Today we’d like to introduce you to Daniel Padilla
Hi Daniel, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Working a full-time job while raising a child is a tough task for any parent. Doing it as a teen parent presented even greater challenges. Not only was I raising my own child while navigating through the early stages of manhood, I was teaching life skills and sexual health education at high schools as a youth leader. In the beginning stages of my career as a Social Worker I started a youth group called Hustle which was an acronym for Helping Unite Students Through Life Experiences. I shared my experience as a teen parent and taught Sexual health. As I became more experienced and evolved as a presenter, I started teaching young adults about entrepreneurship. One weekend when I was shopping at the Spring Valley Swap Meet I stumbled across a super rare item that would become catalyst and life-changing moment of my career. That Item was an extremely rare Star wars Jabba the Hutt New Era Hat. While speaking at a youth conference I would go on to sell this hat real time on eBay for over $700 while doing my presentation. I was scheduled to teach youth about how to create a mind map and while presenting I created my own mind map as well but little did I know 3 months later I would leave my job as a Social Worker taking my own advice from that mind map activity to pursue my own destiny as an entrepreneur. I felt like I accomplished many great things in my 8 years as a social worker and now it was time build my legacy as a business owner. I begin my business journey like most people do buying and reselling items. I started with Sports Jerseys and Video Games then transitioned into Legos. That’s when Brix Brand began.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Once I started Brix Brand the business model was to use creativity to stand out from the competitors. Artistry and vision are my strengths and a good leader knows how to anticipate. I was able to immediately secure a distributor and begin focusing on creating designs. My optimism for the Brix Brand hat idea was not well received by my closest supporters at first but I still believed in the project and reached out to people that did believe in the idea. I believe if your passionate and willing to put the energy into anything you’ll accomplish great things and that was my mindset.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
For 10 years Brix Brand was a staple at The Spring Valley Swap Meet. Kids and Adults would come to the Swap Meet every single weekend to the visit the booth. Going back to my roots as a Social Worker I was able to give job opportunities to the local teenagers. I was able create a safe environment for people to visit weekly and it was always a pleasure to provide excellent customer service to my community. In 2024 I left the Swap meet and moved my Business to online only but those weekends were memorable and will be part of a lot of kids childhood memories.
What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
As a Business owner you have to become the embodiment of your brand. Building your Brand Story is the lifeline to any successful business. Be believable, live and love your work. When people purchase a Brix Brand hat they know they are buying a piece of Daniel Padilla the artist. They express gratitude compassion and an understanding for my art. Remember your customers are investing into your success and the way you treat them will determine if you become successful or fail. Brix Brand is a small part of Daniel Padilla that I have choose to share with the world.
Pricing:
- Standard hat $39
- Hat with Minifigure $42
- Custom made hat $50
- Pricing is also on my Etsy
Contact Info:
- Website: https://legoguysd.etsy.com
- Instagram: @brix_brand
