We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Hugo Sanchez. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Hugo below.
Hugo, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.
As a touring musician I always wanted to keep myself in the music industry. I just didn’t know if it was always gonna be through music. Being a newlywed I was looking on spending more time with my wife so I wanted to start some sort of business locally. I had always been to Go-To guy for any type of gear musicians needed so I felt that was a good place to start. The only thing was that being a musician didn’t give you the most financial freedom so of course I was scared of taking a risk. It took about 2 years for me to really decide to open up a store simply because I felt like we didn’t have the money or resources. But after talking to my companies that endorsed me, they gave me full support. I opened up a small shop in Whittier California with all my savings and started Juices Music Shop. I knew we could be the company that people went to in order to get to that next level.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I grew up in a traditional Latin home but none of my parents were musicians. I didn’t know about the possibility of playing music until my mother took us to a church she got invited to. That’s where I saw music in a person level and immediately drew to it. My mother later bought me a bass guitar and that was the beginning of my journey. I got discovered at a local music shop by a musical director who now has become a longtime friend. He later introduced me to other musicians and that led me into the music industry where I realized this could be my career. My goals would check off one by one but I always knew that I was destined for greater. The one thing I always knew was my drive and work ethic would carry me into the greater doors I always hoped for with the help of God. I didnt realize I was building a network the whole time at local venues and shows for the business I would later open. But Ive always been a go getter, salesman, leader type of person. Finding a way to make money through some sort of sales. In high school it was candy bars or mixed fruit bags, but I always was an entrepreneur. Once I realize I could sell the very instruments I was playing was completely in my wheel house and people looked to me for that. Customer service is and always is the one thing I’m proud of. I love helping people and finding solutions to their musical needs.
Have you ever had to pivot?
Our business started right before the pandemic. Which many business owners know that it was probably the hardest time for any small business or entrepreneur.
We were crushing it selling basses, guitars, cases, and amps but during the pandemic the world shut down we not longer could get product to sell. I felt like I had to make a decision, let the business go or figure out another way to keep it alive. At this time everything was being streamed online. Churches, concerts, media and other entertainment were being streamed and the one thing that everyone was now using were in ear monitors. I spoke to my wife and immediately shared my idea to start making in ear monitors and sell them at our shop. So I did just that. I was glued to my phone trying to search up and down the web on how to make this idea tangible. It would take me forever to make just 1 set but I was determined to figure it out. Once I made my first pair I start spreading the word to my local music buddies and they were ready to support this idea. I gave them some beta models for feedback and once they told me that they loved them I went full force. We launched our greatest product yet called JUICY EARZ in ear monitors. It started off slow, I was selling them anywhere I could. Anywhere I would play I would take them and become the master salesman of Juicy Earz. Word started spreading and then it took off like wildfire. The world started opening back up and all my buddies started going back on tour, but not me. I stayed back and focused on the business and the new idea of Juicy Earz. Juicy Earz became the flagship product of Juices Music shop and saved our business.
How did you build your audience on social media?
I always knew that social media was gonna be the way to grow our business. Before I opened the shop, I would play my bass live on instagram and people would ask me where they could buy that bass. I realized that in my small community if I endorsed something people would be inclined to purchase it. So in a way I was a micro influencer of some sort. I adopted that same strategy once I opened up the shop. If you capture clean high quality content with music people know, they gravitate to buying that product. Now if I want sales to boost, I make sure that we are consistent with our social media because most of our leads and sales come through that lane. We retain and gain customers simply by sharing and being active on social media. We haven’t spent any add dollars, we just focused on building products and a brand people want to be apart of.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.juicesmusicshop.com/
- Instagram: @juicesmusicshop
- Youtube: @juicesmusicshop
Image Credits
Laura Williams, Terrel Clark, Kyle McNair , Tj, Christian Terrel