We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Preston Soto . We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Preston below.

Alright, Preston thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

Starting The Elegant Oxford was a unique experience because it’s such a surprising and niche market. There were almost no businesses at the time dealing in shoe shining in that particular way and knowing what to do was interesting.

It all really began by accident, when people in a shoe enthusiasts Facebook group, started contacting me, asking me to shine their shoes in the same way I would shine mine.

After taking many orders, I decided to start a YouTube channel to showcase the process of shoe shining in detail, which led to the video gong viral, garnering millions of views, leading to further success.

From there, I knew I wanted to keep scaling the business by not only taking orders and filming them for YouTube but my looking for a way to sell shoe products so others could shine shoes as well.

This led to further expansion as I began TheElehantOxford.com, where I sell the best shoe care products to those want to learn the art as well.

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?

For those who are unfamiliar, The Elegant Oxford is an artistic project, where I shine, dye, and restore high end men’s dress shoes.

I know that description may not adequately describe the unique work I do but essentially, the shoe is my canvas with leather dye and shoe wax serving as the tools I use to beautify and improve the look of high end footwear.

I am really proud of the reputation I have built, which has cemented me in this particular industry as one of the foremost experts in my field. It’s been so fun connecting with all of the talented artists that have taught me so much and fans and viewers, who have supported me throughout this experience.

I am equally proud of my relationship with Saphir, a company that has provided shoe shiners like me, with the absolute best products for shoe care in the world. Being able to sell Saphir shoe care products on my website has been an incredible honor and has stood as a benchmark of success for The Elegant Oxford.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Starting The Elegant Oxford was a huge turning point in my life. Even though I didn’t know it at the time, beginning this shoe shine journey, was pivot from what I had originally planned for myself.

After graduating from UCSD, I planned on going to Law School and was even filling out applications for post graduate work, when The Elegant Oxford really took off, leading me to make a choice between what I had planned and what had unexpectedly fallen into my lap.

It was really scary to take that risk of jumping into the unknown realities of starting a business, instead of choosing a more secure financial future of being a Lawyer; especially because my wife had just given birth to our daughter and I was keenly aware of my responsibility to provide.

I really wish I could say I had the foresight to confidently start a business but the truth is, I walked down my current path completely unsure of what would happen. To add to my own apprehension, my dad was really disappointed when he learned that I wouldn’t be a lawyer.

I know it sounds crazy because I’m such a meticulous planner and am incredibly indecisive but the only thing that kept me going was this feeling in my heart that this was my path. It was really unlike me to trust a random feeling but I’m really glad I did. My wife was incredibly supportive of it all and her grateful and happy demeanor through it all, helped me to give it a go.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I think I probably had the opposite problem that most people face when building an audience, which is usually a challenge when first starting out.

Building an audience on social media wasn’t a challenge at first, because my viral YouTube videos helped me to gain a lot of followers quickly.

I faced challenges later in my career, when I had to continue building a following after the viral videos I had posted, calmed down in their popularity.

I found that consistency in posting quality content was key to my success.

I’m so apprehensive to call myself an artist but I had to make sure my work was artistic and beautiful, so I could attract followers and viewers, who would find the work aesthetically pleasing.

What has been most surprising and unexpected, is how much time and effort I put into being a photographer, which has become a vital facet of my work. Making sure my pictures and videos look artistic and attractive has been a real challenge.

Making shoes look beautiful is only half the battle because failing to capture the artwork correctly, can prevent others from appreciating it. I never fathomed I’d become a photographer as well but it’s truly a facet of my work that has been paramount in building a real following.

Consistent and aesthetically pleasing content is the most important thing I have found to success in the social media age.

Contact Info:

• Website: TheElegantOxford.com
• Instagram: @theelegantoxford
• Facebook: @theelegantoxford
• Youtube: @TheElegantOxford