Family Business Dedicated to Empowering the Hispanic Community
By: Joanne Rodrigues
The long and winding road to prosperity is often filled with challenges and stumbling blocks. There’s so little room at the top and we need to work together to build each other up and add more seats at the table. This is exactly what a recent and inspiring conversation with Mario Motta has taught us.
Motta, CEO, and Founder of S.O.S Tax used perseverance and resilience to carve his journey. “My wife and I were working for the Secretaría de Comunicaciones y Transportes in Baja California and we got an opportunity to move to the United States on a work visa more than thirty years ago,” he said. “The language barrier was real and made things tough. After a long time, I finally found work as a dishwasher at a restaurant.”
Motta soon worked his way up the restaurant’s chain of command as a cook and then a supervisor until eventually, he became a manager. We asked him how S.O.S Tax came about if he was spending most of his time within the restaurant.
“It’s all thanks to my wife. She’s a numbers lady and has accountancy in her. We had to learn to file our tax returns by ourselves using books from the IRS, while I was at the restaurant. With no access to computers and no other help, the two of us set up S.O.S Tax right there from our dining table,” said Motta. “My co-workers asked us to help them with their taxes as well. It soon became a small business.”
The Mottas would go knocking on doors to find clients – Even offering their services for free for three months to gain people’s trust. Motta goes on to explain. “Despite the obstacles, we had to continue. My advice to other Latinos is to never give up. Hispanics are very hardworking people, and we shouldn’t let a language or cultural barrier get in the way of finding success.”
Motta’s ethos of staying true to yourself while doing honest, good work shines bright across his business. “One thing that I love about my work is that we directly give back to the Hispanic community. I want people to know that if you do things the right way, and comply with the rules and regulations set by the governing authorities, then your future is going to look very bright.”
Motta is strict with his clients about adhering to rules and not trying to cheat the system. “Everyone wants to know how they can pay less in taxes. But that’s not how I work. We have to be careful and straightforward and pay what is fair. You’ll sleep better knowing that your accounting books are done the right way.
Motta elaborates on the complexity that comes with operating a family-run business. There are plenty of family businesses in the Latino community, but not everyone has been successful for over 31 years like S.O.S Tax. “From a young age, we instilled the importance of hard work and earning each reward in our children,” he said.
Motta’s sons play an active role in running the businesses today. “They’ve seen how dependent we’ve been on the company since the beginning. They know that it is our livelihood and that a lot depends on it. We work together to not only grow the company but to always maintain the trust of our clients.”
Now three decades later, S.O.S Tax is doing everything it can to uplift their community and help others. “We have good roots and good values. But we also can’t do everything by ourselves. I want other Latinos to work together to build each other up. Many people hesitate to ask for advice, but you’ll learn a lot for free simply when you ask. That is what we are here for.”