Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in language education but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Ron Garcia-Fogarty, Owner of tilde Language Justice Cooperative, located in Durham, NC, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

tilde is a cooperative that creates a sustainable livelihood for language workers and advances language justice by providing high-quality interpreting, translation, training, and consulting in the North Carolina Triangle region and beyond. Our customers are primarily organizations working for social justice, including nonprofits, grassroots groups, unions, cooperatives, PACs, etc., but we also work with elementary school PTAs, local governments, individuals, and others.

Tell us about yourself

I grew up in Nicaragua during the Sandinista revolution, and from very early on was committed to working for a better world. After college, I worked in nonprofits for 20 years, and at every job, I did some interpreting and translating, along with my other work duties. I realized how much I enjoyed language work, and I wanted to do that with other like-minded individuals. A couple of people organized the first gathering of local interpreters over a decade ago, and we finally got tilde off the ground in 2017. I am motivated by my enjoyment of my work and how we are playing an important role in the movements for social and economic justice.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

Our biggest accomplishment has been to become a viable business that remains committed to making this a better world for our worker-owners and the communities impacted by language injustice.

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

Figuring out how to manage the business well, who does the management work, and how it is paid for.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

  1. Consider becoming a cooperative. As a cooperative, we are workers and also owners, we make important decisions together, and we are members of a vast ecosystem of worker co-ops.
  2. Take care of your finances! Invest in a bookkeeper in accounting software, and produce regular financial reports to evaluate your business model and sustainability.
  3. Figure out what decisions need to involve everyone, what decisions can be made by smaller groupings, and which ones can be made by individuals.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://tilde.coop/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tildeLJC/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tilde.coop/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/tilde.coop/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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