Begoña Martínez

(Una versión de este artículo en español)

In class they have recommended us this book, Visionary Business. It has been tremendously useful for me (except for the last chapter, which deals with the author’s personal utopia). It has helped me imagine my business model. You can read the beginning in Amazon.

One of the things I really liked is the concept that there is actually a way to balance business and personal life (i.e. happiness). What I didn’t like is the paternalistic tone of the final, utopian chapters. But it is definitely worth a read, as the author (bless his heart) kept it really short.

Visionary Business: An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Success, by Marc Allen.

First of all, congratulations to María (one of our partners) who yesterday got a very promising job. I am particularly proud of this fact because I helped her with her CV. Hey, that’s a 100% success rate (three out of three) :-)

So, about our lessons… we have spent our last two sessions speaking about SWOT analysis: Strenghts, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. It is said to be a very simple approach to marketing strategy, but in my opinion it is proving to be a very good starting point into evaluating our idea.

To do a SWOT analysis, you fill in a form like this one (you can find ten different SWOT examples here)

(Another interesting page I found is about the AIDMA Law).

Our tasks for next week include finishing this SWOT analysis (in Spanish, DAFO, Debilidades, Amenazas, Fortalezas, Oportunidades) and writing the introduction to our business plan. A skype meeting is in order!

Hello everyone!

This is our first post to our shiny new Wordpress company blog. Yesterday we had our first lesson (course planning and marketing), our first step into what hopefully will become a (not only) translation agency. This lessons come in five hour sessions with a thirty minute intermission, so do not expect me to sum up everything said everyday because we would be here, well, all day.

Let me introduce myself: my name is Begoña. Friends and people without the letter ñ in their keyboards call me Bego. I am a translator and interpreter living in Cartagena. Of course, I cannot pass this opportunity of introducing you to my daughter Lucía. María and Marina (at the moment, the other 66.66…% of this project) will also hopefully be posting here in the near future.
So, without further ado…

Lesson one: Marketing basics

In our first lesson, we learn that the purpose of marketing is identifying and satisfying needs (In Spanish: identificar y satisfacer necesidades). Historically, companies have focused their efforts on either production (just produce, produce, produce), product (we create the best x), sales (just sell, sell, sell) or marketing (we study the market and act accordingly). Here you have a very interesting summary of what was said about marketing, and I suspect of what will be said today (more or less) (you just have to love Google).

The challenging sentence of the day:

If you want your business to survive, you have to base your marketing policies in human needs instead of in specific products or services.

So, what is the human need behind the translation/interpreting market? I think the answer is communication. What about you? The floor is open.