Today we’d like to introduce you to Adriana Cabanas.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Adriana. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
After graduating from college, I decided I wanted to pursue a career in real estate, my goal was to build an empire of flipping houses. So I took an assistant job with a successful flipper in order to learn my way through him. My frustration began when I would watch the hours pass, days pass, and there I was sitting at an office learning NOTHING. I just remember thinking, “there’s no way it’s worth it to give my life away for $14 an hour”.
One day I was asked to upload a blog to his website, and when I did it incorrectly, he popped up on my intercom with the most fierce voice, yelling at me to fix it. I scrambled and stayed after hours (unpaid, because they do not pay anything past their “working hours”). Finally… I figured out the glitch. It was at that moment I decided I just could not tolerate someone which would speak to me in a degrading manner. Does he have a right to speak to me as though he owns me all because he pays me? Absolutely not. I wanted to be treated with respect, and I strongly believe in life, people don’t show you your own worth, you have to show people your worthiness.
So I politely entered his office to report that I had fixed the blog, and also to thank him for the opportunity to work for him but that I did not believe it was a fit. We shook hands. He said to me “You will make it far in real estate, keep pushing and you will make more than any lawyer, accountant, you name it” I will always remember those kind words of his, and his confidence in me, despite the previous mishap. From that point forward, I knew that I NEVER wanted to have a boss. And once this revelation came about, the very next thought was NOW WHAT! College debt, living with parents, I felt a little lost, or, VERY lost. I decided I would sell real estate to start after all this is a critical part of flipping homes anyway.
I got my real estate license, and again the question dawned on me, NOW WHAT. How do I get sales? What the heck do I do with this license? So I stumbled upon a real estate office that I ended up working for. Except for these office don’t exactly provide you with work, you have to figure it out on your own. So I approached a fellow agent and asked if I could work for her for free doing everything she otherwise would not want to handle. Yes, I said FREE. Why in the world would I offer to work for free? Because my compensation was in the form of learning. Too many of us underestimate the value of learning and overestimate monetary means. I was hungry to learn the ropes and was willing to do anything. I learned my way through her, working for many months hardly seeing a dime. Then finally, I ventured out on my own… with all the knowledge I needed. And within my first year of real estate I struck my first BIG deal, a client which was looking for a $700,000 home, of which I ended upselling to a 2.6Mil home (pat on back) and that was my first million-dollar listing. From then on, I only sold high-end custom homes.
Fast forward to 7 years down the line. I began to feel as though I was on repeat selling the same pitch, just different day, different person. It was my time to hang up my coat, as I was no longer passionate for real estate. I began waking up dreading the thought of taking on a client, a contract, a showing, etc.
I was brought back to that office space as an assistant where my hours were just merely awaiting to pass by so it could be over. Except now it wasn’t $14 an hour, it was much much more. And I had a comfortable lifestyle I grew accustomed to. So quitting, without a solid transition, would mean….. a huge downgrade. But ultimately, I decided that no amount of money was worth a lifeless workweek, and a dead passion.
I had always wanted to own my own business and I had dabbed in businesses that were never successful. But I realize, no business could ever have been successful when my concentration was elsewhere. You have to pour your soul into it. So I had this product I had been so passionate about, acrylic wedding invitations. And the feedback was phenomenal. From that point forward, I have dedicated all I have to making this become successful, with the mindset of failing not being an option. I left my high rise luxury condo, returned my maserati, and started to dedicate my all into it. It’s been a lot of ups and downs, but that’s what makes it all worth it at the end. Knowing I’ve made it through the times where my mind has kept me up at night with fear, and fighting through the fear shifting back to hope and resilience. So the journey continues, and many more lessons are to be learned, but the passion is there and that, to me, is worth the entire journey.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It’s definitely not been a smooth road. A smooth road would not have made this all worth it. The struggles I faced was when I first started out, I believed it was important to have low margins on my COGS, so I bought machinery…. machinery FROM CHINA. Which means, very little ability to communicate any troubleshooting, loosely translated handbooks, software which did not make sense. When I received my first order, I spent three days in my brother’s garage in the middle of summer (hello 100 degrees and nonstop sweat droplets). The quality came out poorly, and it was just not feasible to take everything on, on my own. So I decided to outsource. It was difficult to come to terms with this, especially so quickly, because it wasn’t a cheap machine to purchase. But I realized every business has it’s learning curve, and this was mine. The lesson learned was: not to concentrate on lowering your cost, so you can have a higher profit when you don’t have a customer! What good is ANY profit margin if it comes from 0 customers? Concentrate on getting that traffic, then you worry about profit margins.
Outsourcing has not been the smoothest either, but I was relentless in finding the highest quality output for our acrylic invitations, which now feature beautiful golf foil! Something I would not have been able to do in house.
Please tell us about Zatorie.
My business, Zatorie, specializes in acrylic invitations. We provide invitations for any occasion but our concentration is mainly weddings. Our most premium product which our customers love is the gold foil clear acrylic wedding invitation. It just surpasses the wow factor that any paper product could ever create. And people may think this comes at an astronomic price, but the truth is there are some paper products that are even pricier than our acrylic invitations. I’m most proud of the uniqueness of our product. I love it when our customers tell us “Everyone has been texting me about my invitations, thank you!”. It really is a product that stops people in their tracks. Even when I show a sample to someone that’s not seen the product, the reaction is always significant. The uniqueness of an acrylic invitation is what sets us apart from any others, and the ease of access to this type of premium product. People think that this HAS to come from a fancy wedding planner, with a factory that creates ultra-expensive custom products. Ours is as simple as ordering a business card but as luxurious as having a fancy wedding planner creating a custom invitation.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
My favorite memory from childhood is playing in my neighborhood with my fellow neighborhood friends. We would bounce from house to house, rollerblade in the streets, swim in our pools, play pretend… pretend we were dinosaurs. Imagination is so wild when you are young, as an adult you forget that your mind is limitless in what you can come up with. I think if we applied “playing pretend” more into our lives as adults we could bring into fruition our wildest dreams just by truly believing that we are already experiencing it and not having the limitations society brings up on us. I mean my imagination was sooo vivid and real, I honestly feel like I ACTUALLY know how it feels to be a dinosaur! (hahaha) If we applied that deep belief of something to be so real to something, such as a career, a life-partner, etc., I truly believe we can manifest it!
Pricing:
- Gold Foil Acrylic Invitations with Gold Edge Luxury Envelope start at $5.99/ea
- Acrylic Menus start at $4.99/ea
Contact Info:
- Website: www.zatorie.com
- Phone: 877.802.0305
- Email: CustomerService@
Zatorie.com - Instagram: @zatorie
- Facebook: https://www.
facebook.com/Zatorie/
Image Credit:
PhotographerIn- Serge Cheretovich
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