A San Diego Voyager Inspiring Stories Interview
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Today we’d like to introduce you to Shamus Sayed.
Shamus, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I’m the middle of 3 kids and been in San Diego since 1979. Grew up in Poway, having graduated Poway High School in 1995. Ultimately graduated UC San Diego with a B.S. in Biology and pre-med for about 15 minutes. Had a job waiting for me at a biotech company the Monday after commencement. Climbed my way through and despite the passion for the sciences, I had a series of bad bosses and wanted to leave the corporate world. Parallel, my father had started a company in the late 80s, took it public in the late 90s, and sold it in the mid-2000s. He too was in a transitional state.
In 2007, over the course of 30 days, I got married, left my corporate job and took a 60% pay reduction as we closed the acquisition of Interpreters Unlimited (IU).
Over the course of 11 years, IU provides language services (onsite interpretation, document translation, telephone and video interpretation) in about 35 states in the healthcare, government, academic and corporate verticals. We are blessed now being one of the largest in the industry space. Over the last few years, we’ve been blessed to being recognized as one of San Diego’s largest privately held companies, INC 5000 ranked for 4 consecutive years, awarded by the SBA for two consecutive years, and Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Semi-Finalists for two consecutive years.
Outside of IU, I sit on 3 SDPD Advisory Boards and former president of the FBI Citizens Academy Alumni Association. And, this year a congressional candidate for California’s 50th district.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It’s a matter of perspective. If you love what you do, this isn’t considered “work”. Sure, we’ve had our cash flow struggles, lack of payment from the State of CA when the budget wasn’t approved, employee issues, regulation challenges… I can keep going, but the point here is that its par for the course. Each day is different but as long as there are more good days, I’m in a good place.
Please tell us about Interpreters Unlimited.
Interpreters Unlimited (IU) has been in business since 1970 but under our ownership since 2007. We are a matchmaker, i.e., we match clients who are having challenges communicating with their patients/clients with linguists in nearly 200 languages.
Though we offer services over the phone and video, what we are known for is providing an onsite interpreter. IU’s proprietary software and a network of nearly 10,000 independently contracted linguists matches clients with highly qualified/vetted linguists in nearly 200 languages throughout the country.
We’re proud of our ability to create a bridge between two people. The inability to effectively communicate has an adverse impact in every vertical in which we serve. The cost of our services is small relative to the costs of NOT using our service.
We are blessed with an amazing internal team who make this ability to serve possible. As a company, our focus is our clients – period. As owners, our focus is shared with our team and clients. A joint, equal priority is necessary.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
This is a scary notion. Nothing.
Our experiences are our blessings. Though we may not see these as blessings at times. A wise person said rejection is God’s protection.
If we had done things differently, I wouldn’t have learned the lessons I know now.
Contact Us
Making Connections Nationwide. Interpreters Unlimited is a national language services provider in the United States. For more information, please call (800) 726-9891.
Sources
San Diego Voyager. (2018, July 5). Meet Shamus Sayed of Interpreters Unlimited. Retrieved August 22, 2018, from http://sdvoyager.com/interview/meet-shamus-sayed-interpreters-unlimited-scripps-ranch/