Today we’d like to introduce you to Carlos Fierro.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Carlos. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I never wanted to work for anybody in my life. I guess it started by seeing all my family always owning their own business and working with them. After I graduated college in Ecuador, South America, I became a tour guide taking German tourists around the historic cities, jungle, and the Galapagos Islands. This job took me to Germany and eventually back to the US.
I started a Concierge Service company in Miami helping executives plan their stays in town. It was difficult growing it at the time, so I moved on to property management at luxury high rises, but that was not my calling, and I always was looking for a way to have my own business again. I got interested in finance and studied everything I could, but the financial world was too stressful and I stopped enjoying it, so, with a friend of mine we started a mobile dessert company called Zombie ice. We implemented a lot of things that food trucks had not used before, such as video screens for digital menus (now you see them everywhere), we had a screen dedicated to play a movie so kids could watch it while they enjoyed their zombie ice, or while they waited in line. We then put more video screens and used them to help advertise businesses that bought out space on them during large events. We had smoke machines and lasers to entertain everyone that came up to our truck, as well as music playing from speakers under the truck so people would not be blasted directly by the music, we brought face painters to events and magicians to entertain the customers.
Our peers kept telling us that all those things were just a waste of money since we were just a shaved ice truck. But our customers enjoyed it and we were voted three years in a row Best Dessert and Best Food Truck of South Florida, and one year we were runner-ups as best dessert trucks nationwide. These innovations also caught the eye of Cirque du Soleil, and we are now partners with them in a pilot project promoting several of their shows with our ZombieTruck, which transforms into their show truck depending on the show being promoted.
At the same time as we were growing Zombie Ice, I decided to learn about selling on Amazon and growing a brand there. I have been doing this successfully for a couple of years and sell multiple products on that platform. I also have a YouTube channel where I show people how I sell on Amazon and what I have learned to do and not to do.
All of the success I have attained would never have been possible without the support of my family who has always been by my side to celebrate the triumphs and lift me after the failures. I hope that growing up in a family business, gives my kids the same experience I had when I was growing up and they can be entrepreneurs if they so want to.
Has it been a smooth road?
Nothing is ever smooth, struggles are always present. I am constantly thinking of ways to grow and expand because if you are not innovating and growing as a business, you are dying. I have made many mistakes, and have learned from each of them. One of the qualities that I believe is a must have for any entrepreneur is the ability to get up after a failure and gather the courage to try again armed with the knowledge acquired after the failure.
It’s difficult not to have the comfort of knowing that every 2 weeks your paycheck is coming. This life is not for everybody, and there have been many times that I have questioned myself, but I keep moving forward and trusting that I am strong enough to overcome whatever obstacle that is thrown my way.
Please tell us about your business.
Zombie Ice was born as a mobile shaved ice company utilizing a small trailer, we now specialize in corporate event catering as well as something we call the ZombieIce Event Experience, which is basically a complete birthday in one package, We bring the awesome ice treats, and we include customized digital menus with the name of the party kid and a video collage for everyone to enjoy during the party, also an entertaining digital photo-booth with customized digital frames so everyone can have a great shot to post on their social accounts and, we also shoot snow from the top of our ZombieTruck for everyone to play in.
We have ZombieTrucks in South Florida and Orlando, as well as small units called ZombieCarts that are mini food truck replicas that are designed to be used anywhere indoors or outdoors and have almost the same media capabilities as their bigger brothers. We have evolved into an entertainment and experiential marketing company, that happens to have an awesome frozen dessert component attached to it. The thing that makes me the proudest of Zombie Ice is how today we collaborate with one of the top entertainment companies in the world, Cirque du Soleil.
It started as a simple project to hand out shaved ice to people at events in South Florida and advertise their first ever ice show called Crystal. Then, upon seeing the media and entertainment capabilities of the ZombieTruck, the project grew and I drove the ZombieTruck, now transformed into the CrystalVan, to several states on the East Coast executing experiential marketing activations in each market where the show was playing during summer time.
This summer the project grew even more and I traveled with my family across the East Coast and the Maritime Provinces of Canada executing several activations in over 15 markets, now with local media appearances and is an Ambassador for the Cirque du Soleil brand. Now the ZombieTruck is transforming once again to promote a different show, Amaluna and I will be heading with it to San Francisco, transformed into the AmalunaVan.
We have contracts in place already for next year as well to promote another of their shows, and I can’t wait to see how this partnership keeps evolving and growing. When not on the road, we offer families and companies in South Florida the opportunity to enjoy all the same services we offer Cirque du Soleil with the utmost quality at an extremely reasonable price.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I love that we are a melting pot of countries, cultures and ethnicities. We have great weather year round (except for some pesky hurricanes sometimes..), beautiful beaches, awesome nightlife, the Everglades, etc… we live where others dream of vacationing. Unfortunately, some bad actors from those different countries come to our city and bring their bad habits with them.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.zombieice.com
- Phone: 754 777 0423
- Email: info@zombieice.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/zombieice
- Facebook: www.fb.com/myzombieice
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/zombieice
Image Credit:
ZombieIce
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