Entrepreneurs Are Supported In Carlsbad, New Mexico

Entrepreneurs Are Supported In Carlsbad, New Mexico Main Photo

28 Oct 2020


News

City Council member, Jason Shirley, is a prime example of how entrepreneurs are supported in Carlsbad, NM. He owns a variety of businesses with his wife, Tiffany: Perfect Designs for custom screenprinting and embroidery; Paramount Cleaning Service for commercial, oilfield, and residential cleaning; 831 Enterprises for business management, social media content, and printing; and 831 Properties for property investment. And with a partner, they co-own Assign Advertising, a full-service marketing agency, and Next Day Laundry, a laundry pick up and delivery/linen and uniform rentals service. All told, they employ 23 people in the community.

“Carlsbad is a tight knit community,” said Mr. Shirley. “We support each other. This is very valuable when it comes to small business. We certainly have our loyal customers, but we have just as many who spread their business around. In many cases even our competitors are our friends.”

That cohesiveness and loyalty are what helped Mr. Shirley weather the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Mr. Shirley said that the shutdowns most drastically affected Paramount Cleaning Services and Perfect Designs. When Paramount’s commercial cleaning clients were closed, that meant Paramount’s services were not needed. Mr. Shirley reports that business is slowly coming back, though.

While Perfect Designs was forced to shut down their storefront for a time, the closure was not during their busiest time of year: back-to-school. 

“Carlsbad has rallied around the business community,” said Mr. Shirley. “We have had dozens of companies and organizations that have traditionally ordered online come and place orders with us. What they have found is that our prices are competitive and their dollars stay in Carlsbad! That gives us great hope for the future.” 

Mr. Shirley and his wife also pivoted to meet some of the unique needs that the pandemic created. 

“To my knowledge, Perfect Designs was the first to offer custom masks in Carlsbad, and we’ve sold a ton of them,” said Mr. Shirley. “We have tried to stay ahead of the curve.”

Likewise, they had to adapt their approach to changing client advertising needs.

“Our advertising company has adjusted its approach because of the lack of events,” said Mr. Shirley. “We rely heavily on political campaigns and summer/fall events. With campaigns being heavy on the virtual side, we were able to assist many more candidates than in the past. We know how to do digital!”  

“Events on the other hand have been a huge blow,” said Mr. Shirley. “We hired a full time sales representative to drum up business markets. We are excited because we know events will come back eventually. When they do, we plan to have diversified and become stronger.”

Not only do Carlsbad businesses have strong community support, they have backing and assistance from an involved economic development department.

The Carlsbad Department of Development has done a fantastic job of making information available on the various relief programs,” said Mr. Shirley. “We have taken advantage of every program we can qualify for. Local banks have been extremely helpful in navigating the application processes. We have used Western Commerce Bank, which is locally owned. I can’t say enough good things about how they have helped so many in this challenging time.”

While you would think their business enterprises would fill all of the hours of their days, Mr. and Mrs. Shirley were youth pastors for 12 years and are currently associate pastors at Word of Life Church. Mr. Shirley has also been on the City Council on Carlsbad for eight years, and is the President of Carlsbad MainStreet. He is also an executive board member of the Carlsbad Department of Development, Chamber of Commerce, National Cave and Karst Research Institute, and the Faith Hope and Love Foundation. Mrs. Shirley is a preventionist for the Carlsbad Coalition focusing on adolescent drug, alcohol, and sexual education and prevention. 

“We rely heavily on our managers in our businesses, and we have great people working for us,” said Mr. Shirley. “It allows us to fund and focus on our passion which is helping people.”

If you are looking to expand or start your company in a community where the resources and support are there for businesses to thrive, check out all that Carlsbad Department of Development has to offer. Businesses moving to Carlsbad benefit from incentive, assistance, and reimbursement programs that make it easier to start, relocate or expand here: read the synopsis here. 

Follow Carlsbad Department of Development on Facebook.