From Driving Uber to Making $912,500 Per Year

Business
Published on Aug 8, 2023
What does it take to build a $900,000 a year shoe making business–and how did Miguel Rodriguez start Shoemakers of LA with just $250? You’ll get the answers to both those questions in this episode.

Miguel’s background is in fashion design. He started off working with big-name brands and styling celebrities, then transitioned into working with investors to help designers secure funding for their collections. Along the way, he studied with master shoemakers in both New York and Mexico. These experiences built the ideal foundation to open his own company as a shoemaker.

Today, Miguel operates a full-package shoe development and production company that’s gained an unmatched reputation for quality. Along with making shoes for individual customers, he’s worked with HBO and other studios to create shoes and accessories for productions in four different countries. In this interview, he’ll share the most difficult part of getting his shoe company up and running and how he overcome those challenges. He’ll also give his advice for other shoe designers who are hoping to follow in his footsteps.

Miguel has also opened a shoemaking school to help other aspiring shoe makers hone their craft. He’ll give viewers a tour of the classroom space and shoe workshop, and talk about how educating others has helped him to grow his brand and business. He’ll also explain how he overcame doubt to gain confidence in his business and what systems he’s put in place to keep his business organized and functioning smoothly as he’s grown.

If you like this video, make sure to check out some of our past interviews with entrepreneurs in the shoe industry:

From $50 to $4.2M/Year Sneaker Reselling Business ►
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJryzKeGwtU

How Afshan Makes $60K/Month from Her Shoe Business ►
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1Iz4tTVrZE

Resources
https://www.shoemakersla.com/ - Find out more about the business on their website
https://www.upflip.com/learn - Learn how to start and grow a business on the UpFlip HUB
https://www.upflip.com/blog - Get more advice and actionable tips from the UpFlip blog

Timestamps:
00:00 - START
00:40 - Meeting Miguel
01:05 - Starting the business
01:41 - Startup costs
02:22 - Seeing the office
03:14 - Overcoming doubt
03:58 - Biggest challenge of starting
04:27 - Quality control
05:05 - Smartest business move
05:56 - Landing first big customer
07:02 - Fan blitz
09:05 - Revenue and expenses
10:13 - Attracting team members
10:58 - Mentorship
11:47 - Vision
12:29 - Shoemaking classroom
13:44 - Time to profitability
15:16 - Challenges growing the school
15:49 - Shoemaking process
17:20 - Systems
17:49 - What he wish he knew
18:44 - Secrets to scale quickly
19:06 - Word of mouth marketing
19:41 - Best business advice
20:11 - Outro

#shoemaking #business #upflip