Today we’d like to introduce you to Roger Jimenez.
Hi Roger, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
My name is Roger Jimenez and my little business, The Sand Stand, is my own silver lining that I made out of the pandemic.
Art is very prevalent in my life, always being a great source of joy for me, and there was nothing I looked forward to more every year than the prestigious Beaux Art Fair that took place at the University of Miami in South Miami. I would roam under the cover of the canopies and decorate the walls of mind with the most beautiful pieces of art that I would stroll by. I could never afford most of the pieces I would fall in love with, but every year I never left without my favorite souvenir: a bottle of sand art. Out of all the tents, there was always the one colorful tent where I could buy a bottle and fill it with lovely colored sand that just made my heart happy to take home with me.
Fast forward to the pandemic. I’m now 28 years old and having now finally fulfilled my dream of being self-employed, I wanted to take it a step further and provide the same small joys that I had when I was younger too. It’s a wonderful feeling to have a young mind make something amazing with their own hands and take it home to look at and remember forever. Now, when I set up my tents at markets or art fairs, I think about the little me that used to look around, looking for that one sand art tent…
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Looking back, I would have to say that the biggest obstacle was myself.
At the start of any business, the list of worries is long: What am I going to offer? Will I provide options? Who am I trying to sell to? What is the best price point? Who is my competition? And worst of all, how do I connect to my Square reader!? However, all of these questions have practical solutions.
The only dangerous question that is always the hardest to answer is: should I even do this at all? No one is a harsher critic of you than yourself and I was definitely criticizing myself a lot at first, wondering why on Earth would I leave the safety of a regular 9-5 to pursue the hot sun at street markets.
But I am proud to say that once you overcome your self-doubt, the rest of it will fall into place. Where there is a will, there is a way and thankfully, my will was strong enough!
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Before I began The Sand Stand, I was a server. But as someone who has been writing since I was 8 years old, I have felt like a writer more than any other position I have had since. In my spare time during 10 years of retail, I wrote and worked on my artwork. In all those years, I knew that one day I would be proud of my work, so proud that I would be dying to share it, but until then I just continued writing. And then the pandemic hit.
Being an essential worker, I was only without a job for about a few months but in that time at home, there was nothing I wanted more than to have something to leave behind, my own personal mark on the world. And so, I went on to publish my very first poetry book, called “boys.” A little over a year has passed since its release and I have also released a free poetry collection since then, expanding my work more.
If there’s anything I am extremely proud of, it’s that I believed in myself enough to write, illustrate, and publish my own book. Writing that book was the start of my self-employment journey and without it, I don’t think The Sand Stand would have been born either!
(For more info, visit: byboyblue.myshopify.com or @byboyblue on Instagram!)
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
Remember to prioritize your health, especially your mental health, during these trying times. I want to wish everyone a blessed year full of opportunity as we heal from the events of our last few years and empower ourselves as a community together again.
Pricing:
- Sand Art Necklace: $5
- Sand Art Glass Bottle: $10
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @OrlandoSandStand
- Facebook: @OrlandoSandStand
- Other: byboyblue.myshopify.com
Image Credits
@OrlandoSandStand
