Staying Rooted in Cultura and Corazon with Luis Octavio

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
So for me, Ola sopam and welcome to our mergarito,
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us and help us make the show possible. Let's meet them.
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Speaker 2 (02:06):
Pola Monies.

Speaker 1 (02:06):
Wellcome back to Kapakombam. Yes, and this is a place
where we share our stories. Seen SANSA You're about to
watch is a live panel I moderated at the Avance
Approximo conference during the launch of Vivas Shop dot Live,
which is a platform uplifting Latin creators and small business
owners so that they can do live shopping. It's really cool.

(02:32):
Check it out Viva Shop dot Live. Thank you for
bringing us to this event. It was super fun and
this panel was recorded live in front of a standing audience,
so it was full. It was truly full, and people
were at the door because they couldn't fit anymore. When
I I mean, I was planning on recording it anyway,

(02:55):
but then I saw the interest and that's when I
was like, Okay, I need to post this, and I
definitely need to. I had this call to share it
with other people because so many people were touched by
the story that Louis shared and the things that we

(03:16):
talked about. So I had the honor and the amazing
fun time to chat with my friend luisaw He's been
a Kava kombam many times, I believe three, and he
is the brilliant mind behind the brand Globytos Glotos Glotos,

(03:37):
and we talked about his journey launching and why it's
so important for his brand to stay rooted in Gultura
and Goha.

Speaker 3 (03:46):
Son.

Speaker 1 (03:46):
You're gonna hear laughter, real talk, amazing audience questions. Of course,
Louis's just super touching story and you're gonna have a
lot of fun. Quick note, the audience didn't have microphones,
so some questions might sound a little bit faint, but
the gems are still very much there.

Speaker 4 (04:07):
You'll know.

Speaker 1 (04:09):
Some of the questions. It's fine that you can't hear them,
because whatever he responds, it works. You want to thank
you so much for watching, and I hope this conversation
inspires you as much as it inspired the room.

Speaker 4 (04:24):
Can we start. Everybody that wasn't ready, They're not ready.
I'm not ready for everything we're going to learn today.

Speaker 1 (04:37):
How many of you are excited? How many of you
are on TikTok? How many of you want to be
on TikTok? How many of you don't know where you're here?
There's no free lunch, there's hen Luis gost does.

Speaker 4 (05:01):
beIN snello e nel vioso a little bit, a little.

Speaker 2 (05:07):
Bit, Let's take a deep breath. But I'll take a
deep breath and arrive. Why not.

Speaker 1 (05:12):
I'm gonna have to bring my coaching skills because it
is what it is. So we know each other from
a while back. Lotos is a big deal. You are
on TikTok. But let's take us back to the moment
when you realized you wanted a Concha balloon and it
didn't exist.

Speaker 4 (05:30):
Can you guys believe that? Well? Then greated Iso in
twenty sixteen, which was not so long ago, and it
almost feels like deja vu because we were under the
same la Estamosovian do rita and literally at that time,
I was working for Corporate America and I had two assistants.

(05:50):
One of them was third generation Latina, and she loved conchas.
She loved pandulta. How many of you know what a
conca is?

Speaker 5 (05:59):
Okay, okay, that means something different. It's a piece of
bread soupan. Thank you for that, thank you for that.

Speaker 4 (06:13):
And so she loved pandulce, and I was like, okay,
lemosa presa, and we're gonna have everything concha. And I
found a food truck that sold conchas concha. I found
another vendor who sold ice cream sandwiches, but on the concha.
And then of course I went online and I started

(06:34):
looking for globos because I was in my head. I
was thinking obia mine e globos and concha because they're
already round. And then I looked for plates, and I
looked for napkins, and I couldn't find a single Globo
and I was like, no, no, what is it? So
search high and low, Etsy, Amazon, Total, Total Web. And

(06:55):
then I did what I think anybody would do. I
called my friends in Mexico and I was like, oh,
you wait, pan concha, balloons. You may who nolo se misto,
but I will look. Two weeks later they call back
and they're like, they don't exist. And I was like
wait what comore can sea stem global, They pan dulce.

(07:18):
That's like anybody coming to the USA and asking for
a donut or a cupcake balloon and then they don't
exist and nomla. And that's how it all began.

Speaker 1 (07:33):
How many years later, how many balloons later? How many
Concha balloons later?

Speaker 4 (07:38):
I want to say now, well over eighty thousand balloons
the Conca.

Speaker 2 (07:43):
So there was an opportunity. Yes, clap it out. It's
a big deal. It's a big deal.

Speaker 1 (07:50):
So you started setting the balloons before we hopped on TikTok.
How did you decide TikTok was the platform you wanted
to be on.

Speaker 4 (07:58):
So listen as Fernanda and all the panelists who were
here before, those the numbers truth. And to be quite honest,
you become an entrepreneur pordos coosas one is you are
passionate about something. You're just so passionate, right, and then
the other one is port nessida and that is that

(08:19):
is the absolute truth. So before TikTok, we were selling
online on Instagram and we had we have a storefront
and that is how we were selling. And the reason
why we got on TikTok was because litera mente last
not last year. Two years ago, we actually came into

(08:41):
the ninety nine cents store and we did a test
run twenty stores, and in two months we sold over
twenty five thousand units in twenty stores. Now you do
the math, Okay. Following that, they were like, okay, we
want you in two hundred stores, and we were like,
holy shit, okay, we're I remember that Thanksgiving so vividly

(09:03):
because that Thanksgiving to me for me was like way
we made it. Because if you do the math, we
would have been on track to sell over a million balloons. Hit,
this is it, this is it for us. Well, as
many of us know, the ninety nine cents start closed
down and as soon as we got to the stores,

(09:26):
like our balloons getting to the stores, they make the
announcement and they closed down, and our balloons didn't even
see the light of day. And so we didn't have
the money to be able to buy that many balloons.
So we actually got Alan. We couldn't get Alan through
the typical bank, yeah see, because my credit horrible, and

(09:51):
so we asked a friend of a friend of the
family and they lend us some money. And so that's
how we were able to order so many balloons. So
when that happened, like, okay, I'm not talking shit, Bero, no,

(10:14):
and we were in debt. We were like And so
I started looking at TikTok and I started seeing companies
like Boss Cosmetics. It's the Biria bombs is the Annie
who was going to be here but couldn't. And I
was like, wait, they're doing it, They're making it. How
are they doing it? And I started researching because by

(10:36):
this time all I had was time on my hands,
and I was researching and researching and researching, and apparently
it looked like the best way to sell through TikTok
is one of two ways. The first one is your
your videos go viral right over a million views, and
the second one was to go live. And so I
was like, okay in TikTok, now, let me just say

(11:00):
this one then per se steven depression. I was heavy
and the last thing I wanted to do was go
in front of a freaking camera and show my face. Beto.
It was that or go back into the corporate world
and get a real job to be able to pay
this debt. And I was not ready to give up
on this dream and that is how we started selling

(11:23):
on TikTok.

Speaker 1 (11:25):
But oh when on so you get that what happened
with the nine one cent store they closed? How did
you pick yourself up to say I need to bring
the strength to figure it out, because, as it was
talked in the previous panel, things get hard. So what
was the pull and the push for you to be like, Okay,
if it's not going to be at the nine ocent store,

(11:45):
there has to be another way.

Speaker 2 (11:46):
What pulled you?

Speaker 4 (11:48):
What pulled me was the reason why we started globtos,
And that is because in twenty sixteen, when I started researching,
I saw that there were only a couple of Beloe
owns for the Latino community. And the reason why I'm
doing air quotes is because what I found was a
Google translation of Happy Birthday to fale compliannos, a donkey, pinata,

(12:13):
a sombrero, and some moroccas. And the reason why I'm
pronouncing it like that is because then I realized that
the companies that were producing these were white. So all
of a sudden, those globitos became a stereotype and I
was like, no, lull Greer, how is it possible? Now?
My background is an experiential marketing, and I did research

(12:38):
and I was like, wait, how is it possible that
this industry is worth almost half a billion dollars and
we have four freaking designs that are not even intended
by us for us? And so that strength is what

(12:58):
pulled me out of that funk where I was like,
wait then, okay, Italy, because there is no reason why
these balloons don't exist.

Speaker 2 (13:08):
I love that.

Speaker 1 (13:09):
So you talk about being depressed and overwhelmed and stressed
about that time, and it's common for people to be like, well,
I kind of want to be on tech Talk, but
ba do we have beena to be on camera? But
the bana is something that stops a lot of people.

(13:32):
Have you ever been stopped by the bana because they're like, Oh,
I don't have the perfect background, or I don't have
the makeup, or I don't whatever, or how many of
you have drafts?

Speaker 2 (13:41):
Hundreds of drafts?

Speaker 3 (13:42):
I do?

Speaker 2 (13:42):
I know, I do. He gets on me for this,
I know I do? And was it?

Speaker 1 (13:47):
Did you have any fear to show up on camera?

Speaker 4 (13:49):
The first time Clado Clado A ton of fear was
a kevana le see juagun us hit us.

Speaker 2 (14:02):
His face comes with subtitles.

Speaker 4 (14:03):
Everyone I cannot hide my hit us, and people take
pictures and I'll just I think I'm posing and looking offly,
and so I was like baaso. And so the first
couple of weeks, I remember that we had like five
people on the life and I was like, well, get hi,

(14:24):
is anybody out there? But then I realized one thing,
al Finandel Dia. If you're not willing to make an
ass out of yourself for your business, then you're probably
doing something wrong and you're probably not not willing to

(14:45):
sacrifice and do whatever it takes for that business. Because
in but our biggest month, in one month, we sold
over thirty four thousand dollars worth of globitos in one month. Yes,

(15:06):
that was enough to pay almost the full debt. And
I was like, wait that kisoy, I'm going to continue
to do this. I'm going to continue to do this.
And it took a lot of trial and error, right,
It took a lot of like, let let me figure
out the times Akyota's Metpongo, Akira's no Metpungo. And it

(15:27):
took like going live in the morning and midday afternoon,
and I would write down the hours Okay, this is important.
Write down the hours and then write down how many
people log on, and then you're going to start seeing
a pattern. And based on that pattern, I realized that
for Globitos, the best times to go on TikTok Live
is between eight am to ten am in the morning

(15:51):
Pacific Standard time, and in the afternoon from six pm
to eight pm. Now that doesn't mean that that's going
to work for you, because I see people selling at
midnight or past one in the morning and they're killing it.
So you just have to test it. You have to
continuously test it in no sense of suspended because I

(16:12):
am the biggest this is sperado in the world, right, yes,
like I am the biggest esperado was again see that
Pine Nero made me, not this susperado.

Speaker 1 (16:30):
Let's let's break it down for everyone. So the first
life was five people. Now how long did it take
from five people to you making your first sale and
then saying that kisoy it?

Speaker 4 (16:41):
Literally I think took like five days and the sale
was one global.

Speaker 2 (16:45):
And you went every day.

Speaker 4 (16:47):
Yeah, and I mean I know, and I remember my
business partner. I'd love her to death. Her name is
Dona ge and she was like, wait, we're not going
to pay the debt with one balloon sold for two
ninety nine. And I was like, wait, just relax, let's

(17:09):
let's it's gonna happen. Let's just keep on doing it.
And and yeah, so you.

Speaker 1 (17:15):
So do one balloon, then how many did you sell?
Like when did you get to that thirty four thousand
dollars month?

Speaker 4 (17:20):
So we started in July. We actually just almost a
compe and selling on TikTok Live Grassias honestly, Avyadias, leasinghanas
Pedro and I would smile and I would smile, and
as soon as I turned off that phone, I would
be like, it's me off. But July, August, September dead,

(17:46):
October it started picking up because we have this glob
Okay said Brucha own your magic, and they have let's say,
this is a great balloon if you're a Brucha or
identify as a Brucha but more but but if your
pronouns are Bruca. But but if you have a swegra
and you want to be shady, I would be like,

(18:10):
they go own your magic. So October it started picking up,
and then in November we sold our first two thousand dollars,
but still a callila mathematica. We're like, well, it's almost
been into those meal dollar is a missed. We're gonna
pay this debt hamas. And so then December hits and

(18:33):
then January hits and we were like, oh my god,
we're selling two to three thousand dollars in one hour, okay, beloko,
And then we realized, oh was for Valentine's So that
is our season right there, that's our month, right. So

(18:55):
then I started going on Live more often and longer
hours and longer hours. I was like, know, this is
the the tree that gives, gives on giving, or gives the.

Speaker 2 (19:08):
Gift that keeps on giving.

Speaker 4 (19:10):
This is the gift that keeps on giving. Right, So
I'm like, give us. I'm just gonna go live and
so fussy fussy, And so that month we sold over
thirty four thousand dollars. And listen, our balloons are two
dollars in ninety nine sents. That was a ship ton
of balloons.

Speaker 1 (19:31):
So let's talk about also the fear that comes with success,
because I think everyone wants to be successful and you
want to sell out on TikTok, but then what happens
Once you hit that thirty four thousand dollars a month,
how do you maintain that momentum?

Speaker 4 (19:47):
So it's been very difficult. We haven't maintained that that
was our best month and so but now this year
we're gearing up towards that. Right, We're like, okay, mamsus,
and we're just gonna try to casa right because we
know that January I'd be in an astrodo. I've been
in a stro bonus, and so we now know that

(20:10):
we need to be prepared. So we now ordered a
ton more balloons that are on their way that we're
going to be ready, ito roo, So how do you
keep your momentum? You just keep on going and listen,
even today, even after selling that much, because let me
just say this, when July hit, I did a recap
of all of the sales. We literally have sold that

(20:35):
one year on TikTok over one hundred and fourteen thousand dollars.

Speaker 1 (20:40):
Going to products yeah to ninety nine.

Speaker 4 (20:45):
Well, our most expensive is for ninety nine propus ninety
nine lesson five. So when I saw that, I was like, wait,
how how did this happen? Right?

Speaker 1 (21:00):
Like?

Speaker 4 (21:00):
I saw that number and wait, soon's he So I

(21:22):
was crunching the numbers and I was sitting at in
the in the kitchen table with my dad and I
was like and then I was like quanta foy, and
he was like, seeing, I know, let's do it again.
And and I remember sitting there and talking to my
dad and thinking, wait, none of the right, we paid

(21:47):
off our debt, but I started paying myself something those
from his chickles. But at least now I'm helping my
partner with the bills, right, I'm helping I'm contributing bookkeeper

(22:12):
because the majority of our money goes back into investing
into the business. And that's the sad truth for now.
And that's why I say that if you're an entrepreneur,
it's because you're either very passionate about what you're doing
right and or you're willing to look like a dumbass
sometimes many times, many times.

Speaker 1 (22:32):
So let's do a show and tell Do we want
to see a story of a balloon?

Speaker 2 (22:37):
Yes, let's see tell us a.

Speaker 1 (22:40):
Story about video number two and then medo, do we
want to watch it first?

Speaker 2 (22:46):
Or you tell us the story first?

Speaker 4 (22:47):
I mean we could I can talk about it because
it doesn't have audio, so that balloon, right, there is
this one Lorena all right. So this is one of
the first stories we got into after the ninety nine
cents stores closed. This is big Saber Foods. They have
eight stores, and it just so happened that I actually

(23:08):
went to go buy some groceries and I saw somebody
picking out our balloon, Lareine, and I was like, II
super Emosnaldo. I was like, oh my god, I'm seeing
it in real life in the wild, like people are
buying our balloon. They're looking at it right. And then
when I walked inside, I realized that they bought it
for this the latinda inside the store, and it was

(23:34):
during Mother's Day, So literally I was crying inside the
store because first of all, how do we go from
not having representation to a balloon that can mean so
much on sample Globo can mean so much. Clearly, this

(23:55):
woman was working Elie las Madres because she has to
put food on the tape and I don't know her story.
Per Jomi Mahine Pinche Netflix se Cordo, you went by
side Mahinna Estorias as to why she's there, what's going on?
This personas and Leon Rena, they took pictures, and I

(24:16):
was like, wait to think, Machinez. We all have these
pictures at home, pictures of like the past, when we
were little kids, when whatever, we all have them. And
in my head, I was thinking one day thirty forty
fifty years from now as a globo, yes momento asalid
and hopefully by then this woman because then I really

(24:38):
then I found out she works in the bakery department.
Hopefully then this woman is going to have her own bakery,
her own chain of bakeries, her own something, and she's
going to look back at this picture and be like
as Mathers because I had to put food on the
table and that like, I don't know any other balloon

(24:59):
company that can do that.

Speaker 2 (25:01):
I love that that. That video made me cry.

Speaker 1 (25:06):
I was like, oh my gosh, So let's talk about
dur passion because the whole time women's baglishing, because that's just.

Speaker 2 (25:15):
Who we are.

Speaker 1 (25:16):
No, we can't hide it. So did you ever think
I need to hide myself in some way?

Speaker 4 (25:24):
No?

Speaker 2 (25:25):
But your whole business is about.

Speaker 4 (25:27):
No, never, never, never. And we were actually just talking
about how you pronounce your names. And I used to
not like my middle name, Octavio because nobody could ever
pronounce it. It was always Octavia, oct octagont whatever, and
I hated it, and so for the longest time I
erased it from like my vocabulary. And it wasn't until

(25:51):
maybe ten, fifteen, twenty years ago that I was like, no,
but it's guessing me Gemmo. That's part of who I am.
And so now it's like Luis, I see my dad one,
it's not Louis. It's not Louis. It's not it's Louis.
Oh Davio. And for those of you that know me comotopam,
know that my culture is really important. I always wear

(26:11):
my culture on my sleeve you see in prim Frentio.
But especially because when my parents migrated to the United States,
they did not know a word of English, and I
can only imagine how many times people must have talked
shit in front of them to their face, and my
parents not knowing what the hell was going on. And

(26:33):
so I'm by lingual and the least I can do
is speak Spanish and also represent my culture because my
parents didn't have that opportunity.

Speaker 1 (26:51):
I love the question from the previous panel by your
inner child, and I do it or chillbourg, so that
was like, perfect, who do you do that is four?

Speaker 4 (27:01):
I do this for my inner child, and listen, I
know this is gonna sound corny, but if you haven't
taken therapy, go take therapy. We all need it. The
moment I started taking therapy, a ton of things changed
in my life. And I was the type of person
that was like, wait, no, mom, he was no pasada.

(27:26):
But then I took my first therapy session. Imitrablta Mexico.
So she's not from here, so she has Marisa. He
was dragged and I cried so much, like I see
the get wasted spirit Usanto. And that changed my life

(27:50):
and my perspective and how I look at things now,
and so I think it's important to take therapy one.
And because of that, I also think that me doing
this work right now is for that inner child, s
Luisito that didn't have the most amazing complains because we
just didn't have the money right, not because my parents

(28:11):
didn't want to that little Lusito that would get made
fun of in school because he was fat, The little
Luisito le was also bullied because he was gay and
he didn't know it. And so I do it for him.
But more importantly, I feel I do it for my
parents because my parents sacrificed a lot, as many of

(28:35):
our parents have. They growing up in this country with
Notio's cousins, uncles, primos nada. They had to leave all
of that behind to give us an opportunity. So I
do it for them. And I always say that cler
basu ciler the claraisimo baser. I'm not going to purchase

(29:01):
an expensive car, and I'm not gonna go out there
and get fucking expensive clothing. You let you together, because
they don't even make it for us. They don't make
it for us, but you will know when I've made it.
Because one, I'm not going to wash my own clothes
or fold my own clothes. I hate that. I absolutely
hate that, and if hell exists, I feel like I'm
gonna be washing and folding clothes for the eternity. But

(29:26):
to be able to have somebody at home to help
my parents out Kallimpi and Ikekosine, that is why I
do this.

Speaker 2 (29:37):
Money though.

Speaker 1 (29:41):
Okay, so let's start talking about takeaways because I know
you will have a lot of questions. First takeaway that
we've talked about is consistency.

Speaker 2 (29:49):
Don't give up.

Speaker 1 (29:50):
We started with five people going like watching you and
now you did a thirty four thousand dollars a month.

Speaker 2 (29:56):
Let's keep it going so stay consistent. Kultura is the
number two take away that I'm hearing.

Speaker 1 (30:04):
So when it comes to to your cultura, have you
do you have any haters?

Speaker 2 (30:10):
Have you had any haters? Especially on TikTok?

Speaker 4 (30:13):
I mean, I'm very unhinged, I know, but no, maybe one,
maybe one. See we we have we haven't made it yet,
I see, but was haters?

Speaker 1 (30:24):
What would you say if somebody's afraid of the haters?
Because that's another thing that I hear often is like,
oh what happens when kan and when I actually find
someone that doesn't like.

Speaker 4 (30:33):
Me don't pay any attention? And I know that that
sounds easier said than done, but comtais kindo is right.
But at the end of the day, I feel that
if you have a close knit circle of friends la
familia to partner to see who's as long as you're

(30:56):
true to them and the people that matter, that's all
that matter. Everybody else get it doesn't matter. They're not
paying for your bills, they're not even buying your product.
As a matter of fact, they might not even be
your customer. They just want to talk shit because they're
having gone to therapy.

Speaker 2 (31:16):
So send them to therapy.

Speaker 1 (31:19):
So when shout out to Viva Shop, yay for bringing
us here today.

Speaker 2 (31:24):
Have you experimented with.

Speaker 1 (31:25):
Life shopping which you have, so tell us about that experience.

Speaker 4 (31:29):
So, first of all, I think that it's important that
there are platforms like Viva Shop that are emerging because
in twenty eighteen when covid hit, I was one of
the co founders for Moneto, which became the largest LATINX
pop up in the country that Assai has prior to
the pandemic. And then the pandemic hit and I was like,

(31:51):
holy shit, yodake and I started doing what we called
Morcajete shopping Network, where we would go on you and
would invite brands to sell. And little did I know
that that's where our world was heading. And I remember
that when we would do these lives on YouTube, I

(32:11):
asked the vendors, can you please share with me approximately
how much you sold? I know, as Latinos we don't
like to talk about money. We don't. I'll show you
my bank account. There's like thirteen dollars in there, maybe
I see, because is there a shame for me having
thirteen dollars in my bank account? Absolutely fucking not. You
don't know my life. You don't know miss Bilis, you
don't know my pillows. But we should talk about this.

(32:36):
Why are we not talking about money? Why are we
afraid to talk about money? So I would ask the
vendors and they would give me a number, and I
was hoping that, Okay, maybe they flo But I remember
that the first life we did, we sold over seventy
five thousand dollars and one en BiVO and I was like,

(32:57):
this is where the future is going. And then I
started researching and in Asia they already have farms of
people selling like crazy, right, And so I think that
if anything that Lapandemia taught us was we now shot differently. Right.

(33:19):
Even my parents they're buying through any whatever given platform.
So platforms like TikTok and platforms like Vivas shop are
important because more and more people are on there. If
we would have gone on TikTok in twenty eighteen, oh
say yeatuira dos as you sent this next to me

(33:40):
and helping me, because I'm sure we would have killed it.
We started late, Imita, even though we started late on
our first year one hundred and fourteen thousand dollars of product,
that is two dollars and ninety nine cents. Do the
math like, that's.

Speaker 2 (33:58):
Gnarly sure so and you're not too late.

Speaker 4 (34:02):
No, no, you're never It's never too late. Like one
of the things that I that I tell my friends
in Mexico right now is because Mexico just TikTok. Mexico
just launched TikTok shop, and I keep telling all my friends, waits,
I don't know something, it's gonna happen. You just have
to be patient, Like I've even been thinking in my head.

Speaker 2 (34:26):
Being yeah, yeah, come see and then we'll cross.

Speaker 4 (34:33):
So so yeah, it's never too late. Keep on doing consistency, consistency.
And the one thing I tell people is how many
times a day do you eat? Contest, how many times
a day do you eat? Two? Three? Okay, well, every
time you're eating, that's the amount of tiktoks that you
should be putting up in one day, three to five tiktoks.

(34:53):
And I know you all are gonna be like, why
he's in jingle.

Speaker 2 (34:57):
Everything's content.

Speaker 4 (35:03):
That is where you are seeing TikTok the wrong way.
If you are looking at TikTok as Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook,
you're doing it wrong. You need to get that out
of your head. TikTok is not Instagram, it's not Snapchat,
it's not Facebook. Okay. And we've been invited to seminars

(35:28):
given by TikTok, and even they say, we cannot give
you a formula of what works and what doesn't. What
works is consistency. Even if your video got five views,
keep on posting, even if keep on posting, keep on posting,
keep on posting. But you have to do it constantly, constantly,

(35:51):
And if you think that you need to be aesthetic, nos,
just you. We all have unique personalities and there's a
ton of people out there. You might not be everybody's
cup of tea. I'm sure I'm not, but I'm somebody's
cup of tea and they're gonna buy for me and

(36:13):
they're gonna follow me. So consistency, love it.

Speaker 1 (36:17):
What I often tell my clients is your passion for
what you want has to be higher than the fear.

Speaker 2 (36:23):
And sometimes that's the work.

Speaker 1 (36:24):
That's where the work comes in, because we have to
work through the fear in order to remind ourselves from
the passion, which you do every day. So what have
you learned from your direct to consumer work that led
you into now being at h EB and Safeway and
now in retail locations post nine and nine cents story.

Speaker 4 (36:45):
I mean, the reason why we got into the ninety
nine cents story was because we were on TikTok and
because I threw shade it at the ninety nine cent store.
It did. I was like, unas, oh, yes, the data's
cafetras Petre de Frida Calo and I literally shouted them out,
and I was like, you guys just missed a great

(37:06):
opportunity at viral content if you would have given these
two specific latinas Latinos that talk about this, the social
media department must be white. And then they responded, Hey,
at Louis, thank you so much for your feedback. As
a matter of fact, the social media department at the

(37:27):
ninety nine cents store is Latina and all women. And
I was like, yes, jah can s lalo and I responded. Obviously,
I was a little scared because I was like, oh
my god, this could go great or this could go
completely south, right, because with our cancel culture. That was
my persine. And I responded and I was like, oh

(37:49):
that is so great. I love it. No, I didn't
say all that. I was just like, oh, that's awesome. Well,
if you guys any pointers, let me know. I would
love to talk to you guys. And they responded, They're like, yeah,
we would love to talk. And so then we we
jumped on a call and I was like, this is
my opportunity if you globos and and they were like

(38:14):
oh okay. And I will never forget this woman. Her
name is Cindy, and Cindy did something that all Latinos
should be doing instead of hating on each other, we
should open that door when we get through that freaking door,
because she did not have to do this at all.
And she was like, Louis, the ninety nine cents store

(38:38):
has a pitching day. It's every Thursday. You just come
in there. I look with Ita Kanta the first one. Yeah,
was like I'm not no, the other one, the other one,
I'm not gonna make it. And I literally sat in

(39:01):
that room and Cindy was like, asked to speak to
so and so and I got there and I was like, hey, so,
can I speak to so and so, and they're like yeah, sure,
And I literally sat there. Everybody was wearing suits.

Speaker 6 (39:20):
With a hat ascon miss Globos.

Speaker 4 (39:23):
I literally looked like I was working in La La
Medabos and I was like, oh shit, maybe I should
have worn something nicer. And the lady comes out. We talk,
and I don't know how. At some point she's like,
you know, what the fuck I mean? She was like
a sorry, sorry, and I was like, no, girl, I

(39:46):
fucking get what you mean, girl, And so we kind
of became homies, I guess, and she was like, Okay,
I'm gonna I'm gonna give you a shot. I'm gonna
give you a shot. And that's how we started. But
it all started through TikTok. If I had not gotten
the os to call something out, that opportunity may not

(40:09):
have come when it came. So TikTok is teaching me
that nonport us with the directive consumer, which is super important.
That customer is so important to your business, but it's
going to open other doors. And just like that, I
just like that, I see a lot of you gonna

(40:34):
get The reference went on Comyama. We got into Safeway,
a store that I never thought we would get into
We're in over two hundred safeways in northern California. Uh,
we got gracias. We got into Rio Grande in Dallas, Texas,
we got into.

Speaker 7 (40:54):
HB because the people, the the the not the buyers directly,
the people that resell to them, the sellers.

Speaker 4 (41:06):
The distributors. Yes, the distributors. Yes, I saw us on TikTok,
so now I mean I used to I and uh,
and then there she goes. She said yes, she said
yes to the balloon reference. Yeah, you don't say yeah

(41:35):
the ninety nine cents star close And with that went
two hundred opportunities. But we literally just did this exercise
this week earlier this week, and we've realized that we
are going to be in over a thousand stores by
February of next year.

Speaker 2 (41:57):
And you could have given up.

Speaker 4 (41:59):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (42:01):
So I think a beautiful lesson that he taught us
without telling us is brands that stand for something stand out.
And you took a stance and you said this is
not cool, and that made you stand out, and.

Speaker 2 (42:14):
Then therefore here we are.

Speaker 4 (42:16):
Yeah, lots and lots of balloons later exactly.

Speaker 2 (42:20):
Also, one more thing on my last question, I know
you're all dying to ask him questions.

Speaker 1 (42:25):
You share your Shark Tank audition, you always choose to
be transparent, which you teach me this all the time
and made Dan He's like, you need to share more
and I'm like, people don't care, and he's like, they do,
So tell me what you learn from sharing it and why.

Speaker 2 (42:40):
Did you choose to share it.

Speaker 4 (42:41):
We chose to share it because one of the things
that we noticed when we went on this audition is
that people of color are not there and Latinos are
not there. And we were like, CHINOSI Latinos are key,
Like what why? But then I also understand kevisa noza

(43:04):
mido the unknown, right, So we went we auditioned. We
were like, hi, hi Sharks, my name is a Soutavia.
This is Datata and we are asking for one hundred
thousand dollars for ten percent of our company. What we'll
be using the money for is dada da da da data.
And I shared all of this on TikTok and the
girl that was like seeing our pitch was like, okay,

(43:28):
got to ask you, yes, thank you, well, we'll call you.
And I remember looking at my business priner Dada and
looking and we were like la caamos. Did we just
f that up? Royally? Like they didn't even like, oh
what does that mean? Oh chu lada, what is that? Nada? Nada?

(43:52):
And then we were going down the stairs, the electric stairs,
escalators and at Marango Resorting Casino, and I was holding
my balloons with a sad face and I was like, wait,
good bit little like I was just shocked. And then
all of a sudden, we hear somebody, Oh my god,
gives I turn around and it was the lady that

(44:15):
was cleaning and I was like, a wabo, that is
our audience, not these getting So I was like, awabo,
you know, like that's our audience that at the end
of the day, that is who we are producing our
product for. Yeah, and then we get a call and

(44:39):
we're like, hey, we'd like your pitch, we'd like to
we'd like to send you paperwork. We're going to give
you two weeks. You get to hit two weeks to
fill out paperwork. They literally wanted to know I was
wearing when I went to Shark Tank, Like they literally
wanted to know everything. When I say everything, like I
literally had to give information of my partner. And then

(45:02):
they're like, okay, you've made it to the second round,
which is the final round. Now you need to do
a video. So we made a video, and to make
a long story short, this is the second time that
we've gotten to the second round and we haven't made
it onto the actual show. And we're like, you know what,
We're going to continue to go. We're going to continue
to go because every year since we've gone for the

(45:23):
last two years, we've increased ourselves. We've increased the number
of products, and we've increased how many stores we're in.
So we're going to continue to go. A stack a
we fucking make it onto that show.

Speaker 1 (45:38):
All right, I'm done with my questions because I know
you're all itching to ask Luis questions.

Speaker 2 (45:43):
The floor is.

Speaker 1 (45:44):
Open, can elizabe you know you have.

Speaker 4 (46:00):
We should be how about that? Yes, amazing story.

Speaker 8 (46:08):
Okay, So when it comes to dead silence, because you know,
we're gonna deal with it like that's You're.

Speaker 2 (46:15):
Like, we're talking to know these aging used to go
in circles? What is your dead silence?

Speaker 3 (46:23):
People?

Speaker 4 (46:23):
As far as one line, so you have to remember
that TikTok is more homey, right, you're talking to your
bestie and if sea right, fatal. You should never just
stay silent because here's the thing. TikTok will put you
on people's for you page, and it's it. Literally, you

(46:45):
have one second to have somebody be like how it is.
The weak can listen otherwise next you have one second,
so there shouldn't be any dead silence. I always talk
about everything bitos and I'm like to loud and then
I'm like la rena, and then I'm like this, and
then I'm like that, and then i repeat myself and
then I'll do it again and I'll repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat.

(47:07):
And I know that that's difficult to do because when
you speak to somebody, you're not repeating the same thing
over and over and over and over. But here you
have to understand that people are coming in and out
of your life. So the most people stay in for
is to shop, and if they stay to shop, they're
staying for about five minutes and then they're gone. So

(47:29):
what I've done is I've built an audience where I'm
sharing about glubtos, but I'm also sharing a house in
Metravezu Pine and I recently was diagnosed with diabetes, so
I shared that and I was like, hey, mate, debeties.
I said, cash, I was eating shit, but I'm gonna
revert that. I'm gonna revert that. And then in two months,

(47:53):
I went from twelve over three hundred glucose level to
half in two months doing intermittent es.

Speaker 5 (48:05):
Huh.

Speaker 4 (48:06):
They said chicken the bone, fasting at eating healthy, and
I share that and people are like, saygat on. You know,
they stay a little longer, and now all of a
sudden they get to know me, and then they're like, wait,
I kind of like this guy, let me, let me,
let me buy two lomitos, let me buy three. But

(48:27):
do not stay silent, because you're gonna lose people. They're
not gonna be interested in your product. And believe me
you there's always something to say. And when you're like blank,
just repeat.

Speaker 7 (48:45):
I think.

Speaker 2 (48:48):
Hiways, it brought strokes. How easy is it to do
a TikTok live.

Speaker 8 (48:55):
Technically speaking, because that's where I'm kind of have cold feet.

Speaker 4 (49:01):
Super facine, super facine. I mean, listen, Mina, let's go
live right now. Okay, we're gonna go live. So it's
very simple because you're here on your TikTok page right
and then the middle button, abaco, let's create abaco DNA

(49:23):
is that little cross and then you go and you
do live, okay, and then once you go live, you're
gonna have a lot of different things. And listen, go
on TikTok and pontle tutorial on how to go live.
There's a tutorial for everything on TikTok. Use it wisely, okay,
become an affiliate because like we give people thirty percent

(49:46):
commission if they if they if they get on producto
onto their videos. And the most somebody has done right
now has been two thousand dollars off of a.

Speaker 6 (49:57):
Fifteen second video Canilepuso annas nan to talk ships because
she grabbed the balloons and she put them on the
floor and she was like, mitrah is this partaga.

Speaker 4 (50:07):
Dasio is this and corprelos that video went viral. That
video went viral. We sold over five thousand globals and
gradasion from that video alone, and that lady made over
two thousand something dollars.

Speaker 2 (50:27):
Don't overthink so don't overthink it.

Speaker 4 (50:29):
And then you go live and now we're alive, and
that's it. Suh I got perro is van are gratis
in San Diegozo compre corp Yeah, so I see the

(50:57):
c play, but the second second, having a TikTok shop, Yes,
having a TikTok shop, And if you asked me how
to do that, the way I'm indeed I didn't do that.
My business partner did. But the way she actually was
able to figure it out was again through the videos.
There are people out there that are going to literally

(51:20):
hold your hand and take you step by step by step. Jesse.
To locate is a sad sport because the blender is
being chipped it so bit it's also that's basically it.
But there are people out there that will teach you
step by step by step better than I can't even
explain to you. Oh yeah, I start, I start. Hi, everybody,

(51:43):
thank you for tapping on the screen, tap tap tap.
You didn't top tub. We're still live, okay, was over here?

Speaker 8 (51:58):
Okay, generous with everything that you're sharing with us.

Speaker 4 (52:02):
So I'm gonna go deeper because you.

Speaker 2 (52:03):
Invited us to talk about money.

Speaker 4 (52:04):
Yes, so what is the percentage of your gross revenues
that comes from DPC?

Speaker 2 (52:09):
That's question number one from Directy Consumer?

Speaker 4 (52:15):
Oh I thought, okay, So so we're gonna I'm want
to ask him about why should his.

Speaker 8 (52:23):
GROST revenue comes from direct to consumer versus your other outlets,
and then how many designs do you have.

Speaker 4 (52:31):
And where is your best other? Okay, great question. So
last year eighty percent was DTC. That's a lot. That's
a lot. That's a lot, it's it's that's a lot
of you. Yeah, it's a Chico. Yeah, I must be
doing something right, I mean meaning while people than people
say so, DTC was super important in that sense because

(52:55):
it's a lot. Fatal is Daniel kab name. That's going
to be different and I don't know how different it's
going to be because now we're going to be in
over one thousand stores, right, so that's going to make
an impact. What that looks like and what that's going
to be I don't know yet. But the way we

(53:16):
design our globals, people are always telling me, oh, yeah,
you should do a globalsto, you should do a global
We have an excel sheet that has over six hundred
ideas in counting astandin global. All right, but we have
to be very specific as to what we put out
there because we don't have the money to do one

(53:41):
balloon or specific designs for the seasons. So if you
take a look at our balloons. Chulada could be Mother's Day, graduation,
Valentine's ada, la buela, it could be everything and anything.
And that's how we design our products. Our number one
seller is Lamas Chanona la mass changona is our number

(54:04):
one seller. This is our number one seller. It has
always been following that one. I would have to say
that it's the TAKENO. How many do you have to
and how many designs? I think right now we're at
like twenty seven active designs and counting and counting, yeah,

(54:26):
plus the six hundred, Yeah we having gotten to Yeah.

Speaker 2 (54:30):
Thanks. How do you stay organized when you're doing your life?

Speaker 4 (54:35):
Say you have.

Speaker 2 (54:37):
Stay organized and you just starting out? Do you stay organized?

Speaker 3 (54:40):
So?

Speaker 4 (54:41):
Yeah? Do I stay organized? Okay? So that's the other
great thing about TikTok, right that on the back end
you actually put in the products you have and how
many of each, so that you're never going to over sell. Okay,
you just have to make sure you know how to count,
because that's how it goes. And then when around the
live you actually have the opportunity at putting the all

(55:03):
of your products at the bottom of the screen so
that when you're talking about a product. I could be
talking about Lamaschangona and then I will go ahead and
pin La Maschinona, so that when I'm talking about this balloon,
people are like, oh my god, when Nasania, I need
it and I want to make it easy for my
customer to purchase. So then I go at Yesta two

(55:26):
ninety nine. So TikTok helps me keep organized in that sense.
I know that a lot of you have seen people
of it in it says me, nodally say it, Mandal.
I don't know how they do it because I would
just not know. Cabelo like how do you.

Speaker 1 (55:48):
It?

Speaker 4 (55:49):
Still that holds me. Then I'm like, Ohmchinello's lesson and
I know like Glan Lindo does it. And you know
that takes organization that ran their tights organization.

Speaker 2 (56:02):
M h anymore anymore?

Speaker 1 (56:09):
Not so sure?

Speaker 4 (56:11):
Thank you? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (56:12):
Hello.

Speaker 8 (56:14):
First of all, congratulations and your success. And what I
love about when you are sharing with us is the.

Speaker 3 (56:19):
You're a person, you person heard through all of it
instead of giving up. And I think that's one thing
that I'm so proud of being Latina that that's one
thing that we do right. We never give up because
we're really.

Speaker 2 (56:29):
Believe in that.

Speaker 8 (56:30):
Great, So congratulations. I have more of a tactical question
and technical. So who's doing your videos?

Speaker 4 (56:38):
And are you the one that's editing?

Speaker 2 (56:41):
Like you already have a team, you know, because half.

Speaker 8 (56:43):
The time I was on TikTok was and then I
stop because you know of all that.

Speaker 2 (56:49):
Work, I mean, you had to put into it.

Speaker 4 (56:51):
So if you could share that with us, you which
is gonna ask you us? Thank you, thank you so much.
We met I hope on the mission unto them, and
we were getting food and so again remember that I said,
whatever you know about social media, you need to throw
it out the window. Okay, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, throw it

(57:11):
out the window. And I just share this woman going
like this on the floor and she went viral. So
you don't have to know how to edit. You don't
have This is not a Netflix production, Okay, it really isn't.
I film my content. I edit everything. TikTok has buttons

(57:32):
that you could press on and they'll edit all the videos.
And the other thing that I recommend is do not
put your phone on a tripod and then start recording,
because then you're gonna have an hour long video and
that is overwhelming. Don't do that. Record ten to fifteen
seconds max. Ten to fifteen seconds max. Okay, first step

(57:55):
da okay yeah, then I saysa second step yeah, and
then bring all those videos together. Use cap cut, use
the tool that TikTok has. It will edit everything for
you and it's gonna add graphics. But you don't even
need to do that. Don't don't overthink it. Just record

(58:17):
yourself and upload it. That's all you need to do.

Speaker 1 (58:21):
And anhing.

Speaker 2 (58:22):
I'm like a lot of ol words, don't don't do this,
and some some do.

Speaker 4 (58:32):
Business man, you great one this Yeah I did an
we don't start no, no, I think you know. This
is the beauty of being Latino. Okay, this is the
beauty of being Latinas and Latinos and people of color.
We are resilient, okays, no Las. Most of our businesses

(59:00):
are going to start backwards. Okay. We didn't have liability insurance.
We didn't have an LLC a liability insurance, and we're
like a gas to say so. Somebody asked, what you
did is some GOIKOI fish, no, no, thank what is that?

(59:22):
And oh a certificate of insurance? And I'm not gonna
finge to boy. Yeah, I jes day is to start.

Speaker 9 (59:33):
It just started, just started, and don't worry about failing,
because the biggest failure is not doing it and then
having the feeling that the thought of what if, what
if I would have done it and it would have
been big.

Speaker 2 (59:47):
Thank you, Louise, Thank you everyone. I think our business
plan is our passion. Thank you everyone. Bigham lost to
all of us. Thank you so much, says her big
out of the BLA.

Speaker 1 (01:00:08):
That was my conversation. I told you you were in
for a treat Uena. If you want to keep going deeper,
we have over four hundred episodes on the podcast. We
have many interviews here. Drop your comments. Let us know
what you think about this episode, about this type of content.
You want more? Do you want less? I'm so interested.
I'm curious. I want to support you. You want to

(01:00:29):
If you feel called to support us, we do offer
the Supporters Club for five dollars a month. You get
additional episodes, you get early released episodes, and this is
a form to support our small but mighty team and
I would love it. If you feel called to buy
us coffee once a month. I wana until next time,

(01:00:49):
Stay grounded. Stay connected. Comus created by our small mighty team.
Content production by Nancy Heimis, podcast management by Marulinardin, Social
media and marketing by Brenda Figuero, and meet your host Vamcos.

(01:01:12):
To keep the Kavasito brewing and the healing flowing, join
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Follow on your favorite podcast platform and subscribe to our

(01:01:34):
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(01:01:54):
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