Small Business Today Magazine JUN 2014 MASTERWORD SERVICES INC | Page 10

Ludmila is very proud to work with such a talented, multicultural and internationally diverse team of
inspired professionals. Photo by Gwen Juarez Photography.

company. The works of Dr. W. Edwards Deming focuses on quality
and continual improvement which lead to MasterWord Services
seeking and obtaining ISO certification. Very few companies in
the language services industry have ISO Certification. ISO stands
for the International Organization for Standardization and MasterWord is ISO 9001:2008 Certified which meets all the requirements of a quality management system. This certification ensures
that their products and services consistently meet their customer’s
requirements and that quality is continually improved.
One of the best words of advice that Ms. Golovine ever received
was, “Try to get your line of credit when you don’t need it.” Actually starting with a line of credit when it wasn’t needed was very
helpful. It was around $10,000. “I pledged everything we had and
didn’t have in order to get it. It was based on receivables. From
that point, the banking relationship grew. We were with the same
banker until he retired. That long term continuity helped tremendously,” remarked Ms. Golovine, “I also learned from the Business
Center that the banking relationship is one of the most important
ones that you have besides your clients so one of the key points is
that we are very open in the way we work with our bankers. We
basically report to them every month, or every quarter, or as often
as they want. We let them know what our plans are, how we are
performing, what the upcoming challenges are, what our line of
credit needs will be, etc.”
At the time that Ludmila came up with her business plan after
doing the market research, the industry was about $10 billion.
Today, it’s about $35 billion. The largest company in the industry
at that time was Berlitz and their annual revenue was around
$100 to $150 million. Also, the industry was extremely fragmented which still holds true. There are a whole bunch of “mom
and pop” shops but there are not that many companies in the
mid-market or ones that are the real big players in the market.
Even today, there are just a handful of really large companies while
the rest are very small.
8 SMALL BUSINESS TODAY MAGAZINE [ JUNE 2014 ]

When Ms. Golovine first drove to where the company is currently located, there were a lot of cow pastures around and the
area was called “Grasshopper Square”. She shrewdly purchased the
building for a very reasonable price. It wasn’t long thereafter that
the area exploded and is now in the center of the “Energy Corridor”. MWS has 130 full time employees, 12,000 contractors with
whom they work, and over 250 languages in which they work. By
other industry standards, they would be considered a small business,
but in their industry, they are one of the top ten in North America!
The main focus has always been how they can do the absolutely
best job for what the client needs. There has never been a limit of
what they can customize or where they can go above and beyond
to meet the clients’ needs. They always do the best they can to be
very flexible and creative with the client who calls them with a tight
deadline or needs something ‘yesterday’, even if they need an interpreter for a language that no one has ever heard of.
“To have another language is to possess a
second soul.”
-Charlemagne
For example, when they do work for the medical center, they provide interpreters for over 250 languages. These interpreters must
first go through training and be Joint Commission compliant. Every
detail is painstakingly researched in making sure all of the hospital
requirements are fulfilled including background checks, trainings, flu
shots, and vaccinations. They may even get a call for a very rare
language like Dinka or Quiché (a Mayan language of Guatemala).
MasterWord has four divisions. There is a division that focuses
on interpreting (verbal communication) and works mostly domestically. They do a lot of work with the healthcare industry, schools,
child protective services, and courts. This division provides interpreters for face-to-face, over the phone, and video remote interpreting. Another division is the translation department that deals
with the written word. This group does a lot of international work