Mario Vásquez Zuniga, 29, got his first taste of entrepreneurship three years ago before starting his own business.
In 2020, he helped his mother and stepfather open Petals Florist Shop, a brick-and-mortar flower and gift store in Palmdale, Calif. They ran the store, and Vásquez Zuniga helped with marketing while also working a full-time job as a digital consultant at the communications firm Lucas Public Affairs. But he craved something more.
“I felt like my growth had stagnated and I wanted something more,” he says. “It made sense for me to take a step back from work and reexamine where I wanted to be, where I wanted to be in the next few years, who I wanted to be.”
In 2023, Vásquez Zuniga left her job to co-found a consulting firm, Collective, with former colleague Thea Appling. Their business focuses on creative and strategic communications for business owners, advocacy groups, and nonprofits in the Sacramento area.
A year after starting up, the duo reported $400,000 in revenue, according to documents reviewed by Business Insider.
Vásquez Zuniga is one of many people trying to start a business in recent years: More than 19 million business start-up applications have been filed since 2020, when the pandemic sparked a startup boom, according to the Treasury Department.
It’s true that business applications don’t necessarily translate into successful companies, and according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, roughly one in four U.S.-based businesses go bankrupt within a year.
Vásquez Zuniga said the venture was daunting, but she took specific steps to determine whether her idea was viable.
“It was a really difficult decision to leave a stable, salaried job and jump into the unknown,” he said, “but I found work and potential clients to work with, which gave me the confidence to leave my job.”
In fact, talking to others and asking for advice is key to entrepreneurship, he said.
Related articles
Get ready before launch
Vásquez Zuniga and her mother immigrated to the United States from El Salvador as children and grew up in a low-income family, she said.
Vásquez Zuniga is a first-generation college graduate who earned her degree from San Francisco State University in 2016. After graduating, she pursued a career in communications and public policy.
He said he enjoyed working for a large company but wanted more flexibility and a more creative pursuit, but he knew starting a business wasn’t a surefire way to make money — his mother and stepfather closed their flower shop three years after it was launched.
“I was scared about the financial aspect,” Vázquez Zuniga said. “I think I had enough saved up to get me through four months, but I was also thinking about health insurance and the cost.”
Vásquez Zuniga said it’s essential to “do your homework” before starting a business, which means talking to trusted friends and colleagues, doing thorough research and using resources from the Small Business Administration to develop a detailed business plan.
“When I decided to do this, the first people I called were my bookkeeper, my CPA and a friend who’s a lawyer,” Vásquez Zuniga said.
He said completing thorough research into product-market fit and business management is key to becoming a successful entrepreneur.
For example, he works with a mentoring program through the Sacramento Valley Small Business Development Center.
“Those are the types of questions you can ask when trying to understand pricing models and what you’re putting value on your hourly rate,” he said. “A lot of these things can be explored, but they’re not very clear-cut and require conversations.”
Vásquez Zuniga also participated in an entrepreneurship program run by Immigrants Rising, a nonprofit that provides mentorship and business resources, where she took courses on how to start a business and connected with human resources and legal experts.
Seeking advice from friends and colleagues can lead to business opportunities
Vásquez Zuniga said aspiring entrepreneurs should take the time to have an honest discussion about their business idea with trusted friends, colleagues and advisors.
For example, the mentor advised Vásquez Zuniga not to underestimate herself or her work and to make sure she was making the money she should be making.
Vásquez Zuniga said when he left Lucas Public Affairs, his superiors supported his decision and helped him find a contract position with The Collective.
Plus, you can find customers through these conversations.
“I sometimes joke that my job is lunch because I go to lunch with a lot of people in my network,” Vásquez Zuniga says, “just to check in, let them know what I’m doing, find out what they’re doing, see if there’s any way I can help them, if there’s any overlap, if they’ve heard of any projects or people, etc.”
Vásquez Zuniga also said he doesn’t hesitate to offer pro bono consulting services to establish trust with potential clients.
“We’re still in the early stages of marketing our own company, but we’ve been able to make a lot of connections through people in our network,” he said.
Vásquez Zúñiga has another advantage: He’s a native Spanish speaker, and nearly everyone he works with is bilingual.
“I think this is a great strength in our work because we can translate the work, communicate the work and even work with many of our clients to help shape their stories in Spanish as well as English,” Vásquez Zuniga said.
Vásquez Zuniga added that setting milestones is also important for new entrepreneurs.
“Without a goal, you’re just aiming for nothing, which can lead to feeling stagnant and dissatisfied with your job,” he said.
Are you a small business owner or entrepreneur? Contact us at jtowfighi@businessinsider.com.
