Today we’d like to introduce you to Monica Amariz.
Monica, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I came to Houston in 2011 to start my own company bringing Colombian sweets (I’m from Colombia originally); I had a partner in Colombia that with time was less and less involved in the business, so I was doing it all on my own. One day I was in Cafe Europe with some friends and my now husband was there with friends too; he had just started his biz called FlexiPlus (bulk liquid packaging company that installs Flexitanks into a 20ft container to transport non-haz liquids for exports) and was celebrating a sale. We started talking, then dating, then helping each other in our own businesses to the point of investing in each other.
In April 2012 we decided to start together ROWL Trucking, a trucking company since we were subcontracting truckers to move FlexiPlus containers and we were not satisfied with their service. We became partners, decided to close the Colombian sweets biz since it was not in line with the other two companies and it was very difficult to manage 3 start-ups; we started with one truck, working from our own apartment where we placed two desks in the living room and worked long hours to find a better way to make logistics operations efficient and disrupt the trucking industry and their accepted mediocracy.
We slowly grew the company to now have more than 50 people working directly with us and have become one of the largest flexitank installers in Texas. Life is amazing and we make it happen every day by staying positive and believing everything is possible and we can do whatever we want.
I came to Houston alone and not knowing anybody, starting over and trying something new in a new land; Houston gave me the love of my life: My husband, my life project: Our businesses, and the most amazing thing I could ever dream of: My son Luka, the highlight of my every day. Everything is possible if you put your mind to it.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It has not been always smooth, but I am blessed by having my husband as my partner to overcome together anything that comes our way.
Some of the struggles we overcame:
– we had no outside investment so our Amex card was our finance fund for a while and no bank would give us a credit loan being so new in the market; we made do, got very organized and grew little by little until we had enough funds for banks to want us now.
– we had to overcome a cash flow issue since our biz requires to pay our drivers weekly and we get paid 30-45 days from our customers. At one point, we had overdue collections for over $1M and had to work very hard to be able to collect and keep biz unaffected; we did it without missing a single payroll.
– having the right team has been a huge lesson; when our sales grew more than 30% within 3 months our people were not ready to handle it, so we ended up losing some good people and letting go other that were not the right fit.
In 3 months time, we almost changed our entire office staff and had to train all new employees and keep managing the biz at the same time. Let’s say I am so glad to have a fully trained team now.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with ROWL Trucking & FlexiPlus Services. – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
We are a bulk liquid packaging, transportation and service company: FlexiPlus Services and ROWL Trucking. Our 2 companies work for hand on hand to provide the most efficient logistic services in the bulk liquid industry.
FlexiPlus is our installation company; we provide the service of installing flexitanks (polypropylene bags that hold around 6,000 gallons of non-haz liquids) to convert a dry 20ft container into a liquid carrier container.
ROWL Trucking is an intermodal trucking company specialized in liquid transportation; we haul flexitanks (in 20ft containers) and isotanks (metal rounded containers to carry hazmat and non-has liquids).
We are mostly known for our flexitank services since my partner has been in the industry for over 11 years and it’s very knowledgeable and respected in the industry. Since January we opened our isotank depot and are now able to offer isotanks preps, repairs and modification services. What has given us an advantage in the industry and set us apart is our technology, also what we are most proud of.
When we started in the business we were surprised how manual the whole process was and how difficult and expensive it was for a small company to have access to a software to efficiently manage logistics operations; not only that, but there was nothing out there that would allow us to accept orders in advance knowing we had enough resources to cover all orders we accepted.
So we decided to partner up with a Colombian company to develop our own CRM system and be able to have a digital board to schedule our drivers. That’s how Trackalo was born, our own software that allows to plan, visualize and track any single order we received from our customers and guaranteed that we provide them the highest quality service by never overbooking, and always been able to complete all orders received timely.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
Our future plans is to keep growing so we can offer better services to our customers and provide more opportunities for our employees.
The biggest project we have is to commercialize Trackalo, our CRM software so other small and medium-sized companies can be able to efficiently plan, visualize and track their resources and therefore grow their businesses.
Contact Info:
- Address: 610 Red Bluff Road Pasadena, TX 77505
- Website: www.flexirowl.com
- Phone: 281 998 8966
- Email: monica@flexirowl.com
Getting in touch: VoyageHouston is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
