f you ask entrepreneurs why they started their businesses, motives spread all over the place, from following passion and wanting to turn a hobby into a business; being personally unable to hold an office job and needing to be its own boss; all the way to just “I saw an opportunity”, “I saw a market”, “I saw room for improvement”. After this, conversations often go into the “I wish I knew” topic, and that’s where pain starts talking by itself. You will hear stories about sleepless nights trying to solve operational problems and lost business opportunities due to lack of experience or not knowing where to find an answer. Thus, it always helps to have resources to learn from and reach out to in times of trouble.
The learning chance that helps one become a better business owner often comes as a result of a previously failed business. When the business owner is busy putting out fires day and night, it is only after failure that one will take the time to do a postmortem and understand what went wrong. Thus, it is important to stay on your feet, listen to your business, and make timely changes if/when needed.
A quick google search will get you to hundreds of “10 things I wish I knew before starting a business”, “7 things to know before opening your business”, “5 things I learned from running a business” and similar results. Of course this experience will be very different for people running different businesses and with different lifestyles, but here is a list of selected quotes I found quite relevant for most entrepreneurs:
Running the business takes 24/7
The biggest difference between a 9-to-5 job and being a business owner is the total lack of a fixed schedule. There is always the possibility for your client to have an issue with your product at an inconvenient time, or a supplier to have trouble in the middle of the night. Consider these possibilities, have contingency plans to address your customer’s needs, and organize responsibilities among your employees to ensure resiliency.
Optimize, outsource and automate everything you can
We at EGBI take our time to explain “The Four Roles An Entrepreneur Must Take” (Product Manager, Organizer and Manager, Marketer and Salesperson, Financier), and we emphasize that the entrepreneur must focus on the roles he is best at. Start by wearing many hats, but as soon as you have some traction, consider the best use of your scarce time will rely on dedicating your full attention to what you’re best at and outsourcing or hiring for other activities.
A part-time gig gives peace of mind
Once you give up a regular full time job in place of a business, you will be subject to the whims of seasonality and economic ups and downs. You can plan for these risks either by building a strong savings lung, or having a part-time gig to supplement the varying income from the business. This resiliency will give you peace of mind.
At the beginning everyone is excited and ready to help. When help is needed, it’s hard to come by.
People want you to succeed, and as soon as you start will get excited for your success. However, not everyone is willing or available to help you when you’re in such need for help. What should you do? Find access to reliable resources to help you through the hard times, find mentors, find a business coach.
With all this in mind, you should now know that you will face unexpected challenges, and learn from every opportunity you have. These common challenges I mentioned are not the end of the world, and do not mean that running a business is impossible. Challenges and obstacles are there for you to improve yourself and your business, and once you get to such a point in your entrepreneurial adventure, you will be more than welcome at EGBI for training, coaching and support.
Learn how to promote your business to Spanish speaking consumers.
Celebrating success is our annual event, and we celebrate the achievements of our clients and their impact on the local economy. This year will be a special year for us as we celebrate our 15th anniversary with our vision that all businesses should be profitable, sustainable and assets to the community. We have been interviewing a client each week to share their success stories, with a total of 15 businesses. Veronica Trevisan is our last story as our event is this Friday!
Veronica Trevisan is owner of Napegados, a strategist with a proven special method to help Spanish speaking small business owners use social media and online tools. Her company also assist company’s wanting to reach Spanish speaking consumers, communicate with culturally relevant campaigns.
Below is a Question & Answer we recently had with Veronica Trevisan.
Q: How has your
career added value to your life? To the community around you?
A: I am independent of my own schedule. I can negotiate a contract and make my own decision. I teach my clients step by step through online videos that are practical.
Q: How long have you
been working with EGBI and how have they helped you?
A: I have been working with EGBI since 2011. I graduated from the EGBI business workshop series. I learned from Barbra and other experts. Also, I was encouraged to network with other great resources like the Greater Austin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce by Monica. I could get 1-year free membership from one of the chamber that support EGBI in their efforts. EGBI is always open to set up the appointments and help plan each business idea together.
Q: Tell us a fun fact about yourself.
A: I like to commute around the city with my green electric bike in my free time. I enjoy the weather in Austin. On my bike I am able to find beautiful places close to my home where I may never have realized was there in my car.
Q: What accomplishment are you most proud of?
A: My clients have a huge barrier to learn things in English. I train and teach clients in Spanish to remove language barriers for them. I solve the problem of their marketing problems and use technology to manage their business. Many of my clients have become my friends.
Veronica Trevisan is the last of the 15 clients we have shared stories about each week leading up to our 15 year celebration. If you would like to further encourage these businesses, think about using the products and services of our alumni. To do so, visit our CLIENT BUSINESS DIRECTORY.
Celebrating Success Luncheon is this Friday, September 6th, 2019. We are happy to announce it is SOLD OUT! If you have already reserved your seat and need more information about the event, please visit HERE.
Providing a professional painting and full remodeling experience.
Celebrating Success is our annual event, we applaud our clients’ achievements and their impact on the local economy. This year will be extra special as we celebrate our 15 year anniversary of our clients fulfilling our vision that all businesses should be profitable, sustainable, and an asset to the community. Leading to our big commemoration we have been interviewing a client each week to share their success story, with a total of 15 clients. Previously we featured Miranda Melendez.
Ramiro Martinez is co owner of MTZ Brothers Painting. His company provides high level of expertise, service, and professionalism that differentiate them from every other painting, drywall and remodeling company in the area.
Below is a Question & Answer we recently had with Ramiro Martinez.
Q: How has your
career added value to your life? To the community around you?
A: The main value my career added to my business is that as a business owner I need to wear different hats at the same time. It also allows me the freedom to spend valuable time with my family. I also have been able to help other members of my family; like my niece to whom I gave a laptop as a present. With that tool, she could improve her grades at school.
Q: How long have you
been working with EGBI and how have they helped you?
A: I have worked with EGBI since 2015. EGBI helped me to find alternatives and options on how to run a small family business company.
Q: What accomplishment are you most proud of?
A: The fact that I started my company in the last economic recession and since then we never stopped working has been one of my biggest accomplishments. We are A+ with the Better Business Bureau. Thanks to our customers, most of them repetitive, we could evolve. Nowadays we not only provide painting and drywall, but full bathroom and kitchen remodeling plus decks, as well.
Q: What is your greatest wish?
A: Providing our services nationwide is my greatest wish.
Ramiro Martinez is the 14th of the 15 clients we have shared stories about leading up to our 15 year celebration. Please continue to follow us to read more about the businesses we serve. If you would like to further help these businesses and others we serve, consider using the products and services of our alumni. To do so, visit our CLIENT BUSINESS DIRECTORY.
Celebrating Success Luncheon is two weeks away, on September 6th, 2019. You will not want to miss! If you are interested in attending, reserving a table, or sponsoring our annual event, please contact Monica Peña at monica@egbi.org and 512-928-2594 . More information about the event HERE.
No matter what are the obstacles, never give up on your dream!
Every year, we honor the achievements of our clients and their contributions to the local economy at our annual Celebrating Success event. This year we will be celebrating our 15 year anniversary from when we were initially created to improve the technology digital divide in our community to now evolved to help business owners better understand how to run a successful business. Leading to our big commemoration we have been interviewing a client to highlight their success story each week, 15 in total.
Miranda Melendez is owner of I AM READY SWIM, LLC . Her company offers safe aquatic fun in Austin. She teaches swim lessons for all ages, and provides lifeguards and gate guards for events and neighborhood pools. I Am Ready Swim, LLC plays a huge part in making sure the pools stay nice and enjoyable for all residents.
Below is a Question & Answer we recently had with Miranda Melendez.
Q: How has your
career added value to your life? To the community around you?
A: My career has added value to my life by giving me time and freedom to do what I want. The best part is I am busting my butt day and night with the rewarding feeling its for my OWN business. I love that we have impacted so many lives with safe swimming and have prevented so many drowning incidents. We sponsor most of our HOA pools. We give back by throwing Splash bashes for the residents at our pools to give the neighborhood something free and fun to do at the pools with the kids. I also go to local elementary schools and teach about water safety to the kids for their gym classes.
Q: How long have you
been working with EGBI and how have they helped you?
A: I have been working with EGBI for about 2 years now. EGBI has helped me in so many ways. They have taught me how to manage my books and actually understand what I am doing. They have believed in me and helped me when not too many people would due to my age. They have also helped me understand how to negotiate contracts with my business partners and expand my business.
Q: What would you
like everyone to know about you or your business?
A: I would like everyone to know that I am a strong believer in prayer and vision boards. I have watched my business grow from just me to 45 employees in 2 years. It has been so humbling to see my hard work finally start to show and I am grateful for every client and staff member I have come across.
Q: What accomplishment are you most proud of?
A: The accomplishment I am most proud of is making the newspaper for my senior project. I had recently lost my mom my senior of high school and decided to honor her by hosting a 5k walk for American Diabetes Association as my senior project for graduation. I ended being the first one to raise the most money for the foundation being a high school student in Texas.
Q: Tell us a fun fact about yourself
A: I am also a hairdresser and I love doing hair and making people feel good about themselves. I grew up in a salon so its kind of ingrained in me. I run the swim business in the summer and do hair in the off season. I love to hustle and stay busy.
Miranda Melendez is the 13th of the 15 clients we have shared stories about each week leading up to our 15 year celebration. Please continue to follow us to read more about the businesses we serve. If you would like to further support these businesses, consider using the products and services of our alumni. To do so, visit our CLIENT BUSINESS DIRECTORY.
Celebrating Success Luncheon is a few weeks away on September 6th, 2019. Be sure to reserve your spot as you will not want to miss! If you are interested in attending, reserving a table, or sponsoring our annual event, please contact Monica Peña at monica@egbi.org and 512-928-2594 . More information about the event HERE.
A pleasure to provide fresh, organic, local tamales!
Every year, we celebrate the achievements of our clients and their contribution to the local economy at our annual success celebration. This year, we will celebrate EGBI’s 15th anniversary of providing training, coahing, and support services to area businesses with the vision that all businesses be profitable, sustainable, and an asset to the community. Leading up to our big anniversary celebration, we have been interviewing clients every week to feature a total of 15 success stories.
Adrian Paredes and Mariana Paredes are the owners of TAMALE ADDICTION, making each tamale by hand using the highest-quality ingredients. They use 100% organic masa and 0% gluten, lard, trans-fat oils, food additives, or preservatives.
Below is a Question & Answer we recently had with Adrian.
Q: What would you
like everyone to know about you or your business?
A: Tamale Addiction is a manufacturer of hand-made, artisanal, gourmet, organic-masa tamales. We sell our products in various distribution channels, Famer’s Markets around Austin, small retailers, and food trucks. We also sell in big events such as ACL Music Festival, SXSW, and Trail of Lights.
Q: How has your
career added value to your life? To the community around you?
A: This career has totally transformed us. We are totally committed to the business. Our customers have become our friends and the same happens with our suppliers and vendors. Our employees are more like a big family and we celebrate with them their big moments in life. We participate actively with our fundraiser program with schools and organizations sponsoring or sharing with them with a percentage of our sales. This has been of enormous impact for the organizations at the same time that we brand our company to make it more and more recognizable.
Q: How long have you
been working with EGBI and how have they helped you?
A: We have been working with EGBI since 2011. EGBI helped us map a more understandable route to navigate all the different areas of entrepreneurship by connecting us with mentors and experts. Finally, we got a better picture of where we were standing when creating a business plan and acting accordingly, taking off hesitation when deciding and making business operations more easy to manage.
Q: What accomplishment are you most proud of?
A: Our best accomplishment is to keep our business thriving, our challenges have never been how are we going to survive but how are we going to grow and that is such a difference.
Adrian Paredes and Mariana Paredes are the 12th of the 15 clients we will share stories about each week leading up to our 15 years celebration. Please continue to follow us to read more about the businesses we serve. If you would like to further encourage these businesses, contemplate using the products and services of our alumni. To do so, visit our CLIENT BUSINESS DIRECTORY.
Celebrating Success Luncheon is less than a month away, on September 6th, 2019. If you are interested in attending, reserving a table, or sponsoring our annual event, please contact Monica Peña at monica@egbi.org and 512-928-2594 . More information about the event HERE.
