Lead-safety trainer aims to open interpreting firm

Latinos are the fastest-growing segment of Rhode Island entrepreneurs. To get a sense of the issues they face, Providence Business News is following 15 people through a 12-week business planning course for Latino entrepreneurs at the R.I. Small Business Development Center. This is the fourth article in the series.

Veronica Martinez has been providing translation services and filling out immigration paperwork for people in the Latino community for 10 years now. It is something she does at home at night and on weekends, as a favor.

Her dream is to turn that sideline into a full-time, full-service translation business that also provides notary services, income-tax return preparation, immigration paperwork and an insurance brokerage – all bilingual. To help bring her dream to life, Martinez is taking the 12-week Primer Paso FastTrac business planning course, taught by R.I. Small Business Development Center business counselor Tomas Avila.

Identifying the value that products and services bring to the consumer was the topic of a recent session of the class, which meets at Johnson & Wales University’s Larry Friedman International Center for Entrepreneurship in downtown Providence.

Avila encouraged the members of the class to think of reasons people might choose their products and services and ways to differentiate themselves from their competitors.

“I’m trying to get them to think outside the box” when it comes to products and services, Avila said. As an example, he said, a person who sells cell phones also might think about selling iPods and other small electronics, to broaden the client base.

Martinez said she wants to offer interpreting services via conference calls, with three-way phone conversations between the interpreter, the client and the third party with whom the client wishes to communicate.

The objective is to allow her client to access the interpreting service conveniently, from home – instead of having to travel to an office, as competitors often require. “Nobody has that, as far as I know,” she said.

She also wants to emphasize customer service, she said. She wants to train her staff to be helpful and pleasant, because in her experience and that of many acquaintances, those skills are lacking, even in businesses that should be customer-focused.

“I want to have a business where I’m going to bring pleasure to people,” she said. Martinez, who moved to Providence from Guatemala with her family when she was 15, hopes that by taking the business planning class, she will learn how to avoid classic mistakes, such as poor management of finances.

“I’ve learned how difficult it is to write a business plan – but more importantly, to execute it,” she said.

Avila said many entrepreneurs “will have to struggle at being masters of everything, as opposed to being masters of the one position they held as employees.” Martinez currently works at the Community College of Rhode Island, as a training specialist for general contractors and tradesmen. She teaches them how to protect themselves while working with lead paint.

Her goals for her business, she said, are to make it grow and prosper so she can retire and live comfortably while continuing to provide for her three children, who are 27, 19 and 16.

Martinez said she is not going to limit her translating services to the Latino community. She hopes to offer services in as many languages as possible. The reason she started offering translation services from her home was to fill a need, she said.

Her early clients “had no one” to help them communicate with the gas company or landlords or government agencies, Martinez said. And she saw other translators were filling out immigration papers without explaining the process properly to their clients. “I tell them what can happen if they lie,” she said. “They could get a fine or go to jail.” Martinez said she knows that starting her own business is “not going to be an easy task.” “But I am excited,” she said.