As a Latino business owner, Richard Ramos said he knows how difficult it is for small businesses to survive.

It's even harder for Latino businesses that rely mostly on referrals and cash-paying customers, he said.

"They don't advertise like the American market," said Ramos, who runs Santa Barbara Capital, a brokerage company.

For that reason, Ramos and local business entrepreneur Adam Casillas held the Ventura County Latino Business Expo on Thursday at the Four Points Sheraton Hotel in Ventura for the second time since April.

The event was geared toward Latino business owners and members of the Latino community to network and advertise their businesses, Ramos said.

"That's the problem with a lot of small businesses. They open the door and think everyone is going to come because they have a storefront," Ramos said. "It doesn't work that way."

About 70 businesses and employers — both Latino and non-Latino — came out to the event.

Dr. Adolfo Murillo, an Oxnard optometrist, was giving free samples of his tequila, Alquimia Añejo, which he first started bottling in 2004 from organic agave grown on his farm in Mexico.

"As soon as they taste it, the next question is where can they go out and get it," Murillo said.

The tequila is available in various liquor stores and restaurants throughout Ventura County.

Companies that provide services to local businesses also were at the event.

H&L Salas Business Services helps many small Latino businesses with payrolls, said employee Wendy Ramirez.

With economical prices and simplified services, the company "just gives them a bit of a push" in the market, Ramirez said.

Josepha Baca, program coordinator for the Training Institute of Oxnard College, said the program helps about an even number of Latino and non-Latino businesses by providing them with trained employees, sometimes even on-site training.

"We're embedded in the community so we understand what the community needs," Baca said.

As for the businesses, Ramos said the event will open them up to other businesses and customers they might not have reached.

"It gives them a little bit of hope and inspiration," Ramos said. "There's a lot of customers out there — not just the ones that knock on their doors."