A Unique Latina Beach Entrepreneur [Video]
A Humble, Hard Working Mexican Latina Entrepreneur’s Version of Success
What’s for dinner? That’s how our conversation started as the sun began to set on the beach in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. Stay with me for a minute and it will make sense. To start this story, I have to go back in time a few days to when I first arrived at an inclusive resort in Mexico and made my way down to the beach to enjoy my first day. I had just arrived with my sister and parents and we were all looking forward to a week long tropical vacation. We spotted a woman walking the beach selling her beautiful handcrafted jewelry and accessories. Her artisan beaded bracelets, necklaces, headbands, and hair pieces caught our attention and we asked her to stop by to show us what she was selling. I absolutely love seeing locally made art and design. There’s nothing more fun than buying authentic and unique pieces to gift friends and family or keep as lovely reminders of a great trip. We found out that her name was Estefani and we ended up chatting for quite some time. It dawned on me that this creative, hard working, humble woman is an entrepreneur in her own right, not only making these intricate pieces, but walking all day in the heat selling her goods, and making a living from the tourism industry. I was curious to find out more about her Latina business and asked her if she would mind to return the next day so I could interview her and capture some video of our conversation. She didn’t show up the following day, nor did I see her again for the rest of our time there. I thought that maybe she really didn’t want to do the interview and had just said yes to appease me.- Be engaging with customers. Sharing stories and always having a smile on your face help to create relationships and build a connection.
- Make sure your product is high quality and unique. Estefani sharing the process of how her pieces are each made, the time that goes into them to finish a piece, etc. all made us feel like we were getting something unique and lovingly made.
- The desire to learn more is a great quality in an entrepreneur. Estefani has no access to fancy technology, but if she were given the chance, she would jump on it to help improve her life as well as her children’s. Being open to new experiences and learnings is key in growing your business.
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