Starting a business often means facing various challenges – even as a skilled professional in the sector of your business. Often those challenges are learning to operate a business, accounting, hiring employees, effective sales strategies, among other things. That was precisely what happened to Teresa Loera and Tara Begay when they started TL Family Nurse Practice. Both are registered nurses who had always worked for other companies and realized that having their own business requires extensive knowledge in administrative areas.
Thanks to the courses and materials they received from the Prestamos CDFI mentoring programs and other support groups, they have managed to get ahead with their business which they started in August 2020, in the midst of a pandemic. Being a health-related business, the pandemic helped them stay afloat and continue with their business.
The nurse practice offers various health services in English and Spanish and they also accept patients with and without health insurance, which allows them to serve a greater number of people while always meeting the compliance standards required by health services in the state of Arizona.
After attending one of the Women’s Business Center (WBC) mentoring programs, they applied for a microloan to continue their business. The funds were used primarily for marketing and scheduling services for their clinic. Regarding their experience with Prestamos CDFI, they say that at the beginning it was easier, because in the middle and at the end of the process things got a bit complicated for them in terms of requirements and time commitment. Even so, they consider that these programs are incredibly helpful because they provide people who don’t have knowledge on starting your business the support they need.
Teresa Loera makes a recommendation to people applying for a loan: “ask questions” in order to be very clear about the details and requirements of the loan. She concluded by saying that these types of programs are definitely beneficial to the community because of the opportunities they offer.
