An entrepreneur’s dream requires some homework

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 second article in the series.

Miriam Garcia fondly remembers her father’s “social club” in Brooklyn. She can recall the pride he took in maintaining the club’s juke box, pool table, bar and display cases. She remembers the way he interacted with customers.

That was before he died and her mother took Garcia, then 16 years old, and her four sisters to Puerto Rico. Garcia lived there for about 10 years before returning to the U.S. mainland.

Now she has her own children – one 17, the other 13. She assesses new students for the Providence public schools to determine where they will be placed. But like her father, she wants to run her own business, and so, with two partners, she is opening a meat market in Pawtucket. She also hopes to open a day care center, after she retires from her school district job.

That’s why Garcia is taking the Primer Paso FastTrac 12-week business planning course, taught by business counselor Tomas Avila at the R.I. Small Business Development Center at Johnson & Wales University.

Avila is teaching the class in Spanish as part of an effort to reach out to the Latino business community. Garcia said that, although she is fluent in both Spanish and English, her partner’s primary language is Spanish, so she chose this class to help her as she, Felix Rodriguez (a butcher of 25 years) and Alexis Encarnacion open Fiesta Meats, off Broad Street.

They hope to open the meat market by Oct. 28. But Garcia said they still have a lot of work to do. They are tearing up the uneven concrete floors, and building space for a walk-in cooler.

“I’m still working on paperwork,” she said.

Despite the difficulties of starting a business, the process also has helped to inspire Garcia’s day-care aspirations.

“At first, you don’t want to take the risk,” she said. “We think we will fail … then you see there’s a chance. It’s going to take time and a lot of money to invest, but you can do it.” From the meat market, Garcia said she’s learned a few things “not to do,” such as spending money on rent, equipment and renovations before creating a business plan, acquiring the necessary permits and getting floor plans approved by the R.I. Department of Health.

Avila told the class recently that many entrepreneurs start their businesses that way. “Most people spend the money, and then they plan.”

“The development of a business plan is not just for the purpose of obtaining a loan, but instead, its main purpose is to secure a successful business that will grow and produce positive revenue.”

Garcia said she hadn’t realized a business plan was so involved. She thought it should be a basic outline, like a teacher’s lesson plan. “I didn’t know it was that important. I didn’t know it was important to grow your business,” he said.

As homework, Avila gave the class a personal financial budget worksheet. “It’s pretty much for the individuals starting a business,” as opposed to those with existing businesses, he said. “Anyone who starts a business needs to make sure that their financials are in order.”

As for Garcia, she said she is becoming anxious about Fiesta Meats’ opening this month, but she is gaining confidence about her plan to for a day-care center.

There is a need for day care, she said. She sometimes sees 20 to 25 students a day coming into Providence’s school system to register for classes, and very often, they have young siblings.

Garcia earned a degree in education in Puerto Rico and currently tutors children. “I think it’s one of my talents,” she said. But first, she must write a business plan. “That’s why I’m taking the class,” she said. “I want to do the first steps.”