Garcia Research Associates in Burbank wasn’t just a dream for Carlos E. Garcia. It was a passion he turned into reality in 1990 when the hard-driving Garcia quit his job at a market research firm to go into business for himself. After getting a second mortgage on his home, Garcia put his money where his mouth was and never looked back. Today, with a staff of 76 and scores of clients from the ranks of the Fortune 500 list, Garcia’s company has not only survived, it is thriving in a niche it created for itself: market research in the Latino and other minority communities. In fact, business is so good, Garcia had to ask for help. The 49-year-old company president took time out last week to speak with Business Journal reporter Carlos Martinez about this most recent challenge. “We were going up against some of the giants in the business for this particular contract and we felt we wouldn’t have a shot unless we did something first. You have to remember that these big firms have all kinds of money that we wish we had, and they had all kinds of resources that we couldn’t beat. “It was for testing television commercials in the Hispanic market and to see how they’d react to these products. It was right up our alley, but we definitely needed help. So I called this other company, another market research firm that’s known all over the world, to see if they’d be interested in working with us. They said, ‘yes,’ so that’s how we got it. We showed that we could do these large-scale screenings and all that market research and we won out. “It showed me that we need to develop these strategic partnerships and develop and nurture these relationships in order to succeed. “The Hispanic market has grown tremendously and a lot of companies are looking in that direction. It’s a big demographic that they can’t ignore. There is a lot of interest in that market and I’m one of the few Hispanic (market research) firms left. As there is more and more money in that market, my chief competitors have been bought out by the big companies one by one. “Increasing our relationships and working with colleagues in other areas has been a key for us. We’re now working with an Asian marketing company. “When I got started, things were hard. I knew I could’ve worked for somebody else and made more money. But I took a lot of hits in this business and just kept going.”