Richard Aviles Means Entrepreneurship

March 28, 2010

By Carlos Macías

Despite negative stereotypes, Colombians are also famous for their laboriousness and a fearless entrepreneurial spirit. To validate this premise, you only need to ask Richard Andrew Áviles Ospina aka “Richie” about what kind of business he is into. “When someone asks me, I say with a smile on my face that I am a dry cleaner, and I have my business card to prove it.” Richie is a Baruch College-CUNY graduate in Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management that is transforming his family-owned business dedicated to garment care into a local powerhouse of excellence and cutting-edge technology.

After a short but successful stint as a real estate broker, Richie became a business partner with his mother Victoria Áviles. Now they operate the original Bridge Cleaners & Tailors in downtown Brooklyn and its sister shop called King Garment Care in Soho, as well as a state-of-the-art central facility located at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. This new plant operates with the environment in mind by wrapping up clothes with bio-degradable polyester bags, recycling the majority of their used water, and using eco-friendly soaps among other things. “We are determined to go green with every practice of our business,” Richie says. They even plugged their clientele into the equation of doing business while minimizing their carbon footprint: They’ll extend discounts to customers who bring back plastic hangers for recycling.

According to Crain’s NewYork.com, Richie’s business had $2.2 million in revenues in 2008, even as he calls it “one of the hardest years in our history.” Doing business in NYC is not an easy feat. Richie, his mother, and the 24 employees under their wing must deal with the harsh economic downturn that began in 2008 plus all the challenges involved in dealing with the over-regulated dry cleaning industry in the city. They all must emphasize on excellent customer service and tailored services to keep the business afloat and actually grow. Also, they step up their marketing efforts to their customers by using flyers and hanger tags to publicize the full array of services they offer.

We asked Richie about the secret of his success and he gave us 6 golden tips for young entrepreneurs:

1. Love what you do and know how to do it. “If you’re not passionate about what you do, you will not succeed. Also, you must know how to perform all the jobs required in your business; you cannot ask anyone to do something if you cannot do it yourself.”
2. Make the day count. “You have 24 hours either to waste your time or to be as productive as possible.”
3. Be proud. “The dry cleaning business is not the most glamorous business, not compared to being a stock broker, but guess what? I clean clothes for a living and I can be very, very successful.”
4. Double your budget. “Make your projections, and no matter what, double it!”
5. Avoid starting your business under-funded. “Just to underline my previous premise.”
6. Do your homework. “You must know exactly your target markets and who are your competitors, don’t think or hope or assume anything.”

For the future, Richie hopes to open a second King Garment shop somewhere around midtown Manhattan, maintaining their upscale service, and refining all the environmentally conscious processes involved in their daily operations. In addition to Richie’s passion for his business, his mother, Ms. Áviles, is a community leader and exemplary businesswoman. She was named as one of the winners of the Crain’s Top Entrepreneurs of 2009 Awards and honored with the Latino Achievement and Innovation Award given by Congresswoman Nydia Vasquez in Washington D.C. She is also the president of the Metrotech Business Improvement District and was recently recognized by the Kings County District Attorney’s Office as one of Brooklyn’s Extraordinary Women. Her motto towards business is simple but extremely powerful, resembling her Colombian roots: “Yes is the answer. What is the question?” No wonder why Richie has become a successful Latino entrepreneur in NYC, and of course, a proud PorColombian.

Photo credit: Courtesy of Richard Áviles.

PorColombia Protests Terrorism The Ticker 02/11/08

Millions of Colombians marched worldwide on Thursday, Feb. 4 showing their disapproval against the guerrilla group FARC and their terrorist tactics. The group is known for kidnapping, extortion, drug trafficking and coercion used to finance arms and their four decades of conflict with the government and paramilitary groups.

Among those millions, Baruch College’s club PorColombia joined in on the march in New York City. The organization, whose acronym translates to Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, is a Marxist-Leninist group, although it is considered a terrorist group by more than 30 countries. The demonstration is considered the largest civil display against FARC in Colombia’s history.

Messages of support were heard from five continents and cities like New York, London, Madrid and Tokyo held marches. Thanks to social networking, Colombians also demonstrated in places as remote as the Kurdistan region in Iraq, the Red Sea in Egypt and the Chilean Patagonia region.

In New York City, the march was held in front of the United Nations building at 42nd Street and First Ave. Early Monday morning, PorColombia members Angie Van Den Berghe, John Moreno and Jeffrey Navarro joined 5,000 others to march for the cause. According to the Baruch website, PorColombia is an organization whose goal is to “provide students with the means and the support to act on personal initiatives and accomplish specific goals focused on Colombia.”

Marchers wore white t-shirts with the slogan “I am Colombia” and “No More Kidnapping! No More Lies! No More Murder! No More FARC!”

“We protested in an orderly fashion, Colombians from the tri-state area attended the rally to send a loud message to the FARC that we’re not going to tolerate their terrorist activities anymore,” added Dr. Claudia Cujar, medical researcher at Columbia University and director of the march.

Organizers used vacation time, sick days, weekends and long nights preparing the demonstration. Supporters even came from Connecticut and Pennsylvania, taking a day off from work. “Colombians showed that we can organize and work together towards a peaceful country,” added Navarro.

Social networking played a vital role; organizers used Facebook to communicate logistics and maintained forums about marketing and promotion ideas. “Un millon de voces contra las FARC” (A million voices against FARC) grew to 277,000 members in less than two months.

“Facebook was an invaluable tool for us to coordinate all aspects of the march, but none of these [would] be possible without the tenacity and compromise from Angie, John and Jeffrey from Baruch College,” says Cujar. “They worked with fortitude and charisma, they care about hostages and their long captivity, their families and the future of Colombia,” he says.

Besides Facebook, the group printed 25,000 posters and 50,000 postcards that were distributed in restaurants, parks and in front of churches. A party bus was also rented to go around nightclubs and spread the word, according to Luz Carreño, the logistics coordinator of the march.

But criticism was drawn from some victim’s families who disapproved of the march because of fear of retaliation from their captors. Some opposition members and scholars argued that the message of the protest was too narrow. In an article published by opendemocracy.org, journalist Catalina Holguín argues that the simplicity of the march’s message presents a distorted view of the complexity of the Colombian armed conflict.

The FARC, government, drug traffickers and right-wing paramilitary group AUC (United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia) have been key players in the Colombian conflict for the last four decades. It has spilled over its borders, provoking tensions with Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru and Brazil. Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has improved the internal security situation that keeps his approval ratings above 80 percent, according to independent polls. But he has failed so far to disarm the FARC or to reach a peace accord that guarantees the safe release of all the hostages.

Here in NYC, the march’s organizers are evaluating their experience using feedback coming in via Facebook. ” We didn’t feel comfortable to sit there and do nothing when hostages have nothing but hope,” said Navarro.

Read the article as originally published by clicking here.

Literacy Hotline Takes its Last Call City Limits.org 09/04/07

The 1.2 million New York City residents who speak English “less than very well” have just lost the city’s major referral source for literacy classes, the Literacy Referral Hotline of the Literacy Assistance Center.The hotline closed Friday after 24 years of service because the state Education Department, which provided $280,000 per year for the last five years, decided not to renew its contract. The hotline – to which the city’s 311 help line directed all requests for ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) classes – not only aided immigrants in their quest to learn English, but also referred native English speakers looking to better their language and math skills, parents who wanted to tutor their children and would-be literacy volunteers.

“I am heartbroken,” said LAC Executive Director Elyse Rudolph. “We receive thousands of calls every year, and our operators take the time to ask the right questions so we can provide the most useful information to our callers according with their needs, location and budget.”

The LAC hotline received more than 12,000 calls last year from all over the state, but the majority came from the city’s five boroughs. Between January and August of this year, the hotline answered more than 7,700 calls. Spending an average of seven to 10 minutes per call, the line operators spoke English, Spanish, Creole and French Creole and relayed information from a computerized database with thousands of free and low-cost programs offering GED test preparation, English language classes and vocational training around the state.

In one sign of the demand for language courses, the CUNY Adult Literacy Program has approximately 13,000 students enrolled, according to its director, Leslie Oppenheim. “We referred thousands of applicants each year to the LAC hotline, so with us it is more like an inverse referral system – but nevertheless, it is the only place we can tell them to go,” Oppenheim said.

According to the state education department, however, Oppenheim’s sense of loss need not be so acute. She, Rudolph and others were not aware last week, but the state plans to replace the LAC hotline with an online referral service provided through Rockefeller College at SUNY-Albany. State Education Department spokesman Tom Dunn says that a new website will be up and running by Oct. 1 (and reachable through nysed.gov) to provide the same information as the hotline. It will be the place to find adult literacy and GED programs for the entire state.

Dunn said the hotline “has provided an exceptional level of service over the past 20 years,” but was cut because federal Workforce Investment Act funding was reduced by more than half a million dollars. “It has become imperative to find more cost-effective ways to deliver services to the public,” he said.

The city Department of Education also operates intake centers to match those seeking literacy services with providers. The centers can be found by calling 311.

Although LAC’s Rudolph had said of the hotline, “we are willing to reconfigure it and make it more cost-efficient … we are knocking the doors of foundations and private enterprises to find the funds to keep it working,” the new online service may make that unnecessary.

The demand for literacy services, however, doesn’t look like it will cease anytime soon. Although the 2005 American Community Survey reported that 1.2 million New Yorkers speak English “less than very well,” only 41,585 New Yorkers were enrolled in state-funded ESOL classes that year, or 3.4 percent of those with limited language skills. According to a recent report by the Center for an Urban Future, City Limits’ sister think tank, there are simply nowhere near enough ESOL services for the state’s 4 million immigrants, and industry considers it a major handicap to business growth.

Read the article as originally published at the Citylimits website.

Mattress Chronicles Dollars & Sense 05/15/07

Roaming through the thick, late afternoon traffic on the Long Island Expressway, whispering an old Spanish rock song that evokes lost adventures and irreplaceable friends, I approach Manhattan with a truckload of heavenly platforms for a good night’s sleep.

In New York, you can find all kinds of deliveries after regular business hours: groceries, dry cleaning, flower arrangements, wine, pet food, even mattresses. As many New Yorkers head home at the end of the day, some are looking forward to delivery of a bed or mattress between 6 p.m and 10 p.m. For Sleepy’s, the company I have a contract with, night deliveries are a signature service. Most people, when they visit friends’ apartments, only get to see the living room and the kitchen, and maybe a bathroom (of course, close friends may also see the master bedroom). But that’s the room I always get invited into, the room with the wedding photograph on the wall, the old, torn but cozy pair of slippers and the wooden dresser whose top is crowded with prescription bottles, cigarette packs and loose change.

My delivery route starts in midtown Manhattan, where a lot of wealthy students and young professionals have moved into mostly new apartments with futuristic lobbies and concierge service. Those apartments are usually empty, so beds are one of the first things to be delivered; customers greet me with a sigh of relief and a big smile because they’re looking forward to their queen or king-size bed. After I am done, they usually express their appreciation with a firm handshake but no tips—they are not New Yorkers just yet!

Moving up to the East Side, I make my next delivery to an old lady whose children are married and out of the house. Her husband could be a lawyer or doctor who is never home. The building is at least 35 years old and the lobby covered with old carpets, with a dusty chandelier and archaic elevators. She feels uneasy with my presence and tells me to be extra careful with her carpet, walls, ceilings, furniture, windows…etc. But after 10 minutes of tension, I use my workmanship to  set up her queen-size bed, ready to be dressed with fine linens from Macy’s or Bloomingdale’s. As she follows me out the door, she says, “Here, a little for cup of coffee, do you know your way out of the building?” She watches closely until I take the elevator down to the lobby.

My next customers are a couple and two teenagers in a two-bedroom apartment at the Peter Stuyvesant complex. They need the night delivery to avoid missing work.

They greet me at the door with smiles and a warm aroma of homemade dinner. The kids take me to their room, and they are excited because they can finally replace their old foam twin mattresses on the wooden bunk bed with new ones. I advise the kids to treat their beds with care and not let their friends jump up and down on them while playing video games. Then, Dad offers me a glass of water and hands me a $20 bill. “How is the traffic out there? Do you have any more deliveries?” he asks. Mom signs the receipt and I leave.

Rolling south, I am slowed by the traffic. My watch reads 8 o’clock. I reach the Lower East Side, where old decrepit buildings coexist with new ones. The neighborhood is becoming what Greenwich Village used to be: a mecca for young artists, aspiring actors and everyone in between. Unfortunately for deliverymen, most apartment buildings have no elevators. A girl with a Brazilian accent buzzes me in. My acrobatic talent combined with brute force comes into play, as I struggle up to the fifth floor. Lack of space is the rule—twin and full mattresses are the only sizes that would fit in her jam-packed apartment.

Her room is literally the size of the walk-in closet of the old lady from the Upper East Side. She wants the delivery this late because she works the night shift at a diner and during the day she is usually sleeping.

My last deliveries are downtown. First, I have to deliver a $7,000 king-size set with pillows, headboard and a few more ornaments. The building is right in front of the New York Stock Exchange, so I have to go through the security checkpoints with bomb-sniffing dogs and double barricade. After I struggle to maneuver a 300-pound bed into the elevator, a young guy in his late 20s greets me at the door of a one-bedroom loft, which has almost no furniture except a huge L-shaped sofa and a 50-inch plasma television.

The bed setup takes approximately 30minutes. He offers me a beer (the only thing he has in his refrigerator), which I refuse reluctantly. We chat about his job and mine.“How many hours do you work in a week?” I ask.

“In finance, we work 60 to 70 hours a week. Good money but very little time to enjoy it. That’s why I invested in the best bed I could find. I need at least a good night’s sleep,” he replies. When I’m done, he gives me $50, which more than makes up for having to pass up the beer.

It is past 9 o’clock, and my last delivery is just a few blocks from Wall Street, in a renovated office building that offers apartments for rent. The concierge directs me to the service elevator. On the 10th floor, a young Asian woman shows me the way into a one-bedroom apartment with a huge living room, which has been subdivided with Sheetrock walls. The place now looks more like a hostel.

“Could you please do this as quietly as possible? My roommates are sleeping already,” she says. She looks very tired. When I ask her why, she replies, “I work all day and then I go to school. I just got in.” Deep inside, I feel relieved that I’m not the only one juggling work and career.

Almost 10 p.m., and I’m finally done. On my way home, I dream about my own bed and how comfortable and warm it is. Then reality strikes: I realize that final exams are coming. No bedtime for me anytime soon.

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It’s not Hard Being Green Dollars & Sense 05/15/06

The Solaire, which stands 27 stories high in Battery Park City, is a 3-year-old luxury rental building with sweeping views of the Hudson River that caters almost exclusively to young professionals working in the financial district. A few miles away, on East Third Street stands the seven-story Diversity Houses, developed by the Lower East Side People’s Mutual Housing Association to provide housing to low-income families from diverse ethnic backgrounds.

Despite the obvious differences, both buildings are part of the current real estate trend to develop more environmentally friendly residential buildings. But while both Solaire and Diversity Houses…

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Access the full 2006 Dollars & Sense issue here.