Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Carlos “Loso” Perez. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Loso, thanks for joining us today. Almost all entrepreneurs have had to decide whether to start now or later? There are always pros and cons for waiting and so we’d love to hear what you think about your decision in retrospect. If you could go back in time, would you have started your business sooner, later or at the exact time you started?

If I could back in time I would have started my business sooner. I established Prime Vice Studios, LLC in 2017. Before that it was a brand name I came up with my friends. When I decided to take building PVS seriously I had just finished graduate school. At that time in my life I knew the business had to exist in a legitimate form so that I can build the life I wanted to live.

If PVS was started sooner I feel that my career would have had more structure and direction. A lack of self-belief postponed me putting my all into building my company sooner. It is very important to make the switch and just bet on yourself whole heartedly. I used to think that there wasn’t a place for me, my services, skills and talents so I always sought to just get by and continuously strive to find my own path. I do not regret starting my business when I did but I would have definitely started sooner and stayed focused on growing it and myself instead of feeling insecure of what I have to offer others.

Loso, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’ve been an artist for as long as I could remember. I’ve always been compelled to draw and had natural talent but grew up in denial of it because it was never encouraged by my family. I had dreams of going to art school since young my elders made fun of me for it. My siblings, cousins and friends did appreciate my doodles. We’d often draw together as kids but otherwise I’d keep my drawings private.

I was always fascinated by comics and was an avid and reader and collector. In school my favorite subject was art. Every opportunity I had for an elective course or extra curricular activity my first go to was always something art related. When I went to college I decided to be an art major to realize my childhood dream studying painting and drawing. Years after I created my own platform and establishment that would provide for others what I didn’t have growing up: The opportunity to develop my creativity in a supportive environment.

In graduate school I studied sequential art. There I became equipped with the skills to be able to use art to entertain, educate and communicate ideas using the combination of words and images. Mastering sequential art I learned the power of intellectual property development through storytelling.

Prime Vice Studios, LLC is an art studio that is a Hip Hop lifestyle brand at heart. The name Prime Vice comes from indulging one’s primal addiction. That one compulsion that we can’t live without doing. For me it has always been art and so that is the core from where the PVS mission stems from.

PVS helps creators and businesses become more successful through our expertise in storytelling. We are an intellectual property development agency that helps others turn their ideas into assets.

We provide a full spectrum of creative services to help launch or scale businesses. This includes creative consultations/ coaching, visual art assets such as comics, cartoons, storyboards, character designs, logos and branding plus literary assets such as ad/web copy and scripting.

We produce and publish our own content, which features ourselves and our original multi-media cartoon characters. We also sell art, merchandise, comics and books featuring our work.

We teach our methods to fully develop original intellectual properties through our “Prime Vice Fresh Voices” workshops and also expand our community of creators.

Prime Vice Studios enhances the value of our client’s missions. We make ideas real, impactful and fun with everyone that we serve.

PVS is different because we focus on intellectual property development. Most creative consulting and art instruction is about getting some sort of project done or learning specific techniques. We do that plus show you what to do with that project so that it grows in value for generations to come. We are an agency that practices what we preach through producing our own work to demonstrate our expertise.

I am most proud of the endurance of PVS. It is commonly said that most businesses fail within a year. I am extremely proud that we are still in operation and not stopping anytime soon. I want it to be known that Prime Vice Studios exists for the betterment of creators, especially ones from underrepresented groups.

We have some original projects coming out that will delight.

We are open for business and looking to work with everyone who looking to take their business to the next level and creators who want to step their game up.

If you have multiple revenue streams in your business, would you mind opening up about what those streams are and how they fit together?

Prime Vice Studios does have multiple income streams:

1. We provide creative and intellectual property consultations to help businesses and creators streamline their creative ideas in an economical fashion. With our intellectual property consultations we provide a pipeline so that creators’s assets are ready for legal registration and protection.

2. We produce original visual art and designs for clients as well as commissions for patrons and collectors of our art. This includes a full spectrum of assets including digital sequential art ( cartoons, comics, comic books, comic strips, storyboards), character designs, concept art, logos/ branding material and original paintings.

3. We offer writing services that includes ad/ web copy , scripting original stories, and content creation for print and digital publishing.

4. We teach our Prime Vice Fresh Voices comic creation workshops which can be tailored to all ages and skill levels.

5. We sell our products such as books and various merchandise.

6. We offer digital marketing and e-commerce services for clients to improve their visibility on the internet.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

A lesson that I had to unlearn is that there is no money in art or a good livelihood in being an artist. It was drilled into me at home, throughout my life and even in college. Throughout most of my life I felt I had to overcompensate for my art habit. That forced me to satiate my creative impulses as if it was a guilty pleasure instead of a life path. I wish I would have learned to believe in myself much earlier in life.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.primevice.com
• Instagram: @prime_vice
• Facebook: @primevice
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzrKdbyxXq2hBXmOHetZYZg