Hola
He asistido a algunas conferencias con otros bloggers y cada día me convenso mas de que debo escribir en español. Realmente como escritora y comentarista no puedo dudar que lo hago mejor en mi propia lengua. De esta manera puedo hacerlo mejor, de seguro que acorto mi audiencia. Pero espero que me sigan mis lectores.
Hoy quiero compartir con ustedes uno de mis poemas favorito. Espero sus comentarios
Extracto del libro “Common Sense” escrito en 1776 por Thomas Paine
I do not choose to be a common man,
It is my right to be uncommon …
if I can, I seek opportunity … not security.
I do not wish to be a kept citizen
Humbled and dulled by having the State look after me.
I want to take the calculated risk;
To dream and to build.
To fail and to succeed.
I refuse to barter incentive for a dole;
I prefer the challenges of life
To the guaranteed existence;
The thrill of fulfillment
To the stale calm of Utopia.
I will not trade freedom for beneficence
Nor my dignity for a handout
I will never cower before any master
Nor bend to any threat.
It is my heritage to stand erect.
Proud and unafraid;
To think and act for myself,
To enjoy the benefit of my creations
And to face the world boldly and say:
This, with God’s help, I have done
All this is what it means
To be an Entrepreneur.
Yo no escogí ser un hombre común,
Es mi derecho ser diferente….
Si yo puedo, busco la oportunidad… no la seguridad.
Yo no deseo ser un ciudadano mantenido
Humillado y adormecido esperando que el estado me mantenga.
Yo quiero tomar riesgos, de soñar y construir,
De equivocarme y de triunfar.
Yo prefiero que mi vida tenga retos que tener garantizada mi existencia.
La emoción del cumplimiento, la añeja calma de la utopía.
No voy a negociar libertad por beneficencia
Ni mi dignidad por un folleto.
Yo nunca me agachare ante nadie,
Ni me doblare por ninguna amenaza.
Es mi deber mantenerme firme.
Orgulloso y sin temor;
En pensar y actuar por mi propia cuenta,
En disfrutar los beneficios de mis creaciones
Y enfrentar el mundo audazmente y decir;
Todo esto con la ayuda de Dios lo que he hecho
Esto significa ser un Emprendedor
Monday
Hola, Entrepreneurs y Emprendedores or should I say Aventureros!
The First Democrat debate ever broadcast in Spanish
Univision was the place that put together the first presidential debate in Spanish. Half of the candidates could speak some Spanish but not all of them. The questions were done in Spanish as well that the answers were shared by interpretation. Some people questioned this procedure.
"I'm disappointed today that 43 million Latinos in this country, for them not to hear one of their own speak Spanish, is unfortunate," said Richardson, the governor of
Dodd, who served in the Peace Corps in the
"We're allowing a Hugo Chavez to win a public relations effort in
Former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel boasted that he's also bilingual — in French. "I honor everyone who comes to this country as an immigrant because we are all immigrants." Hillary Clinton also expressed: "We should remember that the Mexicans were first in this land".
Other comments were related to the war in Irak, and they mentioned that the Hispanics are the one who have received more medals from this word. The Hispanics are the ones who are fighting for this country.
Saturday
The More Diverse your Market, the Faster the Growing
In the United States, Hispanics are now the largest minority group, without considering the new baby born from multicultural marriage (which they are a lot) they have the highest purchasing power of any minority group, and represent 20 percent of all small business owners in the United States. As Hispanics continue to be the fastest growing minority group in the United States, all of those statistics have now where to go but up.
Right now, one of every 10 small businesses in the United States is Hispanic-owned, totaling about 3 million small businesses. The number of Hispanic owned small businesses is predicted to increase to 3.5 million by 2010. And though the locations of the majority of these small businesses still are in California, Florida, and Texas, Hispanics owned small businesses now have a significant presence in states like Georgia, Utah and North Carolina, where the Hispanic population is booming.
In fact, today US Hispanics have a purchasing power of $950 billion per year, a figure that should increase to 1 trillion by 2010. As such, by 2010 US Hispanics will have more purchasing power than the gross domestic products of Mexico and Canada. By 2010, the US Hispanic economy alone will be the third largest in the western hemisphere, trailing only those of the United States and Brazil.
Clearly, businesses should be working hard to capture a piece of this exponentially growing market. According to the president of Latin Connections and Latin Marketing Consultant, Sonia Q. Thomas, there are two false stereotypes that we need to get rid off: the first one is the false idea that the Hispanic does not have money to consume and the second that all Hispanic are the same (certain groups are number one consumers of transportation for ex. and other on apparel) or the false idea that I have to know the language to do business with them. All these false ideas are delaying the growing of your company. The more diverse, the broader the vision and bigger the sales. the But you don't need to know everything but you may need someone like me. There are five things that US companies should do to capture this market:
Do business with Hispanic-owned firms. By doing business with these firms, US companies will be able to not only enter the US Hispanic market, but will also allow them to receive potential new investment from Hispanic firms. In addition, as US companies do more business with Hispanic owned firms, they will likely experience an increase in Hispanic customers and clientele, as they have demonstrated that they are willing and desirous to do business with Hispanic-owned firms, which will have the net affect of positively impacting their bottom lines.
Hire a Latin Marketing Consultant. By having an external consultant, you will rely on her/him for any decision making related to marketing and sometimes operation. Someone who has experienced with different markets, dealing with a bid diversity and a big plus with contacts in Latin America and Spain.
Make sure the company has sufficient Hispanic representation in decision-making positions. Thomas says that “knowing the language or translating all content in Spanish is not enough to do business with Hispanic companies; it's also necessary to integrate into the culture,” By having qualified Hispanic decision makers in influential positions, US companies will be able to gain insight into the Hispanic market and learn how to effectively market their goods/services to this market.
Get involved with non-profit organizations. Companies should work with non-profit organizations if only because many of them know the Hispanic market very well. By getting involved with and learning from non-profit organizations that are in tune with the Hispanic community, companies can learn how to better reach and capture a portion of the Hispanic market.
Get involved with Latin Networking Groups close to your area. Chambers and local networkings will help you to know the Hispanic market better. You will get to know what types of business they are doing and what marketing strategies they use. Try to don't think with an American mind when you go to those events. Social protocol is different, go with an open mind.
In the coming years, proactive companies that wish to ride the wave of growth in the Hispanic economy will be vying for big portions of the Hispanic market. By starting now and sincerely trying to reach this market, they stand a great chance of capturing their slice of this important market.To see opportunities for your business visit soniathomas.com, soniathomas.com/network.html sonia@soniathomas.com
Wednesday
The face of growth: Immigrant workers in booming St. George
The laborers are backbone of construction boom, but talk of illegal hiring kept on 'down low'
September, 2007
By Jennifer W. Sanchez
If he could find qualified construction workers, subcontractor Jason Phillips says he would hire five employees immediately because he can't keep up with all of his projects.
His workers earn an average salary of $18 per hour, but says "it's very hard to find good help here." So Phillips depends on his mostly Latino work crew. As far as he's concerned, all his employees have the "proper documentation" to legally work here. But he acknowledges that he's not certain.
Phillips says subcontractors here, from roofers to painters, are desperate for laborers, but largely steer clear of any discussions about undocumented workers. "It's always been on the down low. People don't talk about it," he says. "You know a lot of them are illegals, but [employers] just turn their backs."
That's the way the construction business runs here in the nation's fastest growing metro area. Employers heavily depend on Latino workers, and lawmakers and local leaders maintain that the area's ongoing construction boom could not have happened without them.
Sen. Bob Bennett said as much earlier this summer, pointing to St. George as a prime example of the immigration dilemma as the push for reform heated up - then ultimately fizzled - on Capitol Hill.
The economy of Washington County, and elsewhere, is heavily dependent on undocumented workers from Mexico and other Latin American countries, Bennett said. If the government forcibly removed those workers, "you would throw the United States into a serious economic recession."
At the same time, Washington County is also home to a handful of the state's largest and most active anti-illegal immigration groups - which routinely lambaste Utah politicians and business owners who call immigrant workers critical to the area's growth.
Count business owner Jonathan Koski among the groups' supporters. If undocumented workers were hauled out of St. George, he argues that the only thing it would do is force businesses to hire legal employees and to pay better wages. He also says immigration raids are "long overdue" in the area.
"We are not dependent on illegal help; there are tons of people who will do the job," he maintains.
A changing labor force: Subcontractor Phillips recalls that when he moved to St. George in 1990 and started in construction, he worked with mostly white laborers.
Nowadays, construction sites of homes, schools and stores are filled with Latino workers speaking mostly Spanish. They build wooden frames, apply stucco, pour concrete and install lawns.
Scott Hirschi, the director of Washington County's economic development council, has some 45 years of experience on construction sites in the area. He says he has seen a "dramatic change" on such sites in the past decade with the increase of Latino workers.
Hirschi, business owners and other local officials generally agree that the region would not have grown as it has without immigrant labor. But they also point out that they can't assume that just because people are Latino and speak Spanish, they are undocumented workers.
"It's obvious there are a lot of Latinos . . . working in the construction industry, but how many here are here illegally? I don't know. No one knows that," Hirschi says.
Some 15 percent of Washington County's jobs are in the construction field, according to the Utah Department of Workforce Services. But Hirschi estimates that at least a third of the county's jobs are at least indirectly tied to construction. He points to the rise in home improvement and furniture stores, as well as title and insurance firms, and banks and mortgage brokers.
With a growth spurt of 40 percent, St. George was recently named by the Census Bureau as the fastest-growing U.S. metro area between 2000 and 2006. In roughly that same span - from 2000 to 2005- single-family home permits nearly tripled, from about 1,200 to 3,500 a year.
Lecia Parks Langston, a state economist based in Washington County, says the area's population growth has driven the construction surge. She also says the tight labor market in the past few years helped increased the average wage - though salaries would have seen a bigger hike without immigrant labor. There was an 8 percent average wage increase in the county in 2006.
Still, local officials say there's no way to know how much the area actually depends on undocumented workers because no one knows how many live in Washington County.
What is known: The county's Latino population increased more than 800 percent between 1990 and 2005 - from 862 Hispanics to roughly 8,000, according to the U.S. Census. In 2000, about 45 percent of them worked in maintenance, construction or production, Langston says.
Of the Latinos in the county today, a "low-end" estimate is that about 35 percent are undocumented immigrants, says Pam Perlich, an urban-planning professor and demographer at the University of Utah.
Washington County Commissioner Jim Eardley has estimated that there are some 12,000 undocumented workers in the area. Some undocumented Latino construction workers believe between 65 and 80 percent of their peers don't have proper U.S. documentation to work here.
Phyllis Sears founded the Citizens Council on Illegal Immigration, an anti-immigration group, almost three years ago and has lived in the area for a decade. She says a "tsunami" of undocumented workers has moved to the area because businesses keep hiring them.
"What did they do before they got here?" she asks. "Those hard-working illegals are much more desirable than American workers for whom contractors have to pay . . . a living wage."
Coping with demand: Within a year of opening its St. George office, Ivory Homes has become the area's No. 1 home builder.
Clark Ivory, Ivory Homes' CEO, says he realizes immigrant labor is vital to development and construction, and he believes his subcontractors abide by his company's rule to hire only legal workers. About 90 percent of each home built by Ivory Homes is performed by subcontractors, he says.
"We have a policy to do complete background checks and not to hire illegals, period," Ivory says. "But at the same time, we know really good workers who have been coming here for a long time who cannot get their visas and permits."
Many business owners say they do their best to verify a worker's U.S. immigration status - it's against the Southern Utah Home Builders Association policies to hire undocumented workers. But at least one anti-illegal immigrant activist charges that many construction-related businesses are hiring undocumented workers and paying them in cash - forcing other businesses, such as his, to shut down.
Business owner Koski started his company, Prime Roofing, about 10 years ago and once employed seven workers. Now, he's a one-man roofer, who will most likely close his business soon because he refuses to hire undocumented workers.
Why? For Koski, it boils down to costs. His roofing price is $2.65 per square foot compared to other company bids that come in at under $2 - which can mean between a $1,500 to a $4,000 difference on a project. Koski says it's expensive to pay for workers' compensation, health insurance and federal payroll taxes.
"I can't afford to keep anybody," he complains. "I can't continue to compete with these businesses that keep hiring illegals."
Carol Sapp, executive officer of the Southern Utah Home Builders Association, has heard similar complaints from the ranks of her 900-member group. Some companies have the additional problem of not being able to validate green cards, even using the federal government system.
Sapp also says she supports immigration enforcement in the area, but notes her organization - like the St. George Chamber of Commerce - has not taken an official stand on immigration reform because group members are split.
But some Utah businesses and organizations - such as Ivory Homes and the Salt Lake City Chamber of Commerce - support immigration reform that includes a guest-worker program and journeyed to Washington, D.C., to lobby for a reform bill in May.
Ivory Homes, the state's largest home builder, has put together a six-page document about the company's views on immigration reform, which it shared with its employees and subcontractors. It calls for a "realistic guest-worker program" and adopting a reliable employee-verification program.
Clark Ivory, who went to Washington, D.C., to lobby for the reform bill, says lawmakers fail to see the magnitude of the issue.
"For reasons of partisanship and perhaps fear of the extremists . . . our U.S. Senate failed to work together to arrive at a middle-of-the-road compromise," he says. "It is unfortunate that even our own senators have not been in a leadership role on this issue."
Seeking dollars and 'hope': Geovani, a 23-year-old undocumented worker from Guatemala, was earning $8 an hour as a cook at a Caesars Palace restaurant in Las Vegas when he heard that he could make more money working in construction in St. George. He moved here in June to build rock walls in a new housing development for $10 an hour.
It's no secret: Immigrants know that if they can make it to Utah with its booming economy, they can get a good-paying job in construction, restaurants, hotels or ski resorts. Once here, at least some construction laborers note that their employers ask few questions about their immigration status, pay them decent wages and generally treat them well.
These undocumented workers also say the U.S. immigration system is impossible to navigate, and they know they are breaking the law by living here - many get by with fake U.S. documents - but all they want to do is work.
There is little chance of them getting legal U.S. status anyway.
Reza Athari, an immigration lawyer based in Las Vegas, opened a St. George office six years ago. Week after week, he meets with undocumented construction and ranch workers looking for a way to get documentation, as well as employers trying to help their employees. He says they come to his office "with a lot of hope," but there's not much he can do. There are few options in applying for legal status, Athari says, noting that their best bet is having a U.S. relative or a medical issue.
Elder, a Guatemalan native who moved to Utah three years ago, used to make $120 a month as a rancher in Mexico; now he makes more than $1,600 monthly working in construction in the state.
But he wonders if he could get paid still more or get benefits if he had the proper U.S. documents. He also tries not to think about what would happen if he was in a major accident or suffered heat exhaustion on the job because temperatures in St. George in July can reach more than 120 degrees.
"It's rough," Elder says, "but what are we supposed to do?"
Sources: Hispanic Trending and Salt Lake Tribune
Latin Conections in Utah, Ven a Promover tu Negocio y a relacionarte con otras personas que ayudan en la comunidad
Our mission is bridging the gap between American and Hispanic market, to promote and to support the development of the Hispanic market and commerce by trading professional services and exchanging leads.
September 17th first meeting
WOMEN in UTAH, Start the day on the mountains looking the sunrise!
See more information at soniathomas.com on calendar (bottom on homepage)
Friday
Why Blogging?
Well, almost every people that I get in contact had a "blog" and I wonder for a long time, why I need one or why I want that. Is because is a fashion in business where everybody does it? After I wrote my first comment my next question was how people are going to read my comments. Why people wants to read why I wrote. I am a writer but I wrote in Spanish. I don't know how to write in English but I am trying. How is that people who does not know me are going to comment and read about what I say? It did not make much sense at the beginning. And for me is more like to show to your friends that you're committed to help each other in different ways, comforting people, promoting their business, etc. A blog is a Commitment. When I finished with the creation of a name and selecting a few picture I asked myself and how what? what I am going to write about it? people don't care of what I think they have more important things to do than reading something about me. But that is the first mistake is not about me, is about You. So when I was trying to find out in mind mind reasons and TV there was a showed about blog and the reporter asked a few people these questions: what is a blog? why do we need them? and if they will have one, and most of the answers were: is for looses, I don't need one I have friends, I don't have time, I have more important things is my life to do, for people who wants to be heard for first time in their lives,...well, it make me thing because I didn't want to be considered under that list..I actually I would like to feel quite different. Then comes the real things how often do you write on it? I met an incredible women Liz http://spaguru.wordpress.com/, she met me and then she wrote a blog about me! that was one of the kindest thing that someone has done over the Internet for me, so then I got it is about helping each other. But then, you get so many different kinds of blogs as people. The good thing is blogging is not for everybody and that is probably a good thing..
Then my nest question was how do I get people to make comments about my comments and for that I don't have an answer yet. i have many questions about things and I know that is a process. For now I just know one thing: I have a blog that nobody is visiting or making comments yet but I need to know really quick what I have to do to change that. I remembered when I was studying journalism (20 years ago) in one of the class the teacher say what is a writer without a reader? nothing..I dont want to be nothing, I want to be someone who will give you answers, someone who you could trust and disagree...and be the specialist that you're looking for..Also I have a web soniathomas.com and a photoblog http://www.photoblog.com/heifferson that i invite you all to see
