January 31, 2018

Meet Luis Guerra of Frontend Solutions in Arlington

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Luis Guerra.

Luis, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I started Frontend Solutions in 2001. I had a previous screen printing business when I was in high school in McAllen Texas, but I had to close it down when I went to college. After I graduated from UTA and while I was working at a direct sales company in the marketing department I made the decision to start the business again. I got a credit card and bought a used screen printing press and a dryer from somebody in Flagstaff, Arizona. I rented a U-Haul and my dad and I drove 15 hours to get the machines.

When we started I was still working at my regular job and printing after work. We started printing funny T-shirts for a couple of guys that had kiosks at the malls in Dallas, Houston and San Antonio. We worked with them for about 3 years and that is what helped us grow at the beginning.

After the funny T-shirts business started to decline we focused on more corporate accounts and helping small business with their marketing needs which was the plan at the beginning. We added a sales position and that person got a contract with a cellphone company to make 1,000 signs so we invested in a large format printer and we added that service to our catalog.

As we grew customers started asking for other services like embroidery. First we worked with a couple of outside vendors and we outsourced the embroidery for a couple of years until we had enough orders to make it feasible to buy an embroidery machine.

Today, besides screen printing we offer, digital printing on banners and signs, embroidery, vehicle wraps and promotional items. We are in the process of expanding to a bigger location since we are outgrowing our current location. Our plan is to add another embroidery machine this year to be able to keep helping more customers with the same fast delivery that we have done since 2001.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
There has been all kind of struggles, but I would say one of the hardest tasks was putting together a good team, but today we have our best team so far. Another thing that has been a challenge was to create systems to help employees run the business without having to depend on me 100%. We are still working on that, but we have made a lot of progress so far.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Frontend Solutions – what should we know?
Our goal is to help businesses promote their product or brand with high quality products at competitive prices while having the best customer service experience. Among our services we offer businesses custom printed T-shirts, embroidery, promotional items, business cards, flyers, postcards, vehicle wraps, signs and banners. We are committed to offer our customers the best customer service. Our 16 years in the business has given us the experience to guide our customer and recommend the products that really work and the artwork that gets the message across to have a successful marketing product.

Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
First of all, God has help me a lot! First putting my wife in my life, the person that has helped me the most without a doubt. She has always been very supportive since the beginning. 5 years ago she left her job to take care of our kids and at the same time she has been helping us in the accounting department ever since.

My parents help us a lot with advice and guidance they have always own businesses so I value their input very much.

Last but not least, our team, without them we would not be able to help all the customers that we help every day. It is truly a blessing to have a team like the one we have. They really own their work and go the extra mile to make products that exceeds our customer’s expectations. It’s also nice that we all get along really well.

I’m really thankful to be able to work with them everyday, Itzel Solis in sales and customer service, Jeff Cates our graphic designer, Mundo Espinoza our production lead, Juan Paduano our screen printer and Lily Araiza our embroidery technician.

Contact Info:

Address: 185 S. Watson Rd.
Suite 102
Website: www.frontendsolutions.net
Phone: 817.652.1110
Email: luis@frontendsolutions.net
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/frontend_solutions
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/frontendsolutions
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/frontend_

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