5 Awesome Must Have Tools for Latino Startups

Latinos are passionate, driven, and fully engaged in driving their own measure of success. Entrepreneurship across the Latinosphere is hot as confirmed by dynamic activity taking place on Twitter, the blogosphere, and beyond. Some of the startups that come to mind include Refleta, Gizmo, and Dabble.

The number of small Hispanic businesses is set to keep growing, say experts. The Hispanic population is expected to triple in size by 2050, according to the Pew Center. And the revenue from Hispanic businesses is expected to surge more than 39 percent, to more than $539 billion in the next six years, based on estimates by HispanTelligence, a market research firm.

And we're not even talking about the drive of Millennials.  Fifty-four percent of the nation's Millennials either want to start a business or already have started one according to the Kauffman Foundation. Considering that Latinos are the youngest demographic in the U.S. this makes perfect sense and helps to explain why gente are so passionate about changing the world, giving back, and commanding the proverbial entrepreneurial ship.

Perhaps this trend fueled by Millennial and Latino entrepreneurial passion is also the result of the hot bed of activity taking place in Latin America. Joe Kutchera, author of Latino Link, recently talked about how Latin America’s Internet entrepreneurs are ramping up.

With all this fabulous activity, we thought it would be a great idea to share our five must have tools for Latino Startups. Consider the following a starting point or merely some of our favorites that have proven to be user friendly, cost-effective, and just plain cool.

LaunchRock 
Setup a social launching soon page in minutes.

FreshBooks
An online tool for creating, tracking and sending invoices.

Dropbox
Always have your stuff when and where you want it.

Evernote
Remember your stuff and keep it in a simple easy to use digital notebook.

Google+ Hangouts
Collaborate all in realtime.

We love these tools because they help entrepreneurs focus on what matters...making big things happen.

Bringing Hispanic to The Mainstream

What we need to focus on is how social media and the communication tools before us can open up a gateway of commonality and erase barriers of misunderstanding. Latinos are active, social, empowered, and genuinely interested.

It doesn't take a genius to recognize the growing influence of Latinos both online and offline. With over 50 million Hispanics living in the U.S. and over 32 million online, you'd think marketers nationwide would clamor to connect with this growing population. Latinos aren't just present but instead command a sphere of influence that exudes with accomplishment, impact, celebration, and cultura.

The proof is in the pudding and apparently marketers are still reluctant to request their piece of the pie. Mobile and digital spend overall is only a small portion of total ad spend.

Even when brands recognize the importance of reaching Hispanics with social media and mobile technology, some say, efforts are misguided.

To many, this news comes as no surprise. An approach to capture the attention of the Hispanic market is oftentimes based on assumptions rather than insights and tends to be built on the status quo. Perhaps the biggest challenge facing marketers isn't justification of an immense opportunity for impact and engagement but instead consists of moving decision makers towards a recognition of the immense responsibility, rather, opportunity for retro-marketing.

Instead of marketing to Latinos, why don't brands and influencers seek out ways to bring Latino to the mainstream? The likes of Q'Viva! serves as a perfect example of what it means to answer the challenge of building bridges instead of silos.

We are challenged to be the ambassadors of all that is good, beautiful, and empowering about the Hispanic culture. To shift the attitudes of the mainstream, one must focus on commonalities, synergy, and the windows of opportunity for cultural fusion.

The possibilities are numerous.

Those who answer the challenge are sure to find a wealth of benefits and reap significant rewards.

There's no denying it. The time for individuals, organizations, and brands to think beyond the bottom line is now!

Culture Differences Create Gaps

Overcoming trust gaps and experience gaps are vital to the success of brands and their ability to create memorable customer experiences. A recent video released by Univision highlights the impact of cultural differences and how they create a gap for the overall customer experience. In this case, the healthcare industry is put in the spotlight as being an arena where practioners have a unique challenge yet awesome opportunity to close these gaps.

Read the original post and see the video here.