From Losing Everything to Landing a National Deal

Carlos and Rebeca have been in business together for about ten years. Before COVID, they owned several shoe factories and ran outlet stores in Leon, a city known as the leather capital of Mexico (some say of the world). When COVID hit, they lost almost everything. They took WIRED 4 BUSINESS, one of W4AL's courses, in June 2020. Here's their story, in their own words:

“We learned not to go into debt, that going into debt is not a good way to start a business, but to start with the little we have and use the resources at hand. We had lived both ways, and we paid dearly for the version built on loans we thought would make us rich. There was another option presented to us in class, and we've verified it works. Starting with 200 pesos, we managed to sell 7,000 masks by asking for a 50% deposit upfront. From there, we capitalized our business, we did in three months what we couldn't do in several years.”

The business plan Carlos and Rebeca built by the end of the course revealed they were set up to become online wholesalers, with a catalogue of over 1,000 products. But their real passion has always been shoes, Carlos is a designer with a sharp sense for what will sell. They've since closed a deal with Mexico's largest catalogue wholesaler to sell thousands of shoes.

They've also made a point of bringing their neighbours along. One of them, Miguel, had plenty of business experience but had lost it all to an extravagant lifestyle, and found himself abandoned by his family and broke. He started rebuilding, learned to live within his means, and now runs a shoe factory out of the bottom floor of his home, as an associate of Carlos and Rebeca's, who subcontracted their first order of thousands of sandals to him.

Carlos, Rebeca and Miguel have rebuilt more than a business, they've rebuilt the way they think about what a business can do for the people around them.