IN THE BEGINNING ...

Going to keep this short tonight. Amazing how the day goes by. Just wanted to give you a little background on myself and how I got started with this line of work. I'll blog more on this down the line on this but I will be the first to admit I never saw myself running a business like this.

I took French back in high school and if you asked any classmate of mine, "What do you see Ed Rosheim doing after college?" - I can guarantee there isn't a person alive that would have pegged me for a language major. Before attending UNI (Northern Iowa) - I literally had never spoken one "Hola" or " ¿Cómo estás?" Spanish wasn't even offered at our high school. I took Spanish 101 as an elective as a sophomore in college. I struggled with the language but loved it and ended up getting an MA in Spanish. This wasn't because I wanted to pursue that degree but rather I thought I better continue to learn having only a total of 3 years of Spanish under my belt. During that time I received a K - 12 degree in Spanish but didn't think that was the path I wanted to take.

After college my first job was as a bilingual social worker, then I taught some basic ESL & Spanish classes at a few community colleges in Iowa. Please keep in mind - I was still no language prodigy having started so late but I loved teaching adults and thought I had a knack for putting them at ease and communicating the basics of the language.

I moved up to Minnesota back in 1996 with my wife Cheryl (hard to believe) and I got a job at a non-profit and through them I taught Survival Spanish and functional work-specific English to companies like: Pillsbury, the Minneapolis Police, Mystic Lake Casino ... That was it! I had found my niche - teaching basic work-related Spanish & ESL phrases to help companies close the communication gap. I felt (& feel) that I can make a difference with individuals that don't need or want to become language majors - they want to: "get their point across," retain good employees, increase productivity and develop a rapport with their workers.

In closing (and I said I was going to keep this short) it is never too late to pick up enough Spanish or any other language to make an impact where you work. And conversely - giving your employees the opportunity to improve their English does wonders for your bottom line.