We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Luis Valentin. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Luis below.
Hi Luis, thanks for joining us today. We’ve all been there before where things are tight financially and we start asking ourselves in the small/simple joys like a cup of coffee is worth it. Have you had an experience like this and if so how did you think about this sort of spending?
I think it is vastly important to spend wise during lean times. During the pandemic is actually when I began Lion Sent. I started this Hat & Clothing Brand in the midst of the pandemic while being away from my loved ones on active duty in the Navy. I came up with this idea of starting my own brand and wanted it to stick out and stand for something. I started an embroidered brand mainly in hopes of growing Lion Sent into something major. Our first year, we surpassed 100 orders and with the state of things I continued to utilize the profit made to put right back into the brand and bring new product to the customers and staying consistent. My plan is not to make quick profit like most of the trends these days but to grow my brand into the next best and desirable thing. I love the Hat market and I feel I have a lot of room to grow. I am so excited how far Lion Sent has come and look forward to seeing where it goes! Smart spending is important when starting a brand. Especially with inflation and everyday items becoming more and more expensive. It makes it hard to make the profit margin.
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?
My name is Luis Valentin. I am a United States Navy Veteran. I served in the Navy for a little over 9 years. I was stationed overseas in Bahrain as a Master-at-Arms for my first tour. Once it was completed, I was assigned to the USS George HW Bush CVN 77 aircraft carrier ported in Virginia. I went on a combat deployment in 2017 with our ship along with our Carrier Strike Group. After deployment and being onboard for over several years, I transferred to Naval Air Station Lemoore the biggest Air base in the West! I left active duty and moved to New Mexico with my wife and three children. I started Lion Sent while serving active duty and remained consistent in growing my brand. Lion Sent is a Hat & Clothing Brand meant to bring quality hats and clothes to everyone with our unique embroidered designs. What sets Lion Sent apart from the other upcoming brands is that it really focuses on Embroidery design and to keep that quality product with strong representation of self empowerment and to be the strongest and best version of yourself.
We’d love to hear your thoughts about selling platforms like Amazon/Etsy vs selling on your own site.
I utilize Shopify to create my own website. I then purchased my domain name and continue to promote our website. I refrained from using Amazon simply because I wanted to have the inventory at my location and have the ability to have total control of the correct products going out for orders. It takes away having to pay storage fees at Amazon as well as having to worry about shipping delays or errors on the warehouses. I have had a great experience with Shopify so far and they have experts standing by to assist whenever you have a question or want to know how to go about certain customization things. This was my first time designing a website and found it very user-friendly. It comes with a monthly subscription fee but I feel like it’s totally worth it with the support they provide, discounted shipping rates, tons of free templates to help redesign your website whenever you want and tons of easily connected apps to get your shop connected to any social media for your business that you are using.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
During my active duty service, I noticed that this wasn’t a good fit for me or my family anymore. The military is great and has amazing benefits and provides you with great real-world experience and the best of friends that become family. But the military isn’t quite family friendly which many of us expect. For me, the constant moving every two to three years, deployments and long periods of time away from my children and wife started to take a toll on me. I decided to do a complete change of career 9 years into the military. I chose not to re-enlist and instead pursue a cybersecurity career in the civilian side while at the same time start a few side hustles that turned out profitable. Which is where Lion Sent began and my interest in Real Estate properties to cash flow. This was a major turning point in my life because my family and I left that lifestyle to settle and be around one another a lot more and cherish the family moments we have. I am happy with my choice and do not regret any steps I have taken to get to where I am today. I am grateful for the military. I was able to earn two degrees while serving to set myself up for success and will continue to bring my valuable experience and work ethic no matter where life takes me.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.lionsentllc.com
- Instagram: @LIONSENTLLC
- Facebook: Lion Sent LLC