What: A U.S. Hispanic
marketing company
Who: Linda Gonzalez of Viva
Partnership Inc.
Where: Miami
When: Started in 1997
How much: $500
When Linda Gonzalez moved from San Antonio to Miami to open a
new branch of the marketing agency she worked for, she was
devastated to learn only six weeks later that the agency had
decided to close the office and fire her. So she spoke to the head
of CBS/Westinghouse, the big account she had helped the agency land
in Miami, and bravely asserted: "I have 12 years of
international experience; I'm the one who did the presentation.
What you were getting before, you will still get from me." He
accepted, and with $500 on Gonzalez's credit card, Viva
Partnership Inc. was born.
Gonzalez was able to keep the office, but deferred the rent for
a couple of months. She only bought a two-line phone from Target
and a fax machine. A single mother, Gonzalez had to get by without
payment from CBS/Westinghouse for 90 days. She remembers the
difficult holiday season:
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"I had one other credit card, Spiegel. I bought my kids
their presents with that." Handling most aspects of the
business herself, she outsourced work to creative directors and
copywriters.
Gonzalez slowly started adding new accounts and now projects $22
million to $23 million in billings for 2003, boasting clients like
FedEx (Latin America), Entenmann's and Verizon Wireless.
Remarried and now with another child, Gonzales is happy both at
home and with her business, viewing the near disaster as a blessing
in disguise.
-April Y. Pennington
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