What is your name?
Carlos Rodriguez
What is the name of your business?
Ecco Pallets LLC located in Edinburg Texas
When did you start your business?
During college, in his free time Carlos would collect broken pallets and bring them to his dad's pallet business. This provided him some income while in school. After college he was going to become a border patrol officer, he applied and got an interview. At the time he was still selling pallets. He was buying broken pallets from smaller pallet companies, repairing them, and selling them by the truckload. This is what stated his progression into a full-blown pallet business. This all happened back in 2015.
What made you choose to start a business in this industry?
Money and freedom were big motivators. Growing up in the pallet industry he wanted to be like his dad. He saw the freedom his dad had to spend time with his family, and the money he was able to make from running his own business. His mom wanted him to get a degree, but pallets are in his blood. He has 3 family members in the industry plus his own father. He is following the great example his family members have set for him.
How many employees does your company have?
Carlos has 6-7 employees, and his father has about 10. Some of the employees work for both Carlos and his father.
How do you advertise your business?
Carlos has a website and is always talking to people in the area. This was one thing Carlos was excited about with the pallet plug though, having another way to market his business with no work on his end.
What made you choose your company's location?
Carlos grew up in Mexico. His family came to the US in 2010 and he went to high school and college here. When they came to the US his family started a pallet company under a tree on a small piece of land they still own to this day. When they started, everything was done by hand - from notching the boards to nailing them in place. They worked their way up to be able to purchase a notcher, pallet machine, nailers, a kiln for heat treating, even a resaw machine. They just started manufacturing new pallets as well.
What are your company's goals in the next 2 years?
Carlos is planning on selling more new pallets. He still will sell recycled pallets, but he mainly wants to sell new pallets as it is less expensive to produce new pallets at this time.
What is unique about your company?
Carlos really takes pride in being able to offer fair pricing on new pallets and that he has been able to move his company into this avenue. He has spent a lot of time networking to build a solid relationship with a lumber supply that allows for this pricing.
What are some challenges you face as a business owner?
At the beginning, going out and building the customer base, finding customers. There is always someone else doing the job. Making sure your product is consistent and the quality is where it needs to be and that will help.
If you could start over is there anything that you would do differently?
No. He loved everything he did, from his wins to his losses. He had a great mentor and learned a lot from his own experience in the industry. He is extremely thankful for everything.
Is there an end goal to your business?
He would love to grow his business to the point where he can expand into other states. He is very comfortable with what he has now though and does not need more. It would just be something he would want to do to prove he is able to.
How do you personally define success? Money? Freedom? Influence?
Money and Influence, believes being able to help and lead by example. He likes to give back to his employees to show he cares.
For someone just starting in the business what is some advice you want to give them?
Make sure you have money to get started, you will have to put up a lot of money and sometimes you get into net terms with a company so you will not be paid right away. Know that you will struggle, things will not go your way. You must be patient and stay focused on the end goal.
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