Santiago Roa, founder of Culiau.com, transitioned from washing dishes to building a $25 million eCommerce empire. He shares his inspiring journey, highlighting the critical role of mentorship and personal connections in his success. Santiago discusses the challenges of starting from scratch, including navigating language barriers and cultural adjustments. He also emphasizes how failures became stepping stones for growth, and the importance of effective delegation as his business scaled. His story is a powerful reminder of resilience and community support in entrepreneurship.
Santiago Roa transitioned from washing dishes to founding a $25 million eCommerce business by leveraging determination and innovative strategies.
The role of mentorship in Santiago's journey highlights the importance of seeking guidance from successful individuals to enhance business acumen.
Adopting a '10x mindset' allowed Santiago to set ambitious goals, transforming challenges into opportunities for significant growth and innovation.
Deep dives
From Dishwasher to Entrepreneurial Success
Santiago Roa transitioned from a dishwasher with no English skills at age 20 to the founder of a thriving eCommerce business, Coolio.com, which generates $20-25 million annually. Initially, Santiago worked various low-wage jobs while learning English and gaining entrepreneurial insights through experience and self-education. His journey began with dropshipping, where he created a brand around proprietary engraving pens, driven by his passion for art and crafts. This significant shift from menial labor to business leadership exemplifies resilience and determination in pursuing a vision.
The Role of Mentorship in Business Growth
Santiago emphasizes the crucial impact of mentorship on his entrepreneurial journey, advocating for the value of investing in high-quality guidance. He learned vital business strategies, including media buying and team management, through mentors who provided both accountability and expertise. Despite facing challenges with previous mentors, Santiago refined his approach to selecting mentors, focusing on those with proven success in the areas he needed to improve. This commitment to seeking out expert guidance played a pivotal role in scaling his business effectively.
Adopting a 10x Growth Mindset
A key component of Santiago’s success is his adoption of a '10x mindset', where he insists on setting ambitious targets that challenge conventional limits. By consistently asking himself how to achieve ten times his previous achievements, he has been able to surpass growth benchmarks, pushing both his personal and professional boundaries. This mentality not only encourages creative problem-solving but also fosters a culture where big dreams can lead to tangible results. Santiago's focus on dreaming bigger allows him to reframe challenges as opportunities for extensive growth.
Team Management and Operational Scaling
Santiago faced obstacles in managing his growing team, which expanded rapidly to around 35 members, leading to trial and error in establishing effective operational systems. He initially struggled with implementing OKRs (Objectives and Key Results), which resulted in an overwhelming number of simultaneous goals that hindered performance. Learning from experience, he has shifted towards simpler management approaches aligned with established frameworks that prioritize clarity in team objectives. By narrowing focus to three to five key priorities per individual, he has streamlined outputs and enhanced overall efficiency.
The Journey of Rebranding Coolio
Currently undergoing a rebranding process for Coolio, Santiago highlights the importance of brand identity and customer connection in driving business direction. This comprehensive initiative involves engaging a branding agency to identify the company's vision, mission, and unique selling proposition through qualitative research and customer feedback. Santiago's experience underscores that effective rebranding requires much more than superficial changes; it necessitates depth in strategy and execution to resonate with the target market. This transformation is not only crucial for standing out in the competitive eCommerce landscape but also for aligning the brand with customers' values.
How did a former dishwasher turn a humble start into a multi-million dollar eCommerce empire? Santiago Roa, founder of Culiau.com, joins the show to tell us how he did just that, opening up about his incredible journey from washing dishes to revolutionizing his industry with a game-changing engraving pen.
Listen in as Santiago shares the challenges, milestones, and game-changing strategies that fueled such explosive growth. He talks about the importance of mentorship, how failures shaped his success, and how he built a business from the ground up. If you’re looking for inspiration and real-world advice on scaling a business and overcoming setbacks, this episode is a must-listen!
