Louie Torres is the CEO and founder of Unleashed Marketing in the dog-loving city of Charlotte, North Carolina. He has come a long way since his beginning, being born to a teenage mother into an immigrant family. Louie had an early hunger to thrive as an entrepreneur since he was a child, when his grandparents brought him to flea markets every weekend where he sold pokemon cards and learned how to barter.
Louie later attended Coastal Carolina University where he earned his finance degree, becoming a first-generation college graduate in his family. Shortly upon graduating, he took to Wall Street in fiery hopes of becoming successful in the concrete jungle. After years feeling unfulfilled, he began to work toward his own startup. While working part-time as a server to make ends meet, Louie spent all of his free time learning the ins and outs of paid social media marketing.
He began to apply these skills by helping medical specialists gain new patients through Facebook ads. When Louie got his first dog in 2015, he was forced to spend over a thousand dollars on training and realized that he could use this problem to create something great. Louie applied his business skills to enter the dog training market, and Unleashed Marketing is now the top marketing and consulting agency in the world. Louie continues to grow his business and succeed as an entrepreneur.
Please tell us a little bit about your company – what is Unleashed Marketing all about?
Unleashed Marketing is the marketing and consulting leader disrupting the $100 billion dollar pet industry. We service hundreds of pet businesses globally, including the US, Australia, Canada and the UK. We help our clients scale with innovative digital marketing strategies, sales funnels, and our all-in- one mobile application. Our clients include dog trainers, kennels, walkers, daycares, and groomers.
Tell us a little bit about your background and how you started your company?
I originally tried to launch my first digital influencer agency in 2013, while in college, before sponsored ads even existed. I didn’t know how to reach or sell to decision-makers, and my business quickly failed.
After gaining invaluable sales and business experience from a brokerage firm on Wall St and a consulting company in Midtown NY, I finally took the leap of faith and set out to restart my digital marketing agency.
Fast forward a few successful years with my new marketing agency, and a change of scenery (relocated to Charlotte, NC) I move in with my girlfriend Michelle and her ferocious 10-year-old Chihuahua. It was tough. He had your typical “small dog syndrome”. It was so bad, that Michelle contemplated giving him to her mom…because we would not last otherwise. As a do-or-die solution, we hired a dog trainer (not cheap at all by the way) to help us with our problems.
After our 6-week program finished, it was like we had a new dog. It was unbelievable! He was obedient, respectful, and most importantly, we were able to have fun! I was very pleased with my trainer, yet also disappointed to learn that he had no idea how to market himself. He should be helping everyone!
I offered to help him for free and share the same marketing & sales strategies that I have been using for 7 figure businesses, national franchises, and massive medical facilities. The results were INSANE! This solopreneur dog trainer made 15k in less than 30 days working with me!
After doing a bit more research I learned that this massive pet industry has been neglected and many businesses needed help. I fired all of my old clients, rebranded the company, and decided to go ALL IN! A few weeks later, the world was shut down by COVID-19.
I had no choice, but to persevere. Nine months later, I now have a staff of 12 full-time employees, helped hundreds of business owners not only stay open but even thrive! I have even helped a handful of pet businesses scale past 7 figures, during a pandemic!
What are your plans, how do you plan to grow this company?
We have recently created an intimate high-ticket coaching program where I provide intensive and detailed consulting. From helping, companies identify and hire talent, create and improve programs, partner or find facilities, or develop tax strategies and scalable business plans.
We are also looking to capitalize on our technology. Our all-in-one mobile/desktop application allows pet businesses to organize leads and clients with a customizable CRM, communicate with automated 2- way text and email, monitor reviews with reputation management, book appointments and automate reminders, host vaccine records, and training agreements, plus so much more!
What were the top mistakes you made starting your business and what did you learn from it?
Waiting too long to invest in help. Good people are truly what help businesses in this space scale.
Technology can make life easier, and help create efficiency within the business, but caring and invested team members are what keep clients happy and with us for a very long time.
How do you separate yourself from your competitors?
By overdelivering and leading with service. Not to mention, the data we are operating o extremely innovative marketing strategies.
What is one thing that you do daily to grow as an entrepreneur?
Look for opportunities to learn. I am not afraid to invest in myself. When I dropped $30k in the middle of a pandemic on an inner circle program with my mentor, many of my supporters quickly became unsupportive. I made the $30k back in a couple weeks after implementing the new knowledge that I gained from my coach. My supporters were supportive again.
What are three books or courses you recommend for new entrepreneurs?
- Rich Dad Poor Dad – learn how to leverage money
- DotCom Secrets – learn how to leverage the internet to make more money
- 4 hour workweek – learn how to work smarter, not harder to get more time back
If you only had $100 dollars to start a new business, knowing everything you know now, how would you spend it?
On Facebook Ads for my business.
How can we get in touch with you?
- Email: louie@unleashedmarketing.co
- IG: @louietorres.co or @unleashedmarketing
- Website: Unleashed Marketing
