We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Agustina Garcia Laredo a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Agustina, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?
Land in the US
I wanted the name of my company to be very simple and very clear for foreign customers. I had the best coach a businessperson could ask for, who helped me think in a few words how I wanted to help my clients solve their main objective. To help them land in the US with their own business, service, idea or product.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
As a foreigner myself, being born and raised in Argentina, and having experienced the process of a career growth in the US, I just had the need and will to put all of it into practice and make it my own.
I moved to Miami, Florida when I was 27 years old, following my Love who then became my Husband and biggest support. I planned on working since day 1 to avoid any feeling of loneliness or becoming homesick so 3-4 months prior to my trip I contacted a few friends who were business owners themselves and who might want to open their business in the US. Met with a graphic designer who had a very successful design agency in Argentina and Spain at that moment. He believed in me and gave me all of his support for me to open and manage her agency in Miami.
As a Fashion Designer degree student, with very little experience, I was very scared but excited for this whole new chapter in front of me. I knew I could do it and so did my heart.
I worked for almost 3 years for the agency as the principal Manager while learning every single process of opening a business in a new market. Meeting amazing people, who after 16 years, I still have a great business relationship.
In 2008, I’ve decided I needed a change and I thought to myself; I better go back to doing what I was prepared and loved to do which is to Design. Haute Couture was my Love, but I was flexible. So, I started to send out resumes and having interviews until I met with the Argentinian owner of a beautiful and premium baby clothing company from Peru and Argentina.
The main office in Miami had no design department because everything was planned and produced in South America, so I was very hesitant to what they might need from me. Turns out that the owner had plans to move back to his country and wanted to train me to manage the main office, their 6 stores and e-commerce. I was ready for it. I was trained for many months, and when the owner sold the company to a very large group in Paraguay, I became the vice president of the company and held that position for almost 9 years. I learned so much and loved my job. Opening new stores, moving and closing store in Miami, Boston and New York, teams, leasing, retail, product, logistics, warehousing, marketing, I learned so many things.
In 2018, a very good friend of mine from elementary school, reached out to me in need of some help for the future launch of their family business in Argentina but Master franchised in the US. I decided I could make a change once again and move into the chocolate business….but it was The Best Chocolate in Argentina, luxurious, crafted, amazing!!. I spent 1 year with the company helping them with the main objective of setting up their chocolate factory and launching their first store.
At the end of 2019 I stopped working to reorganize and plan my career. I have two beautiful kids, 5 and 7 years old at that time. Pandemia struck in March of 2020 and decided to spend all of it focused on my 2 kids and helping them with homeschooling. It was perfect, the right moment, the right place, it was just what I needed, my family and my whole attention just for them.
After many months of just being a mom and a wife, and many hours of talks helping people come up with ideas, strategies and plans for their future business in the US, I decided it was time to make it a full time job.
Land in the US was formed to set up other people’s business. We offer 3 services: The development of a Market Study, the setup of the business and the supervision of the business post launch.
The setup of the business consists of helping my clients go through every process from start to launch. I work with a group of professionals specialized on each part of the process. Visa attorneys, accountants, corporation specialists, trademark specialists, realtors, expeditors, architects, GC, designers, etc. My business helps establish a new brand in the US market in a timely and cost-effective manner. By hiring us, our clients will avoid going through most mistakes that come up during a regular unknown business setup. With us, our clients save on time and money.
Where do you think you get most of your clients from?
Miami is the center of Latin America, where most of our countries struggle quite a bit. Many professionals dream of growing their businesses in the US starting in Miami because it is very convenient and the closest city to their own home.
I would say the main source of new clients for Land in the US is by referral and the best recommendation is still our professionalism, on time delivery and on call availability for our clients. No formalities.
We’d love to hear about you met your business partner.
My business partner helped me with many tasks of the administration 16 years ago when I arrived in the US for the first time to open the design agency.
Today, we share most of our clients offering a different kind of service, yet what it needs, to complete the cycle of our client’s setup.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.landintheus.com
- Instagram: landintheus