We were lucky to catch up with Mike and Daneen San Pedro recently and have shared our conversation below.

Mike and Daneen , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?

We The Essentials was born out of an idea in June of 2020, with the chaos of the pandemic and the division that was happening during that time. My husband (Mike San Pedro) brought up the concept over dinner one night, and I was like, sure, we can do that, and we jumped right in.

We went from concept to conception in less than six weeks. As you could say, we built the plane on the way down.

We mapped out some key basics, like design and apparel quality, and then started reaching out to individuals in our inner circle who were more experienced in other areas to help us put the puzzle together.

It takes a village.

We started with zero experience and had no idea what to expect, but we jumped in anyway. As I mentioned, we began to reach out to individuals who had experience in other areas to help point us in the right direction, like where to source apparel, find printing and design experts, and things like what was the best online store platform.

Starting, you don’t realize how many small tedious steps they are in putting something like this together. Things that seem simple, like printing shipping labels or automatic weight calculations, almost feel like you are learning Greek.

Mike and Daneen , 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?

We The Essentials was born out of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

As a husband and wife team looking to build a brand and a legacy (for our children) that allows you to work hard and “stay essential” regardless of your industry or profession, to pursue your liberties and just be happy. It was mind-blowing that in this day in age, we would be segregated based on our ability to provide for ourselves and our families.

We stood with those considered essential, from front line workers, first responders, businesses big and small, with all who had made sacrifices for “the greater good” and with all the individuals tossed into a bucket called “non-essential” We saw a need for a more unifying message. We are jus a homegrown pro-american family who pursued building a company that was seeking to spread a message of unity and support for all industries under pressure during a time of economic and social chaos.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

The definition of resilience is the process and outcome of successfully adapting to difficult or challenging life experiences.

Leaping into building a business from home with no preparation or experience before the start, We think, would be considered the definition of resilience. Especially in the middle of world chaos while your children are home learning virtually all the while working full-time jobs.

We firmly believe that just because you don’t know how does not mean you can’t.

And we are learning new technics, systems, and processes daily.

If there is one thing, we learned it is that not all things in life are planned, and without risk, there is no reward.

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

A lesson we had to unlearn is not knowing what we were doing but doing it anyway.

Being a BEGINNER with a beginner’s mindset was humbling. Starting something brand new from scratch outside your current profession was like walking into your first year of high school. You think you have an idea of what you are doing, but find out shortly that most of the things you already know don’t apply to the new systems and processes you are about to learn.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://wetheessentials.us/
• Instagram: @we.the.essentials
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/we.the.essentials/

Image Credits
IMAGE CREDIT: Danielle Lash – Lash Photoz