i'm j.j. ramberg and with welcome to "your business," the show dedicated to giving you tips and advice to help your small business grow. the latino market is one of the fastest growing segments of the u.s. economy. smart entrepreneurs everywhere are trying to figure out how to better serve this sector. so we went to dallas, texas, to talk to one entrepreneur who seems to have cracked the code. [ speaking in spanish ] >> they use commercials like this spoof of melodramas to engage its core customers. >> we have what we call a core customer profile, a foreign born or first generation hispanic residing in the u.s., spanish language preferred, and typically blue collar profession, household income under $50,000. >> antonio is the dallas-based founder and owner of pizza patron, a chain of more than 100 fast food franchises. >> this is a community of 50 million plus strong in the u.s. by 2015 hispanic consumer purchasing power will be $1.5 trillion. >> a marketing consultant to some of the key fortune 500s including target and toyota. he says while most of them see big growth in the latino market, many don't know how to connect. >> and everybody wants that market and everyone continues to miss the opportunity. >> i think the mistake that a lot of people make is they'll say, we're going to produce some spanish language ads. you know what, that's not going to get it done. >> antonio, who is not hispanic, says he's still learning. he started what's now a $40 million company 35 years ago with just $11,000 of his own money. back then he called it pizza pizza and had no special interest in the latin market. >> i didn't know but i had located the store in a section of dallas that was about the second largest most dense hispanic neighborhood in the city. >> however, as he got to know that part of dallas, he realized he could identify his brand with the culture around him. >> i saw an opportunity to maybe focus it, change the name would be the first indicator that it was a place that may be spanish friendly. >> we have some different combinations of pizza that are bold in flavor, that the latino customer really enjoys, the jalapeno mix in there. >> 36-year-old alex garza owns four pizza patron franchises. he was born and raised in dallas. he's bilingual. >> they want to make it a combo. [ speaking in spanish ] >> and he got his start answering phones in spanish and english. that was more than 20 years ago when he was still in high school. >> the people that meet the customer either on the telephone or at the front counter are required to be fluently bilingual. it's part of the brand. >> we make sure they are comfortable english or spanish. it seems simple and it is simple, but it has to be executed properly. >> according to glenn, using spanish isn't enough. what matters is how the language is used. >> well, i'm going to talk to a woman differently because she takes care of the children or she's an aspiring executive and i'm going to talk to a teenager differently because they want to be hip at school and be accepted by their friends. but when i talk to a hispanic, i need to speak to what matters to their culture because that defines who they are. >> for antonio understanding latino culture is not at all mysterious. it boils down to paying attention to the customers and making them comfortable. >> we introduce add product called poito chicken. it is part of a song that young latinos learn in school. ♪ >> look at this poster for free pizza. if you're not hispanic, you may not pay much attention to this word up here. it says pic za. >> yeah, pic za with a "c." that's an example of a wink. that's something you wouldn't get or i wouldn't get, but the truth is a lot of our core customers pronounce pizza like that. >> when he says pic za, they're not offended by it. the fact that i have an accent isn't being penalized, it's being embraced. >> another nod to his customers came from noticing that many of them spent holidays in mexico. and when they got back, they ended up with unspent currency they couldn't use. a fairly ordinary observation that gave antonio an idea. >> we made it a decision a few years ago that we were going to accept mexican pesos in our store along with american currency. >> while not many customers took advantage of it, they all certainly noticed it along with the national media. >> dallas-based restaurant chain accepting pesos. >> are mexican pesos about to replace the u.s. dollar? >> go to pizza pa it tron. >> paying for food with mexican pesos. >> you were trying to give value to a currency that didn't have it in this country and the community embraced it because he made them feel valuable. >> our core customers supported us. our sales shot up. i think we posted 36% comps, same store, same period sales, and they supported us. >> the most recent nod to the community came with a free pizza promotion called pizza por favor. pizza please, and you would get a free pizza. we had lines in some locations more than 1,000 people. >> if there's a secret to reaching the hispanic community, it seems to be nothing more mysterious that letting your customers know that you get what they're about. >> up here. mismo gran sabor nuevo look. same great taste, new look. they started with spanish and they ended with english. what they're doing is saying, look, i know who i'm speaking to, but we also recognize that you're part of the new mainstream. >> it's more than just i want your money. because that's not going to work. you need to really and genuinely care. not just fake care but genuinely care. have a good day. >> you, too. have a good day. there's no denying the buying power of america's booming hispanic market. so if you are interested in appealing to this community, how else can you do it? we have some special guests today to discuss just that. jennifer hill is a venture attorney at gunderson. she is a business adviser and a leader in new york's entrepreneurial community. and hector boretto a former sba administrator. he is now chairman of the latino coalition and a member of the board of the u.s. chamber of commerce and he is the found earp of two businesses. how did i do, hector? did i say that correctly? there's my accent. great to see both of you guys. >> great to be here. >> so, hector, i want to start with you because you have a brand that you are clearly marketing to the hispanic community. are you doing something different than you would if you were marketing to a different community? >> well, i'm marketing to all communities, but we're very proud of our company. two years in the market. we've won some prestigious awards. yes, you will talk to these markets differently. the latino market we want to make sure they know there's a heritage behind the product, that there's an authenticity that it comes from a very special place. obviously we want to offer good value, good pricing, good service, and we do all of that and, of course, for the general market we're going to accentuate a lot of those same things but we may have a little bit of a different message, a little bit different talking point. >> how can you figure this out? what was so interesting to me about pizza patron he wasn't hispanic and somehow he got it. somehow he figured out how to kind of infiltrate, almost, this community and understand what they were all about so he could speak to them. >> the biggest thing he did well, he figured out the latino community is bi-cultural, across different generations. whether you're a first generation, second generation, a third generation, you have profound respect for your own culture and american culture in a different way, but you figure out how to communicate with each generation. one of the interesting facts about the spanish speaking market in the u.s. is almost 75% are under the age of 45. they are incredible consumers of it technology and media and they are part of the mine stream as equally as tied to their own culture. >> that was like the budweiser poster, half in spanish and ended in english. i thought that was really interesting. >> that's the norm. as a marketer you have to understand that it's not easy just putting your exact same ads in english and spanish. not at all. interesting how that consumer can connects to a product, how they are incredibly loyal when they do change a brand. speaking to them in a way that's culturely more relevant and connected to your product. >> i basically it did the same story ten years ago about how brands are trying to figure out how to connect with this community and somehow it still seems to be eluding people. why do you think that is? >> well, i don't know. it shouldn't be so mysterious. let me say the latino community is not a completely homo genius community. first generation, second, folks that have been here for generations and maybe not even -- don't speak spanish or are not really connected to their heritage. but you know the numbers. these numbers will continue to grow. it could be 25% of the u.s. population in the next 30 or 40 years. so an old boss of mine used to say the neighborhood is changing, and we've to be good neighbors and this is an incredible consumer market. >> and how much time do you spend in your own marketing, hector? how much time do you think about -- you gave us an example how you market differently but is it you sitting in a room and thinking, okay, are this is how we're going to market to latinos or does it come naturally to you? >> well, obviously i grew up in that community. i believe that i'm pretty bi-cultural and bilingual and a lot of this has to do with who the retailers are. your former example, a great example of somebody who went into a community, didn't really understand it in the very beginning, wasn't focused on the hispanic community but learned what he needed to learn to be successful. the community wants to be treated with respect. they don't expect you to be perfect on everything but, you know, the opposite is also going to backfire. if you're trying to sell them something they don't want to buy, if your price point isn't correct, if your val is you proposition isn't correct, if they don't feel there is a kind of respected dignity, they're not going to do business with you. remember, the hispanic consumer is a very loyal consumer, so it makes sense to invest the time to learn that market and sell to them the way they want to be sold to. >> look, it's just like any other market, right. if you want to sell the teenagers, you need to speak their language. know your target customer and learn how to connect with them. all right. well, thank you for that advice on that piece. meanwhile, hector, you are in california, jen, you're here in new york. >> yes. >> and you guys both may want to speak without leaving because we're going to give you the top five best states for starting your small business and it is neither of yours courtesy of the u.s. chamber of commerce's enterprising states report. number five, massachusetts. it's had home to some of the nation's most prestigious research institutions. also, a 2012 bill will provide funding for paid intern ships and startups and a entrepreneurial mentoring program. at number four, utah. the state recently teamed up with webber state university to offer entrepreneurship and startup spaces. three, virginia. with the highest concentration of science, technology, engineering and math jobs in the kun interest try, virginia is also home to innovative technology, an organization that helps match startups with finding. at number two is colorado. the state has 2,000 tech-related jobs added in the last two years and ranks fourth in the country for the number of new businesses. and number one is maryland. with networking tools in place to connect, maryland is the best state for starting a business. the best employees are those who feel some sort of ownership of your company. i'm not talking about whether you distribute equity or not. what i'm talking about is hiring people who are innovative and really care about your company's success, not people who are just clocking in for the day. so how do you get your employees to act like entrepreneurs themselves? julian gordon is the founder and ceo of new hire, an employee engagement consulting firm. good to see you. >> glad to be here. thank you for having me. >> so this is a small business. you want them to feel like entrepreneurs, to be the problem solvers and the ones to figure out how to make your company bigger there in the trenches. so give me some tips on ways to get them to be there. >> the reality is we're all already entrepreneurs, even employees. the thing about employees, employees are entrepreneurs who have one big client, their employer. >> so you talk about the numbers. show me the numbers. >> show them the numbers. if a company has a balance sheet or income statement and the numbers are going down and employees know those numbers and they will start to pail water out of the ship if the company is not going the way they want it to. >> on the flip side, if i show them these bad numbers, i will demote vat them rather than motivate them. >> they will sink with the ship so they have a choice. they either have the choice to leave and they weren't meant to be on the team in the first place or start bailing out water and get the company back to good standing. >> got it. and that's where your leadership comes in, too, right? you need to explain this might be going down. >> a lot of can companies have closed door meetings and the numbers are at the top and everybody else just told what to do. if i'm informed and i know what's going on, i'm going to actually start to move differently. >> next you talk about bring business school to them. >> we went to a great institution in stanford and that information there was extremely valuable. and i think even a secretary having some of that basic information would be helpful to them in the way they think about their career. it would be important for them to understand what accounts receivable means, what cash flow means, the difference between cash flow and profit. and if the manager says accounts receivable is going up, they know what that means from a business context and they know that's not actually good. >> a couple years ago we did a story tough mother, very successful. the ceo of the company does a business school case every month in his company, which i just thought was fascinating and his employees love it. >> that's awesome. >> next, have them write business plans. really? >> yes. we're in strategy meetings and all they do is throw ideas off the wall and everybody just tries to put good ideas they feel are good. if we can unlock their entrepreneurial spirit by having them right plans. >> not a 40 page plan but think about how you would execute your idea? >> yeah. what is it going to cost? what is the upside of it and what do i need from a resource standpoint to execute on this and bring ideas to the table like that. that will tap into their entrepreneurial spirit and make them feel they own something. >> i love that. something i mentioned in the beginning, give them equity. >> all small businesses don't have equity to give in the same way that some of the tech firms do, but equity is all about ownership. employees want to have something that they can point to and say i did that. i created that. yep, that over there, i led that initiative. you want to give them ownership of something they can put their name on and be proud of and talk outside of the office to help you attract new talent. >> in-staff meetings, jullien did a great job doing blah, blah, blah. >> of course. this is oftentimes beyond the job description. what employees really want to do may be outside the scope of even their job. >> finally, teach them the entire business. this goes back to your idea of showing them the numbers. >> very much so. even small businesses we work in silos. i worked at an organization that only had 30 people and we were still in silos. i'm only doing my job, in my little cubby. when you show them the entire business they start to see how the parts are interdependent and they work together and can start to move differently. everybody can function in their silo but an organization acting more efficient. >> absolutely. all right, jullien, this is all great stuff. i appreciate you coming on. >> thank you for having me. >> when we come back, where is the money when you're trying to find funding for a high-risk business? and a musical salute to the mom-preneurs of the world as the owner of village vanguard schools her daughter on running the business. ♪ i' 'm a hard, hard ♪ worker every day. ♪ i' ♪ i'm a hard, hard worker and i'm working every day. ♪ ♪ i'm a hard, hard worker and i'm saving all my pay. ♪ ♪ if i ever get some money put away, ♪ ♪ i'm going to take it all out and celebrate. ♪ ♪ i'm a hard, hard worker... ♪ membership rallied millions of us on small business saturday to make shopping small, huge. this is what membership is. this is what membership does. so this is a big year for you particularly today, your first mother's day. >> yes, thank you. >> happy mother's day to you and all of you mothers out there. in honor of that we wanted to show you a story, again, about one mom who inspired us. lorraine gordon. lorraine runs new york's legendary village vanguard jazz club. she was honored this year with the national endowment of the arts jazz master fellowship. after taking over managing the club from her late husband, lorraine is now teaching her daughter how to run the business. it's located in new york's greenwich village. >> it's by far the most historic jazz club in america, probably the world at this point. >> that's the owner, lorain gordo gordon. >> i don't do bookkeeping. i hire someone to do that. i answer telephones a lot. i can do that. i do the bookings. i do that very well. i like to think. >> reporter: it's been operating in this tiny basement since it was started by lorraine's husband, max gordon, 75 years ago. >> he opened this club in 1935. it was not a jazz club then. it was the same room, but it did not jazz, it was poetry readings. this was max's office. there's a picture of max, sitting right here in this spot. this is the same terrible, ugly desk, i dare not get rid of it. >> my father, max, sat down very strong roots. >> reporter: these days, debora gordon helps her mother run the club her father created. >> what is that? >> it just came. >> reporter: what's the secret to the vanguard's long survival? it might be knowing what to change and when. through the '40s, '50s, and '60s, they shifted from poetry to jazz and the business model shifted too. >> we don't serve food. i have no food bills. that could eat up half of your business. we threw the food out when the chef died, the restaurant part went with him. that's great. people don't care. >> eventually, it became to be known as a showcase for new musical talent, even the then-unknown barbra streisand. >> do i have to tell you who barbra streisand is? no. miles davis was playing here at the time and max asked miles would he accompany her? no way, he said. she got up and sang anyway. and she was very good. >> you're surrounded by the faces of jazz greats. i mean, the history is thick. you can almost breathe it in. >> in 1989, max gordon died and lorraine gordon says she was completely unprepared to take over. >> i really was not trained in any way. i wasn't encouraged to, you know, hey, lorraine, maybe would you like to take over? nothing. >> lorraine takes a very hands-on approach to the village vanguard and i think that's because she cares so much about it. >> reporter: after more than 20 years running the company, listening to the musicians still gives lorraine the chills. listen to her talk about a recent performance. >> that was a magical night. the music was ethereal. you just couldn't believe it. everyone was like floating on air. it's so good. it was so perfect. and it was that way all week, but that particular night, it got to me. so i said, god, i'm so lucky to be -- to work all day and come down at night and hear this. it was super. that's enough, guys. it's 6:00. out! it's time now to answer some of your business questions. and for that i call upon the expertise of jen and hector. the first one is an e-mail from andrew. and he wrote, "should i post our products online and risk getting my ideas stolen or propose them individually top my customers. while my designs are copy rights, people can still take the product idea and make their own designs." he does things like make awards for people, if you win a soccer game on an award. what do you think, jen? it sounds like he's already taken steps to protect his intellectual property. but anytime your product is out in the marketplace, they can copy you. you have to keep on top of your market and make sure you are better and better. ultimately, if you can't find your customers and they can't find you, you're not going to sell them anyway. >> this is what's interesting, hector. if people are coming to him to buy a product and if he doesn't show the product, they're not going to know if they like it or not. >> that's right. and you can't ignore the internet anymore. billions of dollars are being sold on the internet. it's a great way to diversify. one of the things he should focus in on is his distinct competitive advantage. what makes him better than his competitors? is it his price, his features, his service? i think that's where the focus should be. anybody can pretty much replicate anything. and in different countries as well. so get some good legal advice and focus on that marketing. you don't want to ignore the internet. >> and maybe he shows some of his most popular designs and says, we can customize stuff, give us a call. >> exactly. >> lisa writes, "where do you go for funds when you've been told that your business is too high risk such as a restaurant or day care center?" hector, any ideas? >> you've got to stop looking. we have a coalition with a business called biz to credit, where we actually source loans to small businesses. there's a lot of help out there. it's not easy in this environment getting capital, but it is possible and capital is key. it's the oxygen every small business needs to start and grow. >> and it's a lot about networking here, right? i mean, if you're going to go for friends and family, that's one option, crowd funding. >> one thing to think about, if this person is interested in a restaurant or a day care center, to consider a franchise. whether it's her original idea or a business in a box, sometimes lenders feel a little bit better with a business in a box, because they know it's a tested model. sometimes you'll be able to partner with someone who is a bigger franchise owner in that area, that's one possible way. and i always say, don't ignore the fba, because you never know when they can help you. they actually might be a resource, because i do find that occasionally they will fund some very surprising businesses. >> and there are microfinance organizations out there too. if you look for someone who may focus on your area, who may be willing to give you a small loan, where a bank may not. >> there's a site called prosper and they do small business loans as well. >> this is a question about getting your small business to stand out and compete. >> if a small business has a stellar customer base and a great reputation, how does that translate into breaking through the marketing clutter of the larger competitors in the market? >> well, i mean, jen, he's got the first part right, stellar customer base. >> that's amazing, then broadcast. have your customers be your ambassadors and tell why they're so happy with the product you have. as a small business, you're able to be much more nimble and get those stories out there. >> is there anything he could do to get his customers to start talking? >> i think his most important aspect. without great customers, you don't have a business. i think he needs to be a little bit creative. when i go to my dentist, i see all the testimonials on the wall of all the people he's helped and they're so happy. so incent your customers to give you referrals. that's a big part of your business plan. it should be a big part of your business plan as well. >> hector and jen, thank you guys so much for all of your advice today. great to see both of you. and if any of you out there have a question for our experts, all you have to do is send us an e-mail. the address is yourbusiness@msnbc.com. we look forward to getting all of your questions and send in your comments too. we love reading them. you looking for an additional way to grab your readers' attention when they're on our small business website? check out our website of the week. hellobar.com places a well-designed bar at the top of your website that directs visitors anywhere you want. you can focus attention on your most popular content. and a really interesting feature is its built-in analytics that lets you test which messages resonate best with your customers. thanks for joining us today. if you want to revisit some of today's segments, just go to openforum.com/yourbusiness. you'll also find some web-exclusive content with information to help your business grow. we're also on twitter @msnbcyourbiz. and don't forget to become a fan of the show on facebook. next week, we take a closer look at what some are calling the next industrial revolution. >> the first industrial revolution was all about large machines in factories and you go to factories to work. now you put the factory on your desktop and it's yours, it's a personal factory. just for you. you can express your ideas physically, and if they catch on in the world, you've got a business. >> how 3-d printing is going to forever change manufacturing and how small business can take advantage of it. until them, i'm jj ramberg, and remember, we make your business our business. ♪ i' 'm a hard, hard ♪ worker every day. ♪ i' ♪ i'm a hard, hard worker and i'm working every day. ♪ ♪ i'm a hard, hard worker and i'm saving all my pay. ♪ ♪ if i ever get some money put away, ♪ ♪ i'm going to take it all out and celebrate. ♪ ♪ i'm a hard, hard worker... ♪ membership rallied millions of us on small business saturday to make shopping small, huge. this is what membership is. this is what membership does. happy friday. thanks for being with us tonight on the day that felt like the kind of newsday that only happens in the movies. the first headlines to cross this morning were about a jewel heist in france, specifically at the cannes film festival. hundreds of thousands of dollars in jewels all stolen from a hotel safe. there were initial reports that the jewels might have been things that movie stars were planning to wear at the film festival, but now it seems that that is maybe less likely. a professional gang of jewel thieves who actually are known as the pink panthers have hit this area in france in recent years. police say they don't