepreneurship. We work with clients at every stage of business from pre-venture to mature, from 1 to 100 (or more) employees and can provide business consulting, training, lending, incubation and digital media production.
Thinking of Starting a Business?
Quiz: Should You Start A Business?
This quiz will help you evaluate whether starting a business fits well with your personality and skills.
Thinking through your business idea carefully and putting together a solid business plan is essential for every entrepreneur. This is true whether or not you need to raise money to start up your business—even if you don’t need to approach a bank or other lender, putting your business plan into writing is a key step in the path to success. Here you’ll find a sample business plan, a detailed outline, and several worksheets to walk you through this vital process.
Free Tools: Startup Risk Calculator; and a Startup Valuation Calculator
These free easy-to-use Crowdfunding Tools from EquityNet* are designed to help companies less than four years old analyze their businesses before they engage investors. Both tools are based on the company’s patented Enterprise Analyzer™ technology. The Startup Risk Calculator helps entrepreneurs better understand their business risk and improve their odds of business success. The Startup Valuation Calculator helps entrepreneurs estimate, compare, and better understand their business valuation.
*EquityNet recently received a perfect 5-star rating by Crowdfunding Website Reviews. The independent review rated EquityNet as the number one crowdfunding support service website. The company has been recognized by Forbes, Entrepreneur Magazine, Bloomberg, Worth Magazine, CNET, and other journals as the inventor and pioneer of equity crowdfunding.
Business Plan Tools and Examples
Thinking through your business idea carefully and putting together a solid business plan can be an essential exercise for any entrepreneur. This is true whether or not you need to raise money to start up your business—even if you don’t need to approach a financial institution or other lender, putting your business plan into writing is a key step on the path to success.
Despite what many people think, business plans do not need to be complicated or intimidating, and many of the exercises and activities undertaken as part of the planning process can be important steps to financial self-suffiency regardless of how close you are to starting a business. To help you, WESST offers a business plan template and a sample business plan, both downloadable from this page. Feel free to adapt the template to suit your own unique business needs.
Native Women Rising
WESST's Native Women Rising program assists Indigenous women who would like to increase their income or expand their current business activities.
Topics include: marketing, social media, bookkeeping, pricing, product development, business planning, income generation, personal financial literacy, and personal growth
One-on-one sessions with WESST staff consultants and community partners are tailored to your unique business needs.
Find out more by contacting Alyssa Begay at abegay@wesst.org or call 505.566.3713
DreamBuilder Online Learning
DreamBuilder is an intensive online business skills development curriculum that guides women entrepreneurs through interactive exercises and videos, including stories from real-world, successful women entrepreneurs. The program is not only relevant for women who are thinking of starting a small business, but also those who already own small or medium-sized businesses and simply need additional support to increase their success and income.
The DreamBuilder online business skills development curriculum will be taught in a "flipped classroom" model. During the first session, participants will receive their log-in credentials and an overview of the online platform. They will then be able to work at home, at their own pace. Participants will typically attend three (3) subsequent in-house sessions at WESST that will allow them to share their learning with other entrepreneurs, ask questions of the WESST trainer regarding specific topics and review information related to starting a business in New Mexico. Participants may also have the opportunity to work on the online curriculum using a laptop provided during these sessions. This enables any technical issues to be handled by the WESST trainer.
To find out more about DreamBuilder in your city, please contact your nearest WESST office, or visit the WESST Upcoming Training and Registration webpage.
Women’s Business Center Program
Aquí puede encontrar Información sobre el Centro Empresarial para Mujeres en español.
One-on-One Consulting and Training Designed to Help Women Become Self Sufficient Through Self Employment
WESST is proud to be a part of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Women’s Business Center Program by hosting a network of Women’s Business Centers at each of our six New Mexico locations.
Through the management and technical assistance provided by Women’s Business Centers programs, entrepreneurs — especially women who are economically or socially disadvantaged — are offered comprehensive training and one-on-one consulting on a vast array of topics to help them start and grow their own businesses.
At WESST, we understand the unique challenges and needs of women entrepreneurs. Our Women’s Business Center programs are designed to be flexible and responsive to those special needs. We offer a variety of workshops designed to help aspiring and established women business owners succeed — many of which are scheduled during evening hours to accommodate busy daytime schedules. Our popular Brown Bag Lunch workshops, held conveniently during lunch time, are free. Topics can range from money management and Quickbooks training, to leveraging Social Media and writing an effective Business Plan.
Individual consulting appointments can be arranged to discuss a specific topic in depth, at a time that’s convenient to the client. While our Women’s Business Center Programs are geared to women they are open to anyone, at any stage of their business development.
For more information or to register for any of our Women’s Business Center training or networking events, please visit our Training page. To request counseling, please complete the Business Assistance Inquiry, or contact one of our Women’s Business Centers via our Contact page.
WESST Farmington Staff
Our accomplishments reflect the character of our team.
From the top down, our experienced staff operates in a team-oriented, collaborative environment that helps foster small business solutions to share with our clients. We are prodigious learners, meticulous listeners, and natural problem solvers. Our collective experience is our foundation and it grows stronger with every new challenge we face and every new client we help.
Dawn Facka Regional Manager
Janelle Henry Program Coordinator
Alyssa Begay
Native Women Rising Business Consultant and Trainer
Rhonda Lane
Business Consultant and Trainer
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DreamBuilder is an intensive online business skills development curriculum that guides women entrepreneurs through interactive exercises and videos, including stories from real-world, successful women entrepreneurs. The program is not only relevant for women who are thinking of starting a small business, but also those who already own small or medium-sized businesses and simply need additional support to increase their success and income.
Aquí puede encontrar Información sobre el Centro Empresarial para Mujeres en español.
