Ron Lewis Edwards, a U.S. Marine veteran, started the Focus Group Ltd. with his wife in 2006 in Santa Fe to create custom-ordered embroidered, engraved or screen-printed apparel.
The company with its sister organization, Focus Advertising Specialties, works with hundreds of vendors for his orders. The Loan Fund provided several loans and lines of credit over the years, allowing the Focus Group to issue timely, full-payment to vendors, which Mr. Edwards said was helpful when meeting deadlines and fulling orders.
“I’m quite certain God provided Leroy and The Loan Fund. I believe it’s a large part of why we’re so successful,” said Mr. Edwards, whose company was named New Mexico SBA’s 2020 Veteran Small Business Champion of the Year.
With this success, Mr. Edwards has launched a new business. He formed Environmentally Sane Solutions to create a biodegradable unisex portable urinal product, an idea he had when thinking of something that would work for everybody and was good for mother earth.
Looking back, he advises new business owners to be flexible when starting out.
“We joke about exercising for nimble feet,” said Mr. Edwards, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis a year after he started his business. “There is always going to be something that comes up and you’re going to have to learn to be able to move around that obstacle.”
Paleteria La Reyna Michoacana