"Being self-employed allows for nice perks of flexibility" with Melanie Ocana

Melanie Ocana is co-owner of Rustico Tile & Stone, an online Texas-based company that manufactures, imports, and distributes handmade, Mexican tile worldwide. Fifteen years ago, Melanie experimented with selling tile through eBay on a consignment basis while dating the man who is now her husband and business partner, Ray. Since then, Melanie and Ray were married, had two kids, became a licensed foster family, serve actively in their community and church, and they run the largest Mexican tile business in the US and Mexico.

Can you tell our readers about your background?

As a kid growing up in northern Louisiana, I was a tomboy. I played outside, got dirty, dug for crawfish in ditches--that sort of thing. My parents displayed hard work, discipline, and love for myself and my siblings. I had a memorable childhood.

By the time I was in high school and college in Texas, I continued to excel in school and sports. I worked hard and had a lot of grit because those things didn't come naturally. Throughout those endeavors and my teenage social life, I maintained part-time jobs, too. Yep, I am the classic high achiever. I'm driven by success and pleasing others, sometimes at a cost. 

After earning an MBA right after my undergrad, I landed an unpaid marketing position for the C.S. Lewis Foundation. (No one wants to pay an MBA salary to someone with no work experience besides babysitting, cashiering, or food service, so I had to settle on an unpaid position. Little did I know that this opened the door to the rest of my life-to-date.) 

I've always been the type of person who tries to say "yes" to open doors of opportunity. I believe that if people pay attention to what God illustrates, we have so much opportunity that supersedes our plan for life. 

For example, the volunteer position at the C.S. Lewis Foundation allowed me to travel worldwide. Travel is one of my passions. Then, it led me to meet the right people to become an adjunct professor at Pepperdine University. (I was only 24 years old.) Later, that led me to a fun career working and traveling the world for the Peter Drucker Graduate School of Management.

After, four years of living the single life in southern California with my dream job, I discovered that you couldn't take the yeehaw out of a Texas girl. I moved to South Texas to open an eBay franchise store. That's right. It's the 40 Year Old Virgin movie concept. "Hi! My name is Melanie. Can I sell your junk on eBay?" It failed. Really bad. In a horrible way. To be honest, this was the first real failure of my life, and it left me bankrupt.

During the failure of my eBay business, three things were at work in my life, which led me to where I'm at today. 1) I approached a small tile shop in south Texas and began selling Saltillo tile on eBay. I sold a ton of it. The tile shop never paid me. So, I got angry. Really angry. 2) I began dating Ray, a successful entrepreneur. We enjoyed breakfast dates early in our relationship - and still do! 3) I listened to God in my pity-party failure moments. I was at rock bottom personally (with the exception of dating Ray) and professionally. 

Fifteen years later, Ray and I are married, and we are business partners. We have a beautiful family. And, the bread and butter of our business, Rustico Tile & Stone, is manufacturing and shipping Saltillo tile worldwide. I no longer sell anything on eBay.

What inspired you to start your business?

I was broke and hungry. That does wonders for motivation! When I first dabbled with selling Saltillo tile on eBay, I knew it would be a home run. That’s because at the time, the only place people could find this type of handmade Mexican terracotta tile was either in Mexico or in south Texas. And forget about shipping it anywhere. It's clay tile - very fragile.

To me, this seemed like a natural opportunity. I could take an inexpensive product (Saltillo tile) and figure out how to get it shipped to places where people didn't have access to it. For example, many of our clients live in the northern parts of the United States. Mexican tile isn't a typical home decor staple in those geographic areas. But, those people love to vacation at Mexico beaches. When they return home, some of them want to recreate that Mexican cultural vibe in their homes. Home remodels birth from happy vacations nestled in hacienda-style architecture. In my mind, I'd found an untapped market.  

Once I achieved proof on concept via eBay sales, I approached Ray with a proposition. It went something like this… "Hey, let's take a trip to Saltillo, Mexico (since you’re originally from Mexico), and meet with a guy. I need you to speak Spanish to him for me." Ray has a brilliant business mind, and I knew I needed him as part of this adventure. So, we took a trip to Mexico.

Now, we are not only the largest manufacturer for Saltillo tile in Mexico, but we've expanded into other types of handmade, artisan products, including Cement Tile, Talavera, Cantera Stone, and others. Ray manages our production, import, and logistics while I manage sales, marketing, and finance. We have an incredible staff, too! Some days are easier than others, but we love helping people create beautiful spaces.

Where is your business based?

Rustico Tile & Stone is an online business - RusticoTile.com. Our sales office and showroom is in Leander, Texas (northwest Austin area), and our warehouse is in Pharr, Texas. We ship worldwide.

How did you start your business? What were the first steps you took? 

After achieving proof of concept on eBay, I knew our next step was to create a website. I did not know anything about building a website, so I hired a college kid to make my first website. He built it in Wordpress. In my free time, I learned everything I could about the Wordpress platform, and it's functionality. I like to be "in control," so it was important to me that I would be able to make changes to our website once it functioned.

Once we had a website, I didn't realize that no one could find it without the work of SEO efforts. So, I learned SEO & PPC.  Online marketing wasn’t a “thing” while I was in school pursuing a marketing degree.

During that time, I also studied our competition. I visited other tile shops and mystery-shopped our competitors. This is still something that I do today. If I don't know what our competition is doing, how can I know where we can successfully align ourselves to fill the gaps in the market? My competitive nature thrives in this type of ongoing research. 

Congruently, Ray and I learned everything about how our tile was manufactured (from riverbed clay to kiln firing) and how to install it as flooring. We became experts in Mexican tile. I studied home decor, interior design, and architecture.

We learned how to ship things via freight and negotiated freight pricing contracts. The freight industry is fascinating. We made so many mistakes at the beginning with packing a fragile tile onto pallets. Everything we did wrong with shipping in our early days has led us to what we do right today. In hindsight, some of our first customers had rough experiences with us! We are so grateful for them, teaching us how to do this business.

Now, I continue to study SEO, PPC, our competition, the home decor industry, and fine-tune freight shipping. These things are ever-changing.

What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business?

Initially, PPC drove awareness for our business. But now with increased competition and changing technology, that happens through a variety of ingredients. PPC is still essential, and SEO remains king. As an online business, our organic presence for relative keywords is paramount. 

But in recent years, I've placed a lot of emphasis on social media marketing. That's an excellent place for us to put our brand and company's personality in front of people. Social media marketing is our handshake with a "Hi, it's nice to meet you. Let’s go on a date." message. That's critical since we don't meet 99% of our customers face-to-face. Our online brand and reputation are paramount.

I also curated a blog several years ago. Content marketing brings tremendous value and validity to the "why Rustico" aspect. Our consumers may initially find us through a PPC ad, but the overwhelming industry content from our blog (and guest posts on other blogs) gives us validity. I know we're the best at what we do. That's not arrogance. I just know it because Ray and I have created us to be the best. Less than that isn't good enough. But I also want our customers to understand it and believe it too. That's where our blog content adds value.

For me, success in awareness is when our customers determine that we have a beautiful product for an affordable price, offer personal service, and trust that we have their best interests in mind. Sure, we want to make money, but not if we’re not adding value to someone, building relationships, and serving others in the process.

What have been your biggest challenges, and how did you overcome them? 

My challenges have evolved as our business and life has taken shape. 

Obstacle 1 - Initially, I was a 26-year-old white girl living in south Texas selling Mexican tile, and I didn't speak Spanish. That was a challenge. I overcame this by marrying a Spanish speaker. (It's a joke!) But all kidding aside, it's a blessing that my business partner speaks his native language in our business.

Obstacle 2 - I didn't know anything about Saltillo tile, freight shipping, website and online marketing, import/export business, customs brokers. Goodness, I could go on. I knew nothing. But I'm eager to learn, and I knew that I could sell this stuff. So, I kept going through the motions of selling and learning congruently. I turned to people who knew more than me about all of these topics. I read a lot. I sought out criticism. I studied our competitors and our customers. I listened to our customers' complaints. I asked customers what they didn't like about our company and products (ouch!). I experimented a lot. And then, I repeated the things that created success.

Obstacle 3 - I married my business partner. While I wouldn't dream of running our business with someone else, I rarely recommend that people go into business with their spouse. It's a big challenge. 

Early on, Ray ran his other business during daytime hours while I sold tile online and loaded trucks with that day's shipments. Yep, I learned to drive a forklift. We packed pallets of the next day's shipments during the evening and early morning hours. Rinse and repeat, day after day. 

We were exhausted and argued a lot as we navigated how to "do" our business. Eventually, we agreed to restructure our work responsibilities according to our strengths. He took on manufacturing. I championed the sales function. Then, we decided to let one another do our jobs. This mitigated most of our arguments as we learned to trust one another in business. We also agreed to talk about work as little as possible when the workday finished. This is still a challenge for us during various seasons, but it's one that we're committed to overcoming. After operating our business for 10 months, we took our first paychecks for $200 each. We’ve never debt-financed, and we continue to reinvest revenue to fund our growth. 

There's a fine line between marriage and being business partners. Our marriage takes priority, always. If it didn't, our business would fail.

Obstacle 4 - We had kids. Oh Lordy! I love my kids. But trying to raise a family while being self-employed is the biggest challenge of my life. My children are growing up around our office and staff. At home, they "play Rustico." They are budding CEOs. But there’s a downside. They are also the kids who don't get to be sick at home. When they get sick, I still have to work, and they are there with Ray and me.

Being self-employed allows for nice perks of flexibility. But it also shapes our family life. For example, I may have plans to go on the yearly student field trip. But if one of my staff calls in sick, I'm now that staff person for the day and I miss out on the field trip. While those things are disappointing for me, our kids also struggle with letdowns brought on by self-employment responsibilities. Such is life, right? We overcome these things by offering grace, laughter, and focusing on the blessings of our lives. I wouldn’t want to have it any other way.

Obstacle 5 - We hired employees. For a few years, Rustico Tile & Stone thrived with only Ray and myself running the show. Our success demanded growth, so we decided to hire employees. What a challenge! I knew nothing about successfully hiring & managing people. I learned that you can't always believe what's said in an interview or written in a resume. We made some terrible hiring decisions that cost time and money. 

Ironically, I have a double major in Marketing & Management. My management degree means nothing when it comes to developing others to be successful. So, I studied again. I talked to smarter, more experienced managers, and took on a mentor. I learned what servant leadership means. I learned how to interview people in a way to get past the rehearsed answers.

 As a small business, no one on our payroll can just clock in and clock out and fly under the radar. Everyone is a critical piece of the puzzle. It's my job to find the right puzzle pieces so we can work cohesively as a team. If I am going to enjoy any balance of life (i.e., life outside of our business), I have to hire the right people. 

I think there's a tough transition for small business owners to make. Eventually, we have to learn to "run" the business instead of "be" the business. That's why hiring decisions matter. I also learned that when we find someone with a great personality and who cares about our business beyond just getting a paycheck, those are the people who we want to do life with every day. Those are our people.

How do you stay focused? 

It's easy to lose perspective of the big picture because I'm a nitty-gritty details person who's distracted easily. I find time to spend with the Lord through a daily devotional and prayer. That is the most significant way that I can stay centered. If I'm focused on my relationship with God, everything else seems to line up by order of priority.

I also love to exercise and play sports with my kids and husband. Both things set my endorphins on fire so that creative thoughts can thrive. I've had some of my best business ideas while doing these things.

 And lastly, I stay focused by closing my office door and turning on a little piano music. I love the "Soothe" Jim Brickman playlist on Spotify. That is my go-to when I need to study analytics, evaluate financial reports, or write content for our blog.

How do you differentiate your business from the competition? 

Being less than the best expert in our field is not an option. That's how we're different. We train our staff to be experts in all aspects of our products - from manufacturing, installation, and home decor. Whether it's 200 square feet or multiple truckloads, we walk step-in-step with our clients to achieve their decor and budget goals. It sounds cliche, but that's genuinely our approach.

We also operate an extremely lean business. We count every penny, and we don't spend money on things that don't generate revenue. You won't find fancy stationery in our office, for example.  That allows us to keep our prices as low as possible. I'm happy to say that year-after-year, no one beats our prices. Pair that with an intense focus on creating quality products, offering friendly service, and educating our customers, it's a win-win. 

And we ship worldwide. It's no small feat to ship our types of tile and stone across state lines and oceans. Much of it is fragile to ship. We've made countless packaging and shipping mistakes in our early years. But that's why we do it so successfully today with our partnered (fantastic) freight companies.

What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?

Honestly, our marketing strategy is so simple. Know the most. Be the best. Have the best price. Offer the best service. Ask the right questions to our customers. Then listen and solve their problem—marketing 101. 

Now, how do I get the phone to ring, our online chat to bing, and our web forms to generate leads? The growth of our blog creates a lot of buzz for our business. We don't just blog about our products. With a robust organic page 1 rank for many keywords in our industry, our blog generates a lot of web traffic.

That, in turn, supports or organic page ranks. Plus, once people are on the site, our online chat is a direct connection to our staff. Chat engagement & our web forms generate leads. It all purposefully connects like a spiderweb. 

What's your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs? 

1) Be nice. You don't have to but a cut-through person to succeed in business. Treat others with fairness and grace, even in competition.

2) Don't spend money on things that won't generate revenue. It's easy to get caught up in buying fancy pens, cool stationery, or business cards (which can serve a purpose but less so in these electronic days). If you're trying to start a business, you must be aggressively focused on using your revenue to make more revenue. 

3) Study your competitors. Really study them. Find the gaps in the market and offer something of value to people. I don't want to sell tile for the sake of a transaction. I want to sell it to someone who appreciates the beauty of an artisan product adorning their home or business. Flooring sets the foundation for inviting spaces where friends and family gather to make memories. I can't know where we add value to our industry if I can't find where our competitors fall short.

4) Making money is essential, but it's not the end-all. I've always wanted to make a lot of money so I can give it away. If I run myself into debt by making poor spending decisions early on, I won't have anything to give away to make the world a better place. So, serve others even in small ways. And be nice.

What's your favorite app, blog, and book? Why?

I like the Reuters news app. I think it's the least biased and fact-checked news source. I want to form my own opinions about what's happening in the world. And I think it's fascinating to look at how macro news events trickle down to micro effects in our day to day lives.

My favorite book is The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah. I love historical fiction, specifically the WWII era. My grandmother, a French woman who died too young, lived during that time. When I read the Nightingale, it resonates deeply with me concerning her hardship and survival. 

I don't follow specific blogs regularly. I like to follow new technologies related to social media marketing and SEO. Backlinko is a great one for that sort of thing. 

Also, I stay on top of scanning Hollywood headlines and ESPN. I was once told by a marketing professor to read headlines at the grocery store checkout about news, sports, and celebrities. That allows me to have most any type of conversation with people. It's advice that stuck, and I've made it a regular practice. Ask me anything :)

What's your favorite business tool or resource? Why?

SEM Rush is a great research tool. It's ideal for people in online marketing. With Semrush, I can get nitty-gritty details about our website, who visits our website, referral sources, why they leave, who links to our site, what keywords serve us well and poorly, and so much more. I can tell you all of those things about our competitors, too, thanks to this tool. It's a fun one to geek-out on. Reliable and accurate research enables strategic decision making.

 Who is your business role model? Why?

I never thought about who my business role model is.  But my mind quickly landed on my mom and dad. I grew up in the classic scenario of my dad working and my mom staying home to raise kids. (I'd suggest she had the harder job juggling three kids!) I had a front-row seat to Family 101.

My dad has worked in the energy industry since before I was born. I've seen his roles fluctuate parallel to how that industry varies. There were good seasons and bad seasons, long hours, and layoffs. But, my parents showed my siblings and me a united front. They sacrificed to provide food and necessities. They valued family time and loved us extraordinarily well. I can't remember a volleyball or basketball game they didn't make every effort to attend - and there were a lot of competitions around the state within my years of pursuing sports. We didn't have a lot of "extras," but we never went without either. My parents are the hardest working people I know. 

Today, my parents are also self-employed piggybacking on my dad’s expertise in his industry. He’s the Frac Commander and my mom manages him pretty well most days!

What is your beauty routine? What are some of your favorite products?

 Exercise, hydration, quality skincare products, and sleep. I love cardio. Spin is my go-to for cardio these days. I also think strength training is essential for women.

I drink a lot of water, herbal tea, and bone broth. I started making bone broth as part of a nutritional regimen for some spine issues. But now I see how it benefits my skin, hair, and nails.

I can be a night owl, so I've been using the Whoop fitness app to track my sleep. There's something about seeing sleep performance in numbers, which holds me accountable for going to bed at a reasonable hour. 

I'm a product junkie when it comes to skincare and hair! My most favorite skincare product is CE Ferulic Serum & Hydrating B5 Gel by Skinceuticals. I love it. L'anza is my go-to for hair care products. I also get a dermaplaning treatment every 6-8 weeks. It's one way I take a little time to self-love. There's something about scraping away all the dead skin on my face to give me a fresh outlook on life! I believe in aging gracefully, but I'll use whatever tools I can to keep a youthful appearance! 

How do you balance work and life? 

I'm not sure that I (consistently) balance life, but I try! That's the dilemma for any working mom, right? With so many things to juggle, I have sanity with living by a schedule. Without it, my world can quickly spin into chaos. 

My workdays are jam-packed and analytical, so my brain is tired by the end of the day. My most significant challenge is providing the energy that my kids need after school or in the evenings. I've heard it said that our co-workers get the best part of our day - daytime hours. I take that to heart and try to save some for those who are most important to me at the end of the day.

One of the best things that I can do when I get home from work is spent five minutes alone to transition out of "working" mode and into "mom & wife" mode. I put my phone and computer away. My husband and I made a rule several years ago to avoid talking about work at home. It's helpful if we can keep work at work and home at home.

I also find that if I can start my day with early morning exercise and some time in God's word, those endorphins & centering moments are a magic pill for mood, energy, and my overall daily outlook.

What's your favorite way to decompress?

I decompress through exercise (especially a great cardio session on my spin bike). Playing basketball with my kids is a good exercise outlet too!

I love to read - especially outdoors. We have a super cozy patio swing nestled between oak trees, a reverberating wind chime, and a fire pit. It's my little oasis for reading a good book on a beautiful Texas day.

And I love a relaxing bubble bath with a glass of wine or a little bourbon at the end of the day.

What do you have planned for the next six months? 

As I answer this, it's April 2020, and the country is quarantined due to COVID-19. Strange times. My next months are supposed to include a busy season at work and an upcoming family vacation to Yellowstone National Park. My fingers are crossed that those things still happen!

There are so many uncertainties in the coming months. Fortunately, our business is bustling right now. We've moved our staff to work remotely from their own homes. That has posed some management challenges, given that I'm not a full-time homeschool mom. What was that question about life balance?! 

Aside from that, our family is a licensed foster family. We hope to share our home with a child who needs a loving space for some time. My kids get very excited about having an extra friend in the house. 

At work, I'm knee-deep into an annual SEO audit on our website and revamping some marketing strategies. I'm also exploring some fun ideas for either creating or partnering in some non-profit work.

We've been blessed through hard work to have a successful business. Our mission isn't just about selling tiles. We want to continue to give back and serve our community in impactful ways.

How can our readers connect with you? 

I'm easy to reach through RusticoTile.com,  Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram

@rusticotile #rusticotile

 I am also easily reached via email, melanie@rusticotile.com.