Today we’d like to introduce you to Alexis Morales.
Alexis, before we jump into specific questions about your work, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Hello, My name is Alexis Morales: Manager of the new Sherwin Williams located at 6727 FM 1463, Katy, Texas, 77088. My wife nominated me to do this questionnaire in the hopes that others will view my story.
When my parents were only teens, they decided that they wanted to become productive members of society. My mother and father immigrated to America over 30 years ago from San Luis Potosi Mexico & Guanajuato, México. They did so because there was no opportunity to grow and prosper in their small villages of labor de Peralta and San Bartolo. They crossed the border in hopes of bettering their lives and to help their families who stayed behind. Since they have gotten here, all they have known is work… work… work. They passed down that work ethic to my brothers and I growing up. Being useful, valuable, and productive members of society was ingrained in us. That type of attitude was our family mantra.
In high school (2010), I joined the Reagan High School Debate team and I can honestly say that it was one of the best decisions I have ever made. For the next six years, my life would be consumed by research, critically thinking about different subject matters, and exploring new ideas that were previously foreign to me. I was able to get a full ride scholarship to the University of Texas at San Antonio to participate in the Varsity Debate team and travel nationally to try and win tournaments for our school. After exploring different majors: I fell in love with the idea of being your own boss. I decided to enter the College of business and get a degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Entrepreneurship. I continue to participate in debate while trying to acquire my degree. In 2013 I was recognized and ranked as the 11th Best Speaker at the Cross Examination Debate Association National Championship. Once my sophomore season was over, I realized that my passion shifted from debate to Entrepreneurship. With a heavy heart, I resigned from the Debate Team in order to dedicate myself to Entrepreneurship.
In late 2013, I joined the UTSA Chapter of Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization (CEO), which is an organization to inform, support and inspire college students to be entrepreneurial and seek opportunity through enterprise creation. With a diverse entrepreneurial community and global network, the CEO provides student entrepreneurs with opportunities, events, chapter activities and conferences to help start businesses. Our biggest event was the 60 Second Elevator Pitch Competition.
Within one semester, I was named President of the organization and tasked to handle that year’s Elevator Pitch Competition. This was my first glimpse of being a business owner because I oversaw everything: Marketing, Funding, People, Logistics, Finding Prospects, etc. Our pitch competition was a success!
As the President, I decided to change things around. I wanted to create a tradition to start a small business every school year. After a lot of deliberations with all the members, we decided to create a San Antonio Version of Mexican Loteria. We bought a tent at a flea market to sell our lotterria and ended up selling out! CEO helped me become an entrepreneur through a hands on approach.
The organization was not enough to quench my thirst for Entrepreneurship. From 2015 to 2016, I decided to participate in the UTSA Center for Innovation, Technology and Entrepreneurship (CITE) $100K Student Technology Venture Competition. 4 Entrepreneurship students and four biomedical engineers teamed up to solve a problem that many phlebotomists around the world suffer from. The problem we identified is that many phlebotomists have a hard time identifying a vein to puncture. 1.2 billion venipuncture procedures are performed in the US annually, where 156 million of these cases will result in patients being stabbed more once. Our solution was Infravein: a company that has developed a biomedical device that allows technicians to identify veins better to perform venipuncture procedures optimally. The device uses infrared light to illuminate veins near the surface of the skin and is captured by the camera, and projected through the HD display. We improve one stick success rate no matter the patients’ skin tone, skin condition, age, body type or health status. Over the course of 1 year, we created a business plan, functional prototype, interviewed phlebotomist and other interested parties to finetune our product then presented our device to the competition. The judges viewed our technology and announced us as the winners of the 100k CITE Competition. We ended up using that money to continue to endeavor but unfortunately, some roadblocks stopped us from continuing the venture. We graduated and now it was time to figure out what to do.
I applied for a couple of jobs and found myself joining The Sherwin Williams Company. Sherwin Williams has a fast track program for college graduates to become an assistant manager of a paint store within six weeks. The idea of being a manager so quickly and being a part of running a million dollar business intrigued me, so I gave it my all. I learned everything about running a business: managing employees, marketing, b2b sales, customer service, prospection, lead generation, the list never ends when running a business. After one year, Sherwin Williams promoted me to become the Manager of a relatively new store. At the same time, Hurricane Harvey hit and that was the moment where I truly learned what work ethic means. Due to the flooding: many houses needed to be repainted. This natural disaster created a major demand for paint and the stores sales skyrocketed 3-fold while maintaining the same staff. Regardless of the long hours, the trial & tribulations, and being burnt out… I persevered. After eight months, Sherwin Williams promoted me again to become a sales representative for apartments. I was given the keys to a 2.5 million business and asked to increase sales to three million in one year. I was extremely successful and was awarded the coveted Leadership award that is given to the representative who meets their yearly quota. After one year and a half, I was promoted to run a brand new store from the ground up.
This was my moment to shine: my business degree, my past businesses, my debate skills, all that I have worked for came down to this chapter of my life. I was given the keys to literally built a brand new Sherwin Williams. I have never been more excited and I know everyone was proud of me. Four months in, I had our Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting, our contractor grand opening and sales have been growing to impressive numbers every day! As I continue to grow this brand new business, I know that I will continue to learn more and hopefully, I will be able to create a business with my name and my money on the line. Until then, I will continue to be a productive member of society the way that my parents taught me to be.
I want to thank my wife Wendy Martinez for Nominating me to tell my story.
https://www.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/news/2016/04/28/local-medical-device-startup-snags-piece-of-100k.html
https://www.utsa.edu/today/2017/04/infravein.html
https://www.c-e-o.org/page/aboutus
Has it been a smooth road?
Sherwin Williams: Managing people is extremely difficult. Being able to empower your staff is critical and in order to do that, you need to be able to identify what they value and give them the opportunity to do what they want to do. At times, it was extremely hard to motivate my staff when we were tired and swamped with customers but we persevered because we didn’t want to let our clients down.
We’d love to hear more about your work.
Sherwin Williams
Being experts at customer service and ensuring you have the right product for your project. Our customer service sets us apart from the competition: If you try to buy paint from the big box stores, the people there don’t know much about paint, so you need to figure everything out on your own. We strive to be experts in our products and ensuring your project goes as smoothly as possible.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Houston metropolitan area is one of the biggest markets for paint: Everyone from homeowners to facility managers overseeing oil and gas structures, they all need paint and we are here to provide.
My advice is this:
1. If you want to start a business, you need to be able to identify a problem that currently exists in the market and you need to be able to present a solution to that problem. If you are not able to articulate that solution, then take a step back and meditate on what it is that you are trying to do. Ensure that you have a differentiating value proposition because without one, you will fail.
2. Lead generation is key. You are not a business unless you have to pay clients. Go out and make that call! Get paying clients and then you can consider yourself a business.
Contact Info:
- Address: 6727 FM 1463 Rd Suite 110
Katy,Tx 77494
- Phone: 2818408062
- Email: Alexismorales451@gmail.com
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