Marco A. Sanchez Jr.'s Ecosystem of Support
Marco A. Sanchez Jr., Relationship Manager, Bloom Growth
Marco A. Sanchez Jr., relationship manager, Bloom Growth, was born and raised in Mexico City and his family migrated to the US when he was a teenager. Marco’s family was in pursuit of the American Dream and left everything they knew to provide their family with a better chance for success. “Growing up, I watched my father and mother put their energy in small business ventures to support our family, ranging from a poultry market to a body shop. Seeing how much they sacrificed for us and the hard work they put in was inspiring for me.”
Marco learned to look for different business opportunities through seeing his father launch his body shop and knowing the potential and missed opportunities he faced. This spurred his passion for expanding my business education and franchising. “I’ve always wished my parents would have looked at franchising to expand their business. My parents were very traditional and taught me from a young age to always give respect, and in turn, earn it. Because I was Latino, I wasn't always easily given respect but I always strive to earn it. Learning to communicate eloquently and effectively in English was my number one goal when I had my first job at a grocery store,” said Marco.
Marco continued, saying “the support of my family, fellow business leaders and my company have been invaluable to me. I have found tremendous value and guidance from IFA’s Hispanic Latino Franchise Leadership Council (HLFLC) Members, Ericka Garza and Louie Picazo, and my coworker Andy Schmidt. Their support has allowed me to flourish and continue to aspire to bringing additional diversity to our team at Bloom Growth.”
Bloom Growth is a management platform built to assist businesses, including franchises, to better manage their success, whether it be to run more effective meetings, to developing organizational charts and strategic goals. As a Latino, Marco takes DEI very seriously. He remembers times when he experienced the negative effects when DEI was not present. “There were opportunities that were not available to me because I was Latino. Having DEI present in the franchising community is huge because it comes with education for everyone. I've attended expos and conferences where DEI was prominent and clearly driven. Education for Latinos will drive franchising to a whole new level.”
To help bring Bloom Growth to a new level, Marco is creating a workflow for onboarding Spanish-speaking franchise entrepreneurs for Bloom Growth software. This provides Latinos all over the world with support for franchising goal-tracking in Spanish. The first step is knowing that you can have a vision, build a business plan, and have a tool that provides you with the metrics and progress of your vision to a successful business plan. Latinos can currently receive training and support in Spanish and with a Spanish onboarding experience, Latinos will have an ecosystem of support.
Recently, Marco was speaking with a Latino coach who has a large Latino client base: “During our conversation, he mentioned that it's always a challenge to effectively receive support or training in Spanish. Something that I love to provide them is the assurance that their customers can receive training and support in Spanish which is something the Spanish onboarding experience initiative will complement. This gave them continued confidence in sending their clients to our software.”
In Marco’s opinion, it’s easy to foster inclusiveness within a business. Marco simply requests input from everyone and, in turn, listens to everyone's input, which allows for an open environment. “In my workplace, Bloom Growth, our leadership is wonderful at allowing everyone to be heard through an open and honest environment.” He finds that including diversity, equity and inclusion within their workforce provides ‘blindspot coverage’ – someone may see a 6 where someone else sees a 9, giving the company a way to grow with everyone’s assistance and effort.
During Hispanic Heritage Month, we honor the work and efforts Latinos make in the franchise ecosystem and thank Marco for his enduring commitment to expanding opportunities for Latinos in business.