Today we’d like to introduce you to Patricia Franco and Lorena Galindo.
Patricia and Lorena, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
My very good friend, who lives in Dallas, Lorena, came to me with this idea about starting our own marquee rental business in Houston. The idea was intriguing. We were both stay-at-home moms with college degrees and thought Houston could benefit from something like this. Needless to say, the idea quickly evolved and while it took different forms in the end, it became what we now know as GF Lit Marquee Letters.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The road has definitely not been smooth. Starting a business is not easy, let alone starting one in the midst of a worldwide pandemic. The stay-at-home orders greatly affected us and like many businesses, we were forced to pivot. In doing so, we decided to expand our service area to Dallas, where my partner lives. We have slowly begun lighting up events again, of course, while following CDC guidelines. We take extra effort in our safety procedures and we are very grateful people have trusted us during these times. Aside from the most obvious hurdle – the pandemic – we have encountered “growing pains.” Serving two cities takes lots of coordination and oversight to ensure we do not double book.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about GF Lit Marquee Letters & Decor – what should we know?
We specialize in decor rentals, specifically marquee letter rentals. We offer 4ft marquee letters and numbers to personalize any type of event – birthday, weddings, showers, holiday parties, business events, anything really. We also offer 3ft symbols like “#” or “heart”. As well as 1ft word-toppers like “THE,” “LOS,” “BABY” (and more) as add-on options. You can see a full list of our inventory on our website. We also offer different setup options. One of our most popular requests is our stacking option. Stacking allows us to “stack” one word over another with our custom-made stands. A couple of other popular options are the apostrophe and the “ST.”
Part of our initial discussion was to bring a modern flair to this rustic trend but also incorporate our own cultural and social backgrounds. With this vision, we became the first vendor in Texas (and quite possibly the US) to offer “Ñ,” “LOS,” “SR Y SRA,” and Greek letters. We also have some fun new marquees we will be adding later this month. Make sure to follow us on social media for more info. We believe our creative vision has set us apart from other vendors. Our letters are meant to make a statement and stand out from the rest and we believe we have done that.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
We believe the key to our success has been in great part to the overall support we have received from the small business community from other local rental vendors to balloon vendors to event planners and even local influencers. We also can’t forget our family and friends who have also played a huge role in our success behind the scene. We would not be here without these amazing people and we are humbled by the support we’ve received thus far.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.getgflit.com
- Email: gflitdecor@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gf_lit/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gflit
Image Credits:
Taryn Melgoza and PoshPop Balloons
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